Tale of the Red Dragon Without Dragon’s Might
Chapter 282 - 278: Rapid Progress

Chapter 282: Chapter 278: Rapid Progress

Human Elixirs melt in the mouth and work quickly.

Heavenly Immortal Pills, however, are different. They harness the essence of heaven and earth, absorb the brilliance of the sun and moon, and require time to slowly digest.

Leon could vaguely sense that it took him several days to digest just one Green Lotus Small Rejuvenation Pill. For some reason, a phrase suddenly came to mind—mixing alcohol with medication, speed up the outcome.

Finally, the Green Lotus Small Rejuvenation Pill was fully digested. Leon could clearly feel that his mana had increased significantly; compared to before, he could now cast one additional Downy Hairs spell. Although it didn’t seem like much, in gaming terms, adding one Nine-Ring Magic Position clearly conveys its extraordinary power.

If the Green Lotus Small Rejuvenation Pill was this powerful, just imagine how incredible the Green Lotus Immortal Pill would be—directly giving a massive boost to mana. Put it in perspective: it would increase magic positions from One-Ring to Nine-Ring by one each!

Meanwhile, Leon keenly realized an issue: Heavenly Immortal Pills couldn’t be consumed limitlessly. Meaning, he couldn’t just eat ten Green Lotus Small Rejuvenation Pills to gain ten Nine-Ring Magic Positions. The first Nine-Ring Magic Position could be achieved with one Green Lotus Small Rejuvenation Pill, but the second might require two.

Everything has its limits. Be cautious not to overdo things like those cautionary tales from the fitness world—watch out for oddly pointed consequences.

Of course, Leon was currently just dabbling with protein powder, far from anything like steroids, and nowhere near horse-grade substances. There was nothing to worry about for now.

"Such immense power..."

The Green Lotus Small Rejuvenation Pill gave Leon a glimpse of rapidly enhancing battle prowess. So, barely after digesting it, and despite alchemizing the pill demanding an exhausting 49 days to complete, once his strength recovered, he quickly started preparing to refine the lower-tier version of Dragon Tiger Golden Pill: the Dragon Tiger Rejuvenation Pill, which could significantly boost the user’s power.

The Efreeti was easy to negotiate with. Not that he had much choice—being bound by the servant contract left no room for refusal.

In truth, the servant contract protected him; otherwise, he wouldn’t even be able to take on a Red Dragon shadow summoned by Leon through Downy Hairs Spell. To put it bluntly, he wasn’t even worth a single scale or feather. Of course, having known each other this long, Leon regarded him as a person regardless of the contract, but that was a matter for another time.

"I thought you needed my flames—to help you fight... Approximately fifty days, rounding up to a hundred, just to refine the pill. And I don’t even get a lick in the end?" Angelica grumbled indignantly. "I’ve upheld my promise, lent you my fire, and now we’re square."

"I don’t care if you’re alchemizing or alchemizing materials," Angelica snorted from her nose. "Find someone else more suited."

You can’t have a horse run while denying it grass—it’s simply impossible. Leon understood perfectly what Angelica wanted and said, "One thousand Gold Coins."

"What do you take me for?" Angelica cast a sidelong glance at Leon before closing her eyes again. "Don’t disturb my sleep."

"Two thousand Gold Coins," Leon offered.

"I am a mighty Red Dragon; I am Lady Melting Roar!" Angelica roared fiercely. "Do you think so little of me? Are my teeth not sharp enough, or are my claws not pointed enough?"

Leon maintained a blank expression and said, "Three thousand Gold Coins."

"Save it; I’m a Red Dragon, not your alchemy assistant," Angelica retorted angrily. "Red Dragons are born of destruction—kings created us to kill, to raze, and to annihilate. We weren’t designed to light your fires."

"Four thousand Gold Coins," Leon said, unconcerned about spending a bit of extra money.

"I still remember the time when I was but a juvenile dragon—how I slaughtered the Civilian Captain of that village before burning everything to ashes, searching for spoils amidst the raging flames." Angelica spoke with passion.

"Five thousand Gold Coins," Leon said. While willing to spend money, he didn’t want to be taken for a fool. "Don’t get too greedy, or I’ll start deducting from it."

Angelica snorted coldly.

"Four thousand Gold Coins," Leon muttered to himself. "I know an Ancient Jade Dragon who’s willing to light fires too."

"I admit Jade Dragon spiritual energy isn’t weak, but its flames—the Jade Flame Ashes—are a laughable excuse for fire," Angelica retorted.

"Three thousand Gold Coins," Leon offered again. "Salovis’s flames could work too."

"Salovis is a mere rookie who hasn’t even mastered Super Spitting Specialization," Angelica protested loudly. "Fine, fine. Since you’re my son... Red Dragons don’t work for anyone, but five thousand Gold Coins can be considered filial piety. A son seeks help from his mother, and a mother must oblige."

Fifteen thousand Gold Coins could build a respectable dragon lair. Five thousand coins was quite the sum, though it only required two months of labor. Even Red Dragons couldn’t deny money for the sake of excessive pride.

Money moves mountains, and it can even put dragons to work. Leon easily convinced Salovis to be his flame assistant and successfully refined another Dragon Tiger Rejuvenation Pill. It was a pity he hadn’t attracted the Dragon Turtle yet—had he prepared sufficient manpower, catching and enslaving that Dragon Turtle for at least ten years would have been a certainty.

A rare artifact titled "Fitness Handbook" surfaced—able to increase both the reader’s strength attribute and the attribute cap by two points. The Dragon Tiger Rejuvenation Pill also provided a two-point increase. The artifact had various restrictions on strength caps, but the pill had none whatsoever.

One Green Lotus Small Rejuvenation Pill and one Dragon Tiger Rejuvenation Pill weren’t enough to raise Leon’s challenge rating, but give him a few more, and it would certainly suffice. He spent the following days gathering alchemy materials—relying heavily on Cloud Giants, Gold Shore Chamber of Commerce, and the Githyanki to find them.

It wasn’t out of laziness; Leon simply didn’t know where to gather alchemy materials personally. He couldn’t just dart around aimlessly like a headless fly. Spending that spare time managing Watchtower Port made far more sense, especially as its monthly tax revenue continued to soar.

Day by day passed.

Tassera finally figured out the Focusing Eye. After weighing many considerations—such as the vast amount of energy it required, for which her Mage Tower would be indispensable, and the fact that it necessitated her own hands-on operation—she installed the Focusing Eye atop her Mage Tower.

Generous rewards attract brave heroes. Leon’s willingness to pay premium prices for alchemy materials brought excellent results, allowing him to gather quite a number of rare ingredients for additional Heavenly Immortal Pills. However, rare materials were scarce on the market, and his budget had already been exhausted—he had to save tens of thousands of Gold Coins for emergencies.

So many Heavenly Immortal Pills were enough to elevate Leon’s challenge rating by one.

Meanwhile, Leon hadn’t expected that his time on Volcanic Island had spanned years already. He was now only a few years shy of entering his youth phase.