Chapter 30: Discovery
A wooden barrel filled with dragon blood was placed before the three children. Linley flipped his fingers and took out quite a few Azureheart Grasses. The green leaves of these Azureheart Grasses were emerald, faintly shimmering with a blue halo, and felt cool to the touch. Linley divided the handful of Azureheart Grasses into three portions, each with five stalks.
"Listen up, you three." Linley looked at the three children.
Sini, Taylor, and Sasha all stood seriously before Linley, listening to their elder's instruction. Linley instructed, "In a moment, you are to drink as much of this dragon blood as you can, until your bellies are full. But before drinking the dragon blood, you must eat these Azureheart Grasses. In principle, three stalks per person should be enough. However, to be safe, you should all eat them."
"Eat grass?" Sasha frowned.
Making children eat Azureheart Grass, especially since they had never suffered much hardship, naturally made them somewhat resistant.
"Sis, when Father was in his teens, he went alone to the Magical Beast Mountain Range to find Azureheart Grass and drink the blood of a Spiked-Back Iron-Armored Dragon. Now Father has brought the dragon blood right in front of us, and you're still afraid?" Taylor didn't care about anything else; he grabbed the Azureheart Grass and stuffed it into his mouth.
He chewed it up in big mouthfuls and swallowed it directly.
Seeing this, a satisfied smile appeared on Linley's face. He was quite pleased with his son, Taylor. Although he was lively and mischievous, he could endure hardship and practiced diligently. His strength wasn't much worse than Linley's own at the age of ten.
Sini also smiled slightly, grabbed the Azureheart Grass, and ate it.
"Sasha, it's fine. The juice of the Azureheart Grass is quite cool and refreshing," Sini coaxed.
"Oh?" Under her parents' gaze, Sasha still picked up the Azureheart Grass and ate it. As she chewed, her face twisted into a bitter expression. "Brother Sini, you tricked me. The juice is cool, but the leaves make my mouth numb." Even so, Sasha endured and finished eating it.
Linley and Delia both laughed.
"Gulp, gulp~~" Taylor was the first to pick up the small barrel, tilt his head back, and pour the contents directly down his throat. He knew that the more dragon blood he drank, the easier it would be to activate the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline within him. Without caring about anything else, he drank in large gulps.
Sini and Sasha also picked up their small barrels and began to drink.
"Gulp, gulp~~" The three children drinking dragon blood together made Linley sigh with emotion.
The predecessors plant the trees; the successors enjoy the shade.
Linley's efforts meant that his descendants no longer needed to face life-and-death dangers.
"Ah!" Taylor, who had drunk first, suddenly cried out in pain. The barrel in his hands fell to the ground. Taylor writhed in agony, rolling on the floor. His face instantly turned deathly pale, and sweat beads the size of soybeans oozed out.
Delia's expression immediately changed.
"It's fine," Linley comforted Delia.
Delia also knew... that the first time a Dragonblood Warrior triggers the dragon blood, they would naturally transform. This transformation would be extremely painful. Linley had endured this pain back then... pain so extreme that one would faint. Sure enough—
When black dragon scales began to emerge from his skin, Taylor fainted.
Then Sini and Sasha also cried out in pain, rolling on the ground. Green dragon scales slowly emerged from Sini's skin. The pain of scales growing out of one's body from nothing was worse than being killed.
"If they can't even endure this much pain, how can they succeed?" Linley watched quietly.
After a short while, Taylor and Sini both completed their transformation. Sasha, who had drunk the dragon blood last, was still in the process of transforming. Taylor's dragon scales were black, inheriting the color of the Tyrannosaurus Rex's scales. Sini's were green, as the Thunder Dragon was also green.
As for Sasha...
Her entire body was covered in golden dragon scales. Sasha looked as if she were wearing a beautiful, luxurious golden armor. However, a golden dragon tail also emerged. Not only that—
"Linley, look." Delia looked panicked.
Linley also noticed Sasha's change. A "sizzling" sound came from behind Sasha, and two thin, translucent, pale-golden wings actually sprouted. These were clearly inherited from the 'Golden Dragon's' large fleshy wings. The pale-golden wings made Sasha look like an elf.
However, the golden dragon scales covering her entire body, including her face, made Sasha much more mysterious. Especially the dragon horns on her forehead and the dragon tail, which gave Sasha the domineering aura of a 'Dragonblood Warrior'.
...
After a long time, the three children woke up one after another. The awakened children excitedly looked at their transformed appearances.
"Ah, big sister, you have wings?" Taylor looked at Sasha with envy.
Sasha also loved the wings. As easily as commanding an arm, the two wings flapped, and Sasha effortlessly flew into the air. She shouted excitedly, "I can fly! I can fly!"
"I'm so strong now!" Taylor excitedly punched a nearby stone. The stone directly cracked and shattered into several pieces. A ten-year-old child breaking a stone with a punch? Impossible for a normal person.
Sini could barely contain his excitement either.
"Whoosh!" With a flash, Sini's body moved, leaving behind a faint afterimage. He was extremely fast.
Linley, Delia, Wharton, Nina, and the others all watched with smiles.
"How amazing," the Saint-level Golden Dragon marveled. "The Dragonblood Warriors are truly formidable." The three Saint-level dragons were also amazed by this scene. The legendary ultimate warriors were indeed extraordinary. They could foresee... in a few decades, these three children would become three Saint-level Dragonblood Warriors.
After the children had played to their hearts' content.
"Mother, where are the clothes?" Sasha said to Delia.
The transformation was hardest on clothes. Sasha's pants were fine, just a bit dirty, but her top had been torn apart by the two wings. It was fine while transformed, but once she returned to human form, wouldn't she be naked?
