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Even if Moonfire were to capture evidence of Angelica Dragonslayer's slaughter of metal whelps within the dungeon, the Dragonslayer family would simply sever ties with her and express shock at the evil deeds of this "family scum."
Qin He didn't care whether these guys were actually secretly making a deal to slaughter metal dragons.
All he knew was that... this group of people would be completely erased from history.
"Miss Zhuang, after you've completed your certification at the Mage Guild, I recommend that you select a spellcasting weapon suitable for close combat from the Secret Dragon Shop."
Zhuang Daihua is not some fragile mage; she is empowered by the Claw of Power and the Claw of Protection, and possesses all the power attributes of a young purple dragon.
Crushing several fully armed soldiers wouldn't be a difficult task for her.
The Fire Dragon Dagger is a good weapon, and it can also absorb blood to nourish its blade.
But this thing is ultimately too short, and Zhuang Daihua isn't an assassin specializing in agility. To balance lethality and range, she needs to acquire a longsword that is sharp enough and can also assist in casting spells.
In this world, professions like Sword Singers, who can practice both magic and martial arts, are quite unrestricted. Here, Sword Singers aren't subject to the limitations that Qin He had imagined, which only allowed elves and half-elves to cultivate this skill.
Even though she wasn't a sword chanter, it didn't prevent Zhuang Daihua from using various weapons in combat while casting spells. Even without battle aura, she could still attack using the characteristics of the Purple Dragon.
For example, Shiryu's Blade Breath, which can ignore physical defense and directly injure opponents, can be used by Zhuang Daihua to attach to the blade in the form of sword energy.
To others, she appears to be a gentle and delicate young mage, making it easy to fall into her trap. A weapon capable of bearing the breath of a sharp blade can kill an enemy with a single blow.
As long as the opponent isn't afflicted with countless enchantments or a monster overflowing with terrifying natural energy, Zhuang Daihua's attacks are almost always true damage.
"I see... Mr. Qin, do you have any suitable recommendations?"
Zhong Liuxiu's mischievous legs have quieted down considerably. Zhuang Daihua can now relax and focus on discussing her own affairs with Qin He.
"Hmm... I'll recommend these for now."
Qin He brought up the panel of the Secret Dragon Island shop, which contained several magical weapons that he had carefully considered and listed for Zhuang Daihua.
The first one is a seventh-tier sword-shaped spellcasting unit with a fire attribute bias, called "Weeping Flames." It burns with a blazing light that resembles molten steel and has a significant bonus to fire attribute spells.
It starts as a Tier 7 weapon, but it can be upgraded based on Zhuang Daihua's own strength. Although its base quality is significantly lower than the Molten Embers Staff, it has a lot of room for future growth.
This longsword is of moderate weight, making it suitable for direct use in casting spells. In the instant of a swing, offensive spells like fireballs can be unleashed upon the opponent.
"The Weeping Flame is a magical weapon forged by a dragon. It is made entirely of red dragon steel and its dragon blood is locked in using a special forging method, giving the blade a bright yellow color like a branding iron."
"The inner core of the sword is filled with the feathers of the phoenix, also known as the staff core. In addition, the guard and hilt are quenched with dragon tears, which provides excellent heat insulation."
The sword also features a beautifully designed magic circuit, with solidified magic crystals cut into ruby-like shapes, serving as embellishments on the blade.
This magic sword essentially has a permanent fire damage effect similar to dragon's breath. Simply swinging it can unleash quite remarkable effects.
Further enhancements can be achieved by adding magical materials and upgrading enchantments.
Although it's not a legendary staff like the Staff of Molten Embers, it can evolve and improve along with Zhuang Daihua's own progress.
Qin He also considered the issue of her funds in the form of Dragon Coins. While legendary weapons could be purchased from the Dragon Shop, the enormous sums involved were beyond Zhuang Daihua's current means.
The next item is a magic sword that has broken free from the dragon's elemental associations. It possesses both lightning and fire attributes, and after Zhuang Daihua linked her power with Qin Lan, she also gained the ability to use lightning-based spells such as lightning chains.
This dual-attribute magic sword perfectly fills the gap in the Molten Embers specialization's ability to enhance fire magic.
