Chapter 350: The excited dark dragon
Han Shuo, who’d just returned from the necromancer’s dimension, spent the next couple of days recovering. After he was fully rested, he went to the dark forest and caught a few magic beasts, continuing to practice the “Trembling Soul” magic.
After a few days of practice, Han Shuo was finally able to manipulate his mental strength at will. When a “Trembling Soul” spell was fired, a wild beast would simply fall down, blood flowing from its nose and mouth.
When Han Shuo could control “Trembling Soul” as he would, he began studying spells that higher ranked necromancers should be proficient in.
The most important matters were the summoning spells for bone demons, old fey zombies and mummy lords. As necromancers progressed, not only would the level of their summoned creatures grow higher, but they would also be able to summon other kinds of creatures. Necromancy archmages like Han Shuo should be able to call forth bone demons, old fey zombies, and mummy lords.
In reality, apart from a few differences in the incantations, there weren’t many differences between summoning the three. Even though their soul brands were different, the strength required to summon any one of them were roughly the same. As long as Han Shuo mastered summoning bone demons, he would then be able to summon the other two undead creatures just by slightly modifying the incantation.
Although, just like the “Trembling Soul” spell, the farther a necromancer progressed, the harder the advanced spells would become to master. Han Shuo’s understanding of necromancy magic from the deceased archmage Clayton was now useless.
Starting from this realm, Han Shuo would have to carefully study necromancy magic by himself. Luckily, the Cemetery of Death had many books that Han Shuo could peruse. The number of references concerning the essence of necromancy were too many to count.
As the three evil knights and twelve mystical demons were still being refined, Han Shuo used this time to study more advanced necromancy magic.
The days flew by. One day, Han Shuo suddenly sensed a familiar presence outside the Cemetery of Death whilst chanting his incantations.
Suddenly awakening from his deep contemplation, Han Shuo held the skeleton staff as he walked out of the Cemetery of Death, running into dark dragon Gilbert wandering outside, “What are you doing here?”
“Esteemed master, I felt your presence, and it just so happened that I was in the Valley of Sunshine. Hence I came over to find you.” Dark dragon Gilbert cheered up when he saw Han Shuo appear.
Gilbert hadn’t seem to have undergone any great changes. However, Han Shuo could feel from Gilbert’s body that his aura seemed to have strengthened a little. After Gilbert walked into the Cemetery of Death, he immediately began chattering, reporting on what had happened in the Valley of Sunshine.
Han Shuo gradually came to understand the situation in Valley of Sunshine from Gilbert’s stories. Ever since Han Shuo had previously schemed against the various powers that had converged on the hidden valley with the mithril mine, the four great powers had formed a temporary truce. Instead, they focused all their attention on crusading against the culprit behind the scenes.
Laureton had previously said that whichever faction was the first to find the culprit behind the scenes would hold power in the Valley of Sunshine. So, all the powers, large or small, were trying to find the culprit behind the scenes. However, even after so many months, there was still no results.
Trunks understood that the real culprit, Han Shuo, had long since left the valley. Towards this issue, he pretended to express concern, but also silently expanded the Soul Destroyer mercenary band. Unwittingly, the silent and unknown Soul Destroyers had gradually become the fifth great power in Valley of Sunshine thanks to its abundant funds and Trunks’ prestige.
Having consumed one of Han Shuo’s Rebirth Pills, Trunks’ strength had advanced from swordmaster to great swordmaster. Out of all the different factions in the Valley of Sunshine, only Laureton, who could go thrice berserk, could beat him. Florida and Adam Melo were both inferior to Trunks.
This period of time was the Soul Destroyers’ chance to rise. As they shot through the ranks of their peers, they absorbed even more outstanding experts. Trunks previous ruthlessness now had an added edge of insidiousness to it. He wasn’t in a hurry to immediately deal with Florida, intending to slowly torment him a bit at a time.
