Another World’s Versatile Crafting Master c1-1074

by Zhuang Bifan

  Lin Li felt as though his limbs were bound fighting in such a situation as he had to do his best to defend against the powerful dragon while devoting more effort to adjusting the other magical elements apart from the fire element. Fire element magic did not cause any harm to a pure-blooded Crimson Dragon; hence, the abundant fire element was not only useless to Lin Li, but also posed a great hindrance.

  Perhaps this gave the Crimson Dragon the home base advantage; however, Lin Li had an advantage as well. He was able to fly around as he pleased, while the Crimson Dragon was like a dog chained in the yard, unable to do anything about the children throwing stones at it because it was limited by the length of the chain.

  Only, this Crimson Dragon could do more than just gross others out by spitting—it could actually kill with it. Even though Lin Li had Legendary powers now, his shield could not hold up for longer than a few seconds in the face of the Crimson Dragon's fiery breath. The only thing Lin Li could do was to employ his honed Power of Flight to circle around the Crimson Dragon.

  Abruptly halting, suddenly changing directions… Lin Li's movements were not graceful. In fact, he looked clumsy as he dodged the fatal dragon's breath time and time again only in the nick of time. Despite that, the spells he cast while dodging the Crimson Dragon's attacks would always hit the Crimson Dragon without fail. Unfortunately, the Crimson Dragon was too resistant to the impact of spells; thus, none of them seemed to have any effect on it.

  The explosion of spells and the Crimson Dragon's howls rang in the cave as the situation became tense. Nobody could say for sure how long this tense situation could last, since it seemed like Lin Li might be engulfed by the dragon's breath at any time as he weaved around in the air.

  Then, the Crimson Dragon on the black stone platform at the bottom seemed to have started breathing fire. Well, anyone would be annoyed to the point of breathing fire if there was a fly that wouldn't stop flying around them.

  "Roar!"

  The slow flowing lava surrounding the black stone platform turned boiling hot following the roar of the dragon, and the temperature in the cave began rising. The yellow lava turned blinding silver so quickly that the change was visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye; it was a sign that the temperature was reaching an extreme.

  Flame Domain!

  The Crimson Dragon threw its head back, roaring once again as the powerful magical wave spread out in all directions. The Flame Domain expanded in an instant and engulfed the whole cave. The network of tiny cracks on the glossy, mirror-like walls of the cave disappeared as the walls were melded together once again by the high temperatures.

  The environment in the cave was already like a natural Flame Domain before; thus, when the Crimson Dragon's Flame Domain was unleashed in such circ.u.mstances, it would exponentially increase both in range and power.

  The lava around the black stone platform continued churning like waves in an ocean as flying dragons formed with the silver lava flew into the sky, flapping their wings as they charged towards Lin Li. These lava dragons were at least level-15 each and their temperature was 1000 degrees Celsius. While one or two of them was nothing much, it was a sight to behold with hundreds of them appearing at once.

  Lin Li was reminded of when he used Angels of Light and Dark to surround the Lord of Darkness back in the Throne of Darkness, except he was now the one being surrounded. The only thing that comforted him was the fact that these lava dragons were nowhere as beautiful as the Angels of Light and Dark that he had created.

  Lin Li held his magic staff and swept it across in a circle in front of him with the magical crystal on the tip of it facing outwards. A dozen lava dragons that had been charging at him were immediately frozen and fell into the lava river by the side. However, the frozen lava dragons did not even completely submerge in the river before they were thawed by the high temperature and flew up again.

  There was no absolute order in which the major elements that constituted the world of Anril triumphed over each other. The water element might dominate fire element, but it was also common for the fire element to oppress water element when it was at its peak. As a lava river flowed beneath the ground here, the density of fire element here was high, which allowed the Crimson Dragon's Flame Domain to become even more powerful.

  "Damn it, this is its home base and I am unable to lure it away!" Lin Li said to himself angrily as he dodged the lava dragons. Fire element magic did not work on the Crimson Dragon, and now ice element magic was being suppressed as well that he could not even unleash his Frost Domain here. He wanted to lure the dragon away, yet it was chained here. Well, the dragon would have fled long ago if it could instead of working like a slave here.

