Page 316
Page 316
[Based on this calculation, Serfal still possesses some intelligence; her IQ should be over a thousand times that of King Hines...]
"Wait, this conversion... right, is it correct?" You couldn't help but interrupt the healing mage's astonishing statement, momentarily unsure whether he was under a spell of idiocy or you were.
"Pretty much, it doesn't matter." The healing mage replied nonchalantly. For some reason, you always felt that the Hines people were a bit too open-minded, as if their former ancestor was nothing more than a roadside figure in their eyes...
In short, you finally understand. Serfal is actually the legendary, Foolish King. You've been misunderstanding her for the past few months.
[Shortly afterward, you saw Serfal sleeping among a pile of books in his dragon form.]
"After Her Majesty the Dragon removed the aftereffects of the Mind-Lowering Spell, she said she felt her mind was blank, so she asked us to bring over a pile of books; she wanted to find knowledge among them..." This is how the mages, who had already finished their shift, explained to you.
"Is this how you seek knowledge?" You glanced at the sleeping red dragon Serfal and suddenly felt a sense of relief, as if you'd all returned. You rubbed your forehead, thanked the mages, and as they gradually departed, you shook your head and walked to Serfal's side.
"...This girl, looks like she's still the same as always." You stood beside Serfal's head, looking at the red dragon lying on the ground, head tilted to the side, sleeping and drooling, and patted her head with amusement, whispering, "You really are going to be my silly dragon forever."
"Serfar isn't stupid," Serfar muttered, yawning as she gradually woke up. Seeing a figure in front of her, she squinted for a moment before excitedly saying, "Little Ra, you're here! I'm all ready! I'm all ready!"
"Okay, okay, you're all set, you're all set." You helplessly caught Serfal's sudden thrust towards your head. Luckily, your body had just undergone enhancement, otherwise, that blow would have sent you flying.
"Hehe, Serfal just discovered the true meaning of the world!" The red-haired mature woman, now back in human form, hooked her arm around your shoulder and whispered:
"Are we living in a hypothetical world, where Serfal's search for dragon crystals for Little Ra would actually help Little Ra in the real world?"
"Holy crap?!" You stared wide-eyed, your heart and lungs momentarily stopping.
"Hehe, this is something Serphar just read in a book! Little Ra is really impressed by Serphar's philosophical level, isn't she?" Seeing your shocked look, Serphar wagged her tail triumphantly, took a book from the inner pocket of her skirt, and handed it to you.
You instinctively took the book, glanced at the cover, and saw that the book was titled *The Truman Show*... oh, no, it's *The Truman Show*...
[Hmm? You rubbed your eyes, took a closer look, and realized it was indeed "The World of Gangmen"... Flipping through it, it seemed to be a science-themed magical fantasy story about absorbing nutrients through the rectum. The more the protagonist gained in the Gangmen dimension, the more magic his real-world self absorbed...]
You snapped out of your reverie, turned to look at Serfar, who was still talking animatedly about the future, and fell silent.
[I almost thought even Serfal had figured out the truth about the simulator. How could you have such a dream?]
In short, the good news is that Serfal's intelligence has indeed increased.
The bad news is that it's a masterpiece of wisdom.
You sighed deeply. "My silly dragon," you thought, "just let her be. With more guidance, maybe she won't be so abstract anymore."
However, what she said wasn't entirely wrong. After thinking about it, you briefly explained to her that you did indeed need resources to improve your strength.
"Absolutely no problem." Serfal gave an OK sign and grinned, "When we get back to Dragon Valley, Serfal will empty the dragon's nest."
Chapter 316 The Old Dragons' Schemes
After a brief stay, you bid farewell to the people of Hines City and, riding Serfal, flew back in the direction you had come from, carrying Jennifer and her apprentice.
Instead of flying directly back to Lundia, you landed on the edge of land directly east of Lundia, near the deep pit of the floating island.
Having successfully navigated the floating island's wind tunnel in one go, Serfa was now brimming with confidence in her intelligence. She immediately set off, following the guidance of her dragon bloodline, towards the demiplane coordinates of Dragon Valley.
Jennifer estimated the distance from here to Lundia to be about 200 kilometers, enough time to teach Leafa, so she set off first, plunging into the dense jungle.
You stayed where you were and began to consider this location.
The outer city of Londia was very large, with the furthest mage towers from the inner city being as far as seventy or eighty kilometers away. This was partly because Londia had a long history, and the mage towers built by its ancestors occupied relatively close locations; and partly because the greater distance allowed for greater freedom of movement.
[The magic market that Yashutia frequented, being quite far from the inner city, resulted in several mage territories being pieced together, creating a bustling scene. The Mage Guild made certain adjustments accordingly, adapting to different circumstances and thus different orders.]
However, the distribution of mage towers is still closely related to the environment. The western and southern sides of Lundia are the capital city and the Senhai Territory, so there are the most mage towers in these two directions. The northern side is a sparsely populated area near the Mountain Wasteland Territory, and the mage towers in this direction are mostly built by researchers who prefer secluded places.
