Chapter 338: Target — Emdas

The crashing of the waves woke Milne from his slumber. Years of waking early kept the merchant from lingering in his warm bed. He threw off the soft quilt, took his clothes from the hanger, and dressed.

After washing up and carefully adjusting his appearance before his room's floor-length mirror, Milne opened the bedroom door and headed for the dining room. He was a wealthy human merchant who owned several highly lucrative shops in Snowsurge City.

Stepping across the patterned floorboards, he crossed the luxuriously decorated hall and entered the dining room, taking a seat on a leather-cushioned wooden chair.

His cook was already bustling in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. The mouthwatering aroma of golden wheat bread and sausages wafted through the air. Milne picked up the hot milk on the table and took a sip.

A warm current slid down his throat and into his stomach. He tilted his head back with a sigh of satisfaction.

Soon, the cook brought out his breakfast. Once he had filled his stomach, Milne leaned lazily back in his chair. His mind drifted to the past.

Twenty years ago, at the dawn of the Yafiavi Kingdom, Milne and a friend had crossed the ocean to reach the Overseas Archipelago. Though only an ordinary man, Milne successfully seized the kingdom's developmental opportunities and thrived. His powerful friend, however, had died during an expedition into some ruins.

"What a strange fate."

He let out a sigh filled with complex emotion, stood, and walked toward the door. It was time to go oversee his newly opened shop.

Pushing open the doors of his mansion, Milne found thick fog blanketing the outside world. He couldn't even see his neighbor's courtyard wall, though it was less than ten meters away.

He was long accustomed to this. Mornings in the Overseas Archipelago were always wrapped in dense fog. Once the sun rose, these suspended water droplets would vanish like smoke.

Boarding his luxurious carriage, Milne lowered the curtains.

To avoid running into early pedestrians in the heavy fog, the experienced driver lit the Magic Lamp hanging beside the carriage, then cracked his whip over the horses' rumps.

"Hyah!"

The two large horses strode forward side by side, pulling the ornate carriage down Snowsurge City's pristine avenues.

Following the stone-paved roads out of Snowsurge City led to a primeval forest looming vaguely through the fog. A broad stone highway sliced the forest in two, acting as a boundary between civilization and nature.

This was the main road from Snowsurge City to the capital, Oqi City. Following the smooth path through the ancient woods, crossing the long stone arch bridge over the Snowpaint River, and passing through another stretch of forest brought one to Yafiavi's administrative center: Oqi City.

Like Snowsurge City, morning in Oqi City was also shrouded in thick fog.

Time ticked by. The orange-red sun peeked over the horizon, casting its light onto the sea of fog above the Overseas Archipelago. It gilded the drifting mist with a golden-red glow, though the newly risen sun's heat wasn't yet enough to pierce it.

As the day pushed on, the sunlight gradually raised the temperature. The fog thinned out and eventually scattered completely, revealing the morning sun shining down on the archipelago.

When the first ray of sunlight punctured the mist, its golden light struck the towering White Tower.

Sensing the shift in light, the White Dragon Lord paused his magical experiment in the laboratory and turned toward the window.

Gazing at the rising sun, an inexplicable feeling washed over him. Today felt like a special day.

He lowered his head in brief thought, then let out a bemused chuckle. He remembered that today was likely his one-hundredth birthday. The tension from half a month of continuous experiments melted away.

Suddenly, absolute clarity swept through his mind. His five senses sharpened, as if his Gold Finger's support mode had just been activated. The whole world seemed brighter.

Joy surged in his heart. This was the precursor to a breakthrough!

After working day and night on his magical experiments and putting in years of relentless effort, his breakthrough in the Mage class came naturally—like a channel forming when water flows.

He quickly focused his mind entirely on the process. His body's cells greedily devoured the free elemental energy in the air, and the magical elements within the White Tower depleted rapidly. Sensing its master's advancement, the White Tower's Tower Spirit, guided by the Gold Finger, siphoned energy from the Elemental Pool to help him break through his previous realm.

Supplemented by the Elemental Pool's power, the White Dragon Lord absorbed the magical elements at a frantic pace.

A while later, the volatile magical elements gradually calmed, eventually returning to normal. Feeling the abundant mana overflowing within him, he opened his eyes with a smile.

