Chapter 615: Journey to Fire Maple Island

The next morning, following the mayor’s visit to the capital, the Dragon Emperor sent officials to Dragon’s Roar Town to formally announce the appointment decree. From that moment onward, Marcus was no longer merely the town’s benefactor or temporary overseer. He was officially the lord of Dragon’s Roar Town.

Everyone gathered on the island, and the mayor personally led Marcus on a tour of Dragon’s Roar Isle and the surrounding Twin Wing Island archipelago. He explained the condition of the various islands, their resources, their geography, and the potential opportunities they offered, giving Marcus a much clearer understanding of the territory that now belonged to him.

After returning to his residence, Marcus sat down with his companions and the members of the Mad Lion Mercenary Group for a roundtable meeting. They discussed the future of Dragon’s Roar Town in detail and eventually agreed that the island needed to be developed carefully before opening it to the public. The specific policies would be determined gradually as the construction and development progressed, since there was little point in making rigid plans before they knew exactly what the island could support.

Naturally, making the territory profitable was one of their biggest priorities.

Unfortunately, Twin Wing Island was simply too far from the mainland for establishing a guild here to be worthwhile. Marcus could certainly create one if he wanted to, and the major guilds on the mainland were already doing plenty of interesting things, but maintaining a guild this far from the mainland would create far too many logistical problems for too little benefit.

The planning and management of the island were therefore left to his companions and Tactical Drunkard. Marcus’s own responsibilities were much simpler. He needed to keep leveling, continue completing quests, and unlock as much of Dominion’s potential as possible.

He checked his finances and found that the last 13 billion gold he had possessed had already been converted into 1.3 billion dollars. During his recent grind against the Thunder Beasts at Thunder Dragon Ravine, he had earned another 10 billion gold. Without hesitation, he transferred the entire amount to Lily’s account. She would be responsible for handling the island’s renovation and development budget, and Marcus trusted her to make good use of it.

Once the meeting was over, everyone split up to deal with their respective responsibilities. As his bros prepared to leave, Marcus opened the Mercenary channel and said, "Boss Blaze, I’m leaving Dragon’s Roar Town in your hands."

His companions were all capable, but most of them lacked experience when it came to large-scale business and territorial development. When it came to making money, understanding the market, and figuring out how to turn an opportunity into a profitable venture, Boss Blaze and the business genius Path to Heaven were the real experts. With the two of them overseeing the island’s development and monetization, Marcus had no doubt that Dragon’s Roar Town would eventually become a major source of income.

"Not a problem," Boss Blaze replied easily.

Path to Heaven nodded eagerly, for being given the opportunity to personally design the development of such a promising location was practically a dream project for him.

"Marcus, since when did you become so polite?" Tactical Drunkard teased over the channel before his tone became shamelessly lecherous. "You’re the future son-in-law of the Lynn family. We’re all just trying to suck up to you now."

"Yeah, yeah!" Invincible Strong immediately chimed in, sounding even more shameless. "And you’re going to be the Nance family’s prince consort too! Man, I’m jealous."

"Hey, Marcus," Drunkard added, "remember my advice from before? You have to strike while the iron’s hot, if you know what I mean. Make sure the Lynns don’t get a chance to back out."

Marcus’s expression twitched. These two idiots really were hopeless.

Rather than waste his time arguing with them, he simply ignored their nonsense and closed the Mercenary channel.

"Ladies, I’m heading out to complete a quest."

He gave his companions a smile and blew them a playful kiss before taking Alana with him to Fire Ginseng Valley. The moment they arrived, Alana’s eyes lit up. The valley was lush and beautiful, filled with dense vegetation and abundant energy, and she was so delighted that she nearly squeezed his arm off as she dragged him from one area to another, already imagining all the herbs she could grow there.

Marcus immediately designated the valley as Alana’s private property. He then spent ten thousand gold to establish a small teleportation array with a limit of ten uses per day, allowing her to travel here whenever she needed to tend to her herbs without having to make the entire journey by herself.

Unfortunately, their excitement was short-lived.

After carefully examining the valley, Alana confirmed that its energy wasn’t quite suitable for everything they had hoped to grow there. In particular, the Mouse-Ear Fruit they had been planning to cultivate would not survive in this environment.

