Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 291 The Kingdom of Dragons
In the afternoon, the sun is strong.

But the top of the mountain of the Dragon's Lair should be the territory of the evil dragon's lair, and it should be a dark and terrifying place.

But the Cang Lei Fortress standing on the top of the mountain is like a temple where gods reside.

The entire Cang Lei Fortress was built with sea-forged stone from the sea. The gray-blue sea-forged stone was smooth and delicate, just like the scales of an old blue dragon, and naturally exuded the smell of sea water.

The gray-blue fortress reflected spots of light under the sunlight, falling on the rough sand that had been leveled but was gradually weathered and turned into a desert due to the nest effect of the blue dragon that had lived there for a long time.

The reflection of the sand itself and the light of the castle embellish this vast expanse of sand like a desert shining in the sun at noon, with fragments of gold scattered all over the ground.

However, as the two blue dragons in Cang Lei Castle began to sleep, gradually losing control of their own subjective consciousness, the magic power from the blue dragons began to penetrate into the surrounding environment along with the field radiation of the nest effect.

A dark cloud as heavy as lead quietly gathered above Cang Lei Castle, rotating as the two blue dragons' breathing rate slowed down.

From the dark clouds, there began to be rumbling thunder and flashes of lightning and sparks passing through the air.

Blue dragon Karit and her mate, blue dragon Akzi, the two oldest dragons in the original dragon group, have reached the end of their teenage years and begun to sleep through their youth.

A dragon's adolescence, youth, and adulthood are known as the golden age of dragonkind, and are also their crucial period of transformation.

This is different from other races, such as humans, who have to cross the legendary stage to achieve essential leaps in growth.

Each stage of dormancy that a dragon goes through as a hatchling brings them this leap in growth.

The accumulated growth from repeated periods of dormancy and transformation is enough, at a certain age, to achieve changes comparable to the legendary fateful choices that other races must go through.

Most of the blue dragons are already legendary when they transform from very old dragons to ancient dragons.

The rest of the races experienced legendary choices in their destiny, and those legendary beings were able to acquire powers that were unimaginable in the mortal world.

Of course, the legendary fate is not necessarily determined by some powerful force, but perhaps just some kind of talent.

The world is based on a comprehensive review of everything a creature has learned, thought, mastered, and possessed, and gives the creature the talents brought about by the essential changes when it leaps into legend.

Just like the legendary demon Sacres, after analysis by the ancestral red dragon, it was learned that the talent this guy obtained through fateful choice was the ability to carry the power of hundreds or thousands of abyssal roots.

The law of legendary destiny is a step further. It is a power that only the best among legends can obtain. It is the destiny that legends create for themselves.

The most outstanding among them can even break through the barriers of fate and leave their own unique mark in the root of the world.

The dragon race only needs to continue to sleep in order to obtain the power that the legends have worked so hard to obtain.

Above the ancient dragon, there are clear paths such as the demigod dragon and the deified dragon.

The blue dragon Akzi and the blue dragon Kalit have already taken solid steps towards their great goal.

The mountain top was silent, with only the occasional explosion of dark clouds, storms, lightning and thunder.

The golden kobold guards of the Golden Empire, wearing special standard armor, are firmly guarding around this mountaintop castle, watching every corner to prevent some lucky, brave but stupid guy from disturbing the sleep of the King of Cang Lei and his spouse.

These golden dog-headed men have now iterated for several generations in the special environment of the Golden Empire, and the benign group mutations that once occurred have tended to be stable and slowly developing.

The height of an adult golden kobold is comparable to that of an ordinary adult, a malnourished farmer, about 1.7 meters.

However, the golden kobolds are far stronger and smarter than the malnourished peasants in other noble territories.

What's even more terrifying is that once these golden ogres have been in contact with dragons for a long time and are influenced by the dragons, they will be more likely to undergo infectious mutations than the original ogres and become dragon-born ogres.

The number of dragonborn warlocks born among the dragonborn kobolds has increased dramatically according to the statistics of the imperial bureaucracy.

