The Crimson Wasteland was a desolate place.
Especially the wilderness when it was dark. Marvin was walking alone, and he never encountered any intelligent lifeforms other than howling monsters.
From what he had seen so far, he could tell already that the small map was obviously not to scale. The Withered Leaf Promenade was a lot longer than Marvin had thought.
He walked for a full night before leaving that oppressing sky.
Fortunately, after killing Balkh, there were no more particularly troublesome obstacles left on the path, only some common monsters. Marvin could slash his way through without making any real effort.
The advantage was that it saved him a lot of trouble, but the disadvantage was that he wouldn't be able to obtain more Comprehension points.
Now he was at [8/10] Comprehension.
In other words, after he obtained two more Comprehension points, he would become a level 2 Ruler of the Night.
Each time a Legend class was leveled up, the person's strength would drastically increase. Although Marvin couldn't currently increase his Dexterity due to the restraint of the Godly attribute realm, there were other ways to improve.
Moreover, those valuable skill points would allow him to learn another impressive Ruler of the Night skill.
Compared to other Legends, Marvin also had the [Essence Absorption System] as an advantage.
It was just that in the system, experience was at a much lower rank than Comprehension, creating a glut of it now that he was a Legend.
Marvin tried numerous times to see if he could somehow convert a few hundred thousand experience points into Comprehension points. But it turned out to be impossible.
Marvin's power had not reached a point where he could be above the rules.
In any case, after a night, Marvin reached the end of the promenade and arrived on wide plain.
The mountain range in the distance looked like a swan flapping its wings.
A Black Swan.
'Black Swan Hill, finally.'
Due to Eisengel's pass, Marvin was allowed to enter Black Swan Hill with no problems.
He looked around and saw many people.
Marvin was surprised to see that there were non-Legends among the inhabitants!
They weren't just common civilians, though. They were all at least 3rd rank or 4th rank. But still, it might be very difficult for them to survive in this cruel wasteland.
Apparently, Black Swan Hill was protecting them.
Marvin suddenly thought of the rumors about that mysterious old man.
The fact that even the Demons and Evil Spirits wouldn't dare provoke Black Swan Hill cleared showed the man's intimidating strength.
Marvin asked the guards indirectly about how to find the mysterious old man.
He didn't expect that the process would be rather simple.
The mysterious old man didn't object to meeting outsiders. His mysteriousness lay in his origins, not his appearance.
Marvin was even more pleased about something else that he learnt. That old man was a Grandmaster Appraiser, and in fact, he had reached Grandmaster level in many fields. Even the Appraisers in Holy Light City might not be better than him.
In order to save time, Marvin chose a simple strategy, which was to use money.
After spending 10 Blood Essence Stones, Marvin was able to skip the line and immediately secure a meeting with the old man.
He apparently only met up to ten people a day. Marvin's luck was pretty good as he had arrived early in the day and the old man had just started receiving visitors.
He was led by a guard into a small wooden house at the top of the highest hill.
The small house was filled with a simple and clean aura. Surprisingly, it wasn't enchanted in any way: the size of the interior was the same as it seemed from outside.
Rows of items were set up in an orderly manner, and most things in the house were laid out quite tidily. A stooped old man was sitting by the window, with a wooden table in front of him.
Marvin followed the line of his gaze out the window, only to see that small lake.
In the center of the lake, a beautiful Black Swan was combing its wing.
These Black Swans were said to be able to travel through time and transmit information to all kinds of planes.
"The auras on your body are quite mixed... Devil, Human, Slaughter, Shadow… And there is a bit of Nature aura."
The old man eventually turned and looked at Marvin.
His voice was very deep.
Marvin stared back at him, but was only able to see a very ordinary old face.
It was covered in wrinkles.
This was a very powerful disguise. Marvin was completely unable to see through it.
"State your purpose," the old man continued.
Marvin nodded. "I heard you can send messages… to different planes."
The old man calmly said, "One message for 10 Blood Essence Stones."
"No problem." Marvin accepted without any reservations.
He had more than 200 Blood Essence Stones that he had gotten from Balkh and was now quite well-off. In any case, this currency would be worthless after leaving the Crimson Wasteland.
Although not much time had passed since Marvin left White River Valley, he was still a bit worried.
After all, both Daniela and Wayne had left, and he himself wasn't in his territory either. A Sanctuary without a Powerhouse was very easily targeted.
As for the Thousand Paper Crane given to him by Shadow Thief Owl, it was only to be used for an emergency. As long as he had any other way, Marvin would choose that instead.
"Here are 20 Blood Essence Stones, I need to send a message and get the reply back."
Marvin directly handed the Blood Essence Stones to the old man, who quietly passed him back a sheet of yellow paper and a pen while nodding in agreement.
Marvin took the pen and started writing without any hesitation.
He wanted to ask about the current situation in White River Valley and Feinan. As for himself, he only said a few sentences. After all, he had already informed White River Valley about his situation before leaving for the Crimson Wasteland.
"Write down the plane's specific coordinates at the end of the letter," the old man reminded him, "or else, how can my swans find the way?"
Hearing this, Marvin frowned. "I don't know the exact coordinates of my plane."
He had some coordinates for White River Valley from within Feinan, but as for the plane itself… He wasn't a caster who had learnt planar knowledge, so he was unable to correctly write the plane's coordinates.
The old man casually asked, "Where do you come from?"
"Feinan."
The old man's body suddenly shook.
He looked at Marvin as if he had seen a wonder. He recovered after a moment and laughed heartily before musing, "I didn't expect to still be able to meet someone from the Prime Material Plane after so many years."
"This Universe… Hehe."
