Translator: Sigma Editor: Sigma
Liu Bei, the famous figure from Chinese history, had been a wanderer before his fifties, drifting from place to place. This was not because he was unable to fight or too wholesome to plot and scheme. Instead, it was because he lacked the requisite talent to help him govern the country, the kind of talent with a great vision who could show him how to proceed in the long term.
Zhuge Liang was exactly the talent that had all of these qualities. So Liu Bei’s career finally moved in the right direction after he met Zhuge Liang, and he seized the chance when Cao Cao (a Chinese warlord of the Eastern Han dynasty) had a set back while moving southward. Liu Bei managed to enter and host the Shu area (today’s Sichuan Province), finally becoming an emperor far superior to the countless aristocracy that owned one third of China, who came from the lowly “offspring of King Cuo of Zhongshan”.
Sui Xiong could not compare himself with Liu Bei. Still, he thought that when it came to combat effectiveness, he was quite strong, and he was not stupid. However, since he had been transported to this world, he had been muddling along aimlessly with no idea what the future would be like and what he should do.
That was at least until today, when he had met Snow, a dragon adviser with great vision. After hearing her vivid and detailed explanation, he finally felt that the mist that had been masking his vision disappeared, and his life path became much clearer. So he admired and respected Snow, especially since she also liked drawing, which made him feel as if he’d met a good friend.
If described with language used in online gaming, Snow had earned a reputation of “respect”, and her favorability had soared to over seventy.
Still, Sui Xiong was a bit curious: he was neither a born king who everyone would kneel down and worship once he’d showed his magnificent imposing manner, nor was he very rich with a high rank that demanded others’ loyalty. Perhaps it was due to his great potential…yes, he might have some potential, but this was no fantasy tale. In the real world, no one would be willing to be a poor man’s subordinate unless he felt the poor man had great potential!
Then why would Snow approve of Sui Xiong, and why was she willing to become his adviser?
“The answer is quite simple,” the ice dragon said smiling, having now changed back to the friendly fat auntie from the grocery store. “As a member of the dragon race who is good at practicing cold magic, apart from the Dragon God in her own race, isn’t a God of Ice the most suitable partner for me?”
“I may have some skills, but compared to His Majesty in my own race, my skills are almost close to nothing. The differences between my rank and his made it impossible for me to have an equal conversation with him, not to mention cooperate with him.”
Snow was surrounded by cold air, which became a transparent icy blackboard on which white frost was drawing a little dragon that was keeping its head high wanting to make a difference. Then the little dragon began sweating heavily and knelt down in front of a few dragons that were surrounded by a halo and began to worship them, lying on its stomach like a dog.
“There are three gods whose magic energy is in the field of cold and snow: one is a lunatic, another is a lunatic, and the last one is still a lunatic. In other words, a strong lunatic, a weaker lunatic and a much weaker lunatic. Since I am not a lunatic, I could not communicate with them, let alone cooperate with them.”
On the blackboard, there was a new picture, in which there were one big and two small human figures, and the lower part of their bodies were made of snow. They were fighting against each other brutally. The little dragon was watching them from a distance, and large beads of sweat gathered on his forehead. He rested his hand on his forehead and sighed, looking on helplessly.
Sui Xiong knew who she was talking about, the Goddess of the North Snowland and the Storm, called the “North Empress”; the God of the Snow Mountain, the Snowslide and the Snowbeast, called the “Master of the Snow Mountain”; and the God of the Glacier and the Ice Golem, called the “Governor of the Ice”. The three gods and the Goddess of the Winter and the North Wind, called the “Piercing Cold Maid”, and the God of the Beast in the Snowland, called the “Ice Tyrant”, consisted of a department of gods which made up the “Union of Extreme Cold”. They were a bunch of evil, mentally-irregular wild cards, and there was no logic in anything they did.
Whenever all these lunatics got together, they became far scarier, and everyone who lived in the Northland or had to go to the North Snowland were terrified whenever they heard the name “Union of Extreme Cold”. Moreover, the gods were led by the patron saint of headhunters, called “Bear Senior”, who brought trouble wherever he went.
In fact, the deadliness of the gods in the Northland was quite serious. Every eight hundred to a thousand years, many gods were killed by the lunatics of the Union of Extreme Cold. Were it not for the assistance of the priesthood of Kindness and Order, the whole Northland would have been governed by these maniacs.
Even so, other gods in the Northland needed to be very cautious all the time and guard themselves. As soon as the group of lunatics would appear, other gods would run away immediately, so they would not be killed.
Before, when Sui Xiong was reading the materials from the God of Redemption, he had read a paragraph about this. At that time, he realized that he would become a target for the Union of Extreme Cold when he was apotheosized and would set up the priesthood of Ice. To avoid being attacked and defeated, he needed to have more allies to give these lunatics a good fight.
“His Majesty in my own race did not want to cooperate with me, as with the gods of snow and cold. So now that I’ve met a good god with cold magic powers who doesn’t belong to any chaotic faction, I most certainly want to cooperate with him,” Snow said, laying out all her reasons.
