Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 476 The Magic Guild of the Imperial Capital

Before today, the brave warrior Xia Zuo had been wavering between confidence and insecurity.

Speaking of confidence, he has defeated all opponents in the world, even the Demon King was pinned to the ground and repeatedly rubbed against him at least seven times.

The Demon King is a reincarnated being, so naturally he retains his memories.

At first, it was angry and furious with Xia Zuo, and it swore to tear him to pieces.

But when he was pinned to the ground and had his neck slit like a chicken being killed for the seventh and eighth time, the Demon King's pride was completely shattered.

Its fear of Xia Zuo had unknowingly seeped into its very bones, and it was no longer willing to actively gather an army to challenge Xia Zuo.

The problem is that even though the Demon King didn't provoke Xia Zuo, he still couldn't stop Xia Zuo from coming to him, smashing the Demon King's army to pieces, then grabbing the Demon King by the neck, pinning him to the ground, and slowly severing his neck.

Pain is something the Demon King is absolutely not afraid of, but the despair of being powerless is something it cannot bear.

So now, after his resurrection, the Demon King has hidden himself in the north, where he built the Demon King Ice Castle, an ice castle that will never melt, deep in the snowy mountains.

The Demon King succeeded this time.

Xia Zuo hated the excessive cold and refused to set foot in the permafrost-covered north, which finally put the Demon King at ease.

However, the Demon King was far to the north and his control over his Great Demons was lax, which eventually led to the split of the Demon King's army, with each of the Great Demons becoming like a warlord.

While the individual demon races posed a limited threat, their individual actions created favorable conditions for humanity to unite into a unified empire, leading to the ongoing war of unification that humanity is currently waging.

In short, Xia Zuo is not afraid of the Demon King at all. How could he be afraid of a guy whose neck he has cut ten times?

However, Xia Zuo was somewhat intimidated by the Red Mirror Dragon because he really, really couldn't kill this strange monster.

He knew the dragon was dead, killed by a human boy named Shutark in the future.

Xia Zuo would certainly feel like the sky had fallen and the earth had collapsed. He could understand the rapid progress in magic, but was the progress in close combat really that terrifying?

Could it be that I, who am now invincible, will become a useless person a thousand years from now?

This doesn't make sense!

Fortunately, Frilian's research today gave him a reasonable answer: it wasn't that the future Shutark was invincible, but rather that the Red Mirror Dragon had been weakened by the rapidly advancing magic, becoming less powerful than it is now.

Although this weakening process will take hundreds or even thousands of years, Xia Zuo has no shortage of patience and endless time to wait.

Xia Zuo breathed a sigh of relief and asked happily, "Now the question I'm concerned about is, what's the next step?"

Frillie tilted her head and said, "To keep the weakening spell running and prevent it from being repelled by the Red Mirror Dragon, you need to cast a sufficient amount of spell at once."

"But I can't do it at all, and I don't know if my master, Celia, can do it."

Xia Zuo shook his head and said, "No, Celia's magical power is very strong, but she is good at high-powered violent destruction and barrier sealing. She is not very good at precise operation and rapid repetition."

"That guy doesn't have much patience."

"Frilian, do you have any other ideas?"

Frillie nodded: "I've come up with another way, which is to refine magic into potions."

"In a short period of time, inject a large amount of magical potion into the Red Mirror Dragon's body, making its body a natural nest for viral magic."

"Once that happens, the Red Mirror Dragon will be unable to escape the virus magic and can only wait in despair for its future death."

Xia Zuo said, "Yes, this method is very good, and it can also provide some redundancy in advance."

Frillie nodded: "Yes, but this method also has problems, and two big problems at that."

"Firstly, my portable laboratory has limited reserves, which simply cannot support the production of such a large quantity of magical potions. Moreover, the materials are far inferior, probably less than one percent of the required quality."

"The second problem is more serious. With my knowledge of potion-making, I probably, likely, and probably cannot concoct such a complex magical potion."

Xia Zuo was stunned for a while before nodding with a smile and saying, "I understand, we still need Celie's support."

"What's the big deal? We'll go to the capital and ask Celia for help."

"By the way, you can also exchange magical knowledge with her, avoiding the predicament of working in isolation."

