Chapter 72: Captured Wood Elf and the Green Leaf Association

Spellcaster apprentices were discussing and studying spells.

At some point, Lai Ang came near them.

The Hobume apprentices, immersed in spell research and lecture, only then noticed Lai Ang's arrival; they all rose, and in their flustered state bowed respectfully, saying, "Your Highness Lai Ang."

Those bound by contract address their master as 'lord,' while other monsters call them 'Your Highness' to show respect.

Lai Ang nodded slightly and ordered one of the fish-person spellcaster apprentices to summon those still training in the room to gather in the hall.

Soon, twenty-one spellcaster apprentices stood before Lai Ang.

"Speak out the doubts you have accumulated, and I will answer them one by one," Lai Ang said calmly.

The monster apprentices' eyes lit up upon hearing this; without pretense, recognizing it as a rare opportunity, they began asking their questions in order.

Lai Ang responded to each in turn, his demeanor calm and unhurried, his explanations clear and detailed.

After an hour, the lecture ended.

"From now on, whenever I have free time, I will come by to help clear your doubts; I hope you train well and learn magic," Lai Ang said with a slight smile, though his expression, given his black dragon visage, was somewhat ferocious.

But these monster apprentices felt no fear; they were merely happy and respectful, bowing deeply again.

The black dragon flew off from the mage tower, soaring high in the sky.

After circling for a few seconds, the black dragon flew toward the direction of Jade City.

After growing stronger, his flight speed increased considerably; with a detailed map marking dangers, he returned to Jade City in just seven days.

Inside Jade City.

Lai Ang folded his dragon wings and walked down the wide street, watching monsters and demonic beasts come and go.

Compared to last time, the smell of blood grew stronger.

Injured monster warriors missing arms or legs were occasionally seen.

"Come take a look, a freshly captured wood elf for only ten thousand dragon gold coins!"

From its large nostrils spewed two white vapor dragons; a bear-person warrior 2.5 meters tall led several equally fierce monster warriors.

Behind them, a blue unicorn rhinoceros pulled a prison cart.

Inside the prison cart was a beauty resembling a human eighty to ninety percent, but with emerald-green hair and pupils, and pointed ears.

'Wood elf' Lai Ang's gaze was drawn to the wood elf beauty in the prison cart—not because of her beauty, for although she was indeed lovely, she still failed to move him.

He merely felt curious about her.

Upon seeing a living wood elf for the first time, she seemed to notice Lai Ang's black dragon gaze, looking over with icy, hateful eyes.

Her seemingly frail fist struck the prison cart, and a translucent membrane appeared, hindering the wood elf beauty's movements.

The seemingly ordinary iron prison cart was actually made of demon steel and likely employed some alchemical secret art, granting it special restraining abilities.

'Wood elves also belong to the longevous race; an adult wood elf's minimum strength reaches Fifth Rank, and in the forest they have home advantage, making them even harder to deal with,' Lai Ang thought.

That this monster squad could capture a living adult wood elf shows their strength is not to be underestimated; Lai Ang himself had no confidence in capturing a living adult wood elf in the forest.

If it were merely to kill her, however, he would have a decent chance.

'Your Highness, if you like this wood elf, I can give you a discount of a hundred dragon gold coins—you need only pay nine thousand nine hundred,' the bear-person captain said, also noticing Lai Ang watching from the side; he did not look down on Lai Ang's strength, speaking kindly.

'I have no interest in her,' Lai Ang said, shaking his head and refusing the bear-person captain's pitch.

The wood elf's gaze toward him betrayed hatred; even if a servant contract could control her life and death, it could not control her free will.

If she were to rebel or kill herself later, that would be a huge loss—after all, that's nine thousand nine hundred dragon gold coins! In Jade City, the mainstream currency consists of three types: gold, silver, and copper.

Namely, the dragon gold coin, dragon silver coin, and dragon copper coin, named simply and directly.

One dragon gold coin can be exchanged for a hundred dragon silver coins.

One dragon silver coin can be exchanged for five hundred dragon copper coins.

In other words, one gold coin equals fifty thousand copper coins, an extraordinarily high exchange rate.

A few dragon copper coins' worth of ordinary meat would be enough to fill a goblin's belly.

From this one can see just how valuable this wood elf is.

'If transported into human territory, the price would likely double,' Lai Ang thought.

After all, though monsters also lust after beauty, their environment is more dangerous, and their craving for power often outweighs other desires, so the value of pleasure‑oriented items does not reach an extravagant level.

Moreover, Jade Dream and the Wood Elf Kingdom are neighbors; although wood elves are hard to capture, over the years their numbers are not rare.

But if placed in human territory, their rarity would increase several levels, naturally raising the price.

'Is that so? What a pity,' the bear warrior chuckled; seeing Lai Ang turn and leave, he didn't mind and went back to hawking his wares.

Soon, a large number of monsters gathered around the bear warrior, among whom those of Fourth Rank and above were commonplace.

'Ten thousand gold coins, I'll buy it.'

A low voice came from outside; the many monsters surrounding felt the pressure of a strong presence and instinctively parted, making way for the newcomer.

