Mystical Journey

Although Garen was mentally prepared for it, he was still shocked by this figure. On one hand, gold coins were not worth very much at all in Snow City. Given the high cost of living, the buying power of one gold coin was equivalent to ten dollars back on Earth. But even if it was only ten dollars, more than one billion gold coins would still amount to more than ten billion in cost, and this was excluding the many rare materials that he needed to prepare himself. He also needed to exchange a treasure for that Eternal Divine Power Insulation Enchantment.

“What do I say? As expected of peak-level Wizard Tower equipment...” Garen sighed.

“As long as you get it.” The Soaring Wing King laughed. “I’ll give you a list of the materials you need to prepare on your own. I can help you with the basic construction fees, but my hands are tied with the materials. Many of those things are extinct now, the highest-level Wizard Towers now were all constructed thousands of years ago. That’s why you need to prepare them yourself.”

He was a higher-up in Snow City, and a billion gold coins were nothing to him, seeing as his current net worth was at least several tens of billions. Still, he naturally would not fork out that sum for nothing.

“What do you want in return?” Of course, Garen knew that there was no such thing as a free lunch.

The Soaring Wing King smiled mysteriously.

“Do me a big favor...”

*******************

Once he retreated from the Dream World, Garen sank into deep thought. The requirement the Soaring Wing King wanted in return was slightly too high up the danger scale.

But he had no other choice than to borrow the Soaring Wing King’s power in order to build the Wizard Tower. That was why he had to consider the pros and cons on both sides.

The shadow of the Mother Stream Alliance was peeking out slightly from behind the Soaring Wing King’s back.

The Soaring Wing King seemed to be a direct subordinate of the Mother Stream Alliance. In fact, Garen had received an invitation from the Mother Stream Alliance back then as well, but sadly he did not manage to reply to it before he was accidentally swept into this World.

“I still don’t have enough information, and there’s only so much I can do on my own...” Garen sighed. If he had a strong enough influence, he would be able to save a great deal of energy in terms of collecting money and materials, and then he would not have to ask such a big favor of the Soaring Wing King. And without enough information, he might accidentally be dragged by the Mother Stream Alliance into becoming cannon fodder at the front lines. Now, that would be a tragedy.

Even an upper-level Demon Lord Level Thousand-Armed Giant could be tossed out as cannon fodder, what was more a middle-level Demon Lord like him.

Although the dragons were rich, several billion gold coins... was still a staggering sum to give away... Most Adult Colossal Dragons had about ten million gold coins, and that was already rather considerable. Those who had a hundred million were impressive indeed.

He fretted over it overnight and continued on his way the next day. When he was just about to reach Snow City, for some reason, the summoning forces that he had not seen for a while suddenly rang out again in Garen’s brain.

He had almost forgotten that he still had an impromptu Summoning Contract.

This was a mandatory contract, so he had no choice but to go. Helpless, he ordered the two Dragon Guards to find a crevice and stay there for now, awaiting his return. The duration of the summon was very short, a few days at most, so he could return quickly after he solved the problem.

*******************

In the dark Underground City

It had been a very, very long time since Kevin entered the ruins.

The tunnel had been sealed off, and Blue Void led everyone further into the depths, as though he wanted to reach the core of the earth. They encountered too many troubles along the way, and the Contractors even summoned almost a half of their dragons. Even so, they just managed to hang in there, losing a great many of their team members on the way.

But after he exchanged information with the Empire for the last time, Blue Void continued to lead everyone into the deepest parts of the Underground City without a hint of hesitation.

The entire Underground City was filled with abandoned houses, empty and dim grey-black abandoned buildings. There were no living creatures, no movement whatsoever, and the dust was piled up on the ground and inside the house. If they knocked down a door by accident, they would send dust flying up in the air for a very long time.

Thankfully, they had all brought more than enough food and water, so all of them managed to hang in there and could continue to hang in there for several years. They encountered many traps as they went, but Blue Void’s men dismantled every single one of them.

There was no sun nor light in the Underground City, only the undead.

There were zombies, skeletons, corpses, and ghosts, each without wills, wandering around aimlessly.

Kevin sat in his own tent, looking at the pitch-black arc above the Underground City. Other than the tiny bit of light from their own campsite, there was no sign of light at all outside, and they could not see anything.

His tent was surrounded by the many tents of the other Contractors, and outside the rings of Contractors, there were more than ten dragons curled up on the ground, resting. Most of them were Red, Blue, Green, and White Dragons. There was only one Black Dragon.

Even beyond that, there was the campsite’s campfire.

There was nothing else any further than that, at the very outside. There was only a sea of dark, dusty abandoned buildings.

“If only we could live inside those abandoned buildings,” said his daughter Maria softly as she walked to the entrance of her recently-illuminated tent.

“How long are we going to stay here?” said Ice Orchid, a friend she had just made along the way, helplessly. This female Wizard, dressed in blue robes, was not a Contractor, but she had become good friends with Maria, so they lived in Kevin’s tent together. These tents looked quite small, but in truth they could be divided into several rooms inside, so they were actually quite large. There were many items and furniture in there. The Wizards could use spells to produce water, and although it was not much, it was still enough to drink. On the other hand, it was unfortunate but the water was not enough for them to bathe.

