r18novel Page 54
Page 54
When traveling to the Dragon Empire, merchant ships often stop at ports along the way for rest and repairs. The voyage, which lasts for several months with frequent stops, is not considered arduous, but the return journey is a difficult one for anyone.
The Dragon Empire's products are extremely valuable, and ports along the shipping routes are eager to seize these magical goods from the continent of Karatu. Ocean-going merchant ships returning fully loaded dare not dock; they even avoid the near-shore routes they came by. When approaching port cities along the way, they would rather risk encountering storms or deep-sea monsters and venture far from the coast.
With the accompanying mage's protection, ordinary storms posed little threat.
Chapter 147
Unless provoked, deep-sea monsters rarely attack ships sailing normally on the surface. However, pirates disguised as navies from certain nations will absolutely target merchant ships returning from the continent of Karatu.
Ships fully loaded with cargo could not reach high speeds, and even if there were ports, they could not dock. The long sea voyages became an agonizing ordeal, with only tobacco and alcohol able to alleviate some of the fatigue.
Given the immense difficulties and dangers, there are certainly reasons why so many ocean-going merchant ships are still willing to sail this route. For a sailor, just two or three voyages in a lifetime are enough to ensure a comfortable life for the rest of their days. If sailors can earn so much, one can only imagine how much the captains can make—it is said that many nobles from places like Goldvale and Carinthia initially made their fortunes by sailing this route.
Even proud mages were willing to squeeze in with sweaty sailors and drift at sea for half a year, which is enough to prove how profitable this trade route was.
Of course, risks and benefits go hand in hand. On the route from Faerun to the continent of Karatu, at least two-thirds of the ships are permanently lost every year.
They may have fallen into the jaws of deep-sea monsters, sunk in the merciless storms of the ocean, or been dragged back by the navies of some countries along the way and eaten without leaving a trace.
Several experienced sailors, a mage skilled in storms, and a secret route map that clearly indicates the danger zones and their levels are all necessary conditions for a successful retreat.
Tobyles went bankrupt just to acquire these goods, then set sail with renewed confidence, successfully reaching his destination and filling his vessel with cargo that would make him incredibly wealthy. He then returned safely to the vicinity of the Churt Peninsula on the Great Sea.
To maximize his profits, he didn't even choose to unload his goods at Goldval, but instead insisted on going around the Churt Peninsula to Carinsan, because that way he could get an extra one or two percent more profit... After completing this trip, Tobyles could buy a large "fief" in Carinsan, get a baron title, go from a merchant to a nobleman, and establish the Tobyles family's century-old foundation!
However, the sailors seemed to be running out of steam. Upon seeing the Churt Peninsula, the Bellflower sailors had repeatedly suggested to Tobyles that they wanted to dock for rest, and their attitude was visibly getting worse, even leading to several arguments.
If he hadn't promised to increase the hiring fee by 30% when he sensed the situation was turning against him, some sailors might have already mutinied.
Should they rest at a port on the Thurte Peninsula, as the sailors wished? He was already considering the feasibility of doing so: the Thurte Peninsula was indeed primitive and backward, but primitiveness also meant that the people were simple and honest. Many port areas on the Thurte Peninsula did not have the habit of robbing passing merchant ships—the main reason for this was probably that merchant ships returning from Kalatur usually unloaded their cargo at Goldenval, and on the final return journey from Goldenval, the cargo they carried was no longer worth much.
However, as long as the sailors keep the secret, no one will know that what is carried on the bellflower is still the cargo from the Karatu continent, which is more valuable than gold.
"Captain, Captain, something terrible has happened!" The sound of bare feet, bound only with linen, slapping against the wooden deck echoed through the air. The first mate, his face haggard, croaked, "A small boat is blocking our way!"
"What? We've encountered pirates?" Tobyles exclaimed in surprise, but then realized something was wrong. "Hey, why are you making such a fuss? It's just a small boat. We'll just ram it. We've smashed so many small pirate ships along the way. What's the big deal?"
