Chapter 648 – Startling Changes
However, Zhao Hai had no problems dealing with these two points. As for the high quality water, he has Bubble. At the same time, who else was suitable for controlling water than Bubble?
Besides these two characteristics, there was also another property to this Water Refining Technique. It was that it was slow. Comparing Fire and Water Refining Techniques, Fire Refining Techniques were much faster. Fire Refining techniques uses fire to refine metals and other materials by hitting them with a hammer, removing impurities from these materials with each round of hammering.
Water Refining technique also has the same process but it uses water instead of fire. Naturally, control of water was extremely important in this process. If one was bad at control, then they would risk the destruction of the material, making it unable to be used anymore. Water Refining technique might remove impurities, however, it actually doesn't change the composition of the material, instead, it actually makes it much stronger and sturdier.
An advantage to Water Refining technique that was different from Fire Refining techniques was that the usage of water makes it possible to refine more types of materials compared to using fire.
Actually, the Humans also have some sort of Water Refining technique. For example, spear shafts, these shafts were needed to be immersed in water before they were going to be used. After a lot of steps, these would then be qualified to be part of a spear. If one were to look at it, then it was exactly like refining that used water. However, this method was different. The Water Refining technique of the Fishmen was used to get rid of impurities, while the Water Refining technique of Humans was just to make their spear shafts much tougher.
On the other hand, the Fishmen also used Human techniques in their refining. While using their refining techniques, they would also incorporate many materials together in order to make new and improved items.
After reading through the Water refining scroll, Zhao Hai sighed. This Water Refining technique is truly a one of a kind technique. In fact, Zhao Hai believed that Humans might be able to use it, but in a lower probability of success. Purifying water can be done through distillation, the only problem would be the control of water.
But all of these wasn't a problem for Zhao Hai. The reason why the Mermaids created this Water Refining technique was so that they wouldn't rely on Human-made weapons. Therefore, most of the materials used in this technique originated in the Sea. And since Zhao Hai had the Space's ocean, he had the proper requirements to perform the technique.
Laura looked at Zhao Hai and said, "Brother Hai, you don't need to be anxious. The Divine Race wouldn't be coming soon."
Zhao Hai smiled bitterly, he knew that Laura was just doing this in order to comfort him. And how can he not be anxious, the Radiant Church and the Dragon Clan's moves had become more and more frequent. Zhao Hai reckoned that the time of the Divine Race's move was not far.
After thinking about this, Zhao Hai couldn't help but loudly sigh. Then he turned to Laura and said, "Let's go and take a walk before resting. Then we'll head to Mermaid Island tomorrow." Laura and the others didn't decline as they followed Zhao Hai.
Unknowingly, the group arrived at the big pond where the Soul Sucking Reef was placed in. Zhao Hai didn't call it the Soul Sucking Reef anymore, instead, he changed its name to Tai Ji Pond.
Zhao Hai looked at the lotus' naturally formed Tai Ji Eight Trigrams Chart and couldn't help but become calm. He let out a long breath as he looked at the lotus flower. He couldn't help but smile as he remembered his time back on Earth.
Then suddenly, Zhao Hai remembered that the Water Refining Technique was able to refine a lot of materials. The Fishmen had done experiments wherein they refined living plants and animals. Although it had a small chance of success, it would yield good results if it were to succeed. Refined plants and animals would become much better than their unrefined counterparts.
When he thought about this, Zhao Hai's eyes couldn't help but shine. He immediately loudly called, "Bubble!" Then Bubble quickly floated towards him saying, "Young Master, you called me."
Zhao Hai nodded, then he looked at Bubble and said, "We had acquired method of Water Refining. I will have Cai'er teach you how to do it later, then Cai'er shall provide you with living plants as well as minerals to experiment on. When you fully master the technique you'll be living here in the Tai Ji Pond. Go and refine everything inside here, the lotus flower, the root, the stones, everything, even the small fishes. As long as I don't call you, don't stop refining. Understood?"
Bubble thought for a moment and said, "Young Master, I know how to read, there's no need for Cai'er to teach me. That little girl is too hateful. I don't need her, I can learn by myself."
When Zhao Hai heard this, he stared, then he looked puzzlingly at Bubble and said, "Bubble, you know how to read characters? Who taught you?"
Bubble shook his head and said, "I don't know, the only thing I can remember is that I've always been literate. That knowledge came along with the images of women from before. As for the other specifics, I really have no idea."
Zhao Hai looked at Bubble and said, "You really can't remember anything?"
