Versatile Mage

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

—

The dragon beasts only ate raw meat. They might be powerful mounts, but it was troublesome to feed them.

A few soldiers brought back some demon creatures’ meat from a nearby marketplace to feed them.

Tian Cheng came back with good news after the Flying Dragon and Triumphant Eagle Dragons were fed.

Not only was Tian Cheng a scout, he also specialized in tracking down demon creatures. He could locate the feathers, scales, skin crumbs, and worms that fell off demon creatures and analyze them to determine the species.

When they were in Beijiang, the Evil Hound Ruler kept moving around in the wilderness. If Captain Tian had not traced it down through its saliva, they would have had no chance of finding the Ruler-level creature.

Their mission was to look for the Dragon King Krill nest, but these creatures were as transparent as the water they lived in.

Their transparency was not the same as pure water. They could modify their transparency based on the cloudiness of the water, and since they were crustaceans, they could hide inside rocks too, making it difficult to track them down.

Zhang Xiaohou thought they would spend some time in Luning County to look for clues, but Tian Cheng came back with a piece of useful information.

“General Zhang, I’ve found some colored salt in the wetlands. The weather happened to be sunny and clear for the past few days, so the seawater had dried into salt.” Tian Cheng opened his palm.

Hua Yuezhu went closer to take a look, but she had no idea what she was looking at.

“Is there something special about this salt?” Zhang Xiaohou asked calmly.

“Yes, this colored salt is formed when waves are splashing on Salt Flower Rocks. The water erodes the rocks and turns into this seaweed-blue salt after it has dried,” Tian Cheng explained.

“But what does that have to do with the Dragon King Krill?” Hua Yuezhu had to ask.

“I’ve analyzed the Dragon King Krill and found the salt content in their body liquid to be several times higher than the salt level of ordinary seawater. It has even passed the highest soluble level, so I’m guessing the liquid is serving as their blood and providing them with energy,” Tian Cheng deduced.

Tian Cheng was a smart soldier. He immediately grabbed a few Dragon King Krill from the sea after having a thought. He discovered the Dragon King Krill could not live in freshwater after a quick experiment.

The Dragon King Krill would suffocate in ten minutes in water without salt, drowning as if they had no access to oxygen.

Most importantly, when Tian Cheng threw a few bricks, clay, and rocks into the water, the Dragon King Krill would eat them and turn them into a liquid with a higher salt level, allowing them to move freely and act more aggressively in freshwater.

Tian Cheng concluded the Dragon King Krill required a high level of salt. The oceans were the perfect cultivation factories for them, as they were rich in salt!

However, the salt level there was still not high enough for them. They continued to feed on rocks, concrete, and steel, and turned them all into salt.

“If these creatures can eat rocks, won’t they be unstoppable? This world will never run out of rocks and seawater!” Hua Yuezhu exclaimed.

“So they must have a great weakness, or they are selective eaters. Either way, salt is the Dragon King Krill’s vitality and energy. We can narrow down the search to islands and cliffs with Salt Flower Rocks. We should be able to find a lot of these Dragon King Krill,” Tian Cheng declared confidently.

The salt level of normal seawater was not enough to support the Dragon King Krill. They would most likely gather at places with a higher concentration of salt, and even build their nests there!

“We can try asking the locals and see if they know where to find Salt Flower Rocks,” Zhang Xiaohou agreed.

“I already did!” Tian Cheng took out a map of the Bohai Sea and its coasts. It had a few red circles on it already. “There’s a peninsula with a lot of Salt Flower Rocks seventy kilometers from here. There are many villages and factories nearby, too!”

“Great, let’s go!”

——

The Salt Flower Peninsula was almost fully separated from the mainland. It was only connected to the mainland by a damp path. It did not even have a bridge for cars to access it.

The path was submerged under seawater most of the time after the rise of the sea level. Only part of it was exposed when the tide fell.

The peninsula was huge, with around thirty villages scattered across it. It also had five factories of various sizes. The biggest one had over a thousand workers.

There was no main road, highway, or rail connected to Salt Flower Island. There was only a damaged road leading to the damp path, so most people had no idea there were still so many people living on the peninsula.

“We would never have found this place if we hadn’t learned of its existence from the locals,” Tan Feng commented.

The peninsula was less developed than the coasts. It only had a wind farm as a source of electricity.

The white windmills were the most advanced structures on the peninsula. Mobile signals were extremely weak, let alone Internet coverage.

However, the people on the peninsula did not live a primitive life, having their own standard of living. Even though it was inconvenient to contact the outside world, the peninsula was not completely sealed off. It was just a little behind.

—

Zhang Xiaohou and his men waited until it was dark before flying to the peninsula so they would not alarm the people. They found a small hidden canyon and left a few soldiers behind to look after the Flying Dragon and Triumphant Eagle Dragons. The rest of his soldiers followed Zhang Xiaohou to the peninsula.

“If they could build a bridge to this place, it might become a scenic tourist spot,” a young female officer observed.

“Are you seriously thinking about developing tourism now?”

“Such a disgusting odor! Do you guys smell that?” a soldier with a sharper nose spoke up sharply.

Zhang Xiaohou took a deep breath and picked up a pungent smell. “Maybe it’s the waste produced by the factories.”

The group continued deeper. They could already see some lights.

The residents were a little scattered. There were a few households on top of a hill and several others at the waist of a hill. Some were located beside a road, while some were further away, hidden in the dense woods.

“I think there’s a factory there.”

“Captian Tian, bring some men with you and analyze the seawater. Tang Feng, bring a squad with you to investigate the factory,” Zhang Xiaohou ordered.

The group quickly split up to do their jobs, leaving only Zhang Xiaohou and Hua Yuezhu behind.