"Dragon?!" Old Bloom was so startled by those words his jaw nearly dropped.
The others also looked grave, quickly drawing bows and staffs, preparing to meet battle.
Eserin lifted her staff and barked softly, "Mr. Arthur, you never mentioned a dragon coming to greet us."
Arthur stared blankly at the dark speck in the sky, his soulfire showing hesitation and stagnation, "That looks like His Majesty."
At that moment, the keen-eyed elven ranger gave a soft, surprised sound.
"No, that dragon isn't far off. It's just rather small, so from a distance it looked like it was flying here."
"Meaning it's just a young drake?" Eserin asked.
"It seems even smaller than a drake, and... there's a slime on its back?"
While everyone remained on alert, the young dragon in the sky suddenly dove down, flailing its limbs as it tried to land. After skidding a short distance, it landed right in front of them.
"…"
Little Ka blinked and met the wary gazes, hastily composing himself, sitting up straight as if to say, "I'm not a vicious dragon," then obediently lay down.
"Plop."
A green blob of slime jumped off the dragon's back with a crisp sound, snapping the stunned group back to reality.
Eserin paused for a moment, then recovered, putting her hands to her chest and performing an elven courtesy.
"Eserin of the Dryad domain, greetings to Your Slime Excellency."
Chen Yu secreted a glob of slime and jumped into her palm, projecting a thought.
"Welcome to the Slime Kingdom."
"Thank you for personally coming out to greet us." Eserin bowed her head.
As the two exchanged greetings, low whispers rose from behind.
"Ffny, have you ever seen a dragon like that? It's so tiny."
"Probably some sort of subdrake."
"Subdrake?"
The fact that the king of the Slime Kingdom actually had a subdrake mount surprised the elves.
Subdrakes have extremely thin dragon bloodlines and retain strong animalistic instincts. Their temper is often violent;
they are more like beasts with dragon features than intelligent dragons. In some demi-human tribes and other languages, they are even called "dragon-beasts"—meaning they only have dragon looks but lack wisdom.
Because of this ferocity, humans often fear subdrake attacks even more than true dragons.
Real dragons are not only rare, but some belong to orderly, benevolent factions;
they usually do not harm people and some even befriend humans, taking human form to live among them. Tales of fallen knights encountering dragon maidens and becoming legends are common;
such stories sell well in city bookshops.
These days, however, the trend seems to be stories of "a farmer's son finds a broken dragon soul, grows under an ancient dragon's guidance, and wins his love."
That said, even the common bipedal wyvern is temperamental and nearly impossible to tame.
For a slime—even a Slime King—to ride a subdrake is truly astonishing.
Behind the elves, the Glimmerlings almost hid in fear when they saw the young dragon.
Only after seeing Little Ka still blinking innocently did they relax and start marveling at the slime's prowess.
"It's a slime dragoon!"
"Amazing. Slimes beat socks;
the Sock Kingdom doesn't even have dragoons."
"Shh, keep quiet. Don't let that thing hear you. Look how ferocious it looks—if it gets upset, it might eat us..."
"Don't say that."
The Glimmerlings hurriedly closed their mouths and stopped whispering, though their little eyes kept rolling toward Little Ka.
At the front of the group, Chen Yu gave Arthur a few instructions, asking him to lead the envoy back to the fortress, then he mounted Little Ka again and set off.
He planned to ride Little Ka around, but he didn't want to be a boring tour guide, so he left that job to Arthur.
Eserin watched the slime climb onto the young dragon, fly along the forest path, and vanish into the endless treeline, then turned her gaze back to Arthur, who looked somewhat dazed.
"I didn't expect your domain to have tamed subdrakes. Mr. Arthur, you never mentioned that His Slime Excellency would greet us this way."
Arthur: "…"
The truth was, he too had only just learned there was a subdrake in the domain.
He clearly remembered that Little Ka was His Majesty's most loyal guard, so how had it suddenly become a subdrake?
He was clumsy with words and didn't know how to explain, so he remained silent.
Eserin interpreted his manner as someone good at keeping secrets.
No wonder the Slime Kingdom sent a taciturn undead as a guide.
These seemingly innocent slimes were not careless with outsiders;
they had their own external logic.
The so-called Slime Kingdom was more of a kingdom than she had expected—at least more legitimate than most human caravans that made promises to the Dryad domain and then failed to keep them.
