Chapter 71: Chapter 71: The Lair
After obtaining the Honeycomb, Andre left the location of the Purple Crystal Bee Swarm. To find Potato’s birthplace as quickly as possible, he cast a Witchcraft spell—Language of the Mind—to ask the Bee Guards in charge of collecting honey where the Earth Element was most concentrated in the Secret Realm.
This would determine whether he could find Potato’s nest.
The Bee Guard heard Andre’s question and began asking the other honey-gathering Purple Crystal Bees for him, but they came up with nothing.
Andre couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. In theory, a place capable of nurturing an Elemental Creature like Potato should have a much higher concentration of its Element than anywhere else, even if it dissipated quickly.
Yet the Purple Crystal Bee Swarm, one of the most widespread species in the Secret Realm, had found nothing.
In this situation, there were typically only two possibilities.
One: the place that birthed Potato had degenerated to the point where it was no different from any other area.
Two: another Magical Beast had occupied it, preventing the Purple Crystal Bees from investigating.
Although the Purple Crystal Bee Swarm was the most widespread and numerous species in the Secret Realm, there were still places they wouldn’t go.
For example, they avoided areas with no Magic Plants, as well as territories occupied by powerful Magical Beasts.
’This is going to be difficult.’
Andre shook his head helplessly. The situation had just made finding Potato’s nest that much harder.
Still, he had to find it. He absolutely had to find the place where Potato was born.
He was doing all this to accelerate Potato’s growth.
Although Potato ate things that contained Magic Power, the cost was simply too high.
Even though he could now concoct Magic Potions to earn Magic Stones, it was just a drop in the bucket compared to what Potato needed.
Under these circumstances, he had to rely on external help. The help Andre chose was the Honeycomb and Potato’s nest.
The Power contained within the Honeycomb could rapidly strengthen Potato’s Soul, while the Earth Element Crystals in its nest could accelerate its physical growth.
Combined, the two would not just accelerate Potato’s growth rate, but possibly even double it.
Faced with the temptation of doubling Potato’s growth, Andre was determined to find its nest.
The reason was simple: it would save him a huge expense. The only cost would be a little bit of his time.
Under these circumstances, the search was definitely worth it.
’If I can find Potato’s nest, by the time I become an Official Wizard, Potato should be close to becoming an Official Wizard Level Elemental Creature.’
Andre took out several Witchcraft Scrolls and tore them, adding Multiple Wings of the Wind to his back. Then, he began to fly through the Secret Realm.
While flying, Andre took a strand of fur from his Storage Ring.
The strand of fur was bright yellow with a texture almost like stone. Andre had plucked it from Potato’s head before entering Secret Realm No. 1.
For Potato to regrow this single strand of fur, it would need to consume at least fifty Magic Stones.
But since it could reduce the difficulty of his search, Andre had plucked the strand of fur from Potato’s head anyway.
Andre flew through the air, casting a Tracking Technique on the strand of fur. He hoped to use its aura to find the place where Potato was born.
Yet even when he had flown until the moon was high in the sky, he still hadn’t received any feedback from the Tracking Technique.
Feeling utterly frustrated, Andre had no choice but to stop and find a place to rest for now.
Just as Andre was leaving the Purple Crystal Bee Swarm, Selena and her group began their pursuit, using the device in their hands to track his direction.
But as they followed, Selena and her group realized something was wrong.
Andre’s indicator on the device was moving extremely fast, and in an irregular, looping pattern. This left Selena and her group completely baffled.
’What is Andre looking for? Is he searching for the Divine Blood he hid?’
’But if Andre had hidden the Divine Blood when he first left the Secret Realm, would he really need to search for it like this?’
For a moment, Selena and the other three were completely in the dark, unable to understand Andri’s intentions at all.
But even so, they had to continue the hunt.
As Selena and her group tracked Andre using the direction shown on their device, Andre found a suitable spot and landed. He then lifted his right foot and stomped on the ground.
Accompanied by a flash of earthen-yellow light, a tunnel slowly formed.
Andre walked into the tunnel and slapped the wall. The earth swirled, and the ground above returned to its original state, sealing the entrance.
Andre walked to the bottom of the tunnel, where there was a space roughly three meters by three meters.
This space was the shelter Andre had prepared for the night.
Andre entered the space and took out a Magic Energy Lamp, illuminating the chamber. He then walked to the rock wall. Tree roots emerged from his hands as he began to cast a Witchcraft spell.
As streams of earthen-yellow light surged from Andre’s body, the tree roots contracted, revealing several minuscule channels.
These channels allowed the underground space to ventilate with the outside world without leaking Andre’s own aura.
’I’ve put the cart before the horse. If the place in the Secret Realm with the most concentrated Earth Element is underground, then Potato’s nest is most likely underground as well. I’ve been flying through the jungle for so long that I completely forgot about elemental distribution.’
Andre patted his forehead, annoyed that he’d nearly forgotten that Potato was an Elemental Creature.
After finishing the ventilation channels, he took out a rug, placed it on the floor, and sat down. Then he took out his Servant Bag and released Potato.
He had Potato touch the rock wall and sense its surroundings, to see if it could feel any familiar Power.
Although Potato didn’t understand why Andre wanted it to touch the rock wall, it was delighted to feel that the Earth Element in this underground space was much more concentrated than elsewhere. So, it happily did as Andre asked.
Potato walked over to the rock wall, lifted a front paw to touch it, and began to sense the surrounding Earth Element.
But no matter how hard it tried, Potato couldn’t sense any areas nearby with a high concentration of Earth Element.
After sensing several times, Potato looked back at Andre and whimpered softly, indicating that it hadn’t found anything.
Andre nodded and took out a piece of the Honeycomb.
When Andre took out the Honeycomb, Potato immediately scampered over.
Just as Potato opened its mouth, thinking it was about to get a bite of the Honeycomb, Andre pulled it back.
Biting at empty air, Potato stared at Andre with wide, uncomprehending eyes.
’But he just promised! He said he’d give me the Honeycomb after I was done sensing!’
Andre, however, just pointed to the remaining walls, indicating that Potato had to finish sensing in those directions before it would get the piece of Honeycomb.
Potato whimpered pitifully a couple of times, but seeing Andre’s unyielding expression, it still did as requested and sensed the other walls.
The result was the same; it didn’t sense any areas with a high concentration of Earth Element.
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