The Natural Empire of the Oceanic Dragon

No one knows the exact population of the rainforest. Atlan can only roughly estimate that the rainforest has at least ten to twenty thousand people based on the tribal information collected by the dispatched Fishfolk scouts.

It is said that there are even human villages in the wetlands on the far eastern side of the rainforest.

In these tribes of only one or two hundred people, although there is a leader, the status of the tribesmen is generally equal. Most of them have respect for the leader's strength and wisdom to lead them to survive.

These humans are the 'savages' who the human nobles say are disobedient. Their greatest skill is running away. In order to avoid being exploited by the nobles, they are willing to be neighbors with ferocious humanoid races.

Being neighbors with ferocious humanoid races carries a considerable risk of being attacked and killed, but even so, these savage tribes are unwilling to return to the protection of the nobles.

Atlan naturally has some ideas about these humans, but he also knows that it is very difficult to subdue these freedom-loving humans with the identity of a dragon.

But it's not impossible. The benefits and treatment Atlan provides are far beyond what any noble family can offer: enough to eat every meal, and meat at least once a week.

In theory, the status of a dragon's follower is similar to that of a slave, but in terms of the benefits they receive, even self-sufficient farmers who own their own land cannot live such a good life.

These high-yield farmlands cannot be separated from the fertilizer produced by the Druids. Atlan personally taking action to dredge water vapor is even more important. Which human noble would personally farm the land?

The previous Chasing Wind was not calm enough. If he were to lead an army of more than ten thousand, the possibility of the entire army being wiped out would be too great. Even the Minotaur Lysta has undergone two years of tempering in governing the territory before he can be considered completely seasoned.

He has the ability to command tens of thousands of troops. The reason why he could lead an army of ten thousand in the past was all due to his strong personal combat power supplementing his lack of command ability.

Only the Fishfolk Fischer is a born commander. His talent in personal combat is not as good as Lysta and Chasing Wind, which allows Fischer to put more energy into training his ability to govern the army.

Fischer can handle both military and civil affairs in an orderly manner.

Since the great threat of the Gnolls has been removed, and the situation in the wetlands has become more and more棘手, if he is only responsible for the military issues in the wetlands, then Lysta will naturally have no problem.

However, because there are not enough talents, military and civil affairs can only be handled by Lysta alone. Snake people, Lizardmen, Centaurs, Minotaurs, Fishfolk, and even a tribe of Bear Gnolls came out of the rainforest and joined Lysta's command.

With so many races, it is certainly impossible to be harmonious. Friction and even bloodshed are becoming more and more frequent. Lysta was completely overwhelmed after dealing with lawsuits for more than a month.

He directly ran to Atlan to change people. The simple Hexi Land is more suitable for him. The followers there have become a whole under Atlan's education.

Although everyone is of different races, they are all their own people, so there is no need to compete with each other.

The situation in Hedong Land is different. This is a loosely assembled alliance. Atlan has appeared in Hedong Land quite a few times, but all his energy has been focused on transporting water vapor, managing rivers, draining water, and leveling the land.

Building team cohesion has always been done by the old Fishfolk and Lysta, the highest leader.

Mainly because Fischer is in the Water Cellar Town, he has also absorbed races such as Yak People, Werewolves, Halflings, and Dwarves. After these people joined the Atlantis Kingdom, they quickly integrated into their roles.

On the other hand, Lysta's progress is not only slow, but there are even signs of splitting into several small groups. This made Atlan realize that the gap between people is even greater than the gap between fish and cows.

The people here refer to intelligent life, not just humans.

Lysta has self-knowledge. Before the situation deteriorated, he took the initiative to find Atlan and applied to be transferred back, so that Fischer could go to Hedong Land. After all, the humid Hedong Land is more suitable for Fishfolk to make contributions.

Lysta is already fed up with the land environment in Hedong Land, where he sinks into the mud and cannot extricate himself with one foot. The combat environment suitable for him is the desert and the grassland.

Definitely not wetlands or swamps!

What he recruited in Hedong Land were ordinary Minotaurs. Unlike the Yak People who become long-haired Minotaurs in the snow-capped mountains, but further east, he heard from scouts that there may be a kind of Water Buffalo People who are good at moving in watery areas.

