The dragon's harem

An hour after they left Death and Life’s house, a vast white plain of pure snow faced them. The brightly burning sun in the sky illuminated the snow, reflecting off its white surface and turning the snowfields into a blinding carpet.

Arad had seen many things brighter than this, but now he is a human. So this made him wince and partially close his eyes. But it still didn’t feel worse than looking at Luminous as a dragon.

That drakaina is so damn bright it’s almost ridiculous.

Liliana covered her eyes with one hand and tried to get a good look around. The snow was so bright it was painful, and she almost forgot about the bitter cold for a second. They’ve been out for just an hour, and she already couldn’t feel her toes or breathe without her lungs hurting.

Gojo told her about this place and about how Yog made it in the image of the Arctic Lands, but she didn’t believe that until now. She had dealt with the short goddess many times, but this was the first time she saw such a god-like feat with her own eyes.

She was more familiar with Kali’s harrowing, destructive powers. It was easy to see the powerful demons and just be able to imagine their goddess smacking the entire world and making it explode. But for a goddess of magic, Liliana could only imagine the goddess using massive spells, which even mortals could cast.

“This is… on another level.” She looked at Gojo. “Is there a spell that can create a whole continent?”

Of course, there was no such spell. Creation magic only works on a small scale, and the higher spells are control-based. So you won’t be creating any mountain out of nowhere; you’ll be moving one that already exists.

The reason was simple: it costs more mana. For example, a 0.1 meter wide cube is a thousand times smaller than a 1 meter wide cube, not ten. If you double the side length of a cube, its surface area grows by a factor of four, and its volume by a factor of eight.

“She is the goddess of magic, not spell-casting. There was no spell that could make this happen.” He giggled, and she immediately frowned.

“You said ’WAS’…” She glared at him, and he puffed his chest.

“She sent the spellbook to my room in the mortal world. I’ll be studying it later.”

She stared at him with an appalled face for a long minute before finally rubbing her eyes and trying to think of something else. “Forget it. Let’s find our way first.”

As the queen, she had memorized the land’s map months ago and could tell that without a doubt, this was the Arctic. The Arctic lands didn’t have that many features besides hills, snow, and forests, which made those details stand out.

But something was off.

“I can’t see them.” She frowned, pointing at the horizon. “The Blue Wells and the Eraena Creek.” She slowly turned toward Gojo. “This might not be the same as our Arctic land.”

He nodded, acknowledging that she was right. He had already spotted the difference, and he was happy to see that she had keen eyes just like him and Gug. That’s right, Gug had some powerful instincts, which made deceiving her near impossible. The only other person with better instincts and gut feeling than Gug that Gojo saw is probably Alcott.

Arad looked at them, then at the hills. “What are those?” Unlike Gojo and Liliana, he hadn’t lived in the Arctic Lands and couldn’t tell the difference. A whole mountain could be missing, and he won’t ever guess.

“The Blue Wells are, well, WELLS… we made them for fishing, and the Eraena Creek is a creek that was blasted into the ground by an old dragon a hundred years ago. It’s a clear landmark, so seeing it missing only means one thing.”

This entire land they were on was a massive frozen sea, tens of meters of thick ice covered by a thick carpet of snow. So people usually dig holes in the snow and ice to reach the water and set fishing lines.

The creek, on the other hand, looked like a massive river of flowing water that unnaturally flowed across the frozen lands, always refusing to freeze. A permanent scar left by the harrowing magic of the powerful white dragon Eraena.

Gojo frowned. “Either this copy doesn’t include artificial landmarks, or it’s set in a different time.” He scratched his head. “Most likely, it’s set in the past, before those two were a thing.”

Creating a spell that copy, build, and even removes features from land seems more complicated than necessary. So it was more likely that it was an image from the past, meaning Yog scanned the Arctic Lands ages ago before these landmarks were a thing.

He looked at Haru. “The ruined city you talked about, is it vast, looks like a maze with countless white spires and jagged walls, and in its heart one massive lighthouse?”

She nodded. “And its streets are filled with monsters. But we should be able to retreat to a few houses.” She then looked in the direction of the ruined city.

“You know what?!” He stretched his arms. “Yog said to suck her toes? I’ll probably do it. This is just priceless.” He too looked toward the ancient city.

Arad looked at Liliana with a worried face. “Did you feed him something bad? He’s human now. He can get drunk easily.”

She shook her head with a smile. “No, he’s just happy that we’re here now. That ruined city has to be the ancient city of Baldator. It was destroyed by Eraena two hundred years ago, and the capital is now built where it was.”

She threw a sharp glance at Gojo, then shifted her gaze back to Arad. “But you’re right. He can get drunk now. I’d love to see that.” She smiled. “I wonder how dumb he’ll get.”

Gojo smiled. “We’ll get to explore that ancient city and see all the magic its people used. I was really sad when I found that Eraena destroyed its remains before I arrived. I even killed the bastard.”

The city got destroyed in a deadly war between its King and the dragon Eraena, which ended in the dragon’s victory. But the king was known as a powerful wizard with a lot of achievements.

Arad sighed. “You just killed him for some old ruins? Won’t a dragon be of more help?”

Gojo shrugged. “Those ruins were worth more than him, and besides, he attacked the capital, wanting to drive me out. Said the land now belongs to him, so it was more of a territorial dispute, and I didn’t spare him due to the ruins.”

He walked past Arad and looked around, “If that’s the city we’re after, then I know exactly where we can find it, and several shortcuts that we can take.” He looked at Arad.

“Let me guess. Those shortcuts only work if we’re powerful enough to use them.”