Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

An arrogant voice rang out:

"Stop! This path was opened by me. I got here first, so you have to...!"

*POW*

A branch smashed violently into that person’s face, cutting him off.

Priam pointed at him and cursed.

"Fuck off! Hand over your tablet and get out of here!"

Priam had been peacefully minding his own business when some random idiot jumped in front of him with an axe, intending to rob him.

The person took such a fast hit that he became dizzy and only regained his senses after a while.

When he came to, he looked at Priam in horror.

"You... you..."

He stammered for only a moment before frantically getting to his feet and trying to run away. As he ran, he repeatedly cursed his own stupidity.

He had only sensed Priam’s lower Magic level without seeing who it was, so he had been certain he could rob him. Instead, he had tried to rob the Demon King.

Priam snorted and moved swiftly. He put away the branch and directed his Ether precisely into his muscles and fists.

*BANG!*

He was physically far superior to this foolish youth. In less than five minutes of chasing him, he caught up and attacked.

It was a quick punch to the back of the neck, causing him to collapse and roll miserably across the ground.

A few seconds later, the young man roared in despair and threw away his white tablet. The moment he did, his body flashed and disappeared, being transported away.

Priam picked up his second tablet with a sigh. Honestly, he had no interest in bullying young people unless they attacked him first.

Without wasting time, Priam turned in a direction and continued walking along the mountain range. Along the way, he found some fruits growing on trees. He collected everything, since he would be staying in this place for seven days, and finding food was certainly part of the Trial.

After several minutes, his eyes suddenly lit up.

[Potential: High]

"It really is a Celestial Aconite!"

At the top of a rocky cliff stood a plant around thirty centimeters tall. It had a long green stem with seven brilliant bluish flowers surrounding it.

In the past, Priam had studied a bit of alchemy and knew all the finest herbs that existed on that planet. This particular herb was considered the best and rarest of them all. It was so difficult to find that alchemists suspected it had gone extinct.

His eyes shone.

The system could also evaluate anything that contained energy, just like loyalty. Remembering that there were seven levels: Terrible / Low / Neutral / High / Extremely High / Transcendent / Divine.

For a material originating from a planet in the mortal plane like his, being rated High was truly incredible.

"This one has seven flowers, and each contains a large amount of energy. I can use this Aconite several times."

Priam ran excitedly toward the treasure.

But suddenly, he sensed a serious threat and dodged to the side.

"!"

A massive python shot past him. If not for his quick reflexes, he would have been bitten.

"There’s a beast guarding it?"

Priam was surprised.

A moment later, he sighed at his own naivety, because it was obvious that something so valuable wouldn’t be left completely unprotected.

Carefully examining the python, he saw that it was about thirty centimeters thick, and its entire body was golden yellow. In fact, its scales looked as though they had been forged from gold.

Having missed its attack, it turned toward Priam and flicked its tongue threateningly.

Behind it was a cave hidden by a few low bushes. While climbing, Priam hadn’t been at the right angle to see it.

Priam swallowed nervously.

This was merely an ordinary beast found throughout the universes. Creatures like this didn’t possess great intelligence and couldn’t become Mages. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t pose a serious threat. Priam was still a beginner Mage, after all.

While Priam was thinking, the golden-scaled python lunged again like a bolt of lightning, attempting to bite him.

Its mouth opened almost to Priam’s height, revealing four long fangs and a translucent liquid dripping from them.

Fortunately, Priam had been taught by his mother, an exceptional hunter, how to deal with this kind of creature.

Without hesitation, his spatial ring flashed, and a fire pill appeared in his hand.

When the python was about to bite him, he threw the pill directly into its mouth and jumped back.

*BOOM!*

Flesh and blood sprayed everywhere as the beast’s head disappeared completely. The remaining half of its body began writhing violently.

Priam sighed.

His mother had made him buy all sorts of strange pills for emergencies before he went to the clan. This fire pill didn’t have much offensive power, but against beasts and in specific situations, it was absurdly useful because he could win without spending any energy.

Suddenly, Priam’s expression changed, and he kicked the corpse away.

