Evil Red Dragon

Alecto walked slowly out of the hall, where the square was already bustling with activity.

Orcs and trolls worked together to place ibex and woolly cows on the makeshift grills.

The firewood crackled, grease dripped and sparked, and the rich aroma of meat filled every corner of the camp.

Alecto couldn't help but chuckle. These guys...

Gru personally took the largest roasted cow off the fire; its golden-brown, glistening skin was still sizzling with heat.

He deftly placed the tenderest part of the pork tenderloin on a stone plate and presented it to Alecto.

"Master, please use it."

Alecto, without any formalities, grabbed a piece of roasted meat the size of a washbasin with his hand.

The meat is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The saltiness of the coarse salt perfectly complements the rich flavor of the beef, while the subtle spiciness of the spices adds even more flavor.

He chewed slowly, savoring the delicious juices bursting in his mouth.

This natural flavor satisfied Alecto far more than any grand meal he could remember.

He ate with great relish, one piece of roasted meat after another.

In less than an hour, a small mountain of bones had piled up in front of Alecto.

"The grilling is good, you guys put in a lot of effort."

Alecto clapped his hands, offered praise, and rose with his red hair flowing in the wind.

"Go and prepare what we discussed last night. I'm going out for a bit."

Before he could finish speaking, Goron hurriedly stepped forward and handed over the dimensional bag:

"Master, your dimensional bag."

Alecto accepted it casually; he was so busy processing information that he had almost forgotten about this little treasure.

The next second, Alector transformed into a crimson shadow and soared into the sky, unfurling his dragon form in mid-air.

With a flap of its wings, the swirling air caused the campfire to suddenly go dark.

Under the watchful eyes of the demons, Alecto swiftly transformed into a black dot and flew away from the territory.

He's eager to test his strength and stretch his muscles.

Dragon wings ripped through the sky, and clouds swept past Alexios like waves beneath him.

He looked down at the land below and muttered to himself:

"Who would be randomly chosen as my target?"

With a thought, magic responded, and a level five spell was quietly released, granting full vision.

Removing all visual limitations, it can see through concealment, invisibility, and barriers within a five-kilometer range, and ignores darkness. Combined with the dragon race's unique and powerful sense of life, it is practically a 360-degree radar with no blind spots.

But all he encountered along the way were low-level magical beasts, not worth his time.

After flying for a long time, about 180 miles northeast of Chifeng, he finally found a giant badger drinking water by a stream.

This magical beast combines the skull of a bear with the narrow cheeks of a badger, with a protruding snout, exposed fangs, and fur that provides some resistance to all magic.

Upon reaching adulthood, they can reach level five, possessing immense strength, charging with lightning speed, and unleashing extremely fast bursts of power over short distances.

The creature before him was over five meters long, two and a half meters tall at the shoulder, and had reached the high level of the fifth rank, making it the undisputed overlord of this area.

"You're the one."

Alecto suppressed his aura, hovering in the air, his magic condensing, compressing, and shaping in his claws.

Level 5 magic, Crimson Lotus Bomb.

It fires a highly compressed crimson flame that explodes upon contact with anything, continues to burn after the explosion, causing damage, and cannot be easily extinguished by water.

This spell normally requires two seconds to prepare, and only one spell can be cast at a time.

just now……

Three Crimson Lotus Bombs appeared simultaneously, each the size of a millstone, with blazing white light shining through the cracks on their surfaces.

The compression is 50% higher than before, and the power is at least doubled.

"go."

With a slight thought, Alecto fired three Crimson Lotus Bombs in a triangular formation toward the giant badger bear by the stream.

The sound of something cutting through the air was sharp and piercing.

The giant badger suddenly raised its head; it sensed a deadly threat.

It roared, stood upright, and slammed its palms down at the incoming Crimson Lotus Bomb.

The first Crimson Lotus Bomb exploded the instant the bear paw made contact.

boom--

An orange-red fireball rose ten meters high, and the shockwave swept across a radius of thirty meters, blasting the stream into a cloud of mist.

The giant badger's right paw was instantly charred black, its bony armor shattered, and its flesh mangled.

The second and third lava balls followed closely behind, all hitting its body.

The series of explosions caused the entire ground to shake.

The giant badger was blasted backwards, crashing into three ironwood trees before barely coming to a stop.

Its chest was completely shattered, revealing charred flesh and blood, and its back was blasted open with a hole the size of a washbasin, with its internal organs vaguely visible, and flames were still burning on it.

"roar--!!!"

