Gnoll leader Yug received a message from a bird and learned it was a summons from the Red Dragon. He immediately led the warriors patrolling the territory back without a moment's pause.
Eager to prove his value and ability, this fellow would lead his powerful warriors on continuous sweeps during the rest periods when his tribe was reclaiming wasteland.
His range of activity had already passed Gulfstream City at the southernmost tip, though he stayed closer to the coast.
Many of the Troll slaves currently building castles for the True Dragon s in the mountains were the result of this fellow's hard work.
Several smaller Ogre Tribes had also been broken by the highly aggressive Yug and sent back as slaves.
Kalon also took note of the Gnoll Yug's performance.
In his view, it was good for subordinates to have ambition; the most important thing was whether the person had the ability to create value for him.
Now Yug's opportunity had come. Kalon decided to dispatch Yug to the Green Field Forest plane to establish an outpost and investigate the situation.
Among the other vassals in the territory, the Centaur Warriors led by the powerful Dragonborne Centaur Chiron were currently the strongest military unit under the True Dragon's command.
Their combat power was stronger than these Gnolls, and they were accustomed to living and fighting in the forest. Their excellent archery could even rival that of the Elves.
But Kalon did not plan to deploy the Centaur Warriors, partly because the territory needed these loyal warriors to stand guard.
The loyalty of these warriors had long been proven; Kalon's trust in these Centaurs far exceeded his trust in the Kobolds.
On the other hand, the newly recruited Gnoll vassals were aggressive by nature. Kalon believed these fellows needed to shed blood and sacrifice their bodies for the territory to better integrate into his domain.
After all, by fighting for a specific goal, these fellows would more easily develop a sense of belonging to the territory.
Rather than being forcibly merged into the territory out of fear of the True Dragon's terrifying majesty and strength.
This also fit Kalon's management principle: if you are highly aggressive, fine, I will give you an opportunity to invade a world.
As for the Bronze Dragon Alina, she preferred governing the territory. Kalon would not send Alina to the battlefield, even in the upcoming hunt for the Stray Red Dragon whose status outside the territory was unknown.
Kalon did not believe anyone was omnipotent; even a god as great as the Platinum Dragon God Bahamut had things he could not do.
But for a ruler, as long as people are used to their full potential, they can be considered an excellent ruler.
Kalon would not easily believe the mage Hsiusir's words just because of their previously harmonious cooperation.
Moreover, endless years had passed, and no one knew what changes had occurred in the Green Field Forest. He would not rashly step into the Green Field Forest without intelligence.
Gnoll Yug and his warriors finally arrived at the foot of the mountains after exhausting dozens of hyenas to death.
At this time, two more Dragon Nests were being built atop the mountains. Red the Copper Dragon Alfred and the Bronze Dragon Alina were using their performance to win the recognition of the True Dragon group.
With the improved Paper making and Printing techniques brought by the mage Hsiusir, Fafna, the Administrative Officer of the Goldsea City, had already begun publicly recruiting craftsmen within the Goldsea City.
Papermaking and Printing Workshops were gradually being set up, currently prioritizing the supply for Alfred's propaganda efforts.
Alfred also organized and revised the stories Kalon had told, and the first batch of story novels had begun to be printed into volumes.
They were being promoted through the Goldsea City's channels, with plans for the Trade Caravans to take them to other human kingdoms for distribution and sale.
Under these circumstances, Alfred actually had no time to build his ideal Dragon Nest; he had only selected his peak, living as a neighbor to Bronze Dragon Alina's nest.
Bronze Dragon Alina was a workaholic. Not only did she lead the Pioneer Militia in reclaiming wasteland and building cities in the Gulfstream Land, but she would also find time to return and build her own nest.
Under Alina's diligence, the peak she selected looked like a mountain pillar with its tip flattened. Then, she excavated a huge, deep tunnel in the flat top of the peak, like a massive, profound lake.
Bronze Dragon Alina planned to wait for the lake-nest to fill with rainwater before performing the final modifications.
However, there was now a third waterfall splashing down from the mountain peaks, serving as a beautiful sight within the mountains.
Now, not only did the True Dragon's vassals enjoy resting and playing in the pool formed by the cascading waterfall at the foot of the mountain in the afternoon, but many adventurers, drawn by the fame of the Golden City, also came here to sightsee.
Antagena, the Green Dragon who was always busy with her little calculations, had already planned to charge those who came to sightsee, but fortunately, she was stopped by the White True Dragon Germott.
The White Dragon Germott did not want the Nest of Dragons to become like a circus. There was no need to worry about free sightseeing; it was enough for the Imperial Guard to guard the stairs leading up the mountain.
"Stop, Gnoll. The True Dragon Lord's summons is for you alone to go up."
