Chapter 375: Chapter 339: Dragon Blood Ancient Tree and Moonlight’s Opportunity for Promotion

This was more than just a reward; it was a ticket to becoming a High Tier Knight.

"We would die for you, Lord!"

"Rise, Warriors of Black Stone Territory."

"Next, Horic..."

"..."

Thirty of the most distinguished Knights stepped forward one by one to receive the life-changing reward from their Lord’s hands.

The eyes of the Knights who hadn’t received an award glinted with a mixture of envy and fighting spirit.

In Black Stone Territory, as long as you dared to fight, the Lord was never stingy with his rewards.

At this moment, loyalty was directly rewarded.

For the past half-month, Moonlight and Coal Ball’s diet had been elevated to an unprecedented standard.

The flesh and blood of the Wind God Winged Dragon, which contained pure energy, had practically become a daily snack for the two dragons.

This was especially true for Moonlight. Besides having an unlimited supply of Tier Five Magical Beast Meat, all but one of the Dragon Blood growth Potions refined by Master Barnaby were reserved for her. Coal Ball only got a single bottle to taste; Moonlight had one bottle a day without fail.

The effects were remarkable.

「Inside the room.」

Moonlight was sound asleep. With each breath, faint silver wisps of air, nearly invisible to the naked eye, drifted from her nostrils.

As her partner, Raylo could clearly feel the Magic Power inside Moonlight’s body accumulating and compressing at an astonishing rate. It was like a volcano on the verge of eruption, gathering the power needed to break through its limits.

She was just one catalyst away from reaching the Domain Level.

"Awoo?"

Nearby, Coal Ball held an apple in his mouth, tilting his head as he looked at Moonlight. He seemed a little confused as to why his big sister had been sleeping so much lately.

He carefully pushed the apple to Moonlight’s mouth, then fetched a sapphire and placed it beside her as well.

In his mind, tasty food and shiny things were the best things in the world.

Raylo couldn’t help but smile at the scene.

He walked to the window and looked toward the Alchemy Workshop.

These days, Marlin and Master Barnaby had practically been living inside it.

The two Mages, with their vastly different personalities, were not as harmonious a pair as one might imagine.

According to Ed’s report, the time they spent arguing each day accounted for almost half of their research time.

From the runic structure of the *Life Secret Scripture* to the optimal solution for a Magic Circuit, the two could find something to argue about in almost everything.

But strangely enough, their research progressed by leaps and bounds.

Marlin’s rigorous, almost rigid, magical theories perfectly compensated for the stability and detail that Barnaby’s wild, unconstrained imagination lacked.

And Barnaby’s unconventional, brilliant ideas often provided new inspiration for Marlin, who tended to get stuck in rigid patterns of thought. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

’Perhaps this is just how geniuses ’communicate’ with each other.’

"Lord, all preparations are complete."

Ed’s figure appeared silently at the door.

Raylo nodded.

...

Fierce winds howled above Black Stone Territory.

The Storm Griffin King, Baofeng, spread his massive wings, his yellowish-brown Iron Feathers making a sharp, cutting sound in the airflow.

Raylo sat steadily on his broad back, his gaze fixed on the rolling black mountain range in the distance.

To his left, aboard the even larger Thunderboltous Griffin King, Personal Guard Captain Ed was clad in full armor, his expression solemn.

Behind him, the newly joined Great Mage, Marlin, looked a little uncomfortable.

And to their right was an even more stunning sight.

The hundred-meter-long Golden Dragon, Sun, flew abreast of them, each beat of his wings kicking up a turbulent wave of air.

For this operation, Raylo had brought only his most elite aerial forces.

The objective was clear: hit and run.

Although the Hill Giants were powerful, their clumsy bodies would only be a liability in a surprise attack, so they had been left behind in the territory.

Below them were endless black mountain ranges.

The peaks resembled the spines of giant beasts—jagged and ferocious, exuding an aura of ancient desolation and deathly silence.

"Lord, ahead and to the left."

Ed’s voice carried on the wind.

A dense swarm of black dots rose from a distant mountain pass, instantly converging into a black torrent that obscured half the sky.

"It’s a Demon Fire Crow Group."

Marlin subconsciously tightened his grip on the saddle beneath him.

"There are at least a thousand of them! Their flame breath can melt steel!"

Before Raylo could even speak, the Golden Dragon, Sun, at his side let out an impatient, low roar.

He didn’t even bother to unleash his Dragon Breath; he simply opened his great maw, and his Dragon Mighty swept out like an invisible storm.

