News from the Road
The unrest in Wangdu has nothing to do with me, and I'm on my way to Elf Capitol with my mother.
The first time I came to the wilderness, I had an extremely fresh feeling. There were 3,000 guards, and a team of 200 high-ranking warriors from the Dragon family, including eight golden warriors, fifty silver warriors, and the rest were bronze-level. To know that silver-level warriors are generally capable of being commanders of ten thousand men, some regimental commanders are only high-ranking silver warriors, and golden warriors are at least regimental commanders! (A regiment has 100,000 people, and a military group is set up under the regiment, with varying numbers) The first few days were okay, there were people along the way, but after ten days, it was almost all wilderness. Occasionally, merchant teams passed by on the main road, with a thousand people in scale, and half of them were mercenaries. It seems that this country is vast and sparsely populated. Every time we saw farmland, it meant we were approaching a town, and sometimes we had to camp by the roadside. It seems that this is also why so many people were brought along, as there are definitely bandits in such desolate places.
We traveled southeast for about 40 days and arrived at a city called Borazi. It's not really a city, but rather a small town that is the largest in the surrounding hundreds of miles. There isn't even a city wall, and it's just a provincial capital on the edge of the kingdom with a population of only tens of thousands and fewer than 3,000 troops.
About 200 miles south of Borazi lies a small town in the Wana Kingdom, but unfortunately, those 200 miles are covered by the dense Elven Forest, which is home to magical beasts. The forest is so dense that it's like a tropical jungle, and only elves can live inside. The special product of this place is various magical beasts.
Living magical beasts can be tamed into mounts for warriors or pets for mages, but they are very difficult to capture. A fifth-level beast can sell for several thousand gold coins, while a sixth-level one can sell for tens of thousands. If it's a seventh-level beast, it can sell for hundreds of thousands and people will fight over it. An eighth-level beast is priceless, and ninth-level beasts are like dragons - super powerful magical beasts that cannot be captured by force.
Each level of magical beast also has three sub-rankings: upper, middle, and lower, with large price differences between them. A golden-ranked warrior's strength is similar to a sixth-level beast's. My father can fight evenly against an upper seventh-level beast. Therefore, the town is filled with adventurers and merchants.
There are also several other humanoid tribes in the area, including barbarians with berserker skills. Adult barbarians typically have combat power equivalent to a silver warrior, and after going berserk, they become gold-level, but unfortunately, even if they don't die, they will be injured for several years and attack indiscriminately, greatly reducing their value. The best among them can challenge the land dragon through a traditional ceremony, and if they defeat it, they can become its master and advance to land dragon knight. The land dragon is a sixth-level lower-ranking demon beast, two meters high, six or seven meters long (including its tail), with gray-black scales all over its body, infinite strength, super-strong defense, and ineffective against light weapon attacks. It likes to use its two half-meter-long horns on the front of its head to charge at enemies, and also likes to stand up on its hind legs and strike with its two front paws. Being knocked down by its nearly ten-ton body weight is a miserable fate! Unfortunately, there are too few barbarians, with only several hundred thousand in total, and land dragon knights number only a few hundred.
There are also Winged Human tribes, with a population similar to that of the Barbarians. They excel at archery and long spears, and are naturally skilled scouts. They also produce thousands of Wind System mages.
There are many dwarves, with hundreds of thousands living in caves and mountains. They excel at ironwork and possess considerable strength, making them formidable heavy infantry with their heavy hammers and steel armor. Their achievements in crafting weapons and armor far surpass those of humans, and they have been friends with the elves for generations, becoming an existence that humans dare not provoke! All other races are bullied by humans, and the winged people are even enslaved in large numbers due to their beautiful appearance. In this small town, there is even a public sale of winged slaves! What a pity, I didn't encounter any! Although I couldn't use them, buying one back would be a good way to broaden my horizons, wouldn't it?
There is now a 300-strong elven guard in the town, who will protect my mother and me for the rest of our journey. I don't even know when Mother informed Grandma about this. The others are to stay here until we return; the Elven Realm does not permit humans to enter privately. Special cases are an exception, like mine!
We rested in the town for two days. I was training with radar, and when I showed it to my family as my first alchemy work, it caused a stir, satisfying my vanity a little. As for the crystal ball's origin, I had to spin a tale, making them think I found it in our old warehouse at home. My mother acknowledged my ability while tactfully expressing that I wasted something worth a fortune. My father initially didn't see its value and said, "Not bad, but it doesn't have much use." My grandfather was excitedly observing the images on the crystal ball, furrowed his brow when he heard my mother's words, and couldn't hold back anymore when he heard my father's words, bursting out: "Shut up! You idiot, how could you not see its value? I'd even be willing to pay a hundred million gold coins for it!" The latter part was clearly said to my mother.
"Is it really worth this much?" Mother asked.
"Of course, even more," said Grandfather.
"What's the use of it?" his father said vaguely.
