Chapter 292: Cult of the Dragon Mine

The White Dragon Lord seemed highly interested in the undead. Soglamo didn't ask questions; some things were better left unknown.

"I was out looking for ice magic materials at the time," Soglamo said. "Before I even got close to the Desolation of Extreme Winter, I saw a procession emerging from it, heading toward the outer edges of the Great Glacier. The entire group was dead silent. Since I was only at the periphery of the Great Glacier, I stayed in the sky and watched them for a while."

"They weren't just corpses controlled by a necromancer. That force was made up entirely of high-level undead. I saw death knights, wailing banshees, soul-sucking monsters, and even a wraith lord."

Soglamo's voice held lingering fear.

"Once I spotted the wraith lord, I was afraid of drawing trouble, so I left."

A wraith lord was a lord-class undead creature, and any lord-class undead was at least at the Legendary Rank.

The White Dragon Lord sifted through his memories for information on wraith lords.

"Senior Soglamo, tell me exactly where you saw them and what route they were taking."

Before long, the White Dragon Lord obtained the marked, rudimentary map he had asked for, and then teleported to the location of Soglamo's old lair.

A portal materialized in the skies above the extreme north. The White Dragon Lord flapped his wings, hovering in the air.

A freezing wind blew past, making every scale on his body hum with delight. The outer region of the Great Glacier truly was a paradise for the white dragon clan; both the temperature and the terrain were perfect for their kind.

By this time of year, the weather across Nordhill had already begun to warm, but the changing of seasons had little impact on the Great Glacier. It remained bitterly cold, an endless world of ice stretching pure and white to the limits of sight.

Fortunately, the Great Glacier was experiencing a rare day without snowfall, which undoubtedly reduced the difficulty of the White Dragon Lord's search.

Checking his bearings, he followed Soglamo's marked route and flew deeper into the Great Glacier.

Dragons possessed excellent memories, and as a Mage, Soglamo's cartography skills were quite good. A few sparse strokes clearly outlined the flow of the glaciers, allowing the White Dragon Lord to quickly locate the path the undead had taken.

The undead had passed through here many years ago. Wind and snow had long since buried their tracks, leaving the White Dragon Lord to guess their exact route based purely on the map and the terrain.

Detect Undead!

Protection from Evil!

Invisibility Spell!

...

After layering a series of supportive spells upon himself, the White Dragon Lord flew against the undead's marching direction, heading deeper into the Desolation of Extreme Winter.

The land below looked no different from the Great Glacier's outer edges, but as he pressed deeper, he found the gale winds in the sky growing increasingly violent. Even he was significantly affected.

Flying became more exhausting, and his speed dropped noticeably.

"Damn it! What is this place?!"

The White Dragon Lord landed on an iceberg.

He was now deep inside the Desolation of Extreme Winter. The brutal winds here carried massive amounts of ice elemental energy, practically acting as an energy attack. Though it couldn't breach the White Dragon Lord's defenses, it still left him deeply uncomfortable.

Once he landed, the terrain naturally shielded him, dampening the ferocity of the wind.

The White Dragon Lord spread out his mental energy to feel the elemental forces in the air. Here, the aberrant ice elemental energy had supplanted the Four Great Elements to become the dominant force.

"The concentration of ice elemental energy here isn't much worse than the Elemental Plane of Ice itself," the White Dragon Lord mused.

He scanned his surroundings. Now that he had entered the interior of the Desolation of Extreme Winter, he had absolutely no intel to rely on and could only explore blindly.

The iceberg beneath him was tall enough to offer a bird's-eye view of the land for ten kilometers around, but as far as he could see, it was just a sea of blank white. He couldn't spot a single living creature.

The creatures of the Desolation of Extreme Winter were either half-elemental or fully elemental beings living within the ice itself, or they lay buried deep beneath the snow. Finding them with the naked eye was nearly impossible.

After searching for a while, the White Dragon Lord helplessly gave up on that method.

His eyes might fail him, but his mental energy worked perfectly well. The White Dragon Lord leaped off the iceberg. Just before he crashed into the ground, he snapped open his massive wings and glided down the slope, pulsing his mental energy outward like sonar over the earth.

This change in approach proved correct. Before long, the White Dragon Lord detected an anomaly.

He hovered above the anomalous spot, carefully analyzing the creature hiding there, and realized it was exactly what he needed—an Ice Elemental.

Ever since he joined the Winter Legion and became a Winter Attendant, the White Dragon Lord had gained the authority to command weaker ice elementals. This applied not only to summoned ones but to wild ones as well. Naturally, ordering them to commit suicide was out of the question, but basic commands worked.

The White Dragon Lord landed on the icy surface and stomped his foot against the ground.

The seemingly ordinary patch of ground in front of him instantly came to life. Chunks of frost flew upward, merging midair to form a colossal Ice Elemental, and the oppressive aura of a Legendary Rank powerhouse spread into the surroundings.

"Who dares disturb the slumber of Poseilodon?!"