No wonder the Goblin Army couldn't handle these slimes and even lost parts of their mining areas to them.
Her internal evaluation of the Slime Kingdom rose quietly from "uncertain" to "reliable."
"Mr. Arthur, please go. These little ones behind me still have many gifts and luggage to take to their resting places."
Arthur nodded and used the small slimes His Majesty left behind to command the beetles to help carry the luggage, easing the Glimmerlings' burden.
The little ones relaxed and their steps became lighter.
They walked east along the forest path, and Eserin soon noticed a captive camp beside the path.
What made her even more curious was a giant boar the size of a small hill beside the captive camp, gnawing on oak trees felled by the captives.
With that boar's size, its rampages would be tremendous—like a terrifying siege beast. Probably only oak trees could feed it.
If it went into Rootwhisper Forest, even treants might not be able to stop it;
it could trample the Forest Fields freely.
Owning such a large war beast would raise the war rating...
Eserin recorded what she saw in her notes, but they did not stop there. They soon followed Arthur to the castle he had mentioned.
Looking up, the forest path ended abruptly ahead, and at the terminus stood a sizeable castle.
As a former member of the Ancient Tree Council, she had traveled the southern countries and seen many wonders, so the castle's size did not surprise her.
She did notice the walls were a combination of masonry and tree roots, clearly the work of slimes.
It was hard to imagine how much effort those tiny slime architects expended to build such a large castle;
it probably took several Winter Years.
Her gaze moved to the three neatly arranged battery arrays on the wall and the silver Metal Slime gunners.
"Slime battery arrays, and quite a few of them," an elf exclaimed.
Eserin nodded slightly and noted this discovery.
More battery arrays suggested the Slime Kingdom might have the capability to mass-produce magic battery arrays.
Magic battery arrays were one of the envoy's primary items to investigate—used to evaluate whether the Slime Kingdom could sufficiently protect the Dryad domain.
A few days earlier, the elves had witnessed the battlefield power of these arrays;
their destructive force matched human kingdom magic crystal cannons.
More crucially, they did not rely on expensive magic crystals as energy. Instead, they used Gray Gravel Crystal filled with mysterious energy as a power source.
Gray Gravel Crystal, a base material for producing Magical Dust, is commonly used by mages and alchemists to lay formations and brew potions. It is in high market demand.
Although not the only material for making Magical Dust—some crystals produce even better dust—Gray Gravel Crystal is abundant and cheap.
Only Gray Gravel Crystal can satisfy the large, continuous consumption needs of the mage community.
In the kingdom market, a whole Gray Gravel Crystal costs about one-third of other expensive crystals;
mined fragments or byproduct crystals sell for less than five silver coins per small bag.
Thus, if the Slime Kingdom could mass-produce magic battery arrays, their cost would likely be far lower than traditional magic crystal cannons.
Eserin pondered this and considered trading for magic battery arrays.
Whether she could propose such a trade depended on how the relationship between the Dryad domain and the Slime Kingdom developed.
As the envoy arrived, two Metal Slime gatekeepers hopped to the gate and hauled the heavy doors open.
"Crack, rumble rumble rumble..."
The gate swung wide.
Arthur invited the group inside. After passing through the gate, the scene opened up and surprised the envoy even more.
Most immediate was the increase in slimes and other magical creatures here!
Teams of beetles carrying dried moss monsters as rations crawled out of the oak farms in lines, transporting food to warehouses.
Old Bloom tread carefully, afraid he might accidentally step on them.
Above their heads, the buzzing of Poison-stinger Wasps never stopped.
These swamp-dwelling, dangerous wasps seemed to act as diligent gardeners—raising moss monsters, watering and fertilizing elf tubers, moving mud—everywhere they worked.
Passing through the busy central area of the domain, one could see slimes gathered together, studying or building, carefully tending crops.
This busy, vibrant scene looked like a perfectly ordinary afternoon in a monster kingdom.
The group felt a surreal sensation, their expressions dazed.
Who would have thought that a group of creatures humans considered lowly could form such an orderly society?
The Glimmerlings in the back felt as if they had wandered into a fairy tale, filled with curiosity about everything in the fortress.
"Are those slimes reading?"
"Better than me. Molly doesn't like books."
"They even farm? But without little shovels how do they dig?"
