Free Web NovelChapter 792: The fifth day of the development trial (part 4)
No matter if the black shadow and the red silhouette join hands or if there are other supervisors involved in this sudden change, Aster can tell that the blue flaming board won’t let them interfere directly like this again, which is why they pulled out all the stops in a try to trample them.
As to how he knows that the blue flaming board is way stronger than them, that’s simple, if that wasn’t the case, the last test would have started before they could even have a rest, which means that even doing their best, those guys still had to obediently respect the bottom line of the blue flaming board.
What’s more, they got properly rewarded so no one is able to pressure the blue flaming board into going against its integrity when it comes to punishments and rewards, which is a good thing.
Having dealt with the wolf’s situation, the group which now had an extra member namely said wolf, came out of Mylene’s workshop just in time for breakfast to be served by the girls in turn to help in the kitchen.
Seeing everyone gathered, sitting and ready to start eating, Aster hit his cup a couple of times to draw their attention, which made hundreds of gazes fall on him.
"Everyone must have seen the announcement from the blue flaming board, today we’ll be facing the last test of the development week, a siege from a powerful enemy, which will be coupled with a numerous army of abnormal animals".
"Due to some reasons, a few supervisors had gone all out to mess with us, but there is no need to worry, eat your breakfast and then follow the instructions of the elders in charge, leave everything else to us, after this fight you’ll have a whole day to rest and do as you please", said Aster.
"Yes, senior brother!", exclaimed the girls of the sect in unison as they started enjoying their breakfast as if there wasn’t an impending large-scale fight coming their way, this was the advantage of a group that had absolute confidence in their leading figure, their morale won’t drop regardless of the situation.
At the leader’s table, Mikaela couldn’t help but say.
"It’s going to be harder to deal with animals that are already dead, besides destroying their limbs and heads, other attacks will only wear us down", to which Aster nodded.
"That’s true, but I don’t think those guys made it this way because of that, if I have to guess, they were probably afraid of Vivian".
"Mm?", the harmless-looking white haired girl who was munching on a piece of fruit, slowed down for a second as she was gazed at by others, the lynx was the first one to nod in agreement with Aster’s words.
"That’s true, though there are a few of you that could probably fight me head on like Aster, that tiger sister or that red-eyed female, I’m still confident that I could walk away with minor wounds to fight another day, however, a single scratch or a stain from that white haired female could mean death, if I had a choice I wouldn’t even try to get close to her, animals simply couldn’t fight her at all", said Guardian, obviously this was translated by Kana. freēwēbnovel.com
Amusingly enough, in just a couple of days the lynx and Mira had gotten quite close, she even called her tiger sister, she hadn’t been introduced personally to everyone, so she didn’t know all the girl’s names, that’s why Alice was simply called red-eyed female and Vivian was white-haired female, this was normal Vivian spent most of her free time playing with the baby cobras and Kana, while Alice spent most of her free time in bed with Aster, so they didn’t get close with Guardian in just a night like Mira.
After a moment, the other girls all agreed with Guardian’s evaluation, though in a one versus one fight, there are many of them who are really strong, if we are talking about large scale fights, Vivian is the absolute queen here, just a few drops of her blood can restrain a pack of animals and if poison is added to it, she could probably kill them all.
The most terrifying part is that her poison doesn’t need to be injected in the body like it happens with venomous animals, nor does it have to even touch the other party directly to be effective like poisonous animals, with a bit of alchemy from Mylene it can be turned into smoke, though its strength might diminish in the process to increase its scale, being poisoned is a dead end for most animals, they don’t have access to medicines after all, so yeah Vivian is practically the equivalent of nuclear dissuasion in this place.
In fact, she is even better, because her blood is also the prime material to counter her own poison, so even if she were to contaminate a large part of the forest, everything can be returned to normal in a matter of days with her and Aster’s blood combined with Mylene’s alchemy, so there wouldn’t even be a need to hesitate to use her power if it came to that.
"Heh, what cowards, they feared the power of alchemy so they are using already dead animals to not be crushed on the spot, it’s a shame if we weren’t limited to mortal means, with Vivian and Aster’s help we could melt their corpses into puddles", fiercely said the pink haired girl, don’t confuse Mylene happy and caring personality with her being meek, Eris had said it before, she traveled around crushing other alchemists from different schools with her skills and fists back then.
