novelThe Skeleton of A Dragon (1)
| ← Ch.0377 | Ch.0379 → |
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Master?" Saleen finally exited Sika's room and Nailisi who was guarding at the door called him. She saw Saleen wearing a glove on his left hand. She was angry, she did not know what master did for Sika that spent so much power of life.
Saleen felt Nailisi's dejection. He patted her head and said, "Nailisi, where are we now?"
"We haven't entered the Oceanic Ice Block yet. Soldier is very careful, constantly drawing the map." Nailisi then saw Sika walking out from her room with her full suit on, she instinctively stepped back.
Sika made her feel a kind of danger, a power that could ruin her life. What was going on?
"Where's Banchajanna?
"He went out to hunt for red phosphorous prawn twice, the result was good. We are getting closer to the strong magic beasts' hunting territory, Banchajanna dared not offend."
"That's good, I was worried that he would get himself into trouble. Let's go, Nailisi, I'm hungry."
"Mm, I'll go get Jola." Nailisi felt the danger of Sika and she did not want to provoke the Caucasus woman. As Sika's character was more straightforward, no matter what trick that she played on Sika it would get exposed. That would only lead to one outcome; Sika waving her cudgel to smash her into meatloaf.
It was okay if Saleen was next to her, as he would naturally stop Sika. If Saleen was not there, Sika would not care who she was. Nailisi smiled at Sika to show good will. That was the first time she realized that there were humans that demon could not deal with.
Sika's temperament did not necessarily mean that she would be easily cheated. Everyone who wanted to play a trick on her had to consider the outcome, which was Sika's fighting ability and her thinking method. Sika did not only have a cudgel anymore, she had a few thousand Caucasus warriors following her. If anyone pissed her off, they should be ready to be killed by the Caucasus people.
The way Caucasus people treated their high priests was simple. If you were to harm their priest, they would trade their life for yours. Once a Caucasus believed in something, one would never be able to change their mind with other interest. That would be the most troublesome matter.
In Nailisi's eyes, there were a few thousand passionate warriors behind Sika and there was no way to shake their belief.
"Forget it. No matter how strong you are, you slept with master anyway. Nailisi was thinking in her heart and that made her feel better."
Sika grinned at Nailisi and said softly, "This armor can feel bad intention of others. Although you are Saleen's maidservant, don't have any bad thoughts about me. I know you but my cudgel doesn't."
"I know, Sis Sika, I am born that way. Please excuse me." Nailisi almost never admitted defeat and Sika was surprised.
The few of them came to the first floor. It was morning and the mages just got up. They were helping the winged skeleton to control the ship while it patiently added more map coordinates on the magic compass.
The Oceanic Ice Block was really dangerous, there were many grade-8 magic beasts on its outer border. If it was not for the special attributes of the Pan's Turtle alchemical boat that made the magic beasts ignore them, those grade-8 magic beasts would make the ship sank then and there.
The magic beasts were distributed regularly according to the distribution of their prey. When the winged skeleton was drawing the map, it noted down the area with more dangerous nests. The ocean was only two thousand meters deep and some magic beasts could submerge to the bottom of the sea and damage the ship. Banchajanna did not attack, but only hunted some red phosphorous prawn at two spacious hunting grounds.
He needed Saleen to make decisions on what magic beasts to hunt and it if failed, they had to think of way to escape.
Even though Irene had the sailing route back then, the powerful magic beasts around were too fierce so she had to avoid them carefully at all times. She would leave after she got some benefit. If not for the Oceanic Ice Block being richly endowed, Irene would have been rich overnight, why would she be bothered by loss of a ship.
Jola was ordered by Nailisi to go to the kitchen. He followed Nailisi's instructions without questioning and he did not cast eyes over other's property anymore. She belonged to Saleen. There was no use thinking about her.
Saleen and the winged skeleton connected to enquire about the harvest of the past few days.
The winged skeleton knew more than Nailisi. Saleen heard and he was satisfied that Banchajanna had quite a good harvest although he only went out a few times.
The number of red phosphorous prawn was similar with the last hunt, but the quality heighten quite a bit. The closer they get to Oceanic Ice Block, the better the quality of the prawn. To a sorcerer, the prawn did not have much use. To a mage, the grade-4 magic nucleus in the prawn could be used for practice. For Saleen's army, the shell could be made into equipment. It was definitely the best choice.
Those stronger magic beasts might be able to provide better materials, but even Banchajanna had no confidence that he would win against them. If the Three Kings were there, it would be possible, but there was only Banchajanna alone and he had the ship as a drag. Facing magic beasts above grade-8, he had to hold back.
