Chapter 177 - Taming the Dragon

"There’s no time like the present, if it’s convenient for Lord Virginia, we might as well start right away." Gaven’s gaze shifted toward Lord Virginia, ready to strike while the iron was hot and not give him any chance to back out.Although a teleportation portal could be built and then dismantled, that would be a situation with the bridge burned completely.

"As much as you are in a rush, you must wait until I’ve dealt with everything here." Lord Virginia didn’t think much of it and walked toward the Corruption Pikespirits while saying, "Please wait a moment, I will first dispel the corruption from their bodies, and also, the Twilight Guardian buried below can be released shortly after, I’ll help it cleanse the corruption as well."

Lord Virginia extended his luminous, translucent fingers, touching a Corruption Pikespirit’s forehead, as emerald light gathered between his fingers, rushing into its body.

The Corruption Pikespirit involuntarily began to twitch.

The power of corruption and the green life force engaged in a battle within its body as the battleground.

The outcome of this war was evident without saying.

One side was rootless duckweed, while the other was a never-ending source.

As one waxed and the other waned, wisps of black smoke were forced out from the Corruption Pikespirit’s body.

As the corruption power decreased, the deformities on the Pikespirit’s body became fewer and fewer, and its twisted and malevolent nature faded away until it returned to normal, with a slight smile of relief on its face, falling into a profound slumber, clearly exhausted by the process.

After healing all of the Corruption Pikespirits,

Lord Virginia nodded at Atwood and said, "I leave their care to you."

"Thank you for your kindness, Lord. On behalf of my people, I thank you. Once they awaken, I will surely bring them to Spring Bud Fortress to express our gratitude in person," Atwood hastily bowed deeply and said, "Before that happens, I will make sure they are well cared for."

"There’s no need for personal thanks, this is merely my duty as a Lord. It’s my negligence that I did not protect them properly," Lord Virginia sighed lightly.

"Lord, you can’t take all the blame upon yourself, these clan members might not even be from our forest," Atwood hurriedly said, "After all, you are responsible for a vast territory, it’s impossible not to make a single mistake, you have already taken very good care of us."

"Take them back to rest," Lord Virginia didn’t say anything more and turned to approach the Corruption Twilight Guardian still trapped in the pit, focusing on cleansing it of its corruption.

Compared to the Corruption Pikespirit, the corruption on it was relatively more difficult to clear.

Being larger in size, with comparatively more corruption power inside its body, it took a few more minutes.

As the Power of Corruption was cleansed, the Twilight Guardian gradually calmed and its gaze toward everyone no longer held aggression.

Especially when looking at Susie and Aivensa, it even appeared somewhat gentle and affectionate, as they still carried the scent of the Dragon Scale Oak on them.

As he observed the Twilight Guardian in the pit, Gaven had a flash of insight and suddenly remembered the Enlightenment spell rewarded by the Milestone of Destiny.

This creature’s Intelligence was a pitiful one point, even less than most beasts, which met the prerequisites for the use of the Enlightenment spell.

Could it possibly be enlightened?

Once successful, it would mean acquiring a powerful Dragon Scale Oak Guardian.

Even if it wasn’t enlightened, the Twilight Guardian would still protect the Dragon Scale Oak.

But there’s a large difference between fighting power with and without intelligence.

This idea made Gaven somewhat restless, eager to try it right away.

However, he was unsure of the duration of the Enlightenment spell, and he had to return to Eagle Cliff Burrow with Lord Virginia shortly to establish a teleportation portal.

He could only suppress this impulse for now, given that the Twilight Guardian was bound to this place and could not run away.

As the last remnants of corruption were cleansed from the Twilight Guardian, Lord Virginia nodded at Susie and said, "You can release it now."

Susie’s gaze involuntarily turned to Gaven.

Gaven nodded almost imperceptibly.

Without hesitation, Susie directly canceled the pit trap, and the Twilight Guardian at the bottom of the pit was pushed up by an invisible force, the pit also vanishing without a trace.

The Twilight Guardian, regaining its freedom, neither attacked nor spared a glance at the crowd but walked with the elegance of a cat back to the small pond, transforming back into a small pile of earth and stones.

This eased the tense nerves of everyone present.

It seemed that the legends were correct, the Twilight Guardian was the echo of the Giant Dragon’s chosen place of guardianship, holding to the same task of guarding this land as the Giant Dragon did.

As long as no harm was done to the Dragon Scale Oak, the Twilight Guardian was harmless.

Lord Virginia walked back to Gaven’s side and said, "We can now depart, the few of you stay behind, everyone else temporarily return to the surface."

Lord Virginia was referring to Gaven, Aivensa, Stelina, Susie, and Zack specifically.

A thought crossed Gaven’s mind, and he asked with a hint of surprise, "Lord, are you planning to transport us directly there?"

"Yes." Lord Virginia nodded and naturally reached out his hand to Gaven again, saying, "In a moment, you’ll be in charge of recalling the appearance of the teleportation location, assisting in pinpointing the teleportation coordinates." ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ɴovᴇl_Firᴇ.ɴet

"No problem, I’ll take care of it," Gaven said with a touch of concern, "Aren’t we rushing things a bit? It might be too much for you, Lord. Actually, there’s no hurry for this matter; we could easily postpone it by a day."

"This cleansing of corruption hasn’t drained too much of my energy, as you’ve helped me greatly," Lord Virginia seemed to understand Gaven’s worries, "The teleportation portal we’ll create soon is not in the traditional sense, we’ll be borrowing the power of the Dragon Scale Oak, I’m just assisting on the side; the energy consumed will be relatively small."

