CH 42

Third Cub and Fourth Cub were the most obedient, and Ning Chu was more comfortable with them staying behind in the room. As long as there was no movement, they would sleep until dawn. Before leaving, Ning Chu asked Wuuth to put a defensive spell on the door of the room to be on the safe side.

Second Cub hid under Ning Chu’s clothes, occasionally peeking out through the gap in his jacket that was blown by the wind. The neighborhood was very crowded, with stores and vendors pushing carts all over the street. Ning Chu wandered around, selling everything from clothes and fabrics to daily necessities, weapons and wands, etc. He even saw a stall with several rows of blackened stones on it.

The owner of the stall had a sign that read, [Open blind stones, 10 gold coins.]

Someone on the side of the road was as curious as Ning Chu and asked, “Blind stones? What are those?”

“Anything could be inside, it’s all about luck,” the stall owner leaned back in his chair and pointed to the stone in front of him with his magic wand, “If you’re lucky, you could get a raw purple gold stone.”

The smallest stone was as big as an adult’s head, if it really was purple gold raw material, it could be worth at least a hundred purple gold coins.

Several passers-by heard some heart, but Ning Chu lost interest.

Wasn’t this the equivalent of gambling stones? He didn’t have the money to play, not to mention the stall owner probably used a few ordinary stones to fool around without anyone the wiser. He took a few steps forward and looked back to see Wuuth still standing in the same place, his masked face looking down at the stall.

Ning Chu turned back and asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong?”

Wuuth looked at him, hesitated, “Hug… Ning, do you have ten gold coins?”

He actually wanted to buy such a thing?

Ning Chu was about to pull Wuuth away and explain to him that it was a scam, when he looked at Wuuth’s masked face, so he hesitated again.

Wuuth gave him all his belongings, together with the high-level storage bag, and now he wanted ten gold coins. If he said no, wouldn’t he…

He was at least considered to have raised this dragon, other small dragon cubs got all kinds of toys constantly, and he seemed to have not bought anything for Wuuth. Thinking of this Ning Chu changed his mind again and took out ten gold coins, “There you go… By the way, no need to call me Hugh in the future.”

Wuuth took the gold coins and looked up in confusion.

Ning Chu didn’t explain too much, only vaguely, “My name’s Ning Chu, not Hugh.”

Ning Chu’s name in the language of this continent had a bit of a tongue-twisting pronunciation so Wuuth silently wrote it down, then brought the ten gold coins to the stall. He didn’t hesitate for a moment, he just picked up a stone on the far side and put the gold coins on the stall.

The owner of the stall probably had never seen such a quick decision, and didn’t even pick one, but gave Wuuth one more look and took the gold coins. Wuuth returned to Ning Chu’s side and handed him the stone.

Ning Chu took it, not understanding his meaning for a moment, “This…”

“This stone…” Wuuth also sounded a bit uncertain, “Is different from the others.”

He saw it at a glance mixed with other stones, and it smelled different.

“Really?” Ning Chu’s eyes lit up.

Could it be that Wuuth, being a dragon, had some special ability to see what was inside the stones? Suddenly excited, he stepped back and scraped the surface of the stone with his wind blade.

The black crust faded away, revealing a bright orange section inside the stone.

Ning Chu froze. What was it? He thought Wuuth had selected the original purple gold material… but the color seemed a little familiar.

The tip of Wuuth’s nose under the mask sniffed and said, “Dragon crystal stone.”

“Dragon crystal stone?” Ning Chu reacted and was instantly pleased.

No wonder Wuuth was so keen on this stone. Dragon crystal stone was also a good thing, the mall’s was expensive at a hundred and fifty gold coins, but Wuuth picked this big piece for only ten gold coins.

Ning Chu hurriedly grabbed Wuuth’s sleeve, “Is there any more of these? Look again?”

Wuuth shook his head, “No more.” When he saw how happy Ning Chu was, he changed his mind, “I’ll go look again.”

“Forget it,” Ning Chu put away the dragon crystal and pulled him back, “We have to look elsewhere.”

Wuuth responded, “Okay.”

As the two of them continued to walk, Ning Chu took a break from looking at the merchandise to ask the shopkeepers about the Church and the dragon herd. At first, several shopkeepers said they didn’t know, and when some of them heard about the Church, they immediately pulled a face and told Ning Chu to leave without buying anything.

Finally, an old man heard the conversation between Ning Chu and the shopkeeper and said, “Dragons? I live in the western suburbs of the city, and I heard some noise for the past few nights, so you can go there and take a look.”

Ning Chu thanked him and went out of the store and asked Wuuth, “Shall we go there now?”

It was quite late at this time, and in the old days at Lance Academy, the dorms would have turned off the lights. Second Cub quietly scratched Ning Chu’s clothes. He wanted to go, it was a shame to go back after such a long trip.

