r18novel Page 170
Page 170
Like a human settlement in a post-apocalyptic novel, where people of different classes are divided into different floors, this ground floor is the closest place to the leader that ordinary people can access.
With a snap, the lights on the lower levels were instantly extinguished. After a chorus of panicked cries from the commoners, a tall, illusory figure slowly appeared in the center of the crowd.
A middle-aged man in a luxurious formal suit, topped with a tall crown, surveyed the crowd around him. Those whose eyes met his gasped and hastily stepped back, clearing a large space before kneeling in fear, begging for his forgiveness.
"I am the pillar of Yanium, the strongest of Atlantic, the sole chosen king among millions of gods." The image of the middle-aged man did not open his mouth, yet his voice resounded from all directions, "I am your ruler, Runetic II."
"The Norards have swept through our borders with treacherous schemes, yet they still claim to 'seek peace through struggle.' The great Janium will never allow them to continue their arrogance..."
You glanced around at the trembling civilians, and as Runetiq II launched into his impassioned mobilization speech, you slowly opened your slightly numb hands, only then realizing that your palms were completely sweaty.
A tingling, itchy sensation runs down your spine; you know, that feeling is called a shiver.
"Why do I tremble?" You exhale, glance down at your hands, then look up, your eyes suddenly sharpening. "Not because of his dominance, nor because of his so-called millions of gods..."
Your gaze seemed to pierce through the illusory image of Runetic II, penetrate the thick building, and nail itself straight to the chest of the real Runetic II, as you murmured:
"This is not divine magic..."
As you sense the active magical energy swirling around the illusory images in the arena, you silently recite in your mind:
"This is magic!"
At this moment, all questions, whether about the true nature of the God of Shadow or the location of the gods in Janium, were instantly overshadowed by a single new question: Why does Runetic II possess magic?!
Unable to contain your trembling emotions any longer, you wrapped one arm around Jennifer's waist and gripped Serfal's dragon horns tightly with the other, shouting loudly in front of everyone:
"Serfal, fly!"
Serfael had absolutely no objections, or rather, she simply couldn't be bothered to consider what would happen if she transformed in this situation. So, to the astonishment of the commoners, a gigantic red dragon suddenly soared from the crowd. Hovering in mid-air, she shouted excitedly:
"Latis, where are we going?!"
"Go..." You projected your powerful senses onto the still-speaking illusory image, following the gathering magical energy. Then, you raised your head, pointed to the ceiling above, and shouted:
"Charge! Crash through them!"
Chapter 187 Returning, Still a Youth?
The vertically ascending dragon chariot, like a rocket bursting forth, after its initial burst of power, instantly shattered through layers of buildings, smashing a massive hole through the entire palace.
The people at the bottom, terrified yet unable to suppress their curiosity, walked into the sunlight streaming through the hole, squinting as they looked up, trying to spot the dragon's shadow they had just seen.
The magical phantom of King Runetic II had vanished sometime earlier, and the upward drift of the magical mist attracted the curiosity of a few civilians. Standing on the pile of broken floorboards, they began to peer towards the second floor, following the trail of the dissipating magical mist.
"Hereby, I, Runetic II, demand of you..." The middle-aged man in magnificent robes was still giving a passionate speech on the top floor when he suddenly felt a violent tremor coming from the building beneath his feet. He instinctively looked down, and the next second, the ground there exploded with a deafening roar. Before he could even see what had burst forth from the ground, he was already being blasted high into the air.
[Boom! The guards present were all knocked down, and even the airship on the top-floor helipad tilted and shattered, leaving the officials watching nearby half-dead.]
"What..." Runetic II's eyes widened instantly. Just as he was about to use his special ability, a fist the size of a cooking pot suddenly emerged from the back of the dragon that was about to pass him and slammed into his chin. With a loud bang, his eyes rolled back, and he instantly lost consciousness.
You retract your Rising Dragon Fist, grab Runetic II by the collar, glance at the legendary ascetics behind you who have reacted and begun to give chase. Seeing that their attacks are neutralized by the red dragon's rough hide and they are no match for its speed, you relax, take a deep breath, and slap Runetic II hard across the face several times.
Runetic II slowly awoke, and before he could even process what had happened to him, you shouted at him:
"Why, why can you use magic! What's going on with the gods of this country? Who is targeting Norard, the God of Shadows?"
