Evil Red Dragon

The peaceful days continued.

While sorting through the gains from his slumber, Alector stumbled upon information about shapeshifting magic.

Out of curiosity and considering the potential need for disguise, he decided to learn the simplest form of Transfiguration.

After several days of meditation and magical adjustments, I have gained a basic understanding of the principles.

He chose to conduct his first practice in the lower level of the cave, following the vague descriptions in the tradition, covering his entire body with magic, shrinking and reshaping his structure...

As magic surged, his body was gradually enveloped in a hazy halo.

With a slight sound of bones contracting and muscles reorganizing, the halo dissipated, and the twelve-meter-long crimson dragon disappeared, replaced by a figure that looked like a human boy of about four or five years old.

The boy had slightly messy red hair, pale gold eyes, fair skin, and was dressed in a cloth garment conjured by magic.

Alecto raised his hand and looked at it; his five fingers were distinct, and his palm was slender.

"It's been... a long time..."

He was almost forgetting what a human looks like.

The attempt at shapeshifting was a success; he temporarily transformed himself into a human form and was able to mimic its physiological characteristics.

Just as Alector was looking down at his human body, trying to readjust to the human perspective and his fragile senses, a suppressed sneer came from the direction of the entrance.

"Hahahaha..."

Oliveira had somehow slipped in and happened to witness this scene.

She was taken aback at first, wondering where the little guy had come from and where Alector had gone.

When she sensed the familiar dragon's might emanating from the little one, she immediately understood what was going on.

She clutched her belly with her paws, laughing so hard she almost fell over, her tail slapping the ground and sending pebbles flying.

"Alecto? What happened to you? Hahahaha! A human cub! And naked as a baby!"

"Hahahaha! This is hilarious! Our mighty Lord Alecto has been reduced to a little whimperer!"

Laughter echoed through the cave.

Alecto frowned, a dangerous glint flashing in his eyes.

He did not immediately deactivate his transformation, but remained in the form of a human child, looking up at Oliveira, whose dragon scales were shaking with laughter:

"Have you laughed enough?"

"N-no! Hahaha... Let me laugh a little longer..."

Oliveira laughed until tears streamed down her face, pointing her paw at Alecto:

"How are you going to fight like this? How are you going to breathe fire? Oh right, you don't even have dragon breath anymore, do you? Do you want me to teach you how to walk on two legs? Haha..."

Completely absorbed in the sudden joy, she failed to notice the growing fervor in Alecto's eyes.

The next second, Alecto dispelled the transformation.

The air around Alexo twisted, and the red-haired boy instantly swelled and stretched, his magnificent dragon body reappearing in an instant.

The instant his form returned, Alector's dragon tail lashed out at Oliveira.

*Snap!* A muffled thud, and Oliveira's laughter abruptly stopped.

She was sent flying, crashing into the rock wall and sending a shower of rocks crashing down.

"Aww..."

Oliveira slid to the ground in a sorry state, her side burning with pain, a clear white mark left on her scales.

She looked up and met Alecto's angry eyes, and immediately shrank back in fright.

"Is it funny?"

Alector stepped forward, his dragon's might pressing down like a mountain, enveloping Oliveira:

"It seems I've been too lenient with you, making you forget who the master is."

"No, brother, I was wrong..."

Oliveira panicked. She struggled to get up, but Alecto pinned her to the ground with one hand, rendering her immobile. She could only shake her head desperately.

"I just couldn't help it for a moment, you really... well, very special! Yes, very special! I absolutely didn't mean to mock you!"

"special?"

Alecto lowered his head:

"Since you like being special so much, then you should prepare to go mining with Gru and the others."

"Mining?!"

Oliveira was stunned, thinking she had misheard.

Alecto straightened up:

"Gru and his men have such poor weapons, only stone clubs and bone spears, which don't allow them to use their full strength. Fortunately, there are mineral veins beneath the territory, and nothing has happened these past few days, so we can start mining and smelting iron to forge real weapons for them."

He looked at Oliveira again:

"You go and lead the team. We'll be done when we've mined enough ore and forged the first batch of ironware."

Oliveira's vision went black as she seemed to see herself again, covered in dirt and digging at stones.

Mining? But she still has to find food herself! The combination of the two...

"Any objections?"

Alecto tapped the ground lightly, making a threatening tapping sound.

"...It's my older brother."

Oliveira pouted, not daring to argue, and could only bury her head in her front paws, replying weakly, already lamenting her bleak future.

