Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 292 The sun also rises
The sun wheel rose into the sky, illuminating the earth. But even in the ever-changing Golden Empire, most of the things that happened inside were nothing new.

"There is nothing new under the sun,"

Bal, a gray-haired member of the Imperial Central Council, stood on the third-floor terrace of his home, sipping his licorice ice tea carefully, looking down at the farce happening in the civilian area just across a wide street, and then spoke lightly.

The Central Council of the Golden Empire, as the highest level of power delegated to the Emperor of the Empire, possesses powers that are unimaginable to ordinary people.

Although Bronze Dragon Alina is busy with government affairs every day, the government affairs that pass through Bronze Dragon Alina's hands are only a few thousandth or even tens of thousandsth of the things that the Golden Empire needs to deal with.

Because most of the affairs ultimately come to the hands of the Empire's Central Parliament, where they are reviewed and approved by the members of the Central Parliament, processed and issued, and then quickly transmitted to the governor's offices of various provinces.

Only important government affairs such as the direction and route that the Imperial Central Council finds difficult to decide will be submitted to Thunder Lord Doss and Bronze Dragon Alina after the opinions and plans of the Upper Council are included.

As one of the few great scholars and high-ranking officials in the Central Council of the Golden Empire, Bal was able to rely on his talents to live in this high-end residential area called "Degonia Stamen" and own a luxurious three-story villa of his own.

But with a scholar of this level, whether in the Golden Empire or anywhere else, Baal could own a house ten or a hundred times wider than this one, and a luxurious manor dozens of times taller than this three-story villa, relying on his own abilities and talents.

This is not because Baal was sold by slave traders. In fact, Baal was once a senior adviser in the Southern Noble Alliance of the Northern Continent.

This is not because Baal hopes to obtain an extremely long life through the rulers of the Golden Empire - the dragons, but because there are always some people in the world who have their own ambitions and ideals.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to describe these people as idealists.

Bal couldn't see his ideals blossoming in other places, so after being contacted by the Planning Department of the Golden Empire, he resolutely resigned from his position as senior consultant and traveled thousands of miles to the Kingdom of Dragons.

Because in this country built from the wilderness, Bal saw the soil in which the flower of his ideal could bloom.

"Haha, just like the steel train of 'World Python', before boarding the train, everyone outside the train hopes that there is still room to sit, even if they have to stand."

"But once you get those people on the train, all they want to do is close the doors as quickly as possible,"

Green, who is also a member of the Central Parliament, raised his thermos cup with a dragon pattern on it, took a sip of the 'Green Capital Emerald' tea leaves soaked in water diluted with the water of life, and commented on his old friend's sigh.

Green Emerald is a tea planted by the Pixie Elf in the tea garden of the forest dragon Antajiana. It has the effect of activating blood circulation and warming the body. It is also the favorite drink of the elderly officials in the empire.

However, the stock of this kind of tea is scarce, and it is only given by the Dragon Lord Antajena based on merit and mood. Therefore, even Green, the central councilor, cherishes it very much and smacks his lips happily.

During this period, the Golden Empire ushered in a period of rapid development.

With the ancestral red dragons and the native dragon lords of the Gogmora dragon group in charge, according to the order of the imperial emperor, the bronze dragon Alina and the blue dragon Doss will reinvest all the remaining redistributable wealth accumulated in recent years into the overall construction of the empire.

At this moment, the population of the Golden Empire is increasing visibly, and the prosperity of cities across the country is also changing with each passing day.

Even the city of Dagonia, which was built after the Orc War, has paved wide roads that lead in all directions. There is not only a station where the steel train of the "World Python" stops.

There are also inns where countless flying dragons, bipedal dragons, steel ornithopters, goblin airships and other aerial vehicles stop. To the north, it reaches the border of the Arctic ice field, a market city that was gradually built by the frost giants on the grassland.

The winter city bordering the western border of the empire has trade relations with the country of blood-sucking species in the western continent.

