Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 393 Dragon Clan Council
“This situation… must be quite rare within the Dragon Clan, right?” Su Ming speculated.

Dragons are known for their powerful physique and tenacious vitality, so ordinary duels should hardly result in fatal consequences.

“That’s right.” Violet nodded in confirmation, her eyes darting around mischievously. “So, I was thinking, why don’t I just issue a ‘formal challenge’ to Ge Lie, and then, in the heat of the battle, accidentally ‘lose’…”

Before she could finish speaking, the blue dragon Lan Lie, which had been flying steadily beneath her, suddenly shuddered! The jolt threw Su Ming and Zi Jin off its back, causing them to fall heavily back onto the ground.

“But defeating that old bastard Ge Lie won’t be easy.” Zi Jin steadied herself nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened, and continued her previous calculations. “I need to think carefully about how to successfully ‘ambush’ him…”

"How did you manage to combine the concepts of a righteous 'challenge' and a sneaky 'ambush' so naturally into the same plan?" Su Ming couldn't help but complain.

"Hmph, who told that guy to say he was going to 'pluck out my wings' first?" Violet retorted angrily.

Lan Lie finally couldn't hold back and interjected, "Where does the saying 'pluck out wings' come from?"

“It was clearly written in Ge Lie’s previous letter of challenge!” Violet replied, “He said that if he won, he would ‘ask’ me to ‘present’ him with his wing!”

Lan Lie remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking in an extremely weak tone, “In the ancient dragon language, ‘wing’ symbolizes assistance and protection, while ‘serve’ represents service and respect.” He tried hard to recall the wording, “‘If you win, I will serve you with wings’ means: If Dragon King Ge Lie wins by chance, he will be willing to step down to the position of subject and assist and respect you as the new king.”

A deathly silence fell on the dragon's back, and the two remained speechless for a long time.

"Next time you write a letter, could you use something that everyone can understand?" Su Ming finally sighed helplessly.

Even in normal written dragon language, Violet would have a hard time, let alone in ancient dragon language!
"...I'm used to it."

Lan Lie's enormous wings trembled slightly, and a strange ripple spread out from the center of the dragon's back. The blue camouflage scales covering it receded like water ripples, and from the center point, golden scales that shone with an ancient luster quickly emerged and were revealed.

"Your Majesty Ge Lie, why?" Zi Jin's voice was filled with deep confusion. "The Council of Elders will never agree to your idea of ​​making me succeed as the Dragon King, will they?"

“No dragon would be willing to have a bone dragon become the king of the dragon race,” Ge Lie said in a low voice.

He suddenly lowered his flight altitude, and his massive dragon body swept over a vast area of ​​farmland.

Su Ming peered down and saw that the fields below were crisscrossed with paths, the crops were growing well, and a large number of goblins, humans, and dwarves were working diligently among them.

“Although Dragon Valley is vast, as the dragon’s mouth grows, we have to bring in other races to cooperate and rely on their labor and farming techniques.” In the howling wind, Ge Lie described the current situation. “Only in this way can we produce enough food to feed the whole tribe.”

"Division of labor and cooperation is an inevitable trend in development," Zijin commented.

“However, as various collaborations unfold, we dragons always find that contracts that seem fair at the time of signing often end up hurting us.” Ge Lie sighed heavily. “For example, this fertile land below, the contract stipulates a ten-year lease, with 30% of the output to be paid as rent. On the surface, it seems reasonable, right? But these shrewd farmers will deliberately choose to plant a so-called ‘premium’ wheat with extremely low yield.”

Yin Er caught up, and Stacy, who was on his back, asked curiously, "Why?"

“Because this premium wheat has a higher unit price,” Ge Lie explained. “They would raise livestock in the wheat fields, and use the wheat straw as feed. At the same time, they would set aside a small area to grow high-yield but low-quality ordinary wheat, specifically to pay us that 30% land rent.”

"This is a classic strategy of substituting output for production and using value transfer to divert income," Zijin pointed out. "The actual land rent value that you receive in the end is probably less than 10% of the nominal value, isn't it?"

"Hmm," Ge Lie responded heavily.

"No merchant is honest!" Su Ming couldn't help but sigh. "But this is the norm in the business world. The key lies with the Dragon Clan, who need to implement effective management and supervision."

“I know, but the problem is that the vast majority of dragons are simply not up to the task of such management,” Ge Lie replied. “It would be easy for them to breathe fire and burn an entire field, but most dragons simply cannot figure out how much trickery those goblins and humans are up to.”

