After leaving the Stone Forest, Ian plunged headfirst into a range of rolling, grayish-white mountains.

The moment he entered, he felt an atmosphere completely different from the area around the Furnace encampment.

The air was filled with a chaotic torrent of raw, unpurified Magic Power, mingled with the scents of sulfur, humus, and a certain indescribable, sickeningly sweet odor.

’Poisonous Miasma!’ Ian grew vigilant. He placed a Limit-Breaking Edition of a Basic Antidote Potion in his mouth but didn’t swallow it.

The map of this area was almost blank, which meant that either no Wizard Apprentices had ever set foot here, or those who did had failed to bring back any detailed information.

The mountain terrain was extremely complex. Steep rock faces were everywhere, and bottomless Rifts, like wounds upon the Earth, emanated a cold, sinister aura. Large clouds of Poisonous Miasma drifted out from these fissures, spreading with the wind.

Strange, gnarled trees grew everywhere, looking nothing like ordinary plants. Their bark was a dark purple, and the edges of their leaves shimmered with a cold, metallic light.

Occasionally, they would move without any wind, making a metallic DING DING sound, as if they were whispering to each other.

Ian’s Eye of Vigilance was far less effective here. The dense, suppressive Magic Power in the environment had reduced its detection range by more than half.

Moreover, the image it produced was frequently distorted, becoming blurry and indistinct.

He didn’t dare to be the least bit careless. Focusing his Spiritual Power to its absolute limit, he moved like the most alert nocturnal animal, each step taken with extreme caution.

His gray robes, stained with dust and plant sap, blended in perfectly with his surroundings.

’I have to get through this area as quickly as possible and find a relatively safe zone.’

However, the dangers of this unknown region far exceeded his expectations.

On his second day in the mountains, as he was following a dry riverbed in search of a gentler path, danger struck without warning.

The riverbed was flanked by soft rock walls riddled with small, grayish-white holes.

At first, there was just a rustling sound, like pebbles sliding down.

But Ian’s powerful Perception immediately caught the anomaly. The sound was too dense and had a certain rhythm to it.

He stopped abruptly. His Eye of Vigilance strained to pierce through the interference from the rock walls, and he vaguely "saw" what was inside.

Countless long, thin shadows, like magnified centipedes, were squirming rapidly, converging in his direction!

The color of their Shells was nearly the same grayish-white as the Rock. As their mandibles opened and closed, drops of pale green acidic saliva dripped out, making the Rock sizzle.

’Rock-Rift Corruption Worms... Gregarious Demonic Creatures. Individually, their Power isn’t great, but their numbers...’

Ian’s heart tightened as the scattered records from *Anoraya Continent Structure* flashed through his mind.

These creatures were extremely sensitive to vibrations and the aura of living things, and they were highly aggressive.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he abandoned the idea of a silent retreat. It was too late.

The swarm had already locked onto his position.

His mind raced. Raising a hand, he instantaneously fired two deep blue rays. He didn’t attack the swarm, but instead shot at the base of the rock walls to his left and right.

An intensely cold aura erupted. With a CRACK, a thick layer of ice rapidly covered the surface of the rock walls, temporarily blocking the two nearest hive entrances and slowing the swarm’s advance.

But from countless more holes, grayish-white figures poured out like a tide, a dense mass that instantly covered nearly half the riverbed.

The rustling grew louder and louder, merging into a wave of noise that set one’s teeth on edge.

Ian turned and ran, pushing his speed to the limit. At the same time, his mind worked without pause, continuously creating Frost Freeze Rays behind him that shot toward the ground.

Frost rapidly spread across the ground, freezing the foremost Insects solid and forming a frozen zone that hindered the swarm’s pursuit.

But the swarm behind them immediately surged forward, either corroding the ice with acid or shattering it with their bodies. Their speed only slowed slightly.

The continuous use of Instantaneous Witchcraft was a significant drain on Ian’s Spiritual Power. He pulled a Meditation Potion from his Ring, swallowed it, and began to recover his energy.

