CH 52

After finding Eldest Cub, Ning Chu still needed to go back to the dwarven mines, and get an account at the money bank. On the way to sign the contract, Ning Chu also learned from Winka that there was another important reason why the fruit of the fruit tree field was a unique specialty of the elves.

The elves used their own magic to ripen the fruits every day, and because of this, the fruit trees could be picked every other week. The quantity was large and the price was high, so no wonder he was so generous, giving Ning Chu 5,000 purple gold coins a month.

Putting away the paper contract, Winka asked, “So you’re going to leave today?”

“Mn,” Ning Chu responded, “Don’t worry, the dragons will be guarding the fruit tree fields even in our absence.”

Second Cub had experience in this field, so it would be fine for at least a few months, unless there was a threat to their lives and they had to leave the area.

Ning Chu would also come back periodically to check on the situation and replace the herd with a new group of dragons, as they couldn’t always have the same group working for long. It took some time to go back and forth, but for 5,000 gold coins, Ning Chu thought it was worth it.

5,000 purple gold coins a month, that was 10,000 credits!

All it took was for the dragons to guard the fruit tree fields, to help pull the occasional cart, and to have a more comfortable nest and daily food delivered to their doorstep, and the pay was almost free.

“Okay, why don’t you leave this afternoon?” Winka got up, “I’ll have them prepare lunch a little earlier, and send some beast meat over for the dragons.”

It had taken almost all morning to get to the fruit tree field, so Ning Chu didn’t refuse, “Alright.”

When he came out, Ning Chu only took Wuuth and Second Cub with him. He went back to the house to call the other dragon cubs for dinner, and when he pushed the door, he saw that Third Cub was holding Fifth Cub on his back and flying slowly around the room. Fifth Cub was lying on his back, with her wings outstretched but not moving, pretending to be flying by herself. Fourth Cub was following behind Third Cub, afraid that Fifth Cub might fall off if she didn’t sit still.

When Ning Chu came back, the three little dragon cubs stopped and squatted down by the table one by one. They used to do this all the time, but it was just for fun. It was good to let Fifth Cub get used to the feeling of flying in the air, so Ning Chu didn’t get angry and picked up Fifth Cub, “Come on, let’s go eat, we have to leave afterwards.”

Fifth Cub curled up in Ning Chu’s arms and licked her scales as she lifted one of her dragon wings. If only she could learn to fly before she met the Eldest Cub, he’d be even more surprised.

After lunch, Ning Chu packed up all his things and took the dragons with him to say goodbye to Winka. Ximan and some other elves were there, and Ning Chu saw some of the kids who had touched Second Cub yesterday.

A group of elves took them to the entrance of Lough Valley, Ning Chu waved to them and got on the back of Fourth Cub. Second Cub was supposed to be the first one to fly, but Fourth Cub somehow insisted on switching with Second Cub.

Ning Chu decided that it didn’t matter, so he agreed.

Except for Second Cub and the black dragon that appeared briefly that day, the elves had not seen any other dragon in its adult form, and when Fourth Cub appeared as a giant dragon, many gasps were heard.

The sun was at its strongest at noon, and the one-horned dragon opened his wings with his head held high, his purple scales gilded in the sunlight, and the ends of his wings shining with a few traces of bright silver. The long tail of the dragon was carefully wrapped around the surrounding trees and rested on the grass behind it, and the tip of the cocked tail was adorned with a silver ring with a large and bright purple gemstone.

Among the rare dragons, especially the three males, Fourth Cub was indeed the most beautiful one.

Ning Chu probably guessed why Fourth Cub wanted to be the first to fly, so he held back his smile and touched the scales on his side, “Lower your head a little, I can’t get up there.”

Fourth Cub heard the sound and lowered his back and neck, and the tip of his horn was “shining” with electricity.

A few elves saw it from the back and exclaimed, “Wow…”

Fourth Cub was so content that he waited for Ning Chu and Wuuth and the other dragon cubs to settle down and take off. Before leaving the area, Ning Chu made a point to see if there was anything unusual below.

Fourth Cub was flying high, and there was a lot of woods and vegetation underneath, so he couldn’t see if there were people. He withdrew his eyes, and the dragon’s figure soon disappeared into the clouds.

At this time, the bodies of the Church congregation were covered one by one with white cloth and piled up in a uniform pile to be cremated.

“Grand Elder,” a man stood at the edge of the forest, his subordinates came forward to report, “The area has been searched, but there’s no trace of any dragon herd. The iron cage and transport carts look like they were destroyed by dragons, the wounds on the corpses are mostly left by elemental attacks, but…”

The man known as the Grand Elder swept his eyes over, “But what?”

“There seems to be more than one kind of magic element left at the scene, but there was a rainstorm yesterday and it’s already extremely difficult to trace,” said the subordinate, “And all the magic weapons like storage bags on the corpses are missing.”

Magic dragons had different magical talents, they mainly focused on elemental attacks, unlike magicians who would enhance the effect of magic with the help of magic staffs and spells.

But some of them were used to using magic elemental attacks directly, faster and more difficult to defend against, mostly preferred by the assassin class.

Magic dragons rarely appeared in pairs. A long time ago there were rumors that they didn’t have a good relationship with each other, subordinates speculated that perhaps humans or other races did, as for the cage destroyed by the huge force and the surrounding overwhelming trees, it was also possible that it was done by large contract beasts, such as sub-dragons that didn’t fear the pressure of the dragon race.

As for the thirty missing dragons, they must have been taken away by the other side in some way.

