Chapter 589: The Secret of the Heavenly Thunder Leopard
"Great! Wonderful!"
Before the Dragon Emperor could even respond, Princess Celeste clapped her hands excitedly and hurriedly added, "Father, I want to go with Sister Phoenix! They say the Mythic Beast Heavenly Thunder Leopard’s lair is somewhere on Ten-Thunder Mountain. If we’re lucky, we might even find the divine-grade Violet Thunder Jade Fruit. They say it can help me break through the limitations of my Lightning-element magic..."
Watching the little princess chatter away, the Dragon Emperor could only sigh helplessly. "Very well."
Besides, from Princess Phoenix’s tone, he’d already gathered that she intended to help Marcus obtain the Heavenly Thunder Leopard Horns so he could reach Twin Wing Island as soon as possible and acquire the "True Flame Cloud."
As for Princess Phoenix herself, she was an immortal who had inherited the bloodline of the Divine Beast Immortal Phoenix. She neither aged nor died, and despite already being five hundred years old, she still possessed the appearance of a young woman.
At her age and with her strength, even the Dragon Emperor couldn’t very well forbid her from doing whatever she had already made up her mind to do.
’Excellent!’ Marcus was absolutely ecstatic. He hadn’t expected things to go this smoothly. With a little careful planning, he’d managed to resolve the biggest problem standing in his way almost effortlessly. ’Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.’
The Dragon Emperor then turned his attention to him.
"Stonehaven, I will have Princess Phoenix help you obtain the Heavenly Thunder Leopard Horns. However, in return, you must provide fifty jars of Millennium Fire-Apricot Wine. Once you have obtained the leopard’s horns, you must also acquire the other material you require, the Millennium Thunder Beast Horns, within ten days and successfully activate the teleportation array."
"No problem!" Marcus answered without the slightest hesitation, his confidence showing plainly on his face. Ten days? If it were possible, he’d activate the teleportation array immediately. The moment those horns were in his hands, he wouldn’t waste even a second. Just thinking about the opportunities waiting for him on Twin Wing Island was enough to make him impatient.
As for fifty jars of Millennium Fire-Apricot Wine, that was hardly a concern. The mayor of Dragon’s Roar Town had already told him that more than three hundred jars were buried beneath the volcanic snowfields, and Dragon’s Roar Town was now his territory.
’Heh heh...’ All those resources belonged to him now.
The Millennium Fire-Apricot Wine increased fire-element attacks by thirty percent, which made it an especially valuable resource for someone like Princess Phoenix, a Phoenix Knight whose strength revolved heavily around fire.
After Marcus used the Jade Purification Vase to produce fifty jars and presented them to the Dragon Emperor, Princess Phoenix took five jars for herself before calmly leading Princess Celeste out of the great hall.
"Hey!" Marcus quickly called after them. "Princess Phoenix, where are you going? When are you heading to Ten-Thunder Mountain to hunt the Heavenly Thunder Leopard? I need to make some preparations."
He’d come straight to the palace after returning from Dragon’s Roar Town and still hadn’t had the chance to properly identify the items he’d obtained from Twin Wing Island. Naturally, he wanted to prepare himself before leaving. More importantly, he would be traveling with two princesses, one proud and elegant, the other lively and adorable. Just thinking about it put Marcus in a particularly good mood.
Princess Phoenix merely glanced back at him. Her expression remained cool, though her tone was perfectly polite. "Once I obtain the Heavenly Thunder Leopard Horns, I’ll have them delivered to your mansion. There’s no need for you to trouble yourself with this."
’Damn.’ She was completely ignoring him.
Princess Celeste stuck out her tongue and gave him a playful wink.
"We’re going to hunt a Mythic Beast. What use would you be? Just stay home and wait for our good news. Besides, the Heavenly Thunder Leopard is extremely elusive. It can take at least twenty days of searching before anyone even manages to find it, so don’t be in such a hurry."
’How infuriating!’ Marcus was practically fuming. Even this little girl was treating him like he was useless, as though he couldn’t contribute anything to the hunt. And they didn’t even know where the Mythic Beast was in the first place. The confidence with which they had dismissed him was enough to make his blood boil.
But when he looked at Princess Phoenix, that anger quickly faded. She stood there with her usual proud and elegant bearing, carrying the natural dignity of royalty in every movement. Her beauty was striking, and there was an unmistakable maturity to her that made it difficult for him to stay angry with her even when she was being unbearably aloof.
Then there was Princess Celeste. Although the little beauty had mercilessly teased him, the playful wink and mischievous smile made it obvious that she was simply fooling around with him. There was no malice in her teasing, and her innocent, lively expression made it impossible for Marcus to take offense for long.
In the end, he could only swallow his frustration. It was true, after all. Even a hero could lose his temper less easily when beautiful women were involved.
Marcus quickly composed himself and put on a good-natured smile. "You’re absolutely right, Princesses. I’ll stay here and wait for your good news."
He waited until the two princesses had turned to leave again before suddenly calling after them as though he’d just remembered something. "Oh! I almost forgot..."
