A man among dragons, building a mysterious ancient church.

Chapter 413 Word Power: Is the Emperor a Food Delivery App?

When Forrell saw the three raise their hands, he simply gestured for the three members to talk about the Dragon Calamity, since he hadn't allowed them to communicate freely yet.

The three members could only unilaterally report information about the Dragon Disaster and could not discuss anything else.

At Bao Lie's prompting, Chen Motong first recounted how Kassel College sounded the alarm in the middle of the night, waking up all the students, Angers gave a public speech, and some students boarded a plane to go to New York.

Chu Zihang and Fingel, who knew she was in Italy, were quite puzzled: "How could you stay at Gattuso's house and still get real-time updates on the situation in Kassel?"

Does Chen Motong, who has appointed himself as the bishop of the Diocese of Kassel, have such a high degree of control over the 'Diocese of Kassel'?

“What’s so difficult about this?” Chen Motong quietly observed Mr. Fool. Seeing that Mr. Fool was not urging her, she quickly added, “Don’t forget, the head of the Pompeii family is a board member of the Kassel school. Board members get the news earlier than the students.”

Then Chen Motong gestured to Nuwa to say that Mr. Fool had not yet allowed free communication.

Nuwa stated that her homeland also has a corresponding alchemical matrix that has detected abnormal elemental turbulence in the Arctic region. Combining this with information obtained from the Old Church, Nuwa deduced that the Dragon Disaster is related to the Black King in the Arctic Hatchery.

Aso Makoto has limited information. The Tokyo Diocese is far ahead in the field of mysticism, but its development in the field of dragon hybrids is far inferior to that of the major hybrid powers.

The Tokyo parish was unaware of the Arctic elemental turbulence; they only shared the news of the calamity caused by the appearance of several pure-blooded dragons near their location.

Only then did everyone realize the seriousness of the situation. It turned out that the elemental turbulence that erupted in the Arctic was actually related to Nidhogg, the Black King!
It not only affects the climate, but also awakens many pure-blooded dragons.

Fingel thought that when he got back, he should upgrade the artificial intelligence Norma, because Norma's intelligence had decreased a lot after Eva left Norma.

Previously, Fingel only gave Norma instructions to be notified urgently when the Academy encountered matters involving the Old Church. However, in the face of such an unexpected and sudden event as the global dragon plague, Norma did not receive any relevant instructions and could only follow the fixed procedures, prioritizing notification to Angers and the high-ranking members of the Secret Party.

So not only did Fingel not receive the intelligence, but Chu Zihang and Su Xi, who were on a mission outside, were also completely unaware.

If Eva were still in her Norma EVA persona, she would definitely have informed Fingel immediately so that he could be prepared.

Of course, it doesn't matter that Norma is a little 'mentally challenged' now. Fingel will never regret rescuing Eva. Upgrading Norma is something to do after returning to school. Fingel is now paying attention to the information provided by the three and actively thinking about how to fight against the Dragon Disaster.

Chu Zihang raised his hand to signal, and Bao Lie allowed him to ask a question as well. As expected of a killer, the killer's thoughts were simple and direct, still focused on killing: "Respected Mr. Fool, everything was caused by the Black King. Do we need to go to the Arctic immediately to kill the Black King Nidhogg?"

It wasn't that Chu Zihang had become arrogant, thinking that he had become addicted to trying to kill the Black King again after successfully joining forces with his fellow believers to kill Odin.

Chu Zihang was just worried. The thought of the resurgence and activity of many pure-blooded dragons around the world made him feel depressed and worried about innocent people. For example, in Times Square just now, several people were unfortunately affected by the disaster caused by the fifth generation of dragons.

The other members were mostly like this; even with divine interference, the members maintained their humanity well and all had compassion and pity.

“Don’t worry.” Forrell’s kind yet mysterious voice always reassured the members: “I know what you’re thinking.”

"The resurgence of the Black King has been noticed by me and the Church. Honorary Fellow, the King of Bronze and Fire, even reported it to the Church, mentioning that the Black King's Word of Power, the Emperor, was calling out from the depths of his soul."

"But I have divined that the Black King's soul is indeed on the verge of returning, but it has not yet fully returned. Therefore, it is clear that what is currently issuing the Word of Power: Emperor is only the Black King's hungry dragon body, not his soul."

