The Natural Empire of the Oceanic Dragon

The straight-line distance from the forest's center to its edge exceeded one hundred kilometers. To avoid the forest's intricate terrain, the Bearman transformed into a Storm Giant Eagle, a form he had been trying to perfect but always fell just short of.

The Bearman's speed was astonishing. Even the Vine Woman, far away on the southern bank of the great river, could hear the sonic boom of his wings. It only took the Bearman twenty minutes to leave the forest and reach the wilderness.

After leaving the forest, there were still dozens of kilometers in a straight line to Great Horn Town, but the Bearman didn't maintain his Storm Giant Eagle form. Instead, he landed and transformed into a massive white bear over five meters tall.

As the white bear ran, a clear sound of thunder could be heard each time its paws hit the ground.

At this moment, Atilan, who was being tortured by elemental lightning to the point of near-death ecstasy, felt that the speed at which the Totem War Dance gathered elements seemed to be weakening. Even the lightning striking him wasn't as violent as before.

It was as if someone was helping him soothe the violent elemental spirits.

According to Atilan's original plan, he would absorb all four elements gathered by the Totem War Dance into his life energy field, blend them with the unique life energy of the Ocean Wyrm, and then bestow them upon his followers.

At the same time, he would use Self-Healing and Life Control to absorb and convert as much elemental energy as possible, and then use Life Breath and Rain Cloud to bring down the Rain of Grace as a gift from the Wild God.

Everything else went smoothly, except for the fact that a mere Ocean Wyrm hatchling, even if it was far more powerful than dragons of the same age, was acting as the central processor for such a large-scale ritual.

Atilan was clearly not qualified enough.

Even though he had mastered the rudimentary energy field of the Sea of Life and spent over an hour preparing an energy field that could indeed accommodate all the elements gathered by the ritual, the amount of Ocean Wyrm life energy in the energy field was insufficient, and its quality was even more lacking.

Atilan first used life energy to blend the four elements in order to make it easier for him to digest the elements after he swallowed them, but clearly, he was suffering from indigestion.

He underestimated the difficulty of digesting these elements imbued with the worship of living beings. If there was only one element, he could have endured it with the Ocean Wyrm's innate life talent.

But the complex situation caused by the four elements, once they entered his stomach, quickly transformed into five types of elemental lightning: blue water lightning surged into his kidneys, red fire lightning surged into his heart, green wind lightning surged into his liver, and yellow earth lightning surged into his spleen.

Finally, there was white, the purest lightning, surging into his lungs.

This pain of having his five viscera devoured by heavenly lightning, the burning of his five viscera, made it impossible for Atilan to focus on manipulating the energy field. As a result, before he could digest the previous wave of five lightning bolts, the next wave arrived.

With too much energy accumulating in his body, he could only convert the not-yet-fully-digested energy into Rain of Grace and let it fall. Now, he couldn't even worry about whether the elemental attributes corresponded to his followers.

As the central processor, the Ocean Wyrm couldn't leave the central processing position of this large-scale ritual, or it would cause the collapse of the life energy field.

At that time, the life energy mixed with the four elements would inevitably set off a massive explosion. Forget about his followers and Great Horn Town, even his own life might not be spared.

Not to mention that his current state of flight speed couldn't escape the deadly zone of the explosion, even if he was in his prime, he couldn't fly out. Now, he could only transfer the energy to this group of followers as soon as possible.

Who told him to have the whimsical idea of trying the Great Horn Rebirth Cycle in the life energy field, which led to the energy field connecting with the four elements and slowly drawing the surrounding elemental energy into him, the central processor.

If he couldn't discharge the excess energy in time, Atilan would soon explode and die.

As a result, the Rain of Grace that the life field initially released was indeed nourishing life, but soon, the rainwater in the Rain of Grace became less and less, and the rainwater also carried subtle electric arcs. Although it was numb and tingly, there was a pleasant feeling of being penetrated.

But the proportion of Life Rain continued to decline, and the power of the lightning that stimulated life within the body gradually increased. It was supposed to be a gift, but why did everyone feel like it was turning into a punishment?

Since when did a Dragon Lord's gift become lightning?

At the critical moment, it was still Lista. He raised the totem poles in his hands and shouted:

"Everyone, the Dragon Lord's lightning can activate the Qi and blood in our bodies, making our physiques stronger. If you want to become as strong as me, raise your totem poles and welcome more lightning baptism!"

