Evil dragon has a warm heart
Chapter 289 - 289 288 The Warm Snow Forest (Added Chapter

Chapter 289: Chapter 288: The Warm Snow Forest (Added Chapter, Seeking Monthly Pass) Chapter 289: Chapter 288: The Warm Snow Forest (Added Chapter, Seeking Monthly Pass) How many cold spring points there are on the snowfield, no one has counted.

But there are definitely a lot of them; millennia of ice have not entirely cooled the Dragon Sleep Continent. Countless forces of the earth accumulate underground, not only forming volcanoes and great dragons but also radiating continuously to the outside world in the form of cold spring points and Snow Forests.

“No matter how strong the Snow Demon’s power, it can’t block the path of life,” Russell said after entering Cold Spring Point, lighting a gemstone lamp.

The strong light emitted by the gemstone quickly illuminated the dim Cold Spring Point.

The walls and the skylight had been reinforced with stone, clearly intended for long-term use as a base, which regrettably fell into disuse later on.

In the storage recesses carved out of the walls, there should have been a considerable amount of food and emergency supplies. Now, the food was gone, leaving only some flour bags and boxes—the creatures of the snowfield had obviously paid visits to the Cold Spring Point.

As for the emergency supplies, they had been gnawed by mice and were almost completely ruined.

“Luckily, there is still plenty of firewood to boil some hot water,” Russell fetched some snow, put it into his water bottle, split the firewood, and successfully started a fire to boil water, “We’ll have flatbread for dinner, Polly.”

“Okay,” Polly was not picky about food.

However, when he actually ate the flatbread, Russell found it hard to swallow: “I really dislike this stuff, sigh, I miss the delicacies of the Cigar Courtyard.”

Polly quietly ate the flatbread without paying attention to Russell’s complaints.

Regardless.

They finished a meal of flatbread and, after sipping some not-so-clean hot water, Russell reflected, “You know what I’m missing?”

“What?” Polly inquired in his mind.

“Storage space,” Russell shook his head, “So many gems, so many metals, yet not a single one can serve as storage space… Do you know how inconvenient it is not to have a storage ring or storage bag when traveling!”

Polly didn’t understand.

Russell just sighed and left the Cold Spring Point to continue exploring the vast snowfield.

One cold spring point after another was successively discovered by him and Polly.

At the same time, he had ventured nearly a hundred kilometers deep into the snowfield, and based on the Cold Spring Points, explored the surrounding terrain. The snowfield also had its ranges of rolling hills, and there were plateaus and plains, but that was about it; much of the terrain was covered by ice caps.

“Hmm.”

Five days later, at the furthest Cold Spring Point, Russell looked at the results of his exploration recorded in his notebook.

“To the west of Curved Blade Mountain, it is mainly mountainous, and the terrain is quite uneven… If it is cultivated in the future, it might not be suited for agricultural farming.”

After all, the current productivity of the Dragon Sleep Continent is still primarily based on agriculture.

Even if Russell wanted to develop industry with the help of the Black Oil Dragon Ross, he had to first ensure agriculture could feed himself and his knights.

Otherwise, everything would be a castle in the air.

“I initially wanted to plant Rossay west of Curved Blade Mountain and create a Warm Enclave, as it would be closer to Tributary River Mouth… Now it seems, if we can’t develop warm lands to the west of Curved Blade Mountain, perhaps we could go to the downstream of Glowing River.”

The Glowing River entered Grotto Village and ultimately flowed into the dark underground river, leading to unknown places.

If Russell could open up the land south of Glowing Valley, maybe he could bring this dark river into daylight, turning it into a major river. With the river’s abundant water resources, he could make his territory a fertile land stretching a thousand miles.

“Let’s go,” Russell packed his bags, “I’m going home to take a bath and get a good night’s sleep.”

For these five days, he had been sleeping in the Cold Spring Point, and the conditions were rather tough. Of course, the only benefit was being able to ride the Little Dream Dragon and hunt Snow Ghosts without any reservations.

