Chapter 53

That demon stone vein is at the bottom of Crescent Moon Lake, occupied by the Lobster People; I also

As for the transformation altar capable of cultivating giant catfish, it is not far from my tribe; there my personal guards keep watch.

The purple-scaled fish-man Bru had no intention of hiding anything at all.

Even now, it felt a bit of dark satisfaction in its heart.

The lobster-man tribe has long occupied the water territory of the giant-tooth fish-people, hunting them as food.

But forced by the opponent's great strength, Bru could only swallow his anger.

"I'm not doing well, and soon you'll be the same, or even worse." The purple-scaled fish-man leader smiled smugly in his heart.

Without mentioning Bru's thoughts, Lai Ang and the others felt extraordinary surprise at this moment.

Especially Lai Ang and Ai Di, the two of them knew about the demon steel matter.

Refining demon steel requires iron and demon stone, and the difficulty and rarity of obtaining demon stone undoubtedly far exceed those of iron; now that the demon stone vein has been resolved, how far are we from mass-producing demon steel and forging a demon steel monster army? Moreover, the size and strength of the giant catfish monster that the transformation altar capable of cultivating giant catfish monsters can produce, Lai Ang has seen it all with his own eyes.

Such monsters may not win in one-on-one combat, and they are also weak on land.

But in water warfare, they are outright biological war machines!

Lai Ang chose Fish Spirit Marsh, isn't it precisely because this place is extremely suitable for him to exert his abilities?

As the ruler of the waters, he naturally focuses on developing water-type troops.

"How strong is the lobster-man tribe?" Lai Ang asked in a deep voice.

Since the fish-man leader can reveal the matter of the demon stone vein, he naturally would not dare to deceive them.

Therefore, the strength of the lobster-man tribe certainly will not be overly great.

Otherwise, Lai Ang also knows that the Jade Dream has a super-large demon stone vein. What kind of major secret is that? If others knew, could they possibly snatch it from the dragon's maw of the Jade Dream?

"Their leader reached Fifth Rank many years ago; as for now, I'm not entirely clear. As for the tribe's population, it should be tens of thousands." On this point, Bru dared not have any deceitful intent, otherwise, once those evil dragons suffered a loss, in their fury the first to die would be himself.

After hearing Bru's words, Lai Ang fell into thought.

Although lobster-men cannot reach First Rank even after adulthood, they are still considerably stronger than giant-tooth fish-people and lake frog-people.

Tens of thousands of lobster-men, plus a lobster-man chieftain whose strength starts at Fifth Rank—Lai Ang thought it over and still decided to first stabilize the situation.

When their strength becomes a bit greater, they will then plot to seize that demon stone vein.

After all, at present the only one capable of refining demon steel is Ai Di alone; the dark-scaled tribe's blacksmiths are only those few that Di Wuges brought from his original tribe, and their skills are not particularly good.

Moreover, no iron ore has been found.

The iron weapons in the hands of the dark-scaled tribe's warriors are partly brought from their original tribe, partly high-quality iron ore picked up from the river, then smelted by the blacksmiths at high temperature into wrought iron, and finally forged.

Because the temperature is insufficient, the quality of the forged iron implements is rather ordinary.

Thinking of this, Lai Ang's enthusiasm for the demon stone vein waned considerably for a while.

"First get hold of that transformation altar, then we'll talk," Lai Ang thought to himself.

The next day, Lai Ang grasped Bru, the purple-scaled fish-man chieftain, in his dragon claw and headed toward the giant-tooth fish-man tribe.

After traveling over a hundred kilometers.

"Your Highness, it's just ahead," Bru shouted loudly.

The black dragon slowed its speed, finally following Bru's guidance into a tiny, inconspicuous lake. Turning left and right, shortly thereafter Lai Ang saw a cave at the bottom of the lake.

The cave was covered with blue-green algae, indicating it had existed for a very long time.

Two giant-tooth fish-man guards were boredly guarding the cave entrance; upon looking up, they saw a black dragon staring at them, and their souls nearly fled in fright.

Fortunately, Bru timely rebuked them, thereby stabilizing the guards' rapidly racing emotions that threatened to make them faint from excitement.

Lai Ang didn't even glance at the fish-man guards, but followed Bru deeper into the cave.

This fish-man leader had received his reward yesterday—becoming a retainer of Ai Di.

This was naturally Lai Ang's request, after all the giant-tooth fish-people are a rare asset; rather than enslaving them with threats, it's better to directly subdue them and use them as loyal subordinates who can guarantee fidelity.

As for this, Ai Di was quite willing.

The purple-scaled fish-man Bru could cultivate an ordinary battle qi technique to Fourth Rank even in this harsh wilderness environment; by any measure, his talent is not weak.

Compared to the elite monster students carefully nurtured by the Jade Academy, the biggest difference is the lack of systematic instruction in martial arts and cultivation knowledge.

His moves are clumsy, with many openings.

Against beasts that don't know techniques, or other monsters whose martial arts are equally crude, this is not a drawback; but for an elite student like Di Wuges, it is full of openings everywhere.

Both are Fourth Rank; under Di Wuges' close combat, he can easily defeat and capture the opponent in fewer than ten moves.

As for Bru, being able to become a retainer of a mighty dragon naturally filled his heart with joy.

It was entirely a case of turning misfortune into blessing.

The ancient altar stood deep in the cave, an octagonal structure; the altar is not large, its diameter no more than three meters.

Lai Ang contemplated the patterns on the altar, combined with draconic heritage knowledge, and finally confirmed.

So-called giant catfish transformation altar is actually a kind of alchemical secret art.

The varieties of alchemical secret arts are extremely many, ranging from demon elixirs, weapons, formations, living beings, etc., colorful and diverse, covering almost every aspect.

The giant catfish transformation altar is a biological and elixir side of alchemical secret art; by inputting sufficient flesh and water-element energy, one can generate in the altar's grooves a magical liquid specifically used to nurture giant catfish monsters.

Giant catfish cultivated in this way will naturally feel affection toward their cultivator, making it easy to sign a companion contract with them.

However, Lai Ang suddenly thought that the giant-tooth fish-man army seemed to have only one giant catfish; this shouldn't be—if there were several such giant catfish monsters, Lai Ang would also feel some trouble, and Bru wouldn't be so easily captured alive.

"Your Highness, cultivating giant catfish consumes a tremendous amount of flesh and water-element energy; after successful cultivation, this big fellow also has a huge appetite," the fish-man leader said with an embarrassed smile.

I see.

Lai Ang shook his head, and the joy in his heart faded somewhat.

Now, with the giant-tooth fish-people added, the dark-scaled tribe's total population numbers several thousand; its food output is barely enough to feed itself, let alone to expend massive amounts of flesh to cultivate giant catfish.

Moreover, the cultivated giant catfish also consume a large amount of food.

Furthermore, although the altar can automatically gather water-element energy, the speed is very slow; to accelerate it, water-element magic crystals and magic cores are indispensable.

Thoroughly a 'gold‑swallowing big spender'.

"Looks like, farming can't wait any longer." Lai Ang thought to himself.

(End of chapter)