If the elder Ice Elemental hadn't sensed the aura of a kindred faction on the intruder, it certainly wouldn't have stopped at just asking a question.

"It is I, Winter Attendant Amos Aldrich."

The elder Ice Elemental circled the white dragon. It was a mystery how it even managed to walk on those legs made of reverse-swirling crushed ice.

"It is indeed the aura of the Winter Legion. Respected Winter Attendant, for what reason have you awakened me?"

The Winter Legion served as the official governing body among ice elementals, and a Winter Attendant was roughly equivalent to a low-ranking official. Thus, this sentient elder Ice Elemental treated the white dragon as one of its own—and a superior at that.

The White Dragon Lord directly presented his question.

"Hmm... undead creatures, you say... let me think."

The elder Ice Elemental stopped in place, rummaging through the memories of its long, icy life.

A minute passed. The elder Ice Elemental didn't move an inch. The White Dragon Lord waited patiently.

An hour passed. The elder Ice Elemental still hadn't moved. The White Dragon Lord began to feel annoyed.

The sun set. The elder Ice Elemental remained perfectly still. The White Dragon Lord stretched his stiff joints.

The stars came out. The elder Ice Elemental still hadn't moved. The White Dragon Lord finally lost his temper.

"Elder Poseilodon, have you remembered anything yet?"

"Hmm... I just started thinking."

The White Dragon Lord was speechless.

Dealing with elemental creatures was truly exhausting, he grumbled inwardly.

Creatures like Ice Elementals had no lifespan limits. Their perception of time was even more sluggish than that of long-lived species like dragons.

Just as normal humans couldn't stand how dragons slept for months or even years at a time, the White Dragon Lord couldn't stand the agonizingly slow tempo of the Ice Elementals.

The White Dragon Lord decided to prompt it.

"Elder Poseilodon, have you ever seen an undead creature?"

"Hmm... yes, I have."

"When was the most recent time?"

"During my last awakening."

"And when exactly was your last awakening?"

"I don't remember, but the frost covering my body has thickened and melted over a dozen times since then."

That meant over a decade ago. The White Dragon Lord continued to press.

"What caused you to wake up?"

"A group of undead creatures were fighting a band of explorers, and the noise woke me."

The White Dragon Lord's eyes lit up.

"What exactly happened?"

"The undead creatures were hunting down those adventurers."

"Which direction did they come from?"

"That way."

The White Dragon Lord looked at the direction the elder Ice Elemental was pointing. It was slightly off from the path he had been traveling.

"Thank you for the answers. You may go back to sleep."

The White Dragon Lord lifted his wings, preparing to take off.

"Wait."

The White Dragon Lord looked at the elder Ice Elemental in confusion.

"The elements tell me there is lethal danger in that direction. Lord Winter Attendant, it would be best if you did not go there."

The White Dragon Lord paused.

"I appreciate the warning. I will be careful."

As the White Dragon Lord flew off, the elder Ice Elemental shook its head, settled back into its ice crater, and fell back into a deep slumber.

High in the sky, the White Dragon Lord felt a heavy solemnity. Elemental beings possessed an innate ability to extract information from elemental energy. If whatever lay in that direction triggered a warning from the elements themselves, it had to be extraordinarily dangerous.

He halted in midair and rapidly chanted a string of incantations.

Soul Concealment!

Greater Invisibility!

Protection from Lethal Damage!

Triggered Blink!

...

With a full suite of stealth and life-saving spells layered over himself, the White Dragon Lord felt secure enough to press on.

The gales in the sky grew fiercer by the minute, forcing the White Dragon Lord to conjure a magical shield to neutralize the elemental energy battering him from the wind.

He flew relentlessly until the sun rose once again.

But even the sunlight failed to bring a shred of warmth to this land. Instead, its reflection off the ice made the blinding white world almost painful to look at.

It wasn't until mid-morning that the White Dragon Lord finally spotted an anomaly.

An ominous patch of black land stood out starkly against the sprawling white snowscape. It was the distinct mark of corruption from death energy.

The White Dragon Lord's guard instantly went up. He had entered the territory of the Cult of the Dragon. He stealthily flew toward the airspace above the blackened land.

As he drew closer, he realized it wasn't black soil at all, but a massive sheet of tainted ice. What was exposed on the surface was only the tip of the iceberg; the layers deep beneath the ice were completely pitch black as well.

In the dead center of the black ice lay a colossal crater. The White Dragon Lord drifted toward it, but before he even got close, a thick, putrid stench of decay hit his nostrils.

He flew directly above the pit and peered down.

A spiraling staircase wound its way down from the surface into the abyssal depths. Skeletons were vigorously swinging pickaxes, the spectral blue soul-fires flickering in their hollow eye sockets. Rotting zombies marched in neat lines up and down the stairs, carrying heavily laden baskets on their backs, while translucent wraiths drifted aimlessly through the air, seemingly acting as lookouts.

It appeared to be a mining operation.

