Chapter 33
Oblivious to the Bronze Dragon"s plans, Claudius was busy searching for materials to make notes on; the tree bark had already been used up, and the attempts to use leather and hide failed. At first, leather was both soft and durable, making it the ideal material for writing, but they all turned into dried and cracked pieces not long after due to the high temperature in his lair.
"Hmm&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip; How do I tan leather?"
After trying out different methods, Claudius came to the conclusion that leather might be good for making armour, but definitely not useful as paper.
Starspire Mountains were a bunch of mountains with steep slopes and high alt.i.tude, thus True Dragons who loved the mountain terrain gathered there. About 10 or so True Dragons resided in the Starspire Mountains in the current era, as well as a bunch of mystical creatures and who-knows-how-many ancient ruins.
The Copper Dragon Sleipnir was currently its way to one of the ruins on top a mountain within the Starspire Mountains to find the flying apes living there. As a matter of fact, the actual name of their species was Derhii, and they looked no more than apes with a pair of wings. These winged apes were equipped with various leather products such as belts and pouches as well as weapons, including large machetes and throwing spears. The Derhii habitually sided with powerful creatures such as dragons, and Sleipnir was in control of the Derhiis residing in that specific ruin.
These apes were troublesome opponents to face off against on the battlefield. Apart from their physical strength, they also boasted high mobility and 3-Dimensional manoeuvres due to their wings, making them stronger fighters than the average warrior or soldier.
Even though they were tough subordinates, the Derhii were not the best troops — Achilles had to personally visit the port town somewhere near the Starspire Mountains to muster them for battle. The main industry of the town was resupplying cargo ships and fishery, with surrounding flatlands providing crops for the townsmen. It was a small and ordinary town with around 1000 residents, nothing compared to the large cities throughout the continent. In this ordinary-looking town, traces of the battle tribe Udaeus could be found.
As Achilles was already recognized as a comrade by the battle-loving Udaeus a long time ago, he did not need to pa.s.s certain criterion like others to seek their aid. The Bronze Dragon morphed into a tall, muscular man and headed towards a house which resembled the traditional j.a.panese Nagaya1 houses. The long house had its doors shut all year round and was located at an inconspicuous corner of the town. Just as Achilles opened the heavy doors and stepped into the s.p.a.cious living room, the large fireplace which occupied most of the area suddenly ignited. Greyish ash turned bright red, and pale white shadows sitting with crossed legs appeared besides the fireplace while the column of fire roared on.
These humanoids were all as white as bones, and they were all thoroughly equipped. Though their faces were covered, the tattoos on their arms and thighs were still visible. They wore chest pieces and helmet for protection, and every one of them was further equipped with finely forged spears and round shields — the appearances of these warriors were close to ancient Roman soldiers.
A voice could be heard from under the centurion helmet of the shadow on the edge of the fireplace, "You"ve come. What is the matter this time?"
"A Crimson Dragon." Achilles replied in a formal manner.
While Achilles was having a dialogue with the Udaeus, Claudius was still searching for materials to record the knowledge obtained from the Inheritance Ceremony and Sylvia"s library before he forgot any of the important ones. All of his ideas up till now were splendidly shot down. He could not tan leather properly, nor could he find durable and large leaves for writing. The bark from ordinary trees became moldy all the time, and cave drawings could not be taken away when he wanted to change lairs. Claudius could write on clay before roasting the pieces with his flames, but it was bulky and inefficient as expected. He had not spent much time on researching magic and spells, thus magic tools like automatic-recording clay boards were simply a fantasy for the current Claudius.
Claudius adopted the method of using clay boards, since that was better than nothing. He dug chunks of clay and mixed them with water, creating a large moist board. Claudius hurriedly wrote his knowledge onto the board, mostly in Chinese while small bits here and there were in English. Unless there were people who had Legendary-Cla.s.s Language Decryption or Language Learning skills, it was incomprehensible scribble for the locals of Floren. Turning them from clay to ceramics was rather simple; all he had to do was placing them near himself to dry the clay before roasting the pieces with his flames. Repeating the process, Claudius filled his lair with pieces of ceramic boards.
"It will be great if there"s ink. I can use letterpress printing once I find ink!"
While he was choosing what to record on the ceramic plates, Claudius went through his current knowledge and strengthened his memories as a side effect. Claudius was now motivated to work on deciphering the magic structures behind Level 1 magic as he made remarkable progress while sorting through stuff in his head.
He thought to himself, "Maybe a few years till I finish examining my first magic skill? For G.o.d"s sake, Level 0 spells work on an entirely different system than that of Level 1 spells&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;Geez, they are almost completely unrelated. I have this acid fluid spell or whatnot, yet I don"t have the Level 1 spell to launch it&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip; How strange."
Back at the port town, Achilles has signed a contract with the Udaeus, officially hiring them as mercenaries for battle. If Claudius caught wind of this news, he might find it intriguing that True Dragons, who were commonly known as misers, would actually be willing to hire others to fight for them. Well, not that Claudius had any rights to comment on such things as he was the poorest dragon throughout the entire history of Floren&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;
Speaking of which, Claudius had never seen the currency of this world. While valuable materials and gear were sometimes found, Claudius had yet to find a single coin. "I"m not a d.a.m.n crow" was his mindset which banned himself from gathering shiny stuff such as magic tools, money and minerals. Instead, Claudius took pride in gathering the bones of strong mystical creatures. The skull of a mega-size bull pinned on the wall of his lair, and his current favourite exhibit was the skull of a Dire Wolf. Keeping the skin was the normal practice, but Claudius only cared about the bones themselves, thus his collection consisted only of bare skulls.
Meanwhile, somewhere deep in the Starspire Mountains, Sleipnir had finally found the Dehrii.
Notes1.