Chapter 579 – Elder
Although Zhao Hai’s new clothes were made of a special type of metal, it didn’t have that feeling of coldness at all. Conversely, they were very comfortable and warm. A warmth that might make you fall asleep, it felt very good.
While Zhao Hai was wearing the clothes, he made it transform into other types of clothing before he stopped and returned to normal. Then he turned to Laura and the others and said, “Do you like these clothes?”
With s.h.i.+ning eyes, Laura and the others nodded. They also wanted to have these type of clothing, they can choose what form that they like, so they don’t need to change at all. It was very convenient.
Zhao Hai smiled faintly as he turned to Cai’er and said, “Right, now that the s.p.a.ce has been upgraded, are we able to plant some special plants?”
Cai’er nodded and said, “Yes, some can enhance physical qualities while some can help with cultivation.”
Zhao Hai nodded, “Alright, you go take a look at the Processing Machine if you are able to make those kinds of seeds. Then plant them on the Farming Grounds and see their effects. See if there are those that are like the Goldmetal Fruit, plants that can give Divergent Abilities. We have to get as many of those as possible.”
Cai’er complied, and said, “Alright, rest a.s.sured, Young Master. I’ll take care of it.”
Zhao Hai gave a nod, “Right, I want to see what kinds of backgrounds I can use right now.”
Cai’er nodded, then he gave information about the different backgrounds that Zhao Hai can use. Although the backgrounds are ordinary, they were still some differences among them. For example, there were desert backgrounds that would be useless if Zhao Hai was to buy it.
Zhao Hai opted to get backgrounds that can be planted on. They aren’t extraordinary, but among them there were mountains, prairies, and there was also one with a mountain with a river on it. In short, there were a lot of varieties of them.
Naturally, Zhao Hai also listened to the opinion of his wives. Laura and the others were very happy when they were given a choice. Before long, the ten backgrounds have been chosen.
After choosing the backgrounds, Zhao Hai turned to Cai’er and said, “Cai’er, how can we use these backgrounds?”
Cai’er replied, “Young Master can just make me manage them. But if you want to go there, you can just do it with an intention. I shall place plants and Magic Beasts on those backgrounds according to their compatibility. Also, the Young Master doesn’t need to worry about houses, the ten backgrounds have their own. But no matter which background is in use, the Farming Grounds would still be present. Most importantly, these new backgrounds are different from the original background since they cannot accelerate plant growth.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “That’s not a problem. Aren’t they just the same as the original background from before? I’ll just leave the management of those to you.”
Cai’er nodded. And just as Zhao Hai was about to lead Laura and the others to explore the new backgrounds, Cai’er suddenly said, “Young Master, the Dwarves have sent someone to see you.”
Zhao Hai nodded, and then immediately brought Laura and the others to their room in the Dwarf Mountains. Strangely, even if Zhao Hai had become a 9th rank expert, he didn’t have any imposing aura, his temperament stayed just like before.
Zhao Hai also found out that after crystallizing his body, he can then use the s.p.a.ce to attack his enemy. The root of this offensive attack is the G.o.d’s Blood. The s.p.a.ce’s explanation was that since the energy of the G.o.d’s Blood has been absorbed by the s.p.a.ce, once it exits it, it can reabsorb that energy and attack the target. Therefore, Zhao Hai can use this method as an attack for his s.p.a.ce Divergent Ability.
But Zhao Hai wasn’t planning to use this attack, he also didn’t have any idea how to do so. Still, he has his metal, wood, water, fire, plant, abilities for attack, and their powers aren’t weak.
Zhao Hai also asked Cai’er to break the crystal bottle that contained the small sun, but Cai’er can’t do it. This rea.s.sured Zhao Hai, this meant that even G.o.d-ranked experts aren’t able to break his crystal body. So even if he meets G.o.d-ranked experts, he still had a way to preserve his life.
