Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
As Lin Li hovered opposite the Crimson Dragon, snowflakes fell slowly and formed a thick layer over the black stone platform in the blink of an eye. Beyond the black stone platform, even though the lava had already hardened into rocks, the snowflakes that fell upon it still could not survive as they were turned into steam immediately, forming a thick layer of steam around the black stone platform.
The Crimson Dragon howled as it struggled, its cries deafeningly loud as they shook up the world. How it wished that time would stop for a second so that it could recover from the damage it’d suffered, but unfortunately, time continued to pass like the most cruel curse, taking away its life as it did so…
Lin Li would not have mercy now. While he did not know how Osric had managed to make this Crimson Dragon work as a slave here, he did know that as the descendant of a Dragon Aspect, it would not swallow its pride to submit to him and take him as the owner or anything like that.
It wasn’t the Angels of Light and Dark that Connoris had started becoming familiar with that appeared next to Lin Li now. It was a black-robed freak that carried a sickle and wore a wide-brimmed hat that hid his face. While there was only one, it was so massive that it was nearly as big as the Crimson Dragon.
Connoris, who could not contain his curiosity, asked, “Hey, where did your bird people go? What’s this?”
Lin Li raised his eyebrow lightly and smiled. “This? I call him the Bearer of Death.”
The Bearer of Death waved his sickle and dived towards the Crimson Dragon, slitting its throat using the sickle. However, there was no wound when he did so, and only a blurry shadow was drawn out by the sickle. That was the soul of the Crimson Dragon. With a pounce, the Bearer of Death gulped down the soul of the Crimson Dragon before it dissipated into the Magical Domain.
“You learned… this from Mephistos, right? Can’t believe you actually manage to tire out the Crimson Dragon,” Connoris said with a tinge of awe in his voice.
“Tire out? It wouldn’t be tired out even if we carried this on for another two months,” Lin Li said as he looked at the carcass of the Crimson Dragon gleefully, not bothering to tell Connoris what was the true reason behind it. It was quite simple, actually. He was not just a mage, but an all-around master who was at least of a Master level in fields like potions, forging, mageweaths, and alchemy. Nobody knew magical element theories like he did.
After elements were sequenced and the magic was released, the elements that resulted in the magic would be released again after the restraints were lifted. This endless cycle of recycling of elements allowed mages to have a never-ending supply of elements to use. Otherwise, there would be a great imbalance in magical elements if mages generally preferred a certain elemental magic.
However, the magical elements that had just taken part in releasing a magic spell would be inert for a period, and only after this period passed could these magical elements join the elemental sequencing again to release magic. As the fire element was the most violent, fire element magic had always been regarded as the most powerful of all, but few knew that fire element also had the longest inert period after taking part in releasing a spell.
Lin Li kept using ice element magic to provoke the Crimson Dragon and circled it intentionally while using magic seemingly aimlessly to intercept the Crimson Dragon’s magic. If all the spots at which the Crimson Dragon’s spells ended were marked, one would realize that they formed a hemisphere around the Crimson Dragon. The Crimson Dragon was unable to leave, and was at the center of a hemisphere formed by inert fire element which hindered the entrance of active fire elements. This made casting spells increasingly difficult and lessened the suppressive effect it had on Lin Li’s Frost Domain.
Hence, Lin Li took the chance and used over 100 Thousand Miles of Ice to suppress the surround fire element as best as he could before unleashing his Frost Domain to destroy the Crimson Dragon’s Frost Domain. Then, he used the Bearer of Death to swallow its soul.
While it sounded simple, nobody besides Lin Li would be able to accomplish this even if they knew of this method. It was easy to understand the nature of the fire element inert period and set up a trap aiming for it. This was all knowledge that could be learned and replicated, but there was one thing that nobody else could replicate. That was to cast the Thousand Miles of Ice over 100 times in less than a minute.
The inert period of fire element would not last forever, and if one was not able to create an environment that was advantageous to themselves before the inert period of the fire element ended, then all of this was empty talk. Only Lin Li was able to cast so many Thousand Miles of Ice in such a short time using his insane mental strength and create an environment that was ideal for his Frost Domain.
Connoris was right regarding the part about devouring the Crimson Dragon’s soul, however. While it was not Mephistos who taught him that, Lin Li did learn it from him. The Lord of Souls soul fragment was sealed in the Summoning Lamp, anyway, and thus it was easy to retrieve information from it. The main reason why he chose to kill the Crimson Dragon by having its soul devoured was because he did not want to lose the valuable dragon blood. In such an environment that was densely filled with fire element, the dragon’s blood would instantly be swallowed by the fire element before Lin Li could contain it in a flask.
“This Crimson Dragon’s body is a real treasure, don’t waste it!” Connoris was not bothered by the fact that he did not receive a reply from Lin Li, once again being in awe of Lin Li’s luck.
“Duh. Why else do you think I went to such great trouble to deal with it?” Lin Li stretched out his hand to tap at the Crimson Dragon’s body. This was a priceless treasure indeed, and it was a blessing for it to end up in Lin Li’s hands. If it were to land in someone else’s hands, one mistake in handling it would have been a great insult to something so valuable. Only someone like him who was a Master in almost every profession there was could skin and debone the Crimson Dragon’s carcass properly without damaging it.
Lin Li was not exaggerating at all. As the Crimson Dragon’s carcass was very valuable, the methods needed to process the carcass properly were also very specific. It was not as easy as simply butchering a pig. He circled the carcass delightedly as he already started planning what he was going to do with it, deciding which parts would be best used to make potions, and which would be best used as ingredients for mageweaths or magical enchantments.
“You think I don’t know what you’re thinking? You’re thinking that only you’re able to make full use of this based on your capabilities, and that only in your hands would this not go to waste, right?” Connoris said with a tinge of mockery in his voice.