"Silly, slimes don't have hands, they can't use shovels. I guess they swallow the soil and spit it out."
"Wow, Molly, you're so smart."
The Glimmerlings chatted like cheerful sparrows, marveling at each new sight and unable to move on.
The group did their best to absorb the unfamiliar yet novel world before them, walking and stopping, spending half their time taking notes.
Especially Eserin. From the moment they entered the fortress, her pen never stopped. Only when the ink dried did she close her notebook, seeing that Arthur had led them to a row of treehouse shade.
Arthur said, "These are the temporary lodgings His Majesty arranged for you, places to rest while you inspect the domain for a few days. If you need anything, say so and I will do my best to accommodate."
Eserin glanced inside a treehouse. The interior was simple;
even the beds were laid with leaves, looking a bit rustic.
Only the fluffy down pillows and lightweight blankets looked decent—probably purchased from human markets.
Considering they were being hosted by monsters, the accommodations were thoughtful.
Eserin nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Arthur. We'll stay here for a few days. Please excuse us."
"Your lord should not mind us exploring the domain," she added.
Arthur shook his head. "His Majesty said mutual trust is the foundation of cooperation. Treat this place as home."
Of course, Arthur did not dare say the rest of His Majesty's sentence.
Saying "incorporate the Dryad domain into the Slime Kingdom" aloud would probably end his knightly career on the spot.
Arthur left, and the Dryad envoy adapted to life in the fortress.
After familiarizing themselves with the area, the elves left Old Bloom in the treehouse to care for the Glimmerlings, and the rest went out to survey the surroundings.
Meanwhile, Chen Yu rode Little Ka back into the domain. Although he had met the elves, he treated them as ordinary subjects and returned to the treehouse to continue practicing Dao arts.
With the Little Arrow Technique as a foundation, his practice of the Water Arrow Technique progressed smoothly. Before long, his status panel showed:
[Little Arrow Technique Lv.4 → Water Arrow Technique Lv.3]
Switching from Little Arrow Technique to Water Arrow Technique looked like a downgrade in level, but the actual potency, especially penetration, increased a tier.
As a simplified Dao art, the Little Arrow Technique sacrificed some aspects to ensure consistent casting. Its projectiles often dispersed on impact due to weak concentrated force, offering little penetration.
The authentic Water Arrow Technique was completely different;
even boulders could be pierced with ease. Unless the target wore heavy armor or protective magic, it was hard to resist.
After mastering the basics of Water Arrow, Chen Yu turned his attention to the book Grass and Trees as Soldiers.
If he had to liken this Dao art to magic, it would be a summoning-type art that uses trees, wild grasses, and herbs as media, animating them into plant puppets and controlling them.
Plant puppets, huh... basically treants without brains.
This art was not very helpful to him personally, since he already had a magical creature army following him everywhere.
But for his splits it would be very useful.
The clone that followed Yano into the Dark Realm would be constantly excited every step—vampires, undead mages might pop up and chase him and Yano suddenly.
With "Grass and Trees as Soldiers," he could randomly summon five treants for a group beatdown;
even vampires might give them a wide berth.
Chen Yu began to study this new Dao art intently.
Unexpectedly, his progress was unusually smooth.
It seemed his "Promote Growth" talent took effect;
he met no obstacles in the key steps of deriving plant matter.
In only one day he reached entry-level proficiency in Grass and Trees as Soldiers.
[Grass and Trees as Soldiers Lv.1]
Chen Yu spat a magical leaf from his belly. Green light flowed and spread along the veins;
the leaf that had lain quietly on the wooden board suddenly floated up as if alive.
It had no limbs and could only move by levitation under his control.
Leaves like this only had mobility and lacked attack methods.
But Chen Yu was surprised: the "Rock Seal Script" branded on the leaf seemed to become part of it.
Even when the talisman's magic was triggered, the script did not disappear;
instead it slowly regenerated over time—so this leaf puppet essentially became a permanent talisman.
What use was a permanent talisman?
At first glance, it only saved talisman consumption.
At this point, Chen Yu's gel brain with its odd ideas began to whirl.
If Grass and Trees as Soldiers turns leaves into leaf soldiers, grasses into grass soldiers, and trees into tree soldiers—and leaves are part of a tree—what if he painted talismans on all the leaves of an oak and then animated them? Could he create a "Rune Oak Guardian" with effectively infinite talisman power?