To the south, you can follow the Golden River or take a ship sailing on the inland river to the southernmost city, Gulfstream City.

From the City of Gulfstream, you can purchase and obtain many giant slaves, as well as the specialties that the giants brought out from the God-Forsaken Mountains.

In Degonya, in addition to the vast and crowded commercial markets and residential areas, there are also large squares built in every city for citizens to gather and celebrate, and dragon temples that enshrine statues of the dragons of the Gogmora dragon group.

There is also the Golden Empire's unique bathhouse, a sanatorium and healing garden that brings together priests, medical mages, and doctors of all races, as well as alchemy and magic workshops, weapon forges, and so on.

And in the Golden Empire, there is a display of martial spirit and a huge dome-shaped gladiatorial arena.

It is worth mentioning that due to the increasing number of vampires and werewolves in the empire, the long-standing resentment and hatred between the two races have caused the arenas in almost every city in the empire to be stained with the brains of these vampires and werewolves.

These vampires and werewolves did not dare to defy the Empire's law prohibiting open and private fighting, so they could only bring their old grudges to the arena, which led to particularly prosperous business at the Empire's arena during this period.

Moreover, these vampires and werewolves are strong, and even if their brains are spilled, they can be saved. The next time the losers will carry more fierce anger and challenge the winners. This project has become a daily news that the people of the empire talk about with relish.

However, it is precisely this rapid and fierce development that has caused some chaos in the empire, which has undoubtedly exposed the essence of the problems behind it in the eyes of scholars of the level of Bal and Green.

"In the final analysis, it's nothing but power and profit,"

Bal agreed with his old friend's opinion. He adjusted the olive hat on his head and said softly: "In economics, the value of an item is given by all those who recognize its value, even if the item is just a worthless stone."

"Then a person's power is also given by all those who recognize his power."

Bal pointed to the garrison troops patrolling the city with elite weapons and said, "But the essence of power in the world is the ultimate force. The most powerful people here are not you, nor me, but those people."

"And those tolerant lords, and the emperor of the empire."

Green smiled slightly and said, "But the emperor of the empire decentralized his power and wanted to shape the civilization of the Golden Empire into a widely recognized imagined community. This ensures that the rules of the game created by this are followed and obeyed by all living beings spontaneously, rather than relying on violence in their hands."

Bal clapped his hands and agreed, "Looking at the history of many kingdoms and empires in Ekania, no one has ever learned any experience or lessons from them. The wheel of history rolls forward, over and over again."

"The reason why we cannot transcend history is not because of any other reason, but because of something called 'human nature' that exists in all living things in the world."

Green said calmly: "So many scholars have gone crazy. They saw through the rules and wanted to change them, but they found that this change was actually against the rules. In the end, they went completely crazy."

"Even my teacher, haha, who was once the youngest scholar in the Ekania world, became a madman because of this endless thinking."

"Because he discovered that those countries that worship and believe in gods actually have the power to reverse this situation and law. However, the gods worshipped by those countries are not much different from those mortals who will eventually become dragons after slaying dragons. They are even worse and darker."

Bal looked at his old friend's eyes, which had become somewhat moist, and said solemnly, "That's why we are here. It doesn't matter who we believe in. What matters is whether faith can make the country progress and civilization develop, rather than being trapped in a small space for a lifetime just for a bite of food."

"If an ordinary person comes to power, he may become even worse, and he can replace him, but as long as the emperor shines, the empire will continue to make progress and reform, and crush those things that get in the way."

"The wheel of the empire will roll forward, unstoppable!" Bal said with a smile.

"Do you believe that the Golden Empire will break this rule?" Green was silent for a while before asking.

"I definitely can." All the wrinkles on Bal's face seemed to be straightened by his determined expression at this moment, as if he were a dozen years younger, in the prime of his life, just like a teenager.

"Your Majesty is like the sun hanging in the sky of the empire. If the empire steps into darkness, it will be burned by the sun's rays in the sky."

