Chapter 47: Strength and Weakness

**Chapter 47: Strength and Weakness**

Jie Ming continued deeper into the wasteland covered in red ore.

His main focus remained on searching for rare and unique material samples, paying little attention to the natives.

While Jie Ming was engrossed in his treasure hunt, the battlefields across the Limestone Realm suddenly turned brutal.

“Quick! There’s a high-point token!” a young apprentice shouted excitedly, pointing at the golden glow flickering on a withered tree ahead.

The seven-member team cautiously approached.

As unclaimed point tokens dwindled, the remaining ones were mostly placed near dangerous magical beasts.

But these tokens carried higher values, representing greater rewards.

Driven by greater rewards, lone apprentices began forming teams, while existing teams expanded by recruiting more members.

These seven were considered “little geniuses” in the academy, and after days of grinding, their coordination was near flawless.

However, the attack didn’t come from a beast.

*Swish! Swish! Swish!*

Dozens of arrows coated in fluorescent poison sliced through the air, shrieking as they shot from all directions.

The arrows weren’t ordinary metal but some kind of bone, infused with faint, visible energy fluctuations.

“Scatter! Ambush!” the team leader roared, swiftly raising an energy shield.

But several apprentices were too slow to react, struck by the poison arrows.

Their movements froze instantly, faces turning ashen as eerie totem patterns emerged on their bodies.

“Damn it! Natives!”

From the bushes and rock crevices, dozens of armored native warriors charged, wielding metal spears.

Their bodies swelled momentarily, muscles bulging, moving with astonishing speed, their eyes burning with vengeful fury.

“Attack!”

The apprentices reacted quickly, countering with fireballs and ice spikes the moment they realized the threat.

But the natives didn’t engage in prolonged combat. Like a wolf pack, they dashed in, threw spears, and scattered, using the complex terrain to toy with the apprentices.

“Captain, my teleportation rune isn’t working!” a poisoned apprentice shouted in panic, the rune in his hand dim and unresponsive.

“My flight spell won’t activate either! They have anti-air abilities!”

Panic erupted.

Without their trump cards for escape, the apprentices were like caged beasts, slowly worn down under the natives’ hunt.

Metal spears tore through shields, poison arrows pierced magical defenses, and screams rose and fell, signaling the apprentices’ defeat.

Elsewhere.

A four-member exploration team, venturing into an element-infused canyon, was cornered at the valley’s bottom by a dozen heavily armored native “knights” wielding battle axes.

“Their armor resists our sorcery!” an apprentice exclaimed, his fireball striking a knight and only sparking, leaving no scorch marks.

“Damn it! This world still has natives!” another realized, dread setting in.

The knights wasted no words, charging forward.

The ground rumbled under their power, each leap carrying thunderous force.

*Boom!*

A water-element shield shattered under a heavy axe, the apprentice behind it spitting blood as he was flung back.

“Retreat! Upward!” the captain roared, activating his flight spell.

But his body only rose a few meters before an invisible force pinned him down, preventing escape from the valley floor!

Someone tried activating a ring, but it was useless.

“The space… it’s locked?!” The apprentices were utterly stunned.

Their mana drained rapidly, and their potions couldn’t keep up with their injuries.

Panic and despair spread like wildfire in the blood-soaked canyon.

…

…

Jie Ming was deep in a strange marshland.

Beneath the mire lurked a peculiar fungus that absorbed elemental energy—an excellent research material that kept him lingering.

Suddenly, a disturbance erupted from the marsh’s depths.

Four “hunters” with bows and two armored “knights” leapt from the mud, spears aimed at Jie Ming.

They had clearly been lying in wait for passing prey.

“Hm?”

Jie Ming stood curiously in place, holding a freshly picked mushroom, looking as if startled by the sudden attack.

A knight roared, his spear whistling through the air toward Jie Ming’s face.

*Buzz!*

A sturdy earthen-yellow shield instantly formed around Jie Ming’s body.

*Clang!*

The spear struck the shield, producing a sharp metallic ring, but the shield didn’t budge. The recoil even staggered the knight.

Another knight swung a massive axe at Jie Ming’s waist, only to be repelled.

But the real threat came next—four glowing arrows seized the moment to close in on his head.

With a thought, Jie Ming’s earthen shield shifted into a transparent wind membrane.

The arrows’ force was deftly redirected, whistling past him harmlessly.

“How… is this possible?!” Shock flashed in the knight’s eyes.

Their vaunted strength and enhanced magical weapons were useless against this wizard?!

Jie Ming gave them no time to think.

*Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!*

Four fireballs, blazing with ferocious flames, locked onto the six natives. In the narrow marsh, the explosions’ range engulfed them completely.

*Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*

The deafening blasts echoed, flames soaring skyward, turning the marsh into a fiery hell.

Mud splattered, and charred flesh flew.

The natives didn’t even have time to scream before the runic artifact’s terrifying power consumed them, reducing them to ash.

Jie Ming stepped forward, sifting through the marsh for remains.

He picked up a few mud-stained metal armor fragments and dug out several relatively intact bone spears, scanning their residual energy with his Analysis Technique.

“These patterns… likely a primitive form of runes, suited to this world. Quite valuable for reference…” Jie Ming muttered, ignoring the blood-tinged air.

From start to finish, he felt no danger—these natives were as fragile as children before him.

“But the frequency of these ambushes lately… this is the third in two days. Is there a large settlement nearby, and they see me as a threat?”

Jie Ming noted the ambushes’ increasing frequency and improved coordination.

“I’ll search around. If I find a settlement, I might learn more about these primitive runes.”

He stored the new materials and pressed deeper into the marsh.

The natives’ “weakness” left Jie Ming oblivious to the massive purge targeting all wizard apprentices unfolding across the realm.