"Although this isn't the first time, I'm still amazed at how miraculous nature is every time I see such a majestic scene …"
Rorschach felt rather emotional as he stood on the side of the airship and looked at the scenery outside.
The Harlet Wastelands' uninhabited area had never been a complete wasteland. Under the eternal thunder theme, this was a paradise for elemental creatures.
Thunder and flashes of light tore through the sky as gigantic crystals rose from the ground. If one didn't wear protective goggles, their vision would likely be instantly destroyed.
Elemental creatures and half-elemental creatures of all sizes were running around the land of crystals. Gigantic dragon-like energy creatures were playing and chasing each other. Thunder that could instantly carbonize ordinary creatures was nothing more than a spring rain to them.
Nobody could count just how many elemental creatures there were here. However, Rorschach knew that if he activated his magical armor's elemental radar, he would be able to see countless bright spots that filled the entire world … This was the Harlet Wastelands, a sea of elemental creatures.
Every single moment, gigantic elemental creatures the size of mountains would return to the earth. Every single moment, hundreds or thousands of weak electric sparks would gain sentience and begin to evolve into elemental creatures.
According to the experts, this place already had the qualifications to be an Elemental Plane. Or rather, it was already a part of an Elemental Plane.
The scenery was just as astonishing as before. However, ordinary people wouldn't be able to appreciate it. Unlike the other relatively mild Water and Earth Elemental Planes, this place was closer to the scorching Fire Elemental Plane. If anyone entered this place without any protective equipment, it would be no different than being turned into a barbeque or charcoal.
Rorschach had already entered this place several times. After confirming that there were no obvious changes, he retracted his gaze … However, the others on the airship weren't as calm.
Salia had an expression of astonishment as she looked at the scenery outside without even blinking. Mu Na was doing her best to remain calm, but her gaze kept drifting to the outside of the window.
Although they were native Seymour natives, it was likely that they would never have been able to enter this wastelands in their entire lives if not for this opportunity.
"… Are we really safe? If these elemental creatures discover us … "
Mu Na was talking about a thunder eel that had just swum past the window. Its body was more than thirty meters long, and it was shining with pale electric sparks. When it passed by the airship, it even mischievously knocked on the airship's door with its tail, as if it was curious about what was inside the metal can.
"… Do you care about the stones on the side of the road when you're traveling? To the Children of Elements who live in the Elemental Plane, carbon-based creatures like us are meaningless stones. "
Previously, Roxia and the Eagle Crown had come here twice. They had traveled quite far, and even had experience fighting against the elemental lifeforms on the ground. Roxia had faced countless gigantic beasts that could casually stomp him to death. When he first came here, he also had a similar fear.
But very quickly, the veterans told him that this was an unnecessary worry.
"Elemental creatures, especially native Elemental creatures, have their own ecology and natural balance. We are not even part of it. Just like how you don't have to worry about hunting a deer in the forest attracting all the beasts in the forest, as long as we don't seek death, we don't have to worry about being besieged by all the elemental tribes. "
"Courting death?"
Rorschach silently nodded. Many experiences had been obtained at the cost of their own lives. Some traps had to be stepped into. Fortunately, it wasn't Rorschach himself who stepped into them.
"Thunder elemental creatures are the most special among all elemental creatures. They lack normal sensory organs, but they are incredibly sensitive to energy. Carbon-based creatures like us normally don't have any high-energy reactions, so they see us as nothing more than stones that can't be eaten."
"Yes, they can't be eaten. That's the key. Thunder elemental creatures have their own food chain. Low-energy creatures are meaningless to them, so they will naturally ignore them. Right now, the newest lightning type magical armor and airships all have anti-radiation coatings on their critical parts. Most elemental creatures are unable to sense their energy. "
"It's easy to understand why they're courting death. They use large-scale energy weapons without proper preparation, and they use high-level spells without proper protection. Right, that's why we recommend using live ammunition in the no man's land … "
"Of course, there aren't only elemental creatures here. There are also elemental giants, half-giant subspecies of humans, thunder lizards, and other elemental creatures. They aren't picky at all …"
Rorschach explained in great detail what he had gained over the past few years. If any problems occurred here, it was likely that none of them would be able to return alive.
All this information and new information were actually the gains of the explorers over the past few years. Although the Game Church had spent a lot of effort to obtain second-hand or second-hand goods, they were still able to greatly increase the chances of survival and the difficulty of explorations.
Rorschach alone accounted for more than half of the gains in information. As an employer and a high-ranking member of the Game Church, he had been hired by the Eagle Crown Church several times over the past few years. His "Honesty" talent was far too useful when dealing with outsiders.
Although they would definitely be on guard against Rorschach, it was impossible to hide certain foundational information. Often, the most foundational information was the most important.
How to survive in the Lightning Wasteland, how to find water and food in a hopeless situation, how to avoid the most fatal dangers — if one didn't have a source of information, they would have to pay for it themselves. And this expensive tuition could only be paid with their lives.
This was a loss that only the super churches could bear. Only they had enough resources, wealth, manpower, and combat power to explore completely unknown and dangerous areas. They had to accept the grievous news that batch after batch of elite teams were wiped out, and then use the lessons learned to improve their tactics and equipment, and send in the next batch of explorers.
As far as Rorschach knew, just the Eagle Crown Church alone had already lost more than three digits of tier 3 professionals in their explorations. Among them, more than 50 were tier 4 professionals like Rorschach.
If an organization like the Game Church dared to recklessly explore the wasteland, with one or two teams of elite descenders like Rorschach and Su Nanna, the church wouldn't be far from disbanding.
But looking at it from a different angle, the first batch of explorers would definitely bring about tremendous profits. The Mage Country of the old generation had established permanent research bases in all the major Elemental Planes. The cost of interdimensional travel still brought about immeasurable profits.
Rorschach was very clear that if this wasn't a good deal, the transaction would have ended long ago. Now, these outpost bases in the no man's land were probably producing huge amounts of minerals and resources.
Yes, it was only a rough estimate. Rorschach himself didn't even know the exact location of any of the outpost bases, even though he knew that there were at least a dozen outpost bases in this area. He had even been brought into the headquarters of the Eagle Crown Church before.
If one's strength wasn't enough, one would just have to obediently wait for the second and third phases. The greater the risk, the greater the reward. "Eating leftovers" would bring less risk as well. The stronger the body, the more difficult the burden … Even within the Game Church, many people felt that it was still too early. Even Rorschach himself was somewhat hesitant about this.
Currently, in the hands of Mu Na and Salia, there were more than 1,700 pages of no-man's land safety rules and practical operation records (referred to as the safety manual for short). It was filled with thousands of precautions and safety accident records, making one's scalp go numb.
"Don't worry so much. At this stage, you just have to calmly follow the 100 rules on the first page of the safety manual. Those are the essence. The most important thing is that with these big toys in our hands, our ability to deal with danger has greatly increased. Heh, the Glory Scroll is truly generous. When I was working for the Eagle Crown, they didn't even allow me to get close to these new big toys. "
Rorschach's gaze shifted to the back of the cabin. There were four magic armors that were currently reapplying their lightning-resistant coating.
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