The amount of clay collected the second time was just enough to shape into the size of a normal goblin.
Just as Gauss and the others were eager to repeat the process and "fish" the burrowing worm out of the ground for the third time, an unexpected event occurred.
No matter how Aria channeled the power of nature, no matter how deeply that green glow penetrated the earth veins, the depths underground remained dead silent, without the slightest response.
It was as if the burrowing worm had completely disappeared.
“Huh? No reaction?” Aria tried once more, but still nothing stirred.
The next moment, a muffled rumble of structural collapse faintly echoed.
Then, the two deep pits on the surface that the burrowing worm had pushed out began to have their edges of soil collapse and slide down. The entrances visibly shrank and caved in, eventually being completely covered by soft earth.
Only two slightly sunken patches of ground with a darker color remained, as if they had never been disturbed.
“Looks like that burrowing worm... left?”
Aria withdrew her oak staff and shrugged helplessly.“No worries, we’ve got enough harvest.”
Gauss suppressed the slight regret in his heart about not being able to extract more resources and spoke steadily.
He knew very well that when facing such creatures that could freely move underground, if they were determined to avoid battle, they had no way to stop them.
Gathering all the deep brown Corrosive Mucus Clay Balls collected,
Gauss activated his clay magic again, focusing his mind on that mini clay goblin.
The rat-sized deep brown figure quickly melted away, transforming into a viscous mud flow that actively merged into the newly gathered clay mass.
The clay surged and, under the influence of magic, the fusion process was extraordinarily fast.
In the blink of an eye, a clay creation about one point two meters tall, looking no different from an ordinary goblin, stood firmly before them.
Its form was much more solid than before, with joints moving more steadily and powerfully, no longer giving that soft, floppy feeling that it might fall apart at any moment.
Unlike the clay king puppet Gauss had shaped using his own appearance magic, this clay king creature, infused with spiritual awareness, was spontaneously formed and looked lifelike.
Now it truly appeared to be an authentic goblin, just with a mutated skin tone of deep brown.
Gauss tossed it a short knife, which the clay goblin clumsily caught.
Receiving the command conveyed by Gauss’s consciousness, the clay goblin gripped the short knife, turned, and walked toward the fields to begin hacking at the weeds.
Its intelligence was low, but it still could meticulously carry out the assigned task.
Under the intrigued gaze of Aria and Serlandul, this strange "goblin" began its work.
Its movements with the short knife were erratic, but it swung with considerable strength and speed. The sharp blade chopped at the tough stalks, scattering bits of grass everywhere.
As long as Gauss did not call a stop, it would tirelessly follow the simple order to "clear the weeds" until the magic powering it was exhausted.
“This... is so strange.” Aria shook her head.
A goblin actually doing work? Even knowing it was made of clay, the image of a goblin still made her feel an unavoidable sense of absurdity.
Anyone unaware would definitely think this was a goblin with a broken brain.
In most people’s minds, the image of goblins was utterly disconnected from order, production, or diligence. They were more synonymous with violence, laziness, and chaos.
“Indeed.” Serlandul nodded in agreement.
If this clay goblin were summoned in some corner of a town, it probably wouldn’t last a few minutes before passing guards or well-meaning adventurers mistook it for a monster and “cleaned” it up on the spot.
Gauss pinched his chin and observed its work movements, nodding in satisfaction.
The humanoid form indeed had unique advantages; agile hands could use tools, capable of handling some delicate tasks.
Unfortunately, the amount of goblin spiritual essence accumulated was still too little. Even with sufficient clay volume, it couldn’t exert much combat power.
However, if in the future enough goblin spiritual essence and clay were gathered, could he craft a giant clay goblin puppet?
Imagining the future, a giant clay goblin puppet attacking a group of goblins would be quite an entertaining scene.
But for now,
Gauss activated his clay magic again.
He recalled the goblin spiritual essence and simultaneously dissolved its body.
Immediately after, he infused several portions of spider spiritual essence.
The mixed spiritual essences, magic power, and clay king materialized as several deep brown large spiders slowly crawling up from the ground.
In the end, Gauss had one white and three brown spiders, four lively spiders hopping around beside him.
For the time being, spider forms were sufficient for harvesting ordinary creatures and monsters, and the spiders’ eight-legged form granted them stronger jumping ability and terrain-crossing skills.
He needed a few more clay spiders to patrol automatically and harvest spiritual essence.
“Let’s go.”
After wandering to this abandoned medicinal herb garden, the trip was not wasted.
Not only had they harvested a batch of spellcasting materials for clay magic, but more importantly, Gauss now knew that the burrowing worm could produce this special kind of clay.
When his strength was enough in the future, if necessary, he could directly capture a few burrowing worms and force them to produce clay for him all day long.
By then, it probably wouldn’t take long before he had an inexhaustible supply of spellcasting materials.
Of course, that also depended on another factor—maybe by then, he wouldn’t even bother with such low-grade clay anymore.
They walked forward a bit further.
Suddenly, a loud explosion mixed with roaring cheers came from afar.
“What the hell is that noise?”
Gauss stopped in his tracks.
He hesitated for a moment; if they wanted to bypass it, they would have to retrace a long way along the path.
“I’ll go check it out first.”
After informing Aria and Serlandul, Gauss set off briskly toward the sound.
As he drew closer, the sound became clearer. At the end of the corridor, a large sunken space suddenly appeared before his eyes.
Its layout resembled an ancient arena, with concentric stepped spectator stands surrounding a central plaza.
The noisy commotion was coming from the center of the plaza.
An adventurer team was engaged in a fierce fight with a huge plant-type monster.
