"Who do you plan to challenge next?" Zhu Gan asked the Dragon-man youth this question at the dinner banquet after the duel.
The Dragon-man youth smiled slightly, "We’re all duelists; we should give priority to ’our own’. Let’s try everyone out first."
He didn’t hide it: "I plan to challenge Yun Zhong."
"For this, I’ve prepared some arrows as a gift."
Yun Zhong’s main weapon is the bow and arrow, so the Dragon-man youth catered to his preference and prepared alchemy arrows of the Golden Level for him.
His negotiation strategy with Yun Zhong was roughly the same as with Zhu Gan.
Because both of them have a laid-back personality and advocate freedom.
Zhu Gan nodded slightly, the Dragon-man youth’s answer did not exceed his expectations, and he also confirmed once again Long Fu’s strong tendency to integrate into the Holy Fighters of the God of Duels.
In most forces, if a newcomer wants to integrate, they have to host a banquet, invite others, or find an intermediary to visit, relying on a long period to express their thoughts and prove themselves. But here in the Ice-Carving Kingdom, the dueling atmosphere prevails, especially with people like Zhu Gan and his group, who are chosen by the Duel Godhood to become Holy Fighters of the God of Duels, all from a deep inner recognition of dueling.
Therefore, a duel is the best knocking stone.
Even if their faith has other aspects, since they recognize dueling, then don’t say anything more, let’s fight first!
Zhu Gan must admit: The Dragon-man youth’s negotiation approach is really well-timed.
Hosting banquets, giving gifts, etc., are not the most effective, as they may even have the opposite effect.
Have a fight first, confirm the strengths and weaknesses, and the weaker party will naturally yield.
Take the current situation for instance, Zhu Gan’s arrogance is much weaker than before the duel.
I lost the fight with you; I should accept it willingly.
He proactively raised his wine cup, facing the Dragon-man youth, expressing thanks for the Golden Level magnetic tube fishing rod previously gifted by the Dragon-man youth.
The Dragon-man youth laughed heartily and, after clinking glasses with Zhu Gan, drank it all in one go.
Then he said, "You never used the magnetic tube fishing rod in the duel, which surprised me a bit."
Zhu Gan chuckled, "I’m an elf. Using the gift you gave me against you would be something disgraceful I wouldn’t do!"
The Dragon-man youth greatly admired this sense of pride.
The banquet ended with both guests and hosts enjoying themselves, completely resolving any previous disagreements.
In the end, Zhu Gan and Lin didn’t have deep friendship, just shared interests, having gone fishing together a few times.
If the Dragon-man youth had not become a duelist, then their closeness would naturally be clear as day.
But now, not only is the Dragon-man youth a duelist, but he socializes actively, fully integrating into the group, which made Zhu Gan carefully consider the situation.
On one side is the mysteriously backgrounded Long Fu, who has already gained Long Meng’s proactive care, and has interests with Mifang and Hegaetou. On the other side, Lin, who is already deceased.
Lin’s military background is worth considering, but now Mei Lin and others have been asked by the royal family to stop...
How should Zhu Gan choose?
Is it difficult to choose?
Zhu Gan certainly knows how to choose, but he feels awkward because he did have a bit of friendship with Lin.
At this moment, the Dragon-man youth actively offered him a ladder to gracefully step down.
First, by giving gifts, and then by inviting a duel.
Giving gifts expressed sincerity, and the duel showcased genuine intentions.
From then on, Zhu Gan can publicly declare: I was defeated by Long Fu, and moved by his sincerity, accepted his gift. I also did my part for my fishing friend Lin.
No one would talk nonsense anymore.
After publicly defeating Zhu Gan, the Dragon-man youth experienced a noticeable change in public opinion.
The question of "Who is the Dragon-man youth going to challenge next" became a hot topic.
This indicates that after his two battles with Mifang and the duel with Zhu Gan, the Dragon-man youth has built a solid impression of rapid progress and peak combat ability in the public’s mind.
There’s no doubt that this greatly benefits the Dragon-man youth’s rise in reputation.
"If next, you’re going after Yun Zhong, I suggest you train in Flowing Energy." Long Meng said during his guidance.
"Flowing Energy..." The Dragon-man youth showed a troubled expression, "I tried it before, didn’t I? I lack talent in this type of energy."
Long Meng’s eyelid twitched a little, "Your comprehension ability is the best I’ve seen in my life. Don’t say things like this publicly; you might get beaten."
After pausing, Long Meng slightly shook his head again, "However, what you said is not entirely wrong. You tend to master hard power, lacking some insights into Soft Power."
Long Meng summarized the Dragon-man youth’s learning achievements so far: "What you have mastered now, the cross-training energy and Gravity Force, is pure hard power. Tough Energy, Shock Wave is mostly hard with slight softness. Binding Force hasn’t been fully mastered yet; it’s primarily hard with less softness."
"Flowing Energy is almost entirely Soft Power, so for you to grasp it is indeed more difficult."
"However, according to my calculations, if you focus on training in the next few days, it’s still possible."
The Dragon-man youth frowned, "Isn’t this too slow?"
"I’d prefer to master Puncture Power and Cutting Power within this time period, as these are two of the three classic attacking powers."
