Li Wei looked down upon the battlefield.

’What everyone else called a trap could also be an opportunity.’

Li Wei flew toward the volcano’s crater.

The Lava Giant was relentlessly pressing the three Mages, smashing the Fire Elemental Elves again and again.

The Fire Elemental Elves’ recovery speed had slowed considerably.

Russell and the other two were also thinking of retreating.

There was little point in continuing the stalemate.

It would be better to give up and hunt some other, weaker Magic Beasts.

They needed to accumulate Points.

By choosing to hunt the Lava Giant, they had already fallen a step behind everyone else.

They had to get back on track quickly to catch up.

Suddenly, the Lava Giant whipped its head around and looked into the volcano.

Without hesitation, the Lava Giant gave up its pursuit of the three Mages and turned to walk back into the volcano.

By this time, Li Wei had already flown into the crater and reached the Magma Lake.

He was looking for something he had seen before.

During the second round, he had reached the edge of the Magma Lake and seen a mysterious treasure inside.

With the Lava Giant lured away, he seized the opportunity to sneak toward the Lava Lake.

There, over the Lava Lake, he discovered a Fireball floating in mid-air.

Tiny, fragmented Fire Element Crystals constantly fell from above the Fireball.

They looked just like sparks.

A look of bewilderment crossed Li Wei’s face. ’What is this thing?’

His Spiritual Perception detected an astonishing amount of Fire Element within the Fireball.

This Fireball was the source of the Fire Element Crystals condensing in the air.

Li Wei tried to get closer but found the area around the Fireball to be incredibly scorching.

Even with his Invisible Armor, he couldn’t bear it.

The Invisible Armor couldn’t block all the heat.

’This is definitely a rare Fire Element Treasure!’

’How can I take it?’

Li Wei’s mind raced.

He glanced around and saw chunks of unmeltable Lava floating in the Magma.

A flash of inspiration struck him.

He carefully used his Object Control Skill to lift the chunks of Lava from the Magma.

Under the control of the skill, several chunks of Lava moved toward the mid-air Fireball and enveloped it.

As the chunks of Lava enclosed the Fireball, the heat around it instantly dropped.

Even the unmeltable chunks of Lava began to give off wisps of smoke.

The heat continuously burned away the Mana Li Wei had layered over them.

Li Wei quickly consumed more Mana to maintain the Object Control Skill.

He lifted the Lava-encased Fireball and started to drag it out of the crater.

Suddenly, the heavy sound of something tearing through the air came from behind him.

A massive meteor of lava shot toward him.

Controlling the Lava-encased Fireball, Li Wei couldn’t dodge in time.

With a deafening BOOM...

five layers of Li Wei’s Invisible Armor shattered instantly.

He was sent flying back more than twenty meters.

In that instant, Li Wei was completely stunned by the blow.

He lost control of the chunks of Lava.

The chunks of Lava fell and scattered, and scorching rays of firelight shot out from the gaps between them.

It was like a dust-covered Sun reappearing.

Suddenly, the scattered chunks of Lava once again enveloped the "Sun."

Li Wei fought through the discomfort, flew up, and grasped the Fireball from a distance, soaring toward the sky.

The Lava Giant let out a furious roar.

Lava Fire Rain!

A massive amount of firelight erupted from the Lava Giant’s body.

Countless streams of firelight formed a giant net, attempting to envelop Li Wei and trap him completely.

A small Fireball appeared beneath Li Wei’s feet.

BANG!

The small Fireball exploded, providing a burst of acceleration.

Li Wei shot upward, dodging the fire rain shooting up from below.

The fire rain didn’t have enough range to reach him.

The Lava Giant could only watch helplessly as Li Wei made off with its most precious treasure.

"RAAAAGH!"

The Lava Giant went berserk in the Magma Lake, creating massive waves of fire.

GLUG GLUG GLUG!

Suddenly, a large number of bubbles began to surface in the Magma Lake.