Its origins are even more remarkable; it was a weapon forged in the leisure of one of the most powerful Seraphim in legend.
The seventh-tier sword-shaped spellcasting unit, "Blazing Judgment," possesses both fire and lightning attributes. It can amplify spells of both elements and is further blessed by the Celestial Envoy.
"The Blazing Judgment was forged by a Seraphim attendant who descended to Earth in person. The specific craftsmanship is unknown, but the sword's core was made from celestial magical metals combined with the angelic feathers from the Seraphim attendant's wings."
The Seraphim are basically the strongest fighting force among the angels. Similarly, they are all around three meters tall, similar to Iristris.
The strongest among them are basically at the peak of godhood.
Of course, given its reputation as an artifact forged by the Celestial Servant, the price of the Blazing Thunder Judgment is more than double that of the Weeping Flames.
Zhuang Daihua and Qin Lan currently only have a total of 360,000 Secret Dragon Coins.
The Weeping Flame possesses the ability to continuously inflict Dragon Breath damage, and its ease of enhancement and enchantment, along with its excellent growth potential, makes it worth 60,000 Mystic Coins.
However, the price of the Blazing Thunder Divine Judgment more than doubled. Even Zhuang Daihua, who wasn't greedy, would shake her head at the price of 150,000 Secret Dragon Coins.
After all, Qin Lan also has a share of these Dragon Coins. They were originally intended to be used to purchase materials for Qin Lan's advancement after reaching level three Carved Skin Dragon.
Spending so many Mystic Dragon Coins on a weapon that isn't even urgently needed is such a waste.
Qin He still has one million Secret Dragon Coins left from wiping out the Bronze Dragon, but the distribution among the Blue Dragon, Jade Dragon, White Dragon, and Scroll Dragon members is still undecided.
"Hmm... what about the third one?"
Shifting her gaze to the third magic sword, Zhuang Daihua noticed its design. It was a swift, Western-style sword, appearing slender and agile.
The gauntlets are decorated with intricate magical runes, but they look rather ordinary.
"This one is also a seventh-tier weapon with good growth potential, but it doesn't specialize in any particular magic type. But that also means it can be used to cast all spells."
"The Banshee's Blessing - Night Weaver, is a weapon from the legendary banshee of death. It is not restricted by specialization and can use various forms of magic."
This swift sword can release a sonic effect similar to the banshee's song when unsheathed. The sonic waves can briefly intimidate, and the dragon's might can be stacked on top of the intimidating shriek.
In addition to creating a stronger deterrent effect, the scabbard also provides an enchantment that accelerates sword drawing, allowing the user to execute a thrust more quickly.
The Swift Sword form of a magic sword isn't actually much lighter than other swords. Combined with the Purple Dragon Blade's breath, which directly ignores physical defense, it can indeed defeat an enemy in one strike in most battles.
"The core of this Banshee's Blessing sword is said to be a strand of hair from a famous banshee. That is why it has such powerful adaptability to all magic."
The price of Banshee's Blessing - Night Weaver is slightly lower than that of Blazing Divine Judgment, and it is worth 120,000 Mystic Dragon Coins.
"So? Anything you like? Don't worry about the price. I'll distribute the rewards from wiping out the Bronze Dragon later. If you have time, we can team up again to go to the Secret Dragon Island."
Qin He knew that although luck played a significant role in the last battle on Secret Dragon Island, earning a large amount of Secret Dragon Coins again wouldn't be difficult as long as he was careful.
After all, the majority of Mystic Dragon Coins are earned through defeating monsters and wiping out enemy dragon packs. With Qin He's strength and stats, earning Mystic Dragon Coins shouldn't be difficult.
"Hmm... then I'll buy this Banshee's Blessing first. It's a dual-elemental magic weapon, so I can still cast spells with it."
The Banshee's Blessing can be combined with Shiryu's abilities to create a variety of combat strategies.
In comparison, both the Blazing Judgment and the Weeping Flame are far too conspicuous. Unlike the Molten Embers Staff, they cannot be disguised.
After the purchase was completed, the Banshee's Blessing - Night Weaver appeared in Zhuang Daihua's demiplane ring.
The intricately patterned scabbard, paired with the understated yet luxurious design of the spell circuits, truly befits a banshee's weapon for casting spells.
