Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 358 Dragon Kingdom

"Actually, I'm not a Federation citizen. I'm from Otto, the Dragon Nation, a land of dragon descendants, dragon blood, and hybrid dragons. The department that translates, compiles, and reorganizes dragon spells and incantations, commonly known as the Dragon Studies Department, is located there."

"We have always welcomed talented individuals; the Dragon Academy and the Dragon Kingdom welcome every true son of the dragon."

The man, who called himself Osrosi, seemed overly enthusiastic.

He made no attempt to conceal the origin of his passion. The scales on his skin and the single eye of his dragon were the main reasons.

Is he a dragonborn? Rean doesn't think so. His half-dragon appearance is more like that of a rare beastman branch—the Argonian.

He explained that he was an Ottoman, a small country of considerable renown in this world, whose main ethnic group was a mix of various dragon-related bloodlines.

This is why the country is not large, with a small population (among large countries), but it has a strong military and is one of the Federation's friendly allies.

His special appearance was also because he "saw" Rean, who was his kind.

“Your talent should be well-suited to developing in our region, as this place is very unfriendly to us.” To this day, the kingdom still has a tradition of hating dragons, but in reality, no one in the upper echelons cares anymore; the hatred actually comes from the common people.

This Argonian archmage saw the Dragonborn while on a mission and, seeing an opportunity, took the initiative to recruit them.

This is actually quite common; many countries with a single ethnic group are recruiting people all over the continent.

Moreover, the dragon aura emanating from Rean was so strong that it could no longer be suppressed.

"I'll think about it." Rean didn't refuse outright; he also needed a wider network of contacts and sources of information.

Rean is becoming increasingly certain that the Kingdom of Etherin is likely a border within a border.

I'll have to go out into the world sooner or later, so knowing more in advance isn't a bad thing.

The Argonian tried to persuade him, but at that moment, his companions were still locked in fierce combat.
"Osrosi! Come help!" A sudden voice came from the armband.

The middle-aged gentleman, who appeared to be from the Argonne region, frowned and sighed.

These brutes who play with spells and manipulate energy are always so crude.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Rean, it seems we've run into a little trouble. Those dark-skinned bastards need some extra re-education."

The words, uttered without any attempt to conceal their racial prejudice, were accompanied by the blue dragon eyes that shone with a solitary brilliance. The dragon glanced at the two dark elves behind Rean out of the corner of its eye. Perhaps this so-called Dragon Kingdom was friendly to dragons, but not necessarily to other races.

As he spoke, he floated up and flew away into the distance.

Perhaps recruiting a high-ranking dragonborn would be a good gain for him, but if he couldn't recruit one, it wouldn't matter, as the Dragon Kingdom has no shortage of dragonborn.

This recruitment is more about the diversity of "bloodlines".

He glanced back at the dragon descendant and subconsciously shook his head.

"What a pity, such a high-purity dragon sorcerer."

Warlocks are spellcasting professions that use talents and bloodlines to cast spells. Various wild warlocks, dragons, and half-dragons can take up this profession almost instinctively.

Rean's Dragon Spellcaster is just one example. The Dragon Kingdom has developed a large number of spellcaster-like professions and bloodline training and development methods, which can greatly enhance the combat power and growth potential of dragon spellcasters.

It's a bit of a pity for Osrosi. A wild sorcerer with such a strong aura of a true dragon could be crippled if left unattended. However, he didn't leave any way to contact him or his address, which means he also felt it was just a pity. If he's crippled, so be it.

Dragon veins need to be developed to become powerful. But in reality, it's not just dragon veins; many extraordinary bloodlines and evolutionary paths also require corresponding career paths and training methods to develop.

Resources, experience, and even family connections can effectively raise the ceiling for growth.

It's not that the small pond can't contain a real dragon; it's that the dragon cubs would grow crooked and turn into little snakes or loaches in the small pond.

