Edrick cracked his neck as he watched the retreating figure of Haoyu.
Anoteros had sensed the presence of a foppoof that was not Linmin’s just before Jingyi had come to inform him of a guest's arrival... And what a foppoof it was! Exotic, cute, talented in his craft, and quite the introvert as well... This was a magnificent combination! There was no way Edrick was going to let the opportunity to acquire Haoyu slip past him.
Now, it might be a bit hasty to seek out a sixth wife when he had only just recently added Yin to his collection, but opportunities were meant to be grasped. Besides, he believed Haoyu to be a good candidate for his lovely harem, and with ‘Foppoof Domination’ that he had received thanks to Linmin, it would be much easier to convince the core disciple to submit despite his clear reluctance.
But that would have to wait for a while. Now was not a good time to pursue Haoyu, as Anoteros needed to remain in Oie and the Myriad-Arm Sect to survey Xiao. He had also had to take care of his bundle of three missions…
Once the core disciple of Labyrinth Palace was no longer within view, Edrick settled down and inspected what he had just received. It seemed like his family was giving him a small challenge. He had to gather a whole bunch of different materials that were known to appear within the secret realm, and to that end, he had been given a special pouch.
He had heard a bit about spatial storage. They were uncommon and expensive, as well as typically not as great as they might sound. The spatial distortion within was often not as high as one might hope, making most of them only marginally better than a regular bag, whilst being many times more expensive.
This one was good stuff, however. One hundred slots would already be pretty good in itself, but the fact that each slot could hold a hundred portions of the same item was simply incredible. After testing it for himself, he found that it could indeed accommodate very large items. Haoyu must not have been aware, but if the item was too large for a single slot, then it would just take up more space than that. So in theory, oversized items could fit inside, and according to the rules of the pouch, even if something was so big that it needed all hundred slots for itself, you could still put ninety-nine more of that item inside.
That was rather prodigious.
Afterwards, he went over the list of materials required. What was listed was not wholly unique to the realm. In fact, it seemed like the realm had very few things that could not be found outside of it. The fact was that plenty of resources that were rare or required to be carefully cultivated outside were found in abundance within the realm.
Tarkin White Iron, Golu Amethyst, Fire-Feather Minerals, Full-Moon Bloom, Saint-Alexandria Blossom, Blood-Drunk Grass, Corpses Of Underwood Elves, Any Item Carried Or Used By Underwood Elves, Earth-Carrying Boar, Flame-Maw Bear, Nature-Blessed Wolf…
Here was everything that he was asked to find, the most prominent item on the list being what pertained to the ‘Underwood Elves’, the near-sapient species that resided within the realm and nowhere else.
As the name indicated, they were technically part of the elven species, sporting pointy ears, dark-bluish skin, and piercing yellow eyes.
According to what he was reading, they were rather aggressive and numerous within the realm. Indeed, the back of the list featured details and descriptions of the demanded items.
As for the creatures, they were animals who, thanks to the energy-rich environment, had achieved transformations that granted them innate abilities. Overall, they were still very much like the animals they were named after.
Apart from the list, there were also other things noted down, which were not necessary, but were still welcome to be collected.
Banana Bat, Laughing Fox, Volubilem Slime, and Paraceratherium Magus.
The latter two were rather dangerous. The slime was enormous, dreadfully agile, and highly corrosive, but had a rather significant weakness: It was part of the kind of slime that possessed a nucleus, meaning that disturbing it would render the slime helpless for several seconds, and removing it would effectively defeat it.
The last one, however, he was advised not to bother with... The Paraceratherium Magus was a creature standing nearly five meters tall at the shoulder, seven and a half meters in length and weighing between fifteen to twenty tonnes- But that was not the most worrying thing about this mighty beast.
Although its kind exists beyond the realm, only within it are they also called ‘Magus’, in reference to the fact that they are naturally adept at weaving and casting spells. They were said to be on par with the average mage in casting capabilities and precision, but far more powerful and with greater casting speed.
Thankfully, they are not aggressive unless provoked in most cases, and since they are so tall, one can easily maintain distance to avoid provoking such a beast.
Lastly, there was also a note about a so-called ‘Guardian’.
Its origin and nature were unknown, but it was recognised as a red-skinned, orc-like figure that would hunt down and kill intruders based on some vague criteria.
In the past openings of the realm, there have been times when the guardian never showed up at all, and times when it caused rampages.
It is believed that over-gathering resources and mindlessly killing inhabitants of the realm are the main ways in which it can be provoked into taking action.
Although many are quite interested in the guardian, the secret realm is only used to train juniors and offer them opportunities, whilst also scoring some resources. There is also the worry that slaying the guardian could potentially destabilise the realm itself, which would be a tremendous loss.
‘This realm is quite interesting…’ Shu had not found any information about the guardian, it seemed like the previous disciples who had entered it had been told not to speak of it, or perhaps it had simply been a long time since it had last needed to show up.
Thus, no one in the last few openings had even seen it, and with fifty-year gaps in between, whispers of the guardian simply died down naturally.
Edrick stashed everything away, only pausing to inspect the Lodestone. That item was quite the wonder, if it was truly capable of achieving what Haoyu said it could, then Anoteros could potentially not only gain from it himself, but also rack up a great achievement for the Elt family.
For now, though, he placed it with the rest.
It was time to go pay his first visit to Jania Oie…