Beast-Head Village

Once the materials for making the magic book were gathered, the next step was further preparation.

Making ink from dragon blood wasn't difficult—Serie knew the method, having heard it by chance from her elders in the Elf Forest.

But she had no idea how to make paper that would last a thousand years.

However, Mr. Rhode's group encountered another village along the way. Its residents resembled Beast-headed People—humanoid torsos and limbs, but with heads like wild beasts.

They were intelligent and could communicate.

Using the common tongue of this world, Mr. Rhode's group easily obtained permission to stay in the village for one night.

"You want to make Dragonhide Paper?"

An old Leopard-Head, who looked quite aged, was hosting them. During the conversation, Norn didn't forget to ask if he knew the method for making Dragonhide Paper.

As it turned out, he did know!

"Actually, I heard about this from another race. After all, Dragons are incredibly powerful—just their terrifying Dragonfire alone is unstoppable, let alone anyone daring to use their hide as material for paper."

Old Leopard-Head never imagined that this seemingly frail group could have the strength to slay a Dragon. He simply took it as curiosity from outsiders.

After all, of these five visitors, aside from the Elf and the Dwarf, he had never seen the other three creatures before.

They had the same bodies as his race, but why were they missing fur? Even their faces were bare skin, exposed directly.

If not for the lack of the Elf's pointed ears, he might have mistaken them for the Elf race.

Through Old Leopard-Head's account, the group learned that making Dragonhide Paper required a special plant.

Even the hide of a dead Dragon retained a terrifying residual heat. Writing directly on it would evaporate all the ink.

So a cold-natured vine was needed to neutralize it.

As for the specific method, it shared some steps with the papermaking in Mr. Rhode's memory—soaking the vine in water and mashing it.

But Dragon hide couldn't be mashed, so it had to be soaked in the mashed vine water. Only after the residual heat had completely faded could the next step begin.

"Then where can we find this Cold Vine?"

"That I don't know. Perhaps you could ask the tribes a bit further north. This kind of vine usually grows on the snowy mountains up north."

Mr. Rhode was troubled.

Their group was heading west, since the Land of Fallen Gods lay directly west, though the Dwarven Ruins were to the northwest.

"Why not head north first to find the Cold Vine?" Norn suggested. "Since we've already gathered the Dragon blood and beast hide, it would be a waste to let these materials go unused."

He had some selfish motives, and the others could see it, but they didn't call him out.

After all, everyone had agreed to this matter.

Som scratched his chin. "If we do that, we'll have to take a detour. The Dwarven Kingdom ruins are to the northwest. If we go north first, we'll probably add at least half a year to the journey."

This world was vast.

For an ordinary creature to explore the entire world would take at least ten years, even decades.

Unless you had some special ability, like the Winged race being born with flight, which could greatly shorten that time.

Serie stood to the side and spoke flatly, "Too far."

She didn't care about the half-year journey itself—she just hated the distance.

Once Serie voiced her opinion, everyone fell silent.

Only Mr. Rhode, after a moment of thought, spoke up. "Cold-natured plants aren't limited to Cold Vine. Maybe other types of plants could substitute."

Norn's eyes lit up. That was true.

Cold Vine's function was to lower the residual heat on Dragon hide during papermaking. In theory, other plants with the same effect could replace it.

To the northwest, there were still many tribes and villages. Among these races, someone was bound to know where to find plants with similar properties.

Serie looked thoughtful. "If that's the case, using ice-element magic could achieve the same effect, but..."

She didn't know any ice-element magic.

Perhaps Mr. Rhode could create it—after all, he always managed to surprise her.

Old Leopard-Head listened to their discussion, a flicker of shock in his eyes. "Honored guests, have you truly slain a Dragon?"

Dragons were brutal beyond measure. After thousands of years of war in the Mythical era, every surviving Dragon was a renowned powerhouse.

Ordinary creatures fled from even their residual might—how could anyone dare to challenge them?

Erik laughed, eagerly pulling a relatively intact Dragon scale from his luggage.

He wasn't the main damage dealer, but he was probably the best at taking hits.

That Dragon had chased him for a full quarter-hour, spewing countless breaths of Dragonfire.

Back then, Erik thought he was really about to kick the bucket. But when the Dragonfire grazed him, he found he felt nothing at all.

Looking closely, he noticed a faint magical barrier around him.

So Mr. Rhode had already prepared safety measures!

His confidence soaring, Erik decided he wouldn't run anymore. He'd fled long enough—now was the time to strike back.

Yet in the next second, that giant dragon was drawn away by Serie's aura, leaving Erik thoroughly frustrated.

The yellow fur on the Old Leopard-Head's face trembled violently, his shock unmistakable: "Th-this is the scale of an Adult Red Dragon!"

Dragon scales were highly distinctive—there was hardly a race on the entire continent that didn't recognize them.

Seeing their terrifying strength, the old chief's attitude immediately grew far more respectful: "Honored dragon slayers, please, allow us to move you. We will provide you with better lodging."

In a village this small, every house represented a family, and there were essentially no spare rooms.

So Rhode and his group had still camped out in the open as usual, setting up only one tent for Serie.

Now that the Old Leopard-Head was offering to vacate a room for them, none of them refused, and so they moved into a spacious enough chamber.

During this time, the Old Leopard-Head also arranged for villagers to bring various fruits and meat from unknown animals.

After hearing that Rhode's group possessed the terrifying strength to slay a giant dragon, every villager's gaze toward them grew far more awed, and they no longer dared to stare casually.

At first, when they entered the village, they had been surrounded by the villagers.

After all, these Beast-headed People had never seen humans before, and even elves were rare.

Rhode and his companions naturally sparked the villagers' curiosity.

Now that they had earned the Beast-headed People's respect through their strength, Rhode did not demand anything else from them and even thanked them for the room.

He had never been one to bully the weak.