Bubble nodded, "Young Master, the only things I can remember were the figure of a woman as well as characters. Nothing else."
Zhao Hai knitted his brows, he was confused about this matter. In the end, he can only give the beast skin scroll over to Bubble and said, "Alright, you go read this thing. Remember, make sure to take care in refining things in this pond. If you do badly, then I will boil you and make you into tea."
Bubble shivered in fright, he immediately nodded and said, "Young Master, rest assured, I will certainly follow your orders." Then he unrolled the beast skin scroll and read a bit before looking at Zhao Hai and said, "Young Master, I'll be heading back and do some experiments."
Zhao Hai nodded, then he turned to Cai'er and said, "Cai'er, provide Bubble with everything he needs to experiment with. Don't use good things. As long as he masters it completely, immediately have him enter the Tai Ji Pond." Cai'er nodded, then she turned to Bubble and smiled, which frightened Bubble so much that he ran away. While running, Bubble said, "Young Master, there's no need for her to look for materials. I'll go and acquire them myself!"
Cai'er coldly snorted as she yelled back, "You dared to call me little girl as well as hateful, you stinky Bubble, you're dead. I'll boil you into hot water." Then she chased after Bubble, leaving Zhao Hai and the others behind.
Zhao Hao looked at the two and could't help but chuckle. Laura looked at Zhao Hai and said, "Look at this, Cai'er had taken you as an example. She's now saying that she'll boil Bubble. You should know that Bubble is really afraid of being boiled alive."
Zhao Hai laughed and then said, "Of course I know, but that Bubble has extremely thick skin, so he'll definitely be fine. If you don't threaten that fellow, then he won't move. It'll be good for us to have Cai'er looking after him."
Laura and the others laughed as well. Cai'er had a deep connection with the Space. So she always places Bubble and Mu'er in check. However, she was also quite playful and wanted to play tricks, making Bubble's life interesting.
Mu'er was usually right by Zhao Hai's side, so Cai'er couldn't move him most of the time. Additionally, Mu'er always kept his calm, making him a bad target for Cai'er's pranks. Therefore, Cai'er stopped going after Mu'er and shifted her attention to Bubble. Bubble was a rascal and doesn't want to surrender easily. He was a perfect target for Cai'er's antics.
However, this doesn't mean that their relationship wasn't good. In fact, they were quite harmonious, Cai'er liked playing with Bubble while Bubble also liked being chased around by Cai'er.
At this time, Lizzy looked at the pond and said, "Big Brother Hai, will you really trust Bubble in refining this pool? This thing is a treasure, much more valuable than the God-ranked magic beast core. The core upgraded the Space by one level while this lotus actually upgraded it by five. If Bubble fails in refining it, then wouldn't it be a pity?'
Zhao Hai shook his head and said, "There's nothing to pity about. Refining might be the only way of evolving this thing. Forget it, there's no point in worrying about something we don't have any hold of. We'll just have Bubble be extremely careful in doing it. With his control over water, I don't think that there would be any issues."
Lizzy didn't say anything else. This Tai Ji Pond and the lotus flower were really too strange. Even Zhao Hai didn't know how this thing came about. They can only try what they could to upgrade it. In any case, they had acquired a new weapon for the future.
At this time, Cai'er suddenly ran over to Zhao Hai and said, "Young Master, Grandpa Kun came and was looking for you. It looks like an urgent matter."
Zhao Hai nodded as his figure vanished and reappeared inside Kun's office. When he saw Zhao Hai, Kun calmed his worried expression before he said, "Little Hai, something very important just happened."
Zhao Hai replied, "Grandpa Kun, tell me."
Kun sighed and said, "Yesterday, the Ocean Waves Dynasty suddenly announced that they would be handing their throne over to the Radiant Church. Their nation is now renamed to the Radiant Empire. It declared to be a nation that devotes itself to the worship of the Radiant God. At the same time, the Dragon Race suddenly attacked the Lyon Empire. The Lyon Empire's famous cavalry suddenly rebelled and in just one day, the Lyon Empire fell. The Dragon Race changed the nation's name to Saint Dragon Empire. They also announced their alliance with the Radiant Empire. At this point, the Dragons has complete control of the Lyon Empire while the Radiant Church has complete control of the Ocean Waves Dynasty."
Chapter 649 – The Dragons Must Be Eliminated
Zhao Hai stared blankly at Kun. Due to the shock, his mind has been unable to process the information for a short time. Zhao Hai felt that something just exploded inside his head, obliterating every thought that he had at the moment.