When he saw that the Celestial Aconite was completely intact, he sighed in relief. It had nearly been crushed beneath the python’s body.

Carefully removing the dirt, he extracted the herb and sealed it with his Ether. His mother had also taught him how to harvest herbs from nature without losing their energy. In the end, he placed it inside a vial and stored it in his spatial ring.

He took a deep breath, turned around, and stored the python’s body as well. You never know when something like that might come in handy.

Then he continued forward, following a small stream between two mountains.

Priam knew that the most precious natural treasures were usually found near sources of water.

And naturally, the most dangerous beasts came as a bonus.

But after finding the Celestial Aconite, he was much more excited.

Following the flow of the water, the small stream gradually widened, and the water became calmer and calmer until it finally formed a small river.

After walking for another two hours, a loud roar came from ahead. As he approached, he saw a waterfall descending like a white ribbon. Millions of droplets sprayed into the air as the water crashed onto the rocks below. Under the dazzling sunlight, those droplets looked like pearls of incomparable beauty.

At the base of the waterfall was a natural pool about eight kilometers wide. The water was incredibly clear.

The waterfall was like a ribbon, while the pool reflected the surrounding mountains like a mirror, creating an absolutely enchanting sight. Priam was captivated by such beauty.

"Blood?"

Near the edge of the lake, he saw quite a bit of fresh red blood.

This time, he wasn’t reckless and didn’t blindly approach like before. First, he calmly analyzed the situation. Apparently, someone else hadn’t possessed the same intelligence.

Since there was no corpse and the blood wasn’t scattered chaotically, indicating a desperate escape, that person had most likely been seriously injured and expelled from the Trial.

"The danger is in the lake... but I don’t see any potential in the lake itself." Priam’s eyes lit up as he failed to detect anything. "That means the danger of the lake must be the treasure itself. Otherwise, the clan wouldn’t keep this here."

Priam had an idea.

He took a fruit he had collected earlier, made a small cut on his hand, and let a few drops of blood fall onto it. Then he tossed it into the lake.

The water rippled as a terrifying fish with two rows of razor-sharp teeth stealthily swam to the surface and viciously devoured the fruit.

[Potential: High]

"It looks like a killer piranha straight out of hell... I had no idea something like this existed, but it’s definitely another treasure!"

Looking at the water, his heart raced with excitement.

This piranha was a type of beast, and beasts possessed a unique natural energy of their own. The system could evaluate that.

Priam needed a new power rune, and now he had two treasures that could potentially result in something incredible.

This really was a wonderful place; treasures could be found everywhere.

He examined the lake and began to think.

"With a lake this deep, even if I make fishing nets, it’ll be extremely difficult to catch anything. Besides, these piranhas are probably incredibly fast swimmers. It’s simply not practical."

"A fishing rod isn’t a bad idea, but the efficiency of catching one fish at a time is too low. I can’t stay here forever. So... making some fish traps is a better option."

Priam decided to build a few fish cages. They were simple to make.

He took a deep breath, silently thanking his mother for everything she had taught him. As he grew up, she, being an expert in hunting and survival, had passed all her knowledge on to him.

When he was younger, he had already made similar objects, so he was familiar with the process. He had all the necessary materials. Thus, he tied together a bundle of sticks in the shape of a bucket, with the ends forming funnel-like entrances.

That way, the openings would be wide on the outside but narrow on the inside. Once the fish entered, it would be extremely difficult for them to find the exit, trapping them inside.

In less than an hour, Priam built two cages. As bait, he used pieces of the python from earlier.

Taking out two long ropes, he cut segments of about a hundred meters each. He tied one end to the cages, placed the bait inside them, and chose two spots to throw them into the water, securing the other ends of the ropes to a tree.

After preparing everything, Priam found a comfortable rock to rest on.

Now all he had to do was wait.

One hour later, he carefully pulled up one of the traps.

As he slowly lifted the cage out of the water, he saw movement inside.

When he fully removed it, he realized that, to his surprise, there were three colorful piranhas inside, each about the size of a palm.

At that moment...

"Hand over the Heaven Purifying Piranhas!"

A deep and loud voice rang out.