noveldepot Chapter 83 Transition
Chapter 83 Transition
The thick stench of blood filled the air as the victorious gnolls held their celebratory ceremony.
They savagely ripped open the goblins' chests, smashed their skulls, and devoured their hearts and brains. They even removed their teeth, scalps, and bones to use as ornaments, believing that doing so would give them the power to acquire the prey they had eaten.
Thor ignored the hyenas' revelry, simply telling the old hag beside him to "follow me," before flapping his wings and flying back to his lair.
The enormous red dragon quickly disappeared into the air, leaving the old hag behind with a look of uncertainty on her face.
She had intended to take this opportunity to escape, but the thought of the vow she had just made filled her with inexplicable panic. Gritting her teeth, she could only obediently follow.
Thor swiftly swept past the low hills, then with a fold of his broad wings, he landed on a platform specially dug out at the cave entrance.
He didn't care whether the witch would take the opportunity to escape; it was just a lowly evil creature. His decision to subdue it was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, and it wasn't worth him putting in too much effort.
When he focused his attention on the giant spinning wheel in his mind, he discovered that the balance behind the essence had reached 124 points.
Most of this came from the slaughtered goblins, while the rest came from the excited, bloodthirsty emotions of the gnolls.
This amount was enough to draw a low-level monster template. Thor took out 100 points and saved them, and exchanged the remaining 24 points for various ores and dragon crystals.
The Rock Dragon monster template has extremely high growth potential, and since it is currently in a period of rapid growth, it needs to consume a large amount of energy and substances every day.
One kilogram of Radiant Dragon Stone, one kilogram of Earth Crystal, plus three kilograms of Swallow Stone, three kilograms of Dragon Crystal, and finally one kilogram of Spirit Crane Stone—that's Thor's appetizer for today.
Nine kilograms of ore and energy crystals may sound like a lot, but for a red dragon that is over 10 meters long, it's just a mouthful.
After finishing his meal, Thor licked his lips with lingering satisfaction, feeling increasingly that although he was acquiring more essence as his strength grew, for some reason, it was never enough.
We must find a way to obtain more spiritual essence, preferably a method that can be harvested continuously and for a long time.
Just as he was pondering this, the old hag he had abandoned at the goblin's lair finally came running over, panting heavily, her withered hands supporting her knees.
Thor didn't know whether the ugly, mutated creature was simply putting on an act to gain his trust because it had exhausted itself in its haste to get there.
He didn't care about that either. In his view, his subordinates, whether they worshipped, feared, or hated him, could become a source of spiritual essence as long as they showed obvious emotions.
Before the hag could catch her breath, Thor stepped to the edge of the platform, his golden dragon eyes looking down as he growled condescendingly.
"I've heard that the witch is skilled at manipulating illusions and human nature, and is also adept at gathering intelligence. So you must know this mountain range quite well, right? I have a few questions for you."
The old hag below cursed the red dragon in her heart, but still wore a fawning expression on her face.
"What does the great red dragon want to know? I will tell you without any concealment."
"You'd better do that. Besides gnolls and goblins, what other races are in this mountain range, and what are their strengths? How often do the caravans that pass through the canyons make their round trip, and what is their size...?"
Clearly, merely subduing a pack of gnolls and a hag is far from enough to satisfy Thor.
In his planned territory, this mountain range stretching for hundreds of kilometers should all be subject to his rule.
Using this as a base, they will expand outwards as their strength grows, until they bring the entire wilderness, neighboring human kingdoms, and even the entire continent into their territory.
To achieve this, the first step is to unify all the surrounding evil creatures, so that this mountain range can only produce one voice.
As the old hag explained, Thor learned that the mountain range was called Greystone Ridge, which stretched 414 kilometers from north to south and was 132 kilometers wide at its widest point. The canyon he was currently in was located in the center of the mountain range.
Almost every hilltop and every cave here is inhabited by all sorts of evil creatures.
Goblins, kobolds, orcs, ogres, harpies—you name it, they had it. The two strongest forces were located at opposite ends of the mountain range: a group of cyclopes and a large orc tribe.
Thor never imagined that such a small, desolate hill could accommodate so many guys.
What do they eat to survive? Are they really like weeds, where water and sunlight are enough?
Thor's eyes flickered. While there were some troublesome creatures among them, none posed a significant threat to him.
After listening to the old hag's story, he spoke again.
"I've heard that you witches often keep in touch and exchange information regularly, is that right? I need more witches to work for me, so you'll have to go and bring them over now. If you succeed, I promise you'll be the leader of the witch society."
The deep, rumbling roar reached the ears of the old hag below, making her heart skip a beat.
Almost all evil creatures are born with an almost pathological desire to dominate other creatures.
However, she is just a newborn witch who is less than 200 years old since birth. Her magical knowledge and awakened spell-like abilities are not strong enough, and she is far from being able to compare with those old demons who have lived for hundreds or thousands of years.
If we could use the power of this red dragon to exploit other witches and obtain various precious magical knowledge and...
Thinking of this, the old hag couldn't help but get excited, and suddenly felt that pledging allegiance to the red dragon in front of her didn't seem so bad.
She immediately adopted the etiquette she had seen in human villages, bowed to Thor, and said excitedly:
"Thank you for your trust, Master, in entrusting me with such an important task. I will certainly not let you down. Just you wait and see!"
As soon as she finished speaking, at Thor's signal, her body gradually became blurry and soon disappeared completely.
She might bring back more witches on this trip, or she might never return and simply escape.
But so what? Evil creatures are like that; they appear compliant on the surface, but always harbor their own schemes and plots in secret.
Once I am stronger, I will begin to cultivate my own core retinue. These characters I recruit from the outside are ultimately just for transition.