"Skilled in combat and destruction, but not in business management?" Stacy concluded.

Ge Lie slowly shook his head. "No, it is our entire dragon race that is being left behind by the times." His sigh was full of vicissitudes and helplessness. "The world of short-lived species is developing too fast. New knowledge, technologies and rules are emerging one after another. For us dragons, our long lifespan has become an obstacle to keeping up with the times."

“Long years do not always accumulate wisdom; if past knowledge is not updated in time, it will become an obstacle to touching the real world,” Yin Er’s voice was deep.

Su Ming thought to himself, "This is only in another world, and you can't even handle it. If we were facing Earth's era of knowledge explosion, wouldn't we all collapse?"

However, based on Su Ming's deduction, if Earth were the host, these ten thousand dragons wouldn't be enough to "cause harm" to human civilization. The first wave of attacks would exhaust their elite combat power, leaving them with almost no further war potential.

There may be fluctuations in the actual process, but in any case, humanity will never lose!
But if we go back fifty years, it's hard to say who would win the war between humans and dragons. Even if humans ultimately prevailed, it would be an extremely difficult victory.

Fifty years is a short time for a dragon, filled with play and sleep.

“Our younger generation was born two hundred years ago,” Ge Lie said, his words full of worry. “A dragon may not even be fully grown up before its knowledge and ideas become outdated. It is we old dragons who are more aware of the seriousness of the problem.”

Zi Jin rubbed her temples. "But dragons are still an extremely powerful race, possessing enormous innate advantages. Go out and explore more; the situation can improve!"

“You’re absolutely right,” Ge Lie said. “We need more dragons to go out and enter the outside world; we also need more external scholars to come in and bring new ideas and technologies—we need a bridge, a powerful medium. Or rather, what we need is you, Zi Jin.”

The scholar-level knowledge of the Purple Violet title, along with her influence in the other world, are precisely the resources Ge Lie craves. In comparison, her formidable combat prowess becomes insignificant.

****
“Is that so?” In the wind, Violet’s sigh carried a hint of understanding and detachment. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty Ge Lie, please allow me to decline your favor and kindness.”

"Why?" Ge Lie's voice was deep and filled with confusion.

"You're willing to accept a bone dragon because it's barely even considered a dragon, right?" Violet looked directly at him, her tone calm yet firm. "But the core of my life has already been transferred to this human body."

“We can ignore that,” Greed said magnanimously, trying to persuade, “You just need to appear as a bone dragon.”

“But I refuse,” Violet said resolutely. “I have decided to live in this body. Even in the future…” She paused slightly, deliberately avoiding the gaze of everyone present, “I will get married, have children, and experience birth, aging, sickness, and death like a human, until this body returns to dust.”

A heavy silence fell over the room; no one spoke.

Suddenly, a deep and majestic power emanated from Ge Lie's massive body.

Zijin gently patted Su Ming beside her, "I'll handle it."

Su Ming understood, and the dark wings of Dark Veil instantly unfolded. His figure soared up and landed steadily on the broad back of the nearby Silver Two, standing side by side with Stacy.

The Divine Scepter and the power of flight shone in Zi Jin's hand. She shifted her body, creating distance between herself and Ge Lie.

"Do you dragons usually resolve disagreements by fighting?" Su Ming asked Yin Er.

“Yes, this is one of our ancient traditions,” Yin Er replied in a low voice.

“But isn’t this bullying the weak?” Su Ming said bluntly. “Whether she wins or loses, it won’t change Zi Jin’s mind, and it shouldn’t affect her freedom of choice!”

Ge Lie's poised movements faltered slightly at Su Ming's words.

"You... won't let the outcome of this duel change your decision?" he asked Violet.

"Of course not." Violet's voice was exceptionally clear and resolute in the wind, carrying an undeniable determination. "My decision is final! My response to your challenge was simply—I wanted to beat you up!"

"Can you defeat him?" Su Ming asked worriedly. "Ge Lie is a giant dragon, and a Saint-level being who has lived for countless years."

Even if the power levels are the same, their enormous size represents completely different dimensions. The massive bodies of dragons are definitely not for nothing.

"Of course I can't beat him." Violet frankly admitted, "But he's getting on in years. If I use all my trump cards and unleash my full power, I can still make him suffer a bit in a short time."

"A plan to mutually destroy each other?" Su Ming sensed the underlying emotion in her words and was somewhat puzzled.

"Are you... angry?" he asked.