A tall Imperial Guard, clad in refined iron armor like an iron can, stopped the Gnoll party. The red capes and suits of armor drew all the Gnolls' attention.
Yug's unique talent and tall stature were only average before the Imperial Guard. Saliva almost dripped from the corner of his mouth, much like other filthy Gnolls, as he greedily gazed at the fully armed Imperial Guard warriors before him.
"This is what a damn elite warrior should look like. The warriors in the tribe are like scavenging Goblins compared to these brave men,"
Envy rose in Gnoll Yug's mind. He ordered his warriors to stay and wait while he excitedly headed toward the high mountain.
After reaching the summit, Gnoll Yug saw an unexpected figure: a short, thin Green Goblin was listening to instructions before the tall Red Dragon.
In Gnoll Yug's eyes, these Goblins' combat power was inferior even to the strong cubs in a Gnolltribe. Aside from screaming and swarming during battle before scattering, they had no other use.
In the past, Gnoll tribes treated such creatures as emergency food.
Seeing the Green Goblin before him being personally received by the True Dragon, he couldn't help but feel curious. He stood respectfully to the side, pricking up his ears to listen to the True Dragon's instructions.
"Your most important task currently is to find a foothold in various kingdoms and establish branches of the Trade Caravan. While establishing trade relations with other kingdoms, you need to collect and summarize their intelligence. You don't need to be responsible for these matters; just hand over the information you hear to the head of intelligence."
Kalon looked at the thin Goblin before him. This Goblin was named Shan Shan—Shan Shan as in 'glittering gold.'
He was currently the most business-savvy talent in the Goblin tribe and the temporary head of the Trade Caravan Kalon was preparing to establish for the True Dragon.
As for whether he could become a permanent head, it would depend on Goblin Glitter's own ability and performance.
"Your Trade Caravan does not need to deliberately seek out intelligence. Remember, never actively reveal your intentions; just let things happen naturally. The most important goal of the Trade Caravan is still to earn profits for the True Dragon and develop trade relations."
Kalon pondered for a moment and added, "Before you set out, remember to find Alfred and coordinate the agreed time with him. Then, set aside a portion of resources to establish specialized bookstores. I want a True Dragon's bookstore to exist in every city, every town, and every village of those human kingdoms. This matter can be done regardless of losses!"
Goblin Glitter's eyes twinkled as they darted around. He boldly patted his bony chest and guaranteed, "Rest assured, my Lord. I, Shan Shan, may not know much, but I know how to make money. I will certainly not let the True Dragon's bookstores suffer any losses. This is my Lord's command; I, Shan Shan, will definitely make it shine as brightly as a gold coin!"
Kalon's lips curled up at the Green Goblin Glitter's somewhat rambling words. Having dealt with humans more, he was instead more willing to deal with these crude and direct monsters; at least he didn't need to use his brain much to guess their thoughts.
Speaking of which, humans were more contradictory and complex than any other creature in the world. Once humans stopped acting like humans, even the devils of Hell and the demons of the Abyss would be left in awe and admit defeat.
Yet, among humans, souls as pure and holy as light could also be born. Those were the Saints that other races marveled at, and they were the beloved souls of all gods.
"Very well, I have high hopes for you, Goblin Glitter. I have remembered your name. I hope your ability is as you say; you will receive your due reward when the time comes."
The massive Red Dragon deliberately lowered his voice, fearing that a heavy breath might blow the thin Goblin Glitter right off the mountain peak.
His movements were also very light as he gently hovered his True Dragon claw over Goblin Glitter's ugly head, his sharp claws retracted, fearing he might accidentally kill this Goblin.
When facing the True Dragon and these vassals alone, Kalon would never use Polymorph to take a Dragon-kin Form. Different subjects required different approaches.
For these creatures that only respected power and violence, Kalon would establish an impression of absolute rule with power and a posture that surpassed theirs.
Thud, thud, thud.
Goblin Glitter kowtowed with a rhythmic thud and then withdrew joyfully. Gaining the True Dragon's attention was the best way for vassals like them to transcend their social class; he was already very satisfied.
"Master, Gnoll Yug has received the summons and comes for an audience." Gnoll Yug knelt on one knee, struck his chest hard with his hand, and bowed his head.
The Red Dragon's thick and broad head lowered, his spine-covered cheek almost touching the top of the Gnoll's head. A pair of deep crimson pupils scrutinized the bowing Gnoll leader.
Kalon could feel the Gnoll's body trembling involuntarily; it was caused by the Red Dragon's growing majesty and pressure.
"Yug, if the True Dragon needs Gnolls to bleed, what will you do?" Kalon's words were like a blow to the head for Gnoll Yug. The Gnoll didn't quite understand if he had done something wrong, causing the True Dragon to disdain the Gnoll tribe.
