Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 569 Greatness Lies in the Details
The dragons of the Golden Empire have their own things to do.

The Gogmora dragons conquered the second largest dragon race civilization in the world of Ekania, bringing it under the nominal rule of the Golden Empire.

Although the thoughts, cognition, and behavior of the southern dragons will require a long time to be transformed until the goal of reshaping is achieved, they can be truly controlled and driven by the Gogmora dragons.

However, the dragon order in the world of Ekania had already been unified by the Golden Empire on this day.

After all, the leader of the Heleka Blue Dragon Clan in the Sahara Desert of Middle-earth, the Ancient Blue Dragon, was alone and could not hold the line.

Even though the ancient blue dragons are powerful, they have never been able to break free from the constraints of their own bloodline and surpass the ancient gold and silver dragons of the Southern Good Dragon Alliance.

The Herleka family could not compare to the entire Southern Good Dragon Alliance. Faced with the overwhelming trend of dragon unification across the world, they had no right or ability to resist.

At the headquarters of the Southern Good Dragon Alliance, the Gogmora Dragons are registering and cataloging all the dragons of the South, taking stock of the wealth and resources these dragons have accumulated over countless years, and opening the treasure troves and treasuries that were originally controlled by the dragon elders.

The dragons of the Golden Empire will not seize the private wealth and resources of the Southern Dragons simply because they have subdued them with force. However, the 'public property and public resources' that once belonged to the Southern Dragons will be added to the Empire's treasury by the Gogmora Dragons.

For this crucial inventory of assets, Steel Dragon Midil, this 'vampire,' took time out of his busy schedule to personally lead a group of low-ranking officials from the Imperial Treasury to conduct the investigation.

"Hiss, you old dragons, are you hiding so much wealth in your treasury in preparation for ascending to the throne of the God-like Dragon?"

Midil gasped several times as he bared his fangs, holding the ledger that the imperial officials had roughly tallied in his hands, a slight excitement in his eyes.

Even though this steel dragon is now the biggest 'behind-the-scenes manipulator' in the Empire's wealth, it can't help but be shocked by the vast wealth accumulated by the southern dragons over thousands of years.

Even if the Southern Dragons didn't understand sophisticated economic methods, they could still accumulate wealth through barbaric plunder and harvesting over a long period of time, enough to amass a fortune that many nobles could never earn in their entire lives.

Midil even felt that the confiscated wealth from the southern dragons was enough to subsidize the finances of more than a dozen of the empire's wealthiest cities for several years.

"Are you just going to let these riches lie in the treasury?" Midil looked at the ancient silver dragon, Illum Fuller, who was sitting beside him, somewhat lost in thought, with a look of incomprehension.

"Even if we let it flow out, the wealth we could earn would far exceed what we have now. Even if we use it to nurture the next generation of dragons, it would be better than letting this wealth lie in the vault all day long."

Midil looked at the many enormous treasure chests sealed with magic laid out before him. Tracing back through these magical traces, the oldest seal was actually over a thousand years old.

As the only remaining powerful figure in the Southern Good Dragon Alliance, Illum Fuller holds the authority over the Southern Dragon Treasury, which is shared with the ancient golden dragon Gallo Ramsey. Naturally, this ancient silver dragon must personally open it.

The steel dragon Midil's slender body looked like a weakling in front of the ancient silver dragon Illum Fuller. If it weren't for the steel dragon's scales, which looked like steel plates, the ancient silver dragon would have thought it was just a small cat.

"The existence of the Southern Benevolent Dragon Alliance was different from that of the Golden Empire, so even if I wanted to freely spend its wealth, I would encounter a lot of opposition,"

The ancient silver dragon shook its enormous head, its dark silver scales reflecting a dull light.

"Our methods of accumulating wealth are different from those of the Golden Empire, so we must cherish this wealth even more,"

Illum Fuller shifted his gaze from the imperial officials wandering through the treasury to the steel dragon Midil.

The ancient silver dragon then looked at the demigod female dragon Phyllis Tiamat, who had returned.

This powerful female dragon was banished to the void of a smaller dimension by the power of the Primordial Golden Dragon, but this simple method of repelling enemies and targets by leveraging home turf is unlikely to cause any real damage to a demigod.

Moreover, the entire surrounding area of ​​the small dimension was locked from a distance by the floating mage towers of the Golden Empire, making it easy for Phyllis Tiamat to sense the aura of the target being guided from that vast field and to return from the void.