The ocean-going merchant ships that dared to sail to the continent of Karatu were no wrecks; they were all giant warships with a displacement of two to three thousand tons, equipped with metal rams at the bow. Aside from lacking heavy ballistae and cannons, they were basically standard battleships of the powerful naval nation of Faerûn. Upon arriving at the Dragon Empire, Tobyles even spared no expense to have Wu Xian perform a unique magical reinforcement on the Windbell Grass; ordinary warships couldn't withstand its ramming. Unless surrounded by a large number of pirate ships, how could a small boat possibly stop the Windbell Grass?
"No, not pirates..." The one-eyed, barefoot first mate gasped for breath, his face filled with anxiety as he sighed, "Sigh, it's hard to explain in a few words. You'll see for yourself when you go up there. The sailors are going crazy!"
"Small boat, sailors?"
Although Tobyles was somewhat confused, he saw that the first mate didn't seem to be joking, so he quickly got up, climbed onto the towering sterncastle helmsman's deck, and raised his monoculars to look at the front of the bellflowers.
Bathed in the glow of the setting sun, a small triangular sailboat floated on the shimmering sea. A colorful projection shone from the small boat, displaying itself before the sailors of the Bellflower. It read: "Have you grown weary from your long voyage at sea? At this moment, do you long to dock in a calm harbor, step onto a clean and tidy shore, find a comfortable tavern to wash away the seawater and salt, sleep until you naturally wake up in a soft bed, then enjoy a warm drink in the tavern and embrace a beautiful body... Dock at Desera Harbor, where you'll find everything you desire."
68. In a hurry
Advertising to attract customers was, of course, Casalos's terrible idea.
Initially, the efforts to attract passengers weren't very effective, but as time went on, the advertising effect gradually took hold, and the number of ships docking at Desala Port began to increase dramatically. In less than a year, it had taken away one-third of Sinda's ship fleet, and in the following years, it experienced explosive growth.
With more merchant ships docking, the floating population increased, consumption grew, and Dessela's service industry developed rapidly, driving the development of related industrial chains. The prototype of a new port city began to take shape.
Of course, besides the advertising effect, the key to such a grand occasion lies in the security and service quality that Desera City itself can provide.
Advertising is something that Casalos can easily imitate by other port cities in the surrounding area. But a port guard of exemplary spellcasters is probably only something Silvermoon City can produce in the entire Faerûn.
Not to mention, there are also charming drow bunny girls here who can provide warship-like modifications for merchant ships. If you're willing to pay more than half the price of the cargo, you can even hire an orange aquatic dragon to travel thousands of miles to retrieve cargo stolen by some "pirates"...
In short, the reputation of New Desera Port has gradually spread throughout the continent of Faerûn, thanks to the merchant ships and bards on the Eastern Continent route.
It is foreseeable that a new deepwater city, a new port of Karin, and a new golden Varan are already rising on the remote Tindor steppe—which will require at least several decades of population migration and development.
As the port prospered, the lives of the grassland people became more affluent, leading to greater aspirations. The qualification to serve as the Snow Mountain Guard in Casaloz became highly sought-after, greatly expanding the population pool of Dragon Territory…
Every cloud has a silver lining. With Desera becoming bustling, the number of adventurers swarming in like locusts increased, and the red dragon on the snow-capped mountain naturally became the ultimate target of these troublemakers. Whether these guys genuinely disliked on-site investigation or deliberately ignored the attitude of the grassland people, they soon set off to slay the dragon under the guise of eliminating evil. Recently, on average, a fully armed "dragon-slaying" team has appeared every week, crossing the grasslands and climbing the snow-capped mountain to cause trouble for Casaloz.
Casalos, of course, had little patience to deal with these types and left them all to the ever-growing Snow Mountain Guard. As a result, rumors spread throughout the continent that the Red Dragon of the Great Snow Mountain southeast of Desera had trained a massive army and might intend to conquer the continent of Faerûn, along with news from the new port of Desera.
The harpist, always keeping a close eye on events on the mainland; the Zantalin Society, always eager to meddle; the red-robed mage, sensing an opportunity; and various other miscellaneous forces began to set their sights on Tindor, making the once desolate steppe increasingly bustling. And it wasn't just Desera...
