Chapter 302
Chapter 302: Please Stop Blowing Things Up, Bro, I'm Begging You
The sky was clear and pristine, every last cloud having long since dissolved into nothing.
Brilliant, blinding sunlight spilled across the deep-blue sky and cast itself upon the already-ruined snow-white earth, making it glitter with an almost surreal intensity.
A gentle breeze rolled through, and the wild grass across the land swayed and drifted, their lush green forms dancing in graceful, fluid waves.
Dust rose slowly from the white earth, drifting like gauze—like a thin mist that blurred the vision.
The tumultuous chaotic Magic Power that had been surging through the surroundings had, in the wake of the Goddess of Justice's pitch-black slash descending, dissipated almost entirely without a trace.
All that remained was the orderly, gently flowing Magic Power surrounding the floating islands.
The fury and chaos of before had been suppressed. The entire Twilight Expanse had returned to a serene and tranquil atmosphere.
Ryan Kent's eyes were filled with bewilderment as he watched Viktor silently tuck away the flickering black scale in his hand.
Wait—you're calling that a magic material?
That thing had already surpassed the domain of Magic entirely!
He recalled it all with shock.
He had never witnessed Magic so breathtaking—Magic that even possessed the capacity to summon a divine being.
Perhaps it could no longer be simply called Magic.
More than Magic, it resembled the power of a God.
Even so, Ryan's thoughts at this moment were completely consumed by the spectacular sight of the Goddess of Justice descending just moments ago, and by the staggering force of that single slash that had cleaved through the chaos.
Ryan looked around at the already-shattered earth and the poetry-like azure sky.
Had Viktor not been standing right before him, he might have thought he had already ascended to heaven.
He trembled as he rose to his feet and asked Viktor with curiosity: "Viktor… Council Member Clavena, how exactly did you manage to do that?"
He was referring, of course, to that soul-shaking Magic that had summoned the Goddess of Justice.
That power was truly beyond belief—seemingly boundless in its might.
Viktor did not respond directly to Ryan's question.
In truth, that Magic fell far short of genuine divine power.
While it had drawn upon the Goddess of Justice's strength, it was only the faintest remnant of her divine might. Compared to the Goddess of Justice in her entirety, the difference was incomprehensible.
And even to summon a mere shadow of the Goddess using that sliver of divine power, it had still required Weija's full assistance.
All in all, this Magic was still quite troublesome to use.
But its power—that was undeniably impressive.
Viktor sensed the dense Magic Power aura surrounding him, yet his heart was unusually calm.
He gazed into the distance, eyes fixed upon 2 objects floating in the air, and spoke:
"Over there—the scales we need."
Upon a slab of milk-white floating rock, a collection of pitch-black scales of strange and irregular shape lay bathed in sunlight.
A jet-like sheen flowed across them, and chaotic purple patterns coursed through the irregular fissures.
Suspended beside the rock, enclosed within a pale-violet barrier, was a single heart.
The heart carried a chaotic feeling about it—its appearance resembling a small, compact Chaos Dragon King, slumbering quietly within that barrier.
Viktor extended his palm. The 2 extraordinary materials seemed to sense his Magic Power and drifted slowly toward him, coming to rest in his hand.
【Chaos Dragon Scale】
【Description: A powerful scale taken from the surface of the Chaos Dragon King. The chaotic Magic Power it contains is extraordinarily deep and unusually dangerous—an excellent material for weapon crafting.】
【Chaos Dragon King's Gene】
【Description: A mysterious gene containing the power of an ancient great dragon. Perhaps it can be fused with an ancient dragon.】
Viktor gave it a calm, sweeping glance, then tucked the Chaos Dragon King's Gene away.
For him, it was an exceptionally valuable item.
The Divine Tree Yadh could use it to undergo yet another upgrade.
As for the other dragon scale, Viktor turned and handed it to Ryan beside him.
Ryan was a bit dazed, but he still extended his hand and received the scale with an extremely careful and cautious manner.
Afterward, for the sake of a thorough inspection, he carefully wiped his monocle with his white glove.
He rubbed it repeatedly until it began to gleam, and only then did he put it back on and peer closely.
"Now then… let me have a look!"
He scrutinized the pitch-black dragon scale, its purple patterns flickering in the eyes behind his monocle.
Ryan had touched dragon scales before—he had even killed a few true dragons himself.
But this was nonetheless the first time he had ever touched a dragon scale of such unusual material.
The scale was uneven and textured, yet not sharp—instead it resembled a strangely-shaped gemstone.
Chaotic Magic Power flowed through the patterns, and when the scale came to rest in Ryan's palm, a hazy, disordered sensation shook the center of his hand.
He hurriedly traced the violent and icy smell that drifted between his nose and ears—as if it were pulling him back once more into that terrifying, chaotic environment.
The patterns on the scale pulsed with regular, rhythmic flickers, like a heartbeat.