Wuuth likewise had no intention of returning, so two people and a dragon headed towards the direction of the west of the city. Ning Chu wasn’t familiar with the terrain here, and after two streets he was looking for someone to ask directions, but caught a glimpse of a few people in silver robes passing by.

Ning Chu tugged on Wuuth’s sleeve, signaling to follow them quietly. Ning Chu and Wuuth followed from a distance, unnoticed, as the men were probably subordinates of lower rank. They left the center of the city and called out their respective contracted beasts to continue their journey to a sparsely populated suburb.

The outskirts of the city were endless, with only a large forest connected in the distance. A few Church people entered the forest and disappeared from sight.

Inside the woods was most likely the location where the Church placed the dragon herd, at this time there was no one else around, so Second Cub couldn’t hold back and jumped out from Ning Chu jacket.

“Woo?” He flew in a circle and turned his head in the direction of the woods, wanting to go over and have a look.

Ning Chu grabbed him and pressed him into his arms, “Behave yourself.”

Ning Chu just bought a new mask on the street, put it on, and Wuuth went around to the other side of the woods, and then slowly approached the front. The further they went in, Ning Chu clearly heard several dragon cries.

They were angry and agitated, accompanied by a lot of banging on the cage.

Sure enough, they were here.

Wuuth’s eyes appeared hostile, crossing Ning Chu to the edge of the forest first. Ning Chu, fearing his impulsiveness, hurried to follow, when Wuuth suddenly stopped again. He reached out to stop Ning Chu and hung his head, “There’s a magic formation.”

If he stepped further, it would trigger, and Wuuth’s eyes looked along the edge of the magic formation, which covered the entire space inside the woods. Through the branches of the trees, Ning Chu saw a large flat area inside, with two or three rows of tents, behind which the dragons were locked up.

The iron cages were all covered with black cloth, and by the number of cages, each dragon was being held separately. Most of the tents were lit up, with some people walking around the perimeter on patrol.

Ning Chu roughly counted, it was estimated that there were 40 or 50 collected here.

The dragons were restless, and someone was in charge of feeding them, but by his actions and reactions, none of them should be eating.

The sound of someone talking outside the tent came, “They don’t eat… starve… how do we deliver them?”

Another man returned, “Catch no more… 30, no less.”

Ning Chu was wondering if he and Wuuth, plus Second Cub, could save the dragons quickly and not miss a single survivor when he suddenly heard a noise from the right.

The sound was very faint, not like the Church people, but like they were sneaking around. Ning Chu alertly pulled Wuuth to hide.

A figure weaved through the forest, wearing a black suit, the sleeves seemed to be a bit short, showing a thin wrist, and the long hair tied behind his head was surprisingly silver. By the body type, this was a man, half of his face covered with black cloth, one side of the ear was not covered, revealing a pointed tip.

Was he of the… elven race?

Ning Chu heard of this race. They generally lived deep in the forest, guarding their territory, rarely going out. Their characteristics were very recognizable, with their silver hair plus pointed ears. This elf didn’t notice that there was someone hiding not far away, he saw the situation in the woods, also heard the cry of the dragons, and seemed very shocked, his feet unconsciously stepping forward.

He was about to touch the magic formation at the edge, but Ning Chu was too late to stop it. The magic formation sensed the intrusion and sent out a powerful burst of magical energy along with Ning Chu’s side, and raised a protective shield.

Immediately, someone in the woods noticed, “Who is it?”

Second Cub heard the sound and quietly emerged, his eyes excited, thinking that this was the signal to start a fight. He opened his mouth and exhaled a wind blade, tearing a hole in the protective shield in front of him.

The Church was alerted and immediately repaired the shield, while several wielded their magic staff and attacked Ning Chu where they were. The elf not far away was stunned by the sudden change of events, and also spotted Ning Chu and the two of them. He moved hesitantly and deliberated for a moment before quickly retreating from the vicinity.

Second Cub was still attacking the protective shield, but the wave wasn’t weak, and the opening it had just broken was repaired and finished in the next instant. He was anxious and wanted to come out and teach these people a good lesson, but was pressed by Ning Chu on the head.

“Let’s go first,” Ning Chu said, “We can’t show up now.”

There were too many people in the forest, and they needed the dragon’s help to win. The elf was still unknown, and Ning Chu was worried that if he hid in the shadows again, Second Cub or Wuuth would be in trouble if he showed up and ran into them.

Second Cub was very reluctant, but couldn’t disobey Ning Chu’s words, and obediently retreated into his clothes.

As they stopped their attack on the shield, the Church arranged a team to approach the woods to search for them. Ning Chu pulled Wuuth out the way he came, using vines to block the group behind him. He passed by a certain tree and a familiar figure came out.