Lin Li stopped before saying, “Why, am I wrong?” He did not think that anyone else in the world was more resourceful and knowledgeable than he was. Even if someone were to learn about every field, could they reach the level of a Master like he had? The only way he managed to become a Master at every aspect was thanks to the heaven-defying scroll of Wishes.
“I knew it. Well, it’s just tearing things into pieces; how much better do you think you can do compared to someone else?” Connoris responded condescendingly instead.
“You mean that you have a better idea?” Lin Li had always been quick to lower his stance as long as he had something to gain from it.
“Don’t you have a Humerus Wyrm sealed in that Summoning Lamp? It was quite a decent helper to you in the past, but it has become increasingly obsolete now. It is still a Humerus Wyrm, though, and after losing the powerful body of the dragon it also lost much of its power and all its potential to evolve. Now that you have the Crimson Dragon’s body, things will change.” Lin Li did not have to press further now, as Connoris would willingly offer any information that’d benefit Lin Li now. This was because he understood Lin Li’s personality very well after spending so much time together.
It was no use forcing him or threatening him for help. Only if you willingly helped him and had Lin Li owe you a favor would he be forced to keep your matters in mind. This was what Connoris concluded after spending time with Lin Li.
It was all very simple indeed. If you wanted others to respect you, then you had to learn to respect others first. It was something easy to understand, yet not many were capable of actually doing it.
“What do you mean? You…” Lin Li was taken aback, and quickly asked, “You’re saying that the Humerus Wyrm can take on another body?”
The truth was exactly like what Connoris had said. While the Humerus Wyrm sealed in the Summoning Lamp was a level-20, it was not very useful in a situation like the one earlier. The Humerus Wyrm’s level did not reflect its power as it did not have the protection of scales and the powerful strength that a fleshly body would have. It was merely a rack of bones, or perhaps like an enlarged Skeletal Warrior.
Hence, it was kind of tricky to use the Humerus Wyrm now. It was not of much help, yet it pained Lin Li to see it destroyed—a level-20 Humerus Wyrm was hard to come by, after all. But if he were to keep it and not use it, wouldn’t it be as good as not having it?
“Of course!” Connoris said proudly. “Don’t forget that I used to be an ancient deity. The magic we used then is far beyond what you can imagine now. It is nothing much to transfer a creature’s soul into another body. Why else do you think I asked for you help in creating a new body?”
“Oh? Then what do I do now?” Lin Li’s interest was piqued, for even though the Humerus Wyrm was intimidating, it did not have a good image. If he were to pose as the reincarnation of the Holy Light in the Brilliance Shrine, it would not look good on him. It would be much grander if he could summon a real dragon, but a Wyrm was too proud to sign a servant contract with a human, and thus giving a Humerus Wyrm a dragon’s body was the next best thing he could do.
“It’s very simple and you don’t have to do anything. Just hand the Humerus Wyrm and the Crimson Dragon to me and I’ll see to it. Just wait until you can summon a real Crimson Dragon to scare others,” Connoris said confidently while he thought to himself that this would be preparation for himself in the future.
“Alright, I’ll leave it to you, then.” Lin Li removed the chains on the Crimson Dragon before placing the whole carcass into the Ring of Endless Storm. He did not discard the chains, for they could shackle a Wyrm, and thus had to be made of high-quality materials.
Lin Li glanced around and saw that there was nothing more that he could take; thus, he stomped on the black stone platform beneath him indignantly. It was capable of turning the Crimson Dragon’s power into a power source for the magical traps in the whole underground palace, so it had to be made of expensive materials too.
“BOOM!”
The entire platform was placed into the Ring of Endless Storm, and the lava immediately flowed out in its place, creating a majestic whirlpool of lava.
“You really don’t let anything of the tiniest bit of value go, do you?” Connoris could not bear to watch this anymore. This kid was worth millions; he had the Eternal Furnace and the Palace of Darkness, and there were so many treasures waiting to be collected in this underground palace, yet he had to take this stone platform too.
“Without the Crimson Dragon, the magical traps here would be useless. It will be a waste to leave this platform here then, and it’s a shame to be wasteful. Since I can take it away, it might be of use in the future,” Lin Li said nonchalantly as he flew towards the entrance of the cave.
“Fine. There’s nobody here now, but don’t do this in front of anyone in the future. It’s too embarrassing!” Connoris could not help but feel embarrassed for Lin Li. What do you mean it’s a shame to be wasteful? Are you that broke? Why do you have to take everything from this place?
“Who cares what others think as long as I get what I want?” Lin Li pursed his lips in annoyance.
Lin Li returned to the basement filled with junk after going along the secret tunnel. Ujfalusi and Norfeller hurriedly rushed to welcome their master when they saw him emerge from the secret tunnel. One of the had a blood-oath with him, while the other had a Soul Contract, so the magical wave that came from the secret door nearly scared them out of their minds.
“What happened to the two of you…?” Lin Li was in shock too as Ujfalusi and Norfeller looked somewhat disheveled. Their clothes had many tears, and the stuff that littered the basement seemed to have been swept by a typhoon.
“Master, we don’t know what happened, either. We were attacked not long after that strong magical wave disappeared,” Ujfalusi said with a confused face.
“Oh, I see.” Lin Li immediately knew that this was yet another sinister trap laid by Osric. Since somebody had destroyed the main power source on the inside, then there’d be another one-time attack by the other traps outside to take the people waiting there by surprise. Ujfalusi was nearly Legendary, while Norfeller triumphed in his speed; hence, while the trap left them a little disheveled, it did not cause them much harm. If it were a large group of men searching this underground palace, then the losses would be serious.
