Chapter 34: Chapter 34 Exile Chapter 34: Chapter 34 Exile Upon returning to the Five-Color Dragon Castle, Muria immediately began retrieving books from his space ring and engrossed himself in reading. He was not at all averse to reading or learning.

His formidable physical strength and ample vitality nourished his brain. It propelled Muria’s intellect to an unimaginable level for mere mortals. The most conspicuous manifestation was an immense improvement in his memory, already at the level where he didn’t forget anything he once read.

In addition, other subtle improvements included enhanced comprehension and mathematical abilities. Actually, with these enhancements, learning became a highly enjoyable activity, and the accumulation of knowledge gave Muria a feeling of satisfaction.

After three continuously sleepless days and nights of reading the basic knowledge related to magic array principles, Muria gained a basic understanding of array formations, the subject he intended to study.

Array Formation Study was an extremely vast and complex discipline. When classified merely by element properties, it had six basic categories: Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, Light, and Darkness. Besides, there were arrays that utilized special attribute powers such as Thunder and Void.

Classifying the magic arrays by functionality revealed several primary types: offensive, defensive, supportive, and sealing types.

However, those were only individual arrays. The most common or rather the most practical arrays were the composite types, for instance, arrays that possessed both offensive and defensive capabilities, or those capable of executing four different elemental attacks simultaneously.

In this case, the classification of magic arrays was even more myriad, so diverse that even the phrase “all-inclusive” wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Furthermore, each magic-capable race had its unique insight into magic arrays, adding to the complexity of Array Formation Study.

Therefore, generally speaking, it is advisable to specialize in one type when learning Array Formation Study. This was mostly applicable to short-lived humans. As for Muria, no matter what type of magic arrays he wanted to learn, it didn’t matter as he had all the time in the world.

For now, however, Muria still needed to choose a subclass he wished to focus on, especially since he was currently contemplating designing a specific incubation array for every single dragon egg.

“Elemental series, supportive type.” Muria made his choices. Although the category he chose was still quite extensive, he didn’t have a more refined selection.

Time passed as Muria engaged himself in learning. His understanding of magic arrays and his practical ability to set up magic arrays strengthened daily. The price was that his room was often filled with tons of array-making materials brought by his female Cloud Giant servants. They also cleared away the vast amounts of waste resulting from practicing the arrays.

By consuming large amounts of materials to rapidly improve his practical array-making ability, Muria was not unfamiliar with this kind of learning method. It was simple, crude, but produced apparent effects. Muria had once playfully described this method to his personal maid Mia as the “Charge Money Learning Method.”

Amidst Muria’s pleasant study hours, a Storm Giant guarding the Dragon Fortress, flanked by two cloud giant leaders, appeared in Muria’s study. The place was littered with discarded magic arrays. Some were in the shape of a five-pointed star, some were hexagram-shaped, and there were even seven-pointed star arrays. Some of these abandoned magic arrays still flickered with a faint elemental spirit light.

“His Majesty!” The Storm Giant, along with the two cloud giant leaders, carefully avoided the magic arrays on the ground and the scattered books as they struggled to approach Muria, who was engrossed in drawing a five-pointed magic array. They sensibly waited until Muria was done before speaking.

“What’s the matter?” Muria lifted his head cheerfully. He had just completed a magic array.

Muria looked at the three giants in front of him, then turned his eyes to the two giant leaders, “As far as I remember, you two aren’t stationed within this castle, right? You two are the ones who manage the Cloud Giants outside the Dragon Fortress, aren’t you? What made you come to see me?”

“His Majesty, we’ve come to ask for your permission on a few matters.” The cloud giant leader felt a lot more relaxed after seeing the cheerful expression on Muria’s face.

“Ask for my permission?” Muria paused and then realized, unlike his powerless and ordinary self in his previous life, he was now a leader followed by nearly ten thousand giants.

“It turns out that not long after you arrived at Taiji Island, Cloud Giants from other places started migrating here, your Majesty. They wish to follow you. Are you willing to accept their loyalty?”

“Ah, I see.” Upon hearing this, Muria paused for a mere three seconds before responding, “I will accept any giant willing to serve me. You can go ahead and welcome them.”

Upon hearing Muria’s response, the two cloud giant leaders exchanged a somewhat gloomy look before speaking up again:
“Your Majesty, furthermore, an entire tribe of Mist Giants migrated to Taiji Island ten days ago. Their tribal chief has been wanting to pay respects to you. We didn’t dare to report this earlier for fear of disturbing you.”

“The Mist Giants, they’re close kin with the Cloud Giants, right? And their chief wanted to see me?” Muria furrowed his brows, then looked at the two cloud giants playfully, “You’ve been stalling all along, so why stop delaying now?”

“…” The two cloud giant leaders fell into an awkward silence. Naturally, they felt uncomfortable with Muria’s acceptance of any giant that wanted to follow him, regardless of their race. Hence, under the influence of certain feelings, they collectively decided to procrastinate or even hide this fact.

