"Cave?"Leo leaned in with curiosity.
A hint message appeared again.
[Fire Bat Nest, maybe there's a surprise]
Fire Bat? It should be another Beast.
"Let's check it out."Leo got interested. He was curious what the cave might have.
"Okay."Lilia held a steel knife and went in first.
The cave was dark and hot.
Suddenly, a bunch of high-pitched screams came, along with the sound of flapping wings. A group of red fire bats flew out, coming in a rush.
"Fire Bat!"Lilia recognized the Beast and attacked right away, her knife flashing.
Zing!
Blood sprayed, and one fire bat with a wingspan of almost a meter was cut in half.
Leo looked at the bat's body, and a hint message appeared again.
[Fire Bat, 2nd stage Beast, danger level 50, now dead]
The danger level was 50.
Lilia stood in front of him, swinging her knife and killing the Fire Bats easily. They couldn't even get close to the two of them.
He couldn't help but ask, "Lilia, can I handle this kind of Beast?"
"No."Lilia glanced at him and said coldly, "If you meet a group like this, you're dead for sure."
"Really? Are you kidding me?"Leo wasn't happy, but when he looked at the ugly, fanged Fire Bats, he gave up and stayed behind Lilia.
They went deeper and deeper, and it got hotter and hotter. There were more and more Fire Bats.
These guys were clearly much stronger than Flame Sprites, but they still couldn't beat Lilia. Her sharp knife moved fast and never missed, and each Fire Bat was killed one by one.
"It's so hot."After moving a little further, Leo couldn't stand it anymore. He wondered if the cave led to a volcano.
This time, Lilia didn't make fun of him. She said, "You go out first. I feel there's a lot of Fire Elemental in this cave. Maybe there's something valuable."
"Really? I can still hold on."He wiped the sweat from his forehead. Thinking about the hint message, this cave must have something special.
"Okay, then stay close to me."Lilia kept going deeper into the cave.
The cave was dark, but that didn't bother the elf's eyes at all.
"Hmm, what is this?"Under the faint fire light from the Fire Bats, a white crystal on the ground caught Leo's attention.
At first, he thought it was bat poop, but he realized it was different.
He quickly bent down and picked it up to look closely.
"Fuck! Nitre!"He shouted in surprise, his face full of excitement.
He was wondering how to make nitre himself, and now he found it right here in the cave.
What a surprise!
He remembered that the earliest nitre was found in dark caves, in bat poop.
"Isn't that bat poop? What's it good for?"Lilia looked at the white crystal in his hand and said, clearly unimpressed.
"This isn't bat poop. It's super useful. Don't worship me later."Leo said proudly and took off his rough cloth shirt to collect the nitre.
Now that he had nitre, was there a sulfur lake near the volcano?
Leo thought it was very likely.
There were a lot of sulfur stones around, so it was very possible there was a sulfur lake or an acidic lake.
"Leo, I found something good."At that moment, Lilia's excited voice came out. She was holding a red crystal in her hand.
The temperature around them went up a little.
"What is this?"Leo asked, confused.
"Flamestone,"Lilia explained, her face a little proud. "It has a strong Fire Elemental power. It has many uses. Even some mages with Fire Elemental Gift can absorb it to improve their strength."
"Can it be refined into magic?"Leo became interested. He stared at the red crystal and asked, "Can I refine it?"
"You?"Lilia looked at him and said, "Only those with Fire Elemental Gift can refine it. Such people are very rare. Are you one of them?"
She shook her head and showed no shame in her look of contempt.
"What do you mean? What if I actually have a Fire Elemental Gift?"Leo was annoyed. He had been teased a lot by this elf girl.
Dreams are still worth having. What if they come true?
"Okay, I'll teach you how to refine it later. If you really have a Fire Elemental Gift, you can."Lilia said, but she didn't really believe it.
Her people were called the favorites of nature, but in thousands of years, not one elf had ever mastered the Fire Elemental Gift. There were some elves with other elemental gifts. For example, the princess had Water Elemental Gift and was a mage.
"OH!"She thought about the missing Princess Anna and felt worried.
Whether it was found by humans or half-orcs, she would be in danger.
Leo noticed her thoughts and said, "Don't worry. When I finish these things, I'll find a way to take you out of here."
"Okay,"Lilia nodded. She looked at the dark and deep cave and said, "It's too hot in there. Let's go back."
She could handle the heat, but Leo definitely couldn't.
This time, they had some gains. They found a rare Flamestone. And Leo also found some nitre.
"Leo, what do you need these stones for?"Lilia asked, carrying a basket of sulfur stones and looking annoyed.
"Useful,"Leo said, walking ahead with a mysterious look.
"Hmph! Don't make me do this kind of thing again. I'm not your servant,"she said, wiping sweat from her forehead coldly.
"Okay, next time let the barbarian do it,"Leo felt a little guilty.
But he was feeling happy right now.
Sure enough, there was an acidic lake, but the area was full of poisonous gas. People couldn't enter, not even Flame Sprites would get close.
And he didn't have the right container either.
He would need to make some pottery first. It was also needed to fire the sulfur stones, and distilling sulfuric acid would need pottery too.
They returned to the barbarian village.
When they saw Leo bringing so many strange stones, no one asked many questions.
A man came up热情ly.
Ava, the granddaughter of the priest.
Ava carefully took out a rough cloth and wiped the sweat from Leo's forehead.
"I'll do it myself,"he was a little nervous and quickly took the cloth.
Bang!
Lilia dropped the sulfur stones heavily on the ground with a cold sound. She turned and walked into the hut, slamming the shaky wooden door behind her.
Leo was confused.
What was wrong with this woman? Was she jealous?
He scratched his head and didn't dwell on it. He looked at Ava and said, "Help me find a place to live away from the village. I need to do some dangerous experiments."
Ava smiled at him and shook her head, not understanding.
"Oh well,"he sighed and knocked on the door. "Lilia, I need your help. Translate for me."
"Not helping. She's your future wife. Can't you understand what she says?"came Lilia's annoyed voice from inside.
Leo was speechless.
When did Ava become his future wife? He hadn't even said yes!
He knocked again and said, "Come on, stop joking. We still need to leave together on this adventure."
The door opened.
Lilia looked at him and said coldly, "What is it?"
Leo smiled widely and told her what he needed.
He wanted to make gunpowder. It was too dangerous. It might explode.
Even if it didn't hurt anyone, the noise would shock the barbarians.
They might actually think he was a god and never let him leave.
Lilia looked at him, didn't ask more, and translated it to Ava.
Ava nodded quickly and ran off to find the priest.
Leo watched her slim back and got a little lost in thought.
Ava would be so much better if she wasn't a barbarian.
But if she wasn't a barbarian, she wouldn't be his either.
"You like her!"Lilia's cold voice cut through.
"What?"Leo quickly looked away and shook his head. "No way, we don't even speak the same language."
"Hmph!"Lilia sneered. "You'd better give her an answer. The priest already announced that Ava is to marry you. In barbarian tradition, this woman will only be yours. No one else will take her."
"What?!"Leo was stunned. "Didn't you already help me refuse?"
"So what?"Lilia was angry. "This is clearly the priest's trick. That old man is just as sneaky and mean as humans. He was the one who sank the big ship."
It looked like even among barbarians, those in power weren't easy to deal with.
He thought for a moment and said, "What if we take Ava with us when we leave?"
"You still like her, huh? Humans are all the same!"Lilia glared at him and turned to leave.
"Didn't you tell me to give her an answer?!"Leo felt hurt and ran after her. "Lilia, you still need to teach me how to refine Flamestone!"