New country
After crossing Frye's military station, Locke saw the greenery that he hadn't seen in a long time.
The next country was the Kingdom of Monstock. The moment he stepped onto the border of this country, Locke felt a sense of familiarity.
Locke pondered for a long time and decided that it was Shalor.
The most similar thing about Monstock and Shalor was that their people were simple and honest.
In Locke's eyes, simple and honest was synonymous with being easy to bully. Shalor could maintain its dignity with its decent magic power back then, but what did Monstock rely on to gain a foothold among the surrounding countries?
It had been two weeks since they entered this new country. Monstock in early November was less cold than Faustian's autumn and winter, and more poetic.
There were many rivers in Monstock, and almost every village and town was surrounded by one or more streams. Winter came later in this country, and it was still drizzling.
This unique environment made the convoy that had just come out of the Ridson Desert feel very comfortable. After experiencing the heat and drought, they needed such a cool and humid country to help them alleviate the stress.
"The two countries are so close to each other, but why is the environment so different?" In the carriage, Locke lay next to Angelina and ate a dragon fruit that was unique to Monstock.
"It's because the continuous Andes Mountains intercept the monsoon from the northwest in Monstock," said Angelina as she flipped through a spellbook.
Locke recalled the undulating hills that they had passed when they first left the Ridson Desert. The hills were not high in average elevation, and it took the convoy a full week to get out of them. They were the longest mountain roads that Locke had ever taken.
So they were called the Andes Mountains, Locke thought.
"Is there any movement from the scorpiondrake egg?" asked Locke curiously as he looked at the giant greenish-grey egg that was standing quietly behind Angelina.
Another month had passed since he last asked. According to Angelina, the scorpiondrake egg would hatch in a month, but Locke couldn't see any signs of it breaking apart. The light on the surface of the eggshell was flickering more and more frequently.
"It should be soon," said Angelina with a frown as she put down her spellbook.
Perhaps it was because the scorpiondrake queen wasn't around to incubate the egg, but despite the scorpiondrake overlord's purple scales, the hatching process was still slower than Angelina had expected.
However, she was not in a hurry. The longer the incubation period of a magical beast, the greater its potential.
A purebred descendant of Akanasd would at least have the potential to become a high-ranked monster in the future. Back in Morphey Forest, almost all of the scorpiondrake's children were Quasi-ranked monsters. A few of them together could already compete with a Knight in terms of combat power.
Even Crimia, Angelina's mentor, only had a high-rank major monster pet, which was given to him by his mentor when he finished his apprenticeship.
Crimia's mentor was Angelina's grandmeisterin. Although he had passed away, Angelina might be able to meet his junior sister on this trip to Aomar.
There was also a recommendation letter from her mentor in her spatial ring. Her grandmeisterin, whom she had never met before, should be able to take good care of her in Aomar.
Apart from giving Locke the impression that Monstock was a place with plenty of water and simple folk, the casters in the convoy also seemed to be very attracted to it.
The casters had gone out many times, but Locke wasn't qualified to command them.
Locke wasn't qualified to command the casters. On the surface, these casters were under Nolan's command, but Nolan didn't seem to be interested in managing his colleagues. Instead, he took the lead and led the group of casters out.
"Where did they go?" Locke took the opportunity to ask Cage. Outside the camp, Nolan had gone out with two casters.
Cage glanced at Nolan, who had already walked far away, and spoke after a moment's deliberation, "Do you know what's so special about Monstock?"
"Lots of water and rivers?" Locke thought for a long time before he finally came up with an answer.
Cage shook his head and explained, "It's one of the few countries that produces magic metals."
Cage left Locke's dumbfounded expression on his face and went to take care of the convoy's campsite.
It was the first time he'd heard of the term 'magic metal'. Later, when he asked Angelina about it, he found out that magic metal was an indispensable material for casters' experiments. Many of the raw materials for making magic tools, such as the staff that could shoot fireballs and the crescent ring that could block attacks, were made of magic metal.
Nolan and the others didn't go far. Most of the time, they set off in the morning and returned in the afternoon, so it didn't affect their speed at all.
During this time, he felt that his knowledge base was very poor, so he started to calm down and learn from Angelina in the carriage. Angelina was a qualified teacher, and he didn't know how many magic notes and books she brought with her, so she was able to answer every question he asked.
Locke also found out from Angelina that casters could extract some kind of metal element from the scarab shells he asked the soldiers to collect. It could be considered a type of magic metal.
Angelina speculated that the casters in the convoy frequently went out to exchange their collections and magic materials with the local casters.
Casters rarely used currency in transactions. Most of them bartered with other items, or at most, magic crystals. Of course, such situations were rare because magic crystals weren't that easy to obtain.
Locke and the others killed nearly a hundred scarabs. Only the green one that looked like the scarab king contributed a yellow crystal core. The rest of them had nothing.
There was an invisible threshold between low-level magical beasts and demonized creatures that prevented most creatures from evolving.
Speaking of improving his strength, it had been almost half a year since Locke became a low-rank Knecht. His daily cultivation only strengthened his foundation and smoothed his impetus circulation. There were no signs of a breakthrough at all.
However, Locke wasn't in a hurry for the time being. When he left Felor, he had already exchanged a large amount of merit points for various potions to aid his cultivation. Strengthening potion was just one of them.
Coupled with the will-condensing potion that he kept, it shouldn't be a problem for him to break through to a mid-rank Knecht.
He wanted to learn the compulsory knighthood lessons in Aomar before making a breakthrough. Angelina had already found a place for Locke to study in Perseverance, a branch of the Aomar Royal Academy.
This was also why Angelina jokingly called him a 'study partner'.
Locke had already realised that he hated going to school when he was learning the Faustian language and Aomar language in Felor. He didn't know if he could endure it. There was a time when he would feel sleepy whenever he saw Mobson teaching him.
However, for the sake of improving his strength, Locke felt that he could endure this hardship. It couldn't be worse than a cake.
While studying in the carriage, Locke took the time to revise the Aomar language. Unlike Angelina, who often read books, Locke had almost forgotten everything that Mobson had taught him after only two months. He needed to pick it up again.
He could also look for Glace to revise, but he had to overcome Angelina's jealous gaze first.
He didn't know if it was because of Romm's departure, but Angelina would always call him to sleep in her carriage at night. Locke couldn't do anything to her, so he could only endure it.
After passing through Monstock, the convoy was very close to Aomar. They only needed to cross two or three small duchies before they arrived.
At the end of November, the diplomatic mission left Monstock and arrived in Valoran. In mid-November, the diplomatic mission left Lake Baikal and arrived in Lyon. After staying in Mecca, the capital of Lyon, for three days, the diplomatic mission arrived at the border between Lyon and Aomar.
Along the way, Locke saw the water town of Monstock, the beautiful Lake Baikal in Valoran, the bustling city of Mecca in Lyon, and the grand reception from the grand duke himself.
"We're about to reach our destination." Locke rode his horse and looked at the vast land in front of him and the majestic city in the distance.
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