Lord of the Magical Beasts

Based on Goode’s over-excited explanation, Yang Ling finally understood what the so-called Crystal Marrow was all about.

As it turned out, it was said that when a huge amount of high-grade crystal came together and accumulated for some time, it might produce a Crystal Diamond; when a crystal mine had produced a number of Crystal Diamonds after many years, the large amount of cosmic energy absorbed might have finally caused them to produce a rare Crystal Marrow.

According to legend, the Crystal Marrow had properties that greatly enhanced the physical capabilities of the human body. Just one drop was enough for a beginner knight to defeat a Great Swordsman, or even a beginner Sword Saint. According to legend, the Crystal Marrow could also greatly enhance a human’s magical powers. Just one drop was enough for a magical apprentice to defeat a great spellcaster, or even a beginner magic tutor. According to legend…

If Crystal Diamonds were the stuff of magicians’ dreams, Crystal Marrow was the stuff that mankind could not even begin to imagine!

After regaining his composure with difficulty, Goode swallowed hard, and said, “Sir, we must lock down all information about this discovery. Not a single peep of this must be let out!”

“Keeping this information under wraps is important, but let’s not lose our minds. If we appear agitated, we might attract even more attention from observant individuals.”

After a pause, Yang Ling continued: “In a few days, I will travel to meet with the Livenza Alliance. You must be extremely careful over the next few months!”

With these words of caution, Yang Ling strode out. The multicoloured crystal mines’ value far exceeded his estimation, and yet, he knew not to put all of his eggs in one basket. What would come would come, and there was no use worrying about it. Rather, making the best use of the time to gather one’s strength was truly the wisdom of a king.

Due to Wissen Town’s development, some merchant caravans had begun coming and going, despite the winter season. As small-time merchants with no money and no influence, some transported grain to Wissen Town, hoping to sell them for a profit, while others transported Wissen Town’s special goods out of town, hoping to sell them for a good price.

Although coming by sea was more cost-effective and convenient, Wissen Town still did not have its own port, and nobody had yet learned how to navigate the ocean routes. As such, most merchants had no other choice but to arrive at Wissen Town by land. For safety reasons, the majority traveled in groups and employed mercenaries as bodyguards. Even so, there were some merchants who traveled alone to save money.

To avoid arousing unwanted suspicion, Yang Ling decided to pose as a small-time merchant, so that he could meet with the Livenza Alliance without attracting attention to himself.

It was clear to him that, whether it was the remnants of the Anca family or the unrelenting force of the Bantu Empire, he’d be looking forward to meeting death on the road. As an ambush was very likely, walking amongst the crowd was probably not the safest course of action for him. It was better to move unseen and unheard.

Upon returning to Wissen Stronghold, he told Goode about his plans. Although the advisor was troubled, he did not raise any strong objections after thinking it over carefully. After all, Yang Ling not only possessed of bottomless strength, but he could also summon an army of magical beasts to fight for his cause. So long as he concealed his movements and did not get ambushed by a large group of expert fighting specialists, there should be no problem whatsoever.

To keep his identity concealed from passersby on the road, and to stave off journey fatigue, Yang Ling decided to travel by horse-drawn carriage.

The trip to the Livenza Alliance was thousands of miles long. Not only did the carriage have to be speedy, it had to be durable enough to survive the entire journey. Over the next few days, besides his training routine, Yang Ling personally oversaw the design of a lightweight and wear-resistant carriage with the help of Rumi the Dwarf and his kin.

Firstly, a pair of Rossi warhorses were chosen, known for their speed and great endurance over long distances. Placed side by side, this arrangement was much more efficient at reducing the time spent on the road than a normal single-horse carriage.

Secondly, the resilient Purple Sandalwood was used for the carriage body. Deep Oceanic Black Iron was harvested and smelted into iron wires to make the wheel spokes. A wood varnish, resistant to the elements of wind, rain, and sun, was painted over the carriage. To make the carriage long-lasting, everything was well-lubricated with the oil extract of the Snow Rabbit’s tail.

After having been gifted a few jars of Raphael red wine from Yang Ling’s collection, Rumi the Dwarf led his blacksmiths to spend day and night building the carriage according to Yang Ling’s specifications. Every material was sourced and made available, no matter how great the expense.

After learning of Yang Ling’s decision to build a horse-drawn carriage, the Gnome Elder also led several of his own nimble-handed brethren to help. While they were not as well-versed as mountain dwarves in the smelting of armor and weapons, when it came to clever little inventions, they were not inferior in any way.

After a few days of toil, the great work was completed. The workers, filled with pride and accomplishment, gathered around to gaze upon the results of their own labor. Outwardly, apart from the pair of horses shifting about, nothing about this carriage seemed extraordinary. But in fact, this horse-drawn carriage was a concentrated effort, the product of everyone’s blood, sweat and tears.

After taking two laps around the track, Rumi the Dwarf patted the green-painted carriage body with glee, and said, “Sir, I dare say that this is the fastest carriage in the whole realm! How about we call it the ‘God of Wind’?”

“God of Wind? Not bad, it does run as fast as the wind!”

“This horse-drawn carriage is not just speedy, but sturdy and durable as well, just like the battle chariots the angels used to descend from Heaven! From what I see, you could call it a thundering war chariot!”

…..

Spurred on by Rumi’s enthusiasm, the crowd clamored amongst themselves, eager to suggest their own impressive names for the carriage.