"Scan."

[Name]: Amos Aldrich

[Level]: Level 22 Dragon, Level 22 Mage

[Strength]: Legendary Rank

[Alignment]: Lawful Neutral

[Profile]: You are a male Ancestral White Dragon in the Adult Stage. Compared to ordinary white dragons, you are an entirely different creature; Ancestral White Dragons possess a complete Dragon Inheritance. You have comprehended the true meaning of the soul laws, and your breath carries soul attacks. On the path of the Mage professional, you have forged your own way, becoming a legend of a generation. You received the blessing of a powerful Ice Elemental, who considers you a close companion, vastly amplifying the might of your ice magic. In actual combat power, you are fully comparable to a High-Tier Legend.

Through his own hard work, the White Dragon Lord's Mage Professional level had caught up to his innate Creature Level as a dragon for the first time.

He extended a claw. Dreamlike, ice-blue mana surged and gathered between his talons.

This was a power he had cultivated all on his own!

A moment later, he retracted the mana.

A double blessing. Should he host a birthday banquet?

Giving it a little thought, he quickly scrapped the idea. A dragon throwing a hundredth birthday party would be far too bizarre and shocking.

For a long-lived species like dragons, a single nap could last for years; they truly had no concept of birthdays. The White Dragon Lord was likely the only dragon in existence who actually cared about his.

Though he wasn't going to throw a party, he planned to give himself a month-long vacation.

In high spirits, he put down his experimental tools.

"Heloise!"

Hearing her boss call, the White Tower's legendary specter steward, Heloise, phased up through the floorboards right in front of him.

Following Moon Elf etiquette, she elegantly lifted her skirts and dropped into a curtsy.

"What are your orders, Master?"

"Tidy up the laboratory. Also, I'm taking a break for a while. I leave the White Tower in your care."

Heloise smiled.

"Thank you for your trust, Master."

He nodded and flew out the window.

Roar!

Sea-scented winds blew against his face. Excitement welled up in his heart, and refusing to suppress the urge, the White Dragon Lord let out a thunderous, elated roar.

Down below, countless Yafiavi citizens in Oqi City looked up at the sound. They watched the massive white dragon in the sky with eyes full of fanaticism, reverence, and curiosity.

Even though they had no idea what happened, they could tell from the roar that His Majesty was in a fantastic mood today.

With the warm sunlight shining on their faces, the citizens felt their own moods lift.

Up in the sky, having finished his roar, the White Dragon Lord suddenly realized he hadn't actually figured out what to do with his vacation.

Sunny beaches?

Tacky!

Take a trip to another plane?

That could work.

After a brief moment of thought, he decided on his itinerary.

First, he would visit the Luoduoluo Plane to see his sister Elena, whom he hadn't seen in years. Then, he'd pick a plane allied with Nordhill to visit for fun.

Returning to the White Tower, he headed into the Teleportation Chamber and stepped onto the Teleportation Platform, beaming himself to the Luoduoluo Plane.

Inside the central main tower of the Luoduoluo Plane, he caught up on the current state of the plane from the local staff.

Over a decade had passed. The Magic Tower Defense System network across the Luoduoluo Plane was fully established, and Elena's efforts to purify the realm were beginning to bear fruit. The dark clouds of death that had originally blanketed the plane had thinned considerably, and sunlight now occasionally breached the withered earth.

After locating Elena's exact whereabouts, he used the main tower's Teleportation Platform to teleport to the Mage Tower closest to her.

Stepping out of the Mage Tower, he instantly noticed the difference in the air. It carried a fresh, verdant scent.

It seemed Elena had successfully cultivated plant life on the Luoduoluo Plane.

Not long after taking flight, he spotted an enormous crater. With obvious excavation marks around its rim, the pit was clearly an abandoned mine.

At the bottom of the pit, he spotted the sister he hadn't seen for years. Currently, the Druid Dragon was fiddling with a patch of moss. This moss carpeted the entire basin, looking like a massive black rug from afar.

Elena's bodyguard, Troy Thunderblade, stood dutifully by his ward. The High-Tier Legend Orc Warrior was the first to notice the approaching White Dragon Lord in the sky, and he quickly alerted the Druid Dragon, who was fully absorbed in casting spells on the moss.

