Chapter 301: Things Are Changing
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
Noon the next day, Wang Lu and the others arrived at Dragon City in a flash, which was a long distance away.
When departing from Golden Flash Town, Dragon City Master Bedivere transformed into a giant dragon of more than a hundred meters’ wingspan, carrying all the people on his back, and flew them back at the flight speed of a dragon.
Riding the most illustrious city master in Western Continent was a most privileged treatment. On the dragon’s back, all the way to Dragon City, the hearts of the newly recruited Dragon City Guards continued to thump wildly. They didn’t even dare to breathe. It was as if they were in a dream.
Actually, Bedivere himself didn’t care about this. All that he could think about was how to be quicker.
The Dragon City Guard selection ceremony in Golden Flash Town was not his wish. He felt sick the whole time. Therefore, the sooner it finished and the faster he came home the better. However, the three Holy Light priests wouldn’t consider maintaining Bedivere’s face—He had to stoop before this group of recruits to be treated as their horse, while the three priests were very eager to return home a bit earlier to receive their award.
——
When the group of recruits along with the dragon-transformed Bedivere slowly landed, a soul-stirring pressure welled up in the hearts of this group of recruits. It was due to the faint pressure coming from the city itself. Dragon City was, after all, named after the Dragon. Within thousands of years, it had long obtained too many connections with the Dragon Clan. Today, the whole city was awash with the Dragon aura. Dragon City was the most magnificent city in the whole Brettonia. The former capital of the Knight King was not as good as this mighty ancient city.
When overlooking it from the sky, most of the new recruits were filled with joy and excitement. But for the conscientious one, this was a valuable opportunity to look at the overall situation.
"There’s literally a forest of powerful people. This Dragon City…" Wang Lu gently squinted his eyes. Through his perception, he sensed that solely the aura of those whom in high order professions alone there was more than fifty people, and countless individuals in middle order professions. This did not include those powerful individuals who were accustomed to hiding their strength. In the Nine Regions, only the big top-level sects that could compare to such a force.
Aya said, "Yes. Moreover, they are an all-rounded complete force. Dragon City Guard, Holy Light Religion, and other adventurers are all gathered here, the total number is very large. After more than a hundred years passed, this city has become bigger than ever, and can even compare to my group of Knights of the Round Table."
At the peak of Aya’s reign, the number of high order professions under her command was more than a hundred. Of course, this didn’t mean that in the vast land of Brettonia, there were only so few of those in high order professions, but most of the powerful individuals were accustomed to freedom, and they wouldn’t settle to just be under the whims of the Knight King. To put it simply, the so-called Knight King was just the strongest force in Brettonia, and did not dominate the entire land.
Right now, the scale of Dragon City was even comparable to the powerful Knights of the Round Table of the Knight King, who upon seeing it made Aya’s heart be filled with emotion.
"What a pity. Though the scale is large, as a whole, they’re not that different compared to loose sand." Aya lightly said, "The strength of this city hasn’t been integrated at all."
"Therefore we have the opportunity to make our move. Nine hundred and ninety-nine roses, as well as the road to restoring your Kingdom, start here."
——
The new batch of Dragon City Guards soon began their new life in Dragon City.
Upon arrival, the more-than-thirty people were immediately settled at the barrack square. And under the gaze of over a thousand Dragon City Guards, they took the oath of allegiance to Dragon City Master Bedivere and Dragon City Archbishop Rowan and accepted the blessings.
The content of the oath was not harsh. It was mainly about not divulging Dragon City’s methods to third parties, not damaging the interests of Dragon City, etc. The binding of the oath was not too strong.
Because in her time, the strict management of Dragon City Guard, as the core corps of the Kingdom, was very well known. Now, these Dragon City Guards had essentially become Bedivere’s private army, yet the management had slackened instead? In accordance with this degree of binding, it was actually very difficult to restrict the method of Dragon City from being divulged and limit the capability to mobilize Dragon City Guard.
It was no wonder that the situation of the present Dragon City was similar to that of loose sand.
However, at this time, the loose oath was a good thing instead, as it would save them from being brought inconvenience by the oath when they later raise the opposition flag.
