Chapter 93: Secret Alchemy Room

Jess advanced along the high slope all the way towards the mine. After reaching near the mining town, he observed this settlement from a high place for a while.

This place is said to be a mining town, but in fact it's not much larger than that fishing village. There are only a few houses and a main road leading to the mine.

After confirming that there were no living things inside, he entered the village and searched every room to see if there was anything useful.

"Don't follow me all the time." He looked at the imp at his feet and said, "Look around. If you see anything unusual, like metal... money, paper, or anything useful, collect it and bring it to me."

The imp shouted "Understood" and darted out. In the sunlight, this little guy was not very conspicuous among the weeds everywhere.

After saying that, Jess felt like he was scavenging. But what else could he do now? If he couldn't find Kingsblood, then he should find as many useful things as possible to take back and exchange for money and buy some materials to make mana potions.

Since Ursula was willing to help him make it for free, buying just the materials should not be so expensive.

From afternoon to afternoon, the most valuable thing Jess and Thael'no found was a broken pocket watch. The hands were no longer moving, and the glass on the surface was also cracked.

Jess didn't know how much pocket watches sold for in Stormwind City. Because people who had pocket watches were either nobles, merchants, or those scholars. It seemed like a very expensive thing. He didn't know if this pocket watch could be repaired. After wiping off the dust on it, he stuffed it into his bag.

The sky was getting darker and darker. Jess looked at the lonely cave not far away and asked Thael'no, "Do you want to go in and take a look?"

"Do you want to go in and take a look?" The imp repeated.

"I'm asking you!"

"Obey the master's command!"

Jess sighed helplessly and said, "Okay, you go in invisibly and explore. If you encounter anything suspicious, useful, or dangerous, come out and tell me."

"Understood!"

After saying that, the imp rushed towards the cave entrance and disappeared into a ball of arcane light halfway.

Jess sat on the doorstep of a nearby door and looked at the cave entrance, waiting for the imp to come out. While waiting, he recalled the battle last night.

The spell that the Naga cast at the very beginning... Jess still remembered it.

Anunigi, Durzala, Kana.

He didn't remember the first one yet, but the second time, he was very impressed.

He still remembered the effect of this spell. It made him so weak that he could hardly stand up. Even doing some very simple actions was very difficult. Was this a Weakness spell? It didn't sound like demon language. Instead, it sounded like elven language.

Could it be the magic improved by those Nagas? This was undoubtedly shadow magic. After all, the subsequent effects could be reduced by using shadow protection potions.

Jess softly recited, "Anunigi, Durzala, Kana."

Nothing happened. Of course, he had no target and didn't make any casting gestures.

He could imitate the pronunciation of that Naga, but he couldn't imitate the casting gestures of the Naga.

Because Nagas had four hands, and each hand had an action when casting spells.

Jess silently recited this spell. He didn't have pen and paper now, so he could only rely on his memory to remember this spell.

In any case, this spell was too important. If he could master the original text of the spell, he might be able to deal with some powerful warrior enemies who could resist the Fear spell.

As he was reciting, the sky had begun to turn dark.

Why hadn't the imp come out yet? Did it die inside?

Jess didn't remember what the summoning spell for the imp was because it was really too long. He rummaged through his bag, found the note where he had written down the summoning spell and the strangle spell, and then looked at the cave entrance again.

Jess took the stick on his back and held it steady, planning to try summoning. After all, he didn't intend to go deep into that cave by himself. He didn't have phase shift. If he encountered something blocking inside, it would mean death.

Just as he was about to start reciting, suddenly he saw a spark in the cave.

The spark became brighter and brighter... It was Thael'no!

Thael'no hopped out while dragging a torn sack.

"Master! Master! Help!"

"Help?!"

Jess ran over, grabbed the imp, and took the torn bag. Only then did he hear a wild roar from inside the cave... This roar was all too familiar to him.

Gnolls!

He stuffed the imp into the warlock's bag and turned around to run. After a while, fire flashed from inside the cave, and a gnoll covered in fire rushed out.

"Don't run... little thing!"

The gnoll shouted in awkward Common. Jess took off running towards the distance.

Those gnolls' short legs naturally couldn't compare to his. As a worker who had been practicing long-distance running in Stormwind City all year round, even with several bags on his back, he was faster. Soon, he opened up a distance.

Although those gnolls were not good at running, they were quite persistent. After chasing for more than ten minutes, Jess was almost out of breath. Finally, they disappeared from sight. Jess didn't know where he had run to. He randomly found a stone and lay down, putting his bag aside. Only then did the imp stick his head out.

"What... did you take?" he asked.

"See for yourself!" The imp excitedly jumped out of the bag and said, "The master will definitely be satisfied!"

Jess opened the torn bag and found a large bundle of already dried herbs!

There were some unknown herbs, and below there were also several bunches of Kingsblood, almost exactly the same as the potted plant raised by Fabron's wife.

No wonder it was said that there were many herbs around, but not a single one could be found. It turned out that they had all been taken away by the gnolls hidden inside.

But why were there gnolls in this mine when Fabron said he had never seen any here?

"How many gnolls are there inside?" Jess asked the imp, "Did you look carefully?"

"At least a dozen! They are all huddled up in the deepest part. They have an alchemy room inside, master!" Thael'no added, "A very crude alchemy room. Those gnolls are constantly brewing potions inside. There are also many, many murloc corpses!"

Murloc corpses?

Before Jess could think carefully, the imp excitedly said, "Several gnolls are brewing potions in several pots. It feels like those gnolls are almost suffocating! I sneaked into the room where they put the herbs, randomly took a light bag and escaped. You don't know how many there are! Piled up together... it feels stinky!"

This torn bag did indeed have a faint smell like urine, extremely unpleasant. After Jess opened the bag, the smell inside was far worse than outside.

This wasn't the dirty smell of gnolls, but the smell emitted by one of the herbs.

He had a vague feeling that the gnolls in this cave might be secretly making something, so they never went out and didn't harass the surrounding farms in order not to attract the attention of Sentinel Hill or even Westfall Keep.

Those corpses... Did it mean they were testing some kind of poison? Did the gnolls start a war with the murlocs, or did they have other plans?

Jess alone definitely couldn't destroy this lair. The medicine in this bag must be quickly found someone to identify what exactly it is and see what potions these herbs can be made into.