"To ascend to the throne of the dragon of the gods, the wealth required is far beyond the immeasurable,"

A self-deprecating smile appeared on the ancient silver dragon's face as it slowly said, "Even hundreds of thousands or millions of gold coins, or mountains of gems, are but a drop in the ocean before the crown of the God-Conferred Dragon."

“Gallo Ramsey and I did have that idea at first, but as we accumulated more wealth and grew older and stronger, we realized that our accumulation was just a foundation at the foot of a mountain, not even reaching the halfway point.”

“Gallo Ramsey and I later learned why many ancient dragons had some understanding of this path, but very few were able to ascend to the throne of a god in this way.”

Phyllis Tiamat paid no attention to the gaze of the ancient silver dragon; the female dragon was only focused on browsing through the treasures of the southern dragons.

It includes not only pure gold and various metals that can be used as pure magical materials, but also a wide variety of gems and precious ornaments, among which there are quite a few mid- to high-end magical treasures.

Moreover, magical treasures that can be collected into the dragons' treasury can more or less enhance the dragons, which shows how precious these magical treasures are.

Phyllis Tiamat, as the top warrior in the conquest and suppression of the southern dragons, is allowed to choose her desired spoils within a certain limit.

This greatly reduced the female dragon's anger at the Dragon Emperor forcing her to make a choice, and Phyllis Tiamat now had a lot of doubts.

Were those dragons who bravely led the charge in every battle, and those imperial legion warriors who fought to the death with an overflowing sense of offense, also influenced by the implicit military merit system within the Golden Empire?

Steel Dragon Midil and Phyllis reacted differently, even though Phyllis was a demigod with power and life level far exceeding Midil's.

However, having lived in the Golden Empire for a long time, Steel Dragon Midil is one of the true dragons who also possesses independent consciousness and intelligence.

"Hey, you guys didn't know?"

Steel Dragon Midil looked at the Ancient Silver Dragon Illusion Fuller with surprise, feeling that the Ancient Silver Dragon was only in a state of knowing what happened but not why it happened.

"In the Investiture of the Gods ceremony, the wealth involved was merely symbolic,"

Midil said, "Most importantly, wealth represents the power of will and faith. The mages of the empire once conducted many experiments to explore the influence and existence of this power."

"The mages of the Empire eventually discovered that the power within living beings capable of creating miracles belongs to this kind of willpower, so it was named by the mages of the Empire as the 'True Power' that can create miracles and change reality."

Not only did the ancient silver dragon prick up its ears, but even the demigod female dragon quietly pricked up its ears as well.

The strength of some creatures and some civilized nations is not simply due to the accumulation of power and expansion of size; there are fundamental influencing factors behind it.

Just as the Golden Empire's current strength is due to the influence of the True Dragon Emperor within this nation, the Golden Empire analyzes the underlying laws and patterns of everything that needs to be understood, discerning the true objective trajectory of its operation in order to better grasp the development of certain things.

But this is not the case for the vast majority of living beings in the world.

Just as many old dragons know, the path to becoming a god-like dragon should roughly follow.

But these old dragons did not know why the path to becoming a god had to be taken this way.

They merely use power, rather than master it.

However, the Dragon Emperor of the Golden Empire was a true senior high-ranking spellcaster. In addition to his identity as a dragon, he was also a true 'traditional' mage who would analyze the underlying laws of everything that interested him.

Even now, Caron still frequently lingers in his private laboratory, researching things that interest him.

Although Steel Dragon Midil is not such a giant dragon, her status and position in the Empire are enough to grant this female dragon access to knowledge and wisdom that many other creatures cannot obtain.

"According to the Empire's research, the fundamental ascension power used in the ritual of the God-Consecrating Dragon is largely similar to the power used by other types of gods,"

"Just as some people like to spread their fame in the material world and intimidate all living beings in order to obtain some kind of awe-inspiring and fear-inducing power, the power that enables the dragon to ascend in the Dragon Conferment Ceremony also comes from the condensation, imagination and concrete attribution of the concept of wealth by all living beings in the mortal world!"

Midil stretched out her tiny claws and rubbed them together, saying with a hint of pride, "Perhaps the path of the godlike is named godlike because..."

"It's not just because those who attain such a rank are as powerful and noble as gods, but also because the fundamental forces that allow them to ascend are strikingly similar."

