Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Agleya quickly realized what Hill was guarding against; she was somewhat taken by surprise that her own dad Hill still treated her as if she had just popped out of a spiral pearl.

Even without considering the memories inherited from her biological parents, she had been a goddess for quite some time now and had seen all facets of the mortal world—what was there left unknown to her!

Yet, after seeing Hill's mocking smile, Agleya knew it was best to keep quiet.

Moreover, Agleya was actually quite pleased.

Hill's love for her never changed, no matter how much more powerful she became.

So although her dear dad Hill's care sometimes felt a bit overbearing, Agleya still joyfully accepted it.

Hill had no idea his little padded jacket had long since become a thick, white-to-black, multi-core cotton coat. He was still bent over, pondering his layout.

After a long thought, he decided to build the inn on the east side of the road, a bit farther from the Temple.

Nearly close to the Sword Mountain Range.

After all, an Inn in this world always housed a small tavern, and it would surely get messy if it became crowded in the future.

It was still best for the area around the Temple to remain quiet.

As long as it was within the range of Hill's puzzle lock, it was safe, without the need to be built right next to the Temple.

He really liked the layout of the "Golden Oak"; he simply built an enlarged version of that.

However, instead of an oak tree in the courtyard, he chose to transplant a towering redwood tree from his own pendant.

A five-story inn, even if the caravans passing between Neverwinter and Deepwater decided to stop for an overnight repair, should manage to accommodate them all.

Hill also built a huge yard next to the inn, where the ground was piled up with thick slabs of stone, but underneath it was actually converted into solid oakstone.

The rooms inside only had three walls and a roof top, while the doors were all fences. It was a simple stable and warehouse.

The free parking area could only be this simple. Otherwise, Hill's place would definitely become a storage point, or even a hub for merchants, and he was not interested in competing with Neverwinter and Deepwater for the position of a trade center.

He had dug through to the bottom of the Sword Mountain Range beneath the inn, where he found a small vein of brilliant white crystals!

Hill extracted a few of especially high purity and then left it be.

But he felt a bit sentimental.

The brilliant white crystal was always a Holy Series spellcasting material, yet it grew right opposite the Undead Swamp.

If one day there really was an undead surge towards the human world, these crystals might become the first blade facing them.

Hill simply turned the surrounding rocks into obsidian and placed the Masha Core there.

The energy of the brilliant white crystals was gentle yet powerful; it allowed Masha to move freely without much consumption.

Hill dove underground and drew a complete array, then began to extend it outward.

The arrays in his valley and the divine arrays outside the small town had previously been linked together by the God of Time and Space using some unique lines, which took Hill a long time to understand.

This time, he applied it between the mountain center where Masha's Core was and the inn, and even pulled an energy line from underground to Agleya's Temple.

Both places needed puppets under Masha's command, and she also needed to bring out two competent intermediate Tower Spirits early since she would still be following him later.

Hill had already placed the puppets along with simple furniture materials in both the inn's hall and the last floor of Agleya's Temple.

If only combat ability were considered, most of Hill's puppets were just at the Grand Knight level, but they were very skilled with various living skills.

Making standard furniture was no trouble for Hill; not to mention the countless blueprints in Masha's Core, meaning she could select the decoration types by herself according to the specific building.

When Hill had finished drawing all the arrays, it was already around noon.

Curiously, he looked up at the highest peak of the Sword Mountain Range. Why hadn't Terry come back yet?

Although plenty of food was stored, because of the unbearable hunger when he was injured, Terry would absolutely not eat his own stock.

Hill had just taken off when he saw the Golden Dragon sneaking down.

"Hill!" Terry tried to lower his voice, "You better come up and see this."

Hill paused for a moment, turned his head to see Agleya discussing with Masha how to arrange her Temple, and decided not to call her.

He followed Terry and flew up to the tip of the Sword Mountain Range, a particularly steep peak that was almost straight up and down.

The cold wind was biting, and white clouds surrounded the peaks.

Hill followed Terry through the thick clouds and discovered a narrow crevice atop the sharp peak, a cleverly hidden spot invisible from afar.

Hill glanced at Terry's body and knew he must have transformed into his human form to investigate, leading him to frown and say, "How could you go down there and take risks on your own? Your human form is dependent on treasures and much weaker than your dragon form!"

