Chapter 107: Chapter 93: Begin!
Actually, it wasn’t that Tyl did not want to give something to Long Yi. As Bajie’s biological father, he naturally hoped that Long Yi would become stronger. However, the reality was that Tyl had nothing to give!
Tyl was originally one of the guardian dragons of the Black Dragon Empire, once known as the strongest black dragon. He had suddenly decided to leave the Black Dragon Empire and come to the White Dragon Empire. Although the Black Dragon Empire was powerless to stop him, they absolutely could not allow him to take anything from the Empire. Moreover, as a black dragon, it was impossible for him to get any resources in the White Dragon Empire. In fact, the giant dragon and dragon knights who had once lost to him on the battlefield bore deep grudges against him and wished they could tear him apart and devour him. Thus, it was already remarkable that he could stay here peacefully.
Long Yi understood Tyl’s predicament, so his main purpose in coming here was to give Tyl a heads-up. After all, he had taken away Tyl’s child without informing him, which was quite inappropriate.
After making small talk for a while, Long Yi fused the black dragon scale Tyl had given him into his dragon scale armor, turning it darker and slightly softer. Then, Long Yi and Ai Lin set off. But before they left, Tyl once again called Long Yi aside and secretly handed him a bottle the size of a thumb, with a string attached. Inside the bottle was a thick black liquid, floating and shimmering.
"This is my Dragon Blood Essence. If you encounter an opponent you can’t resist, drink it. It will turn you into a half-dragon for five minutes, and all your strength will be multiplied, with dragon power being inexhaustible! Use these five minutes to defeat your opponent, but if you still can’t outmatch them, use this power to make a run for it! As far away as possible! Because after five minutes, you will be on the verge of death due to the power surge! Remember! This applies even if you’re a giant! You haven’t awakened yet! You can’t fully digest my power!"
The black dragon said very seriously.
Long Yi stared into the black dragon’s eyes, puzzled as to how the black dragon had known that he was a giant. After all, he had already given ’that thing’ to Elsa. His strength had increased a bit, but as far as he could tell, it had absolutely nothing to do with being a giant.
Long Yi was a bit surprised. He had never shied away from his giant identity before. He had told his foster parents and Elsa about it. While he hadn’t told Ai Lin, he didn’t plan on keeping it a secret either. He just hadn’t gone out of his way to mention it to her.
But this time, Long Yi felt a hint of doubt when someone else knew about his giant identity.
What was going on?
Of course, Long Yi did not show his doubts. There was no point in questioning it now. He carefully put away the small bottle and left the Dragon God Temple with Ai Lin under Tyl’s watchful gaze.
This mission was a treat for ambitious students and slackers alike. It was essentially a holiday, and even if one chose to do nothing, there’d be no loss other than handing in a blank task form.
On his way, Long Yi encountered several boys and girls who were discussing their holiday plans, making it feel like a proper break.
First, they opened the task map on their wristbands, which indicated the direction of the monster’s movement from the Gentle Wind Plain, and where they could find it.
Most of the locations were remote mountains and forests where powerful creatures naturally thrived. Some creatures could even use fighting aura techniques or cast magic!
If they encountered such formidable creatures, the mission instructions advised immediate retreat. But Wesley’s handbook suggested to attempt to capture one, as it could be a valuable battle companion or sold to a pet trader at a high price. Of course, transporting it posed a different problem.
The White Dragon Empire was the second largest among the old empires, with the Black Dragon Empire naturally being the first. After checking the map, Long Yi noticed that there were only a dozen human settlements in the vast landscape. Removing the smaller towns, the rest were mountains and lakes. Choosing a direction wasn’t easy. After discussing it with Ai Lin, they decided to head south. The reason was simple: the south had the most remote mountains and jungles. Moreover, there was a large inland lake called Silver Dragon Lake to the south. According to legend, the first Silver Dragon in the White Dragon Empire was born there. No one knew the truth of the matter, but every Silver Dragon owner regarded it as a holy land. Ai Lin, whose Shimmer was a Silver Dragon branch, naturally wanted to visit.
Several flying dragons took off into the sky as Long Yi and Ai Lin walked along. Suddenly, a dragon caught Ai Lin’s attention.
"Brother Long, look! That’s my Second Brother Ais’s dragon! He’s heading north!"
Ai Lin exclaimed excitedly.
"Perfect, he’s heading north, we’re heading south. Let’s see who can get more crystal cores!"
Long Yi chuckled.
"Of course, it’s us!"
