At the entrance of the villa, four people and a horse appeared out of thin air.
"Ah—" Several startled cries rang out.
Anser turned his head to look. Tina was standing not far away with a group of servants, carrying food boxes in their hands.
Facing his gaze, Tina lowered her head slightly, her fingers gripping the hem of her dress. "Mr. Anser, it's time for dinner."
"Mm, thank you, Miss Tina." Anser replied casually, his mind still on that twisted treant.
Bratt knew Anser too well; just from his tone, he could tell he was absent-minded, and quickly stepped forward. "Leave it to us."
"Th-this… all right." Tina glanced at Anser. Seeing that he was not paying attention here, she could not help feeling somewhat disappointed.
Bratt and the others took the food boxes and watched Tina and her group leave before carrying them into the villa.
"You all eat. I'll go back to my room to do some research." Anser swung down from the horse and hurried upstairs.
Finn responded with a hum, sniffed, and opened a food box. When he saw a roasted fish two feet long, his eyes lit up.
Bratt looked at Anser's retreating figure thoughtfully. The experience just now had felt somewhat dreamlike; combined with the word "base," it made him feel a faint sense of anticipation.
...
Returning to the luxurious master bedroom, Anser plopped down onto the carpet, sank into his mind, and reviewed the battle record from earlier.
'Cursed Treant, Challenge Rating 9…'
A treant of this level was equivalent to a high-level professional. Its Strength and Constitution were both above twenty. It was not afraid of bludgeoning or piercing damage and could animate trees into treants, making it extremely difficult to deal with.
But it was not without weaknesses. For example, it feared fire, could not fly, reacted slowly, and moved at about the speed of an ordinary person.
'A ground battle definitely won't work. Flying in the air and using ranged Metamagic to throw Fireball should work, but I'll need to guard against its splinter volleys and thrown stones.'
Great Reader likely did not know the internal situation. Anser had not sensed any residual Magic Power inside the Rod of Security; it had probably not been touched for many years.
'Upgrade the equipment first, then go in and scout.'
Anser took out two small boxes from his chest. There had been too many people earlier, so he had not put them into the Avaricious Dragonhide Pouch.
Moreover, the dragonhide pouch did not have much space left—at most it could hold a few small items.
Opening the boxes revealed two gem-like elemental essences, one yellow-brown and one deep blue.
He grabbed the two elemental essences and tossed them toward the floating elemental orb.
The orb immediately absorbed both essences into its interior. A continuous humming sound arose, and the outer mithral sphere contracted and expanded like breathing, its magical aura flickering without pause.
'Don't let it break.'
This was the first time he had encountered a magic item that could be assembled and upgraded like this.
After several minutes, the orb finally calmed down. Inside it floated four elemental essences of different colors, rotating and dancing in a regular pattern, light and shadow interweaving—extremely dazzling.
Anser checked its attributes again. Its quality had risen to Uncommon, and it now had three additional new traits.
...
Earth: You are unaffected by ground-based difficult terrain, such as mud, rubble, and the like.
When you use the orb to cast Metamagic spells, you gain adaptive resistance for a period of time. Each time you cast a spell, the duration is extended, but the effect does not stack.
Adaptive Resistance: Before an enemy's attack reaches you, you gain resistance corresponding to its damage type. You can gain only one resistance at a time.
Water: Spells related to water are cast faster and become more bitterly cold.
When you use the orb to cast Metamagic spells, you can draw on elemental resonance to unleash a burst of water centered on you, with a radius of 4.5 meters.
Each creature in the area takes 2d6 (2–12) cold damage, and must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, it is pushed 4.5 meters away from you and knocked prone.
Elemental Bane: Your Metamagic spells always inflict an Elemental Bane effect on enemies.
The target must pass a Constitution saving throw; otherwise, it loses resistance to the damage type corresponding to that Metamagic spell for 6–30 seconds, limited to: acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder.
...
'As expected of an Uncommon arcane focus—there really is good stuff in the dragon's treasury. I wonder which unlucky bastard delivered this "package."' Anser beamed with delight.
The fire element added damage, the air element enabled flight, the water element could knock enemies back, and the earth element came with built-in resistance—every one of them was practical.