  As a descendant of the four Dragon Aspects, the Crimson Dragon was born possessing the Flame Domain. The Frost Domain used the basic Rule that constituted the world, and the flame element was the most violent and aggressive out of all the major elements. In comparison, Lin Li's Frost Domain was weaker, and on top of that, they were in an environment that could be considered a natural Flame Domain. In such circ.u.mstances, the Crimson Dragon that had been chained up for 1,000 years was likely comparable to level-24 in power.

  "I already told you not to trifle with it; anyway, it won't be able to chase after you, so we should go back and think of something else." Connoris was very worried even though he knew Lin Li could not be killed that easily. Still, they were facing an a.d.u.l.t Crimson Dragon, and besides, it was far more dangerous here than in the Throne of Darkness.

  "Since it can't catch me, I'm going to see who gives up first! How is it so difficult to deal with even though it is chained up?!" Lin Li unleashed a Thousand Miles of Ice, which caused dozens of other lava dragons to drop from the sky.

  No other Legendary-mage, not even those at the peak of the Legendary-realm, would dare stay any longer if they had to face off with a Crimson Dragon in a place so densely filled with fire element. Only Lin Li would dare do this as he did not have to worry about mana depletion due to his insane amount of mental strength.

  Of course, Lin Li did not really mean to fight with the Crimson Dragon to the end, as the Crimson Dragon still had the advantage of fighting in an advantageous environment and would not give in so easily even though Lin Li had insane mental strength and did not have to worry about mana depletion. If they were to really fight it out, who knew how long that would take.

  Brute force alone would not work if he was going to deal with this Crimson Dragon. Lin Li weaved through the air as quickly as lightning while the gears in his head turned at an equally fast speed, trying to come up with a way to get rid of the Crimson Dragon. If anybody could hear Lin Li's thoughts now, they would be sure to burst out in laughter as it was simply daydreaming. Even Connoris, who had seen Lin Li make many miraculous feats, did not believe that he would be able to think of a way to get rid of the Crimson Dragon. He had to be near the Sanctuary-realm to do that.

  Still, humans were the ones who came up with all these brilliant ideas, and the knowledge in Lin Li's head was put to good use now. A vague idea surfaced in his head, and after a vast amount of calculations, it gradually became clearer.

  However, there was more to the Crimson Dragon than just that. While lava dragons continued to appear and fly into the air, the lava river beneath them turned a brilliant gold, and a huge whirlpool began to form on the surface of the river. The golden whirlpool was an enchanting sight, but it was as pretty as it was deadly. Something huge was brewing, and in an instant, the fire element in the air became more and more violent—everything was getting distorted. Moreover, it wasn't the only whirlpool.

  Connoris had stopped persuading Lin Li to stop, and merely weakly remarked, "Hey, be careful. It's Dragon language magic."

  Dragon language magic was an innate magic of the Wyrms1 and one of the oldest magic in the world as well. It was quite like the Demonic runes that Connoris had mentioned. However, while it was old, it was not obsolete, as it was actually simpler than magic that used High Elves Print a
nd human languages. In short, it was a more direct understanding and use of the Rules of the elements.

  As a descendant of the Dragon Aspects, the Crimson Dragon used a dragon language magic that was even purer and closer to the original form of the magic and main source of the Elemental Power.

  The giant whirlpools on the lava river seemed to have a life of their own as they receded before suddenly exploding. Blinding balls of silver shot out from the center of the whirlpools at a speed that could not be matched by the lava dragons. They were basically cannonballs. Lin Li glanced at the top of the cave as he dodged the cannons, suddenly recalling a game he had played before he time travelled—marble throwing. The balls of fire element cannons landed on the ceiling of the cave and immediately burst into flames before the sparks fell down like rain.