"Alright then, but please don’t overexert yourself, Lord," Gaven naturally took Lord Virginia’s hand and began to focus intensely on recalling the appearance of Eagle Cliff.

What does it feel like to use a teleportation spell?

Gaven’s answer was, no feeling at all.

There was neither a sense of shock nor the dizzying sensation of traveling through time and space.

All there was, was a blink of an eye, and the scenery before him had completely changed.

It was less like he was traveling through,

and more like the planar space was folding.

Of course, that magical experience was truly incomparable.

Especially for those using a teleportation spell for the first time.

Aivensa, along with Susie and Zack, were such bumpkins, looking around in disbelief. Just a second ago, they were in the Ancient Dragon Nest in the Fairy Wilderness, and the next second, they appeared on top of Eagle Cliff in Eagle Cliff Burrow, under the blazing sun.

Even if the dazzling sunlight was making them a bit blind, they didn’t care.

Aivensa screamed in excitement, "Is this a teleportation spell? So this is what it’s like, it’s so convenient, haha, I’m totally in love with this feeling. Quick, quick, where’s the teleportation gate being built? Wait a second, I must be the first to use it, no one else can snatch it from me."

Lord Virginia looked around and nodded, "It is indeed a good place that’s easy to defend and hard to attack, but I’ve forgotten one thing, I didn’t bring the Dragon Scale Oak seed."

"What?" Aivensa squealed, "How could you forget something so important?"

Gaven laughed and said, "Aivensa, it’s just you who take it seriously. The Lord is just joking with you."

"No joke," Lord Virginia spread her hands and revealed a playful smile, "You all rushed me so much that I truly forgot about it."

A mage, a high-intelligence mage, would make such a rookie error?

There was a hint of suspicion in Gaven’s eyes, as an owner of high intelligence, he was not so easily convinced, especially since Lord Virginia was not known to be someone who gets confused.

"Then what are we waiting for?" the Young Red Copper Dragon urged without any suspicion, "Let’s hurry back through the teleportation gate to retrieve it."

"Today’s teleportation gate only has one more chance for use," Lord Virginia said. At that moment, Gaven knew she was fooling the Young Red Copper Dragon.

Although Gaven did not know the exact professional level of Lord Virginia, from the fact she was able to teleport four people together, it was clear that her mage professional level was definitely not below twelve.

At least three fifth-circle spell slots, at least two sixth-circle spell slots, and a teleportation gate was a fifth-circle spell.

How could they possibly be used up.

Unclear about what Lord Virginia was up to, Gaven could only watch quietly and see how things would unfold.

"Ahhh..." Aivensa, already itching with anticipation, took the initiative to suggest, "I’ll send you back, then we can teleport back here."

"That’s feasible, but I don’t have the strength to hover in mid-air like Lord Gaven," Lord Virginia said, her expression conveying difficulty.

"I can hold onto you," Aivensa clearly did not notice the trap in the situation.

"My body’s frail and can’t endure such rough handling. Why don’t we wait a day, wait for the spell slots to recover? It will only be a moment back and forth," Lord Virginia proposed a new suggestion.

At that moment, Gaven had already guessed Lord Virginia’s intentions. She was taking the opportunity to help him with dragon taming. He kindly reminded, "Don’t you have the Enlarge Necklace given to you by the Lord? I believe with the saddle, you’ll be safe and secure. Lord Virginia, you should no longer have any reason to refuse."

"That is something to consider," Lord Virginia understood the hint and winked at Gaven, showing that his guess was correct.

It seemed that she, seeing the Young Red Copper Dragon still not allowing Gaven to ride even after receiving the Enlarge Necklace, wanted to take the chance to facilitate things.

Such things are like cross-dressing; once there’s a first time, there’ll be a second time, and a third time.

The hardest part is always taking the first step.

As soon as riding was mentioned, the Young Red Copper Dragon immediately began to hesitate.

Gaven immediately started drumming him up, "Lord, it’s not an outsider, and besides, it’s for our sake. It’s acceptable to make some allowances. Actually, I’ve been pondering a question before: when the Dragon Scale Oak seed is planted, how will it form a teleportation gate? Can it grow into one? If it grows into it, wouldn’t it take ten or eight years?"

"The process will be more extraordinary than you think," Lord Virginia replied with perfect timing, "At that time, I will stimulate the power of the Dragon Scale Oak for infusion. You’ll witness a miracle unfold."

"Stimulate the Dragon Scale Oak for infusion? Does that mean a part of the power of the Dragon Scale Oak can be brought over?" This was no longer just going along with the act for Gaven, but a new question that arose.

"That, I’m not entirely sure about. You’ll have to witness it for yourselves..."

"Stop the chatter, let’s go," Aivensa roared and activated her Enlarge Necklace, jumping beside Lord Virginia with a coarse voice, "Just this once, not setting a precedent."

"Very well, then it’s Miss Aivensa’s trouble now," Lord Virginia’s figure flickered and she used Fairy Step to jump into the dragon saddle, winking at Gaven with a slightly curved mouth, revealing a victorious smile.

Gaven quietly gave a thumbs up, displaying the universal sign for praise to Lord Virginia.

This move was indeed profoundly clever.

Compared to the sly and crafty Yaling Lord, the Young Red Copper Dragon was but an innocent child, being played around with.

The Young Red Copper Dragon took a running start and soared into the sky, heading toward the curtain, flying with all her might. She couldn’t wait to see the sight of the Dragon Scale Oak seed taking root and sprouting in her own Dragon’s Nest.