On the shore, the bone dragons began to partition the icebergs, cutting out the section containing the nagas.
"City Lord Mo, please arrange for a vehicle to transport these two blocks of ice to the research institute."
Once the bone dragons finished the partitioning, Chen Xu turned his gaze toward Mo Zijiang. Two high-level nagas should be enough to squeeze out some useful information.
"Just let the bone dragons grab them and fly over."
"Huh? Won't that be a bit too conspicuous?"
Chen Xu was momentarily stunned by Mo Zijiang's response.
After all, Sindragosa was far too eye-catching. Flying toward the research institute meant passing through the Linghai City urban area. It was broad daylight; if someone took photos and posted them on the forums, he might get targeted by a wave of cyberbullying.
In the real world, Daxia maintained extremely strict control over the extraordinary powers of professionals. Only docile mounts that had obtained Daxia certification were permitted to move within the city.
Yet Mo Zijiang was telling him to simply fly over on the bone dragon.
"What are you afraid of? If I say it is fine, it is fine. If I had known your bone dragon could fly this fast, I wouldn't have bothered with the helicopter."
"But hasn't Daxia always been very strict about management in this regard?"
"You are currently a hero of Linghai, a hero of Daxia. You have the official endorsement now. Your appearing in public is exactly what the higher-ups want.
Take Ye Bufan and the others for example. When they fly on swords or traverse the sky in their hometowns, who stops them? The crowds below can't cheer loudly enough."
As he spoke, Mo Zijiang pulled a certificate from his pocket, signed his name, and pressed it into Chen Xu's hand.
"If you are still worried, I will give you this permit first. Within Linghai City, you can fly however you want. Even if you summon all fifty bone dragons and fly them in formation, it won't be a problem!"
Chen Xu looked at the 《Linghai City Special Permit》 in his hand. Aside from the cover and Mo Zijiang's signature on the first page, the rest was completely blank.
What was this, a blank imperial decree?
"Alright then. City Lord Mo, will you be coming along?"
"I won't be going. I still need to check the status of the defense line. I originally brought you here so you could see the defense line and understand the situation for your report to the higher-ups. But now that we have these two high-level nagas, there might be a new breakthrough."
Hearing this, Chen Xu unsummoned the other bone dragons and stood atop Sindragosa's head.
He had Sindragosa grab a block of ice in each claw and fly toward the research institute.
The bone dragon's massive silhouette blocked out a large area of sunlight. Even though it didn't make much noise, it immediately drew people's attention.
"Look! Up in the sky! My god, is this a dungeon invasion? Why is there a dragon!"
"Heh, it's probably some beast tamer who didn't keep a close watch and let their dragon pet escape."
"I've never heard of any beast tamer near Linghai who keeps dragon pets."
As the crowd grew larger, many people pulled out items to observe the sky.
"It is a bone dragon! A bone dragon!"
"A bone dragon? Could it be that person?"
"That is right, it is the Lord of the Undead! It looks exactly like the pictures on the forum. That bone dragon is carrying something in its claws!"
"What is it carrying?" Passersby without observation items could only wait anxiously for those with items to share the information.
"It looks like nagas... based on their appearance, they seem to be high-level nagas!"
"Nagas? Has the Lord of the Undead returned to help us deal with the sea race?"
"It must be. The Lord of the Undead could even subdue a black dragon. This mere sea race is surely no match for him."
Up in the sky, Chen Xu noticed the crowd below pulling out observation items to look at him, followed by bursts of cheering.
He couldn't help but adjust his posture, recalling the way Senior Ye looked when flying on a sword. He crossed his hands behind his back, slightly raised his head, and gazed into the distance, assuming the air of a master.
...
Station Research Institute.
At this moment, Wei Qian was outside the institute, operating a massive excavator to dig out a site. Looking up to see the bone dragon flying over, she immediately realized it was Chen Xu.
She didn't quite understand why Chen Xu had returned to the institute so quickly, or why he was riding a bone dragon directly.
Wei Qian left the machinery and pulled up the institute's observation system, discovering that the bone dragon's claws held two blocks of ice containing high-level nagas.
"Brother Yuan, notify everyone to gather at the entrance. We have a big catch!"
After sending the message to Yuan Chuanxin, Wei Qian returned to the excavator, turned it around, and drove toward the entrance.
Boom! Boom!
The two blocks of ice crashed onto the ground.
"Researcher Wei, these two are high-level nagas we just captured. Please handle them. Also, what are you digging over there for? Are you planning to plant vegetables?"
"That is for your summoned creature. Didn't you say it was over a hundred meters long? The pools in the institute aren't that big, so we have to dig a new one now."
"You should have said so earlier. I have professional help here."
As he spoke, Chen Xu raised his hand and summoned over a thousand skeleton soldiers holding mining picks, who marched in unison toward the area Wei Qian had been excavating.
The construction of Xinwang City had taught Chen Xu a lot. At the very least, he had learned some basic labor operations.
Commanding skeletons to dig a hole was a simple matter, well within his capabilities.
Watching the skeletons' practiced movements, Wei Qian marveled. "I couldn't tell your skeletons had these kinds of skills."
Shortly after, Yuan Chuanxin led a team out to move the two blocks of ice into the institute.
"How much longer do you need for the detection equipment?"
