"So, after I went missing, not only did the territory not experience turmoil, but it actually expanded?" Lynd was stunned after listening to Bale Blackteas's narration, asking in surprise.
"Yes." Bale nodded and said, "Half a month ago, when I left God's Grace Island, I received news that Greenstone and Cry Town were also preparing to sign an offensive and defensive alliance with us. They should have signed it by now. Summerhall also plans to build a castle in the expanded Borderlands, and construction should have already begun."
Lynd was silent for a moment, then asked, "Do you have Red Falcon with you?"
Bale nodded.
"Use Red Falcon to tell Summerhall that I am fine now and am returning to Miracle Port," Lynd commanded.
"Yes, my lord," Bale responded, then issued the order to his subordinates to return to Miracle Port.
The sailors on every ship cheered loudly, as they had been there for more than ten days and were already exhausted.
Even if they were to rendezvous with Dagon's men a few days later, they would only be returning to Stepstones. Now, having the opportunity to go to the bustling Miracle Port while escorting Lynd naturally made them extremely happy.
After ordering the return voyage, Lynd walked to the side of the ship and summoned Sea Dragon through mental connection.
Soon, the Sea Dragon, which had been circling nearby, stealthily submerged beneath the ship, then surfaced from the water, revealing its enormous head.
Although they already knew that Lynd had subdued Sea Dragon and that Sea Dragon was circling beneath the surface, the moment the enormous head emerged, all the sailors on the ships were still incredibly shocked.
The surge caused by Sea Dragon's surfacing made the surrounding ships sway back and forth. The captains on every ship were shouting loudly, waking up the sailors who were stunned by Sea Dragon. They quickly moved back and forth on the deck, changing positions according to the ship's tilt, controlling the ship to prevent it from capsizing due to the surge.
"I'm going home. Will you come with me, or stay here?" Lynd looked around, and after confirming that no ships were in trouble, he asked Sea Dragon through the mental link.
If it were Glory, facing such a question would surely be very confusing, not knowing how to choose. However, Sea Dragon only hesitated for a moment, turned its head to look at the distant cliffs of the coastline, and a hint of reluctance and determination could be seen in its eyes. Then it turned back to Lynd, nodded, and conveyed its willingness to follow Lynd.
At this moment, Lynd could feel that Sea Dragon was vastly different from Glory. It was clear that Sea Dragon was much more intelligent than Glory. His mental communication with Sea Dragon was more like communicating with a normal adult, while Glory was more like a child. Moreover, Sea Dragon also had stronger emotions than Glory, just like the hesitation and reluctance it showed just now, which were almost on par with ordinary people.
This also made him curious about the passively triggered third Dragon Feast Ritual, because Sea Dragon's behavior clearly exceeded all records of dragon intelligence.
In all the records of dragons he had seen, their intelligence was mostly described as that of intelligent beasts that followed commands like trained hounds and falcons. Even dragons like Black Dread Balerion, who were born when Valyria still existed, did not show particularly outstanding intelligence.
If domesticated dragons were like this, then a wild Sea Dragon like the one before him was even more so.
Moreover, the previous battle with Sea Dragon also showed that this Sea Dragon had little intelligence, because an intelligent Sea Dragon would directly kill enemies with Dragon Flame from a safe distance, and would use Dragon Flame to burn Lynd's attacks instead of biting. So Lynd could almost confirm that this Sea Dragon's remarkably high intelligence must be related to the Dragon Feast Ritual, and its strong sense of closeness, dependence, and obedience towards Lynd now should also stem from the Dragon Feast Ritual.
"Why did you attack ships entering this sea area?" With the idea of testing Sea Dragon's intelligence, Lynd asked another question that required intelligent thought.
As soon as he finished speaking, Sea Dragon quickly gave an answer, and the answer was very complete and accurate. In summary, it was because its territory was invaded and its food was stolen.
Lynd also understood why a large number of ships had accidents here, especially in the last year or two, with frequent incidents of Sea Dragon attacking ships.
Because of the emergence of Miracle Port, the fishing industry also became very prosperous. This sea area had a large number of fish and seafood, attracting a large number of fishing boats to fish.