Zi Jin was awakened by Su Ming's question, and only then did she suddenly realize the nameless anger in her heart. She herself had not even realized that when Ge Lie arranged for her to inherit the Dragon King as a bone dragon without explanation and intended to force her to walk on it, a strong anger had already been churning in her chest.

That feeling was like wanting to smash something to pieces!
On the other side, Ge Lie completely stopped gathering his power, a move that greatly surprised Stacy. The "Lie" in Ge Lie's name wasn't just for show.

“Your Majesty, your temper… has become much milder.” Stacy said with a questioning tone.

“After all, we are getting old.” Ge Lie sighed deeply, his tone carrying a heavy sense of powerlessness. “From beginning to end, it was we dragons who had something to ask for. We longed for that magical device that could take in the vast terrain and vegetation with a single circle, we longed for that powerful productivity that could build magnificent ships, and we longed for your management methods and concepts that could make thousands of individuals on huge ships work together in an orderly and efficient manner.”

"This is what I saw when I went to North Iceland as an investigator, and it was also the purpose of my trip." He explained frankly, "Even though we were prepared beforehand, everything you showed us was still beyond our imagination... and it shocked us to the extreme."

“Originally, we placed our hopes on Yin Fei.” His voice carried a sense of vicissitude and deep sorrow that seemed to transcend time. “She was the most outstanding dragon of the Mesozoic Era, frequently traveling between the territories of various races and managing diplomatic affairs with great success. We had high hopes that she could shoulder this important responsibility… but we never imagined that she would actually join the embrace of a cult and even go so far as to slaughter her own kind.”

****
The atmosphere grew somewhat tense.

Seeing that Ge Lie had no intention of continuing, Zi Jin had no choice but to stop and fly to Su Ming's side.

"Your Majesty Ge Lie, I have a suggestion," Su Ming said. "Zi Jin is willing to do her best for this homeland and contribute to the Dragon Clan to the best of her ability. As her partner, I am also willing to provide full assistance with the Bone-Ending Mad Machine. At the same time, we also have a request—Your Majesty must already know it, right?"

“You urgently need a base for development.” Ge Lie didn’t beat around the bush. “I can allocate a piece of land near Dragon Gorge Port—the most convenient location—to Zi Jin.” He paused. “According to the ancient custom of the Dragon Clan, Zi Jin, as a member of the Dragon Clan, has the right to manage a piece of land of one thousand hectares.”

Su Ming quickly calculated in his mind: If this area were used to build a factory—no need to calculate, it would be more than enough, there would be more than enough!
Even in his homeland, the largest factory, Foxconn Longhua Campus, is only 230 hectares.

And this is just the share that the violet can get for free just by virtue of its "household registration"!

"Very well, these damned landlords!" Su Ming clicked his tongue inwardly. Ten thousand dragons occupying a vast territory of over a million square kilometers—can they really be so arrogant and domineering!

“Of course, you also need to offer commensurate benefits and provide honest terms for cooperation,” Ge Lie added.

Land is certainly part of it, but this base, located in the heart of the dragon realm, inherently represents the powerful protection of the dragons. Paying a reasonable price for it is only natural.

“That’s appropriate.” Su Ming nodded in agreement. “Therefore, my suggestion is that Zi Jin doesn’t necessarily have to be the Dragon King.” He pondered for a moment. “In my hometown, many heads of state, although they are the symbols and representatives of their countries, do not actually manage specific political affairs.”

"If Zijin becomes the Dragon King, it will inevitably cause many problems, and may even lead to a split within the Dragon Clan. But what if she only serves as the 'Chairman of the General Council' of the Dragon Clan?"

Upon hearing this, Ge Lie's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he actually showed some interest.

“The specific responsibilities can be divided more clearly and formally.” Su Ming continued to elaborate on the idea. “The general chairman can have voting rights that surpass those of the grand elders and control all political authority, forming a system of checks and balances and mutual reliance with the council of elders.”

How should the specific rules be formulated? What kind of political system should be designed for a huge group with tens of thousands of members? Su Ming had no idea.

But that doesn't matter, he has plenty of cattle and horses to serve him.

[Miao Xin, notify the dodder, there's work to be done!] Su Ming quickly communicated with Miao Xin through the mental link.

He instinctively wanted to share his view, but Miao Xin flatly refused. "I know! Don't look, I'm taking a shower!" Miao Xin replied irritably.

[...] Su Ming was speechless and choked with emotion.

What bath? Shouldn't we be brushing ribs on the little troublemaker?

"Wait a minute." Yin Er suddenly spoke up, raising a crucial question, "So, who will be the next Dragon King?"

