Seized by the System

The nine-headed dragon monster had a formidable appearance and great power that placed it at the peak of Ocean-level, which was a tad higher than the Azure Dragon’s power.

Nonetheless, there was nothing to report about the battle, as the sole winner was the great green insect that had found itself yet another sizable meal…

“Damn it, it’s just a strong-looking weakling that’s worth a billion experience points. It can’t even compare to a Sea-level monster. How can its attacks be so strong? How can its power level be so high? It made me suffer so many losses for no reason,” Sir System said resentfully while stepping on the body of the nine-headed dragon monster.

“I remember now. The last time we invaded the Underworld, the creatures were also like this. Their powers weren’t weak, but they didn’t give us a lot of experience points. The explanation for the situation back then was that they possessed a great amount of death and resentment, which made them turn into abnormal creatures. I believe this was also the case for the nine-headed dragon monster. Perhaps it was still holding onto its resentment for the destruction of this world,” Fang Ning analyzed with apparent seriousness.

With this, Sir System finally calmed down, but then became dejected and said, “We’re already off to a bad start. I guess this Dragon World is doomed one way or another.”

“Whether or not it’s doomed, that’s none of our concern. That is the Dragon Clan’s problem. We should make our priorities clear. Right now, what we need to do is to hurry up and look for the Ancient Dragons,” Fang Ning said, thinking strategically.

Sir System agreed wholeheartedly and directed the Azure Dragon to continue flying east.

After knowing that its opponents were mostly malnourished despite their strong appearance and that it could not obtain a lot of experience points from them, Sir System would transform into Black Sword and escape using teleportation whenever a dragon monster appeared to block their way.

While one billion did not seem like a small amount, their opponents’ attacks were quite strong and could cause significant health damage if the Azure Dragon got hit by their attacks. This amount of experience points, compared to the food they had to feed the great green insect to act as their blood bull, was not exactly a worthy trade. After all, the corresponding food resources could also be used to cultivate malevolent spirits, which would bring them more experience points.

Time passed by, day after day. The Dragon World was truly vast. When Fang Ning checked the timer in the System Space, a month had already passed.

One day, he could hear a faint sound of thunder from the outside, and it was then the great green insect opened its mouth to speak.

“Alright, we’ve reached our destination. I’m going back in. It’s too dangerous here.”

As it spoke, Chong Daqing deftly wriggled back into the Draconic Arcane Realm…

As soon as Fang Ning looked out through the System View, he recognized the danger it had been speaking of.

Below them, he found a massive vortex of whirlpools, and above that, there were bouts of thunderstorms and huge stretches of tornadoes connecting the ocean to the sky that moved around in an uncontrolled fashion.

“Could this be where the easternmost oceans are located?” As Fang Ning witnessed this extraordinary scene, he could not help mumbling to himself.

“No kidding. Didn’t you hear what Daqing said just now?” Sir System said exasperatedly.

“No wonder the Celestial Clan couldn’t continue with their search, even with the power they have. The power that this tornado contains is probably at half of God-level, right?” Fang Ning sensed it carefully and felt terrified immediately.

“Yes.” The Azure Dragon became extremely small in size, and nimbly evaded the blasts of wind from a few tornadoes. “The crucial thing is that even if we stopped these tornadoes, there would be nothing to gain, so it’d be a waste of our energy.”

Fang Ning understood what Sir System meant. For a crazy creature like Sir System that could grow stronger the more it fought, the worst enemy it could face would be this kind of natural disaster, where there would be nothing to gain in defeating the enemy. It was just like how things would be if a vampire met a human skeleton.

“Then how are we supposed to find this Ancient Dragon? If it even exists,” Fang Ning muttered to himself before rushing over the entertainment room.

That was right. All problems that could not be solved should be brought before the gods.

Fang Ning rejoiced at the benefits of having taken these two gods in back then. With just their advisory function, the price of admission was entirely worth it.

The advantage of the System Space could be seen here as well. If the System Space had not been so mysterious, they would not have felt at ease staying here to hide from various catastrophes while slowly restoring their powers.

One should realize that not just any authority was capable of sheltering these two gods, for they were valuable medicine.

Death studied the scene displayed on the large screen while listening to Fang Ning’s description of the entire situation.