This was due to the growing strength of the Golden Empire's dragons, the influence of the dragon's blood, the nourishment of the Tree of Life that had taken root in the major cities of the empire and was beginning to recover and grow, and the abundant resources that nurtured it.

Except for races like humans and elves, which have a relatively long lifespan and a slow iteration rate, the changes are relatively subtle. It only manifests itself in that newborns are generally stronger, have a higher survival rate, and are easier to enlighten.

Other races with shorter lifespans, such as goblins, gnolls, and other races, like the kobolds, have begun to undergo benign mutations similar to those of the original races.

Just like ordinary goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears, which belong to the same goblin species.

Hobgoblins are the goblin's larger cousins, taller and more ferocious than ordinary goblins. Bugbears are the most powerful leaders and ruling class of warriors among all goblin-like creatures.

But after the influence of the Empire and a long period of benign evolution, the Golden Goblins have become as strong and tall as their wild cousins, the Hobgoblins, and far smarter than these wild cousins.

The chaotic nature of the goblin race was gradually assimilated into the order of the empire. The new generation of goblins was already a complete group mutation.

This has become a relatively important topic in the research of the Golden Empire's civilizational influence and order assimilation. Even the ancestral red dragons are quite concerned about this research and the academic discussions it has triggered.

Because this means that perhaps the vast majority of biological species in the world can be guided to collective evolution and benign mutations, and this only requires time and a stable environment as the cost.

And with the gradual rise of the Golden Empire, especially in the past few months after the Green Algae River Alliance, it has attracted countless attention from the surrounding areas.

In addition to the influx of humans who had already begun to be controlled by other civilized forces in the North, the proportion of other intelligent races began to increase in the Golden Empire.

From the uncultivated wastelands, goblins, trolls, ogres, and others poured into the Golden Empire at an unprecedented rate, in droves.

Even some races from the frost plains, such as snowmen and frost giants, have begun to enter the Golden Empire.

In the increasingly complex and diverse empire, conflicts began to increase, distracting the attention of many dragon lords.

For example, the golden kobolds and golden goblins in the empire have begun to no longer recognize that their fellow tribesmen in the wild are of the same race as them.

Not only do the people of the Golden Empire think highly of themselves, they also reject outsiders of their same bloodline.

Some officials who were born from the goblin and kobold races have even begun to try to propose to the Imperial Central Council that those foreign goblins and kobolds be demoted to slaves, and that they undergo transformation and evolution before they can be on par with the native races of the empire.

Fortunately, the Golden Empire never convicted people for their words. These officials were simply reprimanded by their superiors, who said that their words affected the cultural cohesion and racial unity of the empire, and fined them several hundred copper coins as punishment.

Recently, the Copper Dragon Lord Alfred has been troubled by this and wants to come up with a better propaganda idea to help resolve this contradiction.

Therefore, the second Golden Empire census plan was included in the procedure at the suggestion of the Copper Dragon Alfred.

Kalon Gogmora, the emperor of the empire, just watched the changes in his empire quietly without giving any opinions, but just let the dragon lords and the officials of the empire deal with it.

Whether it is the natural evolution of social consciousness or the influence of dark hands attracted by the tree attracting wind, in the eyes of the emperor, it seems that neither is more interesting than discussing how to print new cards with Pixar, the Elf, and Riven.

Although the tentacles of other forces and most of the officials of the empire are unaware of it, the dragon lords who are at the top of all creatures and classes in the empire are well aware of the reasons.

Not only are the ancestral red dragons digesting their gains, the empire is also secretly digesting the results obtained from its own control of the planes.

The rhythm of the outside world cannot affect the rhythm of development within the Golden Empire at all, because the pace of the empire is the will of the dragon.

After the two blue dragons and the teenage white dragon Roni fell into a deep sleep, the dragons in the dragon group ushered in a rather dark moment.

Unlike the stable state when Charon left with the dragons, the Golden Empire is now digesting and developing at the same time.

The Mist Dragon Deniro, the giant dragon in charge of national defense, had rarely even lain down in his newly built lair. He was always busy traveling through the teleportation arrays in various provincial cities, so much so that he had recently contracted the teleportation array motion sickness.