His gaze met Ge Lie's, and then met the violet floating in the air.

This dragon selection is so hard to decide!

****
Bubing Island, Thousand-Blade Dragon Cliff.

"Ah—che!"

Without warning, Lan Mo let out a deafening sneeze.

The powerful shockwave nearly sent Chloe flying as she walked by.

The Saint-rank Blue Dragon was very puzzled. How could his skin, which automatically heated up due to the out-of-control entropy law, have caught a cold?

Surely it's not that a dragon is thinking about him, is it?

"It's time to get to work!" Chloe steadied herself and snapped, her face stern. "All you do is play around all day. Come and help move the stone slabs!"

Lan Mo reluctantly removed the motion sensor strapped to her body.

"Um," he leaned closer to Chloe, his tone pleading, "could you update another game that Su Ming gave you?"

Chloe glanced at him. "Your work performance lately has been quite unenthusiastic."

"No, I'm very enthusiastic!" Lan Mo instantly perked up, rushed to the magic array ruins area, took a deep breath, and suddenly pried up a huge stone slab from the ground.

"Tell me, where are we moving it to!" he shouted with great fervor.

****
When Su Ming and his party arrived at Longting, it was already afternoon.

Dragon King Ge Lie immediately summoned the dragon clan elders for an emergency meeting.

Besides the two Grand Elders, Lan Mo and Yin Fei, each clan of the Dragon Clan usually has one to three ordinary elders who together form the core of power—the Elder Council.

In addition, the Emerald Dragon Clan has a Grand Elder, Dreamweaver.

Today's meeting is being held at her residence, on the shores of the mysterious Thousand Illusion Lake.

Surrounded by lush, verdant trees, the surface of Thousand Illusion Lake resembles a giant, solidified piece of jade. Despite the gentle breeze, the water remains eerily still, as calm as a mirror.

After a brief exchange, the dragons gathered around Dreamweaver, slowly forming a large circle. Then, a pale green magical light rose from Dreamweaver's body, spreading outwards like ripples on water.

"Jadeite, A Shared Dream!"

In an instant, all the dragons fell silent, their forms slightly solidified, and their consciousnesses collectively sank into the shared dream world dominated by Ge Lie.

****
Outside the venue, at the top of an ancient redwood tree that soars into the clouds, on its thick and gnarled branches, Zijin and Su Ming sat side by side, gazing at the scene on the shore of Thousand Illusion Lake below.

After leaving the frigid Arctic Circle, we sailed and flew south, where the temperature steadily and continuously rose. Now, the sun was shining brightly, and the warmth was even more pronounced.

Both of them took off their thick coats. Underneath, Violet wore a light-colored wool sweater; the soft fabric clung perfectly to her figure, outlining the girl's demure curves.

As agreed, Ge Lie first convened this internal preparatory meeting, and then held formal talks with them.

“I’m talking about Violet.” Su Ming withdrew his gaze and turned to the person beside him. “What you said to Ge Lie earlier surprised me. Are you really planning to live primarily as a human from now on?”

"What's wrong?" A hint of confusion appeared in Violet's eyes. "My life core has always been in Elisa's body, and I've been trying to accept and adapt to it."

"But didn't you say that before?" Su Xiang recalled the conversation they had had shortly after entering the ice plains, "You said you were more used to being a dragon than to seeing yourself as a human?"

"Ah, I said that?" Violet's eyes widened in disbelief. "How could I say such a thing!"

"...I've heard that this Dream Weaver can share fragments of past memories through dreams." Su Ming pointed to the tranquil yet magically vibrant Thousand Illusion Lake ahead. "How about we ask her for help and do a 'replay' to verify it?"

"……don't want!"

****
Zijin found a bunch of green grass from somewhere, plucked a tender stem and put it in her mouth, chewing it carefully a few times. "Hmm, it's still that familiar taste from my memory."

Seeing this, Su Ming followed suit and picked up a plant as well. The plant had delicate pinnate compound leaves, with layers upon layers of tiny leaflets, resembling a small comb.

Bring it close to your nose, and you can smell a light and lingering plant fragrance; however, the taste is bitter and spicy.

"Is this taste... good?" Su Ming frowned and asked doubtfully.

"It's just a moment of reminiscing," Violet said nonchalantly, deftly plucking a few tiny purple buds from the tip of a grass stem and tossing them into her mouth. "This is the flower with the same name as me. It was my favorite snack when I was a child."

She squinted, as if lost in memories of the past.