A ferocious, domineering head, a massive perfect body over twenty‑five meters long from head to tail, with crimson scales like red gold.

This was a young red dragon.

A flash of light in the red dragon's mouth spewed out gold coins nonstop; in the blink of an eye they piled into a small gold mountain on the ground. Gazing at the mountain, the red dragon 'Oruqi' felt a twinge of pain in his dragon eyes.

But seeing the pitiful yet hateful wood elf in the prison cart, Oruqi's anguish over losing ten thousand gold coins lessened considerably.

'Soon, the ten thousand gold coins I lost will return to my treasury with even more,' Oruqi thought.

He successfully purchased the wood elf.

Lai Ang, who had long since left, was unaware of this, and he didn't care.

By then, he had arrived at the Jade City Spellcaster Association 'Green Leaf'.

The 'Green Leaf' association, it is said, was originally founded by the Green Dragon Queen; later, as it developed, most spellcasters in Jade Dream chose to join it.

The association is very free and relaxed.

'Your Highness Lai Ang, welcome to becoming a Four‑Leaf Spellcaster of Green Leaf.'

The female rabbit person with a pair of pink rabbit ears on her head smiled gently and handed a metal badge engraved with four green leaves to the black dragon in front of her.

Four-Leaf caster, corresponding to a Fourth Circle Mage.

Lai Ang played with this green-leaf badge, and his mental perception sensed a solidified spell contained within it.

Second Circle Technique: 'Language of Nature'.

Its effect is that, once activated, one can listen to the 'voices' of the surrounding flowers, grasses, and trees.

It is a supportive-type spell.

Lai Ang swallowed the green-leaf badge into his storage stomach, looked at the rabbit-person receptionist, and said,

"I have new spells I can provide."

"What circle?" the rabbit-person receptionist asked.

"From tricks to third circle, I have them all." Lai Ang thought for a moment and then said.

"Very well, please wait a moment, Prince Lai Ang; I will fetch a mage from the Association to appraise the value of your new spells."

He waited a moment in the quiet room.

With a flash of white light, a short old rabbit person under one meter tall, wearing a red mage's robe, appeared before Lai Ang.

Lai Ang noticed the badge hanging on the old rabbit person's mage robe—a badge engraved with seven green leaves, the seven leaves intertwining to form a circle.

Seven Circle Mage, that is, Seven Rank Mage.

Lai Ang's expression immediately turned solemn.

Any high-ranking existence deserves a dragon's serious attention, let alone a high-ranking caster.

"Your Highness, display your new spells here for me to see, and I will appraise their value," the old rabbit-person mage said slowly.

Lai Ang wasted no time, demonstrating from the zero-circle trick Small Water Ball Technique to the third-circle Fury Technique, using clear, materialized spell structures to show the old rabbit person everything.

The old rabbit person's originally indifferent expression gradually changed, from doubt to suspicion, and finally to utter shock.

"The effect of a third-circle amplification spell is actually close to that of a fourth-circle amplification spell?!" the old rabbit person exclaimed.

"Your Highness, where did you obtain this?" the old rabbit person couldn't help asking, really curious as to who could have created such a 'powerful' spell.

This utterly shattered the worldview it had cultivated over hundreds of years!

The effect of third-circle spells is close to fourth-circle? If such spells were more numerous and more comprehensive, what difference would there be between third-rank mages and fourth-rank mages?

"A relic." Lai Ang spoke the answer he had prepared.

"A relic, where is this relic?" the old rabbit person was about to ask when he saw Lai Ang fall silent; he then realized, slapped his forehead, and laughed helplessly, "I got ahead of myself, I got ahead of myself—such a big secret naturally shouldn't be told casually, my mistake."

Lai Ang merely looked at the old rabbit person.

The latter smiled wryly and said, "Prince Lai Ang, even for the Green Leaf, the new spells you provide are quite novel; their specific value is hard to evaluate."

In that case, you compile these spells into a book; I will report them to the higher-ups of the Association for them to make a judgment.

Lai Ang thought for a moment, nodded, opened his dragon mouth, and the prepared spell-knowledge book flew out.

After the old rabbit person took the book in hand, his figure flashed and he teleported away.

"Perhaps I should also learn a teleportation technique," Lai Ang thought, watching the old rabbit person come and go with ease.

As for the upgraded fusion spell knowledge taken away by the old rabbit person, Lai Ang did not reveal the maximum-level spells.

What he revealed only reached the eighth rank.

One reason is that he feared spells boosted through the idle grind slot would be too unnatural and cause unnecessary trouble; another is that he deliberately kept a trump card.

Although Jade Giant City is the Giant Dragon City, Lai Ang has not yet grown up; exposing too much could only increase danger.

Now this should be just right—enough to shock a seventh-rank mage, but not to horrify him.

After all, the highest-circle spell Lai Ang has revealed is only third circle; even if third-circle spells were as strong as to approach fourth-circle power, they could not replace the functions of fifth-circle, sixth-circle, or higher-circle spells.

For high-ranking mages, these spells exposed by Lai Ang will only shock them with their optimized spell framework, but they cannot directly enhance the mages' strength.

To increase their strength, one must see whether new things can be researched from these 'new spells'.

(End of chapter)