Ultragene Warlord

Upon hearing the mammoth elder's words, the golden mammoth couldn't help but look at Li Feng, who was lounging about in the distance.

"I understand, elder. Please bring the herd toward their new home. I still have some personal affairs to take care of, and I'll catch up as soon as I can."

The elder nodded and waved his trunk. "In that case, I'll see you soon, herdleader."

The golden mammoth headed to Li Feng's side. "Have you waited for a long time?"

"No, I'm fine. Are your affairs settled?"

The golden mammoth nodded. "The elder will take care of everything, after all."

Li Feng glanced at the lava that was quickly hardening into magma. Because of how cold the frozen world was, the lava solidified even more quickly than it otherwise would have, without causing as much damage as such eruptions did on Earth.

The golden mammoth asked, "Why did you save my kin? You could certainly have stood back and done nothing."

The mammoths had invaded the draconian world, and from that perspective, the mammoths were enemies of the humans.

Li Feng replied, "You told me that the condition for handing me the proof of kingship was to avoid harming the innocent. I simply helped out in times of need."

"You had no such responsibility."

The condition was for Li Feng to avoid harming the mammoths, not for the mammoths to avoid injury.

Li Feng smiled faintly. "Perhaps that wasn't the primary reason—I just didn't want to see you die."

If Li Feng hadn't made a move then and there, the golden mammoth might have chosen to die with the rest of his kin within the lava—though given his constitution, the lava might not even be able to kill him. "If you were to die, I wouldn't be able to obtain the proof of kingship, either."

"In that case, let's head out and claim it now." The golden mammoth revealed a rare smile and walked toward one of the volcanoes, which were still spewing out lava.

"Where is the proof of kingship located?"

The golden mammoth pointed to the largest volcano, the one in the center of all the others. "Inside there."

Li Feng and the golden mammoth were able to fly through the sky, ignoring the lava flowing beneath their feet.

The volcanic eruptions started and stopped abruptly. No longer did fresh lava flow out of the craters, but that didn't mean that the volcanoes were now safe. In truth, it was still very dangerous to get close to the volcanoes at all.

One reason was that the volcano might erupt again at any point, and another was the ash that continuously emitted from the crater. The ash from the active volcanoes was extremely hot, so much so that a peak-grade lifeform would become smoked meat if it were held over the crater's lip.

However, both Li Feng and the golden mammoth had gone beyond the realm of an ordinary peak-grade lifeform.

White light flared around Li Feng's body, surrounding him with light-attuned genetic energy. The golden mammoth needed no such technique; his physical constitution was strong enough to withstand the high heat.

Man and mammoth flew down to the interior of the volcano, where it was scorching hot.

Li Feng reminded the golden mammoth, "Make sure you avoid breathing in as much of the ash as possible. If you inhale too much, you'll collapse."

After passing through a thick layer of ash, they found boiling-hot lava underneath them, flowing sluggishly along the ground. Because of the recent eruption, the interior of the volcanoes were still somewhat unstable, and lava was still flowing up from deep underground.

The golden mammoth explained, "The proof of kingship is located within the lava."

Li Feng's eyes opened wide. "Within the lava?"

"It's an unexpected hiding spot, isn't it?"

Li Feng nodded, then took a deep breath and submerged himself within. With adequate preparation, and considering both parties were beyond peak-grade lifeforms, they were even able to venture into the lava.

Deep below the surface, following the golden mammoth's guidance, Li Feng found an ancient furnace surrounded by the world's aura. Li Feng headed over and pulled the furnace out of the lava.

"This is the proof of kingship?" Li Feng was startled by the appearance that the proof of kingship of this world took on.

What the proof of kingship looked like was determined solely by the king of the realm, but he hadn't expected that the former mammoth herdleader would have transformed it into a furnace of all things.

The golden mammoth explained, "We obtained some information about crafting and forging from the humans, but none of us had ever seen a furnace before, and we were all confused about what it looked like and how to make one of our own.

"The draconian world did have regular furnaces, but such furnaces were hardly sufficient for forging froststeel. Forging froststeel requires extreme temperatures, and we wouldn't have been able to achieve those temperatures with the draconian design.

"In order to allow us to get started with forging, the herdleader transformed the proof of kingship into a furnace, one whose resilience and thermal resistance made it a far superior furnace to anything we would be able to construct on our own."

The golden mammoth concluded proudly, "By making use of the volcanoes and the furnace made from the proof of kingship, many in our herd learned to forge! After that, even if we weren't able to make other furnaces resistant enough for froststeel, we were able to come up with other means for forging it."

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A furnace was only used to lock in heat and raise the temperature within it to a high enough extent that impurities could be melted from the froststeel ore.

However, the mammoths didn't initially understand this point.

After the herdleader converted the proof of kingship into a furnace, the mammoths began to understand the principles behind blacksmithing, and they came up with the idea of using geothermal energy and the earth as a natural furnace.

As such, the furnace that the proof of kingship had become was not just a proof of kingship, but also an important artifact in the history of the mammoth herd.

Li Feng stored the furnace in his extra-dimensional storage without another word. He offered to the golden mammoth, "I'm going to leave now. Do you want to join me?"

The golden mammoth was very surprised. "I'm the new herdleader—I can't just leave my herd behind!"

Li Feng shook his head. "From my perspective, they're not treating you like part of the herd, but rather a tool they can make use of and then discard."

The golden mammoth frowned. "Perhaps so, but since they've chosen me, I won't betray their trust. They've already lost a herdleader, and I won't be the second."

Li Feng sighed.

The golden mammoth was a wuxia fanatic, one who would swing his blade in the snow day in, day out, for ten thousand swings a day. He wouldn't even stop in a blizzard—and it was precisely this persistence that allowed him to go from one of the weakest mammoths in the herd to its strongest warrior in just a few decades.

The golden mammoth was more stubborn than a rhinoceros.

"I know that you mammoths are going to be migrating to this so-called second home. The trip will be perilous; you'll have to pass through the habitats of many dangerous lifeforms. If you have to travel with a group of elderly, women, and children, to a destination you have no understanding and information about, you could very well perish along the way. Do you really intend on being the mammoth herdleader despite these challenges?"

"Yes. Absolutely," the golden mammoth affirmed. "I can't refuse now. The lives of the entire herd depend on me!"

Li Feng pursed his lips. "Well, if you've made up your mind, I don't suppose I'll be able to stop you. If you continue pursuing your dream, I'm sure you'll grow strong, but you'd better not try to invade the humans again. I'll be off with the proof of kingship, then."

Li Feng waved a hand, then flew out of the volcano. The golden mammoth really was an interesting fellow...