Sea Dragon, which had lived in this sea area for over a hundred years, had long regarded this sea area as its own territory, and the fishing activities of those fishing boats were naturally considered an invasion. At first, it only attacked fishing boats, and its attack method was very simple: directly swallowing the boat and people together.
The disappearance of some fishermen at sea did not attract much attention from the nobles of Torr City and Soul Hill. In their view, the sea was very dangerous, with the risk of disaster at any time, so they did not prevent fishermen or ships from passing through that sea area. This eventually led to Sea Dragon indiscriminately attacking all ships that entered that sea area, including smuggling ships.
"Don't attack ships casually from now on. I will be responsible for your food," Lynd tried to give a clear command.
Sea Dragon shook its enormous head, refusing Lynd's kind offer of food, indicating that it would find its own food, and very clearly promised Lynd that it would not attack ships indiscriminately, only attacking those ships that attacked it or those ships designated by Lynd for attack.
Lynd couldn't help but smile, because he knew very well that with Sea Dragon's addition, his navy would be invincible. This also meant that his plan to conquer Stepstones could be brought forward significantly, without having to wait for the other dozen or so fortress warships to be built and equipped for the Miracle Fleet. Once he returned to Summerhall, he could directly proceed to Stepstones to complete the unification battle.
After suppressing the excitement and agitation in his heart, Lynd conveyed a relatively complex question, saying, "I'll give you a name!"
This question made Sea Dragon a little confused. A thoughtful expression appeared in its eyes, as if it was pondering what a name meant.
Lynd then said, "Glutton, how about it? From now on, I'll call you Glutton."
Although Lynd only guessed that the Sea Dragon in front of him might be the wild dragon Glutton that went missing during the Dance of the Dragons, and there was no concrete evidence to prove this, he still decided to call him by this name.
Moreover, when telling the other party the name, he not only told it through mental connection but also directly spoke the name in the common tongue.
Upon hearing this name, the scales on Sea Dragon's neck contracted. Lynd could feel that Sea Dragon liked this name very much, and then he saw Sea Dragon nod.
At this point, the fleet had unfurled its sails, and the sailors had all plunged their long oars into the water. After Bale requested Lynd's permission, he ordered the fleet to set sail for Miracle Port.
At this time, Sea Dragon Glutton also sank into the sea, circling around and beneath the fleet, while Lynd and Sea Dragon maintained a mental connection, conducting various tests and exercises.
For example, testing the length of their mental link, testing how fast Glutton was in the water, and so on.
And these tests and exercises also made Lynd even clearer that his mental connection with Glutton was vastly different from his connection with Glory.
Among these differences, the most obvious point was that Lynd could not attach his mind to Glutton and control Glutton's actions. He could only command Glutton by issuing orders, which also meant he could not borrow certain organs with special abilities from Glutton, as he could with Glory's special vision.
After mastering the communication techniques with Sea Dragon Glutton, Lynd ended the tests, letting Glutton circle around the fleet, while he went to the captain's cabin of the Nightwalker to check his physical condition.
From waking up by the forbidden lake in the Godgrace Mountains until now, Lynd had not seriously checked his physical condition or understood the changes brought to him by the passively triggered golden finger and Dragon Feast Ritual.
Like the previous two Dragon Feast Rituals, his body had also strengthened considerably. This was evident from the fact that he was only dizzy for a moment after being swept by Glutton's tail earlier, and his body was not injured, which showed that his physical strength had increased significantly. If it had been before the third Dragon Feast Ritual, he might have already been injured.
In addition to the overall improvement of his physical qualities, the Dragon Rune of the Dragon Feast in his heart also strengthened. The most obvious characteristic was that he could feel the power directly drawn from the Dragon Rune was stronger.
Moreover, what was even more important was that this Dragon Feast Dragon Rune power could not only enhance the effects of those three Dragon Rune powers when infused into the Lost Knight's Greatsword as before, but it could also directly mimic these three and all other Dragon Runes. This meant that even if the Lost Knight's Greatsword was not with him, he could still use Dragon Rune powers such as freezing, storms, and lightning, though the power would be slightly weaker and the magic consumption greater.
This undoubtedly compensated for Lynd's weakness, allowing him to maintain his strength without a significant decrease even if he lost the Lost Knight's Greatsword.
