Chapter 613: The Lightning Ring Array

After the formalities, the mayor straightened and beamed at Marcus with genuine warmth and respect.

"The Emperor is truly wise," he declared. "To appoint you as the Lord of Twin Wing Island and Dragon’s Roar Town is a blessing for all of us. The people have been hoping for a leader like you for generations."

He actually looked up at the sky, his expression filled with gratitude. "Thank the Goddess of Dreams! Thank the Emperor! Thank the Dragon Dynasty!"

Marcus stared at him for a moment. Was he really this enthusiastic?

Marcus hadn’t realized just how much the Black Serpent Islet quest had raised his standing among the locals. He had expected respect, perhaps even some admiration, but this was something else entirely. He couldn’t help feeling a little humbled by it, although he would have been lying if he said he wasn’t secretly pleased.

Of course, none of this had anything to do with that stingy Dragon Emperor.

If Marcus hadn’t been strong enough to complete the quest, the Emperor would never have handed him the title of Lord of Dragon’s Roar in the first place.

"Sir!" The mayor’s enthusiasm only grew. "I’ll gather everyone immediately. We’ll announce the decree and begin preparing the celebration ceremony..."

"Hold on."

Marcus stopped him before he could run off. He straightened his back, put on his best official expression, and spoke with deliberate gravitas.

"Mayor, let’s take care of business first. We’re opening the teleportation array tonight. We can combine the official ceremony with its activation."

"The teleportation array?" The mayor blinked, then his eyes widened. "Sir, did you already kill the Mythic Beast Heavenly Thunder Leopard? Did you obtain the horns?"

Marcus simply gave him a confident smile. For a moment, the mayor was completely speechless, then he looked toward the heavens again.

"Thank the Goddess of Dreams! Thank the Dragon Dynasty! Thank our mighty hero!"

Marcus almost laughed. Apparently, his hero status had just been confirmed.

The mayor had originally given him an entire year to prepare for this task. A Level 50 player attempting to hunt a Mythic Beast was practically asking for death, yet Marcus had returned with the required horns in barely ten days.

No wonder the mayor was so excited. From his perspective, the Goddess of Dreams had practically sent them a miracle in human form.

"All the other materials are ready," Marcus said. "How long will it take to complete the Lightning Ring Array? I want the teleportation gate operational by tomorrow night."

"Sir, we’ve been waiting six hundred years for the opportunity to activate this array again. Everything has already been prepared. We were only missing those two components. Now that we have the horns, it will take five hours at most."

’Perfect.’ Marcus could already imagine the Dragon Emperor’s expression when he heard the news.

"Excellent." Marcus gave the mayor’s shoulder an approving pat. "Let’s get started, then. We’ll hold the celebration tomorrow night."

"Yes, sir!"

The mayor practically bounced with excitement as he led Marcus through the final preparations for an array the people of Dragon’s Roar Town had been waiting centuries to activate.

---

On the massive volcanic slopes of Dragon’s Roar Isle lay a vast circular valley. Long ago, the valley had been filled with intense geothermal energy and was famous for the high-grade herbs that grew there, particularly a rare medicinal plant known as Fire Ginseng. Because of this, the place had become known as Fire Ginseng Valley.

But after the Divine Artifact, the Glacial Ice Sword, sealed the volcano, the valley’s unique geography gradually began absorbing the powerful ice energy flowing down from the mountain peak.

Over the course of seven or eight hundred years, the opposing energies of fire and ice slowly merged and balanced each other, transforming the once-dangerous valley into a peaceful paradise filled with lush vegetation, fragrant herbs, and an abundance of natural energy.

When Marcus followed the mayor into Fire Ginseng Valley, he nearly wanted to cry.

Finally, a place where he could grow herbs for Alana, and now that he was the lord of the entire island, this valley was effectively his.

The foundation of the Lightning Ring Array had been constructed here many years ago. Once Marcus handed over the required materials, three white-haired old men immediately began working on the formation. They were all over a hundred years old, but their movements were steady and their eyes remained remarkably sharp.

They were the town’s three master formation artists. They had practically no combat ability, but when it came to formations, they were considered living legends.

According to the old records, after the Sea Goddess sealed the Blazing Three-Headed Beast, she established a powerful defensive formation to protect Dragon’s Roar Town from the countless sea monsters lurking in the surrounding waters.

The formation required three high-level formation masters to activate it simultaneously, so the people of Dragon’s Roar Town had spent generations studying the ancient manuals the Sea Goddess had left behind and training successors capable of maintaining the formation.

The mayor had proudly explained all of this to Marcus earlier. The formation was called the Deep Sea Tide Array.

Once activated, it could summon a massive barrier of water around the entire island while also launching counterattacks against anything that attempted to breach it. According to the mayor, even Mythic Beasts would struggle to break through its defenses.

Unfortunately, the Storm Seal had eventually trapped the people of Dragon’s Roar Town, and the formation’s central energy source, the Sea Dragon Stone, had been completely drained roughly three hundred years ago. Since then, the Deep Sea Tide Array had remained dormant.

If it had still been operational, those Iceflame Black Serpent Men would never have been able to threaten Dragon’s Roar Town in the first place.

And judging from the way the mayor had been talking about the problem, Marcus had a pretty strong feeling that finding a replacement Sea Dragon Stone from the mainland’s Celestial Palace was going to become his responsibility.

’Wonderful.’ He was the lord now, which apparently meant every difficult problem on the island was automatically his problem too. Somewhere, somehow, somebody really had it out for him.

---

Five hours later, the three formation masters stood around the completed formation and began chanting in unison. Their voices grew louder as energy surged through the massive circular array.

Finally, all three shouted together, "Lightning Ring Array!"

The fifty-square-meter formation, which had remained dormant for centuries, suddenly erupted with crackling lightning. Brilliant blue bolts surged across its surface before spiraling upward like countless dancing dragons, twisting and weaving through the air.

The three formation masters continued chanting as the enormous formation began to contract, slowly at first, then faster.

The fifty-square-meter formation shrank until the entire thing had been compressed into a small, palm-sized ring of concentrated energy. One of the masters carefully caught it in his hands before turning toward Marcus.

"Sir, the Lightning Ring Array is complete."

"Excellent." Marcus looked at the tiny formation in the old man’s hands, then nodded.

"Let’s set sail."

At the Dragon’s Roar Town dock, Captain Rockford already had a ship prepared for them. Marcus and the others boarded, and soon the ship pulled away from the island, cutting through the waves.

Marcus stood at the bow and stared toward the distant Storm Seal, where endless thunder continued to crackle across the sky.

’Hopefully, we don’t run into that Twin-Winged Thunder Wyrm.’ He kept that thought to himself.