The strongest was still "Elemental Bane." Stripping an enemy's elemental resistance—now that was something.
Although it required a Constitution check and the duration was not long, from a practical combat perspective, it was completely sufficient.
That way, even when facing monsters stacked with resistances, his spells would still have enough killing power.
'Too bad it only works on Metamagic spells—at most I can get one burst window.' He still felt a bit unsatisfied.
With the elemental orb taken care of, he stood up, grabbed the Rod of Security, and decided to go take another look at Spatial Paradise.
He activated the rod. A pulling force descended. He relaxed his body, his vision flickered, and he was already standing in the plaza.
'Here again.' He decisively spread his butterfly wings and shot upward.
In theory, as the owner, he could control the teleport destination—but he had only just obtained it and was not very skilled yet.
Just a few seconds after he took off, a tremendous roar echoed across the island.
At the entrance to the wizard tower, the enormous treant rose upright and came charging toward Anser's direction, fierce and menacing.
Anser beat his butterfly wings, keeping his altitude above two hundred meters.
The treant threw several rocks and fired a few splintered-wood spikes, but none could reach him. Enraged, it stomped its feet, leaving crater after crater in the stone-slab plaza.
Anser felt a pang of heartache—this was clearly his own territory.
But he did not rush to deal with the treant. Instead, from high above, he carefully surveyed this world.
The island was not large, roughly four or five kilometers in diameter. The terrain was flat, and wild trees grew everywhere in untamed profusion.
A small river ran across most of the island in winding curves. At one end was a small lake; at the other, it connected to the sea.
There was no sun visible overhead—only a stretch of azure sky. At the far edge of the sea, a thin mist blocked the horizon, hazy and indistinct, with no telling how far it extended.
The scene appeared harmonious at first glance, but upon closer inspection one could see broken walls and ruins scattered beneath the forest, corpses piled everywhere—at least several thousand.
The only relatively intact structures were a black-stone dock and a wizard tower.
Moreover, there were no animals at all.
Not a single fish, shrimp, bird, or beast could be seen—only some insect-like creatures.
'There must have been a great battle here that destroyed everything. What I see now must have recovered naturally over the long years,' Anser inferred.
He came to a stop above the wizard tower. Perhaps all the secrets were hidden within it.
The black tower resembled a twelve-sided iron pillar, equally thick from top to bottom. It had twelve levels and covered several thousand square meters. Including the base that rose above the plaza, its total height was likely around one hundred meters.
He wanted to go inside and take a look, but the outer tower wall was like black metal, exceptionally smooth, with no windows and no doors—only the main gate at the base allowed entry and exit.
However, the treant remained stationed around it, never leaving its post, clearly with no intention of moving aside.
"Roar—"
Perhaps sensing Anser's intent, the treant let out another threatening cry.
Anser turned to look at it and chuckled. "Others might not be able to do anything about you, but I'm different!"
The effective range of the splintered-wood spikes was fifty or sixty meters—slightly longer than the base range of Fireball—more than enough to deal with ordinary archers or wizards. But he… was a master of Metamagic!
He flew several dozen meters away from the wizard tower, drawing the treant off so as not to accidentally damage the tower.
Then he lowered his altitude, approaching the treant bit by bit, and finally hovered at a height of one hundred fifty or sixty meters.
Seeing this, the treant grew even more irritable.
Anser smiled faintly. Surging Magic Power burst forth. The elemental orb trembled and lit up with rings of elemental aura.
"ફાયરબોલકલા"
Metamagic: Distant Spell + Fireball!
The low incantation, unheard for who knew how many years, once again echoed through this space.
His new Feat allowed Anser to cast a third-level spell even while airborne.
With a flick of his finger, a bright flash burst from his fingertip and in an instant fell upon the treant's head.
Cursed, the treant had little Intelligence left, but its instincts remained. It tried desperately to dodge, yet its reactions and speed were indeed too slow.
The fireball grazed its withered crown and erupted.
Boom—
Flames surged upward, instantly forming a massive red-and-yellow fireball. In a blink, it ignited the treant, turning it into a gigantic torch.
It suddenly threw itself to the ground with a dull thud, rolling frantically in an attempt to extinguish the flames on its body.
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