Chương 153: Hatching the [Celestial Vein Dragon]

"I remember putting it here."

【Fol】stepped on Shutark's shoulder, his gaze sweeping across the top shelf of the bookshelf.

Shutark's legs trembled as he struggled to maintain his balance.

Xia En was very curious.

"Are dwarves really that heavy?"

Shutark gritted his teeth, "You—look—at—his armor—" Shaen looked up at Forna's full set of fine iron armor, which covered him from head to toe, and couldn't help but click his tongue twice.

He had seen the dwarven warrior armor at Azer.

One leg armor alone weighs thirty to fifty pounds.

The total weight of his body is estimated to be over a thousand pounds.

Sometimes it's no wonder the dwarf warriors are so strong; carrying a thousand pounds every day, as if they were wearing ordinary clothes, is just too exaggerated.

"Ah, found it."

19 With a soft "Fol," the old man pulled a leather book from the top shelf.

The spine of the book is a bit loose, and the corners of the cover are worn and frayed.

It looks like it's been around for a while.

The cover features several large, dark gold characters outlined in a very fancy font: "Ancient Times: A Collection of Magical Stories".

Foll brushed the dust off the cover.

The impact immediately caused Shutark, who was standing at his feet, to cough violently.

"This book was my favorite thing to read before bed every night when I was a child."

Frillie took it and flipped through a couple of pages.

"Ancient Times: A Collection of Magical Stories — I had only read the common version before, I didn't expect you to have such an old version in your collection."

"The official version? I know without even asking. It must have cut out a lot of stories that are not suitable for children. Humph, humans are always so nosy."

boom- Foll jumped off Shutark's shoulder.

His movements were so fluid that he didn't look like a man over four hundred years old at all.

The others curiously gathered around Frillie, and lines of catalogue came into view: [A monk, an elven woman, and a dwarf woman —] [After the demon wolf transformed into a girl—] 【Dragon Girl and the Dungeon————】 Tremble, my ghostly lover— That night I subdued seven witches — What the hell is this?!

Xia En was shocked.

Is there any need to cut this?

Just looking at the table of contents, it seems like it could be listed as a "banned book".

Zain was also very surprised, but his surprise was different from Shane's.

"Old Master For, may I ask where you bought this book? A friend of mine—cough—would also like to collect a copy."

Philon's beautiful eyebrows furrowed, and the little girl took the book from Frilian's hand without hesitation and handed it back to For.

He was afraid that Frilian would look at him even once more.

Shutark didn't understand the catalog at all, and the boy scratched his head.

Is this book valuable?

"certainly."

Mr. Foll turned to one of the chapters in the book.

Dragon Girl and the Dungeon Then he pointed to one of the passages and showed it to everyone.

At first glance, everyone was captivated. The description detailed the characteristics of the "dragon egg": "The dragon egg is dark green, about the size of a cabbage, and has a rough shell."

"Genuine dragon eggs and moa eggs are often confused because they are extremely similar in color, shell texture, and size, making them difficult to distinguish. However, there is a way to easily differentiate them: when you hold the egg in your hand, observe the edge where your palm touches the eggshell. Is there a slight fading of color? Note that this color change is very subtle, so please observe carefully."

Everyone immediately turned around and looked at the egg placed on the bed.

Frilian raised her hand and pressed it onto the eggshell.

Everyone crouched down for a careful inspection, their eyes darting around like cross-eyed chickens, their gazes intense and focused, but—

"It doesn't seem to be changing color?"

"I didn't see it either."

"Is the light too dim?"

As she spoke, Frilian immediately summoned her staff, infused it with magic, and the gem at the top of the staff emitted a bright light, illuminating the entire room as if it were daytime.

Everyone moved a little closer together.

No.

still none.

They did not see the phenomenon of "color fading" described in the book.

Everyone turned to look at For.

Foll remained calm and composed.

"My eyes can't be wrong."

Shutark couldn't help but retort, "Your eyes can still see Shane wearing a steel helmet—" Shutark's words startled Shane.

He stared at the egg under Frilian's palm again. Although he still couldn't see the phenomenon of "fading color", for some reason, he had a vague feeling that perhaps Forl was right.

The old man could see through the words on his head.

Perhaps you can really sense things that others can't see.

If this really is a dragon egg— He looked up and saw the excitement in Frilian's eyes.

"I knew it! This is a genuine dragon egg!"

Frillie hummed smugly twice, then asked, "Grandpa For, how long does it take for a dragon egg to hatch? Does this book say how to hatch it?"

Foll continued turning the pages, stopping a moment later on another page.

Pointing to the text above, he read it aloud to everyone: "Artificially incubating [dragon eggs] is a very difficult thing."

"Unhatched dragon eggs can typically remain dormant for thousands of years, and most of them are placed in bird nests as ordinary moa eggs, eventually being discarded because they are deemed dumb eggs. This is because the shell of a dragon egg is made of an extremely hard material, which the hatchling cannot break through on its own from the inside."