In the deserted alley, Zhuang Daihua fixed her anchor point and entered the demiplane ring.
She drew her sword and activated the succubus's song. The succubus's blessing emitted a strange buzzing sound that only Zhuang Daihua could hear, and then—
The song's influence caused several startled deer running through the kobolds' pasture to freeze instantly. They remained stunned for several seconds before regaining their senses.
"So powerful? Let's try unleashing the Dragon's Might again."
Dragon's might can directly terrify opponents. Even a red dragon with extraordinary talent like Yan Liu, which has reverted to its ancestral form, can cause internal injuries to ordinary creatures, even before it has fully matured.
Zhong Liuxiu can even use her dragon's might to instantly kill a large number of Snow Soft Rabbits.
Ordinary dragons can only intimidate; most soldiers who are scared to death on the battlefield are intimidated by the magnificent bodies and blood-soaked figures of dragons.
But now, Zhuang Daihua has imbued the sword with the dragon's might from the young purple dragon within the Secret Dragon Ring. When she drew the Banshee's Blessing, the sweeping dragon's might erupted along with the banshee's shriek!
Immediately, several Frightened Deer, equivalent to first-tier magical beasts, bled from their mouths and noses and collapsed dead.
Chapter 396 Heating up
Instant kill.
What does this mean? Even the ancestral red dragon Yan Liu, who was punished by Qin He by being locked in the basement, had to put in a lot of effort to kill the Frightened Deer, despite his lack of physical strength and almost zero fighting experience.
Although Yanliu was quite weak at the time and had no experience hunting large prey, she was still, after all, a red dragon who had inherited Yanling's bloodline.
However, Zhuang Daihua's attack, combining the Dragon's Might with the Banshee's Scream, easily killed the Frightened Deer, instantly annihilating this extremely resilient species.
Even third- or fourth-tier magical beasts must be on high alert when hunting Frightened Deer. This beast's vitality is incredibly strong; even Qin Lan would choose to use hypnotic breath to put it to sleep first, rather than attack it head-on.
Even the elusive Frightened Deer can be instantly killed by the Banshee's Blessing's shriek. This means that enemies in ranks one through three affected by the Banshee's Blessing will be directly impacted and severely injured.
Currently, the strongest beings in the demiplane, aside from Zhuang Daihua and Qin Lan, are Xue Hui, the peak fifth-tier Xue Xiao Xiong, and Ye Nuo, the lower fifth-tier half-dragon jackal.
The half-dragon gnoll chieftain was the perfect test subject for Zhuang Daihua. He possessed the Iron Dragon Blood he obtained from Red Rust, making him immune to the internal injuries easily inflicted by the Dragon's Roar.
If she can influence Yeno, who is at the lower level of the fifth rank, Zhuang Daihua can basically achieve the effect of killing on first sight in the Shallow Water City area as long as she does not face experts above the sixth rank. She can rely on the shriek of the sword drawn by the Banshee's Blessing.
"Your Excellency Purple Dragon, what are your orders for summoning me here?"
When Yeno saw Zhuang Daihua, he naturally lowered his head.
Its hyena-like head was the most typical appearance of a jackal-man, and with the scales in its fur, it was definitely not the kind of appearance that dragons would favor.
In fact, most dragons would show anger when they saw a half-dragon creature that stole dragon blood and grew dragon scales.
Yeno did not obtain the power of a half-dragon through pure dragon vein means, but rather obtained this impure power directly through the dragon blood he acquired.
If it didn't possess sufficient strength and be confident of defeating Shiryu in a one-on-one situation, it would never have come to the open area of the demiplane alone with her.
“Miss Zhuang, this test of the Banshee's Blessing doesn't need to be kept secret from the gnolls. It's not only a test of the sword's sharpness, but also a test of its loyalty.”
Qin He knew that an ordinary gnoll might willingly remain loyal to a powerful dragon. But if it was an individual that had stolen dragon blood and undergone a transformation, that would be a different story.
It draws knowledge from the dragon's blood and gradually transforms from a short-sighted hyena that only knows how to fill its stomach into a monster with inflated ambition.
