Chapter 386
Chapter 386: The value of the dragon’s remains (Part 2)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Such a pointless thought was quickly put to a stop by Saleen, and he began inspecting the dragon’s remains.
The dragon’s remains were complete, and none of its six claws were damaged. The five toes on each claw gave off a frosty glow, looking like a refined magic weapon. The claws were actually unusually sharp. Structurally speaking, Saleen would have to amputate these six limbs if he were to manufacture a warship made out of this skeleton, though. He would have to install a propulsion device in place of the limbs
A warship made out of a dragon’s remains was not as controllable as that of a puppet. Its degree of toughness was higher than that of the Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat. A pan’s turtle was a grade-8 creature, and even if its outer shell was tougher than that of a grade-9 magic beast, it would still be inferior to the bones of a pedigree dragon. After being soaked in seawater for tens of thousands of years, the dragon’s remains did not even erode. In fact, it got even sturdier.
“If this thing was used to craft armor, it would be sufficient to equip an entire emblem group!” Saleen might be entertaining this thought, but he did not do it. Even if he possessed an emblem group of soldiers who were clad in dragon bone armor, they also could not resist the blood cavaliers from the Holy See. A thousand against tens of thousands? Other than a slight advantage in terms of equipment, Saleen’s offensive power was still inferior.
It was an entirely different situation to use the dragon’s remains to produce a warship. One could draw magic arrays to his heart’s content aboard the warship. Since a warship was powered by magic nuclei, its speed would be faster than any other ships out there. If a mini magic cannon could be installed onboard such a warship, it would be able to bombard the enemy in a stationary position
It was impossible for a normal stone artillery to destroy this dragon’s body, but Saleen’s magic cannon could easily wreck other kinds of warships. Unfortunately, if this mini magic cannon were to be installed on the dragon’s remains, the toughness of the dragon’s body would be greatly lowered. Only one shot was needed to damage the warship. If too many magic cannons were fired, the warship might even collapse.
Unfortunately, the second dynasty warship did not carry any related magic arrays, so Saleen did not know how to install a magic cannon on the warship. Otherwise, he did not need to be afraid of the Holy See anymore. Even if he was being defeated, he could simply pilot the warship out to sea and the Holy See would be rendered helpless.
As Saleen scanned the structure of the dragon’s remains, he grew confident. After removing the claws, the skeletal wings would wield the power of the wind element. Once the wings got extended, this dragon bone warship should be able to glide on water. This warship might not be able to fly, but its speed would be unmatched.
Without any water resistance, the gliding would allow the warship to reach an astonishing speed. The only problem was depletion. No matter how conservative the wings were, Saleen also would not be able to afford the depletion if the warship were to travel above the water surface.
“Seems like I have to wait for Lex’s return, to see if I can obtain any useful magic arrays from the drawings gotten from Sky City”.
“Master, look!” Nailisi reached out and plucked a shell from the dragon’s remains.
“Is it alive? Mm.” As Nailisi talked, she opened her mouth to bite the shell. With a crack, the shell split open. Nailisi frowned as she felt that her teeth were in pain. That was the first time she encountered such a tough object. Even segmenting a magic nucleus was an easy feat for Nailisi’s teeth. This ebony shell, which was only slightly bigger than her palm, was so hard!
Nailisi did not want to get mad at a shell. She used her dagger and cut along the crevice of the shell, prying it open. A thick smell of the water element permeated outwards, as a ball of green and misty light floated in Nailisi’s palm.
This parasitic shell on the dragon’s remains was actually a treasure! Saleen was very perceptive, he noticed a mellow piece of pearl in the shell. The smell of the water element originated from this pearl.
Saleen then shifted his gaze back to the dragon’s remains, noticing many more inconspicuous shells densely spread across it. It was no wonder then that the sword spirit was still around. It turned out that these parasitic creatures had absorbed the spirituality of the dragon’s remains, that was why all its spirituality had dispersed.
The shell in Nailisi’s hand jumped, trying to use its outer shell to clamp onto her fingers. Nailisi simply stabbed inwards with her dagger, slicing the tendons inside, and removing the pearl at the same time.
Saleen’s eyes lit up, “This thing is more precious than a magic nucleus!” With such a pearl, Saleen would also be able to boost his training progress even if he did not have the dragonshard. The power of the water element stored inside this pearl was purer than that found in a magic nucleus.
“Nailisi, do it. Remove all the shells.” As Saleen fiddled with the pearl, his heart fluttered, then he placed the pearl directly into the gourd hanging around his waist. Saleen had come to a conclusion. Even though this pearl was good, it was troublesome storing it. It was not as stable as a magic nucleus, and if it was stored haphazardly, the water element inside would ebb gradually. Of course, the water element could be replenished. Without the attributes of a magic nucleus, it could only be used as an item for mosaicking though.
Saleen’s gourd contained a space which could maintain the stability of the water element. Now that this pearl was stored in the gourd, Saleen would no longer require the dragonshard in future battles. He could only use water spells anyway. With this pearl, he would be able to deploy other kinds of abilities. “What if magic arrays were drawn on this pearl?” In that moment, Saleen felt self-satisfied. Luckily, he was envious of that flying ship in Alchemy City, otherwise he would never have taken the risk to collect this set of dragon’s remains.