But he did not dare to hesitate for a moment and answered firmly, "If the True Dragon needs Gnolls to bleed, then the Gnolls will use their own blood to forge the True Dragon's glorious Holy Emblem. My Lord, your will is the Divine Decree that Gnolls shall believe in!"
"Heh." The Red Dragon raised his head, and the powerful pressure vanished instantly.
Kalon laughed boomingly: "Then I'll give you a chance, Yug. Go find the dwarven artisan, Kargon, the territory's Master Artisan, and have him provide three hundred sets of iron armor and weapons for you Gnolls."
"I permit you to establish a warband. Pick your most valiant warriors and most capable spellcasters. Your warband will set out with me to another weak plane!"
"This is your chance to prove yourself. Perform well, and you will receive the rewards you desire," the Red Dragon said, looking down at the Gnoll.
At this moment, Yug the Gnoll felt as if he had been struck with a club and then given a large sweet date; the True Dragon's words made his head spin with pleasant surprise.
Kalon was treating the Gnoll like training a dog, and it seemed the results were quite good.
Yug the Gnoll did not suppress his excitement. It was just war; Gnolls never feared it. Many Gnolls even became adventurers just to taste the flesh and blood of other races.
As long as Gnolls restrained their desire to eat humans, human adventure teams would also accept these bloodthirsty Gnolls.
"Wherever your will points is the direction in which the Gnolls shall fall," Yug the Gnoll said, not hiding his bloodthirsty gaze. For himself, he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice the entire Gnoll Tribe.
As long as he existed, the Gnoll Tribe would not vanish. It could be said that Yug had the character of a formidable leader among monsters, which was also the selfish nature of all monsters.
Overjoyed, Yug the Gnoll wanted to step forward and kiss the Red Dragon's toes, but he was immediately kicked over by the Red Dragon with extreme speed, falling flat on his face.
"Yug, that's not what you should do. A warrior must have a warrior's demeanor," Kalon stepped back two paces. Although Yug the Gnoll was so clean he didn't even look like a Gnoll, he still subconsciously rejected such behavior.
Only a fragrant and soft body like that of Fafna the Ogre Giant was qualified to get close to him and perform such an action.
This was the Red Dragon's blatant repulsion and discrimination. He didn't care about his current mindset; he frankly accepted that he also had a disdainful and vulgar side. He wasn't trying to be a Saint; he was a Red Dragon, a believer in autocratic rule.
Then Kalon instructed the bewildered Gnoll about another matter regarding the wandering Red Dragon near the territory. He needed these Gnolls to make some moves to lure that Red Dragonout.
This wandering Red Dragon was a threat to the territory. If Kalon hadn't planned to explore the Green Field Forest, he wouldn't have bothered with it.
After all, with each passing day, Kalon grew stronger. Kalon's growth rate was incomparable to other True Dragon s.
Once Kalon passed his juvenile stage and entered the young stage, he was confident that even if that wandering Red Dragon was a Young Red Dragon, he could easily deal with it.
While it was a bit tricky for Kalon right now, high-level mages like the squinty-eyed mage Hsiusirhad arrived one after another. Not making use of them would be a waste of heaven's gifts.
Therefore, Kalon planned to set the construction site for the planar portal on the western outskirts of the Dragon Clans Territory, which was exactly where that wandering Red Dragon frequented.
Once the planar portal was built, Kalon would tell those mages about the existence of the wandering Red Dragon.
To ensure the safety of the planar portal, those high-level mages would take the initiative to act.
Of course, it would be even better if the wandering Red Dragon appeared early. Even if it was a Young Red Dragon that had awakened its spellcasting abilities, it would be tied up like a True Dragon -shaped zongzi under the hunt of a group of high-level mages and the True Dragon group, left to Kalon's disposal.
Kalon wanted to deal with this Red Dragon before his planar exploration and arrange other matters to eliminate all unstable factors.
"Go, Yug. This matter must not fail," Kalon waved his claw, dismissing Yug the Gnoll to prepare and organize his warband.
Yug the Gnoll took his leave, while Kalon flew back to his nest and entered the treasury.
The entrance to the treasury, hidden under the lushly growing Dragon Blood Red Flame Grassand various magical plants, had become somewhat narrow.
To avoid trampling these valuable magical plants, the Red Dragon had to activate the bloodline magic within his body and transform into his Dragon-kin Form.
Kalon ignored the rest of his treasure collection and went straight to the two huge black snake eggs.
Now, the two snake eggs had gathered the magic power of the entire treasury. Under the nourishment of sufficient magic, the life fluctuations within the eggs were strengthening day by day.
Kalon looked forward to seeing what these two Titanoboas would look like in the future under the radiation of his bloodline and the influence of his aura.
In Kalon's view, the dragon bloodline was a high-priority evolution or overwrite of certain rules.