Your ferocious expression gradually brought him back to consciousness, but the bewilderment from being brutally beaten by the Rising Dragon Fist still affected his mind. Runetic II subconsciously struggled, only to find that his body was already controlled by your magical tentacles. He gave up struggling, his dislocated mouth half-open and drooling as he said:
"Yes, it's the God of Shadows... He was born at the same time as the Goddess, but the Goddess destroyed his path, so he has always held a grudge... and has been plotting revenge..."
"The gods intentionally indulged his behavior, only to punish him and divide his divine power later. They never expected Mage Norard to be so violent; now they have no time to question the God of Shadows..."
"What role do you play in all of this?" you pressed, seizing the opportunity.
"I..." he mumbled, "I merely exploited the chaos to extract some benefits from the gods... In any case, their fighting and killing are ultimately the work of those lowly people, and it has nothing to do with me in the end..."
"You deserve to die! You should be on the guillotine, no, the gallows!" you cursed viciously, then returned to the original question, shouting, "So why do you know magic?!"
"Magic..." Upon hearing this word, King Runetic II suddenly snapped back to reality. He struggled to close his jaw, tried to move his body again, and then, finding himself completely immobilized, said with a forced smile:
"Um, hero, what is magic? I don't know..."
You suddenly delivered a powerful uppercut to his abdomen, then grabbed his hair and coldly said to the dazed Runetic II, "If you keep pretending, I'll kill you."
"Cough cough..." King Runetic II choked a few times, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "Hero, the secret of magic is in my pocket. Please allow me to retrieve it for you..."
You frowned, glanced at his haphazardly packed clothes, and slightly loosened the tentacles on his arm, allowing him to barely reach into his pocket.
After frantically rummaging through his pockets for a while, Runetic II pulled out a triangular object. Your tentacles held his arm in place, preventing it from moving freely, and you snatched the object from his hand.
[A triangular pyramid, a slender, tower-like structure. Although it is not yet activated, you can already feel an attraction to magical elements emanating from it.]
"The Tower of Demons..." you murmured softly, suddenly unsure of your feelings. Magical creations were a proprietary technology of Lundia, so why were they in the hands of Runetic II?
Just as you were pondering, you suddenly heard Jennifer's soft cry beside you. You snapped back to reality and realized that the ferocious-looking Runetic II had struggled to break his own arm, freeing himself from the tentacles' grasp. He endured the pain, pulled a magic scroll from his pocket, and before Jennifer's sword could strike, he laughed maniacally and tore the scroll apart.
The severed hand, clutching the scroll that had spontaneously combusted, plummeted from the sky, but it was too late; Runetic II's figure had already vanished amidst the spatial turbulence.
["Tsk..." You put away the Demon Gathering Tower, exhaling a breath of stale air. In Anium, without the magic network or access to it, you can't yet sense the occurrence of spells in advance. And if you go back now, the legends of Anium will surely be prepared. So this trip has to be temporarily interrupted.]
[You landed near the capital, Vitaly, and after observing for a while, you indeed heard news that Runetic II had been assassinated, but fortunately, he had escaped successfully from the assassins. From now on, security in the capital will be a hundred times tighter.]
"What a pity, I didn't get to take him to the guillotine." You shook your head helplessly, deciding to deal with him again after you advanced to Legendary level. This time, you were simply not strong enough and didn't have much time to question him, and given the current situation, it would probably be difficult to succeed again.
You cautiously began your return journey, circumventing the storm zone. However, you hadn't gone far when another piece of news reached the public.
"When His Majesty King Runetiq II was leaving the capital aboard a newly equipped airship, he slipped on the toilet while using it and fell into the toilet. Because his left hand was missing and he could not hold on, and he was holding a beef roll in his right hand, he tragically fell to his death as the airship took off. He was 47 years old."
[“…” You were filled with so much to say but didn’t know where to begin. After a moment of silence, you looked at Jennifer.]
Jennifer stroked her chin for a long time, then muttered, "I've heard that the Yaniums eat with their left hand and wipe their butts with their right. Does that mean that beef roll is used for wiping their butts?..."
"I asked you to help me complain, not to list another problem!" You slapped your head and sighed, "Why did the toilet proposal still go through in the end? Even after you started negotiations again, you still wouldn't give up on this proposal...?"
You suppress your urge to complain and silently think to yourself, "Could it be that the magical illusion was also activated by a scroll? The Demon Gathering Tower, scrolls, toilets... are all products of the Kingdom of Norard, obtained through trade?"