Of course, when this mist dragon asked for leave from the ancestor red dragon, it was rejected.

The ancestral red dragon didn't want to make things difficult for himself, so he had to make things difficult for the fog dragon, which had always had the ambition to soar to the sky.

As soon as Mist Dragon De Niro stepped out of the Dragon King Castle, the Ancestral Red Dragon summoned the empire's historical compilation officials, asking them to write down Mist Dragon De Niro's contributions to the empire as soon as possible and then tout him.

Then the ancestral red dragon ordered his maid Charlize to hand the manuscript to the mist dragon De Niro, and a magical thing happened.

De Niro's motion sickness has actually recovered.

Thus, the Ancestral Red Dragon obtained the title of Imperial Miracle Doctor under the reverent gaze of his political assistant (the scapegoat) Charizard.

The elf Riven was still shouting and laughing, wanting to print an image of the Miracle Healer Charon on the new card, but was ruthlessly suppressed by a claw of the ancestral red dragon, and was trapped in endless flattery.

Along with the Pixie Elf, little Achilles, who was protesting with a pouty mouth, was also suppressed.

Achilles was easily suppressed by Charon's tail. In fact, Charon's weight was already calculated in thousands of tons. If Charon had not intentionally controlled it, just half of his tail would have been enough to crush the future Behemoth of the Empire into a meat pie.

Little Achilles' protest against the ancestral red dragon came from a sense of betrayal and deception.

This little fellow asked the ancestor red dragon to take away the small bell that was hung on the door of the study as a wind chime.

But the ancestral red dragon who saw through Achilles' intention did not allow it, not because of the greed and desire for dominance in the dragon's bones.

Rather, this bell was forged based on powerful mass transformation magic, and its power was too strong. To Achilles, it was like a villain holding a sword and swaggering through the city.

Although it was not cast by the red dragon himself, it lacked a lot of power. However, under the mass transformation magic of the ancestral red dragon, the dragon lord who was not prepared might not be able to escape.

If such a magical treasure were lost in Achilles' hands, the consequences would be unimaginable.

But the ancestral red dragon blessed little Achilles with a magic and told him solemnly that with the blessing of its magic, it could beat up those dragon cubs at will.

So Achilles returned with a bruised face.

As long as Achilles had no intention of initiating a battle, the evil dragon cubs would still be concerned about Achilles' status as the emperor's adopted son and would only dare to mock him verbally.

Once Achilles initiates a battle, those dragon cubs will not be polite, because the order of the dragon group is established in this way.

Achilles didn't expect that what the ancestral red dragon blessed him with was a modified version of the spell of foreseeing the enemy that the ancestral red dragon himself had used. It had the effect of foreseeing the enemy and could provide real-time feedback and summary of combat skills, but that was all.

So Achilles, who boasted that he could defeat ten alone, was severely beaten up by the many young dragons.

When the frustrated little Achilles went to the ancestor red dragon to protest, he was fooled by the red dragon with a few words. So Achilles took the second spell blessed by the red dragon and continued to challenge the young dragons arrogantly.

This time Achilles learned his lesson and only challenged one dragon hatchling at a time.

The result was not unexpected. Achilles, who had no inheritance, was beaten again. Fortunately, the magic that the ancestral red dragon blessed this little guy with was a continuous healing magic, so Achilles did not get a big bump on his head.

When Achilles went to the Ancestral Red Dragon to protest again, the Ancestral Red Dragon patted his chest and promised that this time he would definitely give little Achilles a very powerful magic, and guaranteed it in the name of the Emperor of the Empire.

So Achilles believed the red dragon's words again, but Achilles became smarter. He already knew that he should practice the magic effects of the red dragon in advance.

When Achilles transformed into a little giant, twice as tall and eight times as heavy as his original self, he felt full of strength and confidence.

So Achilles was beaten again as expected.

The giantization spell could indeed allow Achilles to compete with those young dragons. However, the magic that the ancestral red dragon blessed this little guy with required magic power and energy, which had to be provided by Achilles himself.

Achilles was only arrogant for 30 seconds, and he was exhausted before he could even finish his passionate words of revenge. After these lessons, Achilles deeply understood a truth.