This time, Zhuang Daihua used the Banshee's Blessing as a test to spar with it. If the gnoll feared being killed for stealing dragon blood and thus tried to strike first, it might kill Zhuang Daihua.
Therefore, this jackal must not be allowed to live.
"Isn't this... a bit too extreme? When faced with a life-threatening situation, it's perfectly normal to go all out to protect yourself, isn't it?"
Zhuang Daihua didn't completely trust the gnolls, but she still hesitated to use this method as a standard to test loyalty.
"Miss Zhuang, all you need to do is stop immediately after your first strike. Tell it beforehand that you're testing it out; it won't pose any threat to the gnoll."
"Even if it instinctively attacks to protect itself, after you stop as agreed, do you think it needs to continue fighting?"
Hearing Qin He ask this, Zhuang Daihua pondered and said:
"No. If I stop, it has no reason to continue in self-defense."
Qin He nodded and said:
"That's generally true."
“Unless… this gnoll intends to strike first and assassinate you! And you possess a demiplane ring, the Staff of Molten Embers, the Banshee's Blessing, and all the treasures of the ‘Purple Dragon Duchess.’”
"If the half-dragon gnoll with the Iron Dragon bloodline obtains the Molten Embers Staff, it will be able to kill all the kobolds! As long as you die here, Qin Lan, who is also a young dragon, will not be able to stop it."
After Qin He's prompting, Zhuang Daihua suddenly realized. If the gnolls were ambitious, then with their Iron Dragon bloodline and half-dragon bodies, they could turn the tide by desperately killing her in a one-on-one situation!
"Could it be... Mr. Qin, that's why you don't allow Xuehui and Xueli to appear in front of the gnolls?"
After the gnolls arrived, Qin He instructed Zhuang Daihua to conceal the presence of the Snow Owl Bear and her daughter. Before today's probing, weapons were distributed to the gnolls.
The gnolls were already far superior to the kobolds who lacked dragon blood, and now they possessed weapons and equipment. This gave Yeno even more confidence in his rebellion—
Even for a young Iron Dragon, how long could he withstand the repeated thrusts of the alloy spear?
Moreover, killing Zhuang Daihua means that her legendary staff, dragon treasure, and this demiplane ring—everything—will belong to Yeno!
If it seizes this opportunity, it can "rise to the top in one step." Only by seizing this opportunity can it kill Zhuang Daihua, who is the Purple Dragon.
—If the gnolls can't resist this temptation, then it has no reason to exist.
At that time, it will truly become Zhuang Daihua's first enemy to test her sword skills. Even if Zhuang Daihua loses in her one-on-one battle against the half-dragon jackal, Xue Hui, who is hiding, can still step in.
Even though the half-dragon gnoll is powerful, in terms of brute force, it can only be torn apart by an adult snow owl bear.
Because of her shapeshifting ability, Yuki, who hides in the surroundings in the form of a snow owl, is so well-known that even the gnolls cannot detect her presence.
After killing Yeno, Qin He has plenty of ways to extract the dragon blood from his corpse. Then, he can have Qin Lan use the true inheritance to select a worthy gnoll to inherit the Iron Dragon's bloodline.
Even without it, one can forcibly control the most powerful gnoll using the secret technique left behind by the Nine-Tailed Silver Fox Yu Li.
“Miss Zhuang, you are the chosen one of death, and also my ally. But in the eyes of the gnolls, you can be a huge mobile treasure trove.”
"You may intend to believe it, but it may not fully believe you. Although killing you will prevent it from obtaining the bloodline of the Purple Dragon, after you... Qin Lan's death will make its dragon transformation even purer."
Qin He knew that if this jackal-man had even greater ambitions, he might capture Qin Lan first and extract the true dragon transformation ritual from the iron dragon's mouth.
No matter how far the jackal people's wisdom can support their ambitions, Qin He will ensure that Zhuang Daihua and the others are safe and sound.
……
"I called you here today to test the effects of my new collection—Banshee's Blessing, a magical weapon with growth potential. Just a minor item in my vast treasury~"
Her previous gentle and quiet demeanor was not suitable for this kind of probing occasion, so Zhuang Daihua put on a haughty and aloof attitude.
Not only that, she also perfectly portrayed the boastful nature of the young dragon, showing off his treasures in front of his followers.
MM Racing