Chapter 52: The Secret of the Fish People

Inside the servant contract magic array.

Black-furred jackal-people sat cross-legged, with dragon blood turning into blood-red chains that wrapped around its body.

After a while, the dragon blood chains disappeared, sinking into its body.

The black-furred jackal-person slowly opened its eyes; the greenish wolf pupils were first confused, then gradually cleared.

Hoge clenched his fist; strength hadn't increased much, but he felt his body much lighter than before.

The most obvious point was that the bottleneck that had trapped it for two years, preventing breakthrough to the fourth stage, was no longer felt.

"Hah." Lai Ang felt the drain of a large amount of mental power, secretly thinking, this servant contract really consumes a lot of mental energy.

Moreover, it clearly felt a slight burden on its soul.

"With my current soul strength, I estimate I can only contract one more servant." Lai Ang thought.

Soul strength correlates with mental power strength; the stronger the mental power, the faster the soul is nourished.

Furthermore, the process of learning magic involves mental power and soul, thus it can to some extent temper and strengthen the soul.

"Thank you, master, for bestowing the bloodline." Hoge realized from his own transformation, quickly rose and half-knelt before Lai Ang, reaffirming his loyalty.

"In the coming period, your strength will surge. Make good use of this opportunity; you might even break through to the fourth stage in one go." Lai Ang said calmly.

"Yes." Hoge said no more, being a person of action, after gesturing to the master, he withdrew.

It planned to gather jackal-people hunters to go to the rear mountain to hunt magical beasts, breaking through the fourth-stage bottleneck via slaughter and combat, while also obtaining high-quality food for the master and the various princes.

As Hoge passed the doorway, he saw Diugus standing there.

Its face twisted into a ferocious grin; a dragon-person and a jackal-person exchanged glances and merely nodded.

Diugus restrained his joy, walked up to Lai Ang, and reported in a deep voice, "Master, the battle with the giant-tooth fish people army has concluded, and the spoils have been roughly tallied."

Our side captured about 2,500 giant-tooth fish people, including thirty-five second-stage giant-tooth fish people guards, plus a fourth-stage purple-scaled fish person leader, and its mount, a fourth-stage giant catfish demon beast.

In terms of supplies, over 360 various bone weapons were seized; these bone weapons are not only harder than steel, but also possess a weak anti-magic effect.

By the way, that fish person leader, upon seeing the princes' silhouettes, insisted on personally meeting the master and the various princes, claiming to have a major secret to reveal.

Diugus finished his orderly report, then looked toward the black dragon ahead, awaiting further orders.

As for the captives and spoils, Lai Ang's heart didn't have much fluctuation.

The captives looked numerous, but aside from those thirty-odd giant-tooth fish people guards, the rest were just fodder.

Not to mention Lai Ang, even a random one among Sai Jia and them could rush in and slaughter, then fly out unharmed.

They couldn't even break the defense, nor have any means to stop flight, so of course they're unharmed.

The use of these fodder is either as cannon fodder or as slave laborers.

"Bring it over; I want to hear what major secret an ordinary fish person could have." Lai Ang said indifferently.

It's not that it looks down on that so-called secret of the fish people; essentially, it just looks down on them.

A dragon bearing the dragon clan's inheritance already has a moving library in its mind.

In the outside world, a single high-tier spell legacy could cause a small-scale bloody storm, regarded as a treasure by many casters lacking background; but in a dragon's eyes, studying the high-tier spells within that legacy could take a lifetime to finish.

This is the difference in background and vision.

"If it could reveal the location of a gold mine—no, a silver mine—that would make me happy." Lai Ang thought.

In this world, metals such as gold, silver, copper, and iron possess mystical power.

Among them, gold and silver are the rarest; without any special means, simply piling up a certain amount can slowly gather elemental power from the air.

Copper and iron are far inferior; generally one needs special methods to develop their mystical uses—such as the 'Steel Enchantment Alchemy Secret Technique' that Lai Ang earned as an academy reward, which is of this kind.

"Iron ore will do, after all refining demon steel requires a large amount of iron."

Heavy stone chains weighing over a hundred kilograms bound the purple-scaled fish person's hands and feet, and its battle qi was almost completely exhausted.

Yet the purple-scaled fish person walked lightly, as if the heavy stone chains were like foam.

After all, it's a fourth-stage powerhouse; even if its biological level hasn't reached fourth stage, its battle qi inherently nourishes the body.

Without battle qi, the purple-scaled fish person relying solely on its flesh can still shatter stone with a single punch.

Facing Diugus's intense stare, the purple-scaled fish person felt helpless, "Don't stare at me like that; I won't and cannot do any harm to the noble dragon prince."

Diugus gave no response, continuing to coldly observe its behavior.

If this guy shows any abnormality, it will instantly pierce the opponent's heart with its sharp dragon claw.

A fish person and a dragon person entered the Gray Stone Dragon Fortress one after another.

The purple-scaled fish person raised its head, looking toward the hall.

Then it saw—seven pairs of dragon eyes with different pupil colors, coldly fixed on it.

Seven strands of dragon pressure, varying in strength, weighed upon it, making its body tremble; it weakly knelt down, its mind somewhat blank.

But it was only an instant; after all, it is a fourth-stage living being with extraordinary willpower.

"Fish person, now that you've seen us, you should speak that major secret of yours." The black dragon Lai Ang, situated in the center and largest in size, spoke lightly.

"If your secret disappoints us, then your fate—hehe—you definitely wouldn't want to know." Sai Jia smirked cruelly on the side, threatening.

"Of course, if your major secret satisfies us, then, fish person, you will receive our reward." Ai Di said leisurely, easing the atmosphere.

"My name is Bloo, I have greeted Your Esteemed Highnesses." The purple-scaled fish person called Bloo steadied his nerves, introduced himself briefly, and then didn't dare to hide anything, for he faced a pack of evil dragons.

Who knows if they'd suddenly blast it with dragon breath for that? "I know the location of a magic stone vein, and also a transformation altar capable of breeding giant catfish."

As soon as Bloo spoke, the seven giant dragons were drawn in, clearly very interested in the secret he mentioned.

Seeing this, Bloo finally relaxed.

It seems his life is likely preserved.

As for the reward mentioned by the dragon prince? Bloo didn't take it seriously at all.

(End of Chapter)