"Don't let me see you doing nothing again. Go and call Gru over here."

Alecto withdrew his dragon claws and turned away from her.

Oliveira felt as if she had been granted a pardon and quickly slipped out, never daring to utter another word about human children.

Alecto glanced in the direction Oliveira had disappeared and snorted.

He refocused his attention on transfiguration.

Although she transformed into a human form with low combat power, and maintaining the transformation required a continuous consumption of magic power, this undoubtedly provided an option for future negotiations with humans.

"It still needs improvement...at least the clothes need to look decent."

He muttered to himself.

"Master, did you summon me?"

Gru strode over, his dragon-blooded body appearing exceptionally robust.

"Summon all trolls except for the Dragonborn warriors. Delegate all patrol duties to the Dragonborn warriors."

Alektot commanded, "There are mineral veins beneath Red Peak; they need to mine them, smelt them, and forge armor and weapons."

Gru quickly assembled his team.

A group of strong, ordinary trolls, armed with crude stone pickaxes and shovels, surged into the second underground level under Alektor's leadership.

Oliveira flew dejectedly to the group and muttered, "We really have to dig..."

Alecto ignored her, the crimson-gold patterns on his body glowing slightly, his senses extending deeper into the earth.

The team walked and stopped intermittently on the dry underground riverbed.

After a moment, Alecto stopped and pointed to the spot:

"Starting from here, if you keep digging downwards, you will encounter the first ore vein, which is mainly iron ore with a small amount of copper ore mixed in."

He turned to look at Oliveira:

"You'll be responsible for overseeing the progress, and for dealing with any rock formations that are difficult to break through."

Oliveira pursed her lips, but still replied, "Okay..."

Excavation work began immediately.

The trolls swung their stone pickaxes, striking the hard rock face with dull thuds.

Initially, progress was slow, as the rock was much harder than expected.

Oliveira had no choice but to follow Alektor's instructions and personally break apart the large rock formations so that the trolls could pry them open.

Alecto watched the mine steadily take shape, then turned and left with satisfaction; he still had to continue his research on magic.

Three days later, the first vein of minerals appeared.

Dark red iron ore and bright yellow copper ore were mixed in the rock strata, gleaming in the torchlight.

The trolls let out excited growls and began mining even more vigorously.

"Focus on mining high-purity areas."

Alecto came over to inspect the site and broke open a piece of ore:

"Send some people to move these ores to the open space outside the cave."

"Olivera, you continue leading the team to dig southeast; there's a second vein there."

Oliveira looked at the mountain of ore before her, and then at Alector's unquestionable gaze. She could only resign herself to her fate, flicking her tail and directing the trolls to change direction.

The excavation lasted for almost half a month.

Several small mountains of ore have been piled up at the foot of Chifeng.

In addition to iron and copper mines, they also unexpectedly discovered a small silver vein, which, although small in quantity, is of high purity.

Oliveira secretly hid several pieces of high-purity silver ore, but after being discovered by Alecto, she was punished by having to dig for three more days.

That evening, Alecto called a halt to his work.

"That's enough."

He examined the mountain of ore:

"Next is smelting. Gru, clear out an area on the east side of the camp and learn from me how to build a low blast furnace. Oliveira, you will be the main heat source."

Oliveira's eyes lit up.

Flamethrower is much easier than mining.

Under Alector's guidance, the trolls built several low blast furnaces out of stones and clay.

This type of low-profile blast furnace has a simple structure, with a vertical cylindrical furnace body that is about 2 meters high.

Ore is typically added from the top, while strong air is blown in from the bottom.

A high-temperature zone is formed inside the furnace from bottom to top. The ore is melted as it descends, and the molten iron drips and accumulates in the hearth, and is periodically released from the outlet at the bottom.

The molten iron produced can be directly used to cast objects.

Oliveira aimed her dragon breath at the furnace opening, and the high temperature gradually melted the ore, separated the impurities, and the molten iron flowed out, solidifying into iron ingots in the stone mold.

When the first batch of molten iron flowed out, all the trolls cheered.

Gru carefully picked up a piece of iron ingot that was not yet fully solidified with his stone tongs, his eyes filled with awe.

"Master! We've really made iron ingots!"

Alecto nodded slightly.

"This is just the beginning; we still need to forge it into weapons and tools."

"Gru will select a few of the most skillful members of his tribe, and I will teach them the most basic forging techniques."