Also, Zhao Hai didn’t make Laura and the others drink the G.o.d’s Blood at this time. Although they can now become 9th rank experts, Laura and the others didn’t cultivate for the ten days that they had been with the Dwarves. Them advancing at this time would be strange.
Because of this Zhao Hai didn’t make them practice and just brought them along with him outside as he opened the door to see a Dwarf.
When the Dwarf saw Zhao Hai, he immediately gave a bow and said, “I’ve been asked to invite mister Zhao Hai to the Divine Palace. The Patriarch wanted mister to come.”
Zhao Hai stared for a moment before he nodded and walked towards the Divine Palace along with the Dwarf. While walking, Zhao Hai was wondering what Billy intended to do. At the same time, he was compiling everything about the s.p.a.ce inside his mind. And before long, he had finally arrived at the Divine Palace.
Upon reaching the place, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but gawk. In the Divine Palace, a lot of Dwarves were present. Moreover, the statuses of these people doesn’t seem to be normal. Each and every one of them had fairly white beards and hairs. One would see that they were quite mature members of the race.
Under the guidance of the Dwarf, Zhao Hai entered the Great Hall. But he was till puzzled about the number of Dwarves that were present. It looked like they were having a grand meeting. But what does he have to do with it?
Before long, he was walking in front of Iron Hammer. Zhao Hai can also spot Billy and the elders there, all of them looked at Zhao Hai with a hint of grat.i.tude in their eyes.
Seeing the expressions of these Dwarves while being next to Iron Hammer, Zhao Hai can faintly guess what was going on. It seems like Billy informed these people about Iron Hammer’s materialization. The people present here seems to hold special status in their race.
But Zhao Hai didn’t say anything. He arrived at Billy’s side and gave Billy and the elders a salute. Then every Dwarf present in the Great Hall immediately returned the gesture. It seems like they won’t dare to accept Zhao Hai’s courtesy.
Zhao Hai also noted that Laura and the others stayed outside the Great Hall, the same was true for Juno. This made Zhao Hai very curious.
After exchanging their greetings, Billy turned to Zhao Hai and said, “Mister Zhao Hai, this time, you had greatly helped our Dwarf Race. Therefore, we decided to give Mister the position of our race’s Foreign Elder. I’ll ask Mister to accept it.” Then Billy bowed towards Zhao Hai.
Zhao Hai was actually shocked that he couldn’t respond for quite some time. This was because he hasn’t heard about this before, so he didn’t expect Billy to reach this decision.
Zhao Hai’s unresponsiveness scared Juno and the others. Juno knew the Dwarves very well. If the Dwarves wanted you to be their elder, then you better not decline, even if it was out of politeness. Otherwise, the Dwarves would think that you are looking down on them. If Zhao Hai treated the Dwarves like how he treated humans, then their connection might be broken.
Billy not telling Zhao Hai about this beforehand has its reasons. This was the Dwarves’ custom of appointing elders. They think that it was much better for the person’s reaction to be genuine. If Zhao Hai was informed beforehand, then he would be prepared. But if he was suddenly appointed, they would be able to see from his expression if he really wanted to be their elder.
Actually, this regulation is very excessive, but the Dwarves think that this was good, so they decided to maintain this rule. The Dwarves had also bestowed Foreign Elder positions before in such a spontaneous matter, even Juno didn’t know about it.
Zhao Hai quickly recovered, he looked at Billy and then smiled faintly before replying, “Alright, I’ll respectfully accept this position. I’ll be a Foreign Elder.”
This response relaxed the people present. Billy stood up and laughed, “Great! Then I’ll have to ask Mister Zhao Hai to pay respects to the Divine Protector and receive our race’s elder token.”
Zhao Hai nodded, then he turned around to give respects to Iron Hammer before accepting an ancient bronze Command Token from Billy. This token made Zhao Hai stare, since it was made of bronze, Zhao Hai was expecting it to be very heavy. He didn’t expect the token to be as light as a feather.
