Chapter 20: The First Adventure Point

Really?

Several of them instinctively looked at Gune.

Gune, at this moment, also nodded slightly with a solemn expression.

Gune could have acted more relaxed, but he still felt it was better to give them some pressure.

After all, whether it was those who might be ambushing them outside or the upcoming expedition, both were quite tricky.

Letting them feel the pressure might make these companions a bit more cautious.

"When we camped yesterday afternoon..."

Eli laid out her deductions in full.

This was not much different from Gune's own deductions.

After Eli finished, the three female spellcasters showed obvious tension on their faces.

After all, the enemy was hidden while they were exposed.

Moreover, they had entered this mysterious Void Source Realm, directly cornered by the enemy.

Their situation at this moment was indeed somewhat worrying.

"Although the enemy's plan looks good, we may not be without a chance to turn the tables."

"And that chance to turn the tables, to counter-kill, is right here."

Gune said in a soothing tone at this moment.

"Turn the tables? Counter-kill?" Eli was slightly taken aback.

Based on the situation of both sides, his plan was to—stall for time!

This time.

The enemy's purpose was to make them explore dangerous areas.

If they died inside, the enemy would know it was dangerous and wouldn't enter.

If they got something and came out, the enemy would ambush them outside, killing them—like the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, killing two birds with one stone.

At this moment, the enemy didn't know they had already realized this was a trap.

So what they could do was, after entering, guard the cave entrance and not go deep to court death.

After all, they had enough food, and as apprentice transcendents, their ability to endure hunger and cold far exceeded ordinary people.

If they stayed here for ten days or half a month, the enemy would likely think they had all died.

At that time, they could leave safely.

Although this method took a long time, it was safe and secure.

But Eli hadn't expected that Gune would directly come up with a counter-kill strategy.

Counter-kill... Could it work?

Gune rubbed his temples and slowly elaborated.

"The enemy's likely plan is to wait for us to finish exploring and then ambush us outside."

"But the problem is, they don't know we've already detected their presence."

"Therefore, we can thoroughly explore this cave, find good things that benefit us, and even if we get transcendent tokens, we can directly advance to become transcendents."

"Then, using the information gap, we set up a disguise at the cave entrance, lure them out, and eliminate them."

"Of course, specifics depend on the situation. If we don't get anything good, we can just wait it out here and leave safely."

After Gune's explanation, everyone felt somewhat relieved.

Eli, who was listening nearby, showed a worried expression.

"The enemy's goal is for us to explore. If we go deep like this... I'm afraid!"

Eli's concern was not unreasonable.

If Gune didn't have the system's [Adventure], he would never rashly go deep and would instead endure hunger and waiting, as it was safe.

But now that Gune had the system, it was completely different.

And he had already prepared the argument to convince them.

"Opportunity always coexists with danger." Gune's tone carried a hint of profundity.

"To the enemy, this is bait to lure us in, but to us, it's also an opportunity to become stronger, isn't it?"

Such philosophical reasoning was always more persuasive.

Although Eli felt something was off, seeing Gune's confident tone, she didn't interrupt.

Instead, the philosophical knight Paul nodded slightly and muttered to himself, "This is indeed a good chance for us to seek opportunities amidst crisis."

Glancing at Paul, Gune thought to himself, "I'm feeding them chicken soup, but you're self-producing and self-consuming."

Then Gune looked into the depths of the rugged cave.

The cave was pitch black, and even with the light of the Fire Arrow spell, they couldn't see very far.

"I'll lead the way, Eli will guard the rear. Everyone, follow me closely and remember, don't wander off."

"Got it!"

Everyone responded.

The reason Gune gave such instructions was that this Blood Curse Land, constructed by the Blood Curse Master using the Void Source Realm, was full of dangers.

Deep in the rugged cave.

Gune manipulated the fire arrow conjured by the Fire Arrow spell to serve as a torch three meters in front of him.

Although he could place it farther, that would put more strain on his mental energy.

After cautiously advancing about a hundred meters and avoiding two traps,

a fork appeared before them.

The fork split left and right, both looking the same.

But through the system's detailed information, Gune knew.

Of these two forks,

the left one was a genuine dead end, harboring a large number of "Blood Borer Insects."

These were formless, intangible strange creatures from another dimension.

If Gune guessed correctly, the Blood Curse Master had summoned or sought them from another dimension using some means.

Once infected with Blood Borer Insects, they would burrow into blood vessels, continuously drain blood, and eventually cause death from blood depletion. At death, the person would be drained dry—a truly terrifying strange creature.

If they chose the wrong fork, the outcome would be total annihilation.

This 50% chance of team wipeout was clearly visible to Gune.

"We can't enter the left fork. I sense great danger; it's likely a dead end."

Since there was no definitive statement, everything was left to instinct.

Sure enough, when Gune said this, everyone's expressions turned serious.

When they looked at the left passage again, their eyes showed more fear.

Under Gune's lead, they cautiously advanced along the right passage.

As they continued forward,

Gune finally experienced firsthand the power of this [Adventure] function.

Along the way, Gune easily avoided several traps and forks that could have led to the team's destruction.

Without the guidance of the adventure function to avoid the many dangers on the path,

Gune felt that it would be a miracle if they could safely reach the first adventure point.

...

About half an hour later.

Gune browsed his system repeatedly and then closed it.

At this moment, they appeared in a fairly spacious stone hall.

Under the bright flames of the Fire Arrow spell,

everything around was clearly visible.

On the left and right were many potted dark-type plants, but because they had been untended for too long, the pots were in ruins, and the dark-type plants had grown wildly, looking somewhat messy.

After scanning these somewhat messy dark-type plants, Gune's face showed joy.

Then, under everyone's gaze, Gune picked a purple stem-like object about the length of chopsticks and the thickness of a finger from a patch of purple grass-like plants.

Before everyone could see clearly, Gune quickly processed it, put it into a black thornwood box, and stuffed it into his backpack.

"What is it?"

Everyone looked over curiously.

"A material for making invisibility potions. The price is decent." Gune replied lightly.

Along the way, whenever possible, Gune would collect these herbs.

The others didn't pay much attention.

After all, when they bought potions from Gune, his prices were much lower than the market.

In reality, Gune roughly estimated that this purple stem was at least two hundred years old—a genuine transcendent treasure.

It could indeed be used to make invisibility potions.

But its greater use was in making "Secret Curse Potions," a powerful potion that could increase one's agility.

Then everyone looked at the end of the hall.

It was a double-leaf "Transcendent Door" engraved with transcendent runes.

Transcendent Doors were often some kind of sealed door that could not be opened without special means.

To others, it was a transcendent door.

But Gune knew clearly.

Behind this transcendent door was one of the three adventure contents displayed by the system this time—the "Alchemy Warehouse."