The subordinate’s speculation wasn’t unreasonable, so the elder sneered, “Dare to strike at the Church, really brave.”

The strength of the other side wasn’t to be underestimated, as so many people couldn’t even escape as the dragons were taken away.

“First report the situation back,” he turned to leave, “temporarily stop capturing the dragon herd.”

On the way Ning Chu counted the time, they should be able to see the Eldest Cub before dark tomorrow if they traveled day and night. In the evening when they stopped to fix dinner and change shifts, Ning Chu fished out the fruit given to him by the Tree of Life from his storage pouch. He took it out and found that the fruit’s originally green skin had turned white at this point.

“Why has it changed color?” Ning Chu puzzled, wiped it with his sleeve, but it wasn’t stained with anything, as if it had always been this color.

Fifth Cub had eaten a fruit of the Tree of Life so she came close and sniffed it, and felt that the one in Ning Chu’s hand wasn’t quite the same as the one she ate yesterday. Fifth Cub couldn’t tell exactly what was different.

She only knew that after she ate the fruit, her dragon wings grew, and this must be good for Ning Chu. Fifth Cub arched the fruit with the tip of her snout, signaling Ning Chu to eat it.

Ning Chu hesitated and turned his head to look at Wuuth.

Wuuth took the pure white fruit and examined it in his hand, but again, he couldn’t see anything special about it. His eyebrows knitted together, “I’m not sure, throw it away.”

Ning Chu hurriedly snatched the fruit from his hand, “Don’t throw it away… I want to try it.”

The Tree of Life wouldn’t harm him, and shouldn’t give him a fruit for no reason. One couldn’t always resort to the data in the contract service, in case one day the game suddenly disappeared. Without the game, a little magical attack can make him hurt too much… If this fruit could help him sense his own magic, Ning Chu would try it.

Wuuth stared closely at the fruit and compromised after a long time, “Okay.”

Fifth Cub ate the fruit and slept for a long time, so Ning Chu planned to eat it at night before he slept, so that he might be awake by the next morning.

The first half of the night was Second Cub’s flight, and Ning Chu sat among the fluffy neck fur, squeezing the fruit and discussing with Wuuth, “If I don’t wake up all night, you can sleep…”

“I’m not sleeping,” Wuuth whispered as he sat behind Ning Chu’s side, “I’ll watch over you.”

He was calculating how much time it would take to fly back to Lough Valley, and if anything happened to Ning Chu after eating the fruit, he would immediately go back and cut down the Tree of Life.

Ning Chu was also a little nervous, but he was prepared to eat the white fruit. The skin of the fruit was very thin, while the inside was crunchy and sweet… Ning Chu swallowed and a strong drowsiness hit him. He didn’t expect it to come so quickly and so unexpectedly, so he subconsciously grabbed Wuuth beside him, “I’m… so sleepy…”

After saying that Ning Chu tilted his head and fell; he had fallen asleep. Wuuth hugged Ning Chu and gently adjusted a comfortable position for him in his arms. He tensed his spine, until he confirmed Ning Chu was breathing calmly as usual, and was really just asleep, only then did he gradually relax.

The dragon flew toward his destination, and in the latter part of the night, Ning Chu suddenly frowned and let out a muffled grunt. He woke up with pain, feeling as if the bones inside his body were being turned out and were then scraped inch by inch with a knife. The pain came so fast and furious that Ning Chu curled up uncontrollably. He half-opened his eyes and saw Wuuth’s face.

“Ning Ning?” Wuuth called out to him anxiously, obviously he was fine a moment ago, how could he suddenly be in pain?

Third Cub heard the movement and slowed down. The other three dragon cubs woke up one after another, both confused and worried about the situation.

Ning Chu’s forehead was sweating, as he clutched Wuuth’s clothes, “It hurts…” 

Wuuth hugged him tightly, a violent emotion appeared under his eyes, “I’ll take you back to Lough Valley…”

“No… no,” Ning Chu braced himself for the pain and shook his head, “Don’t.”

He could feel that the root cause of the pain was himself, not that there was something wrong with the fruit. It was like his whole being was being reshaped, only the process was too painful. The pain seemed to ease for a while as Ning Chu buried himself in the crook of Wuuth’s neck, “I’m fine… it’ll be over soon…”

He just finished, when another burst of more intense pain came, making Ning Chu tremble, even his hands couldn’t grasp Wuuth’s clothing. Ning Chu gradually blurred in consciousness, someone anxiously whispered something in his ear, hugged him tightly and gently stroked away his forehead hair.

Wuuth had never seen Ning Chu like this before, he tried to hold back his emotions and tried to use healing magic to relieve Ning Chu’s pain. A faint black magic element appeared, enveloping Ning Chu’s body, and after a few moments, Ning Chu seemed to be in less pain.

The pain eased again and Ning Chu opened his eyes in a daze as Wuuth touched the side of his face, “Are you feeling better now?”

“Yes…” Ning Chu replied blankly, rubbing his hand against Wuuth’s unconsciously. Then he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep again.

Ning Chu slept very well, and no more conditions occurred. When he opened his eyes, he was still a little dazed, staring at the black corner of a shirt and a chin. Looking further up, it was Wuuth’s familiar face.

“Ning Ning?” Wuuth’s tense expression eased a little, his arms tightened around Ning Chu, and he used his hand to probe his forehead, “You’re finally awake.”

“Cough…” Ning Chu coughed lightly and pushed Wuuth away from him to sit up. When he turned his head, an ice-blue dragon cub flew into his arms.