Chapter 600 - 442: Ascending to Domain Level and the "Dragon Soul Domain
Chapter 600: Chapter 442: Ascending to Domain Level and the "Dragon Soul Domain
He stood up and retracted his Domain.
Inside the room, the suffocating pressure vanished in an instant, leaving no trace behind.
He walked to the doorway and pushed the door open.
Outside, Gaius, having sensed the commotion of Raylo’s advancement, was already waiting.
He watched Raylo walk out of the room, sensing the Domain Level aura that, despite being restrained, still lingered around him.
A look of genuine shock and joy appeared on Gaius’s face.
"Congratulations, Your Highness!"
"Having stepped into the Domain Level, from now on, the sky’s the limit!"
Raylo looked at him and smiled.
"Uncle Gaius,"
he said.
"Now, we can discuss the specific details of the expedition."
...
「Three days later.」
Outside the north gate of Thunder Dragon City, a massive plaza was packed with a sea of people.
A vast army, radiating a grim, murderous aura, was assembled here.
At the very front of the army were the Knights of the Thunder Dragon Knight Order.
They were the most elite, the ace-in-the-hole of the Thunder Dragon Duchy.
Every one of them was a battle-hardened Knight.
Their ranks were perfectly uniform, like a forest forged from steel.
Their cold Knight’s Long Spears pointed diagonally toward the sky, glinting with a heart-stopping chill in the morning sun.
But their faces were filled with grit and resolve.
In total, the army numbered nearly ten thousand strong.
A wave of Iron Blood and slaughter surged to the heavens, causing even the clouds to retreat.
Raylo stood atop the high city wall, looking down upon the great army that was about to march north.
Gaius stood by his side.
"Your Highness,"
Gaius said.
"The army has assembled and is ready to depart at any moment."
Raylo nodded.
"Uncle Gaius, you will lead the army. I’m going to go on ahead to pay a visit to a senior."
Gaius saluted and accepted his orders.
RUMBLE...
The great army set out.
Gaius, riding his Thunder Dragon companion, soared into the sky and flew at the head of the army.
「A moment later.」
Raylo mounted Lightning and began his own journey back.
The wind howled past his ears, torn into silent streams of air by the Thunder Light Force Field surrounding Lightning.
Raylo sat cross-legged on Lightning’s broad back, with Moonlight curled up in his arms.
Below, the earth—mountains, rivers, and forests—retreated rapidly from view.
Raylo neither hurried his mount nor paused to admire the magnificent scenery.
He just sat there quietly, his gaze piercing the clouds, looking toward the distant north.
Raylo didn’t return directly to Black Stone Territory; instead, he first made a trip to Storm Cape.
Only after arranging a time with the Flowing Wind Giant Dragon did Raylo ride Lightning back to Black Stone Territory.
"ROAR!"
A deep dragon’s cry broke Raylo from his thoughts.
Lightning’s speed gradually decreased.
Raylo stood up and looked ahead.
At the edge of the horizon, the familiar, undulating silhouette of the Black Stone Mountain Range had appeared.
They had arrived at Black Stone Territory.
"My Lord!"
Seeing Raylo leap down from the dragon’s back, Ed immediately came forward to greet him.
"Ed."
"Here, my lord."
"How have things been in the territory during my absence?"
"Reporting to my lord, everything is normal,"
Ed reported in a deep voice.
"The reconstruction of Black Stone City is proceeding faster than expected..."
"As per your instructions before you left, I increased surveillance of the Jade Swamp and personally led a scouting mission."
"And just as you predicted, a new ten-thousand-strong Snake-man warband has appeared in the western part of the swamp, two hundred and thirty kilometers from Black Stone Territory."
"The Snake-men drained a mud lake there and are now excavating on a large scale."
Ed paused, a strange expression on his face.
"Also, regarding Master Barnaby, ever since he received the Heart of the Ancient Tree you brought back, he’s locked himself in his tent. It’s been over a week, and he hasn’t come out. He only allows the guards to deliver some food and fresh water each day and refuses to see anyone."
Hearing this, Raylo nodded.
He knew Master Barnaby’s temperament all too well.
For that Alchemy Fanatic, nothing was more exciting than precious materials and new research.
"Don’t worry about him. Let him focus on his research,"
Raylo said.
"Reinforce the guards around the workshop. No one is to get close."
"Yes, my lord!"
Raylo’s gaze then fell upon Kado, who had just walked over.
