Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 440 The God Who Controls Pineapples and His Requirements

Karon's words caused the breathing of the astral hunters to suddenly become heavier.

As we all know, dragons are synonymous with wealth, both in terms of the dragons themselves and the wealth they possess.

In the auction houses of many factions in the Astral Realm, dragons themselves are also very expensive as a material.

Leaving aside the added value from subjective aesthetic preferences, if we only consider its practical value, a complete scale of an ordinary adult dragon, if it has good magical element bearing capacity, is enough to sell for hundreds of gold coins.

The price of scales from dragons that do not possess magical abilities, or those that are simply in a dormant, transitional age, will be further suppressed.

It is worth mentioning that the standard for this ordinary dragon is often based on the white dragon.

As for Kalon's scales, setting aside the subjective aesthetics of the dragon race and simply estimating their value based on their usability, they would have been worth a thousand gold pieces even in his youth.

Moreover, the ancestral dragons who have now grown to the end of their adolescence, the wealth that Charon, as a dragon, represents is comparable to that of a small power.

Charon, as the supreme ruler of the newly emerging dominant civilization of the Golden Empire, was renowned for his wealth.

The Golden Empire is now spending enormous sums of money to build its own trade network outside the world of Ekania in order to expand the influence of dragons in other planes of existence.

Given the Golden Empire's moderate and orderly approach to expansion, rather than the dragons' domineering and tyrannical style, the empire is now quite popular with outsiders.

Not only have many astral merchant organizations begun to intentionally limit the slaughter and treatment of dragons in their respective planes, in order to avoid displeasing the Empire and affecting trade.

Many other neutral organizations, also to avoid incurring the wrath of the Golden Empire and suffering losses as a result, have begun to tone down their behavior somewhat.

Of the resources earned by the various commanders of the empire, including the young red dragon Nero, the young blue dragon Caesar, and Behemoth Achilles and other second-generation members who opened up new planes, nearly one-third were allocated to this project by the Golden Empire's Ministry of Finance.

It was precisely because of these enormous resources and wealth that the Golden Empire's prosperity began to gain some recognition in the outside world.

It is no exaggeration to say that every dragon king in the Golden Empire is incredibly wealthy.

Romy, being the most outstanding thief, was pounding with excitement.

Romi once saw a pair of weapons forged from the claws of ancient beasts in a nobleman's treasury; that legendary artifact possessed incredibly powerful properties.

The legendary rules attached to it at the time of its forging enable the wielder to break through the effects of magical efficacy and domain rules, making it extremely powerful even among opponents of the same level.

But Romi believed that the claws of the True Dragon Emperor before him were far more powerful than those of the ancient beasts.

The dragon race is naturally powerful, possessing physical strength far exceeding that of mortal beings. Combined with the gradually awakened and discovered power of their bloodline magic, this is the foundation upon which the dragon race stands above the mortal world.

But Romy, with his thief's eye, discovered that Kalon Gogmora's abilities were not simply a combination of the dragon's innate talents and acquired learning, but a much more profound method.

Like those magic warriors who excel in both magic and martial arts, but far more profound than those magic warriors.

Kalon Gogmora's body and magic are now combined, making him a master of both magic and martial arts. The magical power of elemental magic is almost ingrained in his bones, permeating every inch of the flesh and blood of this ancestral dragon from his bloodline.

“Perhaps, it’s like the union of a dragon and those gradually disappearing wild gods,” the thought flashed through Romi’s mind.

This conclusion was drawn by Romi from information obtained through the Astral Intelligence Organization, combined with the dragon's past battles and firsthand observations.

As primordial deities, these deities possess varying levels of power. The most powerful among them can even rival the Nine-Faced Dragon God Aio, while the Lord of Terror can even slay Aio. The weakest, however, are only at the Saint Realm.

However, almost every Aragami's traits are somewhat similar to those of Kalon Gogmora now, or rather, this Dragon Emperor is intentionally taking the strengths of the Aragami to compensate for the weaknesses of the dragons, bringing the dragons' innate talents to their fullest potential.

Unfortunately, even if Romi had ten times the courage of a dragon, he wouldn't dare to ask this true dragon emperor for those dragon claws.

After all, dragons can shed their scales on their own, but I've never heard of them shedding their claws.

Romi carefully organized her words, expressing her side's demands to Karon as the representative chosen by her companions.

"We have always heard that the True Dragon Emperor of the Golden Empire is generous and tolerant, especially towards those friends with good intentions. I think that although we are not qualified to call His Majesty Godmora a friend, our actions can certainly be considered those of your country's friends..."