"In matters of magic, we should all trust Celia's authority."

Frillie nodded: "Mm."

Likel Canyon is not far from the capital, about 300 miles away. The problem is that the canyon itself spans east to west and stretches for over a thousand miles.

Shazo and Frilian's sanctuary is located in the northwest of Likel Canyon, which is quite far from the capital.

Moreover, the canyon terrain was not suitable for travel, so they first left the canyon to the south, then turned east, and traveled on the plains for more than ten days before finally arriving at the capital.

This distance wouldn't have been much to them originally, but the war for human unification had reached its climax, and the rules of war...

The scale is getting larger and larger, and the frequency of battles is becoming increasingly exaggerated.

In order to avoid the battlefield of fierce fighting, Shazo and Frilian had to keep taking detours.

What was originally a journey of less than a thousand miles turned into a journey of more than two thousand miles after many detours, naturally requiring more time to reach the capital.

The capital city is the largest city on the continent, with a population of 80,000.

Standing on the riverbank, Xia Zuo looked at the increasingly prosperous city on the opposite bank and sighed, "It's been ten years since I last came here, and it looks like the population has exceeded 100,000."

Frillie's mouth opened slightly: "Amazing—"

This city is known as the imperial capital, but it has never actually become the capital of an empire, since no empire has ever been born on this continent.

However, everyone was convinced that this city was destined to become the capital of the future empire, and there was absolutely no other choice.

Because the city is located on the largest plain on the continent, at the confluence of two great rivers, it can directly control the entire plain and obtain abundant resources by taking advantage of convenient water transportation.

The only problem is that this place is easy to attack but difficult to defend; it will be hard to hold the city until the entire plain is occupied.

Thus, through the joint mediation of forces that did not participate in the struggle for imperial supremacy—the elves, the Northern Church, the merchant group, and the dwarven kingdom—the capital city became a city without war.

There's no need to attack the city at all. Just occupy all the surrounding villages, towns, and small cities, and you can directly obtain the city and enjoy its massive manpower and resources.

The occupier's strength will increase dramatically, transforming from a relative advantage to an absolute advantage, enabling them to defeat all enemies in a short period, unify the entire continent, and establish the first great empire in history.

"The bigger the city, the worse the sanitation conditions are."

Wearing a bird-beak-shaped mask, Xia Zuo walked on the muddy road, his heart filled with a sense of despair.

Frillie wore the same type of mask, clutched her suitcase tightly to her chest, and carefully watched every step she took.

She wore wooden clogs that Xia Zuo had made for her, with wooden teeth a full foot high, enough to avoid the dirty mud.

But Frillie became even more careful. She was terribly worried about falling. If she were to slip and fall on such a street, she would feel like dying.

Xia Zuo wasn't wearing wooden clogs. He could now walk steadily on the water and grass. As long as he wore a pair of straw sandals over his shoes, he wouldn't have to worry about getting disgusting things on him.

The sanitation improved as they approached the Magicians' Guild, and by the time Shazo and Frilian arrived at the guild's gate, the ground was already dry and clean, paved with cobblestones.

The stench and rotten smell in the air were completely gone, replaced by a faint floral fragrance.

This change occurred because the magic guild had money and sufficient power.

The Magic Guild is situated on a small hill, with a cobblestone path paved with magic and a spring that is used to wash the ground twice a day.

The water flow, aided by the slope of the ground, washes away all the filth, excrement, and garbage into the river, ensuring the ground remains clean and tidy.

When Xia Zuo and Fulilian arrived, the Magic Guild was flooding the streets.

The two of them were at the foot of the mountain where the sewage was flowing into the river. Xia Zuo looked at the sewage with white foam on it and his face turned green.

He swore quietly, "I will never drink the water from the lower reaches of this river again, absolutely not!"

Frillie's face was extremely pale: "Me too."

"Mr. Xia Zuo, rest assured, I possess the [Air-to-Water Magic], which will ensure you drink pure drinking water."

Xia Zuo nodded: "Thank you so much, little Frillie."

Frillie shook her head and said, "You're welcome. If it weren't for my stubbornness, you wouldn't have come to this dirty city."