As for the east side, it's a deep pit containing a floating island, so there are the fewest mage towers in this direction, while there are relatively more civilian facilities there.
Places like Alice's Welfare Home, the popular Turtle Head Restaurant, as well as taverns frequented by ordinary people, game stores, libraries, livestock farms, churches (used for weddings), and cemeteries are mostly located in the east, so it's not exactly deserted.
However, there was naturally no one around this deep pit, which was more than 200 kilometers away from Lundia.
[You pondered for a moment. On your way down from Hines City, you did indeed discover that some of the lower-level sky islands had relatively weak protective shields. You even took a detour to the guide islands and found that many of them had not yet been garrisoned by guides.]
Therefore, this might be a more suitable time.
Having made up your mind, you retrieved the "Floating Island Family Certificate" from the dimensional rift.
"Dwarf King at the bottom of the pit, taking a sky island from your inventory shouldn't be a problem, right?" You felt the token vibrating in your hand and couldn't help but grin.
["Key that conceals the power of darkness, before me..." Before you could finish your rapid chanting, you sensed a mysterious connection being established within your consciousness.]
From now on, you can also call yourself a member of the Floating Island family.
Two days later, when Serfal returned to Lundia, you were already fully prepared in Art's mage tower. Although you haven't reached the high rank enough to build a mage tower yet, you can easily send out the sprites to act as civil mages and quickly build a city on your floating island.
[By the way, since your island is newly generated, it's at the very bottom of the floating island clan rankings. Your island's height won't increase unless you challenge a clan ranked higher.]
[However, the current situation is just right. You've suspended a floating island with a diameter of about 50 kilometers on the edge of the land, making it appear almost connected to the entire continent. You find this location excellent, and there's absolutely no need to challenge other families to ascend to a higher position.]
Compared to other floating islands, your new island naturally looks smaller, but since you don't have a city's worth of residents to accommodate, it actually feels a bit too big.
"Serfal is back!" A red-haired, mature woman wearing sunglasses and a long dress descended from the sky. Upon seeing you, she proudly patted her chest and said, "Little Ra, Serfal brought everything you wanted! And just as I was doing, Serfal persuaded the old dragon at Dragon's Nest to open the teleportation portal to Dragon Valley for me. Let's go wait near Dragon's Nest!"
"Huh?? You've accomplished so much in just two days?" You were immediately taken aback. You had prepared yourself for Serfal to be gone for at least half a year, but you didn't expect that in just two days, this silly dragon had already gotten everything done? Is this really your silly dragon?
"Hehe! Serfal only did a tiny, insignificant job!" Serfal made a tiny gesture and grinned at you.
"So powerful?" For some reason, a bad feeling welled up inside you. Leaving aside whether dragon crystals were so easy to obtain, persuading the old dragon to establish a demiplane portal certainly wouldn't be so simple, would it?
[It's only been two days, and Serfal has already taken care of all this? Subtracting the time spent traveling, she probably didn't even spend a full day in Dragon Valley!]
Filled with skepticism, you and she arrived together at the dragon's lair within the mage's territory.
After the spatial expansion, the dragon's lair now has a diameter of about 100 meters. Although it's only enough for Serfal in his dragon form to run a few steps, it's sufficient to serve as Serfal's dragon lair.
[Then, having reverted to his dragon form, Serfal cast a dragon language spell in the center of the dragon's lair. The spell manifested as strange four-dimensional script, which then slowly dispersed, creating folded light effects in the air.]
[Seventh Ring Racial Spell - Spatial Positioning]
[A spell prompt appears before your eyes. Perhaps because dragon language magic doesn't rely on a magic network, you haven't seen the caster's information.]
[This is normal, though. I've heard that true dragon language magic forms magical runes within the dragon's vocal organs, which is a crucial factor allowing the dragon race to survive outside the magic network.]
Of course, not all spells can be cast in Dragon Language, but Dragon Language magic is a very large system.
[You watch as the demiplane portal gradually reveals the Dragon Valley like a wormhole, then slowly merges back into space, leaving only faint ripples in the air caused by spatial fluctuations.]
"Looks like the demiplane portal is almost complete, Serfal... Holy crap, what are you doing?!"
[You turn your head and see the pile of books that Serfal has somehow managed to build into a nest, and your eyes nearly pop out of your head. Is this silly dragon really going to start studying seriously from now on?! And in just a short time, Serfal has already piled them up almost to the top. This silly dragon's efficiency is inexplicably high!]
"Serfar has thought about it! If you want to become smart, you definitely have to sleep among piles of books and absorb knowledge!" As she spoke, she picked up a book and read it through using quantum speed reading. Her eyes widened, a look of surprise on her face, and she murmured, "Oh! The feeling of knowledge entering my mind...!"
"What the hell?!" You looked tense, unsure whether it was real or fake. Glancing at her intelligent expression, you could only remain skeptical for the time being.
Suddenly, a ripple appeared in the air. You immediately turned your head and carefully sensed the surroundings, discovering that you seemed to have been connected to another dimensional space.