The oath-taking ceremony was conducted simultaneously by all new recruits, without exception, including Wang Lu. Although in Golden Flash Town he joined under the identity of a gigolo, upon arriving in Dragon City, the people in charge naturally could not take that seriously. They regarded him as an ordinary Dragon City Guard, allowing him to take part in the oath-taking ceremony. After the oath-taking ceremony, the new recruits were led by several Dragon City Guard officers to the barrack to settle down.
The Dragon City Guard accepted strict military management, but the individual living conditions were quite excellent. More than two thousand Dragon City Guards lived in the barracks area that occupied one-quarter of the total land of Dragon City. Each guard had an independent living space, which was different according to their level and strength, from a simple single room to courtyard villas, including all the basic necessities. Among them, the Bretton Dragon Clan bloodline received preferential treatment by living in a villa. Even though they were just new recruits, they enjoyed the same treatment as that of a senior guard’s.
After entering the villa area while led by veterans, they settled down and familiarized with the surrounding. In the process, they had astonishing discoveries.
Living in the same villa area were many previously selected Dragon Clan bloodline! And since most of them came from Golden Flash Town, they soon recognized each other and exchanged greetings.
Wang Lu and Aya were astonished: Holy Light Religion told them that they had purified the blood of Bretton Dragon Clan. This information was acquired by them from the Holy Light priest that became the administrator of Golden King’s Treasure House personally. Later in Golden Flash Town, the things they observed seemed to have confirmed this: In the name of Dragon City, Holy Light Religion rounded up the Dragon Clan bloodline and escorted them to Dragon City, seemingly to accept purification...
But now, it looked like the first several steps were true, but after the Dragon bloodline entered Dragon City, they seemed to be still alive and kicking, not lacking any arms and legs, nor was there any mass blood sacrifice.
When the locals of Golden Flash Town exchanged greetings, Wang Lu and Aya just quietly observed. They understood that things indeed were very different from what they expected.
The first Dragon bloodline possessor who lived in the villa area was from more than twenty years ago. During which, they practiced according to the method, participated in combat, and even had a wife and children, until today. But no one had ever heard of any blood purification...
As for the Dragon bloodline possessor that joined earlier? Legend has it that they had entered the high-level circle of Dragon City. Some had chosen to retire, to leisurely travel around the continent. But in short, nobody had ever heard even a tiny bit of adverse action against these people from Holy Light Religion. On the contrary, these people generally had positive views of Holy Light Religion.
Now, were these people too unenlightened about this information? Or had they been in cahoots with Holy Light Religion, and thus concealed the information? Or was that Administrator in the King’s Treasure House just spouted nonsense? For the time being, this was still unknown.
"In short, personal access to Dragon City is still valuable." Aya pondered. "In any case, we have the time. Let’s just lie low for the moment and quietly observe. The truth will always emerge."
Wang Lu said with a smile, "Not a problem. I’m not in a hurry anyway."
——
The following three months, Wang Lu and other people lived a methodically arranged life in Dragon City.
According to the plan, as the newest recruit of Dragon City Guard, in the first few years, they had to undergo rigorous training in Dragon City. Regardless whether prior to that the new recruits had a certain foundation, after joining Dragon City Guard, they would have to start all over again. Because from the point of view of Dragon City, the so-called new recruit’s foundation was basically filled with flaws that wouldn’t lead them anywhere. Thus, it was better to cut it down and start anew.
Of course, if they really had amazing feats, like when joining they already had reached high order professions, naturally the treatment would be different. However, Wang Lu and his teammates purposely hid their strength, and only showed similar performances to that of common low order profession—Not completely a newcomer, but also not worth the extra attention.
The basic training standard of Dragon City Guard was very high, which was second to none in the entire Western Continent. In addition to the regular physical training and other basic training, Dragon City soon distributed different classic textbooks of methods according to each person’s situation. Wang Lu and his teammates naturally did not need these ancient texts to train, but they could reference it theoretically.
Before reaching Jindan Stage, Wang Lu intended to enrich himself with information, and extensively absorbed all kinds of knowledge essence. Western Continent power level system was different from the Nine Regions’, which was quite marvelous and not to be underestimated.