That's right, as the number one general under his command, Lista was also occasionally used by Atilan as a test subject for lightning breath, experimenting with the various effects of lightning breath.

Afterwards, he would sprinkle a stream of Life Water, allowing Lista to steadily improve his strength amidst his busy work. It was also lightning breath that allowed Lista to see the possibility of breaking through to become a Legendary Barbarian.

Just as he couldn't ignite the fire of rage in his heart after being drained of his Qi and blood by the vampire vines, lightning breath could make his Qi and blood stronger and purer, so that he could ignite the Qi and blood and form the Barbarian's Rage that burns everything when he was angry.

Atilan had told Lista that today's ritual might not proceed according to their agreed-upon plan, and that Lista would need to cooperate with his movements and adapt to the situation.

Now that lightning was constantly falling, he naturally had to let everyone know the benefits of lightning.

Sure enough, some followers with higher class levels, such as the Centaur and Minotaur leaders, and the Murloc Barbarian, all experienced the wonders of lightning. Various elemental lightning bolts took turns entering their bodies for tempering, while also having specks of life energy nourishing their injuries.

Although it was painful, the feeling of increasing strength fascinated them.

The Murloc Barbarian was the most talented of Atilan's first batch of followers. In fact, he enjoyed even more preferential treatment than Lista. Lista only had lightning breath, and occasionally there would be a stream of Life Water.

He was different. Although the amount of Life Water was relatively small, it was a standard component of every preferential treatment.

Now he was already a level 7 Barbarian, and his height had grown to one meter eighty under the stimulation of Life Water and lightning, barely able to sit on an equal footing with the Centaur leader and Minotaur leader who joined later.

Besides Lista being a Warlord, the three of them were all Chieftains, but the other two didn't have much brains and could only be considered battle generals, only the Murloc was slightly better.

Atilan believed that he had the potential to become a strategist.

Barbarians regard rage as a source of power, but it doesn't mean that Barbarians completely lose their minds when rage burns. On the contrary, those who can maintain their sanity while fighting in extreme rage are outstanding Barbarians.

In terms of maintaining sanity, even Lista couldn't compare to Fisher.

Fisher was the name Atilan gave him after the Murloc Barbarian broke through to level 7, hoping that Fisher could lead the Murlocs to a bright future.

Compared to Lista, who was still working hard to maintain this ritual, Fisher was the first to notice that something was wrong with Atilan's condition, but he couldn't interrupt the ritual.

"Let us thank nature, thank the Dragon Lord, thank the ancestors, and offer our most sincere hearts to those who nurture us. Bow! Bow again! Bow thrice!"

With the three bows, the totem war dance ritual should theoretically have ended here, but although the tribe members put away the totem poles, slowing down the gathering of elements slightly,

elements still continuously converged towards the cyan energy field in the sky. The dark night sky was shrouded in a cloud of colorful colors, and thunder containing various elements continued to fall.

Lista waved his hand and instructed:

"Those without a job level should hide to the side. The rest of you, come with me and continue to receive the baptism of thunder. If you can't bear it, retreat on your own."

Although there was a problem with the ritual, these thunders had indeed taken a turn in the Oceanid Dragon's body and were good for body tempering, and they could also help Attilan share the pressure.

The fewest kobolds entered the thunder field, only the kobold leader. There were only a dozen or so mermen, and all the minotaurs and centaurs ran into the thunder field to absorb energy.

Even with these tribe members sharing the accumulated energy, no one could replace Attilan in enduring the pain of converting the elements. Controlling life and converting different kinds of energy was inherently a painful process.

But the bear man didn't tell him that absorbing four elements into his body at the same time would cause such a chain reaction. Suddenly, thunder drilled into his internal organs.

Being passively tempered by heavenly thunder like this, and still revolving, endless heavenly thunder, Attilan could feel his dragon body being continuously tempered to become more resilient and able to accommodate more energy.

The dragon magic of the Oceanid Dragon flowing in his blood was tempered by the five thunders to become more vibrant, and the power of his life's breathing was also constantly improving. His body was like an engine running at a speed exceeding the norm.

It was becoming increasingly hot. The emerald green dragon body, originally symbolizing vitality, gradually turned red under the high temperature. What seemed to be tumbling in the thunderclouds was no longer an Oceanid Dragon, but a fire-type Hell Dragon.