"Ahem, it doesn’t matter in any case in exchange for this tolerance to poison they had to pay a price, dead animals will for sure be slower and easier to target than living ones, so even before the fight, Vivian has already won against them", said Aster.
Dead puppets are not anything new for Aster and the others, there are evil cultivators who use them, so their deficiencies are also well-known, even if they were created by a supervisor, they can’t be too powerful because if not the blue flaming board would directly destroy them.
"The biggest problem would be if they can turn other animals into dead ones to add to their army, some evil cultivators use this method to create seemingly endless swarms, so we have three important matters at hand which is in what we will be focusing all our efforts until 3 pm, to then have lunch and rest", said Aster to then add.
"First, we have to clear the forest to prevent other animals from being dragged into the fight, I believe that Guardian, Selene, the king of flying beasts, the cobra elder and the anaconda leader alongside Vivian can make all the animal races in the vicinity temporarily migrate to the eastern side of the forest".
Of course, Aster isn’t doing this for the sake of the animals, though he indeed is giving a helping hand to them because both Kana and the lynx wouldn’t like to see innocent animals being killed, this is a logical decision taken for the sake of not giving the enemy a larger army, with the additional benefit of showing goodwill to the animal races of the forest.
The lynx and the others nodded, they were basically the strongest kings left in the forest, so they could make this happen and if someone got too annoying, Vivian could make them behave.
"Next, we have to work on the camp’s defenses, there is no time to make another wall, however we can put logs in front of the walls to block the path of the enemy, any mean that can be used to obstruct them from easily advancing towards us can be implemented, after all they have to attack us, but we can simply defend ourselves from behind the walls, so we’ll make the most out of that, Angela, Eris and Mina are in charge of these arrangements, besides the girls from the blacksmith and alchemy peaks, you can dispose of anyone else".
"A lot of the heavy work can be given to the black horses, just ask Alice to work them to the bone since they won’t be participating in the fight anyway", he said.
"Mm, leave it to us, we’ll make a "defensive array" so terrifying that the enemy will only be able to move the way we want them to", said the oldest of the three sisters.
"Time is a bit tight, but we have a lot of horsepower now so, the most efficient way...", the receptionist girl on the other hand started to mumble a lot of things, her mind was already moving at full speed which made Aster chuckle, he didn’t interrupt this "human computer" girl, her job was to think, the theoretical concepts of her ideas were to be turned into practical applications by Eris and the girls from the rune mastering peak and then brought into real life with the help of the girls from the battle peak, everyone had their own role to fulfill.
Speaking of which, Eris couldn’t help but give Aster an accusatory gaze, she was in the middle of a girl with countless plans in her mind and a girl with countless tricks up her sleeves and had to find the middle ground for the sake of practical efficiency, in a sense her job was the hardest.
"Last but not least, we’ll arm ourselves to the teeth, we have enough spears in stock so the blacksmiths will be making arrows they don’t differ much in terms of making when compared to spears besides scale so there won’t be any problem, I want the king of flying beasts to ask for the feathers that her subordinates have in their nests, elders of the blacksmith peak I trust you can make some normal longbow frames with wood, leave the bowstring making to me".
"As for the alchemists, focus everything in making detoxifying solutions, the enemy will probably spread corpse poison so we’ll neutralize it as soon as it appears", he concluded which made the little girl who was sitting on his lap give him puppy eyes as she said.
"I also want to help, big brother", which earned her a head pat from Aster.
"Of course, you have an important job, prepare the girls who have been training their horse-riding skills, speed is not important focus in maximizing their balance and stability", he said.
"Mm~", Kana cutely nodded only for her smile to stiffen a bit as the wild dragon princess, who was clinging to Aster’s left arm said.
"I bet I can make the black horses outperform the normal ones", which is probably true since with Alice present the black horses would work as if their lives depended on it, because that is actually the case.
"Come on, stop bothering little Kana and get to work", luckily Aria came to the rescue and dragged Alice away before she could continue teasing the little girl.