That Black Dragon may have a Water Buffalo People tribe under his command. Like the Yak People, the Water Buffalo People are more docile than these native Minotaurs and are not impulsive or irritable.

The reason why Lysta was transferred back was because he valued the Yak People. He has been working hard to promote the rise of the Minotaurs. He wants to know whether the calves born from ordinary Minotaurs and Yak People will become docile.

The power of the Minotaurs is strong, but in fact, like races such as Beastmen, Harpies, and Medusa, the source of their power can be said to be a curse!

What good can a curse be? Even if it has evolved into the unique power of the Minotaurs after generations of breeding, some of the negative abilities of the curse still remain.

For example, the intelligence of the Minotaurs is a bit worse. On the other hand, the Yak People who come down from the mountains are generally much smarter than them. If the intelligence of ordinary Minotaurs is 7, then the intelligence of Yak People is 9.

Some smart calves can even reach an intelligence of 11 and may master some ice element-related spell abilities.

The Earth Totem War Dance lies in using the collective spiritual will to mobilize earth elements to permeate the body of the Minotaurs. Those Minotaurs who have mastered the ability to control earth elements also find it difficult to go further.

Not to mention using it in combat, they are so clumsy that they can't even use this ability to control earth elements to cultivate the land.

The Yak People practice the Ice Element Totem War Dance. This was created by Atlan. Atlan would like to say that, but it is not. The relationship between the two elements of ice and water is very close.

But they are not completely the same. The Yak People have already joined the kingdom. At that time, he did not have the speed to come up with the ice element version of the Totem War Dance, so naturally he could only call for a transfer and request tactical guidance from the Old Urchin.

Attilan's Ice Cone spell, used to kill Blue Dragons for a thousand years, was a spell he mastered alongside Old Rascal back then. He also perfected his Mist Concealment and Silent Killing techniques with Old Rascal's guidance.

After dealing with the flooding of the farmland, Attilan suddenly felt a wave of fatigue.

"Old Fishman, I'll leave things here to you. I need to go back and recuperate."

Attilan had suffered numerous injuries from the Lich. Although the Vine Woman had dispelled the necromantic magic and healed his wounds, it didn't mean Attilan was completely fine.

Now that the energy of the Great Dragon Lake was flowing towards the southwestern desert, Attilan was confident that his underwater dragon lair was filled with abundant water elemental power, perfect for him to absorb.

The Old Fishman respectfully said:

"Dragon Lord, rest assured, I will ensure that no one goes hungry because of this disaster. I will immediately begin to promote the grain trade with the elves as you instructed."

"It's not just the druids who know how to make fertilizer to increase grain production. In fact, our shamans have also mastered the spell to create fertilizer after a period of study."

Attilan's eyes lit up with joy. He hadn't ordered this, and the Old Fishman had given him a surprise.

If they mastered the spell to create fertilizer using the four elemental energies of earth, wind, water, and fire, then there would be no need to worry about grain production.

Besides fertilizer, improved seeds were also an important factor in controlling yield per acre. But he now had a seed research team composed entirely of druids, so even if they could only cultivate seeds that increased production by a few pounds a year.

Over ten years, the change in seeds would be quite considerable.

"Very good! I trust you to handle things!"

Just as Attilan returned to Green Scale Town and was about to dive into the lake, he was stopped by Old Rascal's shout.

"Attilan, how's the battle going?"

Seeing the hatred in Old Rascal's eyes, Attilan comforted him:

"Old Rascal, don't worry. When I left, Master and the others had already gained the upper hand. I believe they will soon be able to suppress and seal Death Claw. This Death Claw is doomed this time!"

Old Rascal clenched his fist, trying to take a breath and said:

"That's good, that's good. It's a pity that I can't go to the front line to participate in the battle, and can only help mobilize the water elemental power from behind. It's a pity, it's hateful!"

Attilan immediately widened his eyes and questioned:

"You're helping to mobilize the elements, so why did you flood 200,000 acres of my wheat fields!"

Old Rascal said somewhat awkwardly:

"I'm just an assistant. I can't control the vast water elemental power of the Great Dragon Lake. I can only try to confine the power to the prescribed river channels."