Alecto didn't expect them to actually learn forging; he just wanted them to be able to roughly shape iron ingots.

He personally demonstrated how to use the dragon claw to hammer the red-hot iron block into the shape of a knife.

The trolls imitated his movements, and although clumsy, they managed to punch quite well with their brute force.

Two days later, the first batch of iron weapons was produced.

Although the craftsmanship is rough, it is a world of difference compared to the stone clubs and bone spears of the past.

Gru received a heavy, double-edged battle axe with a wide, thick blade.

He swung his sword a few times, the sound of it cutting through the air sharp and piercing, and he was overjoyed.

Other soldiers were also given simple tools such as hammers and spears.

Oliveira, watching the trolls' excited expressions, quietly moved closer to Alexoth:

"Brother, where's my reward? I've put in a lot of effort these past few days..."

Alecto glanced at her and tossed her a fist-sized silver ingot from the pile of ore.

"Take it and play with it."

Oliveira caught the silver ingot, her face immediately lighting up with a smile, clearly delighted with it.

"Thank you, brother!"

Alecto gazed at the darkening sky.

The ore vein has been found, mining is underway, and the first batch of metal weapons is in place.

The construction of Chifeng Territory has made substantial progress again.

Alector looked at Oliveira's delighted expression as she held the silver ingots and made a plan in his mind.

He ordered the trolls to gather all the smelted silver ingots and carry them to the upper level of the cave.

Although the number of silver ingots was not large, it was enough to completely cover the ground where he slept.

"This silver should be used in meaningful ways."

Alecto whispered.

He personally laid out the silver ingots one by one, layer after layer.

After laying it out, slowly lie down on it.

Oh my gosh~~~ Having treasure under you really makes a difference~~~

The silver ingot was slightly concave, fitting snugly against the dragon scales. It felt cool to the touch, but was quickly warmed by his body heat, making the scales on his body even more dazzling under the silver light.

The elements in the silver slowly seeped into the scales, further nourishing him.

Oliveira stared longingly at Alecto lying on the silver bed, and couldn't help but mutter:

"Brother, you have so much silver, are you just going to use it all to make your bed...?"

Without even looking up, Alecto said, "What, you have a problem with that?"

"No, no!" Oliveira shook her head hurriedly, but her tail honestly swept across the ground:

"I just feel... isn't the floor a bit too wide?"

"Wide?" Alecto scoffed. "The wider the better."

Oliveira glanced at it enviously a few times, but eventually resigned herself to lying back in her corner.

There were only a few of her small silver ingots there.

She sighed, rested her head on her front paws, and gradually drifted off to sleep.

Alecto closed his eyes, the silver bed beneath him giving him an unprecedented sense of spiritual satisfaction.

This is feedback etched into the bloodline of the Red Dragon.

"This is just the beginning..."

In his sleep-deprived state, he thought, "More treasure, greater power, wider territory..."

Meanwhile, about fifty miles southeast of the southeastern border of Chifeng, a human reconnaissance team of twelve people was traversing the wilderness.

They were well-equipped, wearing light leather armor and carrying bows and swords. They moved quickly and nimbly, and every move they made revealed their rich experience.

The leader of the group was a middle-aged man with a stern face, a long sword at his waist, and sharp eyes.

He was the captain of the reconnaissance team, a level 5 soldier.

There are also three mages in the group.

One of the mages, dressed in a gray robe, held a short wooden staff in his hand, the pale blue gem inlaid at the top of which was faintly glowing.

He suddenly stopped, raised his staff, and whispered to the captain:

"Captain, the magic concentration ahead has increased significantly, and the direction is exactly where we marked earlier. We can confirm that the source of the anomaly is there."

"Moreover, there is a faint trace of dragon-like scent remaining in the air; although it is very faint, it is definitely present."

The captain frowned deeply: "Dragons? Are you sure?"

"dragon?"

A burly man in the group, carrying a battle axe, sneered:

"How could there possibly be a dragon in such a remote area? At most, it could be a sub-dragon."

"Don't be careless."

The captain glared at him:

"No matter what, the guild's intelligence doesn't come from nowhere. Last time you were almost discovered by the troll tribe there, making us search for you for over half a month. You better watch out this time!"

The burly man scratched his head sheepishly: "Don't worry, Captain."

"Stay hidden, keep moving forward. If there really is a dragon, retreat immediately and bring the news back."