He paused deliberately before adding, with an especially casual tone, "By the way, Princesses, Alana and I are especially fond of the Red Thunder Dates that grow near the Heavenly Thunder Leopard’s lair. They’re incredibly sweet. If you happen to kill the beast, could you bring some back for us?"
Princess Phoenix and Princess Celeste stopped simultaneously and turned around. Princess Celeste was the first to react. She hurried back a few steps and stared at Marcus in surprise. "Stonehaven, you know where the Heavenly Thunder Leopard lives?"
’Heh heh... So you ignored me before, did you?’ Marcus secretly smiled to himself, but deliberately put on a confused expression. "Princess, you didn’t know?"
Of course they didn’t. The Mythic Beast Heavenly Thunder Leopard was notoriously elusive. It didn’t have a fixed territory and could appear almost anywhere across Ten-Thunder Mountain, which was precisely why it was considered one of the most difficult bosses to locate and kill there.
Marcus knew about it because of Silas’s map. When the mayor of Dragon’s Roar Town had given him the quest to kill the Heavenly Thunder Leopard, Marcus had carefully studied all the information Silas had recorded about Ten-Thunder Mountain. To his surprise, Silas had left behind detailed observations concerning the beast.
Heavenly Thunder Leopard: an assassin-type shadow leopard possessing stealth and invisibility abilities. It roams randomly throughout Ten-Thunder Mountain and is almost impossible to locate. However, once every two days, it will briefly rest inside a Black Locust Thunderwood tree.
Silas had discovered the leopard’s resting place entirely by accident. More importantly, while the beast was resting inside the tree, anyone with an Agility attribute exceeding 2,000 could launch a sneak attack and deal massively increased damage.
Silas himself had possessed enough Agility to meet that requirement, but his attack power had been far too low to kill the Heavenly Thunder Leopard. Even so, he’d recorded the information rather than letting the discovery go to waste.
Most Mythic Beasts were unique entities. Once one was killed, it would never respawn. Even if another creature with the same name appeared somewhere else, its attributes, skills, behavior, and weaknesses would be completely different.
Since the Heavenly Thunder Leopard had never been killed, no one else knew about this secret. Marcus was certain that no matter how capable Princess Phoenix was, she had no idea that the beast occasionally rested inside a Black Locust Thunderwood tree.
Their reactions confirmed it. Princess Phoenix’s proud eyes narrowed slightly as she studied Marcus, clearly trying to determine whether he was telling the truth. Princess Celeste was just as curious, but her lively personality soon overcame her caution.
"Stonehaven, do you really know where the Heavenly Thunder Leopard will appear? How do you know? Did the mayor of Dragon’s Roar Town tell you? Or have you already been to Ten-Thunder Mountain and gathered information yourself?"
She didn’t wait long before reaching the conclusion herself. "If that’s the case, Stonehaven, let’s go together! You can even see my Divine Artifact, the Five-Element Staff, in action."
Before Marcus could answer, Princess Phoenix had already made the decision. "Stonehaven, meet us at the palace’s teleportation point in one hour."
’Damn.’ She was still as arrogant as ever.
For a moment, Marcus seriously considered refusing. Maybe he should let these two princesses struggle on their own for a while and save himself the trouble of dealing with their overconfidence.
But before he could say anything, Princess Celeste waved sweetly at him. "See you soon, Stonehaven!"
Her innocent smile caught him off guard, and he hesitated. At the same time, Princess Phoenix turned away and gently pulled Celeste along with her. Her crimson phoenix robes swayed behind her as the two princesses disappeared from Dragon’s Peak Throne Hall.
Marcus could only watch them go. ’What a failure...’ He sighed helplessly.
After saying his farewells to the Dragon Emperor, Marcus left Dragon’s Peak Throne Hall with Alana. The two changed into plain blue casual clothes and ordinary masks before making their way outside.
Now that Marcus had been promoted to Purple Eagle Guardian, the badge on his chest granted him free passage throughout the palace grounds, with the exception of specially restricted areas. He and Alana therefore had no trouble leaving the palace and soon arrived at the appraisal office, where Marcus intended to identify the various items he’d brought back from Twin Wing Island.
"Stonehaven, when are you finally going to hatch that Dark Violet Sky Dragon? It’s already been more than two months."
The old appraiser grumbled as he examined the items one after another.
"Grandpa Appraiser, I’ve already got some leads. Don’t worry. I’ll have that dragon pet soon enough. Your wish will come true."
Marcus answered smoothly, even though the words were little more than a convenient lie, while his attention remained fixed on the treasures in front of him.
The first two items were the Mythic Artifacts Sea Lion Cloak and Sea Lion Bow. Both were level sixty equipment, but their attributes were nothing particularly impressive, so Marcus tossed them into his bag without much thought.
Next came the Ice Serpent Staff, another Mythic Artifact dropped by the Iceflame Black Serpent Man. Its attributes were actually quite decent, but the level eighty requirement made it useless to him for the time being.
Into the bag it went as well, but when the appraiser reached the next three items, Marcus’s eyes immediately lit up.
’Not bad. Really, really not bad.’