Don't talk too much before a fight. Also, don't trust others' words. When the ancestral red dragons were nestling in their castles to digest their gains and provide a good education for the next generation of the empire, other dragon lords were as busy as the ancestral red dragons. However, these lords were caught up in busy affairs.

Thunder Lord Doss, who was gloriously promoted to the Deputy Minister of the Imperial Governor's Government, gritted his teeth and buried his head in the piles of government documents, while also finding time to supervise and educate the newly arrived blue dragon species.

With the help of Thunder Lord Doss, the bronze dragon Alina should have had a lot more free time.

But the ancestor red dragon gave the bronze dragon Alina another hat of power. The ever-expanding empire needed to set up an independent tax supervision department.

The bronze dragon, which was familiar with this kind of work, became the first choice. What else could Alina say? She had long been used to it.

Occasionally, Alina would let her imagination run wild in her rare free time, thinking that perhaps the ancestral red dragon should use advanced transfiguration to transform itself into a cow or horse, which would be more appropriate.

However, what no one expected was that the head of the tax supervision department, in addition to the chief officer, the white dragon Gemot, was actually the ancestral golden dragon Obilash.

Following the compromise reached between the adult silver dragon Flo, an envoy sent by the Southern Good Dragon Alliance, and the Empire, the Golden Empire and the Southern Good Dragon Alliance issued a statement together.

The ancestor golden dragon Obilash only came to the Golden Empire to study, but because he admired the imperial culture created by the dragons, he voluntarily stayed in the empire.

The Black Dragon Lord Rosani, the giant dragon who had just taken office as the Chief of the Imperial Inquisition, was busy catching rats throughout the empire.

Naxon, the foreign dragon who is in charge of the law, has recently begun to collude with Midir, the steel dragon.

But it is not a collusion between giant dragons, but a collusion that is close to being in cahoots with each other.

The cause was the blood-sucking species from the jungle country.

With the exchanges and trade between the Golden Empire and the Kingdom of the Jungle, these blood-sucking species gradually became active within the empire.

Perhaps it was the bloodlines of many races within the empire that attracted these vampires, so without daring to violate the laws of the empire, these vampires would send servants to buy a lot of blood from the gray areas in various cities every day.

As a result, in every city, there are always many races who voluntarily sell their blood every day in exchange for some shiny things.

The Steel Dragon Midir was shocked when he saw this situation occasionally.

How can this be allowed? What the vampires are doing is no different from illegal tax evasion.

So the steel dragon Midir found the foreign dragon Naxxon, and the two dragons hit it off immediately. The steel dragon, who was in charge of the Ministry of Commerce, would contact the foreign dragon Naxxon when he needed to formulate policies and relevant laws.

As a result, all major cities in the Golden Empire were shrouded in the shadow of the black claws of the steel dragon Midir and the foreign dragon Naxon. Inspired by the vampires, the empire's tax laws were supplemented with some regulations.

The white dragon Kamide, the giant dragon lord who usually does nothing, is in charge of the work of the Supervision Department because of his seriousness.

The Construction Supervision Department was located in a tall mountain outside the newly built city of the empire - Ginkgo City.

This place is full of ginkgo trees, and when they are ripe, they attract many birds and animals to eat them.

But this place is also the most stable place detected by the Empire for receiving the earth's core energy and molten fire.

As a result, the Empire's Infrastructure Construction Department dispatched craftsmen to use high-energy gunpowder to blast a hole in the huge mountain. They then dug along the hole and hollowed out the entire mountain to create a forging workshop for the Empire's Supervision Department.

In an empire where technology has developed for nearly a decade, there is no need to rely on the power of dragons. These ordinary craftsmen can complete the project with just tools.

The dwarf craftsman Kragon and other dwarf blacksmiths gathered here, because the work of the Supervision Department, although seemingly simple, requires extremely skilled forging techniques.

The most important thing is that this project needs to be kept extremely confidential, and only senior craftsmen with a certain level of status can take on this job.

The boiling lava from underground that was restrained by the spellcasters became fuel for the workshop's furnace.

