Chapter 503: Treasure Hunt

Altab somehow scrambled up to his feet and climbed onto the boar, but not before kicking it in the side and cursing it for hurting him. He hadn’t realised it was Leo who had made the boar hit him.

And the hit wasn’t light; at least 2 ribs had broken, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, making it apparent that he had sustained internal injuries.

Leo paid the man no heed as he quickly grabbed the three shamans and the Kobolt holding the Blazebloom flower, who were hastily trying to retreat after realising Leo was out of their league on the surface.

By now, all the students had been taken away, leaving Leo alone amid a large group of Kobolts.

But that was no problem for him. Nyxa was having a field day as she devoured the Kobolts one by one in no more than 2 bites, thanks to her increased size, and Leo obtained the 4 things he wanted.

3 shaman beastcores and 1 Blazebloom Flower.

He used his talent to extract the beastcores.

Ding!

>Talent—[Ashfire Shaman] - 2 star, has been successfully extracted!

>Talent extraction failed.

>Skill [Fireball] has been extracted.

>Talent extraction failed.

>Skill [Flame Orb] has been extracted.

Seeing that he had once again extracted a 2-star [Ashfire Shaman] talent, Leo immediately asked the system something.

Is it possible to synthesize a higher-star talent when I have two of the same talent? 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

>It’s possible. The host’s talent allows the synthesis of extracted talents.

Leo was about to jump for joy when the next prompt doused him with cold water.

>But the requirement for the amount of same-star talents increases exponentially as higher-star talent synthesis is required.

>For synthesising a 2-star talent from a 1-star talent, ten 1-star talents are required.

>For synthesising a 3-star talent from a 2-star talent, ten 2-star talents are required, or for synthesising a 3-star talent from a 1-star talent, one hundred 1-star talents are required.

>For synthesising a 4-star talent from a 3-star talent, ten 3-star talents are required, or for synthesising a 4-star talent from a 1-star talent, a thousand 1-star talents are required.

Leo stopped the calculations there and pinched the bridge of his nose.

This was way too expensive.

Unlike with skills, where two similar skills could form a new skill, synthesizing talents was extremely demanding. Not that he didn’t understand why.

While a skill was an individual object and more of a byproduct, a talent was the factory itself, capable of giving birth to countless skills and allowing an individual to reach a certain height of strength.

"Well, let’s look at the positives. I am capable of creating a heaven-defying genius in a world where such things are decided by luck or background." Leo remained positive, and he was completely right to do so.

With that settled, Leo called Naelith and Lyswenna over as they discussed their next course of action.

"From what I can tell, the inhabitants seem to be very well prepared to resist our invasion of this realm. And I can also tell that the periphery has the lowest-tier benefits it can provide us," Leo said, while the elves listened intently, ready to offer feedback if needed.

In the back, Shyra and Nyxa sat peacefully on guard in case the Kobolts launched a surprise attack, while Zelut bit into the scraps left behind after Nyxa had devoured almost all the Kobolts.

"The people I encountered here might as well be the average sort of team that enters this secret realm. Seeing how they were intercepted by the Kobolts and nearly overwhelmed by them, I can confidently say that throughout the entire time this realm has existed, no one should have been able to explore the core regions yet. Even the middle regions have probably only been explored rarely, in case some prodigy appeared."

He said this because if a team of 10 people, with a combined force at the Low 2-star level, was having trouble dealing with fodder like Kobolts, then the realm could only realistically be explored around the periphery.

According to his studies in the city and a bit of research on his phone, after the Kobolts came the fire-breathing lizardmen when travelling deeper toward the inner regions of the realm, who obviously possessed greater strength than the Kobolts.

"So our goal will be to travel as deep as possible and uncover the secret hideout of the Wyvern."

"Yes, My Lord!" both elves responded enthusiastically.

And so their journey began. Nyxa had once again returned to a size of 5 meters, while Shyra hid Naelith and Lyswenna within her shadows using her stealth. Leo then set off toward the deeper parts of the realm.

As they travelled deeper into the realm, the scenery gradually changed. The patches of grass became even rarer, and the few trees that remained looked increasingly lifeless, their ashen bark cracked and brittle.

The ground was uneven in many places, with long cracks running across the dried earth and occasional mounds of black volcanic rock jutting out from the landscape.

Leo seemed to have found himself in an exceptionally dry region, and even though he could tell there were underground water sources, the ground remained barren because there was no way for the water to reach the surface.

At one point, he spotted a particular area that looked as though it had once held water.

"Maybe the Kobolts are behind this. They are directing the underground water to places they find convenient," Leo speculated, because there was still incessant Kobolt activity underground that he could feel through [Geo Resonance Sense].

Every now and then, Leo would spot something unusual while riding atop Nyxa. Sometimes it was a cluster of crimson leaves growing from the side of a rock formation. Other times, it was a faintly glowing bud hidden beneath a layer of ash, or a strange fruit hanging from the branch of a half-dead tree. Whenever he found something worthwhile, he would stop briefly, collect it, and continue moving.

The deeper they went, the more frequently such discoveries appeared. Some treasures were tucked away inside narrow crevices between volcanic stones, while others grew near small vents that released warm air from underground. Leo even came across several hidden beneath layers of loose ash, their unusual colours standing out just enough to catch his attention.

Most were only White and Green-tier treasures, though he occasionally found something slightly better. By the time few hours had passed, he had already gathered a decent number of natural treasures without encountering anything particularly dangerous, making the journey far more rewarding than he had initially expected.

As for the haul, he started counting it while Naelith and Lyswenna prepared some snacks. They had already travelled around 30 kilometres into the realm over the course of 5 hours. Their pace had been slow because Leo repeatedly made Nyxa circle back or stop whenever he sensed a natural treasure, forcing him to carefully search the surrounding area.