Starting as the Baron of the Lonely Island

Although Kaelon suggested he rest first, neither he nor Duane felt particularly sleepy.

Left with no other choice, Kaelon took the first watch while Duane entered a state of Meditation.

He was now a Level 2 Mage, with plenty of new Magic to learn, which required a great deal of time to study and improve.

A long time passed in this way.

When the darkness receded and their surroundings gradually brightened, the two knew that day had broken in the Secret Realm.

The night had been exceptionally peaceful; not a single Demon Beast had come to harass them.

If not for Gaius’s prior experience, followed by them personally slaughtering so many Mutated Demon Beasts, they might have mistaken this for a beneficial Secret Realm.

"Gaius said someone in his party went mad on the morning of the fourth day, but he was still safe when they left on the seventh."

The extent of a Secret Realm’s influence on a person was tied to their strength.

Back then, Gaius was an Advanced Warrior and had managed to last seven days. With Duane at the Celestial Tier and Kaelon at the Earth Tier, the period they could remain unaffected should be even longer.

Still, to be on the safe side, Duane decided they would head back on the fourth day.

That meant they still had over two more days to explore.

"Let’s go. We’ll pick a direction and see what we find."

The two set off once again.

Along the way, they saw many strange and peculiar plants.

There were flowers with pure black petals that emitted an intoxicating fragrance;

There were tree roots, exposed above the soil and twisted like pretzels, that made whimpering sounds like a crying child whenever the wind blew;

And there were translucent, umbrella-shaped fungi, thirty to forty centimeters tall, whose caps pulsed in and out as if they were breathing.

Thinking of the Black Vines from the previous night, Duane couldn’t resist the urge to experiment with these plants and see if they held any unexpected value.

The breathing mushrooms, in particular, reminded him of the Blood Mushrooms from the Royal Family’s Secret Realm the moment he saw them.

Rock Sheep Blood Mushrooms were an Extraordinary delicacy valuable even to Human Tier Warriors.

’I wonder if these translucent mushrooms have a similar effect.’

However, after recalling the saying, "Red caps and white stems, eat them and you’ll end up in a coffin," he dismissed the notion.

’It would be better to wait until I get back, then test them on some chickens, ducks, or even a few captured rats.’

"My lord, look over there!"

While Duane was studying the plants, Kaelon pointed to a black shadow ahead and to their right, saying excitedly, "Isn’t that the Black Vine we saw yesterday?"

Duane quickly stood up and looked, a pleased expression on his face. "Let’s go take a look!"

Completely unafraid, the two of them ran over.

Sure enough, there was a patch of Black Vine in the hilly terrain, though it was much smaller than the one near the Secret Realm’s entrance.

These Black Vines were as still as dead things, not moving at all.

They only attacked again when the two were about ten meters away.

"Fall back!"

The two retreated rapidly, putting fifty or sixty meters between them in one go.

The Black Vines stretched out taut, but their maximum reach was only forty meters, not nearly far enough to touch them. They were clearly at a disadvantage for being rooted to the spot.

Duane approached a Black Vine to observe it up close but saw no flowers or seeds.

’This Black Vine must reproduce through its roots,’ he secretly guessed.

His right hand underwent Scale Transformation. He grabbed a vine and, with a sudden yank, pulled it up by the roots.

Instantly, the Black Vine was no longer as hard or straight.

’It’s forty meters long, but its root system isn’t deep. It didn’t take much strength to pull it out.’

’Still, it didn’t break even when I pulled it from so far away. It’s incredibly tough.’

Duane let go of the root and casually tossed it to the ground.

But his sharp eyes noticed that the rootlets seemed to come alive, burrowing directly into the soil. Then, the vine revived.

It shot up like a striking snake and coiled around Duane, trapping him.

"My lord!" Kaelon exclaimed in alarm.

"I’m fine. Its barbs can’t break through my defense."

Duane could feel the barbs on the Black Vine trying to stab into his skin, but the strength of his scales was too much for it to overcome.

With a slight exertion of force, Duane shattered the Black Vine into several pieces.

He dug it out again, then put it back.

After repeating the experiment several times, he keenly observed that as long as the roots burrowed into the ground, the Black Vine would instantly revive as if it had been refueled.

"This soil is the problem."

Duane took the Black Vine’s root to other spots, and the result was the same.