"Hehe—I was just curious, and I didn't feel any threats," Terry said with a silly smile, pulling out his gloves.

"Wait, do you want me to build a floating dragon nest next to this crevice, or inside it?" Hill stopped Terry.

Terry, feeling very embarrassed, rubbed his gloves, "Can I have both? I want to build the treasury inside."

Hill laughed, "Of course, that's not a problem for me. Then don't transform into human form. You'll grow to be two times your size, right?"

"Four times!" Terry replied resolutely.

"Terry," Hill said helplessly, "if the door is made bigger, it's your treasury that will be unsafe!"

"No worries! I believe I can grow that big!" Terry's eyes widened. "Besides, the outermost part will just be some labs and such rooms!"

After some thought, Hill began to slowly move the rocks around the crevice and constructed a large platform in front.

He never cut corners in his work, so once inside, he moved the excess dirt to the top of the crevice, sealing the somewhat drafty mountaintop completely.

He soon understood why Terry thought this place could serve as a treasury—a wide downward passage appeared halfway through.

Although the stone passage was uneven and rough, one could tell at a glance that it was artificial, altered from a natural stone path—definitely the work of a being of at least level 17.

As Hill walked, he converted the surrounding stones into much harder obsidian, with Terry following behind, exclaiming, "Hill! Are you the direct son of the Goddess of the Earth?"

"The Goddess of the Earth of our world—I could indeed call her my great-grandmother," Hill replied, tugging at the corner of his mouth with utmost reluctance.

After waking up, Terry had secretly designated Hill as his soulmate.

Hill hadn't realized until he was excitedly crafting a divine artifact yesterday and felt a hidden little dragon shadow vibrating in his soul sea.

For a dragon, this was almost a lifelong oath of loyalty, though it was an equal friendship. Many dragons were unwilling to accept such a bind.

Terry was still too young; unable to repay a life-saving debt, he simply offered himself up.

No wonder he had asked Hill upon awakening if Hill was his friend.

Although Hill had never thought about any repayment, faced with such an enthusiastic Terry, he had no choice but to accept.

Rejecting him at that point would almost be a direct denial of Terry's character, turning a friendship into a deadly feud.

"No wonder you're even stronger than the Element Lords!" Terry happily followed behind Hill. "My treasury will be safer than my mother's!"

"Does your mother need such a sturdy treasury?" Hill joked. "She has been away from the Floating Mountain for so long, and yet no thieves dare to mess with your home!"

"It's not just my family members inside!" Terry replied nonchalantly. "Some of my mom's subordinates, and some half-dragon people with my dad's silver dragon bloodline, also live inside the mountain, especially near the entrance passage—it's all those people.

Moreover, the sensory formation of Floating Mountain is very strong; even if an outsider touches the mountain, an alarm will sound! My mom would rather be falsely alarmed countless times than reduce the intensity of the sensory formation.

And no matter what they're doing, as soon as the alarm sounds, she and my dad will rush to the center, ready to fight."

Hill could only give an awkward smile, once again understanding the dragons' immense value for treasures.

The passage gently sloped around the mountain body and finally, about 1000 meters down, it turned into a large hall filled with gold and silver jewelry, and a skeleton wearing a crown, a necklace around its neck, and a robe lying on the ground.

The necklace had a pendant which seemed to be exquisitely diamond-shaped polished red copper, engraved with 3 closed long-lashed human eyes forming a triangle.

"Hill," Terry enthusiastically said from behind, "meeting you is my greatest fortune! That pendant is a divine artifact!"

Hill took a deep breath, "Let's bury that lady first, then talk. Her robe, though nice, is just ordinary treasure; shall we bury it all together?"

Terry hesitated for a minute before nodding his head, "I don't understand your thoughts, but I respect your wishes, my friend. Just, if we come across a corpse wearing a divine artifact in the future, don't stop me—I think that would really test our friendship!"

"Of course," Hill smiled gently, "It's just that treasures of this caliber aren't worth compromising one's integrity over."

He immediately raised a white marble stone coffin, transforming the inside to white crystal, and floated the skeleton into it.

Only after the skeleton was placed in the coffin did Terry stretch his claws to remove the crown and necklace, muttering, "I take your treasures and lay you to rest."

Hill thought for a moment, then placed a brilliant white crystal inside the coffin before sealing it completely.