Taking Gauss with them, they walked for half a day, only to find it was a wasted trip.
"Now it’s gone."
Although he hadn’t explored the area last time due to safety concerns, actually finding it gone made him feel a bit regretful.
This is the maze, where danger and opportunity coexist, and opportunities, once missed, may never return.
Seeing Serdur’s embarrassed expression, Gauss instead smiled and tiptoed to pat him on the shoulder.
"It’s fine. Even if it was here, we probably wouldn’t have explored it. Besides, we didn’t waste time; we were supposed to pick a direction at random anyway."
"Hmm."
Gauss opened the map, and the exploration of the second layer was still not very thorough.
The second layer, compared to the first, is more dangerous with a complex terrain; the passages are winding like a labyrinth, and aside from the horizontal intersections, sometimes there are vertical ones.
After searching around, the three did not linger and continued to move forward.
"Gauss, there’s a corpse here."
Aaliyah suddenly stepped on something, and when she used the tip of her wooden staff to push aside the phosphorescent, thick moss and tangled vines, a faint scent of decay mixed with earth and strange plant fragrances slowly leaked out.
A naked male body was suddenly exposed to them.
"It’s an adventurer!"
Aaliyah was startled.
Due to the abnormal growth rate of the plants on the second layer of the maze, the body had nearly integrated with the environment.
A layer of sticky, translucent white substance clung tightly to most of the body, like a special mold layer, glowing with a faint, moss-like ominous green phosphorescence, making the body look as if it were part of this luminescent moss forest.
On the waist, at a certain smooth wound, a crowded scene revealed countless tiny maggots restlessly writhing and burrowing inside.
They appeared like a living, shifting layer of rice grains, covering the entire body, especially around the mouth, nose, eye sockets, and ear canals.
The eye sockets were particularly horrifying; the eyes were gone, only two deep black hollows filled with white maggots remained.
"Something’s not right."
Gauss glanced at the body and then scanned the environment, noticing something peculiar.
The body was relatively intact with no signs of being torn apart by large beasts or animals.
"Where are his teammates?"
As a rule, those entering the second layer of the maze are usually teams.
The three searched around for a while and soon found three more covered bodies under the glowing moss and vines.
Four in total, two men and two women, without any clothing or gear, unusually clean.
"Someone killed them." Aaliyah also understood something.
This act doesn’t seem to be the work of a demon in the maze.
If it were truly a demon, it wouldn’t bother to strip their gear and clothing, and the bodies wouldn’t be so intact; they’d likely be eaten as food.
While aware of the dangerous nature of the maze, the scene before them still weighed heavily on Gauss’s heart, with a sorrowful reflection.
Perhaps they never imagined they would die here.
The seemingly strong professionals in the eyes of the ordinary people had quietly perished in the maze, and if it weren’t for the three stumbling upon them, by the time their bodies decomposed entirely into the maze, they would vanish from the world without a trace.
So pitiful...
"Be cautious of strangers."
Even if it’s unclear whether the people before them met their end through accidental conflict or premeditated murder, caution is warranted.
The maze holds danger not only from demons but even more so from fellow human adventurers.
...
Half a day passed in the blink of an eye.
The phosphorescence in the air gradually dimmed.
Gauss and the others found a slightly spacious place to set up camp.
The Light Spell, Alarm Spell, and snake and insect repellent powder were all arranged.
Having completed his tasks, Gauss finally had time to look at the Adventurer’s Handbook.
In the afternoon, he recorded his 33rd Ordinary Monster in the Monster Atlas, drawing closer to the goal of collecting 50 types.
As fate would have it, the materials from this 33rd monster were exactly what he needed.
[Fungi Core Beetle]
Another beetle creature, but unlike the morning’s Corrosive Beetle, they carry luminescent fungal spheres on their backs, which swell explosively to release toxic spores and shockwaves when attacked or near death.
Considering that the materials might be useful for Clay Magic in the future, he took extra effort to quickly slay the Fungi Core Beetles, preserving the explosive fungal spheres on their backs.
Though the blast radius of a single sphere is limited, collectively, they hold considerable power.
Speaking of Clay Magic,
His proficiency had quietly reached 9/10.
Tonight, we should be able to smoothly break through and start the next phase of research and practice.
After finishing dinner.
The three of them set up tents on the leveled ground.
"Today, I’ll take the first watch. I’ll call you when I’m tired."
Gauss volunteered.
With a slightly larger team, the watch duty could be rearranged.
The reason Gauss took the first watch was to keep practicing Clay Magic, hoping to push through to level 2 in one go, so he wouldn’t have to worry about it during sleep.
"Then thank you for your hard work."
Aaliyah yawned and walked towards her tent.
After a day of traveling, she was also a bit tired. Practicing her wild transformation drained quite a bit of her energy and strength.
Serdur was still in good spirits.
He sat by the campfire with Gauss for a while.
Without speaking to disturb him, Serdur watched with interest as Gauss practiced Clay Magic, observing the small lump of white clay changing shapes in Gauss’ hands.
Suddenly, Serdur saw a trace of joy flash across Gauss’ face.
"Succeeded."
Gauss glanced at the panel.
Sure enough, there was a change in the skill column.
2nd Ring Spell [Shaping Magic · Clay] lv2 (0/20)
After the proficiency increased from lv1 to lv2, Gauss felt a noticeable difference in the clay in his hands.
It no longer seemed like a cold lump of earth but more like a small moving life form.
With a spark of thought, the clay figure in his hand quickly became more upright.
The once coarse snake tail now revealed relatively fine scales, and even the face held a resemblance to Serdur’s features.
"Does it look like you, Serdur?" Gauss handed the clay figure to the Half-Snake Man.
Serdur took it, looking at the wobbly little snake-man in his hand.
"A bit."
"I did my best." Gauss sighed.
Even though he had advanced to level 2, there were still flaws in his work. It wasn’t the skill proficiency that held him back; it was Gauss’ artistic ability.
"Is this for me?" Serdur looked closely at it, then turned to Gauss.
"Yes. If you like it, you can keep it." Gauss was still a bit dejected.
He felt his dream of starting an Otherworld figurine company was dashed.
Previously clumsy and rough, it still transformed to a delicately clumsy state.
Serdur placed the clay figure close to the campfire, using the warmth to harden it. Satisfied with the solid hardness he felt under his fingers, he smiled.
"I’ll go rest then, Captain. Remember to call me if you get tired."
Serdur carefully stowed away the clay figure, greeted Gauss, then crawled into his tent.
In the dark environment, besides the campfire and stones used for light spells, Gauss was the only one continuing to practice Clay Magic.
He used the Mage’s Hand to catch a few mosquitoes.
Then, pinching off their wings, a lump of clay wiggled over, and after a moment.
The clay, like a giant beast, opened a gaping maw and devoured the mosquitoes that had lost their mobility.
"Hmm?"
While using the clay to kill the mosquitoes, Gauss faintly sensed a special, tiny presence nearby.
It wasn’t material, nor was it energy, but something very peculiar.
Is this spirit?
Thinking about the content felt from the spell model, Gauss murmured to himself.
But it’s too little.
Gauss looked into the distance at the mosquitoes flying in the sky, the corners of his mouth slightly lifting.
Soon, there were more and more mosquito-shaped spirits around him.
Feeling it was sufficient, he stopped the slaughter of mosquitoes.
He closed his eyes.
Soon, the clay was wriggling, producing new changes.