Spellcasting Gods

"Who...who are you?!" Shuoying glanced at the dwarf not far away and questioned him loudly in the Dragon language.

Because it was blind in one eye, it couldn't see what the huge black shadow above it was, and could only identify it as one of its own kind by smell.

“My name is Ingrokastimizirian! The great dragon of chaos! You now have only two paths: submission or destruction. Choose.” Zhang Cheng stated his purpose directly, without any preamble.

“Ingrokastimizilian? Ice Death? You…you’re not a white dragon?” Shuoying looked up, staring in horror at its kind, who was three times its own size.

Perhaps in many people's eyes, dragons have long and unpleasant names and look pretty much the same, but within their own circles, they generally know each other very well.

Especially in the north, there are only a few famous dragons, which are easy to identify.

"Yes! I've recently undergone a slight change! I've also gained immense power! Submit! Or I'll kill you!" Zhang Cheng opened his blood-red maw, and scorching dragon breath began to brew deep within his throat.

If the other party dares to utter even half a word of dissent, he will burn them to ashes.

"You can breathe fire?!?" Sensing the agitation of fire elements in the air, Shuoying once again showed an expression of disbelief.

Regardless, the fact that white dragons breathe ice, red dragons breathe fire, black dragons breathe acid, green dragons breathe poisonous mist, and blue dragons breathe lightning is already common knowledge. The sudden appearance of an anomaly will inevitably be difficult for many people to accept.

Zhang Cheng ignored his opponent, his eyes blazing with a frenzied light, and warned in a low voice, "Last chance! Surrender or be destroyed!"

"I choose to surrender..."

Chapter 0480 Mithril! Mithril!

It must be said that "Shuoying" is a very pragmatic black dragon.

After comparing the size difference between himself and his opponent, he surrendered without uttering a single word.

Not only did it surrender itself, but its army of thousands of gray dwarves also followed suit and joined its new master.

These are not ordinary grey dwarves, but a vast grey dwarf tribe that has occupied the Mithril Hall for hundreds of years. The mithril they possess is beyond the imagination of the world. Not only is it piled up like mountains in the warehouse, but every adult grey dwarf also has at least one set of full armor made of mithril, at least three mithril weapons, a mithril shield, and countless mithril arrows and crossbow bolts.

If these metals were sold on the surface, it would likely cause a severe shortage of precious metals throughout the northern region.

After all, the most distinctive feature of mithril in Faerûn is that, for the same volume, it weighs only half as much as steel, yet it is harder and more resilient than the finest steel, making it the ideal material for crafting weapons and armor.

Imagine two pieces of equipment, one made of mithril and the other of steel. The former is half the weight of the latter. What does that mean?

This means that if the two are not much different in strength, the former will have faster movement and reaction speeds and slower stamina loss, making it easy for him to kill the latter.

Therefore, no warrior can resist the temptation of mithril weapons and armor, and they are willing to spend a fortune for them.

It can be said that apart from another type of adamantite with a hardness comparable to diamond, very few magical metals can be compared with mithril.

Gazing at the mithril ingots piled up in the center of the plaza below the valley, Zhang Cheng couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth and nod in satisfaction: "Not bad! It seems you've been mining this vein quite a bit over the years!"

“Great master, ever since we wiped out those damned surface dwarves and took over this place, we have been mining ore and smelting mithril every day. Even the dark elves of the Underdark cannot match our reserves.” An elderly gray dwarf with a white beard and hair bowed and answered cautiously.

As an old man who personally participated in that war, he would never forget the terrifying destructive power of the Shadow's dive attack. The Warhammer family even began to flee in a frenzy after resisting for less than ten minutes.

From that moment on, he resolved never to be an enemy of the dragon, otherwise his people would surely be wiped out.

“Very good! Tell me, how long can this vein be mined?” Zhang Cheng undoubtedly noticed the awe in the other party’s eyes and continued to ask.

"At the current rate, it will take at least a hundred years." The old dwarf hesitated for a moment before quickly giving his prediction.

"A hundred years... What if I joined in and used my scorching dragon breath to carry out destructive mining?"

“Even if you breathe fire without rest, it will take at least five years. The later the ore vein is developed, the more impurities and associated minerals there are, and the lower the efficiency becomes. Also, if I may ask, are you going to abandon this place?” The old dwarf clearly sensed something and raised his head, looking on nervously.

“Yes! I can tell you definitively that this place has been targeted by some powerful forces. It won’t be long before they send a large army to launch an attack. If you don’t want to suffer heavy losses, you’d better move quickly.” Zhang Cheng gave a straightforward answer.

Perhaps in many people's eyes, the recapture of Mithril Hall was merely Bruno's private affair, with only his people and the Shield Dwarves of Adba involved.