That was also the problem that troubled everyone the most.

“It should be soon,” Kevin replied in a low voice. “Master Blue Void is already picking up the pace, apparently the scouts at the front discovered something big.”

“Yeah, I noticed it too. All of the Wizards specializing in Necromancy have been summoned over for a discussion, so clearly the next obstacle ahead of us is a result of Necromancy again.” Ice Orchid clearly had her own plans throughout the journey. This pretty female Wizard had a very clear goal, and that was to find and stick to a Contractor, so that she could rely on the power of the dragons to obtain better treatment while also keeping herself safe.

Maria was a simple-minded person, so she did not notice, but Kevin realized it a long time ago. However, he thought that perhaps another Wizard would keep them that much safer, so he tolerated her.

Kevin walked out of the tent. Half of the Contractors around him had already summoned their dragon companion, but he still refused to. The excuse he gave his daughter was that the price was too high.

“At such a critical moment, should you summon your companion, Master Kevin? If you can’t contribute when the time comes, we won’t get a share of the goods,” Ice Orchid suggested softly, walking up to Ice Orchid.

She did not attempt to hide her voice at all, and some curious gazes instantly peeped out of the few tents around theirs. Along the way, Kevin had also had his share of conflicts with the other Wizards. Even though he tried to tolerate whatever he could, there was still no avoiding the voices of dissent at how he was always at the center of protection even though he did not contribute all this time. There was even a Level Six Great Wizard who publicly said that he wanted Kevin’s daughter, Maria, to become his Subordinate Wizard, serving him. The man clearly had his eye on his daughter’s talent, as well as Maria’s beauty.

Although Maria was not as pretty as Ice Orchid, she was better in that she had a pure and innocent aura, plus she was extremely talented. More than one Great Wizard had already expressed such a notion.

These greedy people wanted to use him to force his daughter to obey. They wanted to corner the two of them, making their situation even harder, so that Kevin and Maria had to beg for their help of their own accord. Faced with such people, Kevin tried his best to maintain his image as a powerful Contractor.

Even though this image was fading and seeming more unlikely by the day, his excuse was that the Colossal Dragon he had a contract with was too powerful, so the price of summoning was too high, making him reluctant to pay it. Such an excuse could only be used once or twice, and if he used it too many times, the Contractors with plenty of inside knowledge would start to suspect him.

“Relax, when I need to summon it, I will.” Kevin tried to act steady and confident, using this impression to stay the hands of those restless onlookers.

Ice Orchid seemed to have been become suspicious as well. She smiled and did not say anything else before she walked away.

“When the time comes, we can use your Contract Colossal Dragon as one of our trump cards at the very end. If you put in an application like that, Master Blue Void might even agree. Hahaha...” The voice of Gergenfor, a Contractor, came faintly from a tent nearby.

Out of all the observers, this guy was the one who put the least effort into hiding his intentions. He was practically drooling for Maria, and had wanted her to become his Subordinate Wizard many times, offering generous pay and conditions.

But Maria had rejected him each time.

On the surface, Kevin’s expression did not change at all, as though he never heard this voice.

“Father...” Maria walked up to him.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine.” Kevin gripped his daughter’s hand tightly. He wanted desperately to give her a sense of security, but clearly, he seemed even more helpless right now than he ever had.

Seeing Maria’s expression of worry, Kevin was even more determined to protect her. He must never summon that thing casually, or else if they saw through him... Maria would be in danger!

It was not fun, being targeted by these Contractors. These Contractors were all either extremely powerful and confident in themselves, or else they were extremely reckless and had thrown all caution to the winds. There were more of the latter than the former. Most of these people could no longer continue levelling up, that was why they decided to make one last insane gamble. Such people were greedy and selfish, and at crucial moments, legal restrictions meant nothing to them. There was only power; power was the only weapon that could protect them.

“Father, please tell me, your Contract Dragon...” Maria transmitted her voice to him using a spell.

“It’s fine, it’s fine...” Maria was too innocent, so Kevin did not dare to tell her the truth. It would truly be troublesome if she accidentally let it slip to someone.

“Who knows? Maybe it’ll be over before we even have to summon it.” Kevin comforted his daughter with words that even he did not believe.

The night grew darker.

Kevin was one of the very few Contract Wizards who had never summoned his Contract Dragon, so he was also one of the main targets for all the rumors and slander.

The team continued forward and spent several more days before they finally arrived at what seemed to be the very center of the entire Underground City — a huge plaza of darkness.

There was a tall and large black statue in the plaza, depicting a plus-sized butcher armed with a giant worn cleaver. He wore clothes that were barely better than rags, and there was a brutal, cruel smile on his face as he stood motionlessly in the plaza. It seemed as though he had been there for a very, very long time.

Blue Void ordered the team to stop.

“I sense the aura of death...”

“You are right, Master Blue Void, there is indeed a very powerful whirlpool of negative energy here. It is highly likely that there are many Undead Creatures here,” added the old Wizard who was his vice captain.

“Let’s make camp here first. We need to set up our defense system if we want to deal with a hoard of the Undead.”

Blue Void nodded.

A large pitch-black Demon Core appeared in his hands. It was a Level Six Demon Core, and its function was to summon his Contract Demon, a Dual-Headed Hell Black Dragon.