Golden Dragon: Six Thousand Years of Empire.

Chapter 245 Noah's Cub
"Dad Long, are you going to take the path of becoming a god?"

Crawling on a scale of the golden dragon, the girl grasped the edge of the scale tightly and stretched her head to look at the mountains, rivers and land below. She looked at the cities and mountains, and the many dragon subjects who were crawling and worshiping under the glory of the holy dragon, and couldn't help but ask.

"Deification? I'm not interested."

Noah gave the answer without even a moment's hesitation.

Becoming a legend, improving your realm, increasing your popularity, collecting faith, condensing divinity, igniting the divine fire, holding high the throne, seizing the priesthood, obtaining godhood, and achieving eternity, this is the path that almost all legends want to take.

But not all legends will choose this path, because it is not the only path. There is also a more difficult and rugged path that many legends are unaware of its existence.

The Road of the Dragon King, also known as the Epic Road
This path is too difficult, but the effort is proportional to the reward. Compared to becoming a god who relies on faith to maintain immortality, the Dragon King does not need any faith, because his achievements come from his own power, not the offerings of sentient beings.

Of course, even if Noah chooses to take this path, he still has a long way to go, and this is not something he should worry about now.

"Since you have no interest in deification, why do you maintain such a large territory? And why do you update and publish the Book of Noah every year?"

Gwen asked suspiciously.

In her opinion, Dad Long has been writing books since he was a child to spread his views, as well as knowledge and technology that can truly change the lives of the grassroots people. After he had enough ability, he established an ideal place on the mainland that best meets the ideas of all parties, attracting countless people to come and join him.

If all this is not for the purpose of becoming a god, then what is it for?
"If there must be a reason, it's just that I like it, I am willing, and I want it. That's all. There is no other purpose."

Noah answered his daughter's question and then asked another question to express his own confusion.
"Why do you think you need a reason to do things? Sometimes you can do something just because you want to, just to kill time, or because you just don't like it. Aren't these enough reasons?"

"But this is all one-sided effort on your part, and you haven't gained anything in return!"

This was what Gwendolyn could not understand the most. In her eyes, the golden dragon had paid too much unilaterally in order to establish a territory, to gain the recognition of the people, and to obtain the following of the dragons. But when it came to actual benefits, without the goal of becoming a god, there was nothing.

Not to mention dragons, no living creature would make unilateral sacrifices without a purpose.

Mere fame and fortune, the worship of short-lived species, what do these mean to a dragon whose lifespan is often measured in thousands of years?
Without the need to harvest faith, these are meaningless.

"No, you just don't see my gains, actually, I gain a lot."

The harvest mentioned by Noah naturally refers to the golden tree, but the golden dragon has never revealed its existence to anyone, not even Gwen, so her understanding of Noah's words had a huge deviation.

"Dad Long, I'm sorry, I'm too utilitarian!"

The girl mistakenly believed that what Noah was pursuing was the same seemingly illusory ideal path as the paladin, who was willing to sacrifice his life to practice the justice and goodness he advocated.

This is also something that the world cannot understand. After all, their efforts are not proportional to the actual material rewards they receive, and they cannot even be compared.

Measuring the behavior of a paladin with secular values ​​is an insult to the paladin.

"Hahaha……"

Noah couldn't help laughing, but he didn't explain any more because he didn't intend to reveal the existence of the golden tree to anyone, even though he now believed that he had become the most powerful person in the world.

Since waking up from his sleep, flying into the sky, and touring the Aldis Mountains, Noah has sorted out the power he now possesses.

He fell into a deep sleep when he was 103 years old, and the sleep period lasted for five years. Now he is 108 years old, and his body size is already 92 meters long, which is a size that most ancient dragons cannot reach, not even the ancient golden dragon.

You know, even an ancient golden dragon that is 1,200 years old is only about 70 to 80 meters long.

This is the largest dragon among the known true dragon species. Even the red dragon is slightly inferior to it, but it still cannot be compared with Noah who has just entered adolescence.

Without being modest, I can say that Noah has already departed from the category of ordinary dragons. Using the numerical values ​​of ordinary dragons to compare with Noah will only serve to serve as a foil for Noah, making him appear particularly terrifying.

The huge dragon body that Noah possesses is not just a shell. The strength of his bones, flesh, and scales is even more outrageous than that of a dragon.

Even if they are of the same size, he can crush his own kind with his ancestral dragon bloodline, not to mention that he now has a larger body.

Unless they also have the bloodline of ancestral dragons, no dragon can compete with him in this regard. This is true within the dragon clan. Looking outside the dragon clan, how many creatures can compete with him?

It is undeniable that such creatures do exist, but how many of them are there in his world, in the Zealandia continent where he lives? How many can there be?

Therefore, Noah judged that after this transformation and awakening, he would become one of the strongest creatures on the continent. Only those who are close to gods, those who have ascended to gods, and demigods are qualified to be on par with him. Others are weaklings.

Noah had such confidence, so at this moment, he did not hesitate to show his strength. After inspecting the Aldis Mountains, he flew out of the mountains and soared over the city of Elisim.

Finally, Noah patrolled the entire territory of his territory, just like the sun, shining on all living things, so that billions of creatures on this land can bathe in the light of the Holy Dragon and feel his power.

“What a waste!”

When Noah returned to the palace, he saw the tangible and intangible power of faith on his body and couldn't help but mutter in his heart.

Although he did not condense divinity, nor did he intend to ignite the divine fire, he could also see the power that swarmed in from all directions after he patrolled the entire territory, entwined around him, and accumulated around him.

It was a kind of light thread that could be any color, with different lengths and thicknesses, swarming in from all directions, piling up layer by layer to form a colorful, gorgeous and beautiful sight.