One must know that the presence or absence of the Lost Knight's Greatsword had a huge impact on his strength, a difference as vast as that between a god and a mortal.
This was evident from his previous encounter with Glutton: with the Lost Knight's Greatsword, he could easily deal with Glutton, but without it, he could only passively dodge.
In addition, his body also gained a new ability due to this Dragon Feast Ritual, just as the second Dragon Feast Ritual gave him the ability of psychokinesis. This time, however, the ability manifested as a bloodline talent: he acquired an unburnt physique similar to Daenerys, the Dragon Mother. When he held his hand over a flame, his palm would not feel scorched, and the part of his hand exposed to the flame also showed no signs of scalding.
The only thing he wasn't clear about was how strong a flame his unburnt physique could withstand. Although there was a dragon nearby, he wasn't foolish enough to let Glutton breathe Dragon Flame on him. He only planned to go to the forge once he returned to Summerhall, where various temperatures of flames could help him test the limits of his unburnt physique.
However, what made Lynd somewhat doubtful was that although he had carefully examined the changes in his body after the third Dragon Feast Ritual, he still hadn't found any side effects of the Dragon Feast Ritual. In fact, even the killing intent that inevitably increased rapidly after the Dragon Feast Ritual was barely present. This clearly defied common sense. The only plausible explanation was that the side effects were deeply hidden, and he was currently unable to detect them.
This was definitely not good news for him, because the deeper the hidden side effects, the greater the impact they would have on him when they erupted.
However, Lynd did not remain troubled by the side effects of the Dragon Feast Ritual for too long. Soon, his attention shifted to the golden finger, and his doubts turned into worry, as he discovered that his golden finger had disappeared.
Previously, whenever he thought of the golden finger, a progress bar would appear before his eyes. Now, this progress bar no longer existed; all that remained was a golden finger character template shrouded in a black shadow, floating there. This meant that this character template was the last one his golden finger could grant him.
All along, the golden finger had been his initial solid backing. He believed that even when facing gods, as long as the golden finger existed and he continuously accumulated character templates, one day he would possess the power to slay gods.
Therefore, seeing the golden finger disappear now, his heart inevitably filled with worry, and even a strange sense of panic.
However, he quickly adjusted his emotions, because he was more eager to know who the last character template left by the golden finger was.
Although this character was still a pitch-black mass, indistinguishable, Lynd had a feeling that this character template, which ultimately led to the golden finger's disappearance, was definitely not a simple fellow.
So, after adjusting his mindset and preparing himself, Lynd activated this character template.
As the character template activated, a colossal figure appeared before him, wearing a gray-haired crown, exquisite armor, and holding a long-handled sword-spear. Around this figure, storms, dark clouds, and lightning swirled, and vague shadows of dragons flickered within them from time to time.
At this moment, a large amount of memories, along with the gradually clearer character template, merged into Lynd's body.
At the same time, the sky, which had been clear and cloudless a moment ago, was now overcast with dark clouds. Thunder and lightning streaked through the clouds, and a massive storm churned the calm sea, creating huge waves that surged in all directions.
However, strangely, the sea around the Nightwalker, where Lynd was located, was unusually calm. All the giant waves formed by the storm perfectly avoided this area, and although the aftershocks of these giant waves swept into this sea area, they collided with other giant wave aftershocks with extreme precision, canceling each other out and causing no impact on this area.
All the ships at this moment furled their sails and converged towards the Nightwalker. The sailors looked at the Nightwalker with shock and reverence. Although they were unsure what caused this strange weather, they could tell from the calm sea surrounded by giant waves and storms that it must be related to Lynd on the Nightwalker.
And the sailors on the Nightwalker all looked towards the captain's cabin. Their captain, Bale Blackteas, stood guard at the captain's cabin door, not daring to move.
A formidable aura, imperceptible to ordinary people, emanated from the cabin, extending beneath the sea. Glutton, swimming in the water, seemed to sense a natural predator, no longer daring to approach the surface. It rapidly sank to the seabed, clinging tightly to the rocks there, not daring to move.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 40 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
[patreon.com/TripleCrown07]
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"