The menacing black torrent instantly erupted in chaos.

The Demon Fire Crow Group seemed to hit an invisible wall, or perhaps was being violently torn apart by an unseen hand. Their formation instantly collapsed as they let out terrified shrieks, scattering in every direction as if they had seen a ghost, not daring to come any closer.

One moment they were overwhelmingly menacing, the next they were utterly routed.

Marlin opened his mouth, then swallowed the Spell he had been preparing. As he looked at the Golden Dragon’s massive body, a new trace of awe appeared in his eyes.

"Keep up."

Raylo said faintly, urging Baofeng to continue forward.

They flew over a dozen more peaks and skirted a massive, bottomless canyon.

From a great distance, they spotted a colossal tree, impossible to describe with words, standing alone atop a towering black plateau.

It was hundreds of meters tall, and its canopy, like a reddish-green cloud, enveloped the entire mountaintop.

On its trunk, so thick it would take dozens of people to encircle, gnarled patterns bulged like a Giant’s flexing veins, with what seemed to be searing Essence of Life flowing ceaselessly within.

Each leaf was as large as a cattail fan, its emerald green base covered with eerie, blood-red veins that seemed almost alive.

Just by looking from afar, Raylo could feel the immense Life Force radiating from the ancient tree.

"The Dragon Blood Ancient Tree..."

Marlin murmured to himself.

"Legend says it can only grow after being irrigated with vast amounts of Dragon Blood for over a thousand years. The fruit it bears is a Treasure that can drive even Giant Dragons mad."

Raylo’s gaze pierced through the dense foliage, locking onto the target of his trip.

In the center of the canopy, three fruits hung quietly.

They were the size of human heads, blood-red all over, with surfaces as smooth as jade. Magma seemed to flow slowly within them, and they emitted a soft, warm halo, like three giant red lanterns.

Dragon Blood Fruit!

This was the very goal of his journey, and perhaps the key catalyst for Moonlight to break through to the Domain Level.

Moonlight, who had been sleeping in his arms, seemed to have smelled the immense Life Force of the Dragon Blood Ancient Tree. She woke up, leaped onto Raylo’s shoulder, and gazed at the plateau ahead with him.

However, just as their spirits wavered, a familiar aura of tyranny and destruction—the Dragon Mighty—erupted from the plateau like a volcano and shot toward the sky.

Atop the plateau, beneath the giant tree, a massive figure slowly rose from its coiled position.

It was the Black King.

The Black Iron Dragon Armor he wore, which had been torn in the last war, had been repaired. Although there were still some crude marks at the seams, it still radiated a terrifying, cold light.

His molten-lava dragon eyes crossed the vast distance and locked deadly onto the uninvited guests in the sky, filled with undisguised killing intent.

Clearly, he had recognized Raylo and his group.

"ROAR!"

A deafening roar echoed through the mountains, announcing the fury of the master of this land.

The Golden Dragon, Sun, let out a high-pitched draconic cry in response, fighting spirit flaring in his golden pupils.

He had lost to the Black King in their last fight over the Dragon Blood Ancient Tree, but this time, he was back.

But the Black King’s threat didn’t end there.

Surrounding his massive body, a dense swarm of figures crowded like an ant colony, letting out fanatical howls in time with his roars.

Thousands of Kobolds!

They brandished crude Iron Spears and Axes, their eyes glinting with a mad, red light.

Their fur had taken on an unnatural grayish-black color, and some had even sprouted small Bone Spikes from their backs.

Evidently, they had all been deeply corrupted by the Black King’s draconic aura, becoming stronger and more bloodthirsty mutants.

And at the very front of the Kobold army stood a particularly conspicuous figure.

It was a full head taller than its kin, and its hunched back was much straighter.

More than half of its yellowish-brown fur had transformed into a deep, dark black, identical to the color of the Black Dragon’s scales.

Most importantly, it held a Magic Staff made from the leg bone of some creature and a Magic Stone. The Gemstone embedded in its head glinted with an ominous, dark light.

"A Dogman Wizard."

Marlin’s voice grew grave.

"A mutated Kobold, deeply corrupted by a Giant Dragon’s aura and capable of Casting. This is trouble. It can organize these brainless creatures and make them fight like an army."

Thousands of fearless, enhanced Kobolds, one fully-armored adult Black Dragon, and a Tier Four Dogman Wizard.

This was the full extent of the Black King’s power on display here.