After listening to Saleen’s words, Nailisi immediately sprang into action and began collecting the shells on the dragon’s remains. She stored all of them in the Dimension Stone. As there were simply too many shells, she did not have the energy to pry open each and every one of them to retrieve the pearls.
“Saleen, you have gotten yourself another fortune!” Aini was envious as he stared at the pearl. He did not contribute any effort in collecting the dragon’s remains, so he was embarrassed to demand anything from Saleen.
As Saleen looked at the dense arrangement of shells on the interior of the dragon’s remains, he laughed, then said, “Aini, even though these pearls are precious, you don’t have a use for them. I have a great use for them. You can use these shells to refine a set of death armor. Its defense would be astounding when underwater.”
Upon hearing Saleen’s words, Aini went forward and took a shell. Then, he released a bone thorn. With a crack, the bone thorn was fractured, but the shell remained undamaged.
“I want these!” Aini was overjoyed. As the defensive ability of a death mage was inferior to that of an elemental mage, a set of death armor would be a good solution to compensate for this flaw. Death materials were too valuable and difficult to obtain, unless Aini went to the death dimension. The three kings might have some suitable materials too, but Saleen and Aini both knew that it was not a good idea to force them. Their contract was built upon a foundation of balance. As long as they did not violate the clauses in the contract, the three kings would be helpless. That being said, they still had to be careful not to disrupt the balance of the contract. Once the contract became ineffective, they would have to face a violent retaliation by the kings.
Once such a tough shell was converted into a spirit, Aini would be able to produce a set of unique armor. This armor would be formed out of hundreds of shells. The shells could either split up to attack the enemy, or converge to protect Aini.
Even though these shells were present in colossal numbers, they were unusually precious. It was highly possible that there was not any other location which was so convenient. It was incredible; a set of ancient dragon skeleton that allowed the evolution of parasitic shells via the absorption of the dragon’s spirituality.
Saleen noticed that after a short while of collecting the shells, Aini stopped. While standing behind Aini, Saleen said, “Take three-hundred and sixty of them. Once you advance to a sorcerer, it will be sufficient for you to power this many spirits.”
Aini did not refuse either. Actually, he was too embarrassed to collect too many, because he knew very clearly how rare these things were. Saleen allowed him to do so, and if he continued refusing, he would seem hypocritical.
After cleaning the dragon’s remains, Nailisi rummaged through the head of the dragon for a long while. Then in a discouraged manner, she said, “The dragonshard is missing.”
“Of course it’s gone. Once the dragon dies, the dragonshard will have been absorbed by the other powerful magic beasts nearby.” Saleen did not have the intention to look for the dragonshard. He was already content with so many special shells.
Not only was this dragon lacking the dragonshard, the bone marrow in its bones had also been fully consumed by the parasitic shells. Besides a tough skeleton, this set of dragon’s remains had no other value. Saleen also had a plan in mind. When he returned, he would haul up the second dynasty warship. Then, he would use the thundercloud wood as a material, and it would be sufficient to craft a dragon skeleton warship.
At the moment, Saleen’s foundation on the mainland was not very stable. In order to ensure his own safety, it was not enough to have only the Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat. He also needed adequate maritime power, so as to defend his new city. Jason had already considered this aspect when he helped Saleen to select the location. Even though the magical abilities of Sregl Island were powerful, it was not adequate to deal with the Holy See. Jason chose such a site in the northern region because of that. It would force the Holy See’s forces make a detour around the ocean before coming in for an attack.
Sregl Island owned quite a number of warships and possessed adequate maritime experience. If the Holy See were to mount a sea assault, Sregl Island would be sufficiently powerful to defend against it.
When Jason traveled across the mainland, he had already roughly grasped the power of each empire. It was purely an accident that he chose to train in Ceylon City. Jason was not a mage who would stay at home to conduct research. In terms of experience, one-hundred clones of Saleen could not even compare to a single Jason.
After the dragon’s skeleton was cleaned, Saleen asked Nailisi to remove the six limbs. Thereafter, Nailisi put away the six limbs into the Dimension Stone before storing the dragon’s skeleton.
This toil caused Nailisi to be very exhausted. Too much mental strength was depleted in the collection of this two-hundred meter long dragon’s skeleton.
As Nailisi was resting, Saleen seized the opportunity to start planning. Saleen’s main agenda for coming up north was to hunt for a sea magic beast. The best outcome would be to kill a single-horned white whale so that he could use its skeleton to craft a warship. When Saleen met the single-horned white whale, he dismissed the notion of hunting it. Hunt? If he did not get slaughtered by this single-horned white whale, then it must mean that it had a kind nature.
Now that he had obtained a dragon’s skeleton, it was already the best item available for crafting a warship, even though there was no more spirituality. Since Saleen had achieved his goal, he would not need to take any more risks. It had been a month since the journey started. Saleen decided to stay for two more months to complete the mapping of the neighboring waters before going back.
There must be some extraordinary treasure at the location of the dragon’s skeleton since there was a massacre involving so many magic beasts. If Saleen did not return to take a look, he would feel uneasy. This location was at the periphery of the Frozen Sea, it would be much safer than the Frozen Sea itself.
What was underneath that dragon’s skeleton which drove so many high grade magic beasts crazy?