In reality, both Kelburn of Waterdeep and Elasdra of Silvermoon City secretly contributed a great deal of effort.

This means that the chosen ones of the goddess of magic have their eyes on this place, and it won't matter if there are a few thousand gray dwarves or even a few dragons.

In particular, Elasdra has been actively traveling between various towns in the North, trying to use his influence to bring the conflicted rulers to the negotiating table and form a loose alliance.

Zhang Cheng felt that these actions were likely aimed at him and Luskan, who was under his control.

"A campaign against them?! Are they so powerful that even you would be wary of them?" The old dwarf was clearly finding this result hard to accept, his expression twisted in disbelief.

“Yes. Perhaps repelling them once or twice isn't difficult, but do you know what will happen next?” Zhang Cheng lowered his head, his eyes filled with madness. “Next, a god will join the fray! The Goddess of Magic! One of the most powerful gods in the world! Her chosen ones will become our enemies. Tell me, have you ever witnessed the power of legendary magic? Do you want to watch your people be slaughtered by terrible magic?”

"No! I don't want to! You're right! We must leave here quickly!" The old dwarf shuddered involuntarily and shook his head desperately.

Few mortals dare to disregard the majesty of the gods, even the weakest of them.

Because the divine authority and extraordinary power they possess is a power that cannot be explained in words, especially the extraordinary power called "life and death control," which can penetrate most defenses in an instant and kill a mortal, no matter how powerful he is.

The famous founder of the Dragon Worship Cult, Samass, once clashed head-on with the Lord of Dawn. After a brief exchange, his physical body was instantly killed by the god, and his powerful magic only managed to scratch the god's avatar.

The gap between mortals and gods is so vast that very few intelligent beings dare to defy the absolute dominance of the gods.

“Relax, you still have at least a few months to use.” At this point, Zhang Cheng paused suddenly, looked up into the tunnel above, and quickly spotted a figure staring back at him. “Oh? We have a guest.”

"Guest?!" Shuoying, who was lying on the ground recovering from his injuries, suddenly raised his head and flapped his wings, trying to fly up and kill the intruder.

Before it could even lift its limbs off the ground, Zhang Cheng slammed it to the ground with one paw: "Quiet! Elasdra Silverhand is not someone you can handle. Wait here, I'll go talk to her."

The words had barely left his mouth!

He spread his enormous wings and soared into the air. Using the updrafts generated by the fire from the earth's core, he slowly flew to the edge of the cliff, grinned, and greeted, "Welcome, esteemed lady."

"Good day, mighty Chaos Dragon—Ingrokastimizirian." Elasdra bowed slightly.

Despite being surrounded by enemies, she maintained her elegant demeanor without showing the slightest panic.

"Can you tell me why you've come? Please don't tell me you came here specifically to chat with me."

“Of course not! In fact, I’m here to negotiate. Mithril Hall is the homeland of the Warhammer family, and I hope you can return it to Bruno.”

As he said this, Elasdra turned and glanced at the dwarf lying on the ground, his life hanging in the balance.

It goes without saying that she wants to use this opportunity to gain a steadfast new ally...

Chapter 0481 Extortion

"On what grounds? Just because of your word?" Zhang Cheng let out a cold laugh.

Although he had already decided to make a strategic retreat, that didn't stop him from taking the opportunity to extort more benefits.

It is known that the goddess of magic controls the magic network. No matter which mage invents a new spell or improves an existing one, as long as it is cast through the magic network, it will be immediately known and recorded by the goddess.

As chosen ones of the goddess, whether it's Elminster, Kelburn, Lyra, Hinb, or Elasdra, they all possess a tremendous advantage that ordinary mages can never attain: a vast reserve of knowledge and spells. These are precisely what Zhang Cheng lacks most and desires most.

Although the Arcane Brotherhood Library has a much richer collection than most independent mages, it is ultimately a small, insignificant organization that cannot be compared to spellcasting organizations with complete systems and traditions, such as Silvermoon City, Waterdeep, the Sel Empire, and Harua.

In fact, the Arcane Brotherhood had always maintained contact with the red-robed wizards of Sel, exchanging low-level spells that did not involve core secrets, and even providing a terrible drug that was smuggled into Silvermoon City and sold to addicts.

However, this kind of backstabbing and cooperation came to an end after Zhang Cheng took office.

Therefore, he is currently unable to acquire new knowledge and spells and urgently needs a stable channel, especially records of the development of legendary magic.

"You're not going to refuse?" Elasdra keenly sensed something, and a hint of surprise appeared on her beautiful face.