Bal smiled and said, "Although the empire was created by your majesty and the dragons, if the empire does not grow into what your majesty wants to see, he will destroy it himself."

"How do you know?" Green was so shocked when he heard this that he even spilled the precious tea in his thermos.

Baal turned around and pointed at the majestic mountains behind Degonia. On the huge peak of fire, the unique will of the ancestral red dragon was like a rising sun, rising into the sky.

"Your Majesty told me."

Green looked at his old friend with a surprised look and sighed, "Unfortunately, perhaps we won't see that moment. Sometimes I even wonder why His Majesty didn't just summon the Empire's legions to burn all those corrupt and smelly nobles and systems."

This time it was Barr's turn to show a surprised expression. Barr asked in surprise: "Haven't you always been a conservative?"

"I just want to do my best to maintain stability in the internal affairs of the empire, but externally, I just think that Your Majesty and the dragons may be a little too conservative." Green laughed.

Baal shook his head helplessly and smiled, "Your Majesty is different from other dragons. From the rumors when you were a young dragon, I know that Your Majesty is not like those reckless and brainless fellows."

"They didn't extort cities, kidnap innocent people, or attack civilized places. Even if they fell into the hobbies of the past, it was only because of hatred."

"So the Dragon Nation established in the wilderness did not arouse too much vigilance from other civilized forces."

"But it's different now. The rise of the empire has made them start to be afraid and terrified. So even though the civilizations of other continents are in chaos, there are still many tentacles extending into the empire. The chaos is caused by this."

"There are also those high-ranking spellcasters. The empire's development ideas are completely different from those of the spellcasters. This is a conflict of ideas and concepts."

"The Empire's popularization of magical knowledge and the standardization and scale of the use of magical technology have never been seen in the world of Ekania."

"The high-ranking spellcasters are just like the nobles who hold on to the corrupt system. They will not sit idly by and watch this happen, nor will they follow suit and promote this change."

"They don't have a system like the Empire, so if the use of magic becomes popular, the lofty status of spellcasters will be shaken to its foundations. These vested interest groups will never allow others to shake their interests."

"The existing conflicts in the empire should not have erupted at this time. They were simply catalyzed by those with ulterior motives."

Bal smiled and said, "So don't be impatient. Your Majesty is very wise and has great power in his hands. He will naturally have his own considerations, just like a sleeping dragon that suddenly roars."

"I just feel a little regretful," Green said flatly.

These scholars of the Central Council have raised an issue to the emperor of the empire.

In the vast system of the empire, those who hold the highest power cannot gain immortality by virtue of their merits.

Because immortality will make some people's thoughts gradually rigid, and they hold power, resulting in the civilization of the empire being unable to carry out the emperor's thoughts and will.

Regardless of whether the ideas of these scholars and senior officials are feasible, some dragon lords also have some admiration for these scholars.

Bal laughed loudly, full of heroic spirit.

He looked at the fire rising from the peak and curling up to form a shape like the sun, and laughed loudly: "What's there to regret? These mountains and seas, billions of miles of mountains and rivers, will have our successors to write a new chapter for the civilization of the empire."

"We, the pioneers, will also leave our own mark in the history of the Golden Empire's civilization. That's enough!"

……

The Governor-General's Mansion welcomed a beautiful guest.

In the past few years, the bronze dragon Alina has been living in the governor's mansion of the empire and rarely goes even to her own nest.

When Alina saw the back garden of the ancestral red dragon, she also thought about building her own castle.

However, the bronze dragon Alina, who had controlled the empire for many years, knew that money was hard to come by, so she gave up the idea of building her own castle, and it was definitely not because she didn't want to bleed.

As for the copper dragon Alfred, the castle that is being built on the mountain top by the empire's propaganda minister has nothing to do with the bronze dragon Alina.

Bronze Dragon Alina just often gives orders to her spouse, uh, some advice.