"Of course, if this continues unchecked, it will inevitably lead to an even greater disaster. This emergency meeting is also to arrange for you, the Fire King, and the Mountain King to travel to the Arctic together."

"Perhaps by alerting the enemy, or after eating and drinking to their hearts' content, the Black King's soul will completely return to his body and re-enter the world."

Xu Lie only learned about the Black King's sudden summoning of the dragons, and even his use of the Word of Power to summon Old Tang and other dragon kings, ten minutes before the gathering.

He sat directly on the Source Castle to perform divination. Now that Xu Lie had made a mistake in his advancement and also had the Source Castle's bonus, he easily divined that the Black King was still the same big black catfish, without any change.

The body was still the same enormous body, and no spiritual consciousness or intelligence had yet emerged. However, the Black King's soul, which had been impossible to find before, could finally be divined to reveal a little bit of its connection to Lu Mingze, which was hidden beneath Lu Mingze's soul.

As for the Black King Dragon's body, after Xu Lie stole the heart from the giant black catfish, it devoured all the dragon blood creatures in the Arctic Hatchery, leaving no trace of life, but still failed to regenerate a complete heart.

It only barely recovered half of its heart.

How could this be? With his life in grave danger, the giant black catfish, driven by its survival instinct, used the Word of Power: Emperor to summon the dragons to pay homage. Or, to put it more precisely, the giant black catfish was ordering takeout.

That's right, the globally influential Word of Power: Emperor is essentially a giant black catfish trying to devour more dragon blood in order to regenerate its heart.

Xu Lie's divination revealed that the fastest and first pure-blooded dragons to reach the Arctic could only become food for the giant black catfish, helping it repair its heart. What's the difference between this and ordering takeout?
Yes, there are. Takeout still needs delivery riders, but for the dragons, pure-blooded dragons can deliver their own ingredients.

It's like the weather was slightly cool, and the big black catfish wanted to eat hot pot. It roared, and everything—tripe, duck intestines, beef rolls, meatballs, shrimp balls, and vegetable platters—all grew legs and ran to the black catfish on their own.

The members who heard this description were dumbfounded. Nidhogg, the progenitor of the dragon race, whose dominant Word of Power, Emperor, was ranked first on the Word of Power sequence list and was the beginning of all Word of Power, had become a food delivery app in Mr. Fool's description.

Moreover, the Fire King and the Mountain King will also be going to the Arctic with them, so the lineup will be the same as it was during the time on Bello Island.

After explaining the origins of the global dragon plague, and perhaps to reassure his members, or perhaps to speak more, Forrell highlighted the efforts of various parishes: "The Old Church, through your collective efforts, is now spread across the globe."

“Most places, including areas that have frequently been plagued by war in the past, have dioceses belonging to our Old Church.” “The clergy in each diocese are actively working with the local mixed-race forces to resist the dragon scourge and protect the people to the greatest extent possible.”

"Moreover, all countries are aware of this global dragon calamity and are actively deploying modern heavy weaponry."

"Therefore, the safety of most people in various places can be well guaranteed, at most their living standards will temporarily decline. Only a very few places, where there are no old temples or modern heavy firepower, may experience unforeseen events."

This is not an exaggeration. The old church may not have been able to do much. After all, the only ones who were truly capable were the Zhou and Bai families, and the mixed-race individuals from the Tokyo diocese and the Laurent family.

The rest of those who went out to spread the word were mostly Xu Lie's clones. In order to expand their numbers, these clones who went out to spread the word had limited strength and could not possibly be a match for pure-blooded dragons.

But everything changed after Xu Lie made a mistake in his promotion.

Because of the mystical connection between the clones and the original body, the clones' status is elevated. Combined with the local hybrid forces, they should have no difficulty resisting pure-blooded dragons.

If they are unlucky and encounter powerful pure-blooded dragons in the area, such as second-generation or third-generation dragons with a significant difference in strength, their clones can use a cheat code to summon the Hound of Fortune from the gray mist to assist in the battle through a messenger ritual.

The Hound of Fortune is not good at melee combat and can't beat the second or third generation in a head-on fight. But when it comes to beating a dog, you have to consider its owner. It can't beat pure-blooded dragons, but the Hound of Fortune can summon historical projections, which is its greatest strength.

These dogs could easily summon Xu Lie's historical projection through their strong bond with Xu Lie, and the outcome of the battle would be self-evident.