Hmm?
The theory seemed feasible.
But thinking it through, many problems needed solving to realize a Rune Oak Guardian.
To make a magic leaf, the first step is to pick the leaf and then use special spiritual energy techniques to turn it into a material suitable for talismans.
How could he perform that step without plucking leaves, keeping them alive and part of the oak?
Also, a single oak in summer has so many leaves they block sunlight layer upon layer. Painting that many leaves would take several slimes working nonstop for a year.
Those demands might be harsh;
perhaps there were clever talisman methods or ways to reduce the number of magic leaves, lowering the Rune Oak Guardian's requirements.
It all felt troublesome.
So Chen Yu decided to hand the plan to the Slime Scholar in the Tree Hall, or maybe old Viola had ways to solve these problems.
But that would wait until after the Slime Kingdom and the Dryad domain formally established cooperative relations.
His attention returned to the status panel, where he noticed a quietly upgraded talent.
[Split Proliferation Lv.4 → Lv.5]
Level 5 is a major threshold for any talent;
breaking through it brings transformation.
Lv.5 of Split Proliferation still only raised the clone limit by one, but the range of connection between the body and clones increased dramatically, and a curious new feature appeared.
Chen Yu called it a "blank clone," or perhaps a "liaison."
A blank clone could not carry any talents and had no mobility, but its splitting limit was unlimited—so long as nutrition was sufficient, he could split as many as he wanted.
If he gave each magical creature one, it would be like equipping them with a personal liaison;
all monsters could maintain direct two-way communication with him.
A low-end spirit network had formed.
From then on, his commands could quickly reach all magical creatures, improving internal communication efficiency.
"This is great."
He would no longer have to split off a clone every time to communicate with others.
He tested it on Beet.
He secreted a pea-sized gel clone and placed it on the wasp guard's head.
The black, fierce wasp suddenly looked like it was wearing a soft gel hat, making the whole wasp look a bit goofy.
"...My...King..."
Beet's timid voice suddenly sounded in Chen Yu's mind, proof the gel liaison was working.
"Can you hear me?" Chen Yu asked.
Beet paused, then flapped its wings in response.
"I can... hear you, King. Please instruct."
It worked.
Chen Yu was delighted and immediately produced many small gel hats, letting Beet call its companions to distribute them.
Soon, a stream of puzzled voices sounded in Chen Yu's mind—slimes, Poison-stinger Wasps, beetles—each now able to contact him at any time.
But communicating with so many creatures at once taxed him;
he struggled to process the volume of information.
The low-end spirit network's flaw was that monsters could not communicate laterally;
each remote message had to pass through Chen Yu's mind and then be forwarded by him.
He became an information relay, nearly constantly handling massive request flows.
To solve this, Chen Yu secreted a fifth little slime.
"You, from now on be the Strategist Slime, responsible for handling intelligence and relaying commands."
The Strategist Slime puffed up its belly earnestly as if to say, "Task accepted," then closed its eyes and entered an efficient data-processing state.
Chen Yu nodded in satisfaction, then remembered Yano might still be in the Dark Realm's Gore, and decided to check on him.
...
Deep in Gore's ruins, layered canopy blocked the dim sky. In a clearing of phosphorescent wild grass, a campfire crackled, sending sparks into the air and lighting a few weary faces.
Little girl Nilly had gone out to scout and hadn't returned, leaving only a few at the camp.
Yano was crouched beside a toppled stone beam, hunched over and staring at it.
In front of him lay a small slime, its body gently rising and falling, seeming to sleep soundly.
He carefully prodded the small slime's bouncy gel with his finger, repeating that motion many times.
"Boss, wake up, wake up."
The little slime did not respond.
"Boss, wake up..."
Yano kept poking, and at some moment he thought he saw a twitch in the little slime.
Huh?
Was it his imagination?
His finger still pressed the gel, and the little slime slowly opened its eyes and met his gaze.
"Yano, what are you doing?"
Yano cleared his throat, a little embarrassed, but then remembered the important intelligence he had gathered and grew serious at once.
To avoid disturbing the three resting nearby, he lowered his voice, "Boss, something's wrong. I've heard rumors that many Blacktooth mercenaries are gathering at the Outpost Ruins ahead. They seem to be heading for our domain."