Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 837: Chapter 633: The First Stop of Shoulong Free Travel, Benevolence

An Yanfei seemed to have come specifically to see Hill off, and his face was beaming with a bright smile, almost eagerly escorting Hill onto the large ship marked with the character ’An’.

Neither he nor An Ran expressed any surprise at Hill only bringing seven attendants with him. After all, for a Great Mage, such an existence is equivalent to an entire army on their own, basically not requiring any Guardians, as most are just attendants for trivial tasks.

If anyone truly angered him, even the Shulong Empire, known for its strict management of foreigners, would not step in to suppress this Great Mage, but rather blame the sightless fool who provoked him.

Wherever they are, the strong have privileges, as long as they are truly strong.

An Yanfei actually understood Hill’s power, but was still startled after contacting the divine dragon.

He originally wanted to keep this person’s arrival a secret, but unfortunately, this person’s strength exceeded the levels that the An Family could contain.

The divine dragons along Shulong’s coast have ways of measuring the strength of any forceful entity exceeding the Legendary Level visiting their country.

Then, they decide whether to allow them inland, or if they are inland, what level of Sorcerer should track and protect them.

However, when this Great Mage Polanio entered Reception Island, everything was serene, and not a single dragon appeared.

An Yanfei, as the manager of the VIP dock, even had to contact those dragons himself through spiritual communication, only to get the assessment that even a group battle might not defeat him.

For such an existence, unless he must enter the Imperial Palace for a look, or desires to see the ancestral land of some Noble Clan, no one would dare block his path.

For such a powerful individual, force cannot be used to suppress, but choosing affection and gentleness is the only option, hoping the person could voluntarily choose the An Family.

Fortunately, An Ran is indeed a wise person, well-deserving of his stable position as the manager of their Treasure Pavilion.

The An Family’s ship has three layers, its biggest feature being the bow shaped like a bird’s beak, with a green brow above the eye at the bow.

The ship is just over sixty meters long, with a narrow lower and wider upper structure, and although the pavilion is quite exquisite, compared to the adjacent hundred-meter long five-level large passenger ships, it does not stand out.

However, this ship is agile enough that once it starts sailing, it leaves those few earlier departing large ships far behind.

This should be the Green Brow Bird Ship of Haidong Province, indeed very fast.

Hill sat in the wide cabin on the top floor, and in his heart compared it to the elves’ fast fleet, finding not much difference.

Indeed, a powerful empire essentially does not have significant disparities in military strength.

The elves were also undone by their own hands, rather than exterminated by another nation.

An Ran, being a very considerate and intelligent person, settled Hill well and had no intention of establishing any further acquaintance, with even the tea and snacks brought over by Hill’s attendants.

In Hill’s pocket, little heads poked out one by one, examining the exotic ship.

”The windows seem to be made of shells.” A Little Brown Immortal observed while examining the cabin, ”The curtains are silk, but they seem to prefer bamboo products, even the tables are made of bamboo.”

”Because they are light?” his companion replied. ”There are many mechanical devices on the ship, but little magic is used, completely different from Hill’s home.”

Hill amusingly glanced at the few Brown Immortals. After boarding the ship, he almost immediately went to the top floor, yet within these few minutes, it seemed these little guys had mostly observed this ship!

The domestic Brown Immortals, if they were not overly shy and timid, actually rank quite high in ability among the Fairy Race.

This is why, even though that Brown Immortal deity is ugly and unwilling to live in the Inner Court, he still receives the affection of the appearance-loving Queen.

Although it’s a kind of affection similar to treating a clown, it at least established his relatively high status among the fairies.

Otherwise, the Fairy Nobles of the Inner Court are truly troublesome, and even calling them bullies would be generous.

Haidong Province arrived quickly, but their ship did not stop in the coastal city. Instead, with mechanic noises incessant, the large ship over sixty meters long directly transformed into a riverboat of over thirty meters, and the not-so-wide lower part of the hull became a skinny structure.

The pavilion in the middle of the ship was now at the edge, with only the fore and aft decks remaining open.

Hill became a bit curious, wondering if outsiders could learn these mechanical techniques.

This ship sailed into the large river beside the city, heading directly toward the inland provincial capital.

Hill sat by the window, viewing the city walls, towers, pavilions, and bridges along the riverbank, but they were not quite the same as the ones in his memory, most being constructed of brick and tile.

Although equally delicate and decorative, it felt different from wooden structures.

Unlike his past world, in the fantasy world, bricks and tiles are cheaper than wood, and it’s already a good thing for ordinary people to cut down some small trees.