The news was just too sudden. After dealing with the matters of the Fishman Race, Zhao Hai was planning to wipe out the Dragons, eliminating one of the hands of the Divine Race. After that, he would slowly start to move against the Radiant Church.
However, he didn't expect that the Radiant Church and the Dragon Race would make this sudden move. Moreover, they had taken two empires simultaneously. Although the Ocean Waves Dynasty was the fifth largest Empire and was quite small, it was known that their navy was quite invincible. Their strong navy was due to their lands being surrounded by the sea from three sides, which also made their naval transport very good.
At this point, Zhao Hai didn't care much about sea warfare. He has the Fishman Race as allies. Even if the Ocean Wave Dynasty's navy was know to be invincible, it was only in comparison to other Human powers. The Dynasty's navy would have no chance in facing the Fishman Race at sea.
On the other hand, the Lyon Empire was a whole different story. The Lyon Empire was known as the second most powerful nation in the Continent. Their strength was formidable and because they were close to the Accra Mountains, they can gather wild beasts en mass then have those beasts become mounts to their Magic beast Cavalry.
A Cavalry that was made up of wild magic beasts was always more formidable than one with magic beasts that were bred. Therefore, the Lyon Empire's Magic Beast Cavalry was well renowned in the entire continent for its strength. In fact, this mighty nation was brought to its knees by their own Magic Beast Cavalry.
Zhao Hai slowly calmed himself down as he pondered on the consequences that were brought up by this development. He planned to eliminate the Dragons because they were legends that lived in the Accra Mountain. If Zhao Hai were to kill them, then nobody would make a fuss.
But this time, the Dragons had actually taken control of Lyon Empire. This meant that if Zhao Hai were to deal with the Dragons, he would have to deal with the Lyon Empire first.
Zhao Hai didn't believe that the Lyon Empire fell because of the Magic Beast Cavalry rebellion and the attack of the Dragons. Capturing an Empire wasn't that easy.
The smooth takeover of the Dragons was surely aided by the nobles of the Lyon Empire. In other words, the Dragons and the Radiant Church were already controlling the Empire long time ago, they just decided to reveal it at this time.
This was troublesome. If Zhao Hai wanted to deal with the Dragons, then he would have to wage war against the Lyon Empire. More importantly, Zhao Hai had thought about the reason why the Radiant Church and the Dragons decided to make this move. What did this mean? It might be because the Divine Race was close to attacking, therefore, the Radiant Church and the Dragon Clan controlled those two empires, allowing the Divine Race to have an initial footing in the continent.
Seeing that Zhao Hai hasn't spoken for quite some time, Kun looked at him and said, "At this moment, the Ocean Waves Dynasty and the Lyon Empire are gone. Meanwhile, the Buddha Empire was in the midst of an attack from those two new empires. Now that the Dragons have shown themselves, the other Empires in the continent have become flustered. This was due to the title of invincibility that the Dragons have held all this time. This development caused huge waves in the other Empires. At the same time, their alliance with the Radiant Church boosted the church's influence by a huge margin."
Zhao Hai nodded, then he turned to Kun and said, "What is the Rosen Empire's response? How are they prepared to deal with this matter?"
Kun forced a smile and said, "What else can they do? Even if they don't want to recognize the Dragon Race's sovereignty to the Lyon Empire, they also don't want to offend the Dragons. After all, the Dragons have great reputation. Also, whether they are young or fully grown, all Dragons are capable of flight. In this case, the Rosen Empire had no choice but to recognize the existence of the Saint Dragon Empire and the Radiant Empire."
Zhao Hai slammed his hand on the table, smashing it in the process. Then he talked through clenched teeth, "Radiant Church, Dragon Clan, I will not let you off easily."
Kun gave out a sigh and said, "What do we do? I suspect that this is the prelude to the Divine Race's invasion. If this is the case, then great troubles have come our way."
Zhao Hai nodded and said, "I have the same suspicion as well. The main thing we have to do is to destroy the Dragons first before the Divine Race arrive. Otherwise, the Dragons will provide the Divine Race with stable footing with their existing reputation. Moreover, the joint attack on the Buddha Empire is also very dangerous."
Kun nodded, "It seems like the Divine Race will attack at any time. While they still haven't come, we need to destroy the Dragons. Then we will deal with the Radiant Church later on."
Zhao Hai nodded, "But it's not time to act yet, wait for more news while I go and ask the Mermaid Queen for help in dealing with the Ocean Wave Dynasty's navy. We need to stop them from supporting the Lyon Empire. After that, we'll deal with the Dragons."