However, when Alina looked up from the castle plan, she saw an unexpected but reasonable guest—the adult silver dragon Chrissie Tiana.

The bronze dragon usually appears in humanoid form in the Governor's Mansion.

Although Alina's humanoid form is also a tall beauty, there is still a gap compared to the silver dragon whose beauty is the civilization.

Especially the adult silver dragons, because of their inner thoughts, showed timidity on their faces, like a lost elk, with a charm that Alina found pitiful. However, the bronze dragons had a different majesty from the majestic superiors in the dragon bloodline, which added a different charm to Alina.

"Chris, what do you want?"

Bronze Dragon Alina asked bluntly. It was not that Alina disrespected Silver Dragon Chris, but the dragon itself was used to being straightforward, and after presiding over the empire for so many years, it had become quite disgusted with complicated etiquette.

The silver dragon Chris looked at the increasingly majestic female governor with her beautiful eyes. The other party's talent made the proud silver dragon deeply admire her. But more importantly, it was the unparalleled trust that the ancestor red dragon gave to this bronze dragon that made Chris deeply envious.

"Alina, am I leaving the Empire? I have already stepped down from my position. Has the Empire already made a decision on my future?"

Silver dragon Chrissy mustered up the courage to ask, but this question made bronze dragon Alina smile.

"Well, Karon has made a decision. Maybe in a few days, he will find time to meet you." Alina smiled and said, "Isn't this result exactly what you want? Leaving the empire, a place ruled by evil, and returning to the land of justice and light of your silver dragon."

Silver Dragon Chris shook her head and said angrily, "Don't laugh at me, Alina. I'm just here to seek your help."

Bronze Dragon Alina shook her head and said softly, "Why should I help you and persuade Kalon to change his mind and keep you? Chris, although we are familiar with each other and I admire your efforts and responsibility, we are not friends and have no interest in each other."

Silver Dragon Chris bit her jade-like teeth and was silent for a while, then said, "People are divided into groups, and a group of three or five people will inevitably be divided into factions."

"The Gogmora dragon group that rules the empire includes not only five-colored dragons and metal dragons, but also other dragon species. Because of their different scale bloodlines and the different times they joined the dragon group, latecomers cannot integrate into the Gogmora dragon group. They will form their own camps and positions, with their own claims and interests."

"I have been in the Golden Empire for a long time, and I can also feel that the Gogmora dragons do not regard the latecomers as their companions."

"In the future, the Gogmora dragon group will not only have the five-color dragon camp, the metal dragon camp, and the secondary dragon camp, but also the gem dragon camp and the camp of other giant dragon species."

"So if you help me persuade the emperor to keep me here, I will take you as my leader and follow your lead from now on."

Bronze dragon Alina narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at the silver dragon in surprise. "You are very observant, Chris, but you are not a dragon from the Gogmora dragon group after all, so these are just your guesses and imaginations. Even so, you are still quite impressive."

The bronze dragon praised the silver dragon, but then shook his head and said, "But you are wrong, Chris. You can never know the truth through the veil. Just like what Caron said, only after experiencing it personally can you make a conclusion about a thing."

Alina stood up from behind the desk, put her hands behind her, paced in the study, and said softly: "As early as when Kalon established the Council of Kings of the Dragons, we had reached a consensus at that moment."

"This is the ideology that all dragons in Gogmora must uphold. We should not distinguish them by blood or scale color, but by wisdom and thought."

"As for factions, there are undoubtedly some, but they may be beyond your expectations."

The bronze dragon Alina smiled and said in a mature voice: "Perhaps it is more appropriate to use the terms used by humans to describe the relevant controversial factions within the Gogmora dragon group today."

"Among the Gogmora dragons, because the five-colored dragons are born with evil dragon blood, they pay more attention to their inner thoughts and their own thinking after practicing the Great Dragon Certificate."