"You fool, use it to scout out the enemy's castle and I can know how many people are inside, how much food they have, and where their defenses are strongest. In a field battle, with just one glance I can see the enemy's movements and weaknesses, and once we find their command center, send out your precious troops to take it down, what battle can't be won? These important pieces of information aren't worth millions of gold coins?
Grandfather continued excitedly, "You know, some people even use flying magic users for this kind of work, unfortunately they couldn't fly very high, and enchanted crossbow bolts could easily kill them. Later on it was stopped due to the huge losses of magic users. Now it's different, no one would waste hundreds of gold coins worth of magical crossbow bolts on a single eagle. By the way, can your eagle be used at night?"
"Of course!" I said proudly. "Although ordinary eagles won't do, this one has been imbued with Eagle Eye Technique and Magic Detection Spell, so it's not affected by nighttime visibility. Moreover, when the Magic Detection Spell is activated, it can even detect enemies hiding in dense forests or tents! Furthermore, its actions are completely under my command, and I can even use it to deliver messages. The only thing you got wrong, Grandfather, is its value. This crystal ball is extremely rare, and smaller ones won't work because the image can't be seen clearly, and if the soul resonance isn't compatible, it won't succeed either. It's a coincidence that I found this one, so it's almost the only one on the continent. Considering its enormous impact on the battlefield, how much do you think it's worth?"
"Heh, not bad, a million gold coins is indeed too little. A battle between two legions would cost hundreds of millions in military expenses, and once it gets stuck in a stalemate, spending one or two hundred million more wouldn't be unusual. Its effect is really too great, I don't know what its value should be either, I think it shouldn't be any less than that of a divine artifact." Grandfather sighed: "This matter needs to be kept confidential, once the Qinglong Legion has a war, I will definitely use it!"
Ever since Mother knew the value of Radar, she took care of it every day, and if I hadn't insisted, she wouldn't even let me fly it out once. After two days of rest, we set off again.
This time, the guards were three hundred elves, with 200 females and 100 males. Each of them was exceptionally beautiful. The leader, a female captain, was a good friend of my mother's, whom I called Aunt Kailin. The equipment of the elves was very unusual. They had three types of weapons: a quiver full of elven bows on their backs, a short sword and an exquisite magic wand at their waists. The elven bow was made from green tree branches, with intricate patterns and magic arrays carved into it, emitting a magical aura that indicated the presence of different elemental magics - earth, wind, water, and fire. The exquisite magic wand also had intricate patterns and magic arrays carved into it, with a strong magical aura that set it apart. I didn't examine the short sword closely, but it was likely to be enchanted as well, probably crafted by dwarves. Their clothes were made of woven vines, lightweight yet sturdy, and were also exquisite magical items. They all wore numerous magical accessories - necklaces, earrings, rings, at least two on each person. How could elves be so wealthy? Had they reached a level of moderate prosperity? Each of their belongings was worth tens of thousands of gold coins! I asked my mother this question, and she smiled in response: "The elven tribe has many magic users. Unlike humans, they don't have to work hard for survival. The Elven Forest is full of wild fruits and magical beasts that provide them with food. They have plenty of time and energy to devote to crafting various magical items. With the abundance of magic cores and crystals obtained from hunting magical beasts, they can trade with dwarves without worrying about material shortages. That's why they have so many magical items. However, not everyone has this many - after all, they are the elite Queen's Guard! Having a few more is only fitting."
"Why don't humans sell magical items from the spirits then? Magical items are scarce in the human world, after all." I asked.
"Because humans can't enter the Spirit Forest, spirit people are likely to be caught by human traffickers as soon as they go out, so there are very few spirit accessories that fall into the human world. It wasn't until I became the Duchess and took charge of the Dragon Family's Chamber of Commerce that things improved. I not only buy their unused jewelry but also sell them many good things from humans, my clansmen are all very grateful to me."
"What do spirits like about humans?" I asked
"Glass, mirrors, salt, silk and handicrafts, and also sweets, I've brought several dozen carts this time, which can be exchanged for quite a few good things."
"Where is it? I didn't see it?" I asked
"In this space ring!" Mother pointed at an inconspicuous black ring on her hand and said.
"Space ring! To have such a large space is priceless, isn't it?" I exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes, it's the dowry my mother gave me! There are only a few spatial rings with such a large space throughout the continent. Even on smaller continents, there are only a few dozen, and each one is priceless!" The mother said proudly.
All the way, I heard that we have to walk in the jungle for ten days before we arrive. Five days later, we arrived at the edge of a swamp in the jungle and found a safe place to camp before dark. This road can't be driven, my mother and I rode on a unicorn together, tired me not lightly, early into the tent to sleep. In the middle of the night, I was suddenly awakened by a strong breath, hurriedly sat up, carefully used the original spirit to observe, found two powerful existences fighting in the depths of the swamp hundreds of miles away, their killing aura woke me up with a strong original spirit, but had no effect on others. Although I knew it was dangerous, my curiosity still made me make an adventurous decision, I want to see the battle of this world's strong!