  Lin Li weaved through the lava cannons like a fly, and while it was dangerous, Lin Li avoided the projectiles so expertly using his flight skills that not even the corners of his clothes were burned. He started to do things that looked pointless, like shooting magic at the balls of lava. Sometimes, he attacked those that were flying towards him, but at other times, he attacked those that were flying a distance away, confusing Connoris to no end.

  "Hey, what are you doing? Leave quickly, can't you practice your magic somewhere else?" Connoris yelled.

  "Shut up, you'll see." Lin Li did not give any explanation as he stubbornly continued what he was doing.

  While the Crimson Dragon was chained up, it still called the shots in the world of flames. Soon, the entire cave was covered in a layer of lava; it trickled down all the way from the ceiling to the cave walls, making it seem as though the entire cave was melting.

  As the Light and the Darkness Rules depended on the Holy Light and the Gloomy Dark, and neither was a domain that Lin Li mastered, the dragon had to be lured out using the Frost Domain as a foundation to create a magical domain of Frost, Light, and Darkness. However, if he were to unleash his Frost Domain in this world of fire, he would be swarmed by lava dragons and lava cannonballs even before the ice had solidified. His Frost Domain would be dissolved into nothing by the large amount of fire element in an instant.

  Hence, Lin Li was not in a hurry to use his Magical Domain, and only used normal ice element magic to attack the restrained Crimson Dragon instead. Or perhaps it was more fitting to say that he was provoking the Crimson Dragon and causing it to use more fire element magic to attack him. While he seemed kind of clumsy trying to dodge all the fire element magic thrown at him by the Crimson Dragon, this was all part of his plan.

  While the Crimson Dragon's magic seemed endless as its attacks chased Lin Li around in the air, Lin Li's Levitation Spell had already been similar to the effect of the Power of Flight even when he was still an Archmage. Now that he was truly a Legendary-mage, his Power of Flight was far more powerful than most other Legendary-mages'. He twisted and turned in the air and performed many difficult stunts, and the Crimson Dragon's magic that seemed to fill the air could not even touch the hems of his clothes.

  With one flying in the air and the other shooting from the ground, the tense situation lasted two days just like that. Perhaps the Crimson Dragon was tired of such a boring game of shooting, but the frequency at which it shot at Lin Li finally started to decrease.

  Lin Li detected this with his accurate senses, and inwardly shouted, Here's my chance! He suddenly dived and flew towards the Crimson Dragon, holding out his magic staff as the magical crystal glowed brightly. Meanwhile, he chanted an incredibly condensed form of a chant quickly in a sharp voice. "Thousand Miles of Ice, Thousand Miles of Ice…"

  In less than a minute, Lin Li released over 100 Thousand Miles of Ice consecutively using his almost limitless mental strength and insane way of condensing chants. While a single Thousand Miles of Ice was nothing to the Crimson Dragon, over 100 of them stacked together brought about such a sharp decrease in temperature that its Flame Domain fell apart in an instant.

  The sudden drop in temperature caused the slowly flowing golden lava to cease and turn into black igneous rocks. Not only did the cave lose its heat, but the solidifying of the lava and the flames being extinguished also caused the cave to plunge into darkness.

  As the Wyrm was incredibly hardy, the bite of mana did not cause much harm to it, but the damage caused by the destruction of its Magical Domain was something that even a Wyrm could not take. As the Flame Domain was destroyed, the Crimson Dragon whimpered, and the chains on its fleshy wings rattled sadly.

  Lin Li was aware that this would not last long, as only the lava's surface was hardened. The fire element would soon regain its position as the dominant element, and given the Crimson Dragon's ability, it would only need a short while to recover from the damage. However, even an instant was enough as the Magical Domain of Frost, Light, and Darkness spread out immediately, looming over the Crimson Dragon as it did so. Not sure if we mentioned it yet or not, but the author uses two names for dragons, hence the whole wyrm naming. Unfortunately, it's not clear what's the difference between wyrms and dragons even now...

