Chapter 857: Unable to Confirm
"Archmage Leon, I'll escort this fool back myself and make sure he gets punished. I'll visit you in person later—if you'll excuse me..."
Droy hurried off, dragging Daryl with him. Leon couldn't be bothered to continue the exchange and instead wandered through Viperfog Valley, gathering raw materials for antidote potions.
Not long after returning to Stormhold Fortress, Droy showed up again.
"Archmage Leon, here are some companion gemstones from the previously mined magical metal veins. Also, this is the map showing the location of those thirteen veins. Just send someone to receive them..."
Droy immediately offered a pile of benefits. On top of that, there were all sorts of rare raw materials—many of them the finest specialties from the Caucasus Highlands.
To Leon, these were actually worthwhile gifts. Rare materials were far more valuable than even Essence Relics...
"Daryl has gone to be punished. Even if he survives, he won't be any better off. The Sovereign himself issued the order to deal with Daryl, so you can rest assured—he won't show up in front of you again."
After saying all this, Droy glanced at Leon's expression, confirming there was no sign of displeasure before cautiously raising another point.
"Archmage Leon, it seems you’re rather interested in Viperfog Valley too?"
Leon’s expression shifted as he looked at Droy.
Droy hurried to explain.
"Archmage Leon, please don’t misunderstand. Here’s the thing—you probably know this already: the poison mist in Viperfog Valley is terrifying. Ordinary mages can’t last long inside. Only we Caucasus Battlemages can stay a bit longer, and we’re the only ones who’ve never stopped exploring it over the years.
We know far more about Viperfog Valley than anyone else—the environments, the places where venomfiend beasts appear, the traits and habits of some of those beasts, and the spots that are so dangerous you have to avoid them. We’ve got all that down.
Except for the deepest part, which is impossible to explore, we’ve pretty much mapped out the outer areas. I believe the deep zone is just more hazardous, with denser poison mist and stronger venomfiend beasts—nothing else should be too different."
As Droy revealed all this, Leon already understood what he was getting at.
Sure enough, Droy paused briefly and then showed a hint of apology.
"If it were up to me, I’d gladly share all this hard-earned knowledge with you. But unfortunately, every bit of it was paid for in blood and lives by the Caucasus Battlemages. I don’t have the right to just give it away.
However, if you’re willing to explore Viperfog Valley with us, I can promise that every bit of information and experience we’ve gathered over the years will be shared with you.
With those words, Leon instantly understood Droy’s intentions.
They’re after the antidote potions!
After a brief consideration, Leon figured that cooperation might actually be worthwhile.
Viperfog Valley is vast, stretching far and wide, with poison mist gathering year after year. The deeper you go, the thicker the mist. Antidote potions can resist the poison mist, but they’re useless against the venomfiend beasts inside.
Every venomfiend beast I’ve encountered so far could spew poison—their toxins are far worse than the mist itself. It’s as if they’ve refined the poison mist layer by layer into something truly lethal. Antidote potions can’t defend against that venom.
And those venomfiend beasts behave nothing like the magical beasts outside. Who knows what kind of nasty surprises they might have up their sleeves.
Personally, I’m not too concerned. I know a lot about this poison mist and have figured out how most of the toxins work. Plus, the odds of getting poisoned directly aren’t that high for me.
But my subordinates don’t have my kind of strength. If they’re hit by those beasts’ venom, even if they survive, the aftereffects could be terrifying.
And it’s not just the venomfiend beasts that make Viperfog Valley dangerous—the truly deadly part is some of the unique environments in there.
The conditions are nothing like anywhere else. Aside from the Caucasus Battlemages, nobody has any real experience with it.
Now, with their ready-made experience combined with antidote potions, exploring the valley would be much simpler—and a lot less dangerous.
In that case, cooperation really does seem like a good option...
Leon thought it over and nodded.
"Alright, I have no problem working together. I’ll supply you with some antidote potions, and you’ll share your Viperfog Valley exploration experience with me. As for dividing the spoils, let’s keep it simple—anything we discover together, we split evenly. Anything found individually belongs to the finder. Sound fair to you?"