Besides the red phosphorous prawn, Banchajanna caught some magic beasts between grade-4 and grade-6. These underwater magic beasts' fighting power was decen, t but their magic nuclei were real. Most of the underwater magic beasts also had shells and it would be best to use them to make magic armor.
The biggest problem about magic armor was its capital. Besides the cost of making it, there was the cost of repairing it.
Even if a magic wolf reached grade-6, the bones that were able to be made into armor were not much. To complete a set of magic armor, one needed to at least hunt for four magic wolves. After completing the armor, if the armor were to be damaged, it would required material from a magic wolf to repair it.
There then was one problem; it might be easier if it was a magic wolf, but some magic beasts were too little. Once the armor was damaged, it would be difficult to retrieve material to repair the armor.
The advantage of the underwater magic beast was that the amount of them in a school was huge. For grade-4 magic beast like red phosphorous prawn, there were at least tens of thousands of them in every school. The amount in their actual breeding place, was said to be over billions.
Although the prawn were in grade-4, they could only stay alive with their humongous number. The Oceanic Ice Block was filled with magic beasts that could eat them. If there were not a huge number of them, the prawn would have been extinct long ago.
Due to the humongous number, Saleen could use the material to make a big batch of magic armors and would not lack of material he needed to repair them. These armors might be lower quality, but it was really important to Saleen. That was why he was not rushing to hunt for powerful magic beasts.
The mages in Sregl Islands were not poor, but it was impractical for them to provide huge number of materials. The army that Saleen and Lex wanted to form was not small, most of the material on Sregl Island were middle or high level. It would be a huge waste to make armor even for Elite Soldiers.
To be blunt, using Saleen as an example, the material left on him was definitely not suitable to make equipment for the soldiers. The materials would not be wasted if it was to make equipment for the four magic beasts swordsmen that were under his control.
Come to think about it, how did it feel if a gemstone worth ten of thousands were to be inlaid on the armor of the junior swordsman?
The selling price for the magic nucleus of a red phosphorus prawn would be inconsistent. The better quality ones could be sold for six to seven hundred gold coins. The worse ones might only be sold for a hundred gold coins. These magic nuclei were suitable to be mounted on a junior swordsman's armor. When the warriors got promoted to swordsmaster level, they deserved magic nuclei that were more expensive in their equipment.
"Soldier, how long do you need to complete the map of the border of the Oceanic Ice Block?"
"Master, maybe another thirty to fifty years."
"What? So long?!"
"That's not long. The Oceanic Ice Block is tens of thousands of miles. We had to be careful at the border, avoiding the trouble and the speed can't be faster than twenty miles."
Saleen thought and said, "It's my bad. Then, I wouldn't consider completing the map as of now. Using the sea route we have as central, search the left and right for one month and we should head back."
"Head back? Master, are we not entering Oceanic Ice Block?"
"That's too dangerous." Saleen curled up his dried left hand and thought, "My fighting power is decreasing linearly. Relying on Banchajanna alone, it wouldn't be sufficient to go against the high level magic beasts there. Sika's fighting power is not bad, but I can't let her take the risk. It is different from before now. To me, Sika is not longer just a warrior that ensures my safety."
Saleen did not know that his decision had saved everyone's life. Irene had never entered Oceanic Ice Block in that season before. In that season, there was a powerful magic beast in the Oceanic Ice Block awaking. The magic beast was far more terrifying than the single-horned white whale. Even if Three Kings were all there, they would only face failure.
The winged skeleton did not say much as Saleen told it what to do and it would listen to his orders. It did not agree with Saleen to take the risk from the beginning, it believed that it was good enough to be able to steal some bargains on the border. The ship was slowly moving at the bottom of the sea, with no magic beasts asking for trouble. Sending Banchajanna for a hunt when they found a spacious hunting ground would be more stable than rushing into Oceanic Ice Block.
The reason why Saleen changed his mind was simple; he used thirteen pieces of dimension stones and there were twenty seven left. It was sufficient to carry all the prey, but it was not necessary to go into islands in Oceanic Ice Block anymore. Irene said that there were open-air mineral veins on those islands, but that had to wait until spring the following year.
By then, he could send some low level mages with a warship carrying a few hundred low level war puppets, as mining was a small matter."You can't be too greedy. Being able to defend the sea route so that the others can't find it is important. It is just a matter of time until all the things be mine."
Saleen was communicating with the winged skeleton when Banchajanna suddenly came in from outside the ship looking devastated. There was a deep crack on his white skull, it was obviously a new wound.
"What is going on?" Saleen cringed, he knew Banchajanna's character. The bastard was always doing things that were beyond his control.
"I..." Banchajanna did not know he would be in an unfavorable situation. Although his ability decreased as he turned into a skeleton, he did not expect a dead item with no soul would be able to cause such damage to him.
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