That quietly warming heart settled into his palm, and its trembling pulses filled him with astonishment and confusion.
Could something like this truly still be called a dragon scale?
Ryan was troubled.
If he were to use this thing in crafting the staff, he had no idea how he would incorporate it into the design.
As for the other item Viktor had tucked away, Ryan couldn't make out at all what it was.
It had likely appeared alongside the Chaos Dragon Scale inside the Chaos Dragon King's body, but this was the first time he had ever seen the Chaos Dragon King slain.
Besides, it was Viktor's battle trophy—it wasn't his place to ask.
The Twilight Expanse beneath their feet was no longer dim. Only dazzling white remained, making it look like nothing more than an ordinary floating island.
That actually left Ryan feeling somewhat regretful.
He deeply loved the diversity of environments, and even in dangerous places, he was reluctant to see them destroyed.
The significance of every existence lay in its existing.
Ryan always told himself this.
Even when he needed materials for crafting, he would do his utmost during collection to avoid causing harm to the environment.
Once the environment had roughly recovered and new materials emerged again, he would set out once more to find them.
This approach—never driving any material to complete extinction—
Ryan found genuine pleasure in it.
He felt deeply satisfied by this attitude of treating the environment with kindness.
Yet the Magical Creatures of the Twilight Expanse had been thoroughly destroyed by this sequence of events.
As that thought crossed his mind, Ryan's heart sank, and a faint sense of loss came over him.
He shook his head and let out a long sigh.
This was understandable—after all, it had been his own request that led Viktor to unleash that many War Magics in a row.
Viktor's overwhelming strength had rooted itself deep in his heart.
All in all, this time, Ryan could say he had been thoroughly satisfied.
Viktor's gaze swept over Ryan, seemingly having anticipated this very reaction, and he spoke:
"The Chaos Dragon King will regenerate."
Ryan heard Viktor's words and looked completely blank.
Huh?
He had no idea what the Chaos Dragon King actually was.
After all, from the start he had simply assumed it was nothing more than a true dragon.
Viktor's voice rose from the silence.
"This chaotic Magic Power will continuously accumulate within the space and ultimately congeal into a physical form on this floating island."
The chaotic Magic Power would converge to form a new Twilight Expanse, and from within the overflowing Magic Power the Chaos Dragon King would gradually take shape once more, until it had fully regenerated.
The Chaos Dragon King Viktor had dealt with had been absorbing chaotic Magic Power for an extraordinarily long time.
So much so that the chaos within its body had accumulated across the long years, and its power had grown stronger and stronger alongside it.
This was also why the Twilight Expanse had appeared so dangerous and chaotic.
In truth, had the City of Mages regularly dispatched people to manage the accumulated Magic Power here, the Chaos Dragon King would never have grown this powerful.
Yet Heim Horn had never detected any particularly dangerous factors within the Twilight Expanse, and the Chaos Dragon King had never left this floating island.
So the issue of Magic Power accumulation had never been addressed.
As a result, the Chaos Dragon King's power had built up day by day, year by year, ultimately developing into one of Endymion's renowned Dungeons—the Twilight Expanse.
The more Ryan listened, the more confused he became.
He found it extremely strange—how did Viktor know all of this in such precise detail?
The more Ryan heard, the more curious he grew. How did Viktor know so much?
It seemed as though he had killed this Chaos Dragon King more than once.
He appeared to know this island and its dragon like the back of his hand.
But no one was there to answer his questions.
Viktor glanced at the position of the sun and said:
"That's about enough—we need to go prepare the other materials."
Ryan furrowed his brow, puzzled.
The other materials…
He recalled that to craft the staff, in addition to the Chaos Dragon Scale, they would also need Magic Vein Dragon Blood, Blazing Rock, and Hurricane Steel.
Magic Vein Dragon Blood was manageable enough—it was simply the blood of a 4th-Tier magic dragon or higher, and he had some of that himself.
As for the remaining materials, the requirements were simply too demanding.
Finding an actively erupting volcano and a raging typhoon?
And within them, obtaining the hardest possible lava and steel?
Just hearing it made the whole thing sound utterly baffling.
But at that moment—
The Coat on Viktor's back was gradually consumed by streaks of flame patterns, as though he were a mass of roaring, blazing fire.
White heat haze filled the air, and tongues of flame leapt freely all around him.
Beneath his feet, even the earth around him seemed to be wrapped and covered by wave after wave of crimson-red stripes.
The air grew scorching hot, and Ryan Kent felt a surge of absolute shock.
Immediately after, Viktor's Coat gradually took on cloud-white stripes as well.
In that instant, the wind—stopped.
As though gathering some terrifyingly immense force, the cloud layers in the sky grew progressively denser.
The gale—rose.
Within this violent and turbulent environment, Viktor still stood with both hands in his pockets.
He seemed completely unaffected by everything around him, his voice unhurried and clear:
"Step 1."
"We work with what's around us."