"Hahaha." Long Meng laughed heartily, pointing at the Dragon-man youth, "I know you prefer offense over defense. Trust me, Flowing Energy will benefit you more than Puncture Power or Cutting Power."
"Especially against archers like those in the clouds, even just a single circulation of Flowing Energy can deflect incoming arrows."
Long Meng continued, "Puncture Power and Cutting Power are indeed both strong and subtle forces that you can quickly master, but they won’t be of much help for your next duel."
"I know your personality; you definitely don’t want to lose."
The Dragon-man youth finally showed a moved expression and slowly nodded, "Then I will listen to you."
Seeing the Dragon-man youth accept the advice, Long Meng’s expression became even more pleased.
Since he brought the Dragon-man youth to see Shuanglian, he found the Dragon-man youth increasingly favorable.
He guided the Dragon-man youth’s cultivation of these energies and found that the youth’s talent in strong forces far exceeded his talent in soft forces, which made him feel more fond of this thick-browed teenager.
He thought to himself: The Dragon-man youth excelled in strong forces, which shows that this kid is straightforward and upright, not adept at those complicated maneuvers.
Originally, he knew the Dragon-man youth was from the Red Dragon clan, and now this impression deepened significantly.
Little did he know, all of this was deliberately displayed by the Dragon-man youth for Long Meng to see.
The first energy mastered by the Dragon-man youth was Penetration, a type of energy that is dominant in softness and subtle in strength, proving his extraordinary understanding in soft forces as well.
"But I must disguise it a bit."
"If I have exceptional talents in both strong and soft forces, it would draw too much attention."
"Even if Long Meng personally guides me, I might lead him to suspect that I had learned the energies earlier and am merely putting on a show for him."
The Dragon-man youth didn’t want to overly provoke Long Meng.
Looking at Long Meng with a serious expression, the Dragon-man youth declared, "My plan is to challenge every duelist possible."
"Long Meng, you’re my final challenge!"
Long Meng laughed heartily once more, "I truly look forward to that day."
"To make that day even more spectacular, it seems I need to put in more effort to make you stronger."
Long Meng’s reaction was exactly as Cang Xu predicted: the Dragon-man youth’s active challenge would prompt Long Meng to teach with greater dedication.
However, the Dragon-man youth’s growth wasn’t solely dependent on Long Meng’s training.
There was also the Blood Core.
After this special training, the Dragon-man youth returned to the station.
A large array of dragon beast materials and Dragon Clan components piled up before the youth.
The Dragon-man youth once again absorbed them using his Bloodline.
The variety of Dragon Clan bloodlines expanded significantly, and the concentration of existing bloodlines skyrocketed.
Since the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps opened doors with the Alchemy Guild, they were able to directly trade with both the guild and the royal family, acquiring alchemy materials.
The Alchemy Guild was massive, the kingdom’s entire alchemy hub, with extremely abundant stocks. The royal family’s collection, however, was superior in quality.
Combining both sources, Zi Di purchased vast amounts of dragon beasts, sub-dragons, and even body parts from some Dragon Clan members.
This time, as opposed to before, the Dragon-man youth mainly collected bloodlines from the Red Dragon faction.
The stocks of the Alchemy Guild and royal family had quite a number of survivors.
Although the Frost Kingdom locally didn’t proliferate Red Dragons, the kingdom itself was a powerful trading nation, maintaining many stable external trade relationships.
The kingdom, mainly focused on alchemy, would, upon exporting, also import large quantities of alchemy materials.
Through Zi Di’s inquiry, she discovered some dragon beast materials close to Red Dragons mostly came from Fire Island. Many Dragon Clan bone, claws, and scales originated from the Frost Continent.
Currently, the Frost Continent is dominated by barbarians, who were the primary killers of Dragon Clan members during the Dragon Barbarian conflict, driving the Dragon Clan’s main base, Dragon Island, into the skies. So, the barbarian tribe naturally had the largest stock of dragon corpse materials.
Dragon meat and blood have a shelf life, but dragon bones, claws, and the like don’t face such concerns. Hence, the Frost Kingdom tends to trade for dragon bones, claws, and scales from the barbarians.
Materials from dragon beasts and sub-dragons were more affordable; true Dragon Clan materials were quite expensive.
Despite Zi Di’s extensive purchases, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps didn’t experience any financial shortage.
Thanks to the extensive Gold Coins from the Purple Vine Secret Stash!
Currently, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps is in the painful phase of detaching from the Lijian family, and the Alchemy Guild and Jingxiang family’s magic potion refinement just began, with no results yet.
The survivors are not only purchasing dragon materials in large volumes but are also investing in buying alchemy components, establishing magic potion production lines, and preparing to construct alchemy factories.
Both hands are firmly grasped.
The extremely abundant cash flow astonishes those monitoring the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
Zi Di invested more funds in the Dragon-man youth.
Seizing the Duel Godhood is of utmost importance; supporting magic potion production remains secondary.
Being a formidable merchant, Zi Di contemplated further development of cash flow. She planned to utilize some alchemy diagrams from the War Merchant’s database.
Precision is crucial here, as a single blunder could lead to suspicion.
After all, arms dealers sell finished arms, not arms manufacturing methods.