The giant badger roared in agony, its eyes bloodshot, and struggled to its feet. Despite its severe injuries, it ran away on all fours.

"Its vitality is quite strong."

But what's the use?

Alecto flapped his wings and chased after the giant badger.

Thirty meters... twenty meters... ten meters... the distance between the two is getting closer and closer.

The giant badger suddenly stood upright, its intact left paw striking Alecto with tremendous force.

If this palm strike lands squarely, even a level five shield will shatter.

But Alecto neither dodged nor avoided it, and instead raised its paw to meet it head-on.

The shockwave exploded, snapping a ring of trees around it.

The giant badger's entire left arm flew off, spurting blood.

It fell to the ground with a pitiful howl, still trying to struggle, but Alecto had already pressed its head down.

"it's over."

The dragon claw exerted its force, and the crisp sound of the skull shattering was exceptionally clear.

Alecto loosened his grip and examined his spoils.

From spotting the target to ending the battle, the entire process took no more than two minutes, consuming very little magic power, and now it's full again.

"The efficiency is not bad."

He nodded in satisfaction and began to process the spoils.

The fur of the giant badger is a high-quality anti-magic material, its gall can be used in medicine, and its paws are a delicacy.

Although it's barely enough to fill a tooth gap for his current size, it's still a good extra meal to take back. Besides, he never tasted bear paws in his previous life, so he has to try them now to see if they're salty or bland.

The dragon claws were like knives, easily peeling off the complete hide, extracting the bear's gallbladder, and chopping off the four bear paws.

Alecto put these materials into his dimensional bag.

With only one cubic meter of space, it can't hold an entire bear, but it's more than enough to store its most prized parts.

Having done all that, he flapped his wings and flew away to continue searching for his next target.

For the rest of the day, Alekto wandered within a hundred miles, specifically seeking out powerful magical beasts to test his skills, unleashing all sorts of magic in a frenzy.

The second one, the third one, the fourth one...

Alecto became more and more adept at the game.

He no longer limited himself to fire magic and began to experiment with combining different systems of magic.

Fireball coverage, rock pillar restriction, metal cutting...

With the added power of the Magic Corridor, Alecto became the undisputed king of the three elements: fire, earth, and metal.

Sandstorms, meteorites, and celestial fire can be unleashed with a wave of the hand. The construction of the corridor not only increases the total amount of magic power and the speed of casting, but more importantly, it allows for more precise control of magic power.

He can now unleash three different types of magic simultaneously without them interfering with each other, and even merge them together, which was unimaginable before.

"Indeed, knowledge is power."

Alecto lay on a hillside, sorting through the spoils of the battle.

In front of him lay a level 5 earth and wood dual-element crystal core, a trophy he had just dug out of a magical beast.

Crystal cores are somewhat similar to magic crystals, both containing magical power. They can be used to set up magic circles, create magical items, and directly replenish magical power.

However, the two are actually worlds apart. Crystal cores are magical cores that magical life forms within the body by chance. They are extremely rare, and the magical power contained within them is closely related to the attributes of the magical life form.

The magic power in the core of a fire-attribute magical beast is fire-attribute, while magic crystals are artificially created, and the magic power inside is mostly life-attribute or non-attribute.

Moreover, crystal cores often retain the imprints of the magical beasts from their lifetimes. Direct absorption can easily trigger magical conflicts, and they can only be used safely after being processed.

Magic crystals are pure crystals of magic from the moment they are created. They are stable in nature and can be slowly absorbed even by a beginner.

Furthermore, crystal nuclei cannot be replicated; each one is unique, just as no two leaves are exactly alike, and no two crystal nuclei are exactly alike.

Even for the same type of magical beast with the same attribute, the magical energy channels and structural strength inside the crystal core will vary subtly depending on the beast's age, hunting environment, and even combat experience.

Magic crystals produced through standardized processes have uniform specifications and adjustable magic power.

But it is precisely the properties of the crystal nucleus that make it even more valuable.

Having the same attributes means being compatible.

As long as the residual imprints inside the crystal core are properly dealt with, fire mages can replenish their magic power instantly in life-or-death situations without needing to convert it when absorbing fire crystal cores.

The magician's staff is always inlaid with a crystal core that is compatible with his own attributes, which can enhance the power of his magic.

Thinking too much and knowing too much can also be a source of distress.

Alecto shook his head, put away the crystal core, and took flight towards Red Peak.

It was dusk, and the clouds in the sky were dyed golden red by the setting sun, echoing the dragon scales on his body.

During the flight, he wasn't entirely focused on the return journey, but instead repeatedly checked his body, especially the changes on his wings.