The White Dragon Lord caught a glimpse of the baskets on the zombies' backs. They were filled with gray ore speckled with starlight blue. From this distance, he couldn't identify the exact type of mineral.

Next to the massive pit was an ore transfer station. A squad of death knights was supervising the zombies as they dumped the ore into a colossal metal container, which strongly resembled a massive dumpster from his past life.

Once the container was full, two five-meter-tall flesh golems hooked onto it and dragged the heavy haul even deeper into the Desolation of Extreme Winter.

The White Dragon Lord watched a small chunk of ore tumble out of the container. He swooped over the crater and trailed behind the flesh golems' path.

Down on the ground, the Legendary Rank necromancer stationed at the transfer hub seemed to sense something. Pushing open his door, he stepped outside and scrutinized the sky with a puzzled frown. Finding nothing, he cast a Detection Magic spell on himself, but his scan still yielded zero results. Scratching his head, he retreated back inside.

Even a Legendary Rank necromancer couldn't pierce the White Dragon Lord's disguise from such a long distance.

Further down the flesh golems' path, the White Dragon Lord indeed found the fallen chunk of ore.

He rested the ore—which was smaller than one of his claws—in his palm and examined it closely.

"Coldstar Demon Iron!"

The White Dragon Lord immediately recognized it. It was Coldstar Demon Iron, an ore extremely rich in ice elemental energy. While it couldn't quite compare to Mithril or Adamantine, it was still a highly precious magical mineral.

When forging weapons, adding just a small piece of Coldstar Demon Iron would imbue the blade with frost properties, allowing it to deal a certain amount of ice elemental damage.

Naturally, that was merely its most basic application.

The White Dragon Lord tossed the ore back onto the ground, his eyes narrowing in deep thought.

It takes more than one cold day for the river to freeze three feet deep. For the necromantic energy to have corrupted the normal ice surrounding the mine into black crystal, these undead must have been excavating this site for longer than the White Dragon Lord had been alive. This alone hinted at the sheer, staggering size of the deposit.

Moreover, the garrison here consisted of only a single squad of Master Tier death knights and one Legendary Rank necromancer. The White Dragon Lord guessed that this Coldstar Demon Iron mine was actually considered somewhat insignificant in the eyes of the Cult of the Dragon's higher-ups.

Lilith had been right. Within an extreme environment like the Desolation of Extreme Winter, there truly were treasures that even High-Tier Legends would covet.

Now that he had a clue, all he had to do was trace the melon to touch the vine.

But the White Dragon Lord didn't act on it immediately. Lilith had made it explicitly clear that the Witches' Council could not stand against the Cult of the Dragon alone, which meant the cult had at least three High-Tier Legends in their ranks. The White Dragon Lord wasn't about to risk capsizing in a ditch.

Furthermore, since he had already found a trail leading to the Cult of the Dragon's headquarters, he enjoyed the tactical advantage of the enemy in the light and himself in the dark. There was no need to beat the grass and startle the snake.

The White Dragon Lord found a secluded spot, excavated a hidden cave, laid down a spatial beacon, and teleported straight back to White Castle.

...

Half a year passed. The Dragon Brother, Dragon Sister, and the three sub-dragon leaders showed absolutely no signs of waking up. This was perfectly normal. Back when the White Dragon Lord advanced his bloodline, he had slept within the Elemental Plane of Ice for a full ten years.

Even if the Dragon Brother and Dragon Sister weren't on par with the White Dragon Lord, they would likely be asleep for at least three to five years. The three sub-dragons would probably need one or two years themselves.

Today, just like any other day, the White Dragon Lord was in the White Tower conducting magical experiments. Experimentation was the absolute best way to verify knowledge.

Magic experiments had zero tolerance for errors or mistakes. The knowledge scribbled in a Spellbook might be false, but the results of a successful experiment could never lie.

His Gold Finger was of little help, and he had no powerful family backing to rely on. What else could he do? He felt pretty desperate himself!

If the White Dragon Lord wanted to grow stronger, his only option was to dive relentlessly into magical research.

Bang!

A deafening explosion shook the laboratory. Evidently, the White Dragon Lord had failed once again.

As for why it was "once again," he had already failed over a dozen times.

"Where did the problem lie? The purification of the Shara Flower sap was perfect, and its fusion with the Aqua Regia was completely stable. The Snow Sprite Core was also..."

Though the laboratory was an absolute wreck, the White Dragon Lord, buffered by his magical shields, was completely unharmed. He simply hung his head, obsessively chewing over the problem like a man possessed.

Off to the side, a magical servant ignored the deep-in-thought white dragon, swept up the debris from the explosion, and diligently prepared a fresh set of materials.

Suddenly, the Gold Finger connected to the Magic Tower sent an alert, jarring the White Dragon Lord out of his rumination.

His expression shifted from shock to wild ecstasy. Completely abandoning the experiment, he teleported straight to the Magic Tower's control room.

The Dimensional Explorer had sent back news!!!