It was only then that he noticed the soil here was almost entirely black.

"Fertile Black Soil?"

Black Soil was rich in humus and could provide the nutrients needed for plant growth.

But the soil before him was clearly not that simple; it must hold other, unknown secrets.

Duane threw the Black Vine back. He decided he would take some of the soil with him to study when they left.

If this soil could be used as fertilizer to increase crop yields, it would undoubtedly be another major discovery.

However, Duane felt the probability of this was low.

After all, Black Forest Island wasn’t the only place in the world with undevelopable Secret Realms; they existed elsewhere too.

Simone had mentioned that even the Fidun Kingdom had harmful Secret Realms that could drive people mad.

If the soil inside them could really increase crop yields, someone would surely have discovered it by now. It wouldn’t be left for Duane to study.

Besides, the Secret Realm at Lakefront Manor already had Fertile Soil that could increase wheat yields to astounding levels, and it was completely different from this Black Soil.

The pair marked the location of the Black Vines before setting out again.

Over the next two days, they discovered three more patches of Black Vines. It seemed the plant wasn’t rare within the Secret Realm.

This was a good thing.

Moreover, three days had passed, and neither Duane nor Kaelon felt anything amiss. In fact, they woke up each morning with their Spirits feeling exceptionally sharp.

「At dawn on the fourth day, as the sky began to lighten.」

Duane was resting with his eyes closed when a distant, profound howl suddenly snapped them open.

’A Demon Beast?’

The two exchanged a glance, and their eyes showed not panic, but delight.

Three days had gone by, and they hadn’t seen a single living creature. Every day it was just flowers, grass, trees, and the dark, gloomy ground.

They had finally encountered a living thing!

"Let’s go, take a look!"

Without hesitation, the two followed the sound, closing in quickly.

The howling didn’t stop; instead, it grew louder and clearer.

"It sounds a bit like a grizzly bear," Kaelon said as they ran.

Grizzly bears were typically Level 4 or Level 5 Demon Beasts, with the more powerful ones being even stronger.

However, the strongest Demon Beasts on the Shadow Mist Continent were only around Level 6; anything higher was rarely seen.

But this was a Secret Realm, after all.

"Be careful," Duane cautioned.

They were moving fast and soon arrived at the top of a small hill.

Before them was a massive crater, looking as if it had been carved out by a giant meteorite.

When the two saw the scene in the crater, their blood ran cold.

At that moment, in the center of the crater, a colossal Black Bear was roaring at the sky.

Standing on its hind legs, it was a full ten meters tall, its massive body like a small building.

The Black Bear’s maw was a gaping cavern, its sharp fangs grim and terrifying.

It was inhaling and exhaling a dark green Extraordinary Energy, its entire body radiating a terrifying aura.

But that wasn’t what shocked Duane the most.

The most shocking thing was the untold number of Demon Beasts lying around the Black Bear!

As far as the eye could see, there were packs of Wind Wolves, giant pythons coiled four or five meters high, and even rabbits, spiders, and giant ants.

All of them were mimicking the Black Bear, tilting their heads back and devouring the Extraordinary Energy.

It was bizarre and horrifying.

In all his time since crossing over, even when he faced a thousand Frog Fish Monsters in Thorn Valley, even when he exterminated dozens of frenzied Mutated Demon Beasts in the Heavenly Mountain Range, Duane had never felt fear.

But now, he actually felt a flicker of dread.

"My lord, what do we do?"

Kaelon’s face was pale; he was clearly terrified by the scene before them.

Duane whispered, "Go!"

If a fight broke out, Duane could only take on the giant bear; he estimated he would be completely overwhelmed by the rest.

Besides, if they all swarmed at once, Kaelon would likely be killed in an instant.

The two crouched down and turned to leave.

But right at that moment, as if by a stroke of cruel luck, the Black Bear turned its head and looked directly at their position.

"ROAR!"

It spat out the ball of energy from its mouth.

The dark green energy shot like a cannonball toward their hiding spot, and with a BOOM, the area exploded!

In an instant, all the Demon Beasts in the crater erupted into a frenzy, roaring and screeching as they charged out.

That blast of energy was like a command from their king to attack.

Duane and Kaelon dodged just in time, avoiding injury from the blast.

But the color drained from their faces.

"Run!"