“Tell me. I want to know, how many giants settled on my island recently?” Muria said with a smile, lightly rapping his fingers against the wood desk before him.

“Tidal Giants, Storm Giants, and Mountain Giants. A lot of these three types of giants have come as well.” A cloud giant leader, carefully reading Muria’s expression, reported in a hushed tone.

“Quantity? How many exactly?”

“We didn’t keep count!”

“I see!” After hearing the Cloud Giant Leader’s response, Mureya took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to curtail the smoldering anger in his heart.

Mureya remained silent for a moment, making the kneeling giant leaders feel increasingly uneasy. The Storm Giants who had accompanied them silently took their leave, only to return moments later with nine additional Storm Giants. They stared menacingly at the two Cloud Giant Leaders kneeling on the floor.

“As far as I recall, Taiji Island does not have a stable food source. Most of the food for the nearly 10,000 giants comes from the Naga, the Mermaids, and other members of the Sea Clan, isn’t that right?”

The two cloud giant leaders, under the gaze of ten storm giants, began to sweat from the immense pressure. To their relief, Mureya’s unexpected question offered a momentary respite.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Though the Titan Islands have abundant game, it is insufficient due to the large giant population. Furthermore, we dare not venture too deep into the Titan Islands, so our primary source of food consists of the schools of fish driven towards us by the Sea Clan.”

“That’s not going to work. We must solve the island’s food problem instead of being completely reliant on the Sea Clan’s offerings.” Mureya said with seriousness on his face, “If the Sea Clan ceases to herd fish, wouldn’t most giants starve? Therefore, I have a crucial and formidable task for you.”

“Your Majesty Mureya.” The two leaders were trembling more and more, dread growing in their hearts.

The notion of the Sea Clan no longer driving fish towards them for the giants’ consumption was absurd. As long as Mureya desired it, those sea creatures would continuously supply food.

“Bring me the sand table of Taiji Island.” Mureya ordered. Two Storm Giants left the room and quickly returned, carrying a massive sand table.

At the center of the sand table was Taiji Island, a landform shaped between a circle and an octagon. But the sand table depicted more than just Taiji Island; it also showed all islands within a radius of nearly a hundred kilometers centered on Taiji Island.

Mureya walked to the sand table, looking at the closely packed model islands with a hint of a smile on his face: “You Storm Giants did a fine job.”

“Serving you is our honor.” The Storm Giants responded modestly. They had spent their days not resting idle but exploring the environment surrounding Taiji Island.

“You two, come over and take a look.” Mureya beckoned the two Cloud Giant Leaders. Waiting for them to stagger to their feet and approach the sand table, Mureya pointed at the eight irregularly elongated islands surrounding Taiji island.

“Choose one from these eight islands each.”

After hearing Mureya’s words, the two Cloud Giant leaders tentatively chose one island each. Then, with apprehension, they looked at Mureya. They had a rough idea of what was about to unfold, but held onto a sliver of hope in their hearts.

“Excellent, after leaving here, take the cloud giants accompanying you to the island you chose and start developing it. Clear all the useless trees on the island, instead plant fruit trees or berry-producing shrubs.

Not only that, you also need to find low-level monsters on the Titan Islands that can be domesticated and bred in large numbers as a food source for the island’s giants. As for the scale of domestication, it needs to be large enough to meet the normal needs of all the giants on the island every day.”

Having said these words, Mureya looked at the trembling Cloud Giant Leaders with squinted eyes and a smug smile.

“Your Majesty Mureya, we…”

“Will you accept this task?” Mureya seemed amenable yet his tone wasn’t gentle.

“…We accept.” Under Mureya’s pressure, the two Cloud Giant Leaders reluctantly accepted. If they had refused, the consequences would be unpredictable.

“Well then, off you go!” Mureya cheerfully said, “By the way, once you’ve completed the task as I’ve laid out, you may return. Until then, you may not set foot on Taiji Island.”

Having reached the door, the bodies of the two Cloud Giant Leaders swayed slightly. They bowed their heads and responded with a “yes”, then silently left. They understood – this was the price they had to pay.

“Greed dulls the mind.” Mureya muttered under his breath, his smile vanished, replaced by a wooden expression after watching the two Cloud Giant Leaders depart.

Understanding why the Cloud Giant Leaders had been preventing or delaying the newly arrived giants from seeing him didn’t mean Mureya could tolerate such behavior. He was young and his Titan Bloodline only affected a select group of giants close to him. Other giants could only watch with envy.

Therefore, the giants who arrived earliest hoped that Mureya wouldn’t accept the allegiance of other giants. That way, they would have more opportunities and a higher probability to stay close to him and serve him long term.

While Mureya could understand this sentiment, he couldn’t tolerate such actions: “Do they really think they can fool me because I’m a child? Hmph! It seems I need to establish some rules. Otherwise, such incidents would keep happening.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read