Chapter 78

"Damn!" A mouthful of saliva, tinged with blood, was spat by Sain onto Kroeb's already somewhat shriveled head.

After expending a great deal of effort, Sain's harvest was just half a broken magic wand.

Kroeb's magic wand seemed to be a bit more advanced than Sain's Acidic Cane.

The magical inscriptions carved on it far exceeded those on Sain's Acidic Cane.

It was unclear whether it had reached the level of a formal magic device, but unfortunately, it was a broken and damaged piece.

From the chest down, Kroeb's body was completely gone, and he had only one arm left. No wonder Sain found nothing of value.

Only a black, dirty spine, connected to some broken flesh, was presented before Sain.

Quasi-Black Mage Kroeb's fate could be considered his own doing.

After expending a great deal of effort with little to show for it, Sain wanted to vent his frustration.

He raised the half-broken magic wand in his hand, about to throw it away.

At the last moment, he pulled back.

At least it was a partial harvest, and the material of the magic wand was good.

Even if it seemed useless, using it as a digging tool instead of the Acidic Cane might not be bad.

Sighing lightly, Sain continued to search the area.

He really wanted to explore the central depths of this sand valley, but the subconscious warning of danger told him it was best not to do so until his injuries were fully recovered.

...

Over the next three days of searching, Sain discovered the remains of over a dozen apprentices.

Most of these remains were buried under the sand and had lost all signs of life. Sain had not found any other living beings besides himself.

Eroded by the sand, or possibly affected by the intense energy waves from the previous chaos, Sain collected quite a few mid- and low-level magic items, but most of them were already damaged and of little value.

A limited number were still barely usable, but the internal elemental loss was severe, and it was uncertain whether Sain could repair them.

Aside from the "junk" he collected, Sain's own losses were also significant.

Not only were his injuries, but the pale mask he always wore on his face was now useless.

The reason he didn't throw it away was that this low-level magic item was the first piece of magic equipment he had personally obtained.

Like the Acidic Cane, it held a certain significance for Sain.

If possible, Sain wanted to try to repair it in the future.

The elemental pearls, which were important for Sain's return to the Dark Realm, he collected a total of seven.

This number was clearly insufficient to activate the grip, but he could no longer find more apprentice remains.

To find more apprentice remains and to resolve the lingering doubts in his mind, after his body and magic power had mostly recovered, Sain slowly made his way to the central depths of the sand valley.

"The Earth Elemental Shield Ring has some wear, but fortunately, the Invisibility Cloak seems undamaged." As he headed towards the unknown center of the sand valley, Sain activated this high-level magic item.

The terrain of this sand valley was quite unique, funnel-shaped, so Sain, at the bottom of the valley, had not felt too much heat over the past few days, as sunlight rarely reached here.

As Sain continued to move deeper into the center of the sand valley, his elevation gradually decreased.

The sound of fine sand flowing could be heard, and when Sain reached the very bottom of the sand valley, he even felt a long-missed sense of coolness.

Perhaps "cool" was not the right word, as Sain's body was now icy cold.

Before him, an uncountable number of yellow worms, densely packed, were writhing in the sand.

These entirely yellow worms were not any of the species Sain had seen before.

Despite their seemingly flexible and smooth bodies, what was chilling was that these worms had a pair of backward-facing fangs at both ends of their bodies.

These worms were feeding.

The nutrient-poor, dry sand was their food!

Ranging from less than ten centimeters to several meters in length, these worms' bodies showed an exaggerated growth potential.

This was just what Sain could see with his naked eye; deeper in the worm sea, there might be even larger giant worms.

"Sandworms" was the name Sain gave to these creatures, as they fed on sand, and he was currently in a world of sand.

However, it was clear that these sandworms did not feed solely on sand.

Beside the writhing mass of sandworms, Sain saw some scattered black magic robes.

These were the standard magic robes of the Black Magic Academy of Menzoberranyr, and the absence of apprentice corpses and flesh indicated where they had gone.

But after his body turned cold, what quickly restored Sain's body temperature was the sight of roughly twenty to thirty red elemental pearls scattered near the broken magic robes.

These elemental pearls seemed undigestible by the sandworms.

The sticky saliva in the sandworms' mouths could melt fabric and sand, but for some reason, they had no interest in the elemental pearls.

Sain, feeling a surge of excitement, wanted to rush over and grab those elemental pearls immediately.

However, before he could act, a giant sandworm, over ten meters long and clearly the king of the surrounding sandworms, emerged from the writhing mass.

Even more chilling was that this giant sandworm, upon appearing, immediately crawled straight toward Sain's position.

Its massive mouth, sharp fangs, and enormous size were enough to swallow Sain whole.

Moreover, this giant sandworm was not alone; as it crawled toward Sain, it was accompanied by countless small sandworms and two medium-sized sandworms, one three meters long and the other four meters long.

"Can these sandworms see through my Invisibility Cloak?" Sain was startled.

As the giant sandworm led its kin away from the sand pit, Sain noticed that there was more to the sand pit.

It was a vast underground space, and the sandworms below seemed even more numerous.

There might be even more powerful creatures among them. Seeing the imminent danger, Sain turned and ran without hesitation.

Brash actions were not Sain's style; excellent mages often won through wisdom.

Even during the low-level apprentice stage, when he killed the saltwater crocodile, it was the result of multiple considerations and mental simulations.

Faced with these sandworms of unknown depth and number, Sain needed to think carefully.

As Sain quickly left, the sandworms' pursuit slowed.

It was clear that although the sandworms could seemingly see through Sain's invisibility, their hunting range was not very far.

So, how did they detect Sain?

By smell, temperature, or the elemental power within his body?