The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Chapter 978: Chapter 0975: Scales Chapter 978: Chapter 0975: Scales Unicorns couldn’t space shuttle, but their speed combined with Ach’s water control ability allowed them to surpass the speed of sound, whether crossing the sea or the land.

Although the Flame Islands were vast, they seemed quite small when one sped across them at the speed of sound.

Estuary City, Mangrove Forest.

As Ach passed by with six Space Rings filled with materials to construct the Overmarine Laboratory, he took the opportunity to visit Nami. The industrious Mangrove Greater Elf Nami was cooperating with a group of serfs to cultivate the mangrove forest in the Whirlpool River Mouth Swamp. After more than half a year of tilling, the area had become lush with greenery.

“Ach, Ach, you’ve arrived,” Nami waved her little hands.

“Nami, look what Ach has brought you, peanut nougat candy from the old workshop,” Ach handed over a small paper-wrapped package of candy.

“Thank you, Ach. It’s so nice, I like this kind of packaged peanut nougat candy.”

“Are you doing well here?” Ach asked with concern, though Nami was his contracted Greater Elf; due to his busyness, he seldom paid her attention.

Nami replied with a beaming smile, “I love it here. I’m building a huge mangrove forest. We already have Green-headed Ducks and Flamingos breeding here… Oh, right, Ach, I’ve found some good things that Liszt will definitely like.”

“What is it?”

Nami led the way with Unicorn Charlie following behind and soon arrived at a new patch of mangrove forest. Nami pointed directly at some slightly different-looking mangroves and said, “Look Ach, these mangroves are a new species, they are native to the swamp and grow fast and possess magic power!”

“Magic power?” Ach immediately used Super Magic – Eye of Mana, and quickly discovered that this small patch of mangroves emitted a chaotic light, belonging to a new species of Magic Potion trees, “Nami, you’ve found Magic Medicine Mangroves, that’s great! Now the mangrove forest can also produce Magic Potions.”

Magic Potions weren’t of obvious value to magicians but were a symbol of wealth and strength to Knights, especially when cultivated by Elves.

The birth of Magic Potion-producing plants by a Greater Elf species was definitely an event worth celebrating.

Ach could imagine how delighted Liszt would be upon hearing this news, so he immediately transmitted a message through the Magic Platform to the Reed City Office to inform the Development Committee—At the Whirlpool River Mouth Swamp’s mangrove forest, Mangrove Greater Elf Nami discovered Magic Medicine Mangroves, send people to promote cultivation as soon as possible.

The Reed City Office was the Development Committee’s workplace.

Without needing Liszt’s personal command, once the Development Committee received the news, they contacted the officials in Estuary City to manage the cultivation of the Magic Potion mangroves.

Meanwhile, Ach also bade farewell to Nami and headed to the port of Estuary City.

Several three-masted ships were already loaded with goods; seeing Ach arrive riding the sacred Unicorn, all the sailors prostrated themselves and respectfully saluted.

“President Ach, the cargo ships are all ready,” Kenley Truth walked over after saluting, one of those sent to assist in establishing the Overmarine Laboratory.

“Then let’s go.”

Ach rode Unicorn Charlie to the front of the fleet and casually waved his hand, immediately creating a massive water current that propelled the three-masted ships out like rockets. The speed kept increasing, eventually reaching a super-high speed of 800 kilometers per hour, sailing towards Anchor Island.

Before long, Anchor Island was reached.

The location chosen for the construction of the Overmarine Laboratory was devoid of Fish Ugly Race members; they had been completely eradicated by Liszt, who, having idle time, tried to tame the stubborn creatures.

But after multiple failures.

He could only pin his hopes on the Overmarine Laboratory’s research on Mutated Mermaids.

Ach commanded the magicians as they essentially finished constructing the Overmarine Laboratory. Only then did he pull Ach back into the depths of the sea to investigate the source of evil and to find the real reason behind the appearance of the Mutated Mermaids.

…

The underwater world was vibrant and colorful.

All around, Fish Uglies of various sizes could be seen in groups, hunting fish and occasionally chasing Sea Monsters around. Descendants of these ancient beings, they were full of vitality and showed no sign of decline—it was a mystery why humans had not discovered them over the years.

Or rather, why the Fish Ugly Race that once spread along the coastlines of the Legendary Continent had migrated to the Flame Islands.

Of course, now was not the right time to ponder this question, as Liszt followed Ach and the Unicorn—he couldn’t gain the Unicorn’s approval, and thus, could not ride with Ach.

“Brother, this is where Ach captured the Mutated Mermaid.”

“Mm.”

It was a lair on the ocean floor, littered with a mess of various bones, many of which were clearly the skeletons of land animals. This meant that the Fish Uglies captured Magical Beasts from the shore to feed to the Mutated Mermaids here.

“Ach, can you sense the origin of the Mutated Mermaids’ aura?”

“No, the water currents are too strong, many of the scents have already been dispersed, and the Mutated Mermaid has likely lived here for some time, so any trace of its migration would no longer exist,” Ach shook her head.

This made Liszt quite regretful.

He wanted to search further into the deep sea, but the underwater world was too vast, and finding any valuable clues here seemed incredibly difficult.

Just as Liszt was about to give up, Ach suddenly summoned a current, which unearthed a scale from the pile of bones.

After sensing it briefly, she handed the scale to Liszt: “Brother, look, this is a scale from a Mutated Mermaid; it’s imbued with a rich Dark Attribute Magic Power. Remember the Mermaid’s Protection Earrings, brother? They were made from this kind of scale, only the aura of magic and its grade were much stronger.”

She then pulled out a pair of azure earrings from her Space Ring.

The Mermaid’s Protection was a gift from Marilyn Rose of Red and White, which Liszt passed on to Ach, but Ach didn’t favor jewelry and had kept them in her Space Ring the whole time.

The gray-black Mutated Mermaid scale was the size of a palm, heart-shaped.

The azure scales of the Mermaid’s Protection were only as large as a fingernail, and also heart-shaped.

“The Mermaid’s Protection is a condensed version of a mermaid’s scale, harboring Superior Magic of the Water Attribute; this gray-black one is a polluted mermaid scale, only having High Magic of the Dark Attribute… Ach plans to sense the Mutated Mermaid scale to see if it’s possible to find its migration route.”

Ach had this notion because most of the scales on the lower fish tail of the Mutated Mermaid were nearly all gone.

She applied a simple technique, and the gray-black scale immediately emitted a dim black Light, which then pointed in a direction: “There, there are similar scales over there.”

Without hesitation, Liszt decided, “Let’s go!”

A few minutes later, they indeed found another palm-sized, gray-black, heart-shaped mermaid scale buried in a patch of seabed silt. Ach cast her magic again, receiving another hint, leading Liszt toward a new location. After several repetitions, they had found five scales in total.

“Brother, have you noticed that the color of these scales is becoming duller?”

“That’s right, the previous scales were gray-black, but now they’ve turned gray… Let’s continue to the next location, and see what exactly has happened!”