Chapter 38

The information the God of Redemption had given Sui Xiong mainly covered the continent's geography, powerful beings worth keeping an eye on, and, most importantly, the knowledge a god ought to have.

What was a god? How did one become a good god? What principles governed the construction of a divine kingdom? How should one choose one's divine portfolio? How did one acquire and use divine power? What was the relationship between divinity and combat strength? And so on.

A new god with a pantheon would inevitably learn the answers to such questions from their predecessors or superiors. But for gods who had started from scratch and gone it alone, they were closely guarded secrets, hard to come by. The God of Redemption had clearly held nothing back. He carefully taught Sui Xiong the "life experience" he had accumulated over countless years. The material was rich and detailed, with many examples of great educational value, and Sui Xiong benefited greatly.

A few days later, after he had fully understood the information and memorized the more important parts, he finally moved beyond the stage of being a stranger in unfamiliar lands. He had become a visitor from afar with a fairly accurate understanding of the world, someone who could travel around without worry.

Then he enlisted Palin's help and set out to explore the Four Northwest Towns.

Their first destination was Dragon Roar Town. The reward for driving out the evil dragon was five thousand gold coins, a sum that would be a great help in building Pioneer Village!

Dragon Roar Town was the northernmost of the Four Northwest Towns. It had gotten its name from the evil dragon known as the Tyrant of Extreme Cold, which lived in the nearby mountains.

Before the dragon had arrived a few decades ago, the town had been called Hunters' Town. It had earned that name because hunting in the nearby mountains was its main source of income, and many of its residents were professional hunters.

Though the Tyrant of Extreme Cold was powerful and terrifying, it wasn't especially aggressive. Even now, hunting magical beasts in the mountains remained Dragon Roar Town's main source of income. The fact that a dragon lived in the mountains hadn't affected them too much.

Of course, every few years the blue-and-white dragon, with scales as smooth and cold as ice, would attack the town. Its goal wasn't to eat people or wreak destruction, but to extort gold coins.

The dragon seemed to think of Dragon Roar Town as a giant ATM—one that let it swipe its face instead of using a card, and gave it an account with an unlimited overdraft. Its audacity rivaled that of certain gold-digging women who went straight to an expensive restaurant on a first date, then expected to go shopping for Chanel afterward. But Dragon Roar Town wasn't a domineering CEO with a stack of black cards and unlimited credit, nor was it some rich second-generation kid who could toss around tens of millions for fun. It was just an ordinary little town.

To the townspeople, perhaps that dragon who came by periodically to rob them was simply a loathsome tax collector.

Aside from the dragon's raids, Dragon Roar Town was, all in all, a fairly peaceful place. The most interesting events in town took place when a skilled hunter brought down a powerful magical beast. A huge crowd would then haul the massive creature back like ants moving a mountain, and butcher it outside town.

It was a sight famous not only throughout the Four Northwest Towns, but across the entire continent. Curious visitors often traveled over mountains and rivers just to see it.

When Sui Xiong and Palin arrived, a hunting party had just killed an Earth-Walking Sub-Dragon. The butchering had already reached its second day, and it was expected to take another day to finish.

The enormous carcass, which even lying on the ground stood taller than Gerald, had been placed in a vast plaza outside town. The plaza had been built for butchering game. The Church of the God of Hunting had spent nearly ten years completing it. The enormous square, almost half the size of the town, was paved entirely with blue-black stone slabs. Each slab was engraved with the holy emblem of the God of Hunting and had been consecrated and enchanted in a sacred ritual. Once prey was brought here, it wouldn't rot or spoil, so it could be butchered at leisure. Even a carcass that had already started to decay could be restored by a priest of the God of Hunting through divine magic. This marvelous spell was unique to the God of Hunting and an important source of income for his church.

From a distance, Sui Xiong watched the enormous beast sprawled across the stone slabs, larger than a house. Several veteran hunters were busy cutting it up piece by piece, while a group of young people helped out nearby. Impatient merchants waited with their carts. Sui Xiong couldn't help smiling.

"This place is thriving. It's full of energy!"

"Indeed. Compared with the other towns, the people of Dragon Roar Town seem much more confident and energetic. Maybe it's because they've spent years fighting magical beasts. Anyone who lacks courage and confidence probably couldn't make a life in a place like this." Since Gerald had to maintain order among the pioneers and train their people, Palin had become Sui Xiong's guide. The young mage had a great deal of respect for hunters who could take down powerful magical beasts through courage and skill, and his praise was evident.

He wasn't wrong, but he'd left out one important reason: every few years, a dragon attacked the town. A dragon's presence was terrifying beyond words, and those who managed to stay instead of fleeing had often developed remarkably strong hearts and nerves of steel.

After you'd seen a dragon attack, what was there left to fear?

So the people of Dragon Roar Town tended to have a somewhat fatalistic optimism. They were cheerful and straightforward, with smiles on their faces every day.

Hunters in full gear could be seen all over the streets. Reliable equipment was essential when hunting in mountains full of magical beasts, so Dragon Roar Town was also the biggest market for weapons and armor in the Four Northwest Towns. As long as you had enough money, you could buy powerful weapons capable of fighting dragons—even the legendary Dragon-Slaying Blade.

...As for those who thought they could go slay a dragon just because they were holding a Dragon-Slaying Blade, they were so stupid that they'd be better off dying early and getting it over with. That way, they might grow a brain next time around.

"They really sell Dragon-Slaying Blades here?" Sui Xiong couldn't help asking when he heard Palin. "Isn't it supposed to be 'Dragon-Slaying Blade, click here to claim yours for free'?"