Gilbert took on some missions with Trunks, completing every operation perfectly. In this process, Gilbert frequently visited many brothels, using the skills that Han Shuo taught him to secretly absorb some yin energy. Thus, his strength also rapidly improved.
After he finished listening to Gilbert narrate the situation in the Valley of Sunshine, Han Shuo was actually slightly worried. Currently, Trunks’ Soul Destroyers were the fifth greatest power in the Valley of Sunshine. This also meant that Soul Destroyers had the right to participate in the fight for the leadership over the Valley of Sunshine. Previously, when the Soul Destroyers didn’t have this level of strength, only Florida would spare no effort in suppressing him. Now that the Soul Destroyers truly had such strength, the other three sides naturally would place more attention on Trunks.
Even the Berserker Warriors’ Laureton would unfortunately not be as friendly to Trunks as he previously was. After all, Trunks possessed the strength to threaten his Cairo mercenary band. There were no friends who were forever in this world. Once there was a clear conflict of interest, it was very possible that some dirty things would happen.
Han Shuo contemplated for a while, understanding in his heart that Trunks and the rest would perhaps find it more difficult to develop in the future. However, Han Shuo believed in Trunks’ ability and didn’t care too much about this. After thinking for a while, he smiled slightly and said to dark dragon Gilbert, “I have something for you.”
“What is it?” After Gilbert explained the details of the situation in the Valley of Sunshine to Han Shuo, he was surprised by Han Shuo’s response.
Han Shuo took the green dragon’s magical core from his space ring, lustrous green energy whirling within. The massive amount of energy contained within immediately caused Gilbert to go mad with joy, loudly screaming with delight, “A supreme magical core?”
“That’s right. This is a green dragon’s magical core, I believe this magical core should be useful to you?” Han Shuo grinned at Gilbert and asked.
Unable to stop nodding his head like a chicken pecking rice, Gilbert was tremendously excited, his right hand already holding up the green dragon’s magical core in his palm, laughing boisterously, “Useful. Too useful! I can feel the enormous energy contained within. With this green dragon magical core that’s of a higher rank than me, I can definitely evolve to the second level!”
“That’s good, swallow it immediately and just evolve in the Cemetery of Death.” This green dragon’s magical core had obviously been specially prepared by Han Shuo for Gilbert. Seeing Gilbert looking surprised and excited to the point of madness, he smiled.
Apart from his lewdness, Gilbert could also be considered a loyal follower. Previously in the taboo land deep within the Dark Forest, he’d displayed loyalty that’d touched Han Shuo. If not, Han Shuo, who was berserk at that time, perhaps would have been lost forever.
“Thank you, Master. Master, you are too great! Your loyal servant praises you from the bottom of his heart…” Gilbert sang unceasing praises as he clutched the green dragon’s magical core. Gilbert had interacted with humans for a long period of time during this time. His boot-licking skills had greatly improved, and he almost didn’t repeat a single sentence.
“Alright, alright. Just swallow the green dragon’s magical core for me. Less of that nonsense.” Han Shuo interrupted Gilbert’s fawning, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Gilbert stopped his nonsense this time, animatedly nodding his head and speaking to Han Shuo, “Master, I need to transform to my original form, which might be inconvenient in the Cemetery of Death. I’ll just proceed outside.”
“Go, but you need to be careful. Don’t mess up the formation I set up.” Han Shuo frantically reminded him as Gilbert rushed excitedly for the entrance of the Cemetery of Death, the green dragon’s magical core in hand.
“Be at ease, Master. I know what I should be doing!” Gilbert replied, greatly avoiding the two large formations Han Shuo had set up. He only swallowed the green dragon’s magical core after reaching another area.
It looked like Gilbert would be able to become a level two super magical beast in the near future, Han Shuo mused. He decided to continue studying necromancy and practice incantations in the Cemetery of Death.
A few days passed when Han Shuo suddenly thought of the dwarves in the valley. Thinking of the dwarves’ skills in forging weapons and remembering his promise to Ancient Lizard King Dagassi, he departed the Cemetery of Death, travelling to the valley where the dwarves resided.