[With these and various questions in mind, you returned safely to Dirtmouth a month later. Although the city was still nominally a city of Janium, it was actually covered by a robust magical network. No believer dared to linger there, fearing that the magical network might automatically target them at any moment.]
Although Zerris had already learned from Lundia that you were still alive, he was still exceptionally happy to see you again. After all, due to some kind of mysterious, abstract attraction, he still held you in high regard as this extraordinary newcomer.
"You two had a few drinks inside a newly built mage tower," Zerris chuckled, teasing you. "Because your and Jennifer's reputation as 'legendary dragon fishermen' has spread far and wide across the continent, the Kingdom of Andora has inexplicably been showered with immense wealth. Through the spread of misinformation, Andora has become known as a 'fishing paradise,' and the current visitor count is a hundred times that of two years ago."
"The wise old man never imagined that his lifelong ambition to solidify the magic network in Andora would ultimately be achieved in this way," Zerris said with a strange expression.
As more mages went to Andora, the magic network became more stable. The wise man then began to use the fish bones you left behind to build greenhouses. The newly built greenhouses attracted a large number of newcomers, who gathered around them and formed a city made up of travelers.
To commemorate the provider of the original framework for the greenhouse, the new greenhouse is named "Latis Greenhouse." The wise man originally wanted to name it "Gutter Greenhouse" after your magic network account name, but unfortunately, he has too many children, and that name is a bit inappropriate for children.
However, during a casual conversation over tea, his statement still got out, and now the common people use roughly the same name for the new greenhouse...
Of course, Andora wasn't the only country to benefit from the "Legendary Dragon Fisherman's" blessings; the Kingdom of Norard, your birthplace, also attracted many professionals eager to learn fishing skills.
However, things took a completely unexpected turn. Although the mage academies urgently deployed water-based magic instructors to offer new fishing courses, a newly emerging academy unexpectedly intercepted this flow of traffic.
[That was a warrior academy located in Cugen Village, Senhai Territory. Yes, a warrior academy. It certainly sounded terrifying, but after hearing the name of the academy's principal, you were left in a daze.]
[Ge Ying, the girl with the bloodline of the demon serpent, still experienced the same meteoric rise after activating her bloodline in the Kingdom of Andora. However, unlike the previous simulation, after hearing about your deeds and learning of your current location, she suddenly had a brilliant idea: to retain the professionals who admired your achievements for you. With the help of her companions on the warrior's journey, she personally built an academy.]
"Unbelievable..." you exclaimed. After confirming that his negotiations were going smoothly and he didn't need any help, you bid farewell to Zerris and rode the red dragon with Jennifer towards Andora. Serfar couldn't use the teleportation array, and you didn't want to lose that silly dragon again, so this was the only way back.
On the way, you saw the Murida Greenhouse, which you had visited several times before. It was summer, and the monster wings and fur roof used to shield you from the wind and snow had been removed. Seeing people coming and going inside, you paused, then, putting aside your slightly complicated feelings, couldn't help but remark:
"With so many people, I wonder if they've all tried that lamb stomach and offal ball..."
Jennifer gagged beside you, seemingly recalling the horrifying taste.
[Serfar continued flying forward, and following the now-reinforced and improved ice and snow trade route, you indeed saw a new greenhouse.]
The once enormous icefield dragonfish has been reduced to a sprawling skeleton, standing in the very center of the greenhouse. It is covered with a membrane made of various magical materials, which, when the winter snowstorms arrive, act like a stabilizing pillar, keeping the greenhouse suffocating and preventing any snow or wind from entering.
The buildings constructed by the travelers extended outwards from the central skeleton of a dragonfish, with each part of the skeleton fixed within a different structure, making the entire greenhouse impregnable.
[Inside the sunken space, a bustling crowd gathered. You could see merchants, mages, people of different professions, and even many ordinary people. It had clearly become a popular gathering place for tourists.]
Among the tourists, some with sharp eyes were already curiously watching you, trying to guess your identity. You glanced at the "Latis Greenhouse" sign at the entrance, thought for a long time, but still didn't go down to take a look. That ridiculous name was too embarrassing.
Jennifer was quite eager to try, and even took dozens of photos using the montage technique, but unfortunately, you patted the dragon's rear end and flew off towards Lundia on your Serval.
