The sea of lava is vast and boundless, and its depth is immeasurable.
Richard swam down along the crystal pillar, trying to find its starting point, but after a week of diving, he ultimately gave up on this idea.
This crystal pillar seemed to reach the deepest part of the sea of lava, but Richard could not dive indefinitely.
The sea of magma is still a sea; at a certain depth, every movement Richard made consumed a large amount of energy. Coupled with the viscosity of the magma, Richard felt like a bug trapped in resin, on the verge of becoming amber.
"Is it possible that this ancient ruin is beyond my reach?" Richard thought, feeling a bit disheartened.
But soon, Richard adjusted his mindset. The sea of magma was also a good place for him to train; even if he couldn't find the ancient ruins, improving his physical condition was still excellent.
With that in mind, Richard began swimming at the extreme depth he could endure.
As is well known, swimming is a highly physical exercise. The magma sea where Richard was located not only had thick liquid but also considerable pressure. Under such conditions, continuous movement quickly led to a slow increase in Richard's physical condition.
Moreover, the physical enhancement gland he had long since implanted began to produce a large amount of Enhancement Hormone under these extreme conditions.
With the combination of these two factors, Richard's physical enhancement speed suddenly surged.
In just three months, Richard's physical condition improved slightly in the magma sea.
This rate of improvement made Richard ecstatic.
However, Richard did not exercise recklessly; the growth of his physical condition came at a cost.
Training for an extended period in such extreme conditions put all of Richard's organs under full load, even overloading them, and this operation had its price.
Additionally, Richard's body was constantly battling the elemental fire erosion occurring in the magma sea.
Although his adaptive body allowed him to resist fire elemental damage at a level of five hundred, resistance did not mean immunity; after all, he did not possess the bloodline of a fire elemental creature. Prolonged exposure to this environment inevitably led to elemental fire erosion on his body.
If this erosion damage continued to accumulate, it could potentially lead to irreversible crystallization of Richard's body.
This would undoubtedly be a significant blow for a wizard pursuing physical evolution.
Expanding the Magic Barrier, Richard opened a rift to the secret realm and dove in.
For Richard, who possessed a secret realm, recuperation could happen at any time.
Inside the secret realm, the sleeping Ulysses had already awakened.
Seeing Richard enter, he curiously asked, "Gah, did you go take a bath in the magma? Why do you have so much elemental fire on you?"
As Richard entered the secret realm, the ground he stepped on instantly emitted blue smoke, and with each step, a black footprint appeared.
"Pretty much, I'm currently in the underground magma sea of the Crimson Sun World. I've discovered another ancient ruin, so I've been training while searching for it."
After saying that, Richard shouted to the World Mushroom, "World Mushroom, get me a shower."
A fungal tentacle emerged from the ground beside Richard, transforming into a massive mushroom, from which warm, clear water continuously dripped from the cap.
The clear water dripped onto Richard, instantly turning into steam, but it also dissipated some of the elemental fire.
"Gah, the magma sea? How did you end up in that place?" Ulysses exclaimed in shock.
Magma seas typically exist in worlds dominated by elemental fire, but these magma seas have little to no other resources apart from magma. Other than certain fire elemental creatures, no beings would venture into the magma sea.
"That would be a question for the crow who decided to take a nap at a critical moment," Richard replied, glancing at him. "I was being chased by hundreds of Fire Lizard knights outside; if I hadn't escaped into this magma sea, I would have been fed to a Dragon Beast by now."
Ulysses felt a bit embarrassed upon hearing this: "Gah, I got sleepy; what can I say?"
Ten minutes later, the elemental fire on Richard was completely dissipated. He slapped his forehead, and a layer of green moss sprouted from the top of his head, which turned into black hair within minutes.
Richard turned to Ulysses:
"How's your injury now? I didn't find this ancient ruin; you should be able to find it faster."
"Gah, I'm fine; I can still search for things."
With that, Ulysses opened a rift and dove back into the magma sea.
Richard found the items he had thrown in earlier beneath his statue, including his Magic Pocket, Invisibility Cloak, several magical shield pendants, and the staff he had tossed in later.
At this moment, several Holy Tree Spirits were praying beneath the statue.
These little creatures had undergone significant enhancement after being transformed by the World Mushroom, and their strength had grown without limits.
After so many years, Richard discovered that among these little creatures, there was even a first-level being.
Richard donned the cloak and curiously picked up the first-level Holy Tree Spirit. The little creature, suddenly caught by Richard, showed no signs of panic and instead appeared quite delighted.