Marvin was somewhat curious about what he meant, but the old man didn't give Marvin the opportunity to ask as he grabbed the pen and paper and drew out some very complex coordinates at the end of the letter.
His movements were very fast and the letter flew out with a "woosh". A Black Swan suddenly flew out of the lake and swallowed the letter before flying toward the endless void.
"Five minutes," the old man said. "You can go out in the meantime and I'll receive the next guest."
Marvin shook his head. "I still need your help with something," he said, before bringing out the treasures he got from Balkh.
His intuition told him that this mysterious old man wasn't the greedy kind of person.
He was supporting the forces of Black Swan Hill by himself. There must be an interesting story behind it.
It was a pity that Marvin didn't have time to look into it, as he had to quickly find Minsk. The earlier he found Minsk, the more time he would have to plan out the rest of his time in the Crimson Wasteland.
This place not only had countless dangers, but also had countless opportunities.
Such as how the Cold Light's Grasp daggers were about to appear in Holy Light City. This was the kind of opportunity that would be very difficult to get in Feinan.
There were truly too many Gods, Demon, Devils and other lifeforms that had met their ends in the Crimson Wasteland.
"My appraisal fees are very high," the old man warned as he looked at the three items Marvin took out.
Marvin shrugged, hinting for him to name his price.
"Greyhawk Staff."
The old man pointed at the green staff, and suddenly, a great amount of Nature Power surged out of the staff like a fountain. It faintly looked like a fairy dancing with transparent wings.
"30 Blood Essence Stones."
Marvin's eyes twitched.
Appraisal was so expensive?
He had inquired about the value of Blood Essence Stones. Thirty would be enough to buy a pretty good weapon. Although it wouldn't be enough for a Legend Weapon, it would definitely be a Magic Weapon.
But appraising that Greyhawk Staff was actually worth the price of a Magic Weapon?
However, Marvin wouldn't be stingy at this time. With a wave of his hand, he signalled for the old man to go ahead and appraise it.
The old man's finger quickly swung to the staff.
Some faint runes jumped out of his finger and felt like an illusion to Marvin. It was as if that man was related to the Greyhawk Staff somehow.
He finished appraising the staff very quickly, and it didn't take long before the Greyhawk Staff's attributes appeared in front of Marvin.
Marvin looked dazed as he went ahead and had the old man complete the appraisal of the last two items.
After a few minutes, the Black Swan returned and a letter was thrown into Marvin's hand. The old man also finished the three appraisal booklets.
Each booklet had a detailed description. This was the ability of a Grandmaster Appraiser. He could uncover all of the properties of an item to the fullest.
After obtaining the three appraisal booklets and the letter from Feinan, Marvin's wallet had been half-emptied.
And he was now even more curious about the mysterious old man's origins and identity.
Because these three items were from three totally different fields of knowledge.
In fact, Marvin should have needed to find three different Grandmaster Appraisers to appraise those three items for him, but the mysterious old man was able to do it alone.
This kind of knowledge was truly too frightening.
Marvin looked at the old man's peaceful face and suddenly thought of something and asked with curiosity:
"Do you know [Minsk]?"
The old man's eyebrow rose as he apparently thought about something, but in the end he demurred.
"I don't know. The planar communication and appraisal services have been completed. Do you need anything else?" he softly asked.
Marvin frowned.
The old man's reaction was pretty normal, but Marvin felt something wrong.
The other side's expression must have been covered by his disguise. Marvin's Earth Perception was also greatly limited here.
He had no choice but leave the small house after saying thanks.
The letter coming from Feinan was written by Anna.
It was concise, and described the current situation in the Sanctuary.
Marvin was pleased to find out that the Sanctuary was currently thriving.
Anna was an outstanding supervisor, and with her supporting him from behind, Marvin felt at peace.
The Monsters around the Sanctuary were kept under control and White River Valley's strength was also continuously increasing. It was due to the Black Dragon Izaka and the Mechanical Titan guarding the territory. Nothing seemed to have come to trouble White River Valley recently.
The Gods were still stuck attacking the Universe Magic Pool, and although more Chaos Magic Power was pouring into Feinan, it didn't affect the people in the Sanctuary.
As for the other areas, Anna said that it was like before, Constantine and O'Brien were still in the North, while Endless Ocean was still in the Green Sea Paradise. The current Feinan was like the calm before the storm.
As for Wayne, after he went into the wilderness that day, he didn't return.
Although Marvin was worried about him, he also knew that his younger brother was very extraordinary. Since he had reacted to the power within the wilderness, he definitely was fated.
The only thing he could do was to practice in the Crimson Wasteland, find Minsk, and quickly increase his strength.
And after reading through those three booklets, Marvin felt that the Blood Essence Stones he had spent were worth it.
Two of the three items were Legendary Items!
[Greyhawk Staff (Nature)]
[Quality: Legendary]
[Property: Nature Magic proficiency]
This looked like an unremarkable effect, but those who knew about it would be startled!
This was an effect that could transform an ordinary person into a Nature Wizard.
Nature Magic proficiency meant that all Nature Spells under Legend level could be used.
How much one could use it was related to the user's constitution.
Even without Magic Power, the user could utilize other items like scrolls, magic powder and other things to refill it and to activate the staff's spells.
In other words, even if Marvin didn't have any Nature Spells himself, he could become a Wizard proficient in Nature Spells as long as he held the staff.
The next item was called Time Funnel. It was also a Legendary Item!
[Time Funnel (Mysterious)]
[Quality: Legendary]
[Property: Area Time Freeze for 1 second, or single target Time Freeze for 3 seconds.]
[Remaining uses: 2]