“You want to find the Ancient Dragons? Then do you guys know the true origin of dragons?” Death calmly said.

“I’d like to ask you, dear Elder, to tell me about this,” Fang Ning replied politely.

“Hmm, the Ancient Dragons are where the Upper Realm Dragon species originated from. When the Heavens and Earth were split apart, there was a Creator Dragon that started the colossal Upper Realm alongside two other mysterious entities. Afterward, this Creator Dragon was exhausted and fell into hibernation, but before that, it created four Guardian Dragons with its breath to protect the order of the world on its behalf. The Ancient Dragons that you’re looking for should be these four Guardian Dragons, which are also the oldest and most authentic Ancient Dragons,” Death explained in detail.

This was the first time Fang Ning heard the Upper Realm’s creation story, which caused him to fall into a deep reverie.

‘Will this Guardian Dragon, with such a long history behind it, be willing to see me?’

‘The other party had such a noble background and an extensive history. Even the people of Celestial Clan, in their full strength, failed to find its whereabouts.’

‘What can Sir System and I do anyway?’

Thus, he could only ask, “Mister Death, is there any way for me to meet these four Venerable Ones or even just one of them?”

“Haha, even back when I was at my full power, I wasn’t qualified to meet them. In the Upper Realm, the only ones who could meet them were the saints,” Death replied.

Well, it seemed like the god did not have any ideas either.

At that moment, the Culinary God began to speak instead, “If you want to meet them, it’s not exactly impossible.”

‘Sss,” Fang Ning thought with surprise, ‘I should’ve just come here earlier instead of racking my brains looking for answers…”

He quickly asked, “Can you kindly enlighten me?”

“Yes. When I was studying some ancient recipes a long time ago, I came to learn that one of the Guardian Dragons has a particular fondness for culinary delicacies. If you can create an earth-shattering delicacy, you may be able to lure it out. Because of this, there was a long period of time where I used to run about, creating countless delicacies. Unfortunately, all my efforts were in vain as I only received a Dragon’s Breath, and didn’t get to meet it face-to-face, much less to inquire about anything at all,” the Culinary God said with great pity.

“I see.” An idea then occurred to Fang Ning, and he said to Sir System, “It seems like you’ve got some work to do, Sir System.”

“What do you mean?” said Sir System ignorantly.

“What I’m saying is that once you manage to upgrade your Culinary Skills to Ancient Level, you may be qualified to lure out one of the Ancient Dragons.”

“What?” Sir System fumed. “You’re actually suggesting that I upgrade something as useless as our Culinary Skills to Ancient Level?”

“That’s up to you,” Fang Ning said indifferently. “You’re the one who wanted to investigate the structural composition of an Ancient Dragon anyway.”

“My Culinary Skills are currently at Legendary Level, so how about I try upgrading it to Mythical Level first?” Sir System probed.

“How many ingredients do you have that can be made into Ancient Level dishes? If you have enough of them, then I have nothing to say,” Fang Ning said.

“Uh, I definitely don’t have such ingredients right now. The Earth is so small. Where can I find such high-quality ingredients? If we were to find some, we would have to start from this world,” Sir System said irritatedly.

“Alright then, go ahead and find some ingredients first. If you can find enough of them, then try to go for Mythical Level Culinary Skills first. If not, just skip ahead and upgrade it to Ancient Level,” Fang Ning suggested.

“I suppose that’s the only way. Ugh, life is so hard. This is so troublesome. Why can’t I just make a loud roar for that Ancient Dragon to come out and meet me? Isn’t it being a little too arrogant?” Sir System said frustratedly.

With that, the Azure Dragon roared at the sky.

“Argh…”

“Huh, after all these years, there are still descendants with such pure blood?” An aged voice echoed from the depths of the ocean.

Fang Ning was speechless. “…”

So was Death. “…”

The Culinary God said, “Aww, you can’t do that.”

“Hey, Mr. Rich Boss, look. Haven’t I just roared it out of hiding? Now, I’m starting to believe that I’m the lead role here,” Sir System said excitedly.

“Rice Bucket, you’re daydreaming again. I’m obviously the protagonist here.” Fang Ning quickly kept Sir System in check.