Immediately after, thick smoke billowed out, a black plume rising straight into the sky.

Li Wei quickly moved away from the crater to avoid being suffocated by the smoke.

As the Fireball moved farther from the crater, its temperature steadily dropped.

Li Wei discovered that the Fireball’s temperature seemed to be related to the concentration of Fire Element in the surrounding area.

The higher the concentration of Fire Element, the higher the Fireball’s temperature.

By the time he carried the Fireball to the edge of the volcano, its temperature had dropped to the point where it no longer needed the chunks of Lava as an enclosure.

The flames dissipated, revealing the Fireball’s true form.

Seeing the translucent, brilliant red pearl before him, Li Wei’s face filled with astonishment.

’A Fire Spirit Pearl?’

’It’s actually a Fire Spirit Pearl!’

Li Wei was overjoyed.

For a Fire Element Mage, the value of a Fire Spirit Pearl was likely no less than that of an Elf Spring.

While Li Wei was ecstatic about obtaining the Fire Spirit Pearl...

...the audience outside the arena erupted.

"Holy shit, there was a Fire Spirit Pearl in there!"

"For a Fire Element Mage below Tier Three, a Fire Spirit Pearl is probably even more valuable than an Elf Spring!"

"Who is that Armored Man in real life? I want to buy that Fire Spirit Pearl!"

"Was the Fire Spirit Pearl an extra prize placed by the Mage Association?"

"I don’t think so. The overall value of a Fire Spirit Pearl is slightly lower than an Elf Spring, but it’s still extremely precious. They wouldn’t just place it in a Secret Realm as a prize."

"Then there’s only one possibility: this is a naturally formed Fire Spirit Pearl from within the Secret Realm!"

"That’s very likely. Fire Spirit Pearls usually form in places with a high concentration of Fire Element."

"The Secret Realm is a sealed space, and it just so happens to have accumulated a massive amount of Fire Element. Over a long period, the trapped Fire Element formed this rare Fire Spirit Pearl."

"Dammit! Why don’t I ever have luck like that?"

"The Armored Man!" Nick’s face darkened.

Li Wei glanced up at the sky and quickly stored the Fire Spirit Pearl in his Spatial Ring.

’This is trouble. Now everyone probably knows I got the Fire Spirit Pearl.’

’But it’s a good thing I’ve hidden my true identity.’

’As for Torresta... it should be fine.’

A Fire Spirit Pearl is very precious to a Fire Element Mage.

But for Torresta, who was already a Grand Mage, it was merely so-so.

What’s more, Torresta was the master of a Mage Tower.

Li Wei instinctively considered the worst-case scenario.

He wasn’t a pessimist, just cautious.

After putting away the Fire Spirit Pearl, Li Wei noticed something was wrong with the volcano behind him.

The thick smoke from the crater was growing denser.

Standing at the foot of the mountain, he could see many Fire Element Magical Beasts already starting to flee the volcano.

The Fire Element Magical Beasts also sensed the danger.

They were reacting in advance.

Magic Beasts possess an innate Danger Perception, a natural instinct to seek fortune and avoid disaster.

They often perceive impending danger more easily than humans.

RUMBLE! BOOM!

With a deep, thunderous noise, a blast of fire erupted from the volcano’s crater.

Immediately after, huge amounts of thick smoke and volcanic ash shot into the sky and began to rain down.

The sky filled with black ash.

Magma gushed out, and countless lava meteors were flung into the air.

Their power and scale were far beyond anything the Lava Giant could compare to.

The two weren’t even in the same league.

Li Wei looked up to see the entire sky stained black by volcanic ash.

Flames burned within the black clouds.

Countless fire meteors rained down from the sky.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

RUMBLE!

The power of a single one of these fire meteors was comparable to a Tier One Fireball Technique.

At that moment, hundreds, even thousands, of fire meteors were falling from the sky.

It was a scene straight out of an apocalypse.