Waving her little fist, Ai Lin declared confidently.
"That’s a given!"
A large carriage, two people, and a fat dragon made up the main load of the carriage. After leaving Academy City, they traveled on the official road for three days, passing through two small towns. After changing horses, there was finally no road ahead. The carriage returned, and their adventure officially began.
Just as the carriage was about to leave, several people who appeared to be third-year students from the school ran out of the forest in front of them. They scrambled out of the forest looking flustered and alarmed, screaming as if they had encountered something terrifying.
From the shadows of the forest came occasional shrill cries. Hearing them made the third-year students run even faster. They shouted at the departing carriage, which stopped to let them on. They threw a bag of gold coins at the driver, who galloped off in an instant upon seeing the gold.
Long Yi turned around, looked into the forest, and then looked back at Ai Lin. He saw the same thing in her eyes as she saw in his.
Interest!
"Let’s check it out!"
Thus, the two people and three dragons dove straight into the forest.
As soon as they entered, a chilling gust seemed to gush from the forest’s core. It was only mid-October, yet the breath exhaled by Long Yi formed a thin mist in the cold air!
This cold seemed a bit out of the ordinary!
"Xiaoyou, go up and see."
As Long Yi spoke, Shadow Dragon flew off from Bajie and circled above the forest.
"As soon as we leave the shadow of the forest, this coldness dissipates immediately."
Those are the sensations conveyed from the Shadow Dragon.
"Be careful, Brother Long. Something’s wrong."
Ai Lin cautioned. Her heightened sensitivity to magic detected an unusual flux of mana.
Not only did Long Yi feel it, but he could even see the flow of this magic!
It originated from beneath the forest, under the thick layers of dead leaves on the ground. Strange mana was slowly flowing, subtly lowering the air temperature in such a manner that most people wouldn’t notice, yet not dropping it so drastically as to kill the trees.
Looking up, the source of the mana was deep in the woods. Long Yi exchanged a glance with Ai Lin, and without hesitating, they promptly moved towards it.
After a short walk, signs of a battle became evident on the ground. Bloodstains, shattered bones, decaying bodies– a putrid stench hung heavily in the air.
What happened here? The fight seems to have only recently taken place, why does it smell so bad?
Just then, Ai Lin screamed. Long Yi turned to see her ankle firmly grasped by a bony hand, and a naked skull was trying to push its way out from the ground!
"Aah!"
With another high-pitched scream, Ai Lin stamped her foot down. A loud rumble followed as a spell was infused into the ground beneath. The subsequent explosion sent Ai Lin flying into the air, while the creature that hadn’t fully emerged from the ground was blown to pieces, along with the dirt.
However, the fallen Ai Lin was not calm. Trembling with fear, she pointed at her ankle and stuttered, "Lo-Long, help...help me..."
Terrified to the point of being incoherent, Ai Lin was helpless. Long Yi grabbed her ankle and crushed the twitching skeletal hand. It took a long while for her to calm down.
"Scaredy... "
"Don’t say it!"
Ai Lin, red-faced, shouted.
Undead creatures were nothing rare in this world, but just as girls are frightened by cockroaches despite their ubiquity, the fear of undead creatures was innate and unavoidable for them.
"What I’m saying is, being scared won’t help you now. Look ahead."
Long Yi pointed, and Ai Lin saw that the ground up ahead was stirring. Scores of skeletons and zombies emerged from the soft mud, rattling and shuffling, clutching rusty weapons. The creaking of bones and the mindless groans of the zombies were continuous.
Feeling Ai Lin, who had already retreated fully behind him, Long Yi focused on the front, his brow slightly furrowed, his mind filled with confusion.
These undead, their combat power was just too weak.
Look at those shaky zombies, tattered and torn under the care of bacteria and insects, it was a miracle that their muscle fibres could still function. They stumbled around like rag dolls. And those skeletons? Their frail frames swaying with every step. A skeleton soldier in the distance even lost its leg in mid-motion, picked it up to reattach it, only to fix it the wrong way around, and then fell to pieces with a crash.
Who hired these amateurs? Talk about negligence, you are supposed to be terrifying undead creatures! Scaring a young girl to shrieks, and when you finally crawl out of the ground, can’t you show a bit of menace?
Long Yi facepalmed, then helplessly pushed Ai Lin onto Bajie’s back, "Wait here."
Ai Lin immediately nodded her head like a puppy, her eyes shiny and moist, looking almost like she was wagging an imaginary tail.