"What's 'click'? Why would anyone give away Dragon-Slaying Blades?"

Sui Xiong chuckled and urged Palin to take him to a weapons shop. He really wanted to see what this world's "Dragon-Slaying Blade" looked like.

There were several weapons shops in Dragon Roar Town. Palin had visited before, so he took Sui Xiong straight to the largest one. Its name, remarkably, was the Dragon-Slaying Blade.

As soon as they entered, they saw an enormous cleaver hanging from one of the massive pillars that supported the roof. It was wider than Sui Xiong's body and taller than he was.

"Look, that's the Dragon-Slaying Blade."

The black Bone Bracelet on his wrist flashed. Sui Xiong used his spiritual power to analyze the weapon's construction, hoping to reproduce it later.

But he soon discovered, to his disappointment, that the blade had nothing special about it. It was simply larger and heavier, made from denser, sturdier material, and engraved with a few magic arrays. That was all.

"Is this just a display model, or is it the real thing?" he couldn't help asking.

Palin asked one of the shop assistants, who confidently assured them that the blade was genuine, absolutely the real Dragon-Slaying Blade.

So Sui Xiong examined it once more, inside and out, with meticulous care.

It was definitely an ordinary blade!

To be fair, it was made from excellent material—the finest steel—and crafted with great skill. There wasn't even a single air bubble hidden inside the blade. Sui Xiong could even tell how every hammer strike had landed and how each quenching had been done. Its maker had clearly put a great deal of care into it. But was that enough to make it a Dragon-Slaying Blade?

Was it simply because of the enchantments on the blade?

The blade had four magical effects in all: "Sharpness," "Durability," and "Swiftness" were permanent, while "Gravity Shift" could be activated by its wielder when needed. That was it.

Those four spells were all it took to turn an oversized steel blade into a Dragon-Slaying Blade?

Sui Xiong clicked his tongue. "I guess merchants are the same in every world when it comes to bragging! 'Antarctic people aren't afraid of the cold,' and 'Dragon-Slaying Blade'... same old nonsense!"

"Your Majesty, do you think the blade is a fake?" Palin asked curiously.

"How should I put it... If Gerald wielded it—assuming he knew how to use a blade as well as an axe—he could certainly slay a dragon. But the key to slaying a dragon isn't the blade. It's Gerald. Give ten blades like this to that coward Rod, and the moment he met a dragon, he'd probably run for his life with his hands over his head. He'd likely even throw all the blades away to run faster!"

"In that case, the blade actually isn't bad. It's just a little overhyped..." Palin said. "Maybe the craftsman who made it hoped that its reputation would attract a true legendary hero, someone who could drive the dragon away or even kill it?"

"Maybe." Sui Xiong had lost interest in the overhyped blade, so he turned his attention to the other weapons in the shop.

On closer inspection, he saw that the shop had quite a few fine weapons. If he lowered his standards from "dragon-slaying," there were still plenty of things worth buying.

For example, he soon spotted a long dagger. It was made from a special material called Ice Iron, and its enchantments made it sharper, sturdier, and faster to wield. It could also create afterimages as it swung, confusing an enemy's sight.

That alone wouldn't have been enough to catch Sui Xiong's attention, but the dagger had a hidden feature. A magic core from a fire-aligned magical beast, a Crimson Flame Rhino, was embedded inside it. The magic arrays on the dagger could unleash powerful flames when needed, with the dagger serving as a buffer in the process, much like a sword hilt.

In other words, it was not only a sharp dagger infused with the power of ice; when needed, it could also transform into a flaming longsword. The change would be completely unexpected, and in a real fight it could easily catch an enemy off guard and win the battle in one move.

Sui Xiong's new believer, Rod, wasn't doing well. As vice president of the Thieves Guild, the only weapon he carried was a plain long dagger made of steel and enchanted with "Sharpness." Its ordinary material and mediocre craftsmanship meant that even with its enchantment, it was far inferior to the dagger called Soul of Ice. If the two weapons clashed head-on, Rod's would probably be chopped in half in one blow. As for the added transformations and flames, the difference was like night and day.

The shop didn't have a giant battle-axe big enough for Gerald, so Sui Xiong decided to get a decent weapon for the down-on-his-luck Rod. That way, the appraiser, who was already poor in combat, wouldn't get killed by a skeleton one of these days.

Well, as far as Sui Xiong was concerned, the only creatures who didn't need the qualifier "poor in combat," apart from gods, were the One-Horned Giant Whale he'd encountered in the sea and the Four-Faced Monster he'd eaten not long ago. Ideally, even his earliest believers would have to reach that level before he could relax.

Sure, even if a weakling held a Dragon-Slaying Blade, he wouldn't slay a dragon—he'd just get slain by one. But people did say fine clothes made the man, just as a golden harness made the horse. It was still wrong to jump straight from "the weapon makes the warrior" to a "spiritual nuclear bomb"...

"Is it really necessary to buy Rod a weapon? He only turned to Your Majesty for the benefits. His faith isn't sincere at all!" Palin protested as soon as he heard what Sui Xiong had in mind.

In Palin's view, only the faithful deserved a god's blessings.

But Sui Xiong didn't see it that way. He was from Earth—or, more specifically, China. Chinese people viewed faith as a fair exchange: "I believe in a god, so that god should give me something in return." Rod had indeed believed in him, and he'd been working hard on Sui Xiong's behalf. These past few days, he'd been so busy he'd barely had time to rest. Even now, he was still running around, hard at work.

Sui Xiong had seen his effort. Wanting a reward for it was only natural.

The gods of this world demanded that their believers give without condition, judging their worth solely by the sincerity of their faith. He didn't agree with that way of doing things!