Chapter 148
The port, and even Sinda and Landes deep in the bay, are gradually taking on some of the features of the Sword Bay city.
The Dragon Cult members had no idea what was going on. The promised gift was long overdue and nowhere to be seen, and the elusive purple-robed figure hadn't suddenly appeared to give an explanation. They could only temporarily shift their focus back to the Dragon Territory's strategy against Gravesend City.
It believed it was time to get rid of this troublesome gray dwarf neighbor and let the Dragonlord take center stage in the Underdark, but only after it had completed its most recent trial.
Since his first trip to Waterdeep, Casalos has devoted almost all his energy to increasing his own power, except for occasionally taking a vacation in Waterdeep while wearing the skin of a dragon and checking on the whereabouts of the Atheros.
Thanks to its limited interactions with the Archmage of the Fang Dragon, Casaloz made substantial progress in its magical research, gaining a deeper understanding of its innate arcane abilities. It finally raised its mage rank to level 3, enough to pass for a somewhat accomplished novice mage even in human form. While its unwavering warrior training still hadn't yielded the strictly defined "warrior" class rank, it spurred its development, making it even stronger—through persistent physical training, it gained another HD level, acquiring the physique of a young iron dragon!
Of course, as time went by, Casaroz's most significant growth still came from the Dragon Vault Trials. In the past few years, it has never missed a single opportunity to enter the Dragon Vault and has already undergone fifteen rounds of trials. Although it still hasn't seen the first boss of the El world, the endless monster-slaying journey has brought it only one level away from becoming a perfect Elemental Master.
It had a premonition that it would achieve a substantial breakthrough in this trial.
"You've arrived." On the unchanging Astral Silverflow Island, Archbishop Artanis of El greeted Casalos familiarly, then began the process: "Ready?"
Having received Casaloz's affirmative reply, he raised his hand to release a portal, politely wished her good luck, and the much-grown Iron Dragon began its short yet long journey amidst the dizzying world.
"Short" refers to the objective time it can last in the instance, while "long" refers to the subjective feeling of time dragging on endlessly after being overwhelmed by the endless swarm of insects.
The moment it landed, the biting cold, carried by the blizzard, penetrated the Kassaroz's skin-carved dragon's cold resistance, causing it to shiver on the spot. Its entire body stiffened, its blood froze, and the dragon magic flowing in its veins suddenly congealed, as if obstructed. Externally, its breath, exhaled from its nostrils, instantly froze into swirling icy mist.
This climate can directly freeze young iron dragons that have not overcome their weakness to cold and gained cold resistance!
Fortunately, Casaloz was still able to hold on. It stretched out its six limbs and did some warm-up exercises that were necessary before each warrior's training, activating its dragon magic and restoring its normal mobility. Then it spread its wings and flew into the air to lure monsters.
Harsh weather conditions are not necessarily bad news. The weather is fair; Casalos needs to expend dragon magic energy to combat the cold, and the insects certainly need other means to ensure their own mobility.
More importantly, this extreme weather that could directly kill a young dragon is very likely a celestial phenomenon caused by the lost artifact, as Artanis mentioned.
If they can find the source of the climate before they collapse and use Artanis's authorization to seize the artifact, then this game will be won. Perhaps this is the breakthrough it foresaw.
The buzzing of insects flying was mixed with the howling of the cold wind. One by one, the insects, which were covered with thick, porous shells and flew much slower than the original prototypes, braved the blizzard and flew into the sky.
Casalos then switched to circling, opening with a breath attack. In order to find the artifact as soon as possible, it chose aerial combat.
69. Torture
The insects, now covered in bulky shells, flew much slower and their maneuverability was greatly reduced. They huddled together, tumbling and falling, amidst the ravages of the blizzard.
These changes are actually irrelevant to Casalos. With its current power, the primal insects ravaging El are no threat to it. They can only exhaust Casalos's physical strength and magic power through their endless numbers, but at the same time, their deaths will become the nourishment for the ever-growing Blaze.
