Beneath the Red Dragon

Chapter 87: Chapter 38: Little Legend

Karon’s dragon claw couldn’t help itself and scratched vigorously on his own head a few times, finally feeling the swelling in his head calming down as if influenced by some ritual.

”Forget it, I’m still far from that step anyway, and unlike those mages who can only rely on magic knowledge, I am a giant dragon constantly growing at every moment.”

Karon stood up, feeling the gains from absorbing the magic power over this period of time, two kinds of power resembling his ancestral bloodline awakening field - All Things Turn to Ash faintly emerged in his lineage.

Those were the powers of earth and metal, the inherent bloodline potential all Red Dragons possessed.

However, not every Red Dragon can activate these two talents like Karon; usually, a red dragon might have to pass the limits of life and become an Ancient Red Dragon to start awakening such potential.

Under the superlimit state growth talent, Karon gained much more than he imagined, like the unique Flame Domain that only a mature Red Dragon might have a chance to possess.

”Perhaps when these two powers are borne, I could meet opponents by first cloaking them with three layers of domains during battles, and only those who withstand it would have the right to face me head-on, and I might become a little legend,” Karon thought delightedly.

With this power growth, the Red Dragon practically wouldn’t care about group attacks from low-level opponents; only those stronger than him could challenge and break through his boundaries.

If this kind of power continues to grow, it might not be impossible for Karon to destroy a nation single-handedly, as long as he can bide his time and grow strong enough.

”However, I seem to lack some strong escape methods, although my full-speed flight is much faster than other giant dragons, I could still encounter opponents much stronger than me.”

While in his dragon nest, his safety was somewhat assured, and the updated weaponry of the dragon’s beloveds could inflict significant damage; united attacks could even teach other young red dragons a lesson.

But Karon often ventures outside the dragon nest or ends up alone; he can’t always bring all dragons and beloveds with him wherever he goes.

Karon wrinkled the fine scales on his brow, pondering what kind of escape method would be reliable for slipping away smoothly when outmatched.

Karon’s consciousness sank into his sea of spirit. Now that he had returned to these lands and reclaimed dominion, the heart energy power provided by the dragon group beloveds under his command gradually increased.

Even the adventurers from the human camps, influenced and acknowledging Karon’s dominion over this area, more or less contributed some heart energy power.

Also, the ferocious ones subdued by the dragon group occasionally fed some weak heart power back to Karon.

The accumulated heart energy power was almost sufficient for Karon to undergo another enhancement.

Crack, Karon tossed a chunk of metal retrieved from the magma lake into his fang-filled maw, gently chewing it into pieces and swallowing it into his gut.

The metal was quickly decomposed by the giant dragon’s stomach acid, turning into tiny strands of energy absorbed by the dragon.

Regular consumption of metal greatly benefits a dragon’s growth, not only hardening its scales and skin for better defense but also accelerating growth when consuming metals with similar attributes.

For instance, the White Dragons dwelling in polar glaciers often consume the special Ice Crystal Stones growing in glacier crevices, enhancing the power of their breath.

However, consuming metal has little short-term effect on dragons and requires prolonged consumption for substantial benefits; typically, only a Lord Dragon like Karon could afford such cost.

Many Five-Color Dragons scraping by on dirt and bark wouldn’t consider rare metals and stones as food upon discovery but as treasures to decorate their pitiable treasure vaults even a thief would pity.

Now, with Karon having a large estate, the territory contains numerous ore veins; though no large magical ore veins were found, the personnel for extracting those rare metal ores are insufficient.

Or rather, there aren’t enough skilled in smelting ores; the Kobold beloveds, adept at mining ores, produce tons of rare ores each month for Karon and the dragon group.

Unfortunately, these beloveds rely on innate talent for sustenance and lack the skill in refining and purifying ores.

”I guess I should have Doss pay attention to this area, and also a commercial group; dragons need their own commercial groups, or at least those serving dragons, otherwise trading many resources would be inconvenient and unlikely to match our desires.”

Karon mused over the territory issue.

”Hmm?”

Karon raised his head, perceiving invisible ripples in the air. However, the visitor hadn’t entered the alert range of the Dreamlike Magic and thus didn’t reveal themselves.

Sniff sniff, Karon’s nose twitched, exposing long, pale white fangs as his mouth opened, sending a gentle dragon fire towards a point in the air.

Soon, the air wave revealed itself, and a Pick Elf clad in a little green petal skirt with two sprouting flower buds atop her head appeared within the wave.

Riven, with her little hands on her slender waist and her chest puffed out, glared fiercely at the stealthily grinning Red Dragon, saying, ”Stupid Karon, you almost burned your one and only Pick Elf friend to death!”

”No worries, there are plenty more Pick Elves in the forest, and I bet they’re all eager to ’volunteer’ and befriend a powerful dragon like me.”

Karon teased the Pick Elf intentionally. He found the hopping mad little elf quite amusing, perhaps a mischievous trait inherited from dragons influenced him.

”Hmph, hmph, hmph,”

Pick Elf Riven knew Karon deliberately misfired his dragon breath, yet his words still irked her slightly.

So Riven crossed her arms and swayed before Karon, her tiny mouth almost pouting skyward.

Karon was almost dizzy from the elf’s rapidly fluttering wings before his eyes; he had to shake his head and ask, ”Why are you here first thing when I just woke up? You aren’t coming daily, are you?”

The Pick Elf’s swaying figure froze midair. She stammered slightly, ”Just not, only because it’s too boring, always hearing those Pick Elves brag about which new friends they made.”

Riven’s eyes twinkled, and she stopped stammering, holding her head high to the looming Red Dragon, saying, ”Karon, why don’t we go on an adventure? With my wit and your strength, we’ll surely have a delightful adventure journey.”

”Who knows if you’re the one boasting the most among Pick Elves,” Karon retorted inwardly. Though his relationship with the little elf was close as good friends, her words still didn’t sway his thoughts.

Moreover, the Giant Dragon Territory remained stable partly because the dragons kept relatively quietly maintaining their original territorial scale, including ogre and centaur tribe domains.

Though expanding towards the prairies, they chose areas devoid of strong tribes and monsters to expand into.

If the dragon group continued expanding recklessly, it would attract hostility and attention from surrounding creatures and monsters.

Back when the dragon group was merely subduing beloveds and preparing to expand, the ogres, who constantly monitored the dragons, preemptively launched attacks on them, let alone if the dragons went on a full offensive, it might attract a surrounding monster siege on the territory.

Karon already understood that in this wild land, and perhaps the entire world, every race and monster had their fixed survival and activity ranges. If you did not actively reach out, everyone could maintain a peaceful state.

All inhabited lands must be secured through blood and fire to establish a foothold. These young dragons’ power was still far from strong and required patiently lying low and developing for some time.

Venturing out during this period would indeed be a foolish choice, but Karon didn’t blame the little elf.

Pick Elves, at times, would take many risks in pursuit of joy and fun; in Karon’s eyes, these elves were rather chaotic.

The Red Dragon decisively shook his head, ”The outside world is still too dangerous for me; I must stay quietly within my territory to grow. However, if boredom is a problem, I know many interesting little games.”