"Young master, are you sure you found that chunk of Nature Spirit here?" the old man asked the young man.

Even from afar, Richard could hear their words clearly since they weren't hiding anything.

"Yes, it suddenly emerged from underground," the young man answered.

The old man suddenly examined the area in the middle of the volcanic mountains more seriously.

However, he didn't seem to find anything.

Even so, he still looked suspicious. His gaze showed he was thinking and speculating.

After that, he looked at Richard and Grace, whom he didn't really care about before.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked in a harsh tone.

And Richard was too lazy to respond.

He observed them, thinking about capturing them.

Grace clearly understood his thoughts.

She nudged his palm lightly with her finger, as if signaling she was ready to act.

When he nodded, nine of Grace's shadows appeared above the ark.

All of them, including Grace's real body, released their domains, engulfing everyone.

This time, Richard wasn't suppressed by the domain. Instead, he felt like a fish returning to water.

His body felt lighter. He even felt like he could move freely.

Those young men obviously couldn't withstand the domain's power. They were instantly forced down. Only the old man endured.

"How dare you!" he roared furiously.

Then he jumped from his ark, charging toward Richard's ark.

Even under the pressure of ten domains, he was still quite fast.

A Lord, even the weakest one, could never be underestimated.

In fact, anyone who could reach the Lord Realm was guaranteed to be strong back when they were in the Grimoire Realm.

Richard didn't hesitate and sent a Mind Attack at the old man while activating the power of his Black Heart.

Black lines appeared on his body, but this time they didn't create an aura explosion.

Richard's body remained calm, as if no power was active at all.

Only Richard knew how much stronger he had become.

But his improved control over his own power kept anything from erupting outward.

Whoosh!

Richard charged toward the old man, ten times faster.

The old man became even slower under the Mind Attack.

Richard didn't take out a weapon but transformed his right fist into a dragon fist. A pair of dragon wings even appeared on his back, black with glowing golden patterns.

When he flapped them, Richard's momentum increased drastically.

The old man's eyes widened.

BANG!

Richard struck his chest, which immediately caved in and burst open.

Even his heart shattered, yet he didn't die.

Such destruction wasn't enough to kill a Lord.

Even so, it was enough to drain the old man's Aether completely as it leaked out. He even fainted as his body tried to recover.

As he was thrown back, Grace's figure appeared behind him and instantly released a red chain that wrapped around him.

Several of her shadows appeared above the young men's ark, capturing them all at once.

This was even easier than Richard expected.

Though it was thanks to Grace's help, that didn't change the fact that a single punch from him defeated a Lord.

Not long after, Grace gathered everyone she had captured onto Richard's flying ark.

"Who are you people? How dare you?!"

The black-haired young man was clearly used to being respected.

Even after being captured, he still dared to shout angrily with glaring eyes.

Richard slapped his cheek hard in response and took his ring.

Its contents weren't anything impressive. Even the strongest weapon was only Tier 4.

However, there was one Nature Spirit chunk the size of a cow.

It looked like tree roots with Nature Spirits clinging to each other.

Just from its size, Richard estimated around fifty thousand Nature Spirits.

"It seems one chunk surfaced earlier," Richard thought.

He stored the chunk in his own ring before looking at Grace, who no longer seemed deep in thought.

But Richard doubted she actually had a plan.

"How dare you do this?! Tell me your name! My older brother and the Dark Abyss Clan will hunt you to the ends of the world..." the young man Richard slapped shouted angrily.

Even with his swollen cheek, he yelled even louder.

"Hmm, if your brother comes, I'll slap him too," Richard replied with a soft snort.

To avoid any more noise, he moved the young men into the Dragon Hall.

For now, he would hold them there.

Richard's gaze returned to the rocky ground in the middle of the volcanic mountains.

If there was a chunk large enough to fill the area, Richard believed the amount of Nature Spirits there could exceed one billion.

One billion Nature Spirits—enough to buy his ancestor's artifact.

As he observed, Richard sent out his wave in its thinnest form underground.

He wanted to see down there, to know what was truly beneath.

Who knew? The mine might already be close to the surface.

Using his wave was much easier since its range was far wider.

To his surprise, the first thing he found around ten kilometers underground was mud that gave off a sensation extremely similar to Nature Spirits.

And indeed, there were chunks of Nature Spirit of various sizes, though the number wasn't anything astonishing yet.

But most interestingly, the mud seemed to be moving upward.

Richard examined deeper into the mud.

Yet even at the furthest reach of his wave, he still hadn't truly found the mine.

"Even though I can enter deep underground thanks to my Earth affinity, if it's too far, I'll run out of energy first," Richard thought.

As he was thinking about this, a new idea came to him.

When the mine was close enough, couldn't he enter underground first?

Maybe by then the mine's presence would already be detectable.

But it would still take time before it reached the surface.

Richard could gather the Nature Spirits first from underground.

Even if other Magi could also do the same, Richard was confident he could outdo them.

He could even take Grace into the Dragon Hall and ask her to use her domain from inside to assist him later.

"Grace, you don't need to think about it anymore, I already have a plan," Richard said with a thin smile.

"Are you sure about this plan?" Grace asked with a pessimistic look.

Grace had no experience in this matter, so she couldn't think of any ideas—and she knew Richard had no experience either.

"Of course..." Richard chuckled.

He then lowered his ark toward one of the volcanoes, landing on its cliff.

It was hot and the air burned with every breath. Richard preferred not to breathe at all.

Fortunately, he indeed could go without breathing.

Inside the volcano, he saw the lava boiling endlessly.

' Maybe tomorrow,'he thought.

"Grace, we'll rest here tonight..." Richard said as he noticed the sun was already setting.

Grace nodded and said, "I need to meditate tonight. To be honest, I feel like my body is a little unstable."

Richard rolled his eyes when he heard that, because her tone made it sound like she was hinting she couldn't accompany him in bed.

Of course, Richard still smiled.

They didn't have to make love every night. As Magi, they needed to divide time for training.

After a short conversation, Grace went to a small room inside Richard's ark.

And Richard remained on the deck, sitting and waiting for the System's notification.

Night arrived soon after, and he was a bit surprised by the night in this region.

Instead of a sky full of stars, he saw none at all.

Even the moon looked very small and distant.

The sky seemed filled with black clouds, yet no lightning appeared.

The view was so dark that even for Richard, using his Sixth Sense was easier.

Not long after night fell, the System notification finally appeared.

(Your mastery over Mind Attack has increased from 33% to 48%!)

Mind Attack (48%)

"Nice!"

Richard was very pleased that Mind Attack was the one that increased.

That meant he could attack more people at once.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

Just as he received the notification, he suddenly felt rain falling.

At first, it was only a few drops, but soon it became a heavy downpour.

Richard hurried into the ark's control room.

If he didn't have his current power, rain like this would practically be a natural disaster for him.

Every drop hitting the roof made an extremely loud noise.

And once the rain fell, lightning began striking repeatedly, rumbling nonstop until Richard's ears hurt.

He didn't expect the rain in this region to be this terrifying.

As he observed, he saw the ground below quickly flooding.

Fortunately, his ark was on top of a volcano.

Richard chose to make a cup of warm coffee and sat by the window.

He stared at the dark world outside.

Unlike Grace, he didn't feel any instability in his body, though it had indeed become a bit difficult for him to draw in Aether again.

Even so, he decided to meditate, sensing the power within his body while also trying to improve his mastery over his various Codices and Arcane Arts.

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