If additional firepower is needed, the furnace built by the dwarves not only has a switch to increase the temperature scale, but can also draw more molten fire from the earth's core as a supplement at any time.

If a higher temperature is required, the fire element energy bricks extracted from the Empire's small secondary plane pioneering corps are the prepared advanced energy source.

These dwarves wore soft gloves woven from fire-resistant cloth, with their muscular upper bodies bare and dotted with scars, and their dark faces were red from being ironed in front of the hot stove.

The heavy hammer in his hand was swung, sending out sparks and hammering the special metal material on the iron felt to temper and shape it.

The dwarves shouted loudly, and occasionally the senior craftsmen of other races roared, chiseling the entire space with clanging sounds.

There was also the hissing sound of quenching and the roar of the magic engine, like a chaotic and passionate major melody.

The white dragon Kamide followed the workshop manager with his two heads shaking, listening to the speech of this fire dwarf wise man who had moved his entire clan into the empire because the empire was developing the fire elemental plane.

Of course, if we take the whole tribe as an example, there are only a dozen or so fire dwarves. These usually unfriendly fire dwarves are dwarf-like creatures born from the plane of fire, and they are also a race accustomed to order.

Before the Empire's 'Crimson Roar' Caedilos, the fire dwarves wisely chose another pile of gems as compensation for the move.

After arriving in the empire, these fire dwarves saw the ancestral red dragon, Caron Gogmora, and began to worship the ancestral red dragon as the incarnation of fire, so they were accepted into the diverse civilization of the Golden Empire.

It is worth mentioning that this group of fire dwarves are now entrusted by the ancestral red dragon to take care of their own fire peak lair because they are good at management.

Some precious metal minerals created by the influence of the ancestral red dragons are also being mined by these fire dwarves and added to the empire's inventory and the treasury of the ancestral red dragons.

"Stors, how many craftsmen are there here?" asked the white dragon Kamide curiously.

At first glance, it was a forging unit that even the giant dragon couldn't see the head of at first glance. The scorching heat hit his face, but it couldn't have any effect on the white dragon.

On the frost-like scales, there is a layer of flowing white mist, like an attached energy armor, isolating the high temperature that the white dragon dislikes.

The fire dwarf named Stoss is also an expert in forging, and a steward loyal to the ancestral red dragon, so he was appointed as the chief officer of the forge workshop of the Supervision Department.

"There are a total of 3,000 registered senior craftsmen here, but there are also many craftsmen officers who have obtained the intermediate craftsman assessment certificate. Because of the shift system, there are about 3,500 craftsmen in the forge now."

Stos shouted at the top of his voice. Although he was just a dwarf-like creature, he was born with a loud voice like the dwarves.

"Well, very good. The situation in the empire is really, really," the white dragon Kamide shook his head and managed to say, "It is full of vitality and everything is flourishing."

Although the fire dwarf Stoss felt that the words from the White Dragon Lord were good words, an inexplicable feeling emerged in his heart, causing the fire dwarf to just say "uh".

The White Dragon Kamide didn't care about these details. He paced in the wide aisle, watching the craftsmen repeatedly forging, tempering and shaping pieces of metal. He was not surprised when frames of semi-finished products piled up at the craftsmen's feet.

Because the Golden Empire's assembly line production has long been expanded to every industry that can be mass-produced. Even in the field of magic, magical equipment and magical items have long been applied to the assembly line production system.

Only on the forging tables in the last few units of the workshop do we begin to differentiate between types and carry out different types of assembly and labeling.

The White Dragon Kamide was looking at those special magic metals that were hammered and forged by craftsmen. They were specially used to carry the magic arrays of the empire's powerful domain, which required extremely high magical compatibility and spiritual capacity.

During the forging process, the material properties must not be significantly damaged, so these experienced and senior craftsmen are needed to complete this boring work.

However, the white dragon Kamide was dazzled by what he saw, but he still couldn't figure out anything.

But as the person in charge of the construction supervision department, I can't just come and take a look, otherwise I might lose the dragon.

Then the white dragon Kamide thought for a moment and came up with an idea.

