Master of the Stars - Chapter 353: Inhabited Area

Vainqueur Knightsbane is your average dragon: a giant, fire-breathing lizard who loves to take naps on his golden hoard, kidnap princesses for fun, and make the life of adventurers miserable. Vainqueur's only pleasure in life is to watch his treasure get bigger, one coin at a time.

So when a would-be thief turned unwilling minion tells him about "classes," "levels," and "quests," Vainqueur wonders if maybe, just maybe, he should consider a career change.

After all, why bother hunting monsters for free when you can get paid for it?

In the third year of the Kaihuang era, as the Great Sui began to unfold between the fall of the Northern Dynasties and the rise of the glorious Tang Dynasty, Emperor Yang Jian created the House of Blades – an intelligence agency for strategies and conspiracies – in preparation to unify the world.

On a snowy night, a convoy of tribute from the Kingdom of Khotan was raided. Not one soul survived the attack. Feng Xiao, Second Commandant of the House of Blades, was ordered by the Emperor to investigate the matter in person.

On the distant border, a storm brewed as major forces gathered from all sides in Liugong Town. The strong rubbed shoulders with the strong; the skilled crossed paths with the skilled.

Here, the ever-successful Second Commandant Feng ran into a wall for the first time – all because of a feeble Taoist priest with ailing health.

Some things would never be known if no fights were ever picked. Only through their skirmishes did Feng Xiao realise that this sick bastard seemed to have way more aliases and personas than he himself ever did.

- Description from Novelupdates

A few hundred years ago, Earth was affected by a mysterious force from the depths of the universe, triggering the revival of spiritual energy. However, things didn’t turn out as wonderful as humanity had imagined. The spiritual energy carried a strange power that caused the corpses of all living things to rise again, transforming into ghouls. And above these ghouls, even more terrifying beings existed…There were no ancient methods of cultivating immortality, nor any legendary awakenings of supernatural powers. But within the spiritual energy, there was also a presence of ghostly energy. This led to the emergence of Runes.Some people bore mountain runes, enabling them to move mountains and overturn seas, suppressing chaos. Others carried river runes, allowing them to reverse the flow of mighty rivers with a mere gesture. However, this process required a special profession to assist these rune cultivators—to constantly modify and engrave their runes, making them more refined and perfect.This profession came to be known as Rune Engraving.