Under the Red Dragon

The salty sea breeze swept through the wide strait, echoing through the jagged rocks on the shore, like the eerie cries and roars of terrifying winter ghouls from the frozen plains, varying in pitch and making it difficult to distinguish between desolation and sobbing.

Several miles away from the commercial port of the Golden Coast, the Progenitor Red Dragon and Nexon, the Ocean Dragon law enforcer responsible for maintaining order in the surrounding waters, stood side by side, overlooking this newly built ship harbor.

This newly built harbor was slightly smaller than the natural harbor of the Golden Coast due to natural terrain limitations. Except for the natural harbor, the surrounding sea was enclosed by towering cliffs.

This somewhat remote strait, being a dead water zone, was exploited by the Golden Empire, which mobilized a large labor force to flatten the towering cliffs and hollow out the dangerous rocks to construct a dedicated ship harbor, serving as both a research center for the Empire's naval vessels and a base for the subsequently formed Imperial Navy.

In the construction of this harbor, the lich residing in the Forest of Sin once again demonstrated the advantages of a necromancer.

After completing the massive project of excavating canals and connecting the sea with inland rivers, countless skeletal undead, under the 'voluntary' supervision of the diligent foreman lich, were once again assigned to this massive construction.

Every day, after the late-night bell tolled, the diligent lich would awaken the skeletal beings without any morning grumpiness on time, leading them along secluded paths to quarry rocks and reclaim land from the sea, saving the Empire a significant amount of manpower and resources.

Therefore, even now, the two dragons would occasionally see skeletons floating in the sea, these hardworking employees, after falling into the seabed, occasionally, due to the lich's oversight, would sleep with the seawater forever.

The accompanying officials and Imperial Guard soldiers quietly waited at the foot of the two dragons. These officials were already accustomed to the Emperor's inspections.

Although the Golden Empire had a gradually maturing system, it also tried to eliminate some red tape, such as the Emperor's and Dragon Lord's arrival at any time, never notifying the relevant officials in advance.

This also resulted in the officials within the Empire adhering to the regulations stipulated by the Empire in their daily affairs.

"How is the Empire's ship research workshop doing recently? In the report Fafna submitted the other day, the ship research workshop applied for a large amount of research funding again. Although I can afford this money, I don't like things that only have input and no return,"

Karon's gaze fell on the large ships in the harbor. These experimental new ships were covered with a layer of iron skin, making them much larger than any ships and warships currently existing in the world of Akani.

The hull, including the ram, was 300 meters long and 91 meters wide, capable of accommodating dragons moving freely on it, making them veritable sea behemoths, mobile landmasses.

However, these ships had never been put into formal production and use. Besides the overall structure and hull, there was nothing extra, not even the deployed magic cannons and armor-piercing crossbows. They were just like giant models.

"Those researchers in the ship workshop have indeed built these ironclad ships, but they are still far from the giant ships you envision. Even with the guidance of mature knowledge and systems, but…"

The Ocean Dragon Nexon next to him hesitated. The scope of responsibility of this Ocean Dragon law enforcer included the ship坞 center, so in terms of cross-jurisdictional duties, he was also one of the superiors of these research centers.

"Karon,"

The Ocean Dragon Nexon looked at the Progenitor Red Dragon leisurely wagging its tail before opening his mouth and saying, "Not everyone possesses powerful talent. Even if a mature knowledge system is placed in front of these people, their already formed concepts and fixed ways of thinking are difficult to deeply learn and understand."

"Or, we should give them more time. After all, these people only used to build small boats that navigate inland rivers. There is a technological gap between them and sea ships, let alone the envisioned super warships."

"The ship research center has also been working hard recently. Perhaps we should first gradually push these updated and upgraded warships into the application market, and then gradually improve them through the experience of use."

The Ocean Dragon Nexon observed the subtle expressions of the Progenitor Red Dragon in front of him. In front of the 20-meter-long Progenitor Red Dragon, the Ocean Dragon's linear serpentine body appeared particularly petite, so much so that Nexon had to look up to fully see the changes on the Red Dragon's cheeks.

This Progenitor Red Dragon did not seem to be troubled by these things. On the contrary, he seemed to be enjoying the salty sea breeze blowing in his face.