"If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my personal working area", said Aster, though he doubted they will come to look for him, he doesn’t need to do everything himself, just giving the general outline is more than enough as he is sure that Valentina and the others can flesh out all the necessary adjustments by themselves, they are talented leaders themselves after all.
"Ah right, I nearly forgot, I can now grant two profession type unique rewards and two attack type ones for others to use once per day, the profession usages for today will go to Blair and Mylene as for how to use them, it will be up to them, just be aware that you’ll need to rest at least for a couple of hours after using them since they will drain your mental energy, as for the attack type ones... I’ll decide who I will be granting them to during the day", concluded Aster.
...
After parting ways with the girls, Aster walked to the tree agglomeration where his personal small smithy was set up, and directly lit up the forge, luckily, he already had initially processed quite a bit of iron into steel billets ready to be turned into whatever he needed, in this case he was going to make arrows.
But before we get to that, there is an important matter that needs to be reviewed, the compensation given to the little wyrm by the blue flaming board for the involvement of the black shadow in her fight.
"Hisss", with curiosity in his eyes, Aster saw Espi jump from his shoulder to the ground to then look at the different steel billets, before her eyes focused in three in specific, they were the ones that Aster had activated with the apprentice level of the Galaxy Forging, in other words the three types of special steel created after he brought out the first variation, given by the initial refining of the iron ore.
Then under Aster’s surprised gaze, the little wyrm placed her tail on a piece of shock nullifying steel weighting around two kilograms, making the thing... disappear.
At the same time, a grey line appeared on the last thirty centimeters of the little wyrm’s tail, who happily slid towards a thick tree stump to then lash her tail at it.
"Crack!", that wasn’t the sound of Espi’s scales cracking, it was the sound of the tree stump being crushed right in its middle area, the little wyrm’s tail sank a whole half a meter into the tree stump nearly dividing it in half, but that’s not what’s important.
It was already stated that Espi could blast away a tree with her powerful muscles, she literally ripped off the head of the anaconda with a lash of her tail, however in the process she also hurt herself making her scales basically explode due to the recoil of such a strong force.
It was not an exaggeration to say that Espi could exert the strongest force in the whole group, surpassing the horse’s kicks, the anaconda’s constriction and even Alice’s punches only if the dragon princess would manifest her tail will the little wyrm probably lose the first place in terms of physical strength as of current.
Of course, that doesn’t mean Espi is the strongest fighter, there is Guardian and Mira whose claws can leave deep scars in stone and even dent steel as far as Aster knows, Ember and Selene’s hooves are also incredibly powerful, and then there is Aster who could outlast anyone with his seemingly endless stamina not to mention his expertise in weapons without any runes, but that’s beside the point.
"You smug girl, so the blue flaming board gave you the ability to "use" weapons as compensation", said Aster as he saw the proud and happy smile on the little wyrm’s pretty face.
"Hisss~", Espi happily hissed in response, the gray line on the last segment of her tail disappeared and the steel billet appeared again as she explained the dynamic of this extra ability she was granted.
Basically, she could integrate a weapon to use with her body, this is actually a fair reward because as a spirit beast without hands the little wyrm was quite limited in this area for the time being, Aster is sure that won’t always be the case because Espi appears to be mix of a "lindwyrm" and an "amphitere" dragon, so she will develop limbs after she grows up a bit more, arms, legs and probably wings as well, she is still called little wyrm in an affectionate way, but she is not really one anymore.
This was discovered by Kana, because one day the little girl casually mentioned that the little wyrm would look pretty with wings and after looking at the book that the luan girls left him, Aster discovered traces of wing folding scales on Espi’s back, which can turn into similar scales to the one on Lilia’s upper back out of which her original pair of wings sprout when she wants to manifest them.
As for whether she’ll be a sub-race or a true dragon, Aster has zero doubts that she will become a true dragon with five claws, because Alice, Lilia and himself will be too, though the Drage lineage belong to the "dragonant" type and only have four claws, they no longer can be classified as darkness desolate dragon descendants, Lilia has two sets of wings which is unheard of and Alice manifested a tail trait which is also unheard of, as for Aster his trait has yet to appear, but he is sure it won’t be the pair of wings developed by the Drage descendants.