The most interesting thing is that although Noah can see the power of these beliefs, he cannot feel them. His every move is not bound by them at all, and has no influence on him, as if what he sees is just an illusion.

This is only because Noah has no divinity. If he could condense the divinity, then he could use the power of faith to bless his believers like a god and give them feedback using the power of faith.

Of course, because he has not completely completed the path to becoming a true god, even if he can convert the power of faith, its efficiency is extremely slow.

The so-called divine power that was transformed was not comparable to that of a true god. The divine arts that were bestowed were only equivalent to 1st to 3rd level spells, which was better than nothing.

It was enough to attract mortals, but the True God Church called these people false gods and would kill them on sight. Gods relied on priesthood to gain power in different fields, and although the number of priesthoods was gradually increasing with the development of civilization, the total number was relatively unchanged.

Therefore, for the gods, the more people who try to become gods, the less power they have. Therefore, their attitude towards false gods, whether they are righteous gods or evil gods, is the same.

Hurry and kill!
This is also the biggest obstacle on the road to becoming a god. It is not about collecting faith or condensing divinity, but about how to escape the sniping of true gods in the same field when obtaining the priesthood.

As long as you have not become a god, even if you are a demigod, if you are free from the protection of the material world and face the true God, your fate will be certain. Compared with mortals, there will not be much difference. Only gods can fight against gods.

However, this is not something Noah needs to worry about. Now Noah is just worried that he cannot use the power of faith.

Watching the power of faith gradually dissipate because it was not transformed, Noah, as a dragon, felt heartbroken and powerless, as if he was watching his own money evaporating.

"Angel Icon."

Noah quickly thought of his angel companions, who, by consuming the power of faith, gained some of the characteristics of the gods and, when united, could easily suppress the statue technology of the Lord of the Abyss.

If he could acquire this technology, the power of faith would be put to good use instead of being wasted, and he would also be able to gain great help.

"Wait a minute, my cub!"

Noah, thinking of the angel statue, suddenly remembered his and Ophelia's offspring. Calculating the time, Ophelia should have given birth to a child.

Thinking of this, Noah no longer cared about anything else. After falling asleep, the dragon soul, body, and magic power had all undergone a transformation, and the joy of this feeling was also forgotten by Noah.

"Ophelia, where are our children?"

When Noah excitedly went to find the angel, he saw that the angel had moved half a body distance to the side. Then, behind her, a white ball that was more than three meters tall and emitting a soft light suddenly appeared.

"This is... my child?"

Seeing the egg behind the angel, Noah's expression froze, and then he slowly asked, although for a dragon, having dragon eggs is not a strange thing, but its mother is an angel, how did the angel lay an egg?
"Well, I laid this egg out of my body half a year ago."

Ophelia did not feel much joy after giving birth, because this childbirth was extremely exhausting for her, causing her to fall into a state of depression that she had never experienced in her life.

If her father had not sent her a high-quality tonic, she would probably have to consider leading the legion back now, and would no longer have the energy to coordinate and command the legion.

"Noah, are you through your sleep period now?"

"Yes, I am a young dragon now."

"So do you have time now?"

"Have."

Noah was able to fully predict what the angel was going to do, and he agreed immediately.

"Then you will take care of him from now on. I don't have much energy to spare for him. Sorry."

The angel showed some apology on her face. She knew what kind of responsibilities a mother should fulfill, but between the two identities of mother and legion commander, she chose to be a qualified legion commander.

"No need to apologize, this is what we should do. You've worked hard, and I'll take care of the rest. I'll be right over to pick him up."

Noah, who originally didn't want to be a nanny, now took on this responsibility that he should have fulfilled. This time he was really going to be a father.

"You don't have to come over. I will arrange an elite force to escort him to your world. Just pay attention to receiving him."

It can be seen that Ophelia was extremely busy at the moment. After communicating with Noah for a while and explaining the arrangements for the upbringing of their offspring, she ended the communication.

“It hasn’t hatched yet.”

Noah calculated the time quickly. It had been twelve years since Ophelia became pregnant. But now the offspring he had been longing for was actually a dragon egg. It was really outrageous.

For an ordinary golden dragon, the time from pregnancy to hatching of a dragonlet is basically no more than five years. Occasionally there are exceptions, but it is only about six years, and at most seven years, but I have never heard of a case where a dragonlet remains an egg for twelve years.

But now he has it, because this father is so special.

For the offspring of the ancestral dragon, it would not be strange if the gestation period was as long as twelve years, let alone twenty years.

"Hatching eggs..."

Noah, who had just become a dragon father, began to frantically look for information. However, after reading a few books on dragon parenting knowledge, he threw all the books aside. How could he use ordinary dragon knowledge to take care of his offspring?
This is obviously unreasonable.

So Noah contacted his adoptive mother who was no longer in the city of Elishim.

"Tsk, Noah, you really know how to pick the time."

When Selena heard that Noah's offspring was about to arrive, she looked unhappy. Of course, she was very knowledgeable about the offspring of the ancestral dragons, no, she was interested in helping to raise and care for them, but now, she was involved in planning a very important thing.

"What happened? What happened in the north during the years I was asleep?"

Noah remembered that when he first fell asleep, the situation in the north had become quite stable.

Atlas, the Elf King's Court, and the Kingdom of the Dead, the three forces were fighting for resources and land on that vast battlefield. Atlas won battle after battle, while the Elf King's Court was losing territory one after another. The Undead's income and expenditure were balanced, and they could occasionally make a small profit.

However, after Princess Silvermoon came to power, the elves' decline on the battlefield was effectively alleviated, and the offensive of the undead was generally curbed, and they no longer had the devastating momentum of the early stages.

(End of this chapter)