Delia laughed.
Linley smiled and instructed, "Listen to me, you three. From now on, focus on cultivating the 'Dragonblood Secret Code'. But one thing... don't transform into your Dragonblood Warrior form casually. With your current strength, even as Dragonblood Warriors, you're not that powerful."
"Yes, Father (Uncle)."
The three children acknowledged the order.
"Wharton, I'll leave these three in your charge." Linley looked at his younger brother. The three children were to be sent to the Baruch Kingdom. After all, at this age, keeping them in a remote place like Mount Blackwood would make them uncomfortable and affect their personalities.
"Yes, big brother." Wharton nodded.
...
Taylor and the others went down the mountain. Even two of the three Saint-level dragons, curious, went to the royal palace of Baruch City. Of course, they had shrunk their size. Linley and Delia stayed on Mount Blackwood, living a peaceful life of cultivation.
Delia spent most of her time with Linley, but she would also go to Baruch City to be with the children.
As for Linley...
He often went months, sometimes even over half a year, without seeing the children. He usually cultivated on Mount Blackwood.
Night fell.
In the stone house by the lake in the middle of Mount Blackwood, the interior was cozy. Linley and Delia were embracing on the bed. "Linley, did you ask Bebe what that black stone he gave us on our wedding night really is?"
"I asked Bebe, but that Rat Emperor just said it was something beneficial for cultivation," Linley said.
Delia laughed as well. "Sigh, I never thought my magic cultivation speed would reach this level. My brother is such a genius, and under the guidance of the 'High Priest', he's only a level-nine Archmage now. I was originally a level lower than him, yet I reached the level-nine Archmage realm faster than him. Every day, I feel my mental energy increasing... Even without cultivating, my mental energy increases at a steady rate on its own. I find it a bit frightening myself."
"Alright, stop overthinking it. We'll find out what that gift from the Rat Emperor really is in the future. Hmm, it's late. Let's sleep."
******
While Linley was immersed in cultivation on Mount Blackwood, constantly studying the laws of wind elements and the laws of earth... at the foot of a low mountain, over three hundred miles east of the Baruch Kingdom, two men were carefully studying the geology.
A kingdom or empire possessing its own mineral veins ensured it wouldn't be constrained by others.
Before the Baruch Kingdom unified, this large area was plagued by constant war and chaotic rule. One year you might rule a small city, the next someone else might. No one had the time or energy to search for and exploit mineral veins.
Even if they found one, they might be attacked by surrounding cities, inviting death instead.
In the past, no one mined.
After the Baruch Kingdom unified, a dedicated geological survey department was established. Its members carefully surveyed the entire Baruch Kingdom. Over twenty years, they had indeed found many metal ores, such as copper, iron, gold, and silver, though the vein sizes varied.
They also found some rarer ores, like Black Iron and Thorium Silver, but in smaller quantities.
By mining their own ores, they no longer needed to purchase weapon materials from other countries.
"Team leader, the geology here is a bit special," a skinny, monkey-like young man with blond hair said in a low voice. The middle-aged man beside him carefully surveyed the area before giving an order. "Kaya, let's dig deeper and see what's down there."
"Yes, team leader." The young man immediately took out tools and began digging vigorously with the team leader. Although their strength wasn't very high—the young man was a level-three warrior, and the team leader was a level-five warrior—digging through the earth was easy for them.
They dug very skillfully. Although the pit's opening wasn't large, it wouldn't collapse.
"Screech—" A harsh sound rang out, as if they had suddenly hit metal.
"Team leader, come look!" the young man quickly said.
The middle-aged man immediately bent down to look. It was afternoon, and plenty of light came down the shaft. The middle-aged man clearly saw something reflective. He immediately used his hands to wipe away the surrounding soil.
A translucent, crystalline substance appeared before him.
"This, this is..." After identifying it for a moment, he exclaimed, "It's magic crystal ore! It's magic crystal ore! Kaya, this is magic crystal ore!"
"Ah, team leader, we're rich! We're rich!" The young man's eyes immediately lit up with joy.
Magic crystal ore was extremely valuable. In fact, one could say... magical beast cores were essentially the same as 'magic crystal ore'. Although called a core, it was a type of crystal. For example, dragon cores were called 'dragon crystals'. They were essentially the magical beast cores of dragons.
Of course, natural magic crystal ore couldn't have energy as terrifying as a dragon crystal.
According to market value—
One low-grade magic crystal = 10 gold coins, equivalent to a level-three magical beast core.
One mid-grade magic crystal = 100 gold coins, with quality generally between a level-four and level-five magical beast core.
One high-grade magic crystal = 1000 gold coins, equivalent to a level-six magical beast core.
One top-grade magic crystal = 10,000 gold coins. Of course, this couldn't compare to a level-seven magical beast core. A level-seven core was worth around 50,000 gold coins. To find crystals surpassing top-grade magic crystals, one would have to hunt level-seven, level-eight, or even higher magical beasts.
One could say... a magic crystal ore vein was millions of times more valuable than a gold vein of the same size. Because in a gold vein, you had to pan for gold, and the amount of gold was minimal. But a magic crystal ore vein was different; it contained a large concentration of magic crystals...
Like a massive cluster of magical beast cores.
On the Yulan Continent, the preciousness of a magic crystal ore vein could only be compared to a Mithril vein.
"We're rich, team leader! Just filling one bag would probably be worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins! We're rich!" The young man was ecstatic.
The team leader frowned and said, "Don't get too excited. This should be a magic crystal ore vein... First, let's see how large this magic crystal ore vein actually is."