"Oh?! Amos?!"

Seeing her brother arrive, Elena was initially in disbelief, but moments later, sheer joy overtook her.

The White Dragon Lord landed on the moss and folded his wings.

"My dear sister, how have you been these past years?"

"..."

While the two dragons caught up, the Orc Warrior flew out of the mine to give them space.

After chatting for a long time, the White Dragon Lord asked about the pitch-black moss on the ground. He realized it was rich in death elements, yet even after digging through all his memories, he couldn't recall a single similar plant.

"Elena, what is this moss? How come I've never seen it before?"

At the mention of the moss, pride swelled on Elena's face.

"Of course you've never seen it. It's the product of my experiments—Elena's Death Moss!"

Realization hit him, accompanied by a slight twitch of his mouth.

Elena continued.

"This moss is a peculiar Magical Plant that balances the boundary between life and death. It can absorb the power of death to sustain its life!"

He was shocked. If what Elena said was true, this moss converted the power of death into the power of life. That was akin to turning ice into raging fire—an absolutely unparalleled miracle. He grabbed a small patch of moss for a closer look.

The longer he looked, the more astounded he became. A strange energy lingered inside the moss. While he didn't know its exact applications yet, the mere uniqueness of this power meant the moss was easily worth as much as Legendary Rank magical materials.

After all, the discovery of any Legendary Rank magical material signaled new breakthroughs in magic experiments. Such breakthroughs represented the advancement of magical civilization, and progress in magic meant immense power. It also meant astronomical profits from monopolizing the related technology and resources.

He was incredibly excited.

"Elena! Can this moss be mass-produced?"

"Uh... no."

Elena threw her hands up.

"Actually, if I don't replenish their mana every ten days, the balance of life and death inside them completely shatters."

Her words acted like a bucket of cold water over his head. Such miraculous power was never easy to obtain; it turned out it strictly required the unique death force of the Withered Vine Druids to regulate it.

"Cough, cough. Even so, you've done something amazing."

He coughed a few times to mask his awkwardness.

"In the future, I'm sure you'll perfect Elena's Death Moss."

"Really?! As expected, my brother knows me best! I think so too!"

Watching his Dragon Sister's tail stick straight up in narcissistic pride, his mouth twitched once again.

"Yes, you definitely can. It just might take a very long time."

Elena's face instantly scrunched up like a bitter melon.

After spending a few days hanging out with Elena in the Luoduoluo Plane, he teleported back to Sky City.

There were hundreds of planes connected to Nordhill, with dozens of them holding allied status. However, he didn't know their exact coordinates.

"Councilor Amos, why are you asking about this?"

Faced with Merlin Heavenly Principle's puzzled expression, the White Dragon Lord stated that the universe was vast and he simply wanted to go see it.

"That works out perfectly. The Emdas World is holding a grand ceremony, and the Amethyst Human Sovereign has invited the Council to attend. I didn't have a suitable candidate yet, so it might as well be you."

The Emdas World...

Was that Mage Miphen's home?

He remembered the friendly Amethyst Human he had met in the Star Realm—Mage Miphen.

"Alright."

After pondering for a brief moment, he nodded in agreement. He was just going out to play around without any real goal anyway. Earning a batch of points on the side was a fantastic bonus. Why not?

A short while later, resting in his private lounge, he reviewed the mission details. This ceremony was being held by the Emdas World to celebrate the 30,000th anniversary of their victory over the Demons. The Nordhill Guardian Council had been invited to send a representative to watch.

The mission reward was 10,000 points. This was basically the absolute minimum payout for a High-Tier Legend mission, given there was no danger involved.

After reading the introduction, he pulled out the Detailed Guide to Emdas World Etiquette, a friendly gift from Merlin Heavenly Principle.

Since this mission involved facing the entire Amethyst Human populace rather than a private gathering of High-Tier Legend powerhouses, it was necessary for him to understand their customs.

With his draconic memory, he casually flipped through the book and memorized its contents word for word.

The ceremony wouldn't begin for over half a month, but since he had nothing else to do, he decided to head over early for some fun.

Once he ensured everything was properly prepared, he made his way down to the Teleportation Chamber.

"Tower Spirit One, target—Emdas World."