After a full day of fighting, he discovered that the golden markings on his wings... were gone.

No, it should be said that as he grew rapidly, the golden patterns of his talent entered his wings more comprehensively and deeply.

However, they are no longer as readily apparent as they used to be.

Nowadays, in its normal state, Alektor's wings are no different from those of an ordinary red dragon, with thick, wide, dark red wing membranes that are tough and powerful, and a robust skeleton.

Only when he is fully focused and deliberately infuses and circulates his magic will the golden patterns emerge from inside the wing membrane.

He slowed his flight, hovering over a wasteland, and focused his mind on his wings.

First, a warm sensation came from the wing root, near the junction of the scapula.

The pale gold color began to spread from deep within the bones and fascia.

The patterns were initially as fine as hair, extending along the veins on the wing membrane, and soon covered the entire wing.

Upon closer inspection, it faintly forms a constantly flowing and changing magic circle.

The direction of the golden patterns subtly corresponds to certain branches of the magic corridor, as if they were extensions of the two main and auxiliary corridors within his body onto the surface of his body.

When the patterns are fully revealed, the entire wing membrane becomes a work of art.

Against the crimson background, golden veins are clearly visible, pulsating slightly, synchronized with his heartbeat and magical circulation.

As the light shimmered, it was as if molten gold was slowly flowing through a glass pipe, serene and mysterious.

Alecto tried to flap his wings slightly, and the various elements that were floating around him became unusually tamed at that moment.

It was like an efficient elemental guiding array. Without him having to spend any effort to capture or restrain it, the surrounding elements were naturally absorbed and shaped according to his will.

With a thought, he gently stirred the water vapor a hundred meters ahead using the patterns on his wings.

In an instant, the water vapor in the air was rapidly extracted, compressed, and cooled, and more than a dozen sharp icicles, each a meter long, condensed out of thin air, gleaming coldly in the setting sun, and floated silently.

This is a level 2 water-based spell, Ice Cone.

Given the red dragon's natural affinity with the fire element, its abilities should have been much less effective, or even impossible to fully utilize.

But at this moment, with the help of the patterns' manipulation of the elements, this ice cone not only took shape instantly, but its solidity and the chill it contained were in no way inferior to that of a mage specializing in water magic of the same level.

"Just as I expected..."

Alecto whispered, a glint of light in his eyes.

His innate golden runes are far more than just an enhancement of magical power.

They are more like a highly integrated and constantly evolving external magical organ, which greatly broadens his ability to control various elements in the world and breaks the red dragon bloodline's bias in elemental affinity.

The fire, earth, and metal elements are naturally at their command, greatly increasing their power.

While it cannot achieve the same absolute control over other elements as it does over its own element, it still gains a level of efficiency in utilizing them far exceeding that of ordinary red dragons.

This means that his tactical options will become incredibly diverse.

He withdrew his magic, and the golden patterns on his wings slowly faded and eventually disappeared completely, restoring his wings to their crimson color, as if the magnificent scene just now was merely an illusion.

"The Seed of Tiamat... perhaps I can go further."

Alecto recalled vague records from the inherited memories.

Red dragons, often called the favored offspring of the five-colored dragons, typically demonstrate extraordinary control over one or two elements even in their fledgling stage.

But someone like him, who not only awakened multiple talents ahead of time, but also grew such unique and comprehensive magical patterns on his body, is probably rare even in the long history of the dragon race.

He had a vague idea of ​​the source of this talent.

Perhaps it was his own unique soul that unexpectedly catalyzed a deeper potential within his bloodline.

The subsequent construction of the magic corridor was like a thorough forging and tempering, which may have further stimulated the consolidation and evolution of this talent, allowing it to perfectly integrate with his new system.

As dusk deepened, Alekto lingered no longer, flapped his wings suddenly, and flew with all his might towards Chifeng.

This time, he did not suppress his power.

boom--

The dragon wings transformed into two divine weapons that sliced ​​through the sky.

Alecto's figure blurred for a moment, and the next instant, he was already several kilometers away, leaving only a slowly spreading ripple of air in his place.

The outline of Chifeng is already in sight.

Alecto withdrew his power and landed smoothly in the central square, transforming back into the form of a red-haired youth. His aura was calm and composed, as if he had simply returned from an ordinary outing.

Gru immediately went to greet him:

"Master, did the patrol go smoothly?"

"Um."

Alexo nodded slightly and tossed the dimensional bag to the approaching Goron:

"There are some ingredients inside. Take them and process them. I'll roast the bear paws tonight."