Sword God in a World of Magic

BOOOOOM!

The Mage Lord dropped the two beasts as soon as he arrived.

Thousands of people were watching with interest. They had already been informed about what would happen today in advance, and they didn't want to miss this spectacle.

Not everyone had been able to see the beasts from a great distance, but now, it became clear what these beasts were.

They were two huge worms called Abyss Worms.

Each worm was around six kilometers long and a couple hundred meters wide. They were about as big as the Serpent Shang had killed.

One of the worms was dark blue. It had sparkling blue scales, which gave off a white mist.

The other worm was pure black, and it didn't have any scales. Instead, it had rough skin, which didn't sparkle at all.

As soon as the two worms regained control of their bodies, they lifted their heads, and the more powerful people felt an oppressive Spirit Sense inspect them.

Nearly everyone became terrified at that moment.

Two Ancestral Beasts were right in front of their home.

Yet, the worms didn't seem to be that interested.

Sure, they looked through all the humans present, but they didn't particularly focus on them.

CRRRRR!

The worms began to slowly move around above ground, leaving humongous crevices behind.

They were inspecting this place.

All the smaller beasts around the town fled in terror, but many of them were still ruthlessly crushed beneath the worms' massive weight.

After a bit, they stopped and focused on the town.

They weren't looking at the town directly but at the Mana of the town.

They felt how the town absorbed Mana and that it converted that Mana into Darkness and Ice Mana.

One of the worms immediately dug into the ground, leaving a gigantic abyss behind, several hundred meters wide.

The worm quickly found that the Darkness and Ice Mana became denser below the town, and then it found the huge crystal.

That crystal was amazing!

When the worm found the crystal, the other one immediately burrowed into the ground to get to the same spot.

After looking at the crystal for a long time, the two worms began to coil around the huge crystal together.

And that was how they would remain for the majority of the time.

Up above the ground, the ground stopped shaking, and the humans were waiting for something to happen.

And, sure enough, something else happened.

It didn't immediately become apparent, but the more sensitive Mages could feel that the Ice and Darkness Mana in the surroundings began to intensify.

Luckily, they had already been informed about the upcoming changes.

Now, there were three reasons why these two worms were one of the cheaper options.

First, they were ugly.

A lot of the cities used their beasts as a status symbol or attraction. They would purchase powerful and majestic tigers, who would just sleep beside the city.

Obviously, these worms were not really pleasing to the eye, and they didn't radiate status.

The second reason was that the two worms created a climate.

Like the Yellow Sunbreaker, the two worms hunted by drawing other Ancestral Beasts in. They would release their Mana and transform the surrounding 800 kilometers into an icy wasteland in perpetual darkness.

Naturally, something like this was also not something that most cities and towns wanted. Creating a dark and icy wasteland of death would ruin the entire feel and atmosphere of the city and would make it look depressing.

Surprisingly, the fact that they attracted more Ancestral Beasts was not an issue at all. After all, they were powerful enough to defend against basically all Ancestral Beasts.

They both were Mid Ancestral Beasts, and they never fought alone. They could kill nearly every single Late Ancestral Beast, and Peak Ancestral Beasts basically didn't walk around. In the last 80 years of being the Town Lord, Shang had only seen a single Late Ancestral Beast and no Peak Ancestral Beasts.

But the third reason was the biggest reason why the worms were so cheap.

The thing was….

The two worms were a pair.

One male, one female.

And they loved laying eggs.

A lot of eggs.

Within the next six months, this place would become littered with Soldier Stage worms digging through the ground and hunting.

So, in short, the worms were so cheap because the surrounding 800 kilometers transformed into a dark and icy wasteland of death filled with disgusting worms.

That wasn't the best look for a city.

Of course, if the people could choose, they would have never agreed to these worms taking up residence near their town.

Sadly, they didn't have a choice in the matter.

However, there were advantages to disadvantages and disadvantages to advantages.

An area permeated with Ice and Darkness Mana would give birth to rare and valuable natural treasures. Almost every part of the wilderness was just neutral forest since nearly no Ancestral Beast dared to release their Mana to create their own zone.

And since it was even rarer for two beasts to share the same territory, the things that would grow around the town soon were also even rarer.

Also, specifically for Shang's town, this would also have another use.

With the cold and dark climate, growing crops would become nearly impossible.

This meant that all the mortals would need to eat meat, and since there would be an overabundance of Soldier Stage worms soon, which were also very aggressive by the way, the mortals would need to learn to fight even more.

Cold storms, perpetual darkness, a diet of pure meat, and the constant threat of the worms would push the mortals more toward power.

The arrival of the two Abyss Worms signaled a tremendous change for the town, and Shang also decided to change the town's name in reflection of the change.

Up to now, Shang had still been using the name the previous Town Lord had given the town, which was Silver Wilderness Town. He had chosen the name back then since this was the town closest to the Silver Abyss.

Shang decided on a new name for his town.

Icy Bastion.