This Command Token looked very simple, a single character expressing command was written on it. At the back of it was Iron Hammer’s image. It was a very simple Command Token, but Zhao Hai knew that what this token represented was not very simple.
This position of Foreign Elder of the Dwarf Race is not worse than being a Foreign Prince of the entire Beastman Race. Such ident.i.ty was extremely significant.
After Zhao Hai accepted the token, the ceremony for being an elder has been completed. But Zhao Hai didn’t say anything.
After Zhao Hai received the elder Command Token, the Dwarves simultaneously saluted, “We have seen the elder!”
Zhao Hai quickly responded, “Please get up.” The Dwarves got up as Billy loudly declared “Prepare the banquet, let’s welcome our Dwarf Race’s new Elder!”
The Dwarves present immediately complied as they turned around to leave. At this time, Billy also invited Zhao Hai back to his residence. After entering his office, the only three people left was Zhao Hai, Billy, and Juno.
After the three sat down, Zhao Hai cannot help but smile bitterly towards Billy and said, “Patriarch, this is too sudden. What would you have done if I refused?”
Billy laughed and said, “This is our race’s custom. If you rejected, then it would be impossible for you to become a friend to our race. Even if you help us out big time once more.”
Juno looked at Zhao Hai with envy as he said, “You should be happy. Now that you have become the Dwarves’ Foreign Elder, you will gain huge benefits in the future. My relations.h.i.+p with Billy has always been good, yet I still hadn’t become their Foreign Elder.”
Billy smiled and said, “Unfortunately, the matter of Foreign Elders is not something that I alone can decide. The decision must undergo an elder’s a.s.sembly as well as a meeting with various mining heads. Zhao Hai has helped us hugely this time, so it was impossible for him to not be bestowed the position of Foreign Elder.”
Then Billy turned to Zhao Hai and said, “Right, aren’t you Humans very modest? When they come across such matters, Humans usually decline first. Why didn’t you?”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “You forget, but I am also a Foreign Prince of the Herculean Bull Tribe. I have experience in such matters. So I know that if I decline, It would seem like I was looking down on the Dwarf Race. Therefore, I didn’t bother to decline first.”
Billy laughed, “So you have experience. Hahaha. That’s fantastic. Since you’ve become our Foreign Elder, our race’s liquor would depend on you.”
Zhao Hai couldn’t help but smile bitterly. He felt like he just had joined a gang of evildoers. He had become their Foreign Elder, but now he was in charge of their liquor.
But he wasn’t worried, even if the Beastmen cannot catch up to the demand, Zhao Hai now has ten backgrounds to use. These backgrounds can raise some argali as well as cattle. Therefore, their milk production should skyrocket.
Billy smiled and said, “Don’t worry, we won’t be taking your liquor for free. We shall trade them with ironwares. But since you’re our Foreign Elder, you cannot sell it to us with the same price as outside, it should be lower. But since we’ll also sell you our ironwares for cheap, you wouldn’t be able to suffer any losses.”
Zhao Hai smiled and said, “No problem. But I currently am short on manpower. So I don’t have any means to produce a lot of milk wine. Moreover, the Beastman milk wine output is quite limited, therefore, the liquor that I can provide is quite low. It’s impossible for me to provide a high volume right from the start.”
Billy and Juno nodded, Zhao Hai looked at their eyes deeply before he hardened his resolve and said, “Patriarch, I have a matter to ask your help with.”
Billy stared, then he immediately smiled and said, “You’re our race’s Foreign Elder, you’re part of us now. So can tell me what you want.”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “I want to ask some Dwarves to settle down in my territory. Helping me produce some ironwares. Is that possible?”
When he heard Zhao Hai, Billy cannot help but gawk. Then he frowned and said, “I’m afraid that this is somewhat difficult. You should know that there are a lot of eyes on Golden Island. Seeing Dwarves there would cause too much of a problem.”