While hovering, it unleashed large swaths of thin, fire-mist-like breath, gleaming with flickering flames that danced with electric arcs, connecting to the bodies of nearby insects. This breath pierced the foamy shells that served to protect against the cold wind but offered little actual defense, allowing the scorching dragon breath to penetrate and burn away some of the chitinous shells and protein bodies, inflicting enough pre-emptive damage for the final, devastating attack.
Fire fog, electric arcs, and flames converged to form Casaloz's flight path, carving out wide gaps that slowly moved toward the center of the storm within the dark canopy of the insect swarm.
Before the individual quality of the swarm changes, Casalos can easily withstand even a full-scale attack from the swarm.
Another advantage of aerial combat is that it allows you to quickly spot loot that has fallen to the ground, enabling you to plan your circling routes and altitudes to fly over the area where the loot fell and collect it promptly. You won't miss any opportunity to grow stronger because of the obstruction of corpses.
Of course, the ease was only a temporary illusion. No matter how efficient the breath attack, it was still steadily consuming Casalos's limited dragon magic power, while the swarm of insects was endless. Their "leveling up" curve was also higher than their in-game growth, which was the fundamental reason why Casalos failed every time. Having experienced so many failures, it had long realized that the artifact manifesting the laws of the El world, and those quests to find the missing, were the key to breaking the deadlock—it hadn't even unlocked all the universal external enhancements, so trying to clear the roguelike mode would require an incredible amount of luck…
The closer Casaloz got to the heart of the blizzard, the more severe the unnatural cold became to the dragon's body. Besides hindering the flow of its magical energy, a thick layer of frost covered Casaloz's heavy metallic scales, making it sluggish and drastically increasing drag on its flight. Normally, this purely physical effect would have been easily resolved with a simple spell, but due to the lack of a magical network in the world of El, Casaloz's familiar Faerûn rules of magic were difficult to utilize. The spell-like abilities it gained at Elemental Master level 10 became its most reliable reliance.
Equivalent to an 8th-level Burning Cloud spell cast at spell level 20, it creates a spherical space tens of meters in diameter filled with scorching ash. Driven slowly forward by Casalos's will, it can get a moment's rest by adjusting its circling radius and passing through it at the right time, thanks to the stable high temperature.
Hiding inside won't get us anywhere.
Aside from the limited speed of the Burning Cloud's advance, the insects will instinctively avoid the scorching ash mass floating and advancing in the sky. However, as long as it is in the middle of it, the dense swarm of insects will ignore the damage of the Burning Cloud and continuously attack it. The massive number of insects will drastically increase the mana consumption to maintain the Burning Cloud. If this continues for a long time, the turbulence stirred up by the swarm's membrane wings can even dissipate the spell.
A terrifying area-of-effect spell that could destroy a small town with a single cast becomes precarious even among a swarm of insects. Perhaps only legendary or higher-level spells can still demonstrate the nobility and mystery of magic when facing an endless horde of insects.
Casalos, having been torn apart by the Zerg swarm more than ten times, had more than once hoped that a notification like "Fusion strike detected" would suddenly pop up in his mind. However, even so, the Zerg swarm did not deter its confidence. After all, the Night Serpent Dendel, who destroyed Aiur, was a being that had once made the gods of Faerûn flee in terror.
If it completes the copy of El, it means it has gained power that would make even the gods tremble. Of course, this power is limited to within the game itself.
Chapter 149
As time went on, the individual insects grew increasingly powerful. The emergence of insects with ranged attacks, in particular, caused the pressure on Casalos to increase dramatically. Normally, at this point, it would have landed to fight, minimizing its impact area and prolonging the battle. This time, however, it couldn't, because it hadn't yet reached the source of the blizzard.
It had anticipated the current situation earlier, and its choice of loot leaned towards types that improve speed and mobility, enhance defense, and provide continuous recovery. By reducing killing efficiency, it gained more survival time. In the Survivor Mode, using increased survivability and reduced damage to prolong survival time before being unable to complete a level only reduces the rewards for each round. It has no practical significance other than subjecting itself to a longer ordeal.
