Men liked to discuss war. The recent Wutu rebellion would be brought up whenever war was touched upon.
Whenever Wutu was mentioned, Ever City would definitely come up, and the crown princess Li Yunzi would follow, and the talk would go out of control.
The dazzling combination of wits, bravery, and beauty once shone over Ancestral Dragon City State’s territory, but such an incident had happened during the calming of Wutu.
“It’s hard to establish prestige with a tarnished reputation. With no prestige, it’s impossible to command an army. The Ancestral Dragon City State’s Valkyrie was thrown off her altar by a plebian, just like that. Ai,” a delicate man holding a scroll sighed, shaking his head and looking at the group of young men spouting foul words.
Seeing as there were more and more people coming into the library, Nan Lingsha glared at Zhu Minglang fiercely, giving a look that seemed to say ‘I’ll let you off today!’
With her face covered, the people would only think of her as a regular beauty.
There weren’t many people in this area who had seen Li Yunzi before, or a thin veil wouldn’t be enough to ward off the stares from others. If that was the case, Nan Lingsha, who bore the same appearance as her, would have to stay cooped up in her residence!
Seeing Nan Lingsha off, Zhu Minglang began thinking.
She was studying at the Dragon Tamers Academy as well. How should he get along with this sister-in-law of his?
Truth be told, Zhu Minglang’s heart beat a little faster when talking in such close proximity with her. They were truly too similar. Even now, Zhu Minglang suspected Li Yunzi was testing him in her sister’s name.
However, the crown princess would probably not do something so childish.
Seeing her twin sister was as good as seeing the gorgeous Li Yunzi standing in front of him once more. He would think of her, more or less.
“Exactly what kind of a person is Li Yunzi? Is the reason why she didn’t kill me to vent her anger really as Nan Lingsha put it?”
Zhu Minglang was unable to see through Li Yunzi. She hid everything too deeply.
No matter what, if fate decided to mess with them, she shouldn’t be the only one paying the price. No matter how fearsome her reputation was, she had a soft side to her.
-I’d better become a powerful Master Dragon Tamer as soon as possible. Whether Li Yunzi wants me to take responsibility is a different matter.
-If I’m a proper human being, I can’t always hide behind her.
-I need to have the strength to pick up responsibility!-
—–
Dragon Tamers didn’t have much ability. A Dragon Tamer with no dragon was actually not much stronger than ordinary soldiers.
After all, dragons were key to Dragon Tamers!
Baiqi’s growth rate was high. He would probably advance to his growth phase at the end of autumn, becoming a true dragon with strength at the Dragon Child rank, at the very least.
But that wasn’t enough.
Luo Xiao’s Gilded Fire Dragon was an existence at the Dragon General rank, and his legs trembled in front of the Li Clan’s patriarch nonetheless!
At this point, it was hard to confirm whether there were any Dragon Monarch ranked dragons in Ancestral Dragon City State, but there were definitely some Dragon Lords!
“I’ll set a small goal for myself first; step into the Dragon Lord rank!” Zhu Minglang said to himself as he walked out of the library.
Currently, there were quite a number of people coming in and out of the library. They sent strange looks at him, one after another.
“Another one has gone crazy from raising dragons.”
“Picking out a dragon is like gambling; tons of people have lost their fortunes doing so. I hope that student doesn’t go thinking about life on the roof…”
For long-term considerations, he couldn’t be so poor.
In truth, other than planting mulberries and farming silkworms, Zhu Minglang had another craft passed on from his family: casting armor!
To commoners, armor was exactly that, armor. To those in power, they were consumables for war, and to dragons, they were great defensive tools in fights.
If a creature like the little crocodile spirit, who had a superior physique, could be fitted with a set of thick dragon armor, the horn attack he used back then would become much stronger. He would have been able to easily puncture the Violent Catfish’s abdomen and kill it by himself.
Dragon armors were incredibly expensive. Most Dragon Tamers would spend a fortune raising their dragons. Few could afford to equip their dragons with armor on top of that.
However, if one wanted to be an outstanding Dragon Tamer, dragon armor was a necessity!
Not only could it increase their strength, it could even save the dragon’s life at crucial moments!
Armor casting was Zhu Minglang’s family craft. Even now, the secrets and tricks to the craft were fresh in his mind. As a son of the Zhu family, he’d be letting his ancestors down if he had to spend a fortune to buy dragon armor for his pets!
He’d craft the armors himself!
Not only that, he could earn money with this trade.
There weren’t any forges in the Dragon Tamers Academy, and there didn’t seem to be a proper forge in Phoenix Falls Town, either. He needed to return to Ancestral Dragon City State for that.
He’d go over in the early morning, and return at night. First he’d cast armor for the rich and noble. He’d only craft a crocodile dragon heavy armor for Heiya in the future when the materials were gathered, and he had re-familiarized himself with the craft!
——-
As planned, Zhu Minglang headed to Ancestral Dragon City State in the morning, and crawled his way back to his residence at night, exhausted.
After his first day of forging, Zhu Minglang felt like his limbs and waist were about to break. After living for a few years like he had retired, his strength was far from what it was. Picking up the family trade once more had very nearly killed him.
There was even a moment when Zhu Minglang was actually considering the peach girl Niannian’s suggestion…
She had secretly told him the code to that pleasure boat: Madam, I don’t want to work anymore.
On the second day, Zhu Minglang made his choice between the pleasure boat and the forge. In the end, he dragged his sore body to the forge to be an apprentice there.
Although Zhu Minglang was born in a family of smiths, that was not where his interest lay when he was young. It was like his family knew he was a worrisome fellow, and had forcibly shoved all knowledge regarding their family craft into his brain. Thinking back, he really had to thank his wise seniors.
However, the art of forging was like any other craft. In addition to superior knowledge and techniques, one also needed to have the skills and experience, as well as appropriate physical strength!
Zhu Minglang needed to start as an apprentice and slowly get his feel for crafting back.
Furthermore, he needed to learn how to completely forge a dragon armor from scratch as soon as possible. He didn’t have the time to slowly train. He needed to practice much harder than when he had first come into contact with the craft.
The third day was just continuing his efforts!
A sharp sword was produced from the grindstone, and the fragrance of plum blossoms was born from the harsh winter. He had to keep his integrity!
If he really couldn’t hone his skills in this trade, then given his current circumstances, he would really have no choice but to sell his youthful appearance!
—–
Time passed very quickly. After half a month of apprenticeship at the forge, Zhu Minglang gradually recovered his skills at the craft.
Now, he could forge a soldier’s armor from scratch. That meant that Zhu Minglang could work in this trade to earn money.
Of course, the profit from selling armors for soldiers was too low. He needed to forge armors of superior quality and sell them to commanders and the nobles to be able to maintain his expenditures.
As for forging dragon armor, that would be the starting point on the path to fortune!
—–
The end of autumn was slowly approaching. Zhu Minglang didn’t go to the forge in the city state recently.
He wasn’t slacking off. He had promised Teacher Duan Lan to go flip the heavens upside down… no, to call for rain!
This was an expedition class. Since going to the eastern city was a long journey, he had to make some preparations.
The ones taking part in this journey weren’t students who were still wandering in front of their Dragon Gates, but real Dragon Tamer students; people who already owned real dragons!