[A demiplane is a very mysterious existence. Remember when Black Hat summoned the Demon Lord? It required a massive amount of magic to stay in this world for even a short while. The succubus Sasha you summoned is similar; she can only temporarily avoid the repulsion between planes after acknowledging you as her master, thanks to the silver runes.]
[While a demi-plane is also a form of plane of existence, it does not repel the main plane to which it belongs. To put it more vividly, a demi-plane is like a spike ball that a plane carries for its own reasons, while other planes are like other people's bulls, big or small. Even if they all need to be imported, the acceptance level is still different.]
[By the way, a demiplane portal is essentially a demiplane and the prime plane overlapping here, rather than a portal that uses magic to traverse space like a teleportation array, so you don't need to worry about Serfal bursting the portal again.]
[While you were thinking, Serfal excitedly grabbed your hand and led you to the demiplane portal, saying with great pride:]
“Little La, this passage leads to Serfal's Valley! Hehe, Serfal has collected a lot—lots of dragon crystals—for you! You'll be quite surprised!”
"A lot of dragon crystals?" You looked at the demiplane passage with a solemn expression, that vague feeling of dread returning. You couldn't help but ask, "Serfar, what exactly have you done?"
[Serfar didn't stop, pulling you into the demiplane portal while grinning, "After figuring out that this world isn't real, Serfar went straight to the dragon's lair to find those old dragons!"]
"And then?" you asked, a bead of cold sweat breaking out on your brow as you swallowed hard.
"Then Serfal beat them all up! It felt so good..."
[The carefree voice of Serfar echoed in your ears, and you instantly shuddered, your hair standing on end, and your pupils dilated rapidly in shock.]
[I beat them all up...it felt so good...]
The sensation of traversing overlapping spaces overwhelms your body, and despair instantly fills your face. Looking at Serfal holding your hand, you desperately want to escape, but you can't...
[As the bright and bountiful Dragon Valley appears, everything goes dark.]
"Damn it, this is bad," you internally groaned, then helplessly drifted off to sleep.
In the silent darkness, you vaguely feel dragon whiskers brushing against your body, and several aged voices whispering something in the distance.
"This must be the little red dragon's love interest, right? Turns out she's a Titan. No wonder she went crazy."
[“Are there really Titans this small? The previous ones were all quite big, but look at his Tauren, it’s so small…”]
Hearing these ungrateful words, you were instantly enraged. If you weren't still asleep, you would have jumped up and engaged in a verbal battle with those old geezers.
"You old codger, have you lost your mind? The previous Titans all grew larger after activating their abilities. This young man hasn't activated his yet. Once he does, he might be another being capable of turning a wheel with an ox."
【That's right! You couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly. It seems even old fogies have their discerning eyes.】
[Having heard this, you've pretty much figured out your situation. Serfal said he beat up the old dragons, so he must have fallen for their trick. What kind of dragons are they? They must have been curious and wanted to find out what was wrong with Serfal.]
Now look what's happened; you've been forced to come along and put on a monkey show for the old dragons.
"I always feel like he's covered in traces of time and space. Do you guys feel the same way?"
"There is a bit of that. Look at Shi Jianyoulong's face; isn't it written with a solemn expression?"
"Stop guessing, it's true. Your magic affinity is too low; it's already quite good that you can sense it. But even I can't discern the source of his power. Forcibly manipulating it might cause unnecessary danger... Spatial Dragon, what do you think?"
"I don't care. I just got beaten up by the little red dragon, I need to heal my emotional wounds."
"You son of a bitch, possessed by spatial power! How could a hundred-year-old dragon possibly defeat you? Let the Mind Dragon heal you."
"No way! Every time this guy enters someone's body, he yells things like 'Sister-in-law, I'm coming out!' He has none of the majesty of a dragon."
"How did the conversation suddenly turn to me? It's fine to put on airs in front of the younger generation, but a bunch of old fogies are still acting all high and mighty. I don't care about your attitude..."
The old dragons' muttering is giving you a splitting headache. Now you understand, it's probably that old Deng, the "Space Dragon," who created some kind of spatial illusion, making Serfal mistakenly believe that you beat them up, and even fooled you...
"So what do we do now? We can't just give him all this dragon crystals, can we? Besides, dragons and titans have a friendly treaty, and he's probably the last titan in Atlantis, so he's practically a rare animal..."
["Wait, I seem to sense that he already has a child with that little red dragon, and dragon eggs nourished by Titan essence can inherit the abilities of both parents simultaneously, unlike ordinary dragon eggs which are helpless and gradually weaken during the gestation process..."]
"...Shall we give the dragon crystal to the unborn baby dragon?"
"It's not impossible. Dragon crystals are useless to us anyway. We can just have his little dragon serve in the dragon's nest for two hundred years to pay off the debt. It's the son paying for the father's debt."
"Alright, let's stop here for now. Dream Dragon, kick him out."
"Wait, I'll kick him! Little Red Dragon beat me up, so it's only right that I kick her man back, isn't it?"
RNP