In three months, Wang Lu did nothing other than move around the barrack area and exchange information about other people’s methods. These ancient texts had no confidentiality requirement from Dragon City, and thus could be freely borrowed. Therefore, Wang Lu soon collected a large number of ancient methods and carefully studied them. In three months’ time, although it was not enough to make him noticeably stronger, it undoubtedly and tremendously enriched his knowledge and insight, which would lay a good foundation for his future Jindan unification accomplishment.
In addition, after these three months, the new recruits had successfully stimulated the power of their bloodline, became professions, and continued to quickly strengthen their strength. In these three months, the new recruits, from a sturdy blacksmith, dexterous tailor, and smart young proprietress, rapidly grew into ‘able to win one against ten or more’ formidable warrior. The best of them, of course, successfully manifested the Dragon Clan characteristics, such as dragon scales and other abilities, which made them able to win against more than a hundred opponents.
In this regard, Wang Lu could not help but emotionally moved. Both practiced from methods, both started from average person state, but how could the training speed in Western Continent is so much faster than in Nine Regions? To achieve the ‘able to defeat one hundred opponents single-handedly’ state from the initial body refining period in Spirit Sword Mountain, Wang Lu at least had to spend around than two years, during which a huge amount of resources were spent for his medicinal bath, to change his bone and wash his marrow. Of course, in terms of cultivation speed, Spirit Sword Sect was the slowest among the Five Uniques, but even Royal Soldier Sect, as the fastest one, was unable to make a person reborn in just three months.
"This is very normal. The concept of time in Western Continent is very different than in Nine Regions." In regard to this, Aya who had a wealth of knowledge explained, "The Western Continent profession’s enhancement speed is obviously faster than the cultivators of Nine Regions. However, our life expectancy is also far lower than you guys. For example, your Jindan Stage cultivator can have a life expectancy of around seven hundred to eight hundred years, but on our side, the corresponding high order profession generally only have one hundred and fifty to two hundred years of life. If we follow your Nine Regions people’s cultivation speed, I’m afraid no one would live to reach high order profession."
Wang Lu was quite curious. "But isn’t Bedivere living a very long life? More than a hundred years ago he is your loyal lackey already, but now he’s still alive and kicking, not old at all."
"Dragon Clan bloodline is blessed with longevity, which is also the most envied and hated point about my clan. In terms of power and fighting ability, there are a lot of bloodlines in this continent that are not inferior to that of Dragon Clan bloodline. But in terms of longevity, few can compare with Dragon Clan. But even Bedivere, whose power level translated to Deity Stage in Nine Regions, which supposedly could live as long as two thousand years, would actually not be able to live past one thousand years. Unless you transform your own life form into a lich and other undead creatures, or like myself now…But it’s not the right way."
Wang Lu gently nodded. "Fast to get strong, but also quick to die? That’s actually interesting."
Aya casually said, "Perhaps it’s related to our ecological environment. Since the fall of the Golden Dynasty, the Western Continent has always been embroiled in fighting. Our war is much more frequent than that of your Nine Regions. Therefore…in this fast-paced environment, we have to get stronger faster, because there’s not enough time for us to slowly grow.
"However, there’s actually no reason for you to be moved by the rapid progress of the new recruits," Aya said and then slightly furrowed her brows. "The rate of progress of the newcomers is actually not fast. During my time, the progress of Bretton Dragon Clan bloodline was very fast, far faster than now. The methods that the newcomers have practiced in these last few months are actually… very inferior methods. I originally thought that they simply changed the focus to be more gradually developed, therefore, the start is a bit simpler. But now, it seems like Bedivere deliberately gave us inferior method as a perfunctory gesture."
After a pause, Aya continued, "Moreover, I have contacted a few veterans. Although I can’t say that their strength is weak, they are completely not up to their proper level. One of the longest to join has been here for more than twenty years. But unexpectedly, that person has just broken through middle order profession. In my time, it’s not strange for a remarkable talent like those with Dragon blood to even reach high order profession in the same time frame!"
Wang Lu said, "You suspect that Dragon City is deliberately suppressing the strength of those with Dragon blood?"
"Yes. Bedivere is an excellent commander, how could he not know how to train subordinates? In this kind of situation, the only logical explanation is that he is doing this on purpose!"
Aya said, "I can’t think of a reason for why he would do this, but I can try to make a difference and see how he reacts."
Wang Lu was stunned for a moment. "You want to run around naked?"