“Maybe when I am old and going to die, I might still choose to go to the Holy Kingdom of the Gods, Department of Dragons. But before that day, a huge dragon with cold magic power and a god who can control cold magic power…in my view, we were born to be good friends.”
On the blackboard, the little dragon met a big smiling jellyfish that was surrounded with cold wind, and it instantly jumped up and held its hand and began to play.
Sui Xiong laughed. The floating jellyfish reached out its palm made of ice and shook hands with the huge dragon that had returned to its human figure.
“You are right, I look forward to a smooth collaboration!”
“There is really no need to be so polite. We will definitely have a smooth partnership.”
…Still, their cooperation had yet to begin.
Sui Xiong needed to wait for Rhode to finish recruiting the pioneers. Then Sui Xiong could count how many pioneers he had recruited in total and based on this, he could know how big his village should be. Besides, Rhode would also need to store up more food and materials, while Gerrard would need to escort these pioneers to the north across Dragon-roar Town. Then they would arrive at the cold region where normal people could not stay alive, and there they would build their home under the protection of Sui Xiong.
Meanwhile, Snow had asked Shuang and Xian to go to the cold region north of the Ash Forest and find a perfect place where these pioneers could build in the wasteland. The topography of this spot would have to be fairly wide and flat, and there had to be a good source of water. Additionally, there had to be some mountains made of high quality rock with some mineral resources as well. In a word, Snow had very high standards for the place. If she couldn’t find a better place, it would cost more time and manpower to build the village, and it would be more difficult to scale the village up after it had grown some.
Sui Xiong could help the pioneers resist the cold, but he couldn’t help them farm the land or find drinking water in the wasteland or give them products to make money from or provide them with the rock needed to build the village. They would have to get everything else from nature.
Both Shuang and Xian were unwilling to go out and find a perfect place, seeing as Shuang didn’t like Sui Xiong and therefore didn’t want to help him, while for Xian, this search meant she could no longer sleep in late down in the basement. But they did not dare disobey their sister’s orders, so the young siblings travelled unwillingly and split up to find a perfect place.
“Is it safe to let the two young kids go find the perfect spot?” Sui Xiong asked, a bit worried.
Indeed, they were both dragons with a high combat effectiveness. But in this world where there were numerous powerful creatures, compared to them, two young dragons weren’t very powerful. For example, Gerrard might find it less than easy to fight with Shuang and Xian together, but it would be very easy for him to fight with one of them at a time. Then the siblings would only have two choices, to run away or to die, and they would both likely end up in ruins thanks to Gerrard.
Although the siblings weren’t that powerful, a dragon itself was extremely valuable, and this posed a great threat to them. As the saying on Earth went, what would happen to a child who was walking in the bustling street alone and holding a precious gemstone in his hand?
“There is no need to worry,” Snow said, noticing Sui Xiong’s anxiousness. Snow didn’t worry at all. She just began drawing two powerful dragons that were fighting off scary wolves and kicking some skeletons and smiled, “As a member of the dragon race, we have to defeat many adversaries and difficulties in order to grow up. There weren’t many natural predators in the Ash Forest, and there weren’t too many adventurers, so for them it was a very safe place where they could get good experience. As long as they didn’t cross the wasteland, they never faced too much danger.”
“Your Majesty, haven’t you forgot something?”
“What thing??” Sui Xiong asked confusedly.
“To build a manor, you’ll need abundant money, materials and manpower. Currently, we have enough money, so we can buy the materials, and we can easily get enough manpower. However, you should probably have some officials that can help you to govern the town. Also, you’ll need some clergymen to run your church. Do you plan to stay indoors and wait for them to come by themselves?”
On the blackboard, a sleeping fat jellyfish had spread out its tentacles and formed a web. It was waiting for gold coins, materials and manpower to fall from the sky so it could catch them in its web. Sui Xiong found this lazy jellyfish both funny and annoying.
He knew that Snow was simply being kind and warning him that he should go and find these people, but the way she warned him was a bit…
Seeing that the jellyfish on the blackboard was as fat as a pig, he didn’t know if he should laugh or get angry. The character of this ice dragon was totally different from the legendary ice dragons that were usually depicted as proud, indifferent and hard to get close to! Could it be possible that people were just misinformed? Or was Snow herself simply different?
Sui Xiong now felt that he would have to study some biology. At the least he had to become a master in the biology of a dragon.
Of course, this was something he intended to do in the future. First, he would have to build his Holy Land, be apotheosized, and cultivate his followers. When all these tasks were completed, then he’d have time to learn about something he had no use for now.
And most importantly, he needed to recruit some talented people that could help him govern his manor. Luckily, Sui Xiong already had a person in mind, so he didn’t need to search far and wide for the man he needed.
A few days later, Sui Xiong made a jellyfish doppelgänger, and it begin to move to south alone without telling any of his followers.
The man he had selected was a acquaintance of Satan, called Paine, who lived in the Commonwealth of Mifata in the southernmost point of the continent. He was an aristocrat who was very knowledgeable about the nuances of how to govern a manor.
