Chapter 48: Magic Stone and Apprentice

Luge stepped forward and lightly tapped the metal surface with his hand, producing a thumping sound.

The Aberrant Dragon Management Association had still thought things through, because in their eyes this was no longer an ordinary aberrant dragon. Such an aberrant dragon that repeatedly violated regulations was essentially pushing itself toward the Aberrant Dragon Management Association, merely placing itself in the position of property through an alternative means; once the number of violations reached a certain degree, it was already regarded as the property of the Aberrant Dragon Management Association.

He looked at the blood extraction groove on the metal object beside him; the whole place looked like a room without a roof and missing two walls, and one could imagine the scene of someone busily working on this aberrant dragon. As for the so-called thoughtfulness, it was manifested here: the property of the Aberrant Dragon Management Association could perish on its own, but could not be secretly occupied.

So, by leaving a secret technique mark and some magic stones beside the blood extraction groove, one could compliantly draw a certain amount of dragon blood, with the dragon blood counting as the reward for this report.

As for how to report, once the dragon blood loss reached a certain amount, this antique metal contraption would be triggered, the Aberrant Dragon Management Association would receive the news and come to recover the lost aberrant dragon, while based on the secret technique mark left behind, they would file a record for the reporter within the Association, allowing them to apply for materials for legitimate experimental needs in the future and enjoy a certain degree of discount. The specific degree was measured according to the number of aberrant dragons helped recovered and the monitoring level.

"It should be enough, right?"

He muttered to himself, actually considering whether to leave his own secret technique mark.

Would anyone challenge the authority of the Aberrant Dragon Management Association? For example, by directly killing the aberrant dragon, or by making a wound somewhere else themselves, draining the dragon blood and running away, saving a few magic stones.

"Saving a few magic stones isn't bad..." he joked to himself, but he wasn't really willing to go to the trouble of drilling a hole in a spot without dragon scales to bleed it for those few magic stones, and he felt that given the level at which the Aberrant Dragon Management Association operated, tracking down a lost aberrant dragon shouldn't be so troublesome as to require someone to cooperate in reporting, nor should there be a situation where the location couldn't be found; at least the monitoring level before him shouldn't be like that.

"Great Wizard, I still have a few magic stones in my mouth; as long as you report normally, I can give them to you..."

A semi-transparent dragon-shaped ghost shadow, yellow with black tints, drifted beside him, speaking earnestly.

"Don't be afraid, this is just the forced manifestation of my soul projection; it won't harm you. Even if you didn't say those words, I wouldn't forcibly appear to meet you," said the dragon-shaped ghost shadow with a resentful face, "I'm about to die; my heart has stopped beating for a long time. Although I'm still considered alive now, that's just my special body barely holding on. I want to wake up..."

The little kobold felt that fine new hairs had definitely grown on his back and were falling off.

There was fright, and also sudden realization.

He also understood in an instant the Aberrant Dragon Management Association's malicious taste: this was a taming method that cost little and had significant effect. Some died outside, some were recovered. Dragons were inherently proud, and without killing them they were hard to discipline. Adopting a compromise method kept manpower and material resources at an extremely low standard, and this method might only be used on aberrant dragons like the one before him with a lower monitoring level evaluation.

It was equivalent to a dragon running away, yet still having to pay dragon blood itself as a reward for notifying the Aberrant Dragon Management Association, then being recovered in its sleep.

He calmed himself down.

This was the first conversation between the first kobold wizard of the Ground and a Dragon Strong One.

"Please don't call me that. I'm not a great wizard; I'm just a low-level wizard apprentice," Luge said.

"Yes, wizard apprentice..."

The dragon-shaped ghost shadow repeated.

"There are many wizard apprentices in the Aberrant Dragon Management Association, driven by those wizards every day. They occasionally climb onto my back, let out some blood, and then feed me some things, counted as a fair trade. Although they can't leave that small place, thinking about it now, that life wasn't bad. It's just that occasionally someone would come disturb my sleep. I remember an apprentice I called Little Susie; she would give me some glowing things in exchange for the food compensated for the bloodletting..."

"I really liked her. It's been so long since I've seen her. She has the scent of Thorny Night Flower that I like. I don't know if she's still alive. She said she wanted to become a wizard. Calculating the time I've slept, if she didn't succeed, she's probably gone by now..."

The dragon-shaped ghost shadow said, glancing at Luge again.

"You will also gain my friendship. If you need anything, you can tell me. In the future, you can come find me without going through the Aberrant Dragon Management Association. Come to my Lingdi to find me. I can give you some dragon blood and dragon scales," said the dragon-shaped ghost shadow.

Luge stepped forward, intending to take out magic stones and try to fiddle with this metal contraption.

But the dragon-shaped ghost shadow flashed and blocked him.

"You're leaving just like that? Not taking some fresh, hot dragon blood back?" The dragon-shaped ghost shadow seemed somewhat anxious.

"I want the fresh blood of a true dragon, but you have no wings."

Luge's mind stirred and he began to spout nonsense, moving his hand away from the storage bag, trying to squeeze out more good things.

The dragon-shaped ghost shadow flickered bright and dark, swaying left and right.

"Although you're a clueless fellow, to show friendship, I can give you the dragon blood from my heart, but you might need to pay more magic stones to assist me. This is a good thing even Little Susie didn't get. You'd better agree quickly before I regret it. The dignity of a dragon cannot be trampled upon..." The dragon-shaped ghost shadow was somewhat unhappy.

"Deal, great and honest dragon! You must be more formidable than those winged fellows."

Luge tried to flatter him, but the effect didn't seem good.

He stopped wasting words. A large amount of magic stones were poured out, piling up on that metal contraption.

At the same time, he quickly left his secret technique mark on it.

This was the first time he had seen the scene of magic stones turning into flying ash.

A switch that made the dragon-shaped ghost shadow look displeased was, under its personal command, triggered by Luge's spiritual power. Seeing this scene, the ghost shadow swayed and seemed to finally let go of its worries, then it shattered and disappeared along with it.

A large amount of dragon blood surged out from the blood extraction groove.

Luge didn't know if he was being cheated, nor how much there would be. He just opened up and stored it into the Abyss Bedroom Space.

If that dragon-shaped ghost shadow hadn't disappeared, he would have hesitated a bit. After all, this was a corridor space leading to the Abyss to meet demons.

The dragon blood gurgled and surged. The large pool he had built earlier was soon filled, but the dragon blood showed no sign of stopping. He had to keep storing it until the blood, from the low-lying area of the Abyssal Bedroom, was about to spread to the stone bed's side before stopping, occupying about half the space.

Luge also breathed a sigh of relief, then quickly jumped off the dragon's body. Under the enhancement of spell effects, he ran away urgently, like a thief stealing blood.

(Chapter End)