"All the dragons that hatch are born by chance, when the eggshell breaks. No one knows what kind of coincidence is required."

"This also results in the extremely small number of dragons."

"To artificially incubate a dragon egg, we need to create a potion that can break the eggshell."

"The Great Sage Evisch from the mythical era proposed the idea and proved its feasibility through practice, successfully hatching a Royal Dragon."

"The potion uses three special magical materials: [Sealed Magic Ore], [Holy Snow Crystal], and [Mithril] ————" As Forl read aloud, Frilian's mood visibly waned.

Especially upon hearing about the last three magical materials, he immediately lowered his hand from the dragon egg, saying with some regret, "The Demon-Sealing Ore, the Holy Snow Crystal, and the Mithril are all extremely rare magical materials."

"【Holy Snow Crystal】is a basic ingredient for making magic potions. It comes from the snowfields deep in the northern highlands. Although it is rare and expensive, it can at least be found or bought. The other two ingredients, however, are simply impossible to obtain."

The elven girl put away the light from her staff.

Looking at the dragon egg in front of him, he sighed softly.

"【Sealed Demon Ore】possesses the highest hardness of all minerals and cannot be cut or processed with magic. This is something we are powerless to do with now—it is truly unimaginable that the 【Great Sage Evish】 from the mythical era was able to collect and process such a raw material."

Xia En nodded.

He and Frilian had seen this ore in the Ghost Bunker when they were about to encounter it.

It is extremely hard; no matter what method is used, it cannot be pried open, let alone processed. With current human technology, it is simply impossible to accomplish this.

Furthermore, magic cannot be used within a 3-meter radius of this ore. Even a mage attempting to explore the mine or collect scraps must be extremely cautious, as they might encounter a mimic and be instantly killed.

Shaen couldn't help but glance at a certain elf.

Ignoring Shane's gaze, Frilian continued, "Mithril is even more impossible to obtain. This material disappeared thousands of years ago. I've only read about it in historical documents about dwarves; I've never seen a real one."

Shutark was somewhat surprised.

"You've lived all this time and never seen one before?"

Philon frowned and gave Shutark a displeased look.

Shutark shrank back and muttered under his breath, "I didn't say anything related to 'old'—" Beside him, Foll spoke up to add to the discussion.

"Mithril is a rare material that can only be mined from deep within the earth's crust."

"This material was discovered by our dwarf race."

"Before the fall of the Dwarven Kingdom, the Dwarves were very keen on exploring this ore, and only the Dwarves could reach the depths of those mines. Later, the Dwarven race was destroyed, and the mining of Mithril completely ceased. This material was already rare, and after so many years, it's estimated that there isn't even anyone in the world who has ever seen it."

Everyone was stunned.

According to Frilian and Fore, one material is impossible to collect, and another material has become extinct.

What do we do?

This dragon egg is impossible to hatch artificially.

The initial excitement of the crowd immediately subsided.

Life in the village is very leisurely.

Of course, this leisurely lifestyle was limited to Frilian and Shane.

Frilian spent all her time with Forl, chatting and reminiscing.

The two chatted from morning till night.

However, most of the time it was Frilian who was talking and Fore who was listening.

While the two were chatting, Shane was reading the unabridged version of "Ancient Times: A Collection of Magical Stories" beside them. He would occasionally chuckle at the plot, drawing frequent glances from Frilian and Fore.

Because the jam she got before tasted so good, Philon went to learn how to make it from the old woman. Every day when she came home, she smelled of berries.

Zain became a local celebrity.

This remote mountain village has no resident monks.

Only the nearby large towns send a monk each year to stay in the village for two days to check on everyone's health and inspect for any signs of a curse.

It has no way of solving everyday headaches, fevers, or sprains.

Zain and Philon, together with the village chief, investigated the medicinal plants around the village and specially compiled a "Guide to Commonly Used Herbs" for the village.

With this guide, people can collect medicinal herbs and treat themselves when they encounter minor ailments such as colds or food poisoning.

The village chief was deeply grateful.

Only Xiutark fared rather badly.

Because he was too careless when entering the village and was successfully ambushed by [Fol], his advanced skills were questioned by Fol.

Therefore, the old man devised a very strict daily training program for Shutark.

Basic exercises, strength training, and combat training — Shutark crawls home every day.

When he's eating, he gets so tired that he falls asleep right on the table, and Zain and Shane have to carry him back to his room every time.

However, the effect was immediate.

Zain and Shane could tell from the feel of carrying him every day that Shutark had become stronger, his muscles were harder, and he was heavier.

In a mountain battle, Foll took down an adult Lion Boar with a single blow, completely stunning Shutark.

After that, without Fol personally supervising him, the boy trained very hard.

So, Foll set his sights on the idle Shane.

boom- Fol's sword was deflected by Shane.

bang bang — Both of them moved very fast, their longswords clashing once more before separating.

No one benefited.