"Kado, go get Gordo and Ug."
"Yes, my lord!" Kado acknowledged.
"I need to return to the Giant Dragon Realm,"
Raylo said.
"The three of you will come with me."
...
Night had fallen. In a clearing intentionally left vacant on the north side of the temporary camp, the Space Stone Wall emitted a faint but steady glow.
Raylo stood before the stone wall, flanked by Kado, Gordo, and Ug—three Hill Giants as massive as mountains.
With Coal Ball gone, Raylo had no choice but to try and open the spatial rift hidden within the Space Stone Wall himself.
Raylo’s Magic Power shared the same origin as Coal Ball’s, so he should theoretically be able to open this spatial passage.
Raylo walked up to the Space Stone Wall, reached out, and gently placed his hand on the cold stone surface.
He injected his Magic Power.
Light flared on the wall’s surface, and a spatial rift over two meters tall slowly materialized.
Raylo increased the flow of his Magic Power, and the spatial rift gradually expanded, finally stabilizing at a height of over four meters.
"Let’s go."
Raylo took the lead, stepping into the vortex.
The feeling of the world spinning around him vanished in a flash.
When light appeared once more, they had arrived in the stone house within the Giant City-State.
The Giant Dragon Realm.
They had arrived.
Under Moonlight’s Magic, Raylo’s body began to grow taller, eventually transforming into the Carlo form he always used when appearing among the Giants.
"Gordo, is that shop you acquired in the market of the Giant City-State’s South City ready?"
Raylo asked.
"Before I left, I made specific arrangements for the city-state’s administrators to look after it, so there should be no problem!"
"I arranged for ten Hill Giants to be sent to the shop ahead of time. Let’s go over now and see how their preparations are coming along."
Gordo nodded hurriedly.
"Very good."
Raylo nodded.
After breaking through to the Domain Level, his height had surpassed ten meters, making him slightly taller than his previous Giant form.
The Giant City-State was as magnificent and boisterous as ever.
The city walls, a thousand meters high, were carved from a single, unimaginably massive mountain, its surface covered in the simple, ancient marks of time.
The South City’s trade market was the liveliest place in the Giant City-State.
Unlike the Giant Market outside the city, which was held once every three months, the South City’s market was where the Hill Giants conducted their daily trade.
This time, Raylo had leveraged the power of Gordo’s tribe, trading a giant Weapon used by a Domain Level Giant for a shop.
This shop was, naturally, a Blacksmith Shop, intended to trade the Giant Weapons mass-produced in Black Stone Territory for the vast quantities of raw materials hoarded by the Giants.
In South City, groups of Hill Giants, often over ten meters tall, moved in and out.
Some carried the massive carcasses of Magical Beasts, others dragged huge flatbed carts laden with ore, and still others walked in groups of three or five, laughing and talking loudly as they headed toward the city’s taverns.
Raylo—or rather, the current "Carlo"—did not stand out among these Giants.
The three Domain Level Giants, Kado, Gordo, and Ug, stayed by his side, clearing a path for him through the crowded "human" traffic.
Raylo walked at a leisurely pace.
Here in South City, he could feel the pulse of the city more directly.
It was rugged, unrestrained, and filled with a sense of primal Power.
Soon, they reached the Giant City-State’s trade district.
Rows of rugged buildings, constructed from massive stones, stretched out along both sides of the street.
These buildings were the shops run by Giants.
Some shops had giant Magical Beast skulls hanging over their entrances; those were shops that sold Magical Beast Materials.
Other storefronts had piles of colorful ores, indicating shops that traded in minerals.
Gordo, familiar with the route, led Raylo down a relatively secluded alley.
At the end of the alley stood a somewhat dilapidated two-story stone building.
"My lord, this is the place."
Gordo said, pointing at the stone building with some embarrassment.
"The location isn’t the best, but it has the advantage of being quiet, and it’s large enough."
Raylo nodded.
He didn’t care whether the location was remote.
The Weapons forged in Black Stone Territory were a context-crushing advantage in the Giant City-State; he had no fear that Giants wouldn’t come seeking them out.
He walked into the shop.
The interior space was vast, with a ceiling over twenty meters high.
Ten Hill Giants were busy working inside.
He scanned the interior of the shop.
The ten Hill Giants had done a fine job.
They had cleaned the shop until it was spotless.
They had even built a few simple shelves in the corner out of huge stone blocks.
Though crude, it already had the makings of a Blacksmith Shop.