The members were indeed reassured and calmed down.

"However, when facing the Dragon Calamity, if conditions permit, we should try to capture it alive." Fort's next words left the members confused.

Capture a pure-blooded dragon alive?

This is very different from the 'dragon-slaying education' they have always received. Both the teachings of Nuwa and the education at Kassel College have taught them that humans and dragons are irreconcilable, and that slaying dragons means killing them all.

Why is Mr. Fool thinking of capturing dragons alive? Chu Zihang, whose thinking is not very flexible, thinks that it must be because of the relationship between the two honorary fellow believers, the Dragon Kings, Old Tang and Xia Mi, that Mr. Fool is showing mercy to pure-blooded dragons.

However, Fingel, Chen Motong, and even the head of the family who valued sustainable development, quickly grasped Mr. Fool's intention.

Nuwa raised her hand excitedly, and after receiving permission, she asked with great enthusiasm, "Respected Fool, after capturing pure-blooded dragons, do you intend to raise them and harvest dragon blood materials regularly?"

Chu Zihang looked at Nuwa with some surprise. So that's how it is? The Fool and the Old Church's true intention was to breed pure-blooded dragons?
“Not bad.” Bao Lie relayed Xu Lie’s order: “The dragon blood materials stored within the church in the past are sufficient for the clergy to exchange.”

"However, with the birth and rapid expansion of the church, most of the materials for potions, especially those of low and medium rank, began to be in short supply, which greatly limited the church's development."

"The best solution to this problem is large-scale breeding of pure-blooded dragons. In this way, not only can we harvest materials from pure-blooded dragons regularly, but also a large number of by-products such as dragon blood grass, dragon blood fruit tree, water dragon lotus, and fire dragon copper will appear when the pure-blooded dragons live."

“In the past, most pure-blooded dragons were dormant and could not be searched on a large scale. At most, they could only be searched by a few extraordinary individuals within the sect who were proficient in divination. Now that the dragons have been revived, it is a good time to capture dragons on a large scale.”

Nuwa nodded repeatedly, greatly approving of Mr. Fool's plan. Nuwa was not aware of the power of other families, but the Zhou family of Xiangyang had spared no expense in order to allow their people to embark on the path left behind by the old days.

The demand for low- to mid-range potion ingredients is enormous. Even the Zhou family, with its thousand-year-old heritage, doesn't stockpile many of these lower-end materials. They have spent countless sums of money on the international black market to acquire them.

They procure large quantities of low-end dragon blood materials from various underground channels around the world, even causing these materials to slightly increase in price.

If we could breed pure-blooded dragons in the Old Church, we could save a lot of money and do other things in the future.

More importantly, the old church can produce its own products for its own use, so that it will not be held hostage by outsiders.

Chu Zihang couldn't see this problem from the perspective of a family head, but he also unconditionally supported the development of the Old Church. He secretly thought that when he led the team to hunt dragons in the future, he would try his best to capture them alive.

Fingel and Chen Motong could see this consideration, and even knew in their hearts that they could help capture a few pure-blooded dragons, but Mr. Fool's words were mainly meant for Nuwa and Asou Makoto.

Because only the regional bishops can allocate enough manpower and resources for large-scale dragon hunting and the construction of breeding farms.

If they were to act individually, they could at most escort a few pure-blooded dragons to Nuwa or Aso Shin, since they didn't have private lands for breeding, nor did they have enough people to do the breeding work by hand.

As for Chen Motong, the self-proclaimed bishop of the Diocese of Kassel, forget it. Even if Principal Angers is one of their own and supports them, the other members of the Secret Party and the students will not agree to raising pure-blooded dragons in Kassel.

As expected, just as the two had predicted, Bao Lie's next words were that if the members captured pure-blooded dragons alive and had nowhere to keep them, they could send them to Nuwa or Asou Makoto.

Each dragon captured alive is rewarded with contribution points, and the rewards are quite generous. Apart from Xu Lie, no member is willing to refuse.

Last time, Mr. Fool promised that when you need Dragon King-level materials to advance to Sequence 2, you will still need contribution points to exchange for them. So everyone's enthusiasm for the task has been aroused, and they are preparing to save up more contribution points.

Having said everything that needed to be said, Bao Lie regretfully said, "You can talk freely now."

(End of this chapter)