It seems that only those large noble clans have the capability to fell such century-old or even millennia-old trees.

This is actually not bad, Hill smiled while leaning on the soft cleopatra chaise.

From outside came An Ran’s gentle voice asking, ”Does Mr. Polanio have time?”

”Let him in,” Hill said, and the life golem Farna by his side quickly went to open the door.

”Mr. Polanio.” An Ran walked in and said respectfully, ”We are about to reach the provincial capital of Haidong, Benevolence. If you don’t mind, the An Family has already prepared a place for you to stay.”

Hill tilted his head and thought for a moment before straightforwardly agreeing.

He wasn’t interested in leveraging rarity in the Shulong Empire, as long as the An Family could provide what he wanted, it was enough.

With his current level of power, there’s no need to worry about such trivial matters; choosing what makes himself most comfortable is the best course of action.

As long as the An Family doesn’t cause any trouble, Hill has no additional concerns for the moment.

The large ship took Hill directly to a great mansion by the riverside.

This great merchant truly lived up to his ability to rise in such a competitive noble environment. Along the way, there were indeed those luxurious estates, but the mansion An Ran chose for Hill was a typical Jiangnan garden.

Walking inside, looking at the scenery changing with each step and the ever-present flower clusters, the little fairies in Hill’s pocket could hardly resist poking their little heads out.

Even though An Ran saw those pairs of curious little eyes, he continued to eloquently introduce the various structures of the mansion to Hill without changing face: this house only has an Eastern exterior. Even if Hill were a complete foreigner to Eastern architecture, he could live comfortably here.

Although Hill didn’t plan to live in the house, he was very interested in those accompanying mechanical facilities. Those imbued with spiritual power mechanisms achieved effects typically requiring magic arrays, though it was unknown how they were paired.

After delivering Hill to the main house, An Ran quickly took his leave: ”Mr. Polanio, please have a good rest today.

If you have no objections, I will bring the scheduled goods for you to inspect tomorrow morning.”

Hill nodded agreeably, ”Alright, you can hand over to Farna at that time.”

Farna, holding a tray with a few delicate items on it, walked forward as Hill nonchalantly said, ”Thank you for lending me your house, I’m very satisfied.”

These are all life-type strange objects, worth around 20 gold on Ferun Great Land, mostly used to light fires or conjure a cup of water, which general alchemy apprentices can produce.

However, on this side of the Shulong Empire, their value is slightly higher, as their mechanism masters are not very adept at creating such small items.

It might be because this kind of profession needs more knowledge and resources, which are largely controlled by the royal family and noble sects, being rather remote from ordinary daily life.

But Hill had a lot in hand, though he dared not sell them; at most, he would give them as rewards like now.

The Undead Tribe... in Teraxil, had already driven the value of such strange objects below cost. If it weren’t for William giving them an accounting before they came, the lower alchemy market on Ferun Great Land would have crumbled.

Even so, the lavish spending habits of the Undead Tribe have already started to affect Ferun Great Land, though they no longer have crystal stones, they have plenty of gold.

Although there aren’t many who use these small items for alchemical practice, put any minority among the massive numbers of the Undead Tribe, it can cause a significant shake on Ferun Great Land.

Hill does not need to rely on his power to embarrass Kelben, the strange objects produced by the numerous apprentices he’s trained are no longer selling.

Such things, even AO has no way around it; the Undead Tribe completely buys materials from Toril. They are willing to sell things at or below cost, completely disregarding their magic slots, which no one can control.

So although Hill had collected many, he would absolutely not sell them.

Even though he indeed could make a huge profit margin, Hill wasn’t short on money and wouldn’t bother doing such a reproachable thing.

After some time, merchants who acquired a large number of low-level strange objects from Agleya City will certainly transport them to this side of Shulong, as Ferun Great Land cannot consume so many things.

An Ran delightedly held those few small items; he had to hurry back to re-check the cargo, making sure nothing went wrong.

He was lucky to have gained the favor of such a powerful and generous archmage. If he lost it due to carelessness, he wouldn’t survive in the family thereafter.

Reaching the door, An Ran suddenly turned back to look at Hill’s face; the female servant by his side, already counted as a beauty, pales in comparison to her master.

He hesitated for a while before speaking, ”Mr. Polanio, if you don’t mind, may I leave two guards? They can stay at the gatehouse and accompany you when you go out to guide you.”

Guards of the An Family are not ones anyone can follow; once they are there, the wise ones know this is a guest of the An Family.

The wastrel younglings in Benevolence likely won’t have the insight to discern the capabilities of the archmage, but they still have enough sense not to offend people of large noble clans randomly.