Great doubts arose in the vertical pupils of the Ocean Dragon Nexon. Although Red Dragons were not afraid of water, they generally did not like the sea. Even when bathing, they preferred to be in lava.

A Red Dragon who had advanced to the Progenitor stage was, in a strict sense, a completely different race from ordinary dragons. This could be seen from the Progenitor Red Dragon's dazzling scales and magnificent horns.

However, rooted in the basic elements of dragon blood, an igneous dragon could not possibly like the sea.

In fact, Karon was indeed enjoying the sea breeze that he used to find a bit smelly.

This stemmed from the results of the Progenitor Red Dragon digesting the heart of that Blue Dragon Devil in the past few months.

By consuming the heart of the Blue Dragon Devil with his own talented bloodline, he extracted the characteristics of the devil's chaotic creation, and a trace of the properties of storm and tide was captured and absorbed by the Progenitor Red Dragon's bloodline.

Therefore, the Progenitor Red Dragon was now enjoying the taste and gentle caress of the sea breeze, just like those juvenile Blue Dragons.

Strands of subtle lightning darted under Karon's scales, which were predominantly gold and red, dyeing the Progenitor Red Dragon's scales with a hint of imperceptible azure.

Karon carefully maintained this rare source of bloodline, allowing it to curl up deep within his bloodline, enveloped by a massive amount of heart energy light, carefully touching his origin, and gradually merging harmoniously.

He turned his head back, as if thoughtfully, and said, "Well, perhaps we can recruit some technical talents with innovative ideas. In the shipbuilding industry, I am not blaming these people. The Empire's initial focus was not on this aspect."

Although the Empire's talent reserves had surpassed many human kingdoms, shipbuilding was never an industry that those top-notch scholars and mages were willing to get involved in.

No scholars or mages were willing to switch careers to study these things, so it was difficult for these projects, which were temporarily filled with lower-level personnel, to rapidly grow and develop in the Empire, which was starting from scratch.

The Ocean Dragon Nexon wagged its tail, and its expression relaxed. After the Progenitor Red Dragon opened his mouth and stopped pursuing the matter, the naturally condensed aura and majesty seemed to be swept away, making this Ocean Dragon no longer so cautious.

"But now the establishment and rapid development of the Empire have aroused the vigilance and hostility of those human nations. It is difficult for us to openly recruit the talents we want in their territories, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty of our work,"

The Ocean Dragon Nexon said somewhat angrily, "The Golden Empire threat theory is beginning to spread under the manipulation of some human nobles. Some nobles who were originally hostile to our Empire have even rejected the Empire's diplomatic envoys from stationing, and the Empire's goods and related trade are also being levied with more taxes by those nobles,"

"Those nobles are afraid of the Empire's growing power, because the policy of dragons ruling the Empire has also made the nobles' subjects restless. Even some rebellious slaves are using the banner of the Empire, causing the Empire's external affairs to become difficult."

Karon clicked his tongue. This situation was indeed within his expectations, but he could not change his policy of ruling the Empire, and the external civilized nations had become increasingly important commodity dumping grounds for the Empire today, as its basic industries gradually developed.

This channel could not be abandoned, and the development of closed-door policies could never lead to strength.

"It's a pity. I originally planned to contact the Storm Giants with whom I had a one-sided friendship in the past, and use these Storm Giant tribes to open up a land transportation route from the Empire to the Northern Continent,"

Karon said regretfully, "But the development of things will always be outpaced by the changes in things. The Storm Giants of the past have now gradually withered, making my ideas fall through."

The battle situation in Baystream City had already been notified to Karon by the Dragon Lord Kalite. Extravagant magic communication methods in the eyes of others were not worth mentioning to the dragons, so the lords who were maintaining order in the Empire as usual had already learned about this matter.

But when he thought of Dos, the Blue Dragon who was farthest away, running to Baystream City to fight in order to escape the heavy affairs, and the two indescribable dragons who were stuck in front of the Dragon Lord's teleportation channel because they didn't know transformation techniques, Karon still showed a smile.

The White Dragon Camide could not learn it, and the Red Dragon Cadyros was unwilling to learn it.

"It seems that Cadyros still needs more spurring," Karon thought to himself.

However, the failure of Karon's original idea also led to the fact that maintaining maritime transportation channels was more important than relying on leased and purchased merchant ships.