Winter had passed, and the dwarves’ valley was filled with the fresh smell of flora. The dwarves guarding the valley all recognized Han Shuo. Han Shuo smoothly entered the dwarf village, seeing a few dwarves brewing fruit wine. When the dwarves that were brewing wine saw Han Shuo appear, all of them cheered endlessly, regardless of adults or children.
Encouraged by a woman, a dwarf child less than a meter tall walked towards Han Shuo with a glass filled with fruity smelling wine. “Uncle Han, this is for you, it’s very delicious.” This dwarf child stood on his tiptoes, handing over the glass filled with wine to Han Shuo.
Kneeling down, Han Shuo rubbed the little dwarf child’s head and received the glass with a smile. “Thank you!”
The dwarf child’s smiling face blushed, as he shyly ran to his mother’s side and said, “Uncle Han thanked me.”
The honest dwarves, no matter young or old, all roared with laughter. The village was filled with a cheerful atmosphere. It looked like the dwarves had been living pretty well during this period of time.
When Bennett who had heard the news and saw that Han Shuo had arrived, he shouted from afar, “Yo, Han. It’s been a long time since you’ve came!” He’d been forging weapons just now and was naked from the waist up. His face was covered in soot and he was holding a large mallet in his left hand.
“Hehe. I’ve been a bit busy recently. Have you all been well recently?” Han Shuo asked smilingly.
“Of course, spring has arrived. We haven’t even finished the food you provided us for the winter. There’s still a lot of bacon. We’ve mined some ore and I was just instructing the youngsters in the dwarf weapon forging skills. Life is much better than it was previously.” Bennett chuckled as he replied, looking visibly refreshed.
“Where’s the village chief? I’ve come to discuss a large deal with you all.”
“Han, the gates to the dwarf village are forever open for you. To forge weapons for you is an honor for the dwarves and doesn’t count as business.” Chief Calvin leaned on a cane as he stroked his braided beard with a beaming smile, walking out from a distant stone house.
Calvin looked visibly older, and his body was getting weaker. When one reached a specific age, struggles with walking were inevitable. Calvin’s beard was fully silver now and he had to rely on a cane. It looked like he similarly couldn’t resist the effects of aging.
However, Calvin was in high spirits, and his chuckling look made him seem full of benevolence. When two young dwarves saw Calvin appearing, they took the initiative to go up and support the chief. Bennett asked, “Elder, why have you come out?”
“Han is here, of course I have to come visit. Bennett, I’m not as old as you think, don’t you see I walked over on my own? Heh!” Calvin laughed and bowed towards Han Shuo. “The dwarves in this village will forever thank you for your favor. There’s no business between friends. We will forge all the weapons you need, this is our attitude towards friends.”
When he’d come over this time, Han Shuo had primarily wanted the dwarves to help forge some weapons for the lizardmen in the underground world. Han Shuo promised Ancient Lizard King Dagassi to help look after the lizardmen. Although the lizardmen had obtained some weapons from the corpses of the Redbud Knights, those weapons were far from enough for their use.
In addition, lizardmen were built differently than normal humans. Han Shuo wanted to ask the dwarves to forge them some weapons tailored for their use. Of course, Brettel City’s city guards also needed the dwarven-forged weapons. This was because the weapons forged by the dwarves were much more outstanding than normal weapons.
Calvin listened carefully to Han Shuo’s descriptions. When Han Shuo finished, Calvin smiled as he said, “Don’t worry. The children are coincidentally very free recently. We still have enough food currently and don’t need to hunt. I will make arrangements for them to forge the weapons you need.”
“Many thanks, Elder!” Han Shuo sincerely expressed his gratitude.
“Haha, there’s no need for such polite words between friends. It’s rare for you to have come, do try out our freshly brewed fruit wine.” Calvin proudly said, pulling Han Shuo towards the women brewing wine.