Chapter 340: New Discoveries: The Arrival of Clementine

"Seconded!"

"Seconded!"

"Seconded!"

"..."

"Seconded..."

As the Chief Pontiff spoke, the various pontiffs present ceased their discussion.

The pristine white tall hat atop the Chief Pontiff’s head swayed slightly, and his gaze turned toward the Water Pontiff, Siding, who was presiding over this meeting.

He faintly detected hesitation in the other’s final words.

"What is it, Siding? Do you have anything else to add?" the Chief Pontiff asked in a calm voice.

"Nothing at all." The Water Pontiff, Siding, shook his head, a trace of imperceptible hesitation flashing across his sallow, withered cheeks.

In truth, he still had a document regarding the "Integration Potion" in his possession, but he felt it was not the right time to bring it out.

The "Integration Potion" was a matter of great importance.

He had not had any contact with the young man who concocted this potion, so he knew nothing of the other’s personality, thoughts, or other aspects.

The Water Pontiff, Siding, felt it would not be too late to bring out this document once that young man arrived at the Slane Theocracy; perhaps he could even judge a few things from the other’s reaction.

Bringing it up now, during the meeting, would only lead to useless arguing.

He suppressed the thoughts in his heart.

The Water Pontiff, Siding, continued calmly to the next agenda item: "According to current intelligence, the 'Free Will' squad is staying in the Abelion Hills; we need to dispatch personnel to the hills."

"Does anyone have any suitable personnel to recommend?"

Among the pontiffs present, some noticed the abnormality in the Water Pontiff, Siding, but had no intention of asking about it.

Since he hadn't mentioned it, Siding naturally had his own considerations; this group of old fellows present all trusted his judgment.

"Currently, the only ones who have had contact with 'Free Will' are the [Sunlight Scripture] squad and Clementine."

"No, they caused the nation significant losses; if they accept such an important mission again, in case something goes wrong..."

"It is not impossible."

"Contacting them with people they are familiar with makes it easier to bridge the distance; after all, both sides experienced the disaster caused by the undead together."

"By atoning for their crimes with merit, the new [Sunlight Scripture] captain should complete this mission with all their might, and it can also test the other’s capabilities."

"Clementine will serve as a non-essential, last-resort measure."

"..."

Mid-Wind Month, May 1st.

It had been 7 days since he last leveled the [Lord of Holiness] and [Lord of Corruption] to the maximum.

Nearly a month had also passed since the end of the Hills incident.

Deep within the mountains south of the hills.

A massive golden dragon lay on the ground, its dragon aura radiating at every moment, causing the entire deep valley to be devoid of even the sound of insects; it was eerily quiet.

Tang Zheng stood beside the golden dragon, continuously circling its body to conduct research, his eyes covered by a pale blue magical light as he observed carefully.

"This is getting more and more interesting."

Tang Zheng muttered softly to himself, occasionally observing the details of some scales on the dragon’s body, or even swinging his magic greatsword to slash at the dragon to create wounds for observation.

After finishing the inspection of some details.

Tang Zheng pondered for a moment, then raised his arm and waved it toward the empty space beside him.

In an instant.

A dragon corpse of similar size appeared in the adjacent clearing; this was the corpse of the Ancient Fire Dragon he had slain previously.

Tang Zheng observed this fire dragon corpse as well, comparing it with the golden dragon’s body.

"Judging solely by the results of the comparison, the two are exactly the same."

"After the Dragonman Ladon transforms, it seems there is no difference from a real dragon; this is not a normal transformation at all, but rather as if it were a dragon to begin with, just reverting to its original form."

Tang Zheng reached out and pressed his hand onto the Ancient Red Dragon’s corpse, pondering while a thought flickered in his mind, and he retrieved it back into his item box.

He himself possessed magic that could transform into other beasts or monsters, which was the [Forest Priest]’s Wild Shape.

However, although this kind of transformation was similar in appearance and possessed some of the abilities of the monster or beast transformed into, the essence of the caster did not change.

"It’s somewhat similar to 'Wild Shape', no, it should be a more sophisticated method."

Tang Zheng mused.

The prerequisite for using a technique like "Wild Shape" was that one must be a faith-based magic caster, whereas Dragonman Ladon’s build was entirely that of a [Monk].

"This [Heart of the True Dragon King] can be considered an alchemical magic item."

"Honestly."