"What do you think of this suggestion?" Rean hesitated for a moment before asking.

He needed some advice from the ancients. "If there's no need for mentors, how could they possibly compare to the Thousand-Faced Dragon himself? And Dragon Spellcasters, though ancient, have never fallen behind; their potential is directly linked to the dragons themselves."

Rean nodded, putting it aside for the time being. He would like to go and take a look if he had time later.

"We have several families in that country. If you go, you should be mentally prepared."

"Several families?"

"Dragonborn tend to stick together. Dragonvein sorcerers can easily form families. In fact, 'Dragonvein family' is a proper noun. There are several families that come from the Thousand-Faced Dragon, and some have even reverted to certain characteristics of the Thousand-Faced Dragon. It's very troublesome."

Most of these families are unaware that their bloodline originates from the Thousand-Faced Dragon. However, in the intertwining of their bloodlines, most of them have already realized that they share a common and powerful bloodline source.

Rean was a little confused. These families were probably descendants of people like Dania.

So they probably resent being "abandoned".

"No, no, no. In order to preserve the power of their bloodline as much as possible, sorcerer families often pursue the purity of their bloodline. They are capable of doing anything. They have a way of calculating the probability of their offspring. To put it bluntly, if you are captured, you will likely be used for breeding."

Rean fell silent; the threat was rather subtle.

But Rean remembered the joke he'd heard at the tavern about "siblings marrying within a sorcerer family," and he still felt it was best to stay away from such things.

"You mean, they have the ability to detect my bloodline?"

"Yes, but there are usually distance restrictions or face-to-face requirements. If you want an accurate measurement, you will definitely have to offer up your physical body material. You can just not go."

Fisterion played his piano, seemingly advising Rean to stay away from danger. There was indeed danger there, but it was probably not just what Fisterion was saying.

"Several thousand-faced dragons, in their pursuit of training their dragon vein power, tried to find dragon-born clans, but they were entangled by the karma of the past until their death. Some of the thousand-faced dragons' old acquaintances would be lying in wait there, and they actually managed to catch them."

Fisterion looked helplessly at the western sky. He sensed that several first-generation dragonborn (similar to Dania) were in that direction. Having been completely "dragonized," they had probably transformed into ancient dragons capable of transcending the limitations of time.

"Sophia" Fisterion sighed, lamenting the persistence of one of his contemporaries, his "younger sister."

"It's been at least four thousand eight hundred years, and they're still waiting. What's the point of waiting for a dead man? Even if we met, it would be meaningless."

Perhaps it's not so much about persistence, but simply that the ancient have survived to this day.

The other party's aura was very weak, indicating that they were in a dormant state. They should awaken midway through the demonic tide, but by then I would be gone.

But if the true form of the Thousand-Faced Dragon were to encounter it, who knows what would happen?

For my own safety, I'll let them continue to wait.

The minor incident passed quickly, and Rean, who had been warned by Fisterion, would not consider going to the Dragon Kingdom, at least for the time being, and would even actively avoid visitors from there.

Let's go dragon hunting first.

The makeshift team made up of temporary personnel made their way through the dark area, easily dealing with any obstacles in their path.

The team could feel that the further they went, the closer they got to the surface. But when the first ray of light fell on the path ahead, it was still very exciting.

People on the surface can never adapt to the dark life underground.

Rean noticed that even the two dark elves breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that even underground people who were used to the surface would instinctively feel uncomfortable returning to the underground world.

"The plan to obtain exploration data has failed. Let's move forward and explore as we go."

Looking at the mountains in the distance that were beginning to blend into the thick fog, Rean seemed lost in thought.

They didn't intend to venture deep into the Demon Realm, and the Forest Giant's camp was likely on the outskirts. It would be best to resolve the issue in a skirmish; once the Sapphire Dragon escaped into the depths of the Demon Realm, the team probably wouldn't have enough personnel to pursue it.

(End of this chapter)