Droy, of course, had no objections and nodded eagerly.
"No problem at all—none whatsoever. We’ll do exactly as you say."
Why would there be any issue? Not at all. The Caucasus Battlemages have been exploring Viperfog Valley for who knows how many years. Progress has been slow, but their experience is extensive. Sometimes, just by observing those seemingly ordinary barren rocks, they can tell which territory belongs to which venomfiend beast.
With antidote potions in hand, the biggest obstacle to exploration is solved.
In the past, time was always the limiting factor. Even the Caucasus Battlemages couldn’t fully withstand that dreadful poison mist—just a bit longer than ordinary mages.
Now, exploration has hit a bottleneck. Every time they go in, they push straight for the deepest part of Viperfog Valley, but always reach their limit—forced to retreat by the encroaching poison mist.
This chapter isn’t finished yet~.~ Please click ‘Next Page’ to continue reading!
Now, with antidote potions, we can directly head to many places we’ve already observed—places suspected to hold treasures—saving a lot of time and effort.
The gains we achieve then might far surpass the harvests of the past several decades, even centuries.
Droy’s mind raced as he quickly weighed the costs and returns—not even bothering to discuss how many bottles of antidote potion would be needed with Leon.
Early the next morning, Droy personally waited at the entrance to Viperfog Valley. Leon arrived with Hubert, Reina, and the others.
Leon handed Droy five bottles of antidote potion, and Droy couldn’t help but grumble about the small quantity.
Leon cheerfully gave him five more bottles, yet he didn’t mention how long the antidote would last, or even its true potency.
Droy gave Leon a journal in return, apparently freshly copied, detailing what to watch out for inside Viperfog Valley.
Leon quickly noticed several issues—many key sections seemed to be missing vital details. Only someone with sharp eyes would spot the omissions.
But Leon wasn’t just anyone; he realized that while the records were detailed, some small details were deliberately hidden. Those tiny details might be the most valuable.
Leon didn’t say anything about it. After entering, the two groups kept their distance as they explored deeper into Viperfog Valley.
Droy brought eight people; each took a bottle of antidote potion, leaving two as spares.
Soon, Droy had gained quite a lot—many things he’d suspected existed but hadn’t been able to obtain before.
Rare ores produced deep in Viperfog Valley, along with scarce plants growing there. Wherever venomfiend beasts appeared, they ambushed them and efficiently collected materials.
Leon watched from afar, saying nothing—not even mentioning sharing in their gains.
But as they ventured deeper into Viperfog Valley, Leon’s brow never relaxed.
Aside from Reina and the others picking up a few things, Leon seemed distracted, collecting nothing, not even materials from slain venomfiend beasts.
Leon frowned, constantly calculating something. His arcane array gear was running at full power, runes flashing before his eyes as mana was rapidly consumed.
Soon, Leon and Droy’s group drifted further apart. Following a barren gravel path, Leon headed toward a direction seemingly devoid of anything useful.
After walking for over ten minutes, only desolate rocks surrounded him—not a single venomfiend beast in sight. In Droy’s explorations, this was the most worthless area, near the valley’s edge—a total waste of time.
Yet as he pressed on, Leon found the poison mist didn’t thin out—instead, it grew even denser.
“Merlin, what are you doing? You’ve seemed distracted since earlier—did you notice something? Isn’t there nothing valuable here?”
Andefa couldn’t help but ask. Leon frowned and shook his head.
“I think the poison mist is spreading from this direction. But the area’s just too big to really confirm…”
Leon replied offhandedly, then resumed scanning the area. His arcane array gear was running at full power, constantly analyzing the surrounding air currents.
His calculations showed the poison mist was generally descending from above, with slow lateral movement. Without outside interference, the mist barely moved; even the wind was rare in Viperfog Valley.
As he kept calculating the angle of the mist’s descent, he concluded the center of the mist was likely where it appeared to thin out ahead.
But after walking less than a kilometer farther, the mist’s density suddenly shot up. He vaguely saw a column of green smoke shooting into the sky—over a hundred meters high—then spreading out like a fountain in all directions.