Chapter 2
That suggested fishing was fairly well developed here; at the very least, there were professional fishermen.
If fishing was well developed, the ports probably were too.
Xie Juanhan looked through the window at the street outside the tavern.
While circling overhead during the day, he had seen no railway tracks or sophisticated mechanical vehicles, but he had seen the deep blue sea.
The ports were very likely used to transport goods here.
If the ports were distribution centers for goods, they were probably hubs for information too.
He could go to the port tomorrow and see if he could find the information he wanted.
Having decided what to do next, Xie Juanhan continued using his spiritual power to pick up the conversations around him.
Most people were talking about getting rich and going on adventures.
Humans loved talking about such things, so that was hardly surprising.
But-
Listening to talk of wizards, elves, dwarves, giants, goddesses, and the like, Xie Juanhan had a very strong sense that he had come to another world.
The unfamiliarity left him with mixed feelings.
Xie Juanhan concentrated on gathering information from those around him, drinking the sweet wine provided by the tavern in a corner until closing time.
Then he paid his bill with a gold nugget.
He kept his gold beneath his reverse scale.
The space beneath the reverse scale was small, and dragons generally kept only clothes and a few important belongings there.
Xie Juanhan himself had previously kept nothing but clothes there.
That was until one year, when his younger clansman, who was skilled at divination, gave him a gold necklace weighing over a hundred jin as a hatching gift.
Though he thought a necklace that heavy should have been called a chain.
His younger clansman had argued confidently, "Look, some humans turn their assets into gold chains and wear them around their necks so they can run off whenever they need to. Our bodies are so powerful—what if we smash through the void and end up somewhere else? We might as well carry some gold with us."
Xie Juanhan had not thought for a moment that he would rashly smash through the void into an unfamiliar place, and he could not stand that big gold dog chain.
Unfortunately, his younger clansman could talk endlessly.
In the end, he compromised by stuffing a handful of gold nuggets beneath his reverse scale.
He had never expected the day would come when he actually needed them.
Thinking of his younger clansman, Xie Juanhan felt a touch of melancholy.
Having stumbled into this spacetime, he did not know when he would have the chance to return.
Fortunately, dragons lived almost as long as heaven and earth, so he did not have to worry about never seeing him again.
Xie Juanhan walked out of the tavern, and as soon as the door closed behind him, he heard the waiters chatting excitedly inside.
"Goddess above, it really is gold! How can it be so shiny?!"
"That lord's bearing was so divine. The moment I saw him, I wanted to fall to my knees. I never felt that way even when I saw a half-elf lord before."
"And that handsome face and enchanting voice! Ah, no wonder you didn't scold me, Madam Manuodier, when I brought him the wrong sweet wine."
Xie Juanhan had no intention of prying into human affairs and was about to withdraw his spiritual power when he heard the people in the tavern lower their voices.
"...Do you think that lord was him?"
"Who? The dragon lord from the Magic Forest who likes using gold?"
"It's hard to say. After all, there are no creatures nearby more powerful than that lord."
"Not in the whole kingdom, either. Otherwise, the heroes would have conquered the Magic Forest long ago!"
A dragon?
The Magic Forest?
Standing in the darkness, Xie Juanhan could not help listening intently.
The dragon they were talking about certainly was not one of his kind.
Was it a local dragon?
Xie Juanhan wanted to listen longer, but unfortunately, the people in the tavern soon moved on to other topics.
He stood there for a while, but when he could gather no useful information, he had no choice but to find an inn first.
There was indeed a large port nearby.
When Xie Juanhan arrived, he happened to see a magical warship over a hundred meters long docking, the runes on its hull glinting in the sunlight.
Dwarves carrying great sabers, elves with upward-pointing ears, sirens whose scales had not yet receded, adventurers in leather armor... all sorts of people moved about on deck.
A flood of information poured into Xie Juanhan's mind through his spiritual power.
He stood at the port and watched for a long time.
The port was busy, and the city behind it was highly developed.
Numerous towns and villages spread out around the port city, with a population of at least several million.
Concealing himself among the crowds, Xie Juanhan made inquiries. He contacted professional information brokers, visited the municipal library, and called on famous scholars.
He spent almost all the gold in the space beneath his dragon scale, yet still found nothing about rifts in spacetime.
It was as if no rifts existed in this spacetime at all.
He sat by the deep blue sea, staring at the endless water.
The ocean was terrifyingly vast. Even dragons rarely tried to fly straight across it.
The depths of an ordinary ocean were more barren than a desert, with very few fish.
If they plunged in, they might not be able to find enough food halfway through.
Even in his original spacetime, he would not have rashly flown straight out into the depths of the ocean.
Now there was only one place left to visit-
That vast, iron-black Magic Forest.