"So even though they are still ferocious five-colored dragons to the outside world, they always examine their own thoughts before making a decision. Is it because of the manipulation of the evil dragon blood that they tend to be more conservative?"

"Of course, it might be more reliable to describe them as the scapegoat."

"Although the metal dragons and other giant dragon species in the dragon group have also practiced the Dragon Certificate, our inclination is more daring, just like the Mist Dragon De Niro once wanted to ask the Empire to send a legion to wipe out all the forces that stretched their hands to the Empire."

"Our achievements cannot be destroyed by anyone, even if they initiate a massive war! Because we have seen those hypocrisy and false justice before, so we are more eager to destroy them. But the five-colored dragons are different. They are born into the evil camp, so they are used to it."

"Among the five colored dragons in the Gogmora dragon group, only Akzi and Klenaya are inclined to our faction."

Silver Dragon Chris showed confusion on her face, but she felt that what Bronze Dragon Alina said was in line with what she wanted.

Just like I once thought about whether I should go back and expose the hypocrisy of those nobles and dragons, and then launch a public trial at the grassroots level.

Fortunately, the experience in the empire made Silver Dragon Chris realize that this stupid behavior would never work.

Not only is it feasible, but public trials are also stupid, because such trials are based only on morality, not on law and order.

Laws and order are controlled by the nobles, unless the laws of the empire are enforced throughout Ekania.

Alina looked at Silver Dragon's confused expression and chuckled, "Of course, there are also the so-called neutrals."

"Alfred and the foreign dragon Naxon are the neutral faction."

"Since Naxon is in charge of the law, there is no problem with his tendency to be neutral."

"Although Alfred is my spouse, his beliefs are different from mine. Although I deliberately let Alfred behave this way, it is more appropriate to call him a fence-sitter because he is the type who likes to take advantage of others."

Alina curled her lips and said with disdain to her partner: "In the meeting of the dragon kings, Alfred will side with the faction with the louder voice and the one that performs better in the quarrel."

"As for the dragons that came later, before they could control their own dragon blood desire, they would naturally be despised by all the dragons in the Gogmora dragon group."

Alina held her head high and laughed softly, "The real dragon of the Golden Empire is no joke!"

"So, you still don't want to help me?" Silver Dragon Chris could tell from Alina's tone and body posture that the other party had no explicit refusal in mind.

"Of course," Alina said softly, "Karon naturally has his own ideas. I will never try to change his decision for a little benefit."

"However, if you really want to stay in the Empire, perhaps I can give you a goal. Finding them will make it easier to persuade Kalon to change his mind."

"Red dragon Clenaya, green dragon Antajna, and Pixie elf Riven!"

"Except for these three guys, it's not easy for you to approach the rest of the dragons. They won't find Kalon for you either. Only these three guys, whether they just say it casually or lobby for you seriously, can play a miraculous role in some small matters."

Silver Dragon Chris walked out of the Governor's Mansion with a sense of loss, returned to her own residence, took out the gold coins she had accumulated over the years, and planned to look for the target given by Bronze Dragon Alina.

But no one knew where the red dragon Clenaya had gone. According to the golden kobold guards, Clenaya had secretly gone to the emperor's lava lake to take a bath.

As for the Pixie elf Riven, it was unknown whether she was playing cards in the Dragon Card Hall in some city, or she had run to the castle of the Emperor of the Empire.

As for the green dragon Antajena, like other dragon lords, she shares the "power" with the ancestral red dragon.

“Your Majesty, the experiment has ended, and the experimental data and related results have also been roughly statistically analyzed,” the blond wizard Morvan Reid stepped forward. Although he addressed him with honorifics, he did not perform any formalities.

The few great sanctuary wizards in the empire have always disliked complicated etiquette just like the dragon. This is his character. Therefore, Antajena was also told by Kalon that she didn't need to care about these things and treat other people's habits as a disregard and provocation to the dragon.

