Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree

Duks pondered for a moment; his purpose here was Nightmare Dust, the more, the better.

The formula for the Pupil of the Rule Horizon demands extremely high purity of Nightmare Dust. The batch he collected himself was of excellent quality but not very large, just enough for a potion.

If he could have a bit more in reserve, whether for refining or backup, he would have more leeway.

More importantly, Nightmare Dust is a very rare resource even in the Wizard Plane and might be used later to exchange for other rare resources with other wizards.

He had no reason to refuse this proposal.

As for these Glowing Elves, Duke had no interest in harming them.

A group of thumb-sized Level 1 Lives posed no threat to him. Killing them would not bring any benefit, and instead would leave unnecessary traces in the Nightmare Plane.

Duks constantly remembered where he was and avoided trouble if possible.

Who knew if killing these Glowing Elves would cause some trouble? There was no need to take that risk, and he wasn’t a bloodthirsty person.

So he used his Spiritual Power tendril to gently touch the edge of the leader’s tentacle, conveying a set of emotions as concise and gentle as possible: accept the proposal, hand over the Nightmare Dust, and you will not be harmed.

The leader relaxed instantly upon receiving the response, nearly collapsing to the ground.

It supported itself with one hand on the ground, turned, and conveyed a series of urgent ultrasonic signals toward the hole half-covered with dead leaves and stones at the top of the slope.

As soon as the signal was sent out, all the Glowing Elves on the slope stopped their actions.

A few of the older elves exchanged glances and then hurried towards the hole.

The waiting time that followed wasn’t long, but for those Glowing Elves, it probably felt as torturous as an eternity.

Duks stood motionless, not urging them, merely sweeping his gaze over the small figures still in a daze on the slope.

Some were still in mid-escape poses, some hid behind vegetation, showing half their heads to peek at him, while the youngest elf buried its face in an elder’s bark jacket, only two trembling ears exposed.

About half an hour later, a rustling sound emerged from the direction of the hole.

A group of Glowing Elves emerged in single file from the hole, absent of collecting baskets, instead jointly carrying spherical objects wrapped in leaves.

Each sphere was about the size of a fist, a massive object for them, requiring four or five elves to barely manage the transport.

The surface of the spheres was coated with a layer of amber-colored, semi-transparent resin, solidified and hardened, though under the grayish-white daylight, it still had a slight glossy sheen.

Duks’ gaze settled on the resin-enclosed objects, Tree Seal, he recognized this method of preservation.

In the magic potionry of the Wizard Plane, sealing highly volatile, spiritually contaminative materials with special resin is an extremely luxurious storage technique, as the resin formula requires dozens of rare materials, forming an absolute seal on the material’s surface and blocking all spiritual penetration.

This technique is typically mastered only by Level 3 and above alchemists, and it is very costly.

However, these Glowing Elves used the most primitive natural resin, sourced from forest-secreted tree substances, simply heated and stirred, then meticulously applied layer by layer over the Nightmare Dust. Each layer was thin enough to be translucent, yet combined, the isolation effect was no less than that of a Level 3 alchemist’s resin formula.

This is experience, this is time, this is a craftsmanship passed from generation to generation, independent of any level.

The foremost Glowing Elves carefully placed the resin spheres two steps away from Duks, then quickly retreated to the hole’s edge to stand with their companions.

The leader walked to the resin spheres, raised its hand to point at the largest one.

The sphere was larger than the rest combined, and beneath the resin was an entire cavity filled with gray-white powder.

Then it performed that peculiar fingertip gesture, retreated a few steps, lowered its head, and waited silently.

Duks did not immediately take them. He first used his Spiritual Power to scan the surface of the resin spheres, ensuring there were no traps, curses, or spiritual pitfalls, before bending down to pick up the resin spheres one by one.

The largest one was heavy in his hand, the Nightmare Dust sealed under the resin was at least three times the amount he had just collected.

The remaining ones were smaller, but together they were not less than the largest one.

These Glowing Elves did not hold back; they brought out all the Nightmare Dust they had preserved.

Duks packed away all the resin spheres, then straightened up, glancing at the crowded group of Glowing Elves on the edge of the hole.

They all raised their heads, with identical expressions on dozens of small faces, holding their breath, waiting for a verdict.

The youngest child, at some point, peeked out its head from the elder’s embrace, staring directly at Duks with eyes so fine they were almost invisible, mouth half-open as if looking at a giant who had fallen from the sky, scared yet curious.

The gatherer who had previously returned for the dust twisted its hands together, knuckles white, but it no longer trembled. It merely stood quietly, looking at Duks, then at its leader, seemingly awaiting something.

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