Just as he was about to shake off the swarm, a patch of seemingly inconspicuous red moss at a bend in the riverbed ahead suddenly swelled.

Like a living creature, it shot up from the ground, unfurling several sucker-covered, tentacle-like hyphae that flew toward Ian with a foul stench, attempting to engulf him.

’Bloodthirsty Mushroom Carpet!’ Ian’s pupils constricted. There were even fewer records of this thing. All he knew was that it had a powerful paralyzing and blood-sucking ability and often lurked in the shadows to ambush its prey.

A sharp glint appeared in Ian’s eyes. As he ran, he forcefully twisted his body, dodging the hyphae’s attack.

At the same time, he raised his left hand. This time, it wasn’t a Frost Freeze Ray, but a dazzling, bright white light.

"TCHHH..."

A highly condensed ray of bright white light, like a red-hot iron poker, precisely struck the dark-red, fleshy nodule bulging in the center of the mushroom carpet.

The terrifying heat instantly pierced and carbonized it!

The mushroom carpet let out a sharp, psychic screech. All its hyphae convulsed violently, shriveling up and quickly withering into blackness, releasing a foul, burnt odor.

After finishing off the obstacle in one blow, Ian didn’t slow down. He skirted around the withered mushroom carpet without delay and continued to sprint forward.

The swarm behind him seemed wary of the Bloodthirsty Mushroom Carpet’s scent. They lingered near it for a moment, and their pursuit slowed noticeably.

Ian sprinted for several more miles until he could no longer hear the hissing of the swarm, finally stopping to lean against a large boulder.

He checked his Spiritual Power. He had just cast more than fifty Witchcraft spells in a row. Although he had taken a Meditation Potion, the recovery wasn’t immediate; it still took time.

’This is just the outer edge of the mountains. If I didn’t have Instantaneous Witchcraft, a normal Apprentice would have had a hard time escaping that.’

A chill ran through Ian’s heart. He finally understood the meaning of the blank space on the map.

There were no fixed enemies here, but the ever-present dangers of the environment and the corrupted creatures could each be lethal.

After resting for a moment, he didn’t dare to linger. He got his bearings and continued deeper into the mountains.

For the rest of the journey, he was even more cautious, doing his best to avoid any terrain and plants that looked particularly strange.

However, danger always arrived when least expected.

On the third day, in an area filled with rugged stone pillars, he encountered a truly top-tier Demonic Creature: a Shadow Claw Mountain Cat.

The creature was the size of a leopard but leaner and more agile. Its fur was a perfect rock-gray, covered in distorted Shadow patterns.

It lurked in the shadows of the stone pillars, blending in almost perfectly with the background. It didn’t hunt by sight but by sensing its prey through a unique form of Spiritual Fluctuation.

Even Ian’s Eye of Vigilance failed to detect it beforehand. He only realized it was there when a cold, murderous intent locked onto him.

A blurry gray shadow pounced silently from the top of a stone pillar to his side, leaving only an afterimage on Ian’s retina.

Its sharp claws, letting out a shriek as they tore through the air, went straight for his throat.

At the moment of life and death, Ian’s formidable Physique and combat instincts saved him once again.

He fell backward almost purely on instinct. At the same time, his Crystal Energy Barrier activated reflexively.

"VMMMM!"

A crystalline Energy Shield instantly materialized in front of him.

CLANG! A piercing screech of friction rang out as the Shadow Claw Mountain Cat’s claws scraped viciously against the Shield, sending up a shower of brilliant sparks.

The Shield fluctuated violently, but its "Reorganization" effect allowed it to automatically adjust its structure at the moment of impact, dispersing the force and preventing it from shattering.

Its first strike having failed, the mountain cat used the recoil to leap nimbly away, landing more than ten meters off.

Its amber, vertical pupils stared coldly at Ian as it let out a low growl.

Ian broke out in a cold sweat. ’That beast’s speed and Concealment abilities are too damn strong!’

"Your ambush failed. Now, it’s my turn!"