Antajiana stood on platform No. 1 of this huge laboratory and nodded slightly. She knew the talent and ability of this great wizard and did not care.

In Antajiana's vision, rows of laboratories appeared before her like neatly arranged grids.

The doors, windows and walls of these laboratories are all made of transparent magic fiberglass, which is enough for her to see what is going on in the laboratory.

There are a total of 25,000 of these densely packed laboratories, like grids, housing creatures of many different races.

There are humans, goblins, ogres, trolls, elves, vampires, werewolves, etc. There are also quite a few demons and devils.

However, unlike other citizens of the Empire who volunteered to be experimental subjects and could move freely in the laboratory, the bodies of these low-level demons and devils were tied up with tiny black magic-forbidden stone chains, unable to move, and could only make some sounds with fixed pitch thresholds.

Around these experimental subjects of different races, there are huge and strange magical instruments.

These magical instruments were like a hollowed-out brain placed on an iron frame fixed to the ground. Several eyes carved from special synthetic gems were embedded in these instruments, connecting them to the core of the magical instruments.

The brains of these experimental subjects were obscured by these huge magic instruments, but judging from their actions, some were praying silently, some were reading books, and some were watching the images on magic crystals.

Twenty-five thousand creatures of different races, everything they do and the sounds they make are different, each with its own weirdness and abnormality.

As the subjects' emotions fluctuated and their minds changed, the eyes on those brain-like magical instruments also lit up with different colors.

Red, orange, green, blue, indigo, purple, or a mixture of several colors.

These strange lights vary in length, and expand and contract with the mental fluctuations and spiritual changes of the experimental subjects, like rainbows with independent consciousness, jumping and expanding in these laboratories.

The green dragon Antajena is different from the white dragon Kamide. After she has completely mastered the dragon blood desire, she has the wisdom to understand the meaning, purpose and process of these experiments.

These magical instruments can measure a certain kind of mental frequency energy emitted by the experimental subjects.

Those rainbow-colored lights represent certain emotions of the subjects.

For example, love, hate, fear, tyranny, sadness, depression, passion, joy, etc., when each wavelength of the rainbow representing emotions becomes active, it means that the special energy provided by the subject's emotions is maximized.

"Tell me about the results of the experiment, Lord Movanred," the green dragon Antajena respected these wise scholars, just like a giant dragon respects the powerful.

"Um,"

Mo Fanred waved his hand gently, scanned the thick stack of experimental materials handed over by his assistant, and memorized all the experimental materials in his mind.

Then summarize and generalize based on your own knowledge, and state it in more concise language rather than professional terms.

"Your Highness Antajiana, according to this experimental research, whether it is humans or most other races, except for creatures that were accidentally born due to some strong emotions."

"The energy frequency that can reach the highest level in a living organism is not 'love' or 'hate'," Morvan Reid said softly, "but a kind of mental emotion that can generate energy that is at least four thousand times stronger than love and hate."

“This kind of spiritual emotion is what we define as authenticity!”

Green Dragon Antajena frowned, somewhat confused. "Reality, what kind of mental emotion is it?"

Morvan Reid thought about it, and then expanded this slightly technical term to make it easier for the green dragon lord to understand.

"If I were to use other metaphors, it might be a little off the mark, but the general idea is,

“The real power comes from oneself, or to describe it in one word - sincerity!”

Movan Reid pointed to a very special laboratory in the center and said, "Perhaps, the goal set by the EsGods for those special creatures is to drive them to discover their own power of sincerity and gain strength from it."

"And the small rewards given by the alien gods to these creatures are a relatively cheap exchange."

"Of course, this is just a preliminary guess and may not be true. We still need to conduct multiple comparative experiments to get the correct results."

"You're saying that everything those special creatures feel is actually woven by alien gods to harvest the so-called true power of these creatures?"

Antajiana frowned, trying to analyze the mystery.

Morvan Reid coughed and couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty only needs to tell His Majesty the result."

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(End of this chapter)