Since death is inevitable anyway, the best course of action is to kill as many bugs as possible within the limited time available to earn more gold coins and permanently upgrade oneself. What's the point of turning oneself into a moving wooden stake to endure this fate? Casalos is doing just that now, with his sole aim being that possible hope of breaking the deadlock.
When a high-level spellcaster appeared among the insects, Casalos had already donned a full set of thick steel armor, with nearly half a meter of frost covering the armor. His Burning Cloud spell could no longer be maintained, his dragon breath had completely ceased, and his dragon wings could no longer support his flight.
Relying on its high-mana-consuming anti-gravity spells, it barely managed to maintain its weight, which had surged to hundreds of tons. Like a dump truck flying through the air, it crushed or smashed through the insects blocking its path, charging straight toward the source of the blizzard's greatest power.
Every moment, the frost formed by the blizzard is torn apart by the fearless swarms of insects and their colorful ranged attacks, followed by the armor plates encased in frost.
The heavy armor, with its multi-layered steel plates, was stripped away layer by layer, hanging tattered on the dragon's body, barely held together by the accumulating frost, before finally collapsing completely in the next moment.
Then came the vast expanse of dragon scales, shimmering like waves under moonlight. Even with their multiple enhancements, the scales couldn't stop the insects' limbs, flying spikes, or spells; in the explosions from the impacts, they shattered into countless sparks.
The insect swarm attack in the world of Aiur resembled the Zerg in the lore. Casaloz's primal power, Flame Repair, was no match for the speed at which the insects tore through its scales, and in no time, flesh and blood were torn apart.
With the protection of the Nine-Faced Dragon God, before being completely torn apart by the insects, Casalos saw through the gaps in the swarming insects the roaring, enormous blizzard vortex that soared straight into the sky.
70. Crown
The unnatural, raging whirlwind was like a stairway to heaven, connecting the sky and the earth of the unknown planet El World. The whirlwind, with a linear speed of hundreds of kilometers per hour, carried snowflakes the size of millstones, as hard as steel, spinning around like a giant meat grinder, crushing anything that dared to approach, forcibly creating a bloody clearing thousands of meters in diameter in the swarm of insects.
Casalos roared, exhausting his last remaining strength, dragging his battered body through the swarm of insects blocking his way, and plunged headlong into the raging vortex.
A swift hurricane flipped it over, and a swirling snowflake easily sliced through its defenseless skin, causing dragon blood to splatter out.
Before it could even feel the pain of its new wounds, a second and third snowflake had already pierced its body. A chill that seemed to freeze time and space surged in from the new wounds, overwhelming the little warmth left in its body like a flood.
"There's no...reaction, and...it's...about to end..."
Even the dragon's consciousness was stretched out little by little by the frozen time, and Casalos's thoughts completely stopped. It was not extinction, not shattering, nor ending; at this moment, it seemed to have become eternal.
After a moment of confusion, Casalos's thoughts began to flow again.
Its memory was still stuck at the moment it crashed into the dense swarm of advanced insects. Its consciousness had only passed through a moment, but it could feel that its dragon magic had returned to its peak active state, and all its injuries had been completely healed. The dragon scales and skin that had been stripped away by the insect attacks had all returned to their original state.
It has absolutely no way of knowing how much time has passed in its moment of dazedness.
As far as the eye could see, the swarms of insects that had filled the sky outside the storm had vanished. A black line, made up of fragmented insect corpses, stretched into the distance, indicating the path Casalos had taken. The fragments of insect corpses were encased in ice and snow, appearing as fresh as when they landed.
The blizzard caused by some kind of world law in El still raged, but it no longer shook Casaroz's body in the slightest. A layer of gentle aura emanated from the dragon soul and flowed through its body, blocking out the extreme cold and forming a strange membrane on its surface, soothing the raging wind that was blowing over it.
Those swirling snowflakes, even more terrifying than the magic axe, danced lightly as they approached, tracing impossible paths to avoid its presence.