"Well,"

Caron said expressionlessly, "You don't need to carefully choose your words of flattery. Just state your demands, and I will consider them as long as they are within my capabilities."

Romi then mustered up a little courage, after all, their demands would be considered extremely greedy in any country.

"Dragons are born noble and powerful, especially their scales, which are not only incredibly protective but also possess the ability to withstand elemental magic. They are among the finest materials for forging magical armor in the world, and the most formidable dragon scales can even withstand the inscription of legendary rules."

"And the many dragons of the Golden Empire are among the best of the dragons,"

Romi said, "While our companions are all legendary, they each have their weaknesses. Therefore, we hope to obtain a scale from one of the dragon kings who has personally undergone a metamorphosis after the dragon kings of the empire have reached the legendary level."

For legends, waiting for a dragon to molt is not a long time; they have plenty of time to wait. However, the scales shed by the elite members of the Gorgmora dragonflight who reach the legendary level are not ordinary.

Even the most renowned merchant guilds in the astral plane, capable of finding the bodies of ancient dragons or even primordial dragons, would find it difficult to locate young dragons as outstanding as the dragon kings of the Gorgmora dragonflight.

Of course, even these astral hunters would find it difficult to afford the materials from the Ancient Dragon, since gathering enough materials for a set of magical armor is not something that can be done with just one or two pieces.

"Of course, it would be our honor to obtain His Majesty Gogmora's shed scales."

Romi's demands regarding the dragon scales were her own.

As a legendary-level thief, Romy's rule-based abilities are related to stealth. Dragons, being creatures that are virtually immune to suppression from any plane of existence, possess the ability to perfectly survive in almost any environment, which is a perfect fit for Romy.

With the magical armor forged from the scales of Charon, Romi could even dream of the possibility of being able to move freely and unhindered in any material plane without any suppression.

Caron nodded slightly, indicating that the request could be fulfilled.

Romi then continued, "We have also heard that the Tree of Life in the Golden Empire is lush and vigorous, a famous sight in the empire. Therefore, we hope to obtain a fruit from the Tree of Life that is at least a hundred years old, as a backup for our team."

The fruit of the Tree of Life possesses powerful vitality and healing effects, and can also extend lifespan to a certain extent. A fruit that is a hundred years old can even allow mortals to maintain their peak condition before death, making it a rare treasure among the legendary items.

If the Golden Empire weren't currently at the height of its power, the mere existence of the Tree of Life would attract many covetous eyes.

Therefore, it was quite normal for these Astral Hunters to make such a request, and Kalon nodded in agreement as usual. Although these Trees of Life had only been rooted in the Empire for a few decades, with the World Tree Owo's catalysis, it wasn't impossible to produce fruits that were a hundred years old; it just required one of the Trees of Life to sacrifice some of its growth potential as a price.

Seeing that his requests had been met, Romi was completely relieved and said with a smile, "We also hope to receive Your Majesty's reward of your country's anti-army forces and powerful land war machines, such as the Titan-class golems. Just one will be enough."

"After all, although the legendary ranks have the ability to move mountains and destroy peaks, it is not worthwhile to expend their strength when facing a large number of miscellaneous soldiers. They are also easy targets. Moreover, none of us are mages who are skilled in alchemy and creation magic."

The power displayed by the Golden Empire's war machines in conquering smaller matter planes has clearly caught the attention of those astral forces, which is not surprising.

Caron nodded calmly, agreeing to the principle that one must give before taking.

“His Majesty Gogmora is indeed generous,” Romi said, looking at his companions who were all excited. “I have two more requests. The first is for my companion, the mage Joro, who wishes to have your country’s Divine Crafts Department and Magic Research Department create a magical construct for him that can convert elemental magic into physical strength.”

"Ideally, it should be a construct that can grow in size. If it lacks certain materials, Joro can provide the rest himself."

Caron narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the mage Joro, who was looking at him with an expectant expression.

The concept of magic rune constructs originated from the golem construct technology of the ancient magic empire, and was initially developed simply to give the empire's warriors greater overall strength.

With the magic rune construct, even land warriors can enter the sea, and sea-dwelling Naga warriors can land for prolonged battles.

However, with decades of development in the empire, the magic rune construction technology has become nearly mature, possessing many wondrous functions.

The idea of ​​converting a mage's elemental magic into physical power was simply a creation inspired by the power of the imperial emperor, which is not surprising.