"Just looking at the results, the transformation effect is perfect; why did the Eight Greed Kings and Dragonman Ladon feel this was a failed experiment?"

"Just because it couldn't become stronger?"

Tang Zheng shook his head.

The goal of the Eight Greed Kings was to obtain the power of "Origin Magic" by studying the corpses of True Dragon Kings.

And Dragonman Ladon wanted to become stronger; neither side achieved their ultimate goal, so it could indeed be called a failure.

"Dragonman Ladon’s situation is somewhat similar to the Witch of the Green Leaf."

"One got stuck at level 50 after transforming with the help of a True Dragon King’s heart, and the other got stuck at level 28 with the help of the Forest Sage’s power."

Tang Zheng chuckled as if mocking, then his gaze suddenly jolted as he thought of something.

Level 28 and level 50.

For the races of this other world, these were two bottlenecks of different difficulty, especially level 50, which seemed to be a realm difficult to cross even for the dragon race!

The dragon race had a full 6 racial levels!

Hatchling 10lv, Young 10lv, Juvenile 10lv, Adult 10lv, Elder 5lv, Ancient 5lv.

The racial levels alone reached 50; according to the corresponding classes, four of the six racial levels were mid-tier classes, and two were high-tier classes.

With just this level of racial class structure, it was no wonder the dragon race was the most powerful race in the other world!

"So even among the dragon race, those who can break through level 50 and possess the title of 'Dragon King' are extremely rare."

"Whether it is the Ancient Fire Dragon, the Frost Dragon King, or even those Dragon King councilors of the Council State, their levels are all below 50."

Thinking this way, Tang Zheng suddenly felt that, aside from players, the situation where Dragonman Ladon could not break through level 50 was quite normal.

"For a Dragon King to master 'Origin Magic', the most basic condition is to exceed level 50, and then consider classes and such."

"Speaking of which, what classes should these Dragon Kings have obtained by relying on themselves to break through the racial cap of 50?"

This question suddenly popped into Tang Zheng’s mind, and he then shook his head, temporarily casting this meaningless question to the back of his mind.

"The next experiment—"

Tang Zheng’s gaze fell upon the golden dragon: "End transformation."

"Roar."

The golden dragon let out a low roar, its entire body beginning to collapse visibly to the naked eye, and within a few breaths, it reverted to its dragonman form.

He walked calmly to the front of the other.

Tang Zheng swung his palm, striking heavily on the back of Dragonman Ladon’s neck to knock it unconscious.

"Swish!"

He swung his magic greatsword toward the other’s chest.

Clack—hiss!

The scales on the chest were easily sliced open, and blood sprayed out along the chest.

The intense pain caused Dragonman Ladon to let out an uncontrollable groan of pain, even while unconscious.

Looking at the wound from which blood was continuously flowing.

Tang Zheng took out two bottles of Regeneration Potion with practiced ease, stuffing one into the other’s mouth and inserting the other into the opened chest.

Dragonman Ladon’s physique was inherently powerful; even with its chest sliced open, it was not enough to endanger its life. The "Regeneration Potion" was mainly to prevent the other from losing too much blood.

Looking at the heart inside the split chest, which was covered in silver spiderweb-like patterns and had molten-gold magic symbols flowing on its surface.

Tang Zheng extended his palm expressionlessly, reaching into the other’s chest and gently grasping this heart.

"Hmph—"

Dragonman Ladon’s body twitched uncontrollably a few times.

"Time 1 minute, conducting the 12th experiment."

Tang Zheng pressed the pocket watch hanging on his wrist, while his other hand carefully held the peculiar, still-beating heart.

He injected a trace of mana.

With a "thump" sound.

The heart beat powerfully once.

"Driving it with mana alone has no effect, and at the same time, I feel an extremely strong energy that repels mana."

"Since it is repelling..."

This result had been tested several times in a row, and it was basically confirmed; today he intended to adopt a new method, and his other hand reached into the void.

The "Integration Potion" appeared in his hand, and he opened the stopper of the potion bottle with one hand.

Tang Zheng picked up the potion, preparing to pour it into his own mouth, but stopped the next moment; after pondering, he poured the "Integration Potion" into Dragonman Ladon’s mouth.

He continued to inject mana!

The [Heart of the True Dragon King] suddenly released a surge of power.

Hum—

A pale golden light enveloped Tang Zheng and the Dragonman Ladon.