He wondered what rules the Creator Dragon God Io had stuffed into the dragon bloodline. Some creatures that seemed comparable to the dragon bloodline could also be infected by the True Dragon after long-term influence, turning into monsters with draconic traits.
Research into this bloodline expansion would also be one of the topics for Kalon's future laboratory.
The two unborn snake babies might prefer never to be born if they knew they had already been listed as experimental subjects by the Red Dragon.
Kalon felt that his future laboratory might be many times larger than his nest.
Just the topic of bloodline research alone would require collecting the bloodlines of many unique creatures, the more the better.
It would be best to have living creatures for Kalon to study; at the very least, he would need specimens.
Kalon could imagine the terrifying nature of his future laboratory; it might be regarded by many creatures as the most cruel and inescapable hell.
After checking the condition of the two snake eggs, Kalon began to search his treasury for magic crystals condensed from pure magic power.
He picked through them, selecting finger-sized magic crystals from his hoard, and then set up a positioning teleportation array in his treasury according to his knowledge of magic circles.
Knowledge of spatial spells was too profound; he didn't have the energy to delve into planar teleportation arrays yet. This positioning teleportation array was one he had improved.
It was a positioning teleportation spell formed by combining the draconic inherited spell—Shelter Egg—with an ordinary teleportation spell.
The spell Shelter Egg, awakened from the dragon bloodline inheritance, allows a True Dragon to enter a rift in the void space when in mortal danger. During that time, the True Dragon cannot use any spells or abilities.
After the spell expires, the True Dragon reappears in the original spot. However, with Kalon's spell positioning, once Kalon enters a dangerous state and is forced to use the Shelter Egg spell, this positioning teleportation gate will transport the entire Shelter Egg back to the treasury, achieving another form of planar teleportation.
This was also thanks to Kalon's Sub-brain Cluster. The current Sub-brain Cluster was equivalent to a biological computer running constantly.
By aggregating a large amount of magical knowledge and spell models, the Sub-brain Cluster would improve and create spells suitable for Kalon based on his needs and ideas.
Although Kalon couldn't create spells from scratch like those gifted mages yet, improving spells and combining different ones was something other mages could hardly match.
Kalon felt that this was the basic quality of a mage, rather than being a fanatical mage who held a big fireball all day and blasted things everywhere. Those fanatical Fireball Cultists were all crude heretics!
Hum, hum.
Accompanied by the vibration of the air brought by the activation of magic power, streaks of magical light bloomed from the array. Kalon knew that this improved spell had been successfully tested.
To maintain the continuous operation of the array, Kalon needed to test how many magic crystals the array consumed in a day before he could configure its operating time.
"Tsk tsk, they say being a mage is a money-burning profession. Just maintaining this magic array could bankrupt those wandering mages."
Kalon raised his True Dragon claw, stroking his chin as he constantly observed the changes in the magic crystals.
"If they didn't rely on the abundant magic naturally possessed by Magic Nodes, those mages' towers would be burning gold coins every second."
Kalon thought of the old mage Lapers's White Tower. Its exterior was already tall and wide enough, and inside the White Tower, there were endless folded spaces. How many gold coins would have to be burned in a day to maintain the arrays of such a mage tower?
Kalon was somewhat surprised by the wealth of those mages. He even had the idea of whether he should plunder a few mages' towers.
Perhaps the wealth accumulated in a mage's tower could equal the earnings of those minor nobles working hard for a long time.
Kalon shook his head, vigorously shaking this dangerous thought out of his mind.
It must be the instinct of a Red Dragon at work, making him have such greedy yet foolish thoughts.
A mage's tower was equivalent to a mage's war fortress. Kalon didn't want to use his physical body to face spells with names like Disintegration or Annihilation that might appear; even adult True Dragon s wouldn't want to try those.
At the foot of the mountain, Yug the Gnoll regrouped with his subordinates and then told his loyal and powerful followers about the Red Dragon's ideas and orders.
A tall Gnoll Barbarian raised his hand and said, "Boss, I think our warband should be called the Valiant and Invincible Gnoll Legion."
"Pah! You have no culture at all. It should be called the Bloodthirsty Gnoll Warband," another Barbarian shouted.
Yug the Gnoll shook his head and kicked the two idiots over. He spat and said, "I've decided. From now on, my warband will be called the Dire Wolf Warband. Also, we have to find a way to lure out that damn wandering Red Dragon—who knows where it got the guts—so that Lord Kalon can deal with it."
"Then how do we lure a Red Dragon?" a nearby Gnoll Spellcaster approached.
Thud.
Yug the Gnoll sent another kick flying, knocking the Jackal Spellcaster away.
He cursed loudly, "Then hurry up and use your big ass to think! Think of a way for me right now, or I'll send your big ass to those Dragon Beasts in heat, and you won't be allowed to leave the beast pen all night!"