They would have to find a better location.

Once Alana settled down to begin working, Marcus returned to the main square of Dragon’s Roar Town and headed toward the most luxurious inn in the settlement.

After the teleportation gate had been opened, Princess Phoenix and Princess Celeste had accompanied the mayor to Dragon’s Roar Town. They were staying at the town’s finest establishment, the Dragon’s Roar Inn, where they had been waiting for Marcus to join them on their expedition to find the True Flame Cloud.

The moment Marcus stepped through the entrance, Princess Celeste noticed him, and her face immediately brightened as she hurried over.

"Stone! What took you so long? My sister and I have been waiting forever."

Marcus rubbed the back of his neck with an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I got held up with something."

He really had kept them waiting, and he felt a little guilty about it. Still, as he looked at Celeste’s bright expression and then at Princess Phoenix standing quietly behind her, he couldn’t help feeling fortunate. Both women were among the most beautiful people he had ever seen, yet neither had complained about waiting for him.

Celeste’s affection toward him was already obvious, but Princess Phoenix was a different matter. She was usually aloof and independent, the sort of person who would have no trouble setting out on her own rather than waiting around for someone else. The fact that she had remained at the inn until he arrived was, in itself, rather telling.

Marcus couldn’t help smiling. He really was lucky.

With Princess Phoenix and Princess Celeste accompanying him, Marcus soon set out. The three of them mounted their Divine Beasts, with the two princesses riding their Divine Beast Phoenix while Marcus mounted Blackie. They then flew thirty kilometers south toward Fire Maple Island.

Celeste still stubbornly refused to ride with him, which Marcus privately considered another complete failure on his part.

Even so, they kept the Phoenix flying alongside Blackie throughout the journey. Princess Celeste cradled the beautiful Seven-Colored Divine Eagle in her arms and constantly pointed toward the islands below, asking Marcus question after question about the places they passed.

Fortunately, Marcus had Silas’s map with him and had already familiarized himself with much of the region. He also happened to be a decent storyteller. Whenever Celeste asked about an island, he explained what he knew and mixed in the old legends surrounding the various places they passed, keeping her completely absorbed throughout the journey.

Before long, the admiration in Celeste’s eyes became increasingly obvious.

Even Princess Phoenix occasionally glanced toward him, seemingly surprised that Marcus possessed such extensive knowledge of the islands.

The journey passed quickly.

Eventually, Fire Maple Island appeared on the horizon. The three of them immediately urged their mounts forward, flying toward the central valley where the vast Fire Maple forest awaited them.

Fire Maple Island was formed around three constantly erupting volcanoes. At the point where the three volcanic peaks met was a vast valley crisscrossed by streams of flowing lava. Despite the harsh environment, Fire Maple trees grew throughout the valley, their trunks and branches saturated with an intense fire energy that allowed them to thrive amid the volcanic heat.

The Fire Maple forest was also home to a unique species of Level 80 monsters known as Red Maple Flower Demons.

The creatures were surprisingly beautiful, their bright red bodies resembling maple leaves drifting through the air. They survived by feeding on the crimson leaves that constantly fell from the Fire Maple trees, absorbing the fire energy contained within them.

According to Princess Celeste, a sufficiently high-level Gathering skill could occasionally extract something called a True Flame Cloud from the bodies of dead Red Maple Flower Demons.

True Flame Cloud was a special fire-type energy mist produced by the Red Maple Flower Demons after consuming Fire Maple leaves. It contained an extremely powerful combination of fire energy and plant-based life force, making it exceptionally useful for accelerating the growth of fire-type trees, herbs, flowers, and other forms of plant life.

Princess Phoenix intended to use the True Flame Cloud together with a Natural Growth Array to accelerate the growth of the Phoenixwood Tree. If successful, it would greatly shorten the amount of time required for her Divine Beast Phoenix to mature.

That was why the three of them had come all the way to Fire Maple Island.

As their mounts descended toward the central valley, the red glow of the volcanoes illuminated the landscape below. Marcus looked ahead at the enormous Fire Maple forest, already wondering how difficult it would be to obtain the True Flame Cloud.

The expedition had finally begun.