Chapter 130: Black Dragon Passes By
“Your idea is very practical and steady.” Salian showed approval on his face, then changed the topic, “What are your plans for the future?”
Anse paused upon hearing this, staring blankly at the empty wine glass.
“Feeling lost?”
“No, I’ve never been lost.”
From the moment Anse arrived through teleportation, his goal was clear: live well!
This wouldn’t be too difficult in his previous life or during peaceful times, but in this world full of frequent disasters and an uncertain future, it really wasn’t easy.
Fortunately, the current disasters were far less in scale and severity than the magical plague back then, otherwise a small sorcerer would have no room to struggle and could only go with the flow.
After becoming a professional, he entered the world of magic, and his goal gained one more: to keep climbing, experience those wonders he’d never had before, step onto legendary, and master his own destiny.
“Dulag is rich in natural resources and not on the front lines of war, relatively stable, perfect for using the resources here to develop Hollewen, so I don’t plan to leave for now,” Anse said thoughtfully.
Running to where would be the end? To the east were vast green plains, and further east those cities all had owners, each place with its own troubles, not necessarily better than here.
Dulag is Adventurer City, the perfect place to start and develop.
There are risks, but the benefits are high; too much comfort means no experience.
Salian thought for a moment: “With this otherworld of yours, you can come and go freely; Dulag is indeed very suitable for you.”
Kalenno at the side couldn’t help but tease: “You’re not reluctant to leave because you’re enamored with Castle Lord Jacqueline’s beauty, are you?”
“Heh, that’s absolutely impossible.”
Everyone laughed heartily, taking it as a joke. Only Brat smiled without speaking, because he had just seen that female castle lord.
After dinner, Brat led people to the fourth floor, assigning a room to each.
There were plenty of rooms, but they were empty and large; most people chose to share, feeling safer that way.
Anse took his things to the top floor; with so many of his own secrets, an independent private space better suited his status and needs.
But before meditating, he had one more task: make some money.
He rummaged a small bucket of dragon blood from the storage room, carried it to the room, and placed it on the central round platform.
This was the only bucket of dragon blood collected after segmenting the green dragon tail, less than 10 liters, after all soaked in the sea overnight.
Lifting the lid, the dragon blood had solidified, like a dark green jelly, with a layer of frost on the surface.
‘Can this still be used?’ Anse frowned tightly.
He found a wooden bowl, cut a piece of dragon blood into it, and sent the bowl into the dragonhide pouch.
Then, he manipulated platinum coins from the bottom of the pouch to roll into the bowl, one after another through the dragon blood, detecting once per roll.
After two passes, the curse on the platinum coins had disappeared.
‘Still effective.’
He continued, purifying about fifty or sixty platinum coins until that bowl of dragon blood completely lost its effect.
‘Feels like a loss somehow.’
With a sigh, he stopped his wasteful behavior, threw the purified platinum coins into a wooden basin, rinsed them several times, and stored them in the bag of holding.
Next, he tossed the dragonhide pouch into the corner, used the round platform as a bed, laid out blanket and bedding, and meditated to rest.
——
【Target Death, gain 5 combat experience】
In a daze, a series of experience prompts flashed through Anse’s mind, jolting him awake; he sat up abruptly.
The room was still dim, with no abnormalities.
He got up and ran to the wall, pressed his hand against it, and the black stone turned transparent, revealing the island under the night sky, serene and quiet.
The otherworld had no sun, moon, or stars, but time matched Toril exactly: bright during the day, dim at night, but with good visibility.
‘Nothing wrong here, so something happened outside.’
He breathed a sigh of relief, calmed down, and checked the dice’s combat log.
【Black Dragon Visagazur casts acid breath…】
‘Black dragon? That batch of cursed treasure?’
Anse immediately put on his clothes, went downstairs, and called Nolnos via telepathy at the same time.
The Black Tower was very quiet; everyone was resting.
After going out, he mounted, teleported, and man and horse appeared in the dark streets.
Nolnos was very alert; upon appearing, it immediately jumped away from the spot, but there was no one around, so it was a bit overly nervous.
Anse looked up at the night sky and listened carefully; confirming no anomalies, he activated the King Butterfly Cloak, spread butterfly wings, and flew into the high altitude.
Dulag below had sparse lights, growing smaller and smaller until disappearing into the night, barely visible.
Anse set up the magic telescope to observe the distant south.
「Far Sight」 was very powerful; the firelight dozens of kilometers away was clearly visible, but that was it; besides confirming it was a barracks, he couldn’t see many details.
It was too dark.
That was the Amn people’s barracks, located between Dulag and Nascal, not far from the Uldan Trade Route, aimed at intimidating Dulag and controlling the trade artery.
‘Could it be the black dragon that lost the treasure coming for revenge? Those treasures couldn’t all be its, right?’
If the dragonhide pouch always targeted a dragon race treasure trove to loot, that would indeed be excessive.
Anse felt somewhat relieved that the Amn Army hadn’t withdrawn to Nascal, otherwise many commoners would have been implicated.
‘Too insidious; I’m a man with grace and integrity, can’t do that again in the future.’ He comforted himself.
The oath mark on his forehead fluctuated for a moment, then fell silent again.
He shook his head slightly; luckily this was done by his past self, and no commoners were affected, otherwise it would probably break the oath.
Actually, breaking the oath wasn’t a big deal: either lose holy power or fall as a “oathbreaker,” gaining power over the dark side.
He could accept either.
‘This black dragon is even more rampant than the green dragon, charging straight into human heartland; wonder if any big shot will make a move this time.’
Kingdom of Amn was famous for its elite warriors, likely one of the forces least affected after the disaster, definitely capable against dragons, just unknown if those powerful professionals could arrive in time.
After thinking for a moment, Anse landed on Nolnos’s back; man and horse galloped out of the city along the streets, then raced south along one side of the Toothed Forest.
Flying in the sky was too conspicuous; staying near trees was less noticeable.
He wasn’t curious either, just observing up close; with 「Far Sight」, he didn’t need to get too near.
Nolnos was very fast, covering several kilometers in no time.
At this moment, far in the sky above, a massive black shadow flashed by.
Anse tensed up, immediately had Nolnos hide in the jungle, and he quietly flew into the treetops, setting up the telescope.
The Amn Barracks were brightly lit, but nothing abnormal in the sky; he quickly scanned around and only after a while spotted the black dragon’s trail overhead.
‘Fuck, not coming to Dulag, is it?’
The black dragon swooped low and plunged straight into the endless Toothed Forest, startling a flock of birds.
‘Good, good…’ Anse let out a long breath, ‘By size, it doesn’t seem like an adult dragon.’
In the distance, from the Amn Barracks direction, a long dragon of lights lit up, heading toward the Toothed Forest.
‘What’s going on here?’