  Chapter 496 - Endless Frost Seal

  As Lin Li hovered opposite the Crimson Dragon, snowflakes fell slowly and formed a thick layer over the black stone platform in the blink of an eye. Beyond the black stone platform, even though the lava had already hardened into rocks, the snowflakes that fell upon it still could not survive as they were turned into steam immediately, forming a thick layer of steam around the black stone platform.

  The Crimson Dragon howled as it struggled, its cries deafeningly loud as they shook up the world. How it wished that time would stop for a second so that it could recover from the damage it'd suffered, but unfortunately, time continued to pass like the most cruel curse, taking away its life as it did so…

  Lin Li would not have mercy now. While he did not know how Osric had managed to make this Crimson Dragon work as a slave here, he did know that as the descendant of a Dragon Aspect, it would not swallow its pride to submit to him and take him as the owner or anything like that.

  It wasn't the Angels of Light and Dark that Connoris had started becoming familiar with that appeared next to Lin Li now. It was a black-robed freak that carried a sickle and wore a wide-brimmed hat that hid his face. While there was only one, it was so massive that it was nearly as big as the Crimson Dragon.

  Connoris, who could not contain his curiosity, asked, "Hey, where did your bird people go? What's this?"

  Lin Li raised his eyebrow lightly and smiled. "This? I call him the Bearer of Death."

  The Bearer of Death waved his sickle and dived towards the Crimson Dragon, slitting its throat using the sickle. However, there was no wound when he did so, and only a blurry shadow was drawn out by the sickle. That was the soul of the Crimson Dragon. With a pounce, the Bearer of Death gulped down the soul of the Crimson Dragon before it dissipated into the Magical Domain.

  "You learned… this from Mephistos, right? Can't believe you actually manage to tire out the Crimson Dragon," Connoris said with a tinge of awe in his voice.

  "Tire out? It wouldn't be tired out even if we carried this on for another two months," Lin Li said as he looked at the carcass of the Crimson Dragon gleefully, not bothering to tell Connoris what was the true reason behind it. It was quite simple, actually. He was not just a mage, but an all-around master who was at least of a Master level in fields like potions, forging, mageweaths, and alchemy. Nobody knew magical element theories like he did.

  After elements were sequenced and the magic was released, the elements that resulted in the magic would be released again after the restraints were lifted. This endless cycle of recycling of elements allowed mages to have a never-ending supply of elements to use. Otherwise, there would be a great imbalance in magical elements if mages generally preferred a certain elemental magic.

  However, the magical elements that had just taken part in releasing a magic spell would be inert for a period, and only after this period passed could these magical element
s join the elemental sequencing again to release magic. As the fire element was the most violent, fire element magic had always been regarded as the most powerful of all, but few knew that fire element also had the longest inert period after taking part in releasing a spell.

  Lin Li kept using ice element magic to provoke the Crimson Dragon and circled it intentionally while using magic seemingly aimlessly to intercept the Crimson Dragon's magic. If all the spots at which the Crimson Dragon's spells ended were marked, one would realize that they formed a hemisphere around the Crimson Dragon. The Crimson Dragon was unable to leave, and was at the center of a hemisphere formed by inert fire element which hindered the entrance of active fire elements. This made casting spells increasingly difficult and lessened the suppressive effect it had on Lin Li's Frost Domain.

  Hence, Lin Li took the chance and used over 100 Thousand Miles of Ice to suppress the surround fire element as best as he could before unleashing his Frost Domain to destroy the Crimson Dragon's Frost Domain. Then, he used the Bearer of Death to swallow its soul.

  While it sounded simple, nobody besides Lin Li would be able to accomplish this even if they knew of this method. It was easy to understand the nature of the fire element inert period and set up a trap aiming for it. This was all knowledge that could be learned and replicated, but there was one thing that nobody else could replicate. That was to cast the Thousand Miles of Ice over 100 times in less than a minute.

  The inert period of fire element would not last forever, and if one was not able to create an environment that was advantageous to themselves before the inert period of the fire element ended, then all of this was empty talk. Only Lin Li was able to cast so many Thousand Miles of Ice in such a short time using his insane mental strength and create an environment that was ideal for his Frost Domain.