Strangely, the spectator stands, which should have been empty, were now filled with countless transparent bug-man phantoms.
They "watched" the battle silently, occasionally bursting into silent yet perceptible wild cheers.
More wandering spirits?
Gauss doubted it.
A true wandering spirit, even he, could not detect with the naked eye alone.
The phantoms before him gave no chilling sensation; they felt more like frozen residual images.
“No matter if they’re human or ghost, I’ll find out soon enough.”
Gauss raised his white magic wand, the tip glowing with pure flawless white light.
The Light Cantrip instantly illuminated the surroundings.
As expected, those phantoms showed no reaction to his unique Light Cantrip.
They still stared unblinking at the enthusiastic cheers from the plaza center.
Though Gauss’s action did not alarm the phantoms, it did catch the attention of the adventurer team in the plaza.
“Hey! You there! Help us find the mechanism! There must be a way to end this fight!”
One shouted loudly with urgency in his voice.
The team’s situation was worrying. All four were level 1 professionals.
Their opponent was a fierce man-eating flower, challenge level at least level 2, considerably stronger than them.
Besides the tightly closed massive gates around them, an invisible energy barrier covered the top, trapping them tightly in this arena-like plaza.
Faced with their call for help, Gauss hesitated briefly, then decisively turned and left.
Just as the adventurers’ hearts sank to the bottom, Gauss’s figure reappeared, followed by Aria and Serlandul.
On the way over, he had explained the situation to the two, and after discussion, they decided to help.
Of course, only if it didn’t put their own team in danger.
“There’s a handle on the wall by the gate!”
Seeing Gauss return, hope rekindled in the eyes of those in the plaza. Fearing he would leave again, they quickly shouted reminders.
Gauss gave a warning glance but did not approach.
He signaled Aria and Serlandul to step back a safe distance, then sent a clay spider to crawl over to the door side.
The spider’s arthropods grabbed the handle and pulled hard.
A light “click” sounded, as if triggering some mechanism.
In the arena, the man-eating flower suddenly vanished. Immediately after, the translucent barrier above the plaza dissipated like water ripples, and the dense bug-man phantoms in the stands vanished simultaneously.
“Thud!”
An adventurer who had been caught midair by the flower’s vines fell heavily to the ground, covered in dust and dirt. The other three were similarly bruised and battered, their bodies marked with blue and purple marks.
But seeing the man-eating flower disappear, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Without resting, they helped each other and staggered out of the arena.
“Bro, thanks for the help.”
The leading man wore a tired expression still filled with shock and caught his breath to express gratitude.
Though Gauss’s assistance seemed only to have pulled a handle, in the perilous depths of the maze, such a small kindness was especially precious.
After all, not everyone was willing to help strangers; some even wished for other adventurers to perish here so they could loot their belongings and reduce competition.
“Hmm.” Gauss nodded slightly.
“A small token of thanks, not much,” the man said, taking a money pouch from his pocket and placing it on the ground.
Since they were strangers, he didn’t come too close abruptly.
That was better for both parties.
Gauss sent a clay spider forward to open the pouch, revealing about a dozen gold coins and several dozen silver coins inside.
For Gauss now, it wasn’t a huge sum, but it was certainly not small.
“Then I’ll take it.” Gauss accepted calmly.
Seeing Gauss take it, the man relaxed.
“We’ll head out first. If fate allows us to meet again outside the maze, I’ll definitely invite you all for a drink!”
The injured stranger adventurer team didn’t dare linger and quickly supported each other, disappearing swiftly into the winding passages.
“They left in such a hurry.” Aria commented.
“Probably afraid we’d turn hostile.” Serlandul spoke bluntly.
Gauss shook his head; the others’ caution was reasonable and didn’t offend him.
It was just a pity he didn’t have the chance to inquire about the arena’s information.
It seemed to be a special place within the maze.
Looking at the empty plaza, a flicker of interest passed through Gauss’s eyes.
He was confident he could handle that man-eating flower just now. If he could collect an elite monster’s bestiary entry, that would be great; he still needed elite points to upgrade the quality of the Reptilian talent.
Collecting new types of elite bestiary entries was the fastest way to gain points.
“Want to try?” Serlandul keenly caught his thoughts.
“You two cover outside. If anything unexpected happens, pull the handle immediately.” Gauss suggested.
Aria and Serlandul nodded.
However, Gauss didn’t just rush in.
He camped and rested outside the arena, waiting until his physical and mental strength was fully restored before entering the center of the arena alone.
After entering, time ticked by second by second.
The arena was deathly silent; no monsters appeared, no phantoms reemerged, only the faint sound of wind in the corridors was clear.
Just as Gauss was puzzled,
Suddenly, a strange and clear insect chirping and wing-flapping sound echoed overhead.
The sound seemed to act directly on their consciousness. Gauss, Aria, and Serlandul instantly understood its meaning.
[All members must enter to activate the arena trial. Completing the trial will reward all members.]
Gauss exchanged a glance with Aria and Serlandul in the corridor, faces full of helplessness.
Still a team instance...
Gauss returned to the corridor.
“Should we call them back?” Aria scratched her head.
“It’s been so long, they’ve probably gone far.” Serlandul said rationally.
The three discussed briefly.
In the end, they decided to enter.
But even when the three stepped into the arena center, there was still no reaction.
Gauss glanced at the clay spiders outside the gate.
Had the mechanism detected their use?
He had no choice but to call all four clay spiders inside again.
Finally, accompanied by a “click,”
The insect chirping sounded again loudly overhead.
[Battle begins]
The gates and barrier fell simultaneously, and the ropes Gauss had tied to the mechanism were cut at once.