"Why refuse? Everything in this world has value. If you can offer me satisfactory terms, I don't mind giving up this place. Similarly, if the terms don't satisfy me, then I'm sorry, I will do everything in my power to protect my property. If you dare launch a full-scale attack, I will ensure this place is forever buried underground..."

As the last word was uttered, a powerful energy emanated from Zhang Cheng's body, causing the ground and cliffs to shake as if an earthquake had struck.

This is one of the abilities he has recently discovered, and it is also the earth power bestowed upon the Black Dragon by the Titans of Azeroth.

While he couldn't cause a catastrophic catastrophe on a planet like Deathwing, creating a minor earthquake within a region would be no problem for him.

Feeling the slight tremors from the ground, Elasdra's eyes revealed intense shock and vigilance. After a full minute, he shouted, "Enough! Stop! Tell me, what do you want?"

"Knowledge! I want all the knowledge in your head, from seventh-ring magic to legendary magic! In exchange, I promise I will never again covet the Mithril Hall." Zhang Cheng waved his claws impatiently.

For some reason, every time he saw the other person, he felt a strange aversion and a desire to destroy them completely, both physically and mentally.

"Knowledge?" Elasdra was completely taken aback by the terrifying black dragon's request and instinctively frowned.

Normally, the Five-Colored Evil Dragon prefers treasure most of the time, and she had originally planned to pay a batch of gold and silver jewelry in exchange for the Mithril Hall. But now it seems that she won't need it.

“Yes! I’ll leave with them whenever you send me what I need. There’s no need for an immediate answer; you can go back and think about it.” With that, Zhang Cheng gave the other person a meaningful look and slowly returned to the bottom of the canyon.

He believed that, given Elasdra's character, while he might not be able to meet all the requirements, he could at least meet half of them.

It should be noted that what this "Lady of Hope" least wants to see right now is the outbreak of war, which would trigger many hidden conflicts beneath the surface of the city, thus causing her plan to unite the towns surrounding Silvermoon City to fail.

For a woman who considers politics her lifelong pursuit, she would rather pay a price for temporary peace.

Zhang Cheng astutely grasped the weaknesses, or flaws, in his opponent's character, coupled with his complete disregard for whether Luskan would suffer devastating damage; if necessary, he had the power to overturn the entire situation in the North.

In any case, Luscan was just a tool to achieve his goals, something to be discarded when necessary, and he would never fight to the death for this city.

But Elasdra was different. She considered Silvermoon City more important than her own life and was willing to sacrifice everything for it, including her own life.

The vast differences between the two sides meant that the negotiations were unequal from the start. All Elasdra could do was to minimize the cost to himself and ensure that the dangerous and taboo knowledge in his mind would not be obtained or used by the other side.

……

Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away, Artemis Entreri was on the deck of a merchant ship, squinting as he felt the sea breeze blowing in his face.

Not far behind him, Regis was crouching cautiously in a corner, his eyes filled with fear of the future.

The halflings knew that once they returned to Karin Harbor, Guild Leader Puk would be very pleased to let them experience the most painful form of torture in the world.

“Little thief, you know what? I didn’t originally intend to arrest you; I just wanted your gem pendant. But that dark elf made me change my mind,” Entreri said without turning his head.

“Don’t get cocky! My friends will find me! If Drizzt can beat you once, he can beat you a second time,” Regis retorted through gritted teeth.

The assassin chuckled and shook his head. "Hahaha! You don't understand who I'm working with, do you? This time, I'll kill the Dark Elf in Karin Harbor, using his blood and life to prove that my path is the right one. Enjoy your last moments. Once the ship docks, your life will begin its countdown. If I were you, I'd prepare some poison and hide it, ready to take it as soon as Puk starts to torture you. That would save you a lot of suffering."

"I won't die! I won't commit suicide! My friends will come to rescue me!" Watching the other person leave the deck, the half-human bit his lower lip and muttered to himself in a voice only he could hear.

Judging from his trembling legs, it's easy to tell that he was just comforting himself, finding an excuse not to commit suicide.

After all, ever since they were taken hostage and escaped from Mithril Hall, the two of them, with the help of a dragon mage, were teleported directly to Luskan and boarded this southbound merchant ship. They had covered at least half a month's journey.

It was impossible for Drizzt and his group to catch up. Even if they did, Regis would probably be a mangled corpse by now.

Of course, what the halflings didn't know was that Entreri didn't intend to travel too fast; he would leave obvious traces at various ports along the way so that the dark elves could catch up.

Just as Zhang Cheng mentioned before, the game between the two has only just begun...

Chapter 0482 The Mysterious Visitor

"Drawing energy from primal wild magic, completely breaking free from the control of the magic network, and reshaping extremely complex spell models according to one's own will... indeed, legendary magic is what I have been pursuing and searching for all along..."