"Very soon, tomorrow will do. There were quite a few modifications. We could have finished tonight, but we added some functions, which delayed the progress. Has that creature of yours been generated yet?"
"Not yet, I was just asking."
Chen Xu was indeed just making small talk. He hadn't expected the academy to move so quickly; now it was his turn to be embarrassed.
Inside the Inverted Sea, there was no movement other than constant bubbling.
"If there is nothing else, let's see what information those two nagas can provide us."
Chen Xu nodded, unsummoned Sindragosa, and followed Wei Qian into the institute.
Inside the laboratory, the researchers bound the two nagas, still encased in ice, to a device.
"This is a Soul Reader. For creatures below the epic-tier, it can directly read the contents of their souls."
While Yuan Chuanxin operated the machine, Wei Qian explained to Chen Xu.
"What about creatures above the epic-tier?"
"As far as I know, equipment for those above the epic-tier hasn't been developed. When a creature reaches the epic-tier, it undergoes its first major sublimation, and the soul experiences a qualitative change. Ordinary methods no longer work."
"Currently, only the Akhan side possesses soul-reading technology for those above the epic-tier. But the academy higher-ups don't seem very interested and haven't gone to learn it.
However, being below the epic-tier is enough. It is generally used for low-level intelligent creatures in dungeons to help exploration teams understand the environment."
Before long, the device finished its operation. Once the information was converted, the Fuxi sub-system generated a summary.
Yuan Chuanxin brought the summary to Chen Xu and Wei Qian, and the three of them read it together.
"A new emperor called the 'Tyrant'? The merfolk were actually defeated by the nagas."
"Fortunately, those massive sea beasts didn't participate in the struggle between the merfolk and nagas. They seem to be a neutral third party."
"In other words, the nagas have just unified the sea race and now want to extend their reach to the land? Are they that arrogant?"
After reading the data, the three understood the current situation of the sea race.
To put it simply, the merfolk and nagas came from different dungeon worlds and began a struggle for maritime supremacy in the oceans of Blue Star.
Ultimately, the nagas won under the leadership of a naga king nicknamed the 'Tyrant.'
The Tyrant integrated the nagas and merfolk, naming the new race the Children of the Sea.
They publicly claimed to have received the mandate of the Sea God. After unifying the ocean, they were to advance toward the land so that the land could also receive the Sea God's blessing.
This was why they frequently sent out scouting parties to investigate the coastlines of various continents.
"A Sea God... if they truly have the support of a deity, this will be difficult to handle."
Wei Qian took a pen and made a mark over the words Sea God.
Regarding Wei Qian's concern, Chen Xu directly voiced his opposition.
"God, my foot. This is Blue Star's ocean. If there is a god, it is the World Will. Would the World Will let the sea race attack humans? It still relies on humans to clear dungeons. In my view, this so-called Sea God is nothing more than a flag raised by the naga king."
Chen Xu had seen the World Will and knew the current situation, so he could straightforwardly judge that the Sea God absolutely did not exist.
"What you say makes some sense. Forget it, let's send a copy of the data to the higher-ups first. Everyone can look it over before making a conclusion."
...
The next day, by the pool outside the institute.
Researchers were controlling equipment to install instruments onto the Bone Kun in the pool.
Just at dawn, the first Bone Kun was born. Its body was a hundred meters long and over twenty meters wide.
As soon as it was born, it swam around in the Inverted Sea, occasionally leaping out of the water with great vitality.
Seeing how much it loved to jump, Chen Xu named it Kunpeng.
"Researcher Wei, are these instruments of yours really for detection?"
Looking at the cannon-like instruments on Kunpeng's body, Chen Xu expressed deep suspicion.
"Didn't you say a fight might break out? We made some improvements. The power of those large-caliber mana cannons is quite good."
"Did I say that? Whatever, mana cannons it is."
Looking at the game-console-like remote control Wei Qian handed over, which could observe underwater conditions and control the mana cannons to attack targets, Chen Xu immediately decided that weapons weren't a bad idea after all.
"There are only four cannons. I see there is still plenty of space. Why not add a few more?"
After fiddling with the remote for a bit, Chen Xu grew interested.
"That is all. This is the extent of our inventory. Furthermore, the mana cannons have an intelligent attack system; the one in your hand is just a manual backup."
Wei Qian knew what Chen Xu was thinking, but these mana cannons were not cheap to manufacture. Moreover, after entering the water, they would most likely become one-time consumables. This station research institute couldn't compare to the academy itself and didn't have that much funding.
By midday, the researchers had finished installing the equipment.
Among them, the offensive equipment consisted of four mana cannons and five energy cores, while the detection equipment consisted of five sensors. There was also a defensive device used to protect the other instruments.
The modified Bone Kun had a more mechanical feel, looking somewhat like a cyberpunk creation.
After unsummoning it, Chen Xu mounted Sindragosa and flew toward the coastal defense line.
To prevent it from running aground, Chen Xu specifically had Sindragosa fly further out before dropping Kunpeng into the water.
Splash!
A massive amount of water sprayed into the air.
Kunpeng shook its head, stretched its body, and swam toward the deep sea. The soul information from those two nagas had mentioned the locations of several strongholds.
Kunpeng's first stop was right there.
Rate on N.U.
