Chapter 337 - 241: Smooth Return

These two hearts of the Black Dragon could obviously no longer be the original hearts of a Black Dragon. They were instead special magical tools fashioned out of the heart of a Black Dragon. According to Little Zi’s research findings, these two hearts were originally intended for forming a powerful undead creature by using necromancy to assemble dead bodies. However, there were flaws in the design, causing the resultant creature to collapse again after a short while.

Therefore, Little Zi estimated, these two hearts were thrown into magma for destruction.

However, the Dragon Power contained in the heart of a Black Dragon was extremely powerful and it instinctively protected itself as it wandered through the magma. Ultimately, it found its way onto this mysterious island and, by some strange twist of fate, obtained the Giant’s Weapon.

The Giant’s Weapon contained almost infinite power, and the two hearts of the Black Dragon simply hid in the magma beneath the island.

There, the giant girl constantly disposed of the waste from her experiments which ended up birthing strange creatures. The magma creatures which were born would immediately be captured by the heart of the Black Dragon and forced into a subservient array. However, after a short time, the capture would collapse. Those magma creatures would then regain their freedom and, upon doing so, would roam about in the magma following the instructions of the Black Dragon Empire. Eventually, they encountered the dwarves and started to battle.

All these seemed somewhat inconceivable, but as Sherlock Holmes said, after ruling out all impossibilities, whatever’s left, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

And so it turned out.

Leaving the Giant’s Weapon without the heart of the Black Dragon on the ground, there were palpable ripples of excitement in the air. Long Yi casually swept up the Giant’s Weapon into his personal space. Almost instantly, he felt the innate abilities of the pair of gauntlets.

Giant’s Grasp: It greatly enhances the toughness of Long Yi’s fists. Every punch Long Yi lands on an enemy can slightly diminish their Fighting Aura, the duration of which varies depending on their respective abilities, from a few minutes up to several days.

If taken to an extreme, this could mean that after a battle, Long Yi might be able to turn the opponent into a useless person devoid of any Fighting Aura! This was far too cool!

After putting away the Giant’s Weapon, Little Zi stood there, dazedly holding a Black Dragon’s Heart in each hand.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Long Yi.

"I’m wondering whether the death of our large group of maidservants back then was due to that bastard merchant or due to the Black Dragon Empire," replied Little Zi.

"We’ll definitely find out," Long Yi said.

"Yes, we will definitely ascertain the truth!"

Seven days had passed since Long Yi’s departure, and Golden Hammer, with dark circles under his eyes, had been guarding the magma gate all this while, with a hand clutching the collar of Morton’s shirt.

"You old rascal, if it weren’t for you bringing Long Yi into the battle, he would never have made this stupid decision! If anything happens to that kid, aside from us dwarves losing a great teacher of mechanical knowledge, how the hell am I going to explain it to his deceased parents!"

With nothing to say in his defense, Morton also deeply regretted his agreement after Long Yi proposed the crazy plan. Perhaps it was the constant harassment by the molten beasts that led him to this desperate situation. But Long Yi had now been gone for a full seven days, and it was genuinely starting to terrify Morton.

The dwarves were always straightforward, and considering the selfless help Long Yi provided, nearly every dwarf had developed deep feelings for him. Even without Golden Hammer’s accusations, Morton himself was on the verge of dying of guilt.

Xiaoyou was lying on the bank, quietly watching. As a Shadow Dragon, it didn’t have the strong fire resistance that Bajie possessed, so it had stayed here all along. Since the departure of Long Yi and his team, Xiaoyou hadn’t moved from this spot. During this time, Xiaoyou had felt the connection with Long Yi disappear for a few days. But the contract was still intact, so Xiaoyou remained calm the whole time.

Indeed, because of Xiaoyou’s calmness, Golden Hammer didn’t lose control. Otherwise, he probably would have already caused a big fuss.

However, the continuous waiting almost wiped out Golden Hammer’s already scarce patience.

But apparently, the people here weren’t the ones who were most worried.

Ever since Long Yi had left, Ai Lin had been waiting here, day and night, her eyes constantly fixed on the surface of the magma. Although, as a Half-Dragon Body, the physical exhaustion of a mere seven days wouldn’t pose any substantial impact on her, her inner worry just wouldn’t go away.

Ai Lin’s blind faith in Long Yi made her firmly believe that nothing would happen to Long Yi. On the other hand, Xiaoyou had also been constantly communicating with her.

"Listen here, you damn Morton, if Long Yi doesn’t show up today, I’ll throw you into the magma! Don’t think I won’t do it!" Golden Hammer, with bloodshot eyes, raised his voice again.

However, Morton completely ignored Golden Hammer’s threats and instead bulged his eyes out staring at the magma, "There’s movement in the magma!"

Golden Hammer punched Morton’s stomach, "Stop bullshitting! You think I will believe..."

Boom!

A gigantic lava barrel emerged from the magma, and Long Yi jumped out from inside.