However, the ability to upgrade magical runes remains a secret of the Golden Empire.

The Golden Empire is a kingdom created by dragons, so one of the goals of the empire's mages and scholars is to make the dragons of the empire the most powerful creatures in the world.

Therefore, many mages and scholars, through continuous absorption of the wisdom and knowledge of civilizations from other planes, put forward many ideas for magic rune constructs, hoping to make magic rune constructs into sacred artifacts that could grow together with dragons.

This idea arose from the fact that the dragon race was not good at using magical artifacts, which inspired the empire's mages and scholars.

Not all dragons can develop as comprehensively as Karon, so these mages and scholars want to use rune constructs to compensate for the weaknesses of the many dragons in the Empire and amplify their strengths.

For example, the young red dragon Cadilos is not skilled in magic but excels in physical strength.

Therefore, the constructs designed by the mages for Cadelos specifically focused on protection against magic and other elemental forces, and also had the weak function of absorbing external magical attacks and converting them into the physical strength of Cadelos.

Even Karon, in the minds of those mages and scholars, should possess his own imperial armor.

During the Night of Dragon Frenzy, Karon was struck to the ground by Tiamat's divine light after becoming immortal, his flesh and blood being consumed. This greatly angered many mages and scholars in the Empire.

They cannot use their strength to fight against the gods for the emperor, but they can use their wisdom to do so. This is the ambition of the mages in the empire.

However, even Karon only recently learned after returning to the Empire that these mages had developed magical rune constructs with growth potential; it was still a secret to the outside world.

But Caron remained silent about the leak, then nodded in agreement, saying, "Okay, I can grant your request!"

The mage Joro let out a soft sigh. While the Evocation Mage possessed powerful offensive capabilities, close-quarters combat remained a significant concern.

With the magic rune armor, the mage Joro could also become a powerful warrior, so that he wouldn't be unable to fight back when those brutes suddenly got close to him.

"One last request,"

Romi paused slightly. Every Astral Hunter has his own needs, but Knight Gotto's request might be an offense to the True Dragon Emperor in front of him.

“That is my companion, Gauto, who wishes to request His Majesty Gaugomora to grant him a portion of the true blood of his ancestral dragon, preferably His Majesty Gaugomora's own blood…”

"The true blood of the ancestral dragon?" Kalon frowned slightly, interrupting the other's words.

The progenitor dragons in the Gogmora dragon pack are all the progenitors that are publicly known among the younger generation in the world of Ekania. As for the progenitor dragons that are hidden, Karon has no way of knowing about them.

For ancestral dragons, true blood is extremely precious, but fortunately it doesn't completely damage their future potential; it only causes a period of weakness.

As these young ancestral dragons were about to enter a period of slumber, Charon did not want to use this as a reason to affect other young ancestral true dragons.

"The blood of the true dragon,"

Kalon slowly said, "This is an extremely precious thing. There are several rules in the Gogmora dragon pack, one of which is that dragon blood cannot be spread at will."

This commandment does exist, because the dragons in the Gorgmora dragonflight are now unimaginably powerful, and if spread indiscriminately, it could cause enormous chaos and disaster.

Even if the dragons of the Gogmora dragon herd reproduce outside, they must inform the herdsman, the blue dragon Kalit, who is now in charge of this matter, afterward.

The dragon blood that Kalon left behind on the grassland has remained active as Kalon has grown, thus infecting a patch of wild pineapples growing on the grassland.

Now, a life form as elfin as a fairy has emerged from that patch of wild pineapples.

That pineapple elf now sports a pineapple head every day, searching for its kind across the grasslands.

Of course, don't misunderstand that this pineapple elf is trying to expand its species.

This pineapple spirit was skilled at cultivating its own kind, making the pineapples exceptionally sweet. So, the pineapple spirit used its methods to transport the cultivated pineapples to the imperial capital and sell them everywhere, thus making huge profits.

It was because of the rise of the Pineapple Elf, who had become the "god" who ruled over pineapples in the capital, that Caron learned of this matter.

Charon shook his head slightly, looking at the nervous look in Knight Gauto's eyes, and then said, "As the emperor, I can naturally make an exception for you and grant you my true blood."

Knight Gao Tuo's eyes almost flashed with a sharp light as he silently clenched his fists.

"but,"

Caron bared his fangs slightly and said with a faint smile, "Since I'm being so generous, I suppose you'll be able to do something for me in return!"

Knight Gotto eagerly replied, "Whatever Your Majesty requests, we will do our utmost!"

(End of this chapter)