Relying on leased merchant ships, it was difficult for the Empire to extend its tentacles to other continents, form stable relationships with other forces and countries, and establish stable channels.

Moreover, in the Empire's military system, maritime platforms and military forces were also an important part of the Empire that must be developed and compensated.

"It's a pity, so I've also been paying attention to the work of the ship坞 workshop recently,"

The tentacles on the Ocean Dragon Nexon's body gently patted. The Ocean Dragon seemed particularly interested in this topic, just like the Bronze Dragon Alina was interested in governing cities.

In the distant sky, a silver dragon flashed across the sky, and the Ocean Dragon Nexon took a few more glances at its graceful figure. The Progenitor Red Dragon couldn't help but be attracted by the Silver Dragon's figure.

This was not because of lust, but because of the instincts of most males.

During this period of time, Karon always felt that the figure of the Silver Dragon Chris appeared more frequently around him. Even the most restrained dragon could not help but be a little proud of his charm.

Although the Progenitor Red Dragon never flaunted his appearance, he would not pretend not to know about his outstanding appearance.

But fortunately, the Progenitor Red Dragon was not a dragon driven by desire. The fact that the Silver Dragon Chris could see him also meant that the Progenitor Red Dragon could also stare at this Silver Dragon. The Red Dragon's mischievousness also began to envelop behind the Silver Dragon.

"Let's go. Now that we're here, let's go take a look in person,"

After the figure of the Silver Dragon Chris disappeared into the distance, the Ocean Dragon Nexon and the Red Dragon simultaneously retracted their gazes and said.

Next to the newly built ship harbor, Karon landed with the sound of wind and flashing subtle electricity, but frowned slightly.

The source of storm lightning, which had been carefully wrapped in heart energy within his bloodline, was slightly impacted by the Progenitor Red Dragon's overly active power, like a delicate seed being eroded by wind and rain, and a flickering candle flame being blown by a violent wind.

The Progenitor Dragon's blood within Karon's body had been controlled by him to swallow the subtle characteristics of this source of storm lightning, and this characteristic had also been continuously maintained by the power of heart energy, which was born from spirituality, and irrigated with a large amount of spirituality.

But it was still not enough to compete with the Progenitor Red Dragon's body, the vast flames, the thick earth, and the cold steel.

Each time he used his power, the naturally endowed power that filled the Progenitor Red Dragon's body would launch an impact on this new force.

The roots of these innate talents wanted to chew up this weak power characteristic, like three thugs occupying a nest, unable to tolerate another newborn child in their room.

Especially the fire element that filled every inch of the Progenitor Red Dragon's body was particularly hateful. The inflated power was infected with the Progenitor Red Dragon's will, and did not allow other superfluous powers to contaminate its territory.

As long as Karon slightly relaxed his control over his power, that weak power characteristic would be impacted. This was a natural reaction within his body.

Karon's control, on the other hand, was like suppressing his body's instinctive reaction.

Karon knew that his body could no longer keep up with his leap-forward growth in power, and could no longer spontaneously balance and accommodate more things. He could only rely on his own control to achieve a balanced and harmonious integration of the power within his body.

Compared to the abilities mastered by the Progenitor Red Dragon, the dragon's true body had now become the weakest link. Even the Progenitor Red Dragon had previously found this fact a bit unbelievable.

The growth of dragons in the material plane needed to follow the basic age, and there were rules and restrictions in the age group.

Even though the Progenitor Red Dragon's bloodline talent allowed him to expand the growth limit of his body to its current limit, he had also touched the ceiling of the dragon.

Because the Progenitor Red Dragon was, after all, only a juvenile dragon, and there was a limit to the power it could bear.

If the Progenitor Red Dragon continued to develop in this way, it might not be long before he would be trapped because his dragon's true body could not fully bear his flames, and he would be unable to exert his full power.

In short, the natural growth rate of the Progenitor Red Dragon's body could no longer keep up with the power he had comprehended and his growing abilities.

"It seems that not only is the annual rest approaching, but Rosani should reunite with the dragon group. Even without them, I am bound to do it."

Karon looked at the giant ship gently swaying with the waves on the sea, clenched his claws, and sighed to himself.

Thank you for your ticket support, I sincerely thank you!