Xia Zuo smiled and shook his head, saying, "The Red Mirror Dragon is also a worry for me. Helping you research it is my wish, and it can't be considered your willfulness at all."

"Actually, the Red Mirror Dragon is also Seria's regret, so when you make a request of her, you must be confident and absolutely..."

Don't think of yourself as someone who's there to beg for help.

"Do you understand?"

Frillie nodded emphatically: "Yes, I understand!"

At this time, the magic guilds were not yet the magic associations that would later become, and their strength and status were not as dazzling, so naturally, their entry requirements were not as exaggerated.

After Shazo introduced himself and Frilian and explained that they had come to visit Celie, no gatekeepers gave them any trouble.

Soon, a mage came out from the magic guild and led the two into the guild's interior, where they met Seria, who was studying magical plants in the magic garden.

Seeing her childhood friend and favorite grand-disciple, Celia was overjoyed. After greeting them, she happily showed off the magical plants and herbs she had successfully cultivated.

After she had finished showing off, Xia Zuo finally let Frilian explain her purpose.

Seria was utterly shocked. She asked incredulously, "You really found a way to weaken the Red Mirror Dragon?"

Frillie nodded: "Yes, that's right."

After saying that, she took out a large pile of bottles and jars, and used these specimens of Red Mirror Dragon flesh to demonstrate to Celie the [Red Mirror Dragon Disease Weakening Magic] she had developed.

Celia let out a long sigh of relief and praised, "Frilian is great! Your approach is correct. Since we can't defeat the Red Mirror Dragon monster in one go, we should use its own power to weaken it."

"Use a long time to transform the Red Mirror Dragon from an invincible bug into a normal, slayable monster."

"Great, that's a really clever shift in thinking."

Celia sighed deeply: "If I could have changed my mindset earlier like you, the Red Mirror Dragon would definitely not be alive today."

Xia Zuo scoffed, "Give me a break. When you were the same age as Frilian, you were so arrogant that you looked down on everyone. You never thought about changing your approach to solving problems. You attributed every problem to insufficient magic power or that your magic wasn't strong enough."

Celia blushed slightly and tried to defend herself, saying, "It's not my fault. I didn't have a teacher as capable and enlightened as myself back then."

"In short, I believe this solution is absolutely effective."

"Especially the alternative to magical potions, it's a truly ingenious idea."

"It's ready to be implemented!"

"What do you need me to do?"

Frillie smiled happily: "Grandmaster Celia, I've decided to use a magic potion. You must help me cure this."

The problem of manpower, materials, and space for refining the potions needs to be solved.

Seria frowned and said, "The venue isn't a problem. The guild has many vacant laboratories, and there are quite a few crafting materials and novice mages, but—"

Xia Zuo frowned and asked, "You're out of money?"

Celia shook her head and said, "I have money, but money is useless."

"Beginner mages can be hired simply by paying money, and laboratories and magic circles can also be rented and activated for a fee. The problem is that the magical materials are lacking."

She pointed to her nose and said, "I made my own rules: magical materials are valued in gold coins, but exchanges can only be made using guild points or barter."

"Gold coins can be used when exchanging, but the total percentage cannot exceed 30%."

Xia Zuo nodded and said, "I understand. Your rule can prevent the loss of magical materials and create a siphon effect on the outside."

"Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you."

"Frilian, take it out."

Frillie: "Yes, Mr. Shazo!"

As she spoke, she took out a large number of wooden boxes covered with sealing magic runes from her suitcase.

Without even opening it, Celia recognized the seal runes as dragon scales, dragon teeth, and dragon whiskers.

Upon opening the seal and seeing the several boxes full of blue materials, feeling the familiar, intense magical fluctuations, her eyes widened in surprise: "You guys went and robbed the blue dragon Erebus Buson!"

"Erebus has fully recovered."

"Great! Its recovery speed has increased, so we can increase the number of harvests from now on."

Frillie asked, "Grandmaster, is this enough?"

These belong to Frilian herself. If that's not enough, she can only temporarily use materials belonging to Shazo, and then find a way to repay them later.

Seria waved her hand: "That's enough, and there's quite a lot more than that. Once the potion is made, you can exchange it for some more needed materials from the guild's material warehouse."

Frillie smiled happily: "That's wonderful."