Xie Juanhan took two sips of the local pick-me-up, Kesuon tea, swallowing the fragrant, bitter liquid.
He hoped there really was a huge, powerful local dragon deep in the Magic Forest.
He also hoped that dragon was knowledgeable enough.
As for the danger,
he had ample confidence in his ability to escape.
Xie Juanhan drained the tea in his hand, took a deep breath, and found a secluded spot to return to his original form.
Concealing himself, he flew toward the Magic Forest.
Dragons flew swiftly, and it took him little time to cross the port, city, and towns.
By contrast, after entering the Magic Forest, Xie Juanhan flew through it for a long time.
When a forest was large enough, it became a kind of ocean, just as lacking in landmarks and just as difficult to navigate.
Flying through it was just as monotonous, leaving a dragon mentally exhausted.
Xie Juanhan understood why adventurers said a magical navigation map was essential for entering the Magic Forest.
He was beginning to wonder if he was flying in circles.
Fortunately, things soon took a turn.
Deep in the distant forest, Xie Juanhan sensed the fluctuations of another powerful creature.
The fluctuations it gave off were so conspicuous that they were like the morning star in the night sky.
Xie Juanhan's spirits lifted, and he flew faster.
The source of the fluctuations was far away.
By Xie Juanhan's reckoning, he would not encounter it until the afternoon, or even the evening.
But just as noon arrived, he noticed something unusual ahead.
Xie Juanhan, who had been exhausted from flying, snapped to attention in an instant.
He looked down and ahead.
At some point, a gigantic black animal, as immense as a mountain, had appeared below him.
Sunlight fell on it, only to be absorbed by its metallic scales, not a ray escaping.
It looked less like a living creature than a beast-shaped mech painstakingly crafted by some civilization.
Xie Juanhan braked hard in midair, his slender body plunging dozens of meters before he managed to stop.
Too close.
They were too close to each other, close enough to be terribly impolite.
He hastily flew upward for a distance, and only after putting some space between them did he look down and meet a pair of enormous golden vertical pupils.
In an instant, an indescribable feeling seized Xie Juanhan's heart.
Xie Juanhan even felt his scales bristle slightly.
The look in the other's eyes soon made Xie Juanhan realize that it was not a mechanical creation, but a living creature.
A creature favored by the Creator to the utmost.
No, he was.
Xie Juanhan suddenly understood that the other was the dragon.
The local dragon who liked using gold, the one the people at the tavern had talked about.
==========Author's note:==========
A new journey begins! Before the paid chapters, updates will be at five every afternoon. Welcome aboard~ Thanks to 65510717, Niangjiu Yuzhen, and Nanzhi for the rocket launchers;
Thanks to Xiao E (*2), Tangyuan Hui Faguang, Nanzhi, Nashihou Tian Zongshi Hen Lan, and Wulala Nai for the grenades;
Thanks to Nanzhi (*5), Tangyuan Hui Faguang (*2), Guling Jingguai Xiao Yatou, Li Xiaji, Jiuliu, Liunian Shang, Pululu Pulu Famifami Fa, Wudi Xiao Chai, Wansheng, Miguabao Wangwang, Yu Xiaowai Te, Xie Yueshu, Didididi, Ersan, Yang Chi Cao, A Laoban, oOon--nw, Naidong Jiayezi, Bingtang Xiao Lianzi, and Bie Kan Le Kuai Shuijiao Ba for the mines.
Thank you all for your trust and generous support!
Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Dragons lived exceptionally long lives. Even with their extremely low birth rate, enough dragons had been born over the years that Xie Juanhan had met more than ten of them.
This was the first time he had seen a "dragon" like this.
Looking at the dragon below, a thought occurred to Xie Juanhan-
If the dragons here were all as powerful as the one below, it was not entirely unacceptable for humans to call them "dragons."
Immediately afterward, Xie Juanhan realized something.
The local dragon below had such a powerful aura that this spacetime had to be extremely stable.
Otherwise, it could not sustain, much less give rise to, a creature of this caliber.
Xie Juanhan's heart sank.
In the standard textbooks used by his clan, a spacetime of this caliber was usually called a first-class spacetime.
Its defining characteristic was stability.
That meant the probability of a spacetime rift appearing was extremely low, and the probability of one leading to his original world was so low as to be negligible.
Xie Juanhan's expression changed several times, and the local dragon below saw every change.
Unlike Xie Juanhan, who had grown tired from flying and had been distracted, Telingewei had noticed a powerful creature flying toward him long ago and had remained on guard.
He thought another adventurer, lured by fame and fortune, had come to slay the dragon.
Yet the moment he saw the other party, he understood that the divine creature had nothing to do with adventurers.
The other was not even a creature of this plane.
Telingewei had never seen a creature so divine, elegant, and powerful.