Su Ming's heart skipped a beat. He immediately dropped the grass in his hand and then tightly gripped Zi Jin's wrist.

"Spit it out!" he said anxiously, and with his other hand he tried to pry her mouth open without saying a word.

Su Ming didn't recognize the plant *Corydalis*, but since it was a girl's name, he looked it up. He didn't remember much else, but one thing stuck with him: its other name was "heartbreak grass"!
"What are you doing! You... don't... I'll throw up! I'll throw up!" Zijin was both embarrassed and annoyed by his sudden action.

Seeing that Zijin had spat out all the grass and withered flowers from her mouth, Su Ming finally relaxed and let out a long sigh of relief.

Gelsemium elegans isn't actually that poisonous; ingesting a small amount of its alkaloids shouldn't cause any problems.

In fact, in the right dosage, it can be used as medicine.

"Why?!" Zijin rubbed her wrist and asked angrily.

“It’s poisonous!” Su Ming replied.

"How could it be poisonous?" Violet didn't believe it. "When I was still a fairy dragon, I ate this all the time!"

"You know that's when the dragon is!" Su Ming said helplessly.

****
A small red dragon flew gracefully closer, with Stacy sitting on its back. She was carrying a large bunch of brightly colored, plump, and juicy unidentified fruits in her arms.

“This is the little dragon I met last time I came, Hongxi!” Stacy nimbly jumped off the dragon’s back and landed steadily on a branch, introducing her.

"Hello, Hongxi!" Su Ming raised his hand and greeted her in a friendly manner.

Hongxi seemed a little shy, responded softly, and then quickly flapped its wings and flew away as if startled.

“This child is rather shy.” Stacy smiled as she watched Hong Xi fly away, then shared the fruit she was holding with the two of them. “Have something to eat first, we don’t know how long these dragons’ meeting will last.”

Su Ming took the fruits, which smelled fresh and still had glistening water droplets clinging to their skins from being washed. He handed a few to Zi Jin, who wiped the grass juice off her wool sweater, snorted, and took them.

Su Ming picked one up, took a big bite, and juice spilled out, filling the air with a sweet fruity aroma.

"This is the kind of food humans should eat!" he said contentedly.

****
A large meeting was still being held on the lakeside below. After everyone had eaten their fill, a smaller meeting began to take place in the treetops above.

“The Elisa form itself possesses extremely excellent spellcasting talent,” Stacy explained to Su Ming while munching on fruit, “The two additional fairy dragon origin talents have exceeded the limit of what it can bear, becoming a heavy burden.”

"What's the solution?" Su Ming pressed.

“Remove one,” Stacy answered crisply. “The Silver Pheasant Healer and the Bronze Cormorant Scholar didn’t realize that a sharp weapon cannot be polished and strengthened indefinitely. Violet’s body can only perfectly support one Fairy Dragon talent at most—of course, that’s how magical research is; often, problems can only be discovered after practice.”

"So my only option is to merge with the origin of 'Elemental Resonance'," Violet replied. "Only in this way can I regain a balance in terms of affinity and control over the six elements."

"I understand." Su Ming nodded. "This kind of process of stripping and fusing the origins requires the use of the dragon's ancestral spirit land, right?"

“That’s just one key step,” Stacy corrected. “We still need you.”

"Me?" Su Ming pointed to the tip of his nose in surprise.

“Yes, you will share one of the sources,” Stacy said confidently. “It would be such a waste to let such a precious source, which was separated with great difficulty, go to waste.”

"Uh, you mean, to attach the diamond-shaped fairy dragon scale from Violet's head to my body?" Su Ming quickly understood, but his face showed doubt. "Won't there be any problems with doing this?"

“I’ve done a detailed compatibility test,” Stacy said confidently. “The results show that you are highly compatible. You and Elisa are genotyped the same.”

During this time, Stacy has also made up for a lot of knowledge in the field of DNA, which she calls "life rune sequences".

Su Ming had some doubts in his heart. He was a human from Earth. Was the similarity between him and the humans in this other world really that high?

“Don’t worry,” Stacy comforted her. “Even if there are any problems, they can be removed. At most… it will make you suffer a little.”

"Alright!" Since that was the case, Su Ming stopped being coy and readily agreed.

He knew that the rhombus-shaped primordial scale containing the "whispers of the stars," once fitted, would surely grant him power by improving his physique.

There are bound to be risks in the process, and there may be some unknown costs involved.

However, the expanded mental pool effect that comes with "Whispers of the Stars" is exactly what Su Ming urgently needs to improve.

So it's worth a try!
(End of this chapter)