Valley of Bewilderment

"I can't shake the feeling that my luck is especially good today. Could I be about to draw a second 9th-circle spell?" Cassius stared fixedly at the panel as it prepared to refresh, his pale golden eyes brimming with greed and anticipation. What kind of spell would he receive? He held his breath once more. Finally, beneath the red dragon's eager gaze, new information materialized across the panel. Yet the instant his eyes swept over the first line of text, Cassius's draconic expression darkened considerably. [You have acquired the 1st-Circle Draconic Spell—Dragon Spit] Dragon Spit 1st-Circle Evocation A dragon activating this spell can spit beads of the same material as its breath weapon: a red dragon expels spheres of flame, a blue dragon expels ball lightning, a green dragon expels spheres of gas, and so forth. These beads, known as "dragon spit," can be used as exceptionally precious magical reagents, or thrown to produce an effect similar to a breath attack. Those glaring words—"1st-Circle"—made Cassius feel a profound surge of malice from the world, not to mention sheer insult. A single glance at the spell description told him everything. This was undeniably the work of some coin-obsessed True Dragon Sorcerer who hadn't hesitated to bottle their own saliva as enchanted trinkets just to hawk for gold. The True Dragon Sorcerer spell list contained quite a few spells of this sort. They were usually bizarre tricks engineered to make money, stash money, or outright swindle money—an immaculate crystallization of a true dragon's boundless greed for treasure. Native true dragons might have showered such magic with high praise, but Cassius had only a scathing assessment for it: Pool-polluting trash. Nothing but pure gacha pool pollution. As the Emperor of the Cinder Empire, ruler of the entire Great Anzetta Waste, and a major shareholder in enterprises like the Claudeus Military Industries Group, the Imperial South Continent Trading Company, and the Cinder Textile Company, Cassius hauled in tens of thousands of gold coins on any given day. To put it bluntly, with his current wealth, stopping to pick up a single gold piece off the floor was an utter waste of his time. Much less spending time churning out so-called "dragon spit." Yet casting a 1st-circle spell, even one freshly learned, was child's play for the Cassius of today. With an air of dismissive disdain, he activated the spell, channeled a wisp of breath energy into it, and spat out several glossy, fiery red orbs in succession. Boom! Boom! Boom! He flung them into the distance, where violent explosions erupted. Because his own breath weapon was far more potent than that of an ordinary red dragon, these little beads detonated with the force of a 3rd- or 4th-circle spell. "Hardly of any use." Cassius gazed at the blast craters in the distance, speaking with visible impatience. At a tier above legendary, 3rd- and 4th-circle low-to-mid-tier spells amounted to little more than a scratch. Even upcasting offered negligible improvement. "Heh, might as well test the second spell." Cassius shook his head resignedly, closed his eyes, and began to concentrate. A 9th-circle spell spanning the abjuration and evocation schools was remarkably intricate, even when powered by a sorcerer's Charisma-based casting. Fortunately, Cassius had attained Caster Level 20, and his Charisma had broken past 32 points into a realm transcending mortals. His overall spellcasting prowess already outstripped the majority of legendary sorcerers. Within mere breaths, Cassius grasped every nuance of Dragon Absorption, unleashing the full weight of his reality-warping will. "In that case..." "Why not try full power?" Cassius slowly parted his jaws. With each inhalation, a maelstrom of energy coalesced within his cavernous maw, churning with increasing ferocity under the spell's guidance. Eventually, an energy vortex of breathtaking power opened deep in the red dragon's throat like a bottomless abyss, hungrily siphoning every scrap of magical energy in the surrounding area. A howling gale whipped across the terrain. Everything in the vicinity shrieked under the strain. Foliage withered as its vitality was stripped away; soil cracked as moisture was leeched; bounding insects collapsed into hollow husks; and even the residual fire elements clinging to the newly blasted craters were swallowed clean... The entire environment grew fragile and drained. All of that magical energy converged into Cassius's gullet. Gulp... A heavy swallowing sound resonated. Cassius converted the energy entirely into his own reserves, then opened his mouth once more to release it. A blinding flash burst from his throat. Boom! The fireball formed from the absorbed energy ignited wild brush fires all around, scattering ash everywhere and blasting a scorched crater over a dozen meters wide into the ground. And that was merely the result of devouring ordinary ambient energy. If Dragon Absorption were used to siphon high-circle spells, the resulting retaliation would be infinitely more terrifying. Yet that was only secondary. Far more crucially, this granted Cassius an entirely new method of counter-spelling—one that simultaneously bolstered his own energy reserves to mount immediate counterattacks. While few enemies could ever hope to outlast Cassius and his progenitor dragon heart in a war of attrition, becoming a perpetual motion machine in sustained combat only added another formidable trump card to his arsenal. "A thoroughly practical spell." Cassius surveyed the surrounding wreckage, finally feeling somewhat appeased after the irritation of drawing a 1st-circle spell. The red dragon shook his head. "Tsk. I got so caught up testing spells that I nearly forgot what I set out to do today." He turned his gaze into the distance. Drawing upon the combined power of the All-Seeing Eye and the Cataclysmic Dragon Eye, his vision pierced through layers of mountain ranges, spanning tens of li. "This should be the place..." "The Valley of Bewilderment." Nestled between two towering, precipitous peaks lay a deep, desolate valley shrouded in dense black forests, wrapped in a thin layer of clinging mist. A sudden gust swept past. It brought no rustle of leaves, but carried an eerie, disquieting wail. The Valley of Bewilderment. Known as a forbidden zone for the living, none who entered had ever returned. Legends held that false phantoms frequently manifested within the valley, projecting whatever a person's heart most deeply craved. Countless obsessed adventurers had ventured into the gorge because of this, only to sink into its illusions, never to emerge again. Only when the north wind blew did the aggrieved souls wandering the valley sense the outside world, giving voice to their low, mournful cries. With the passage of time, no one dared approach the area. Local residents often used the valley to frighten their children, discouraging them from wandering off. No one knew what truly lurked inside. Yet Cassius, armed with memories of his past life, knew full well—a lich resided within the Valley of Bewilderment. It had been one of the hidden bosses of the beleaguered Northlands in his previous life. This lich, having lain dormant for over a century, had nearly triggered an undead scourge that swept across the Principality of Carter and the entire Northlands, only to be thwarted by the players at the eleventh hour.