“In my home country, there is a type of carriage that runs swifter than the wind!” Yang Ling paused, waiting for the chatter to die down, and then continued. “It can run a thousand miles in a single day. On the racetrack, it leaves the other carriages far behind, like a majestic unicorn. Everyone knows it as the fastest carriage in the world. It goes by the name of ‘Ferrari’!”

Swifter than the wind, running thousands of miles in a single day?

The crowd was visibly moved. They couldn’t help but be fascinated by this so-called “Ferrari” carriage. Only the Gnome Elder was still inspecting the horse-drawn carriage as if lost in thought, seeming to feel that the carriage was missing something.

“My Lord, if you inscribe a greater Wind Acceleration spell on the carriage, I believe that its speed will increase many times over! Who knows, you might even be able to run thousands of miles just like this ‘Ferrari’ you spoke of!”

After muttering like this, the Gnome Elder wanted to amaze the world with his idea. He was lost deep in thought, trying to figure out how to make the horse-drawn carriage go faster. After hearing the story of the ‘Ferrari’, with its feat of running a thousand miles in one day, his heart fluttered, and he thought of his own Gnome kin’s abilities.

Rumi the Dwarf and his friends did not know of the Gnome kin’s abilities, and were thus confused by the Gnome Elder’s words, assuming them to be nonsense. But Yang Ling differed in opinion, because after hearing this, he became visibly excited.

The Gnomes were experts in inscribing magical spells. If they could inscribe a greater Wind Acceleration spell over the horse carriage, perhaps the carriage would be much faster, drastically reducing the amount of time spent on the road.

Feeling is not the same as doing, so after calming himself, Yang Ling instructed the Gnome Elder and his kin to take the time to inscribe the greater Wind Acceleration spell. To maintain secrecy, he told Goode to deploy a battalion of soldiers to guard the Gnomes as they worked, preventing all information regarding their task from spreading.

To ensure that he had enough wind magical beast blood essence, Yang Ling went on a personal trip to Terras Forest. There, he commanded his army of Magical Beasts to eradicate a pack of Wind Wolves.

Although the Wind Wolf wasn’t the fastest Magical Beast, they were more powerful than most low-level and middle-level Magical Beasts. They were rarely seen together in the open, so eradicating them was the most convenient way to collect a large amount of Blood Essence. After killing the whole pack, Yang Ling was able to harvest enough Blood Essence for not just one, but terrifyingly, up to ten wind acceleration spells, with more to spare.

After Yang Ling had gathered enough Magical Beast Blood Essence and handing it over, the Gnome Elder and his kin took up the task of inscribing the greater Wind Acceleration spell onto the carriage. They spent the whole day painstakingly drawing a complex set of diagrams, so that with a little magical input from the rider, the spell could be activated easily. The more magic energy fed into the spell, the faster the carriage would go.

In addition, to further increase the carriage’s speed, the Gnome Elder and his kin inscribed two smaller Wind Acceleration spells on the two warhorses. After automatically absorbing magical elements from the surrounding air, these spells could not only increase the warhorses’ speed, but also improve their endurance.

Having handsomely rewarding Rumi the Dwarf, the Gnome Elder, and their kin, Yang Ling made his preparations and stealthily departed, setting out for the Livenza Alliance under cover of darkness on a moonless and windy night. To maintain secrecy, he brought along only two others, Orlando as the horse-driver, and Yuna as the supervisor of day-to-day activities.

After a period of quiet retreat in the Wizard’s Pagoda, Yuna had achieved a breakthrough in her training, and became a junior magical tutor. She achieved great strides in both her mental and magical energies. With her around, Goode could breathe a sigh of relief instead of worrying all day about Yang Ling’s safety. After all, with the support of a magical tutor, the fighting strength of Yang Ling’s Magical Beast army would be greatly increased.

Before they left, the three of them all donned nondescript, tight-fitted cloaks supplied by Goode to prevent their identities from being revealed.

The horse-drawn carriage was moving at a blinding pace. At full speed, it was as fast as a regular horse galloping untethered, perhaps even faster. In just one hour, the carriage had left the small plain where Wissen Town lay. No one was paying any attention to the ordinary-looking carriage, but little did they know it had cost more than 100,000 purple crystal coins to construct.

Sitting cross-legged in the carriage’s comfortable interior, Yang Ling took some time to continue his training. The Livenza Alliance was at least a thousand leagues away, and even at the pace they were going, it would still take a couple of weeks to arrive. As long as Yang Ling trained diligently, there was no telling if he could achieve a breakthrough, and reach the level of intermediate Earth Wizard in that short period of time.

After a few days, he sensed that his training hit a bottleneck, and his Wizard Power and mental energies had become exhausted. In any case, there was just a little bit more to go until he could fully grasp the secrets of Wood Evasion.

Saturated with the pure energy of the stars, the Wilderness of Siberia beyond the Aila Mountain Pass was completely empty except for weeds and shrubs. At any time, one could absorb the energy of a large amount of this green life. Yang Ling was convinced that so long as he practiced calmly, it wouldn’t be long until he succeeded in learning not just the Wood Evasion spells, but the Wind Evasion and Water Evasion spells as well.

Sensing a surge of energy pouring down from the sky to envelop Yang Ling’s whole body, Heavenly Fox Yuna was amazed. In her heart, Yang Ling’s identity and background had become shrouded more and more in complete mystery.

She had never before heard of anyone who could directly absorb the energy of the stars, nor had she heard of anyone who could possess the mystical place known as the Wizard’s Pagoda. In her eyes, Yang Ling was like a divine mist, possessed of many secrets that no man understood!

(To be continued. If you want to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com. Even more chapters, support the author, support original novels!)