Unable to eat the Ice Soul Pearls of the Snow Demon, the Little Dream Dragon frenziedly devoured the Ice Pellet Pearls of the Snow Ghosts.

This caused Russell to see very few Snow Ghosts during the day, and as a result, he could not harvest many Ice Pellet Pearls to feed Rossay.

Returning to his domain.

After a brief rest, Russell ventured back into the snowfield, carrying out surveys downriver of the Glowing River. However, the survey had to be terminated after just one day.

That day, as Russell rode Unicorn Polly southward, he suddenly sensed something different.

It was a vague boundary line to the south of the Glowing Valley.

As a Phantom Beast Knight, Russell could clearly feel that once he crossed this boundary line, the influence of the Shadowflame Dragon would completely disappear, and once he returned within the boundary line, the influence of the Shadowflame Dragon would reappear.

“So, this boundary line,” Russell thought, “is the true boundary of the Shadowflame Duchy, and also the edge of the Shadowflame Dragon’s power.”

Within the boundary, the Black Oil Dragon Ross could be planted anywhere.

Outside the boundary, should the Black Oil Dragon Ross be planted, it was hard to predict whether it would hatch; moreover, without the protection of the Shadowflame Dragon, it was likely to be detected by the Snow Demon, potentially leading to an unpredictable situation.

“Can’t plant outside,” Russell shook his head, “Current me still cannot do without the Shadowflame Dragon’s protection.”

Therefore.

The area south of the Glowing Valley could not be transformed into a Warm Enclave.

“To the west of the Glowing Valley are mountains; to the south, the boundary; to the north, too close to the Volcanic Oasis… Now, only the east of the Glowing Valley remains,” Russell promptly changed course and headed east.

To the north of the Glowing River was the Volcanic Oasis, to the west was the Tributary River Mouth, and to the east was the Golden Prairie.

But because of the great distance between it and the Golden Prairie, a trade route had never been established.

“If I establish a Warm Enclave to the east of the Glowing Valley, I could indeed shorten the distance to the Golden Prairie, maybe even carve out a trade route that leads straight to it,” the howling wind and snow whispering in his ears, Russell thought.

If he really were to establish a Warm Enclave, it certainly couldn’t be right next to the Glowing Valley; he needed to leave room for the valley’s development.

Therefore, placing his Warm Enclave between the Glowing Valley and the Golden Prairie seemed quite appropriate.

The Golden Prairie was Baron Davis Golden Top Mushroom’s fief, who was Russell’s uncle and also a relative.

It would be ideal for them to support each other.

While he thought this, a dark skyline suddenly appeared amidst the wind and snow ahead—it usually indicated the presence of a snow forest.

“Let’s go check it out, Polly!”

“Alright.”

With a fixed destination in mind, Polly immediately hit full speed and, in the blink of an eye, rushed into this vast snow forest.

“This snow forest is much larger than the one where you first hid, as well as the one where Saiban resides!” Russell looked at the endless expanse of the snow forest and clicked his tongue in amazement, “The family maps haven’t marked this forest.”

The snow forest’s trees are relatively monotonous, mostly pines and firs, with occasional shrubs and mosses interspersed among them.

“This snow forest feels very warm,” Polly conveyed telepathically.

“Yes, I’ve felt it too; as soon as we entered this forest, the cold winds from outside were no longer felt,” Russell happily said, “Let’s thoroughly explore this snow forest, and we’ll camp here tonight. Perhaps we’ll find something.”

Fairy Saiban lives in the Saiban Snow Forest.

So this larger and warmer snow forest might also be home to fairies; it’d be good to wander around in the evening.

However, before Russell had wandered far, strange whispering sounds suddenly reached his ears: “Why isn’t it night yet, where are the mice, I’m already hungry…I wish I had endless mice to eat every day!”

“Hmm!” Russell’s eyes sparkled.