"I need to think about what Caron would do here. Well, simulating Caron's behavior gave me a bright idea in an instant. From now on, I will name this smart state the Caron State!"

Kamide coughed twice, tilted his head and asked, "Stors, I am confident in leaving the forge to you. The Empire is also confident. You have done a great job."

"So if you have any difficulties in the forge, you can tell me at any time and I can solve it with just a flick of my wrist."

The white dragon Kamide looked at the serious expression of the fire dwarf Stoss and couldn't help but pray silently in his heart: "Please don't be a problem. Kalon can handle it, but I don't know if I can handle it."

But the words of the fire dwarf broke the white dragon's fantasy, "Your Majesty Kamide, the work of the workshop has indeed encountered difficulties."

"It's OK for the lower-ranking officials and generals of the empire. Their tokens of office, whether seals, emblems, or waist badges, can carry the power based on their positions."

The fire dwarf's thick eyebrows twisted up like two insects jumping. He said, "But for those senior generals and officials, these small things cannot carry more magic arrays on the prescribed scale of power. This also means that they cannot obtain stronger power."

"Based on the experiments of the Knights of the Inquisition, seals and badges of ordinary size can only carry a power scale of the centurion level at most."

"Even if the magic circle is shrunk using magic golem and magic pattern construction technology, it can only reach the lower limit of the centurion's power scale at most." The fire dwarf looked at the White Dragon Lord, sincerely waiting for opinions.

"Oh, that's it. I was shocked."

The white dragon Kamide felt relieved and said without hesitation: "Then make their employment certificates as big as possible. If they are as big as a door panel, any magic circle should be able to be engraved on them."

The fire dwarf Stoss understands the aesthetic taste of dragons. Big means beautiful, big means powerful.

But he still asked back, "Your Majesty Kamide, are you going to let those senior officials carry a door panel to work, or let those senior generals carry a door panel to the battlefield?"

The white dragon Kamide raised his sharp claws and scratched his head in embarrassment. "Yes, not all creatures are as strong as dragons. Even if a dragon were to fight with a door panel on its back, it would be inconvenient."

The White Dragon Kamide's gaze wandered over the craftsmen, watching them polish the surfaces of the regular metal sheets until they were smooth, and then carefully engrave scale arrays on both sides of the metal sheets that could trigger the power of the powerful domain.

Depending on the rank of the official, the complexity of these scale arrays increases.

Then use some different decorative-grade shells that fit the core of the magic circle to wrap the core of the magic circle. In this way, the empire's inauguration token has been successfully manufactured halfway.

A gleam of light suddenly flashed in the eyes of the white dragon Kamide, and his tail, which was swinging unconsciously, swept rapidly.

"Storm, I know how to solve this problem."

The fire dwarf Stos showed a surprised look and asked, "Your Majesty Kamide?"

"You see, those craftsmen are just using these materials on a flat surface," the white dragon Kamide gestured with his claws and muttered, "Since we can't increase the area of these materials, we can make them thicker."

"Just, add a few more layers, like this, like that," the white dragon Kamide taped several pieces of metal together.

After Bai Long's messy gestures, the fire dwarf quickly understood what Bai Long meant, "Your Majesty means to use the available area of three-dimensional stacking, right?"

"Ah, yes, yes," the white dragon Kamide nodded quickly, "You are very smart, you guessed what I meant."

The fire dwarf's eyes lit up, but he soon fell into deep thought and whispered, "This approach is indeed feasible. Previously, due to the limitations of my thinking, I was used to extending the magic circle on a flat surface."

"But in this case, the extension and connectivity of the magic circle will become a technical problem that requires high skills."

After thinking for a while, the fire dwarf Stos finally nodded, "Your Majesty Kamide's idea makes sense."

"Hahaha," the white dragon Kamide put his two claws on his waist, supported his dragon body with his hind legs, and half stood up. "If you have any other problems, tell me together. I feel like I'm very smart today!"

　Thank you all for your support. Well, I've written a general narrative. I don't know if you think it's ok. Although there are a lot of things I want to write, I always feel that it would be a bit dawdling if I write too much detail.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)