"But the power was too strong and too much, and a lot of it still spilled out. I tried my best to use the spilled water elements to optimize the environment of the wasteland and desert. I think you saw it when you came back."

"With this one flush, 200,000 square kilometers of land west of the Southwest River will gain vitality. You've made a big profit, kid."

As he spoke, Old Rascal stuffed a piece of pizza into his mouth, but Attilan, with his keen eyes, noticed that Old Rascal's usually steady hand was actually trembling as he ate.

"Old Rascal, what's wrong with you?"

Old Rascal laughed.

"It's nothing, it's just that I can finally avenge her, and I'm a little excited."

Attilan casually waved his hand.

"Then I won't bother you. You continue to stay on the shore to monitor the water situation. Anyway, I'm going to eat something to recover my strength."

Attilan didn't plan to continue asking, because Old Rascal wouldn't say even if he asked.

He didn't go to eat anything, but dragged his tired body to find Lalluen.

"Madam, something is wrong with Old Rascal. Please ask Bloodied Master to come and take a look."

Lalluen nodded seriously and said:

"I'll go now."

Old Rascal was responsible for stabilizing the energy supply to the Swamp Wyvern, while the natural energy needed by the Bearman and the Vine Woman was maintained and supplied by Bloodied Master and several old druids.

Otherwise, the natural magic of the forest would not flow to the Great Desert by itself.

Lalluen quickly brought Bloodied Master back through starlight teleportation and pulled Old Rascal, who had been on the shore, back as well.

Bloodied Master said somewhat angrily:

"You actually overspent your body in order to increase the energy supplied to the Swamp Wyvern. Would they not be able to win without that little bit of energy from you!? Who do you think you are!"

"With that little bit of power of yours, can you influence the direction of the battle?!\n"

Bloodied Master scratched his hair, making his originally smooth hair messy.

Old Rascal had already been infected by necromantic magic, which caused his lifespan to be shorter than that of the Bearman and the others. Otherwise, he wouldn't be looking like an old man and wouldn't be able to temporarily return to his young state at all.

Now that he was doing this, Old Rascal's lifespan would be even shorter.

Bloodied Master was scratching his hair, thinking about what he could do to replenish Old Rascal's lifespan.

Attilan's eyes lit up, and he suddenly thought of a good idea.

"Ocean Dragon Soul! The Swamp Wyvern has a very precious Ocean Wyvern Dragon Pearl. The energy of this dragon pearl can be used to refine an elixir of immortality, of course, not a real elixir of immortality."

"But it can replenish Old Rascal's depleted body, at least not like it is now, like a candle in the wind."

Old Rascal waved his hand with a smile, and continued to eat pizza with a trembling hand.

"Don't worry, I'm not that easy to die. I still have a long life ahead of me."

He suddenly looked at Attilan with deep eyes and said:

"I'm sorry, if I didn't increase the total amount of energy supplied, I actually had the extra power to control the water waves from washing away these 200,000 acres of farmland, but hatred blinded my eyes."

"I can only make up for it afterwards. Attilan, I don't expect your forgiveness. There's no way, I have to watch Death Claw be sealed, missing today's opportunity."

"I don't know if I will have another chance to seal Death Claw."

"I don't blame you!"

Attilan shook his head. Even if Old Rascal didn't increase the total amount, these 200,000 acres would still be washed away. It wasn't Old Rascal's increase that caused the farmland to be washed away, he just didn't intercept the water waves that washed away the farmland.

He had more important things to do.

With his relationship with Old Rascal, it was just a mere 200,000 acres of wheat fields, it was nothing!

"That's good, that's good."

As soon as Old Rascal relaxed, he almost fell.

Bloodied Master quickly helped him sit down, took out a bottle containing a drop of emerald green liquid from his dimensional bag, and forcibly poured it down Old Rascal's throat.

"They don't know how long they're going to fight. I'm afraid you'll be dead before I can borrow the Ocean Dragon Soul!"

Old Rascal sighed.

"It would be better to keep such a precious thing for Hana to improve her physique."

Hana looked sincere, her eyes filled with mist as she grabbed Old Rascal's arm and said:

"I don't want it, Old Rascal, you use it, I don't want you to die."