And Espi not only has eaten a lot of candy refined from Aster’s blood, but she even used it as the most important material for the evolution and advancement to the Transcending realms, not to mention that even without it, Aster is sure the little wyrm must have a noble ascendence since she was too smart and had unique scales despite being only a wyrm originally.
"Mmm, it appears that you don’t gain extra power from getting a "weapon" but the characteristics of it do become yours, then shock nullifying steel is the best option since it allows you to exert your full strength without hurting yourself, it’s not the same boost a human gets from a weapon but a benefit tailored for your situation", said Aster.
If Espi could use weapons she’ll be too strong, so the blue flaming board only granted her the ability to obtain the characteristic of a material, her strength didn’t change she was just able to better express it.
But that’s fine, humans used weapons to surpass the limits of their bodies, but Espi used them to exert her strength to the limit without harming herself, the concept was different but the result was fair.
"Will anything change if I refine the shock nullifying steel into a whip sword for you?", asked Aster to which the little wyrm shook her head.
"Hisss", the blue flaming board wouldn’t leave such a loop for Aster to exploit, her tail couldn’t become as sharp as a metal sword, otherwise her normal lashes wouldn’t be too far from Aster’s "slash", who could stop her then.
"Oh well, that’s still fine, I’ll activate more shock nullifying steel so that your whole body can withstand your strength, that would be more than enough for now, in any case I was not going to use special steel for today’s fight, I’ll activate biological materials instead", said Aster as he looked at the sinew that he had been working on for many days, as well as to some specific components for a special project which could be put to use today.
"Hisss~", the little wyrm smiled, she jumped to then land her upper body on Aster’s shoulder as she cutely licked his face with her tongue, she could already imagine herself easily ripping enemy’s bodies with her tail.
’I just hope Alice doesn’t go crazy over this’, thought Aster, the little wyrm wanted to be a "swordsman" like Aster, she wished to use her tail like a soft sword but in her current state her scales weren’t sharp enough for that, so her fighting style was closer to Alice’s one.
Of course, Alice not only relies on her tail, she modified the paragon armor to use her sword intent so that instead of a swordsman she is more like a blender that shreds enemies to pieces as she advances a rather brutal and primitive style and the icing on the cake is her tail which is more of a blunt weapon pummeling others instead of a sword, the little wyrm in comparison wants to pursue a more refined style slashing down enemies with her tail, it’s just that the current situation makes her fighting style more similar to Alice’s one.
The difference between them will only grow bigger later when the little wyrm attains human form, because she already knows the path she wishes to take, she is going to be a dual sword user, like Aster, but she plans to use a sword and her tail rather than two swords, quite an interesting take.
Leaving the side of the Myriad Occupation sect which is like a fine-tuned machine whose components are perfectly calibrated to a common end, Wade’s side was in chaos right now.
"Damn it, a siege of all things, we don’t have the resources to be holed up in the camp for a long period of time!", said the representative from the Supreme Elemental sect as he smacked his hand on the wood table in front of him.
"Forget about that, the fence we have around the camp will be useless in front of an army of animals, if they overrun our defense there won’t be a need to worry about resources, we will all die, so I propose that all the effort is directed to make a proper defense line", said the elder from the Marius family.
"There is no time, we do have some logs but moving them, digging the holes to put them in and checking the stability would take us at least two days given the distance we have to cover", added the elder from the Mountain Amber family.
"We once faced a somewhat similar situation in a mission on a secret realm, we dug a large trench and stuck broken weapons at its bottom, it’s not as safe as a proper defensive wall but it’s faster to make and it will stop the enemies from charging straight into our camp, coupled with the fence we already have it should be enough, of course if the enemy fills the trench with their corpses, then... we’ll be in trouble", said the mercenary representative.
"We’ll follow the mercenary’s method, everyone will help dig the trench, sharpen some middle-sized wood sticks and put them at the bottom, little Fawn you lead the wounded and try to catch as many fish as possible, the rest let’s get to work we have no time to lose", concluded Wade.
Both sides did what they could to prepare for the incoming attack, the hours that the blue flaming board got for them passed quite quickly and soon the atmosphere around the camps got heavier, the ground slightly shook, not due to a natural disaster, it was caused by a large number of living beings moving at high speed as a wave advancing towards the camps.
