That's right, that's what adventure is like!

Chapter 112 False Dragon

Cecilia finally looked up from the tangled web of documents and glanced at Aletta sitting opposite Roland, her tone flat.

"It's hard to say, she might awaken within a month—or I could force her to awaken, but that would be more painful."

Roland nodded, no longer dwelling on the question, and instead looked down at his greatest gain from this trip.

【Heart of Blue Crystal】

Type: Energy Core / Consumable Quality: Epic (Orange)

Description: A crystal about the size of a thumb, with a deep, dark blue color throughout. As the light flows, you can see countless blue filaments of light, like the undercurrents at the bottom of the deep sea, viscous and ethereal.

Effect: 1. Can serve as the core of a floating city, supporting the operation of the entire city for decades (requires a master blacksmith to inscribe runes to match the floating city type).

2. When held by the caster, it can trigger a resonance of surrounding magical energy, increasing casting efficiency and power by 200% (requires a special ritual to activate).

3. When in a ley line node, you can forcibly advance to a higher class rank by consuming this item (after which you cannot leave the ley line area).

4. It can be used as a spatial anchor point for special teleportation arrays, ignoring dimensional barriers (requires specific teleportation arrays).

Note: "We are eagerly seeking any item that can serve as the energy core of a floating city, starting at 50000 gold coins!" — Dwarf King Bald Firebeard. This thing is very powerful.

It's a pity that I can't use it directly, and exchanging it for gold coins feels like a waste of all the hard work I put in, since some things can't be bought with just gold coins.

"call""

Roland let out a long breath and turned to look at his wrist. The black patterns there had completely disappeared after the teleportation, offering no further guidance.

Fortunately, Cecilia was in a good mood because the blood transfusion experiment was successful, and she told him what to do next.

"Go to the very center of the swamp, where there is a long-dormant volcano. That metal fragment will guide you to the guide."

As she spoke, she casually took a crumpled parchment from the drawer and tossed it to Roland: "This is a drawing I did when I was young. Although the outside of the swamp has changed a lot, the inside is still the same."

Roland raised an eyebrow slightly, took the map, and slowly unfolded it on the table.

Aletta came over and started studying the inside of the swamp with him.

It must be said that the Trembling Swamp truly deserves its reputation as the most beloved adventure area for adventurers in Broken Rock Town. Its terrain is extremely complex, and it involves a wide variety of monsters.

Poisonous zones, swamps, giant monster lairs—even Cecilia marked some places as "dangerous," and the central volcano was surrounded by a ring of dark shadows.

Next to it was a slightly hastily written note in general language: "Silent miasma, lurking fog demons, enter with caution!"

Roland's fingertips moved across the map, estimating the distance.

Starting from the Dragon Vein Warlock's cabin, you must first pass through the area controlled by the lizardmen, then through the shallow swamp area teeming with blood leeches, then through a muddy wasteland, and finally through the Silent Maze.

"This is too much trouble—"

The more Roland estimated, the deeper his brow furrowed.

With his current strength, entering the deepest part of the swamp is not a problem, but after fighting on the battlefield for three days, all he wants now is to go back to Broken Rock Town and have a good drink of ale.

He looked up at Cecilia: "Is there another way?"

"Other paths? Of course there are."

Cecilia smiled, twirled a strand of hair with her fingers, and softly uttered a dragon-like syllable that Roland could not understand.

next second.

Suddenly, the fog outside the window surged, and a huge creature swept past from a distance, hovering about two zhang away from the wooden house, watching the three people inside.

At first glance, Roland thought it was some kind of dragon that had not yet grown up, but after careful observation, he found that it was not.

Its power is much less than that of a true dragon, even slightly weaker than Roland's, and its physical characteristics lack the majesty of a true dragon, only possessing some of its features.

This is a fake dragon.

It is about seven feet long from head to tail, and its body is covered with dark green scales. The edges seem to have been tempered by magma, and have a dark metallic luster.

A row of protruding bone spurs runs along its back, extending from the nape of its neck to the tip of its tail. When its wings are spread, they are dark red, with only pale gold wing bones symbolizing its faint dragon bloodline.

At this moment, it was staring at Cecilia in the room with its dark golden vertical pupils. There was no ferocity in its eyes, but rather gentleness and dependence.

Roland was slightly taken aback: "You actually kept a pseudo-dragon as a magical pet?"

It wasn't that he had any doubts about someone raising a fake dragon, but rather that he simply couldn't imagine that someone like Cecilia could tame a fake dragon.

In fact, although pseudo-dragons are relatively benign dragon monsters and do not have high requirements for their contracted partners, they extremely abhor being treated maliciously.

Furthermore, if they discover that their owner is tyrannical or manipulative, they will not hesitate to abandon them and leave without looking back in the dead of night.

And Cecilia, this unpredictable dragon vein sorceress, is able to get along so well with a pseudo-dragon.

Upon hearing this, Cecilia's face showed disdain: "A magical pet? You underestimate it—this is my friend."

As she spoke, she lightly snapped her fingers.

An iron cage outside shattered instantly, and the lizardman inside was swallowed whole by the pseudo-dragon before it could even struggle.

Thick blood fell to the ground, staining it with a dark red smudge. It lowered its head, making a satisfied whimpering sound in its throat, and its bone spurs twitched slightly, as if it were savoring something.

Then, he looked at Cecilia with an almost childlike expectation in his eyes, as if waiting for her praise.

Cecilia smiled and nodded slightly.

"Look," she pointed to the fake dragon with barely suppressed pride, "my old friend also has a heart that wants to become a real dragon—after my experiment succeeds, it will be the next beneficiary."

"I will make it a true dragon!"

The flickering firelight cast Cecilia's long shadow, and Roland suddenly noticed a strange emotion flashing in her eyes.

This sentence is true.

Roland paused for a few seconds, then stopped dwelling on the topic and turned to look at the pseudo-dragon outside: "So, you want it to take me to that volcano?"

"Not you, but all of you," Cecilia said lazily, leaning against the window and gesturing with her chin towards Aleta. "Her experiment was a success, and she's no longer of any value to me. You're taking her away."

Aletta paused slightly, then subconsciously looked at Roland.

Without hesitation, Roland immediately stepped out of the wooden house and walked towards the pseudo-dragon.

This dragon vein sorcerer's personality changes too quickly; it's too dangerous for him to stay here. It would be better to end the trial as soon as possible, as there are still many things to take care of in Broken Rock Town.

The pseudo-dragon stared at him for a long time, as if trying to confirm something, before finally lowering its head and letting Roland roll onto its back.

Roland found a spot between the bone spurs to sit down, turned around, and naturally extended his hand to Aletta.

Aleta stood at the door of the cabin, the firelight shining through her, illuminating the deep blue scales. She stared at the hand, stunned for a moment.

Then, she gently took his hand.

Using the momentum, he leaped up and landed behind Roland.

Aletta gripped Roland's clothes, her fingertips turning white from the force, before quickly letting go.

The pseudo-dragon spread its dark red wings, flapped them, and stirred up gray-white mist that gradually rose from the ground, looking like burning clouds from afar.

Aletta suddenly turned around and looked at the figure leaning against the door.

Cecilia crossed her arms, her pale purple robe fluttering gently in the wind. She didn't speak, but simply raised her chin slightly.

Aletta's lips moved, and in the end, she murmured something in a low voice.

The voice was so soft, so soft it was swallowed by the wind, so soft it was swallowed by the future, so soft that she didn't know if Cecilia could hear it.

But she still said it.

"Thank you, teacher."