Casalos let out a long sigh of relief. Artanis's runes had taken effect; the artifact materialized from the fragments of the laws of Aiur had acknowledged it. There was no need to dwell on the meaningless passage of time within the vault; all that mattered was flying forward a little further, reaching the core's depths, and touching the source of the blizzard…
"Even the divine blizzards created by the goddess of winter, Oryur, are nothing special. It's said that Oryur's achievements during the Azure Age were quite impressive, even claiming she killed the ice god, Dur Bajar… Hmm, but the self-aggrandizing claims of this pantheon are completely unreliable; they're full of contradictions…"
Shaking his head to clear his mind of the jumbled thoughts, Casaroz focused on the runes imprinted on the dragon soul, activating the final guidance to approach the source of the blizzard.
The runes rippled with waves of a specific frequency, and the blizzard that chilled even the ancient dragons parted to clear a straight path for Casalos. At the end of the path, a crown forged from pale blue ice rested quietly atop a humanoid skeleton about three meters tall.
Sensing Casalos's approach, the shattered skeleton miraculously came back to life, mechanically turning its head with four eye holes, and a faint blue soul flame ignited, flickering and swaying with the fluctuations of the runes.
"I entrust the 'North Wind and Frost Crown' to you!"
A strange language was transmitted to Casalos's mind in a way that was neither sound, magic, nor spirit, and Casalos understood its meaning without any difficulty.
The skeleton raised its remaining left arm and pointed it at the approaching dragon. The soul flames in the four eye sockets suddenly lit up and then went out completely. The so-called "Northern Wind Crown" fluttered up like snowflakes in the cold wind and landed on Casalos's forehead.
The crown, designed for humanoid structures, was not suitable for a dragon to wear. However, since the artifact was shapeless, during the final stretch of its descent, the ice-forged crown rapidly flattened into a smooth disc like mercury, then stretched into a shield shape that was blunt at the front and pointed at the back. A straight ridge folded up in the center, perfectly fitting Casalos's forehead ridge, and then it sank into it, like an ice gem set into it.
A chill even more biting than when it entered the snowstorm instantly pierced Casalos's body and dragon soul, freezing its consciousness and matter completely, transforming them into an ineffable state, before they began to flow again in their original way.
Casalos discovered that his original fire-type subspecies attribute had been completely washed away, his flesh and blood no longer existed, his dragon magic had turned into flowing frost, and even his dragon soul had turned into ice crystals that released coldness.
Originally, everything about the dragon seemed to have become a collection of concepts representing cold and storms, merely maintaining the outward appearance of the iron dragon.
Now, it is part of the ice and snow and gales of the world of El. In the world of El, any substance that belongs to the concept of wind and snow will move according to its will.
Casalos, having received the information, understood that this thing had implications for the concept of wind and snow.
Chapter 150
The definition adopts a common rule known among the civilizations of the El world in their mental networks: high-temperature metallic vapor, once it starts to flow, is considered wind; solid helium crystals are also considered snow...
Of course, knowing all this is pretty useless. The Windbreaker Crown can only control high-temperature metallic steam or nitrogen-fixed snowflakes, but it can't create them. To create the kind of terrain damage you imagine, you'd first need to be able to create the corresponding substance. However, controlling wind and snow isn't the Windbreaker Crown's only function as an artifact; it's just one of its least helpful applications for Casalos.
The greatest enhancement that the North Wind's Crown brings to it is that it transforms its physical body into a collection of idealistic concepts.
It can now maintain its original condensed structure and can also transform into any form of wind and snow, including the high-temperature metallic vapor and solid helium snowflakes that it just mentioned.
Just two words don't really give you a real sense of it; Casalos still needs to experience it firsthand to truly understand how the artifact enhances his power.
The moment the thought crossed my mind, the storm, mixed with axe-like snowflakes, abruptly dissipated. Bright sunlight pierced through the thick clouds and poured onto the earth. Insects hidden under the ice and snow were awakened, rustling as they emerged from the ground, shedding their shells to withstand the cold wind, flapping their wings and flying into the sky, once again obscuring the sun.