Since it was just a friendly spar, neither of them drew their swords.

Foll looked at Shane's skills and nodded.

"Your swordsmanship comes from the dual-wielding sword fighting techniques of the Southern Kingdoms, but it is not exactly the same. It must be a modified version."

Xia En was shocked.

What an extraordinary old man.

"That's right, this is the improved Dual Blades style sword technique by the Hero of the South."

"Humanity's strongest [Southern Hero] — Not bad —" Foll praised him.

"However, your current mastery does not bring out the full potential of this sword technique. This sword technique does not emphasize technique and has a low learning threshold, but that does not mean that it has completely abandoned skills."

With that, Foll got into a fighting stance and attacked Shane again.

Xia En barely managed to parry.

Meanwhile, Foll's voice continued to ring out.

"It's foolish of you to try and force a fight like this."

"You are a swordsman, not a warrior. You need to always keep yourself in motion, and hide your movements under the blade."

Bang! Shane was knocked back several steps.

He immediately used [Dual Blade Style: Shadow Kill] to get behind Forl, but just as he was about to attack, Forl dodged him with a flash. The opponent's movements were unpredictable, and he could only passively follow behind, trying to find an opportunity to attack.

Foll's voice rang out again, "See, you've fallen into a passive position."

Xia En stopped, slightly out of breath.

"You're moving a bit too fast."

"It's not that I'm fast, it's that I'm agile and constantly dodging your sword."

"Movement technique, evasion?"

"This is called the 'maze step'."

As he spoke, For disappeared from Xia En's sight, and a moment later reappeared beside Xia En. When Xia En turned around, For disappeared again and reappeared behind him.

No matter how fast Shane reacted, he could never keep up with Forl's changes.

"This movement technique is best suited for swordsmen. Combined with your Dual Blades style, it allows you to kill without leaving a trace."

Xia En nodded, accepting the instruction.

Afterwards, Foll gave Shane a book he had written about his body techniques.

Xia En stared at his notes for a long time but couldn't simplify them into a single term, which he found deeply regrettable. However, precisely because he had no terms to summarize, he studied very diligently.

From that day onwards.

He abandoned his usual lazy habit of whiling away the time with "Story Collection" and instead devoted himself to his notes and reflections, neglecting to eat or sleep.

This greatly surprised Philon.

The little girl had never seen Xia En so serious before.

Frillie wasn't surprised at all.

From the first day she met Xia En, she knew that Xia En had always been a very serious person.

However, sometimes progress is too fast.

People only see your genius and naturally overlook your hard work.

With the help of [Swiftness], when Shutark was able to take Fol's sword head-on, Shane was finally able to keep up with Fol's strange movement.

The old man tried several times, but he could no longer shake off Xia En.

The days passed by.

Half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

Frilian and Forl stood side by side, watching Shane and Shutark spar.

"So, are these two avant-garde figures qualified?"

"Humans have grown so fast, they've improved a lot already."

Frillie smiled with satisfaction.

After a moment of silence, Forl suddenly spoke to Frilian.

"Frilian, you seem to have changed."

"Yeah?"

"I remember you used to not care much about humans. [No matter what skills and knowledge you learn, you'll die soon anyway], I remember you saying that back then."

2 The smile on Frillie's face slowly faded.

"Back then, I didn't understand human beings."

"Do you understand now?"

Frillie's gaze fell on Shane.

I am studying.

""

"very nice----" Foll nodded slightly.

"Sometimes I envy the elves' time."

With that, he turned and walked towards the village entrance.

"But even so, you must cherish your time."

Frillie stood alone, watching the two people fighting in front of her. The sounds of gunfire rang out intermittently.

She stared at it for a very long time.

"Um."

The next morning.

The group packed their belongings and left the small village, continuing north as planned.

Grandpa Foll is still sitting at the entrance of the village.

Alone, with only a sword, he guards the village.

Frillie said goodbye to For as casually as if she were leaving the house, "Goodbye, Grandpa For."

Xia En wanted to say something.

Grandpa Fuller is very old. This parting may not be the last time we meet.

But when the words came to mind, he didn't know what to say.

In the end, it was just the same old phrase: "Take care."

Just then, Foll raised his head.

"Shane, Frilian, I dreamt of my wife yesterday."

Xia En paused.

Even Frilian turned around.

"Thank you for sending that photo album. It's so nice to be able to reminisce with my friends before I die."

A faint smile slowly appeared on Forl's aged face.

Xia En saw a sense of peace and acceptance of life in it.

He knew he didn't need to say anything.

This wise and insightful old man actually understands everything.

Frillie smiled.

Goodbye then.

"9 Even after everyone had walked away for a long time, they could still see the small figure at the village entrance.

lonely.

tough.

The group continued north along the main road.

After walking for most of the day, we finally saw a village in the distance.

However, it was different from the village where For had just left.

Ahead, the village was shrouded in a dark mist.

It's quite different from the warm autumn atmosphere.