Tang Zheng’s pupils constricted sharply.

"Roar!"

The massive figure of the Golden Great Dragon appeared once more, letting out a terrifying roar in place, while Tang Zheng vanished along with it.

Abelion Hills.

Enri rode on the back of an Evil Spirit Dog, galloping across the desolate wilderness.

During this time, following Go-Jin and the "Beast General" Hekterwis to mop up the remaining undead in the hills had taught her a great many things.

"Little Black, according to the demi-human reports, someone is looking for the Captain, though I don't know who they are."

Enri lay half-prone on the Evil Spirit Dog's back, one hand gripping the bone chain tightly while the other gently stroked the dog's neck, muttering softly:

"I haven't seen the Captain in a long time either; I wonder what the Captain is busy with."

"It must be new potions; the Captain really loves researching potions."

"Awoo." The Evil Spirit Dog let out a soft growl in response.

The black figure ran through the desolate hills until it reached the perimeter, and soon, Enri saw several humans confronting a squad of demi-humans.

Clementine wore a black cloak, her arms crossed in boredom, scanning the few demi-humans nearby who were staring intently at them, a dangerous glint flickering deep in her eyes.

"What are you plotting?"

"An annoying, uncertain situation."

A trace of displeasure flashed across Clementine’s cheek; she had long since prepared herself to defect completely at any moment.

Yet, that mysterious red-robed mage who killed the leader had remained silent, which did not necessarily mean it was a good thing.

The other party held intelligence on her collusion with [Zuranon], and not using it now meant they were likely plotting something dangerous.

"Clementine-dono, our goal this time is an 'invitation.' Please maintain restraint until the final outcome is certain."

A tall, middle-aged man with silver hair, wearing the [Sunlight Scripture] captain's uniform, black attire, and a short silver cape, spoke softly and gently.

This person was the new [Sunlight Scripture] captain, Ian, who possessed the strength of a commander.

He had long heard that Clementine had some personality issues, and after all, this was his first mission since taking over as captain.

"Heh, you're just as long-winded as Nigun was." A dangerous look appeared in Clementine’s purple pupils, her tone filled with impatience.

Captain Ian gave a wry smile.

Thump!

Thump—

The sound of rapid running approached both sides.

Enri arrived from afar riding the Evil Spirit Dog, and after a brief negotiation with the demi-human squad, she easily reached Clementine and the others.

"Is that Clementine?"

Enri recognized the familiar face of Clementine at first glance; she had a deep impression of this woman who had clashed with the Captain.

She nimbly flipped off the back of the Evil Spirit Dog.

Enri raised her hand to tuck her chestnut-brown hair behind her ear, her arms showing faint, clear muscle definition, and walked forward with long strides.

"Everyone from the Silianjiaoguosuo?" Enri asked uncertainly.

"Hello, Enri. I am Ian, the captain of the [Sunlight Scripture]."

A gentle, bright smile appeared on Captain Ian’s face as he took the initiative to introduce himself, while simultaneously sizing up the powerful young girl before him who was rumored to have killed a Soul-Eater with a single sword strike.

Hm?

It was completely different from the image he had imagined in his mind.

Was it just his imagination?

Captain Ian felt that the Enri before him seemed quite weak, or perhaps the rumors were wrong.

"Ah, I remember the previous captain was Mr. Nigun," Enri said, feeling a bit suspicious upon hearing the introduction: "Could it be..."

"Captain Nigun was seriously injured and is currently recuperating, so I have taken over as the new captain."

Ian explained simply; after all, he couldn't say the former captain had been relieved of his post due to a grave error.

"I see." Enri felt a bit embarrassed; due to rushing over and the hot weather, sweat from her face dripped down onto her collarbone:

"I don't know the current whereabouts of our Captain either."

"Tang-dono is not in the hills?" Captain Ian was taken aback.

If that leader Tang was not in the hills, things would become troublesome; he feared they wouldn't be able to complete the mission in a short time.

"No, our Captain likes to research various potions, and the hills are so large that it's difficult to find the Captain immediately," Enri explained.

"We have an important matter and wish to see Tang-dono," Captain Ian said with a relieved smile, speaking softly.

"In that case, I will take you to Miss Cuiye first, then find a way to notify the Captain." Hearing there was an important matter, Enri suddenly became serious.

Clementine stood silently to the side, observing Enri, and finally curled her lip.

(End of chapter)