Chapter 30
Chapter 30: 【The Book of All Things】—To Know All Is to Command All!
To honor his promise, Prince Adam immediately had his steward Lumia open the castle treasury and bring out all the wealth within.
The Kingdom of Cape had flourished for many years, its national strength exceptionally formidable.
Its Royal bloodline, however, was sparse—the Adam family was the sole princely house—and so the wealth accumulated within the castle over many long years was naturally staggering.
In gold coins alone there were close to 1,000,000, with countless gems and precious valuables on top of that.
Per the agreement made earlier, half of this wealth was to be given to Li Kainan as payment.
Prince Adam presented Li Kainan with 800,000 of the gold coins and 1/3 of the treasures, and said with some guilt:
"Sir Kainan, this division is a little unfair, I'm afraid. Even though you have received the majority of the gold coins, many of these treasures hold value beyond anything gold coins could measure……"
"My steward Lumia has told me that the journey to the Kingdom of Corona will require many precious gifts to smooth things along at every level, so I must ask you to bear with this arrangement for now!"
Li Kainan paid it no mind, and immediately expressed his understanding.
He had no interest in precious treasures whatsoever—he wanted money purely to develop his power base.
In times of chaos, gold reigns; in times of peace, antiques hold sway. The Kingdom of Cape was in an Age of Chaos, and no treasure, however priceless, could compare to cold, hard gold coins!
Moved by Li Kainan's generosity, Prince Adam declared at once that he would absolutely make it up to him in the future……
……
The rewards from this Dungeon had given Li Kainan soldiers, money, and a noble title all in one stroke.
He had even earned the recognition of a direct prince of the Cape Royal Family—from this point on, he could march under the banner of "Restoring the Cape Royal Family" to campaign against rebellious subjects.
All the startup capital he needed was now firmly in hand. At this moment, Li Kainan was itching to head south to the frontier and begin his development!
Prince Adam, having honored his promise, now spoke up again:
"Sir Kainan, what do you intend to do with that dragon?"
His expression carried a hint of difficulty as he added:
"If you do not wish to kill the dragon, I'm afraid you would need to take her away with you. There is simply no one other than you who could subdue her……"
Aurora—summoned by Carabosse—was still lying in the castle garden.
If given the choice, Prince Adam would have preferred to kill her immediately, to prevent her from ever becoming Carabosse's instrument again.
But since Li Kainan had not killed her outright, Prince Adam was in no position to act against the dragon without his say……
Li Kainan heard this and nodded at once:
"Don't worry—I'll take her with me!"
Though Aurora was a dragon, the system had also flagged her as a "recruitable talent."
Once recruitment succeeded, the system's reward would be exceptionally worthwhile!
Take this round, for instance—Li Kainan had successfully "recruited" Belle, and the item reward the system had given, 【The Book of All Things】, was extremely impressive!
The thing was called a "book," but in reality it was a black gemstone bracelet shaped like a deep, unfathomable eye.
Upon claiming it, it had appeared directly on Li Kainan's left wrist—impossible to remove, impossible to destroy.
Li Kainan had tested its effects and confirmed that it was exactly as the system's description had stated—it contained boundless knowledge of the world within!
It could project and manifest physical volumes of books recording whatever knowledge Li Kainan had in mind, including but not limited to:
Advanced Magic Compendium, Complete Continental Geographic Atlas, Detailed Guide to Agricultural Techniques, History of Metallurgical Development, The Book of Chemistry, Medical Compendium, Astronomical Calendar Records……
Science and technology are the foremost productive forces……
Hm, that particular truth didn't quite fit the tone of this world.
Very well, rephrasing—to know all is to command all!
Li Kainan had already made up his mind: going forward, he would use the boundless knowledge within 【The Book of All Things】 to cultivate the talents under his command, develop science and technology, and raise the productive capacity of his territory……
……
Not a single system reward was something Li Kainan intended to pass up.
Aurora naturally started at 15% Loyalty Rate—and with a little more effort, successfully recruiting her would be no great challenge.
Seeing that Li Kainan had a plan, Prince Adam said nothing further.
And it was at this moment that a Retainer Knight in magnificently gilded armor strode in quickly and dropped to one knee before Li Kainan.
Prince Adam's gaze lingered on this Retainer Knight for a moment. Though his expression revealed nothing, his mind was quietly working through speculation about Li Kainan's true identity.
For Branny's grandmother and the townsfolk, Li Kainan's magnificent armor alone had been enough to prompt respectful and deferential attitudes.
But for Prince Adam, a suit of armor was clearly insufficient to make him look at Li Kainan differently.
What these 60 loyal, valiant, etiquette-trained Retainer Knights—each outfitted in a complete set of gilded heavy armor—represented, however, was something no ordinary noble could have assembled.
Even without knowing Li Kainan's true background, that company of Retainer Knights alone was enough for Prince Adam to fully recognize Li Kainan as a man of noble standing!
A prince of the blood in a medieval-style setting would absolutely never have shown such deference to Li Kainan based on martial strength alone……
……
Seeing this Retainer Knight arrive in a hurry, Li Kainan asked offhandedly:
"What's the matter?"
The Retainer Knight replied with respectful urgency:
"My Lord, the dragon is showing signs of awakening!"
Li Kainan said not another word and rose to leave at once.
In the castle garden at that moment, Aurora's massive body lay sprawled out across the ground.
Retainer Knights stood watch in a ring around her, while Belle, Maurice, and a number of castle servants had gathered nearby to watch.
To prevent Aurora from going berserk when she woke, Branny had even stepped forward to help—drawing upon the magic seeds her grandmother had given her to cast her spell.
Vines as thick as a grown person's arm shot up from the ground at an astonishing speed, coiling layer upon layer around Aurora's body and binding her massive form completely.
In all honesty, though, given Branny's current level of magical energy, this kind of measure against a dragon was barely better than nothing……
Against this dragon, the real safeguard was Li Kainan himself, now hurrying over.
Li Kainan looked at the green friendly-unit name floating above Aurora's head and estimated that the two of them should be able to communicate peacefully.
The only problem, most likely, was the language barrier!
Li Kainan thought for a moment, then tried reaching out to stroke 【The Book of All Things】 on his left wrist.
The black gemstone on his wrist—shaped like a deep, unfathomable eye—immediately flickered with light.
Then that deep radiance projected out before him and, from thin air, materialized a thick volume of a book!
And on the cover of that book, the title read clearly:
Dragonspeak: From Beginner to Mastery……
……