"So hot!"

Long Yi, who had removed the Dragon Breath armor, roared.

"Long Yi!"

An elderly Golden Hammer, tears streaming down his face, rushed over, wrapped his arms around Long Yi and burst into tears.

"Uncle Golden Hammer! Calm down!"

After a series of mayhem, Long Yi finally managed to break free from Golden Hammer’s embrace. Ai Lin stood quietly nearby, a smile on her face, "Welcome back, Brother Long."

"Yeah, I’m back."

Long Yi’s successful return brought an unforgettable end to this incredible journey. The dwarves, who no longer had to worry about attacks from the Molten Beast, were overjoyed, expressing their longing for Long Yi’s magical voyage. However, the two Black Dragon hearts incited a deep-seated hostility towards the Black Dragon Empire among the dwarves. Although, in theory, this should not have been intentional on the part of the Black Dragon Empire, although Long Yi refrained from kicking his supposed enemy when down, his prudent silence, however, allowed the Dwarves to fill in the gaps themselves.

After a series of events, Long Yi’s status among the Dwarves was unprecedented. In fact, Morton had already mentioned that if it wasn’t for the rigid regulation that a council elder must be a dwarf, they would directly confer Long Yi the position of an elder. After all, every bit of help Long Yi provided to the dwarves was good enough to change their world, be it the selfless donation of various machines, the benevolent imparting of mechanical knowledge, or his life-risking venture into the magma to eradicate a threat that could have endangered the dwarves’ survival.

Golden Hammer once mentioned that not even a true dwarf could necessarily accomplish what Long Yi had. Most importantly, Long Yi never bargained with the dwarves.

Of course, Long Yi was initially only seeking fun for himself and had forgotten about bargaining.

Regardless, it didn’t matter as the dwarves would not forget what Long Yi had done for them.

At this point, Morton was a bit at a loss as the Black Iron badge was the highest level of trust a dwarf could give to a human. However, given the multitude of contributions Long Yi had made for the dwarves, the function of this inconspicuous Black Iron badge seemed to be inadequate. Moreover, ever since Long Yi received the Black Iron badge, he had never really taken advantage of its privileges. This made the straightforward Dwarves feel quite embarrassed, as if they owed him a huge favor.

Three days into the council elder meeting, the dwarves finally decided.

They decided to bestow upon Long Yi the identity of a dwarf.

Upon hearing this decision, Long Yi couldn’t help but smile. The dwarves were somewhat xenophobic, not quite as neurotic elves, but still, they had a fiercely exclusive heart hiding behind their seemingly broad-minded surface. While the dwarves liked to catch deals with humans and loved human hard liquor, they rarely asked humans to join their circles. It was evident from a scan of the Furnace Fortress. During the few days, Long Yi had spent in the dominantly monopolistic capital of the dwarven world, he hadn’t seen a second human.

Fine, let’s just become a dwarf then.

Then, on the day Long Yi officially became a dwarf, his Black Iron badge was immediately confiscated and replaced with a golden badge inlaid with a bright red gem.

This golden badge implied that Long Yi had officially become a member of the Dwarf Council of Elders, thereby gaining a say in the dwarven world.

"No way, I’m okay with the Black Iron badge, but an elder? Are you kidding me?" Long Yi insisted on handing back the golden badge to Morton before a group of dwarf elders.

"What, Long Yi, do you feel, this elder status is not enough to acknowledge your contribution?" Morton pretended to be angry.

"Uncle, stop provoking me, I know my own abilities. If it’s little rewards and favors you’re giving me, I would gladly accept. But the power of a dwarf elder is too significant. I don’t have the guts to accept it."

"Haha, you’re thinking too much! We’re only making you a dwarf elder, not the dwarf emperor! You better accept this thing right now! If you think the power is too much, just think about how you can continue to help the dwarves! Hahaha!" Golden Hammer laughed.

As an elder himself, Golden Hammer knew well that becoming an elder doesn’t necessarily mean having power. All matters concerning the dwarves require a detailed discussion before any approval, and things aren’t that simple.

Morton laughed and said, "Long Yi, you can accept the status of an elder without any concern. The truth is, the contributions you made for the dwarves cannot be appreciated by the mere status of an elder, but apart from this, we really don’t have anything more valuable to offer you. However, even though you are an elder, you don’t have to listen to Golden Hammer’s nonsense. You can exercise your powers at your own discretion. You must know that after becoming an elder, you gain a certain resource allocation right, and if you want, you can take everything you like away with you and there wouldn’t be a problem!"

Long Yi couldn’t help but break a sweat, Morton was really pretty straightforward.

"Fine, I accept it." Long Yi took the golden badge from Morton’s hand and examined it carefully. And then, suddenly, his face brightened up. "Since I am now a dwarf elder... well, I have a plan. Would any of the elders be interested?"

"So soon?" Morton laughed. (To be continued. If you like this novel, please visit qidian.com to vote, your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)