Several days later, the outline of Lundia finally came into view. The magic clouds swirling above the city appeared so beautiful and vibrant to you after such a long absence. Accustomed to the gray and black skies of Yanium, you felt somewhat out of place returning to Lundia.
"Good morning, Lundia!" you murmured, these words you hadn't spoken in years. You circled Serfa a few times above Lundia, glanced curiously at the uniquely designed warrior academy in the southern part of Senhai Territory, and then patted Serfa on the back.
[Serfar understood, and with an excited howl, he flapped his wings, and in a moment of weightlessness, began to freefall with you.]
[As you rapidly descend, you see the bustling three schools, the sparsely populated Tianhai Street during the day, and the various vegetation growing extremely lushly in the dense magic energy, stretching along the mage towers that line the outer city all the way to the borders of Senhai Territory.]
[You witnessed all of this in a mere three seconds, then turned your gaze back to your own mage tower, which was drawing ever closer.]
The once rampant vegetation has been neatly trimmed; Yashutia's workshop, located in the cave, has extended its shops to the roadside; the flower fields that Frico thought would take a long time to cultivate have now become a sea of flowers; in a corner of the mage territory, a building resembling the experimental building of the Bogu Academy has opened its doors; and beside the former leaning tower, you seem to see a museum used to display the collections of various races.
The half-elf, who had long anticipated your return, stood atop the mage tower as usual. She missed you so much that she clenched her fists in excitement, forgetting to bow to you.
Chapter 188 There's Always Someone on an Adventure
When Ateliers fell into your arms, you had a premonition that your adventure was about to come to an end.
Just as expected, the girls went from hesitant to enthusiastically surrounding you in a matter of seconds. You responded to their concern, and were about to show them the various local specialties you'd brought back from Janium when a cracking sound came from the top of the mage tower.
You were shocked, thinking your sword was too sharp and had pierced the tower's spire, so you rushed upstairs to see what was going on.
[Don't worry if you don't look; the closer you get to the top of the tower, the more frequent the cracking sounds become. When you finally reach the top of the mage tower, a small dragon is hatching from its egg and crashes headfirst into your arms.]
[You breathed a sigh of relief after being knocked off the mage tower by the dragon's charge. Turns out, it wasn't the tower that was damaged, but the baby was born... Seems like things aren't all that great after all!]
You stand up, rubbing your chest which doesn't hurt at all. Looking at the little dragon charging towards you like a speeding miniature dragon, shouting "Your son's here!" and slurring its words, you calmly step aside, making way for Serfal behind you.
"Father! Aaaaaah!" The little dragon, who had been charging forward with its eyes closed, following your aura, suddenly sensed a terrifying power and abruptly stopped in mid-air. It opened its eyes, looked at the wise-looking Serfar's horns and tail, swallowed hard, and said in a trembling voice:
"Oh my god..."
[You chuckled. It's rumored that even dragons are terrified of their mothers, because female dragons lay eggs naturally every few years, and with so many eggs, they easily forget about them, so they're not exactly kind to their offspring. And this, it seems, is already etched into the dragon's DNA...]
Watching Serfal examine the baby dragon, muttering to himself, "It's been so many years since I've seen a living offspring," you can't help but wonder what would happen if Serfal were to raise the child... But then again, forget it, he'd ruin the character's level.
[As is customary, you named the little dragon Setis.]
[You later learned that Setis could have been born a year earlier, but at that time she was working as a control group in Lovestone's lab. Coupled with Lovestone's constant data analysis in the lab giving her a splitting headache, she simply went back to sleep. It wasn't until she was brought back to the mage territory, and after getting to know several "prospective mothers" through the dragon egg, that she sensed your return and hatched.]
[Of course, most of the above is your speculation. Setis is currently just a baby dragon the size of a puppy. Since Thephar didn't return to Dragon Valley to retrieve the dragon crystals, Setis hasn't had the opportunity to eat them to grow quickly. Therefore, although she's talkative, she still needs a lot of sleep every day... no, meditation.]
[Serfal still didn't seem to care much about the little dragon's existence, but you started to feel that she seemed a bit strange. Several times, on the hills of the mage territory, you saw a thoughtful expression on her dragon face. This completely out of character gave you the creeps, making you wonder if Serfal had picked up someone's discarded brain on the road and started using it in her dragon head.]
Finally, on a late summer night, Serfal landed beside you as you were admiring the moon, transformed into human form, poked you twice, and asked without hesitation, "Little Ra, when are you planning to become Serfal's husband?"