Kun nodded, then Zhao Hai turned his hand and withdrew a bottle. The bottle held the Messenger Fish. Zhao Hai handed the bottle over to Kun and taught him how to use it. Then he produced two more bottles and gave it to Kun, having him hand it over to Blockhead and Rockhead later.
Kun was surprised when he saw the three Messenger Fishes. He didn't think that this world would have such a thing, but he was still very happy. With these things, communication wouldn't be a problem anymore.
Kun and the others already have their own Space Bags, so Zhao Hai didn't hand them more and just told Kun that the bottles can be placed inside the bags. For this reason, Zhao Hai had made Bubble pay attention. If someone sends a message while the Messenger Fish was in his bag, then Bubble would go and inform Zhao Hai through the Space. Unless it was an important matter, Zhao Hai would keep his Messenger Fish inside his Space Bag.
After handing the fishes over to Kun, Zhao Hai immediately went to Iron Mountain Fort. Not only did he give a Messenger Fish to Green, he also distributed some Messenger Fishes to the stewards of every village as well as to some people with status in the Black Wasteland. The reason why Zhao Hai decided to send the fishes right now was because their numbers had already reached a high enough number.
The Messenger Fishes weren't very large. This was because Zhao Hai wanted them to be more convenient to use outside, so he had Cai'er further reduce their size. At this point, the Messenger Fishes were about two pinky joints big.
Moreover, after the level ups of the Space, the Messenger Fishes can now survive in any type of water and were very efficient in digesting food.
After dealing with the matters in Iron Mountain Fort, Zhao Hai then went to the Dwarves. He wanted to give Billy some Messenger fishes before telling him about the Dragon Race and the Radiant Church's movement.
Zhao Hai didn't care so much this time as he appeared directly inside his warehouse in Dwarf Mountain. When he came cout, the Dwarves outside the warehouse were very shocked, but it quickly turn to joy as they sent word to Billy. Zhao Hai didn't dally and directly headed towards Billy's office.
Billy was currently worried about the Dragons as well as the Radiant Church. The sudden move of the two surely gave them a huge blow, completely derailing the plans that they had thought up before. They were planning to slowly build their strength up until the fight with the Divine Race came. But now, it seems like it would be impossible due to the recent move of the Radiant Church and the Dragon Race.
The Radiant Church had some relations with the Divine Realm, and it was certain that they also knew about the Dwarves' participation in the last Great War. Therefore, it was impossible for the Radiant Church to just let the Dwarves off this time. It was for certain that the Dwarves would get affected with the recent development.
While he was ruminating on his thoughts, word suddenly came, informing him of Zhao Hai's arrival. This made Billy glad, he needed Zhao Hai to talk about this matter. And Zhao Hai's arrival was too timely.
Just as Billy was about to meet Zhao Hai, Zhao Hai had come inside Billy's office. Seeing his visitor, Billy couldn't help but smile and said, "Little Hai, good, you came. Come, sit down."
Zhao Hai nodded, and the sat opposite Billy before he said, "Patriarch, you should've known about the recent move of the Dragon Clan and the Radiant Church. How is everything going? Did the Dragons come in contact with you?"
Billy shook his head and said, "Not yet. Their move was very sudden this time, so they might not have the time to deal with us. How about you, what do you think we should do now?"
Zhao Hai nodded and then said, "You don't have to worry too much, just do what you've been doing. However, you should be alert and be ready to fight. I think that the Radiant Church and the Dragon Clan not going after you meant that they had some other matters to attend to. However, you should still be careful."
Billy nodded then he looked at Zhao Hai and said, "What about the Dragon Race and the Radiant Church, will you just be watching from the sidelines?"
Zhao Hai sneered, "They think that they had everything. It seems like I need to use my real strength. I must destroy the entire Dragon Race, after all, keeping them for long will just lead to more disaster!"
Billy couldn't help but stare upon hearing Zhao Hai, then with great enthusiasm, he said, "Do you really want to eliminate the Dragons? Then count us in, we Dwarves are never afraid to fight."
Zhao Hai looked at Billy and the smiled faintly "You don't need to participate at this time. However, I do have something that needs your help. Sign this thing, having the mark of the Dwarf Race would suffice." Then Zhao Hai got a beast skin scroll and handed it over to Billy.
Billy looked at the scroll and then read the contents. He couldn't help but stare at it for quite some time before he nodded and said, "Alright, then I shall give our mark. I think it would be better to take this out a few days after the Dragon Race's matter. At the same time, I shall also send word to the Elves. I believe they just won't stay quiet this time. I just can't understand why it would take them so long to respond."