The thunder spat out by Attilan also became scorching hot.

The Rain Cloud spell had been stopped by the high temperature. What was falling was no longer the thunder of life, but only scorching and condensed liquid elemental thunder, leaving a pit wherever it landed on the ground.

Seeing this, the merman Fischer decisively shouted:

"Everyone, retreat quickly!"

Chieftain Lista ignited his anger, waving the totem pole and stirring up a storm to intercept the falling thunder plasma.

"Go quickly, I'll hold it!"

As an level 11 barbarian, Lista wanted to challenge his limits and see if he could take a bath in thunder plasma to help him break through the barrier of level 12.

Normally, having only broken through to level 11 in less than half a year, he certainly wouldn't break through to level 12 so quickly, but the thunder plasma falling from the sky proved that this was clearly no longer a normal situation.

The thunder plasma turned the ritual site into a scorching lava field. Lista felt that he was about to lose his grip when the merman took out a rope and wanted to lasso him out.

Accompanied by a thunderous roar, Lista watched as a white giant bear stepped on heavenly thunder and rushed into the thunderclouds. A moment later, the colorful thunderclouds were absorbed into the giant bear's body.

Then he saw the giant bear wrap the scorching red Attilan in a vibrant, shimmering green light and land on the ground, opening its mouth and letting out a burp full of tingling energy.

"I am Attilan's master. I will take him back to heal. During this time, you will advance according to the plan he formulated earlier. I will arrange for some druids to come and help."

The bear man said this, which meant that Attilan's injuries could not be healed in a short time.

Fischer boldly inquired of the true Wilderness God in front of him.

"May I ask, Master, when will the Dragon Lord's injuries be healed?"

"I don't know. Everything depends on his own willpower."

"Can we visit the Dragon Lord?"

"Just take care of the affairs of the wilderness. His treatment cannot be delayed. I'm leaving first."

The bear man never thought that Attilan, who was always careful and cautious, would use himself as the energy processing core of a large ritual. If he hadn't arrived in time, Attilan would have been burned to death due to energy overload.

He didn't expect Attilan to be so gifted that he had mastered the life energy field so quickly, developed methods for practical application, and boldly tried it without the care of his elders.

The bear man used the Life Solidification Secret Technique to keep Attilan in a state where his injuries would not worsen or recover. Then, the bear man used the Brain Activation Technique to awaken Attilan's blurred consciousness.

"Awoo!"

The only drawback of this solidification secret technique was the pain! The original 1 point of pain could be magnified to 10 points after solidification, and after the brain activation technique, Attilan felt that he would rather be dead than alive.

"Remember the pain now. If I hadn't arrived in time, you wouldn't feel any pain at all now."

Looking at his body, which was the color of braised pork, Attilan wailed and asked:

"Master, why did the four elements turn into thunder and drill into my internal organs after they entered my body?"

The bear man did not answer his question, but instead asked with a smile:

"Have you ever thought about how I learned the secret technique of tempering the internal organs with the five thunders, which can kill you if you're not careful?"

The pain had completely deprived Attilan of the ability to think actively, but the activated brain was still running on its own.

"Is the Five Thunders Body Tempering a secret technique passed down from the Oceanid Dragon Patriarch?"

"That's right. Although controlling the five thunders is a very difficult secret technique, the benefits you get once you succeed are also huge. Look at my Thunder Giant Bear form, which was developed after practicing controlling the five thunders."

"The original ordinary brown bear has transformed into a Titan beast that controls thunder."

Even though he was almost dying of pain, he still had to say something when he saw the bear man's current white-haired giant bear form.

"Master, I think it would be more auspicious to call your form Thunderous Roar."

"Why?"

"Because there is a natural demigod who controls storms and thunder, and he is called Thunderous Roar, or Undying Thunder."

"..."

"Stop being glib. I never thought of letting you learn to control the five thunders so early, and even because of the difficulty and a small flaw in controlling the five thunders, I don't plan to pass it on to disciples with worldly desires, such as you."

"What flaw?"

"Controlling the five thunders requires pure positive life force, so it cannot be leaked, otherwise the five thunders will mutate, and there will be no hope of mastering the five thunders in this lifetime."

Hiss, doesn't this sound a bit like losing one's virginity and leaking one's vitality?

"Master, is this the reason why you didn't marry Master Jaina?"