"However, because the final transformation and ascension results are different, quasi-gods do not receive the blessing of divine authority,"

"So, if you want to embark on the path to becoming a god by simply accumulating wealth, you won't be able to do it even if you have another thousand, ten thousand, or a hundred thousand years."

"The Dragon Conferring Ceremony requires a minimum amount of wealth, but if you accumulate wealth in the way you do, even if you control the wealth of an entire world, you will not be able to ascend to the throne of the Dragon Conferring Ceremony!"

"Otherwise, much of the wealth in the treasuries of the many Dragon Kings and True Dragon Emperors of the Empire has already flowed to the common people of the Empire. Do you think this is just the Dragon Kings and Dragon Emperors simply hiding their wealth among the people?"

The ancient silver dragon, Illusion Fuller, sighed.

The gap between the Southern Good Dragon Alliance and the Golden Empire is too vast to be fully assessed even in a day and a night.

But now, this ancient silver dragon realizes that the biggest fundamental difference between the dragons of the south and the dragons of the north lies in the level of their thinking and cognition.

As long as the Southern Good Dragon Alliance doesn't change this, it will never be able to catch up with the Gogmora Dragonflight; the gap between the two sides will only widen over time.

The billions of beings in the Golden Empire are all moving forward towards the goal of the Gogmora Dragonflight, becoming the aggregate of the dragonflight's will. How could this dragonflight not be powerful?
"Fortunately, the metal dragons of the south will now also become part of the Gogmora dragon herd,"

The ancient silver dragon sighed inwardly.

However, the ancient dragon itself did not realize that a sincere sense of admiration was being born from its heart.

That stems from a sense of awe for one of the core elements of the true dragon's spirit, a spirit that the Dragon Emperor infused into the Golden Empire, and is gradually changing everything around it and influencing things as the empire expands.

Phyllis Tiamat seemed thoughtful; this demigod female dragon possessed immense power and wielded it skillfully.

Phyllis only knew how to maximize her power, but she didn't know why she was able to maximize her power.

But Phyllis knew that if it was Karon Gogmora, the great red dragon would know why his power could produce such a huge effect.

This is the difference between Phyllis Tiamat and Karon Gogmora, and also the reason why that great red dragon was able to repeatedly 'win against the odds'.

But Phyllis Tiamat now believes that Karon Gogmora did not win by being weak, but rather by combining a higher level of cognition with a lower level of power to confront an enemy with a higher level of power and a lower level of cognition.

Therefore, it can also be said that Caron Gogmora was using a higher level of cognition to brutally fight the enemies he had previously encountered.

"Power comes from wisdom, and wisdom comes from the height of the soul and the cognition of thought."

Steel Dragon Midil concluded, "This is one of the maxims upheld by the Golgmora Dragonflight!"

The ancient silver dragon suddenly felt a genuine desire to explore the Golden Empire and the Goggmora dragonflight, rather than the previous feeling of being forced to explore.

So the silver dragon asked curiously, "Then how will the empire handle this wealth?"

The silver dragon glanced with a hint of heartache over the mountains of treasure chests, many of which contained magical seals he had personally left behind.

Steel Dragon Midil shook his head and sighed deeply.

"Hey, the wealth you've accumulated over the long years is both a lot and a little."

"A portion of it will be distributed as spoils to the Gogmora dragons who participated in this battle, as well as to the Golden Dragon King Obirash, who served as the vanguard, and Phyllis will also receive the lion's share."

"Then half of the remaining portion will be allocated to the Dragon Treasury as a special financial fund for the members of the Golgrimora dragonflight,"

"But don't assume that all these funds will flow into the treasures of the various dragon kings and great dragons. Instead, a large portion of them will be stored as educational funds for the descendants of the dragons."

Steel Dragon Midil scratched the fine scales on his forehead with his claws and couldn't help but say, "Let me give you an example. The Empire's Dragon Academy isn't a public institution; it was established with this special funding."

"The Dragon Academy in the Imperial Capital covers an area of ​​340 million square meters, which is much larger than the territories of many minor nobles. The maintenance and education expenses are a significant portion of its expenditure each year..."

The ancient silver dragon, Illusion Fuller, slowly raised his head. He had never been to the Dragon Academy of the Golden Empire, but at this moment, the silver dragon longed for the distant academy!

Greatness lies in the details, and now he understands why the empire is so great.

That is a nation that is about to become even greater!
(End of this chapter)