It was the elf again, he hadn’t left. His green pupils were excited as he stared at Ning Chu’s hand and wanted to pull off his mask to talk to Ning Chu.

Ning Chu was too busy running away, and swept past him as if he didn’t see. The elf froze in place, the people behind him caught up, and he had to hurry away.

One of the Church people, whose clothing pattern was clearly different from the others, easily cut through the vines at his feet and pointed his magic staff precisely at Ning Chu. An attack magic came, Wuuth reacted the fastest, backhanded to block it.

However, a spill of energy hit Ning Chu’s left shoulder, and Ning Chu’s body stalled slightly, but his footsteps didn’t stop. He turned on his stats and pulled his endurance up to 70%. The pain coming from his left shoulder soon faded until it disappeared.

A team of people got rid of the vines and chased them to the outskirts, but Ning Chu and Wuuth’s figures were long gone.

“We don’t need to chase them anymore,” the leader put away his magic staff and walked back, “Move the dragons as soon as possible.”

Back in the center of town, Ning Chu took off his mask. The streets were still full of people, he looked as usual and pulled Wuuth back to the inn. The defensive magic on the inn’s door was intact, Ning Chu pushed it open and Fourth Cub immediately pounced on him.

At this hour, the three dragon cubs were still awake, especially Fifth Cub, who was waiting for Ning Chu, fighting against her sleepiness.

Second Cub howled “aowu, aowu” and flew out, but Ning Chu grabbed his tail, “Keep your voice down.”

He took off his jacket and told the three dragon cubs, who had stayed home for the night, what happened.

Second Cub said indignantly, “Aowu!”

Why did he want to leave? Let it out and it can take care of them all with one dragon!

“That elf was weird, I don’t know what he’s up to,” Ning Chu sighed, stroking his neck fur soothingly, “I know you’re anxious, but it’s good to be cautious when you’re out there.”

He had a hunch that the elves and the Church weren’t in cahoots, and he neither wanted the dragons to be found by strangers, nor did he want to hurt the innocent. The Church needed thirty dragons, and they were mostly gathered now. The dragons were in a poor state of hunger strike, so they would surely move them within the next two days, and there was still a chance to save them.

Ning Chu originally wanted to scout the situation before returning to make preparations. If the elf hadn’t accidentally touched the magic formation tonight, they might not have been discovered.

Wuuth remained silent, waiting for Ning Chu to finish before responding, “I’ll do as you say.”

Since leaving the Academy, he had become the same old, obedient Wuuth again, agreeing unconditionally to whatever Ning Chu said.

Fifth Cub fell asleep on Ning Chu’s palm as she listened. Ning Chu stroked her head and softened his voice, “It’s late, get some rest.”

There were two beds in the room, one was occupied by the little dragon cubs, and the other was naturally Ning Chu’s. He put the sleeping Fifth Cub away and looked back at Wuuth, “You… turn back into a dragon and sleep.”

Tonight there was no need to change the watch, everyone could sleep.

Wuuth’s face had little expression, as the bottom of his eyes reflected Ning Chu, “Okay.”

He turned back into a small black dragon and crouched in the corner of the bed, waiting for all the little dragon cubs to lie down. Ning Chu washed up and came back to turn off the lights.

Fifth Cub slept peacefully on his pillow, Ning Chu lay down quietly and opened the game. He checked Dragon Island as usual, bought supplies, and when he was ready to go to sleep, he turned on the contract service and set the data back to the original position.

This was his usual practice, to avoid accidentally making any situation after sleeping.

One by one, the data values were pulled back to 0% when Ning Chu’s left shoulder suddenly felt a sharp pain. He let out a muffled grunt and Wuuth in the other bed immediately got up in human form, “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know…” Ning Chu’s forehead was sweating from the pain and he couldn’t even get up to turn on the light.

A familiar figure approached, and Wuuth gently helped him up, unbuttoning his shirt and pulling it down to reveal his left shoulder. Even in the darkness, Wuuth could see what was in front of him. There was indeed a wound on his white skin, from a hit by the Church when they were running away.

“Why didn’t you say anything when you came back?” Wuuth sounded a bit anxious, and covered the wound on Ning Chu’s left shoulder with his palm, using healing magic to treat him.

Ning Chu instantly felt much better, he leaned on Wuuth and said blankly, “I don’t know…”

He used to be in the arena, because he pulled his sensitivity value high every time, all the attacks from the opposite side could be dodged perfectly. This was the first time he received an attack of magic, when he was in the woods he obviously didn’t feel it much.

The author has something to say: 

There will be other races, but they are the same as dwarves, they are just tools for Ning to make money 0.0. And then a preview of the later episodes: 【New Dragon Island】 【New Rare Dragon】