"Great Creator God! Do you remember me? I am Fluffball! The first Holy Tree Spirit you created."
A hint of surprise flashed through Richard's mind; it had been hundreds of years since he first encountered Fluffball, and he was astonished that this little creature was still alive and had become a first-level being.
"I remember you, the first Holy Tree Spirit," Richard replied, feigning seriousness. "I didn't expect that after all these years, you would break through the life tier and become a first-level being."
"Great Creator God, in the past, we were confused by illusory memories and could not recall your grace. Even though you had the great World Mushroom lift some of our shackles, we still failed to comprehend your teachings.
But since the great Crow God revealed the illusion, we finally recognized the truth and remembered your grace.
To not disappoint your grace, we are working hard to grow; please rest assured, it won't be long before Holy Tree Spirits like me fill the entire world!"
Fluffball spoke with great fervor, and Ulysses, being an old trickster, had completely mesmerized these little creatures with limited capacity for thought.
They now fully believed in the myths recorded in their scriptures.
Richard nodded, "Good, very spirited! Keep it up; I look forward to that day!"
...
Two months later, a rift in the secret realm suddenly appeared, and Ulysses flew out of the magma sea, half of his body charred.
As soon as he entered the secret realm, Ulysses shouted at the World Mushroom, "Gah, old mushroom, help me out; don't let this body of mine get destroyed."
A fungal tentacle emerged from the ground, burrowing into Ulysses' body, continuously feeding life force into him through the tentacle.
"Gah, finding you a ruin was no easy task; I almost turned into a roasted crow."
Richard walked over to Ulysses, surprised, and asked, "Did you get attacked by a Flame Behemoth? Are there creatures in the magma sea that could injure you?"
"Gah, it was all for your ruin search," Ulysses shouted. "Those bugs born from the ancient ones seem to have built something you wizards call... right, an ecosystem, in the magma sea.
I encountered a rather troublesome creature in there, its strength almost reaching level four. If it weren't for my status as the World Master, I might have really fallen into its hands."
As he spoke, Ulysses suddenly coughed, and a blue flame erupted from his mouth, instantly melting a patch of ground.
"Such a powerful creature?" Richard exclaimed in shock.
Fortunately, he hadn't found it earlier; if he had, he might have lost his life.
Thinking of this, Richard felt a wave of fear.
Before long, Ulysses stabilized his injuries, and his charred body began to recover rapidly.
"Gah, are you rested? Come with me; let's retrieve that corpse. By now, those Flame Behemoths are probably gnawing on it."
"Alright, alright."
Upon hearing this, Richard quickly took off his cloak and opened the rift with his staff.
The two entered the magma sea, with Ulysses landing on Richard's back to clear the way; Richard's current strength was not enough to reach the location of the ecosystem.
Soon, they arrived at the ecosystem Ulysses had mentioned.
This so-called ecosystem looked more like a testing ground to Richard.
Various bizarre Flame Behemoths roamed freely in the magma sea, occasionally engaging in one-on-one battles, with the loser becoming food for the winner.
Ulysses released some of the World Master's pressure to drive away the Flame Behemoths, and as they delved deeper, Richard quickly spotted a giant beast that was unlike the usual Flame Behemoths.
This giant beast was entirely black-blue, resembling a mutated sea lizard, nearly twenty meters long, and engulfed in blue flames. At this moment, the beast was already dead, with the black extinguishing flames indicating who had killed it.
"Gah, it's this unfortunate creature. If it had another three or four thousand years, it might have truly evolved into a pure physical form and broken through to become a World Master."
Richard was taken aback by Ulysses' high praise; was this really an experimental subject from the ancient ones?
However, Richard quickly sensed something was off.
He and Ulysses worked together to move the giant beast's corpse into the secret realm for the World Mushroom to store properly. Meanwhile, at Richard's request, the two began to wander around this ecosystem.
"Gah, what are you looking for?" Ulysses asked, puzzled.
"This Fire Lizard should be a product of mutation; I'm looking for the source nearby that caused its mutation."
"Gah, how can you be sure this thing is mutated?" Ulysses asked in surprise.
Richard replied nonchalantly, "Of course, the dominant species in this world is the Fire Lizard. If this Flame Behemoth isn't mutated, then the Fire Lizard could never become the ruler of this world.
A creature capable of breaking through to level four in physical form cannot share the world with other species; the Fire Lizard clan can only serve as slaves or livestock to this species."
"…Gah, that makes sense."
(End of Chapter)