Under the Red Dragon

Upon the endless sea, among clusters of islands, lies a civilization and realm no less significant than those on land.

For example, the Orc Empire in the North Sea, east of the Northern Continent, is a civilized nation situated among islands on the sea.

Naturally, the Sea of No Return in the Southern Continent of the Akaniia world also has numerous islands where creatures can dwell and thrive, allowing civilizations to flourish.

In the stories woven by the mortals of the Southern Continent, based on rumors from pirates on the sea, it is said that at the edge of the Sea of No Return, there are islands forever shrouded in natural and magical mists.

These islands are interconnected, bordered by narrow seas, yet their area is no smaller than any continent in the world of Akaniia.

And on the islands at the end of the Sea of No Return dwell the ancient overlords of the past—the Titans.

Mortals cannot know the secrets within, but the Southern Good Dragons, active on the Southern Continent, understand them well enough.

The gigantic figures occasionally sighted by those fortunate pirates are indeed descendants of the ancient Titans who once vied with dragons for dominion over the world.

Not only do the Titans truly have dwellings on the Sea of No Return, but even among the Southern metallic dragon clans, hybrids of Titans and dragons are occasionally born.

In most cases, hybrids within the dragon race face discrimination.

However, in any world, the power, status, and influence brought by great strength are the best embellishments.

Thus, many hybrids become favorites and standouts among the metallic dragons.

When the adult silver dragon Chris Tiana and two bronze dragons, Gross and Natarelli, arrived in this kingdom created by the favored of the gold dragon clan, they saw countless monsters rising and falling among the winding islands.

Wyverns, griffins, and winged serpents, creatures powerful in the eyes of mortals, are merely one of the many races on these islands.

Beneath the vast sea surface, one can occasionally see traces of nagas, merfolk, and tide giants.

In the kingdom created and ruled by gold dragons, these deep-sea races are not entangled in the external racial conflicts but live peacefully in the sea.

Besides these, in this island kingdom, the three adult metallic dragons sensed many unique auras of dragon-blooded creatures, as well as chromatic dragon auras that were out of sync with the metallic dragons' main camp.

"It seems this is the kingdom created by Erickson, the gold dragon and ancient Titan hybrid, whom the silver dragon Fro reveres as the metallic dragons' own Holy Ruler!"

The adult bronze dragon Natarelli, looking down at the distant islands, spoke.

After leaving the Golden Empire, several adult metallic dragons traveled together for many days before finally reaching the place the adult silver dragon Fro had mentioned.

"If Caron could see the kingdom created by Erickson, perhaps he would be pleased that the gold dragon race is not all as he imagines, and that they can create a civilization with a bright future and development potential."

The silver dragon Valkyrie Chris Tiana said joyfully, "Perhaps in this way, Hogmora can abandon his terrible ideas."

The adult bronze dragon Gross, with a calm expression, looked at the thriving island kingdom in the distance and said faintly, "Superficial prosperity may conceal many unimaginable problems, and it still requires practical verification and observation."

After arriving in the Southern Continent, these three adult dragons all operated in humanoid forms, as the metallic dragons were accustomed to doing.

In the left hand of the bronze dragon Gross, he held a thick metal-bound book. The shimmering metal cover was engraved with the bronze dragon Gross's draconic name.

This was the bronze dragon Gross's Book of Knowledge, and also the spellbook given to this bronze dragon by the ancestral red dragon Caron Hogmora.

This spellbook possessed the same ability as those scale-carving dragons who liked to carve magical runes on their scales. The spell emblem imprints on each page of the book would, under the bronze dragon Gross's active urging, unleash the maximum spell effect that the bronze dragon's power could evoke.

Having received the ancestral red dragon's gift, the bronze dragon Gross cherished this spellbook extremely, always holding it in his hands, and occasionally recording his own insights and discoveries in this book.

"But judging from Erickson's past declarations, this gold dragon may also be able to create a civilization no less than the Golden Empire,"

The bronze dragon Natarelli said softly, "After all, to be able to subdue the adult silver dragon Fro and be regarded as the future Holy Ruler of the metallic dragons, it certainly cannot be solely because of Erickson's ancestral gold dragon blood and ancient Titan blood."

In the ancestral gold dragon Erickson's past declarations, he claimed to eliminate all evil in his kingdom, to make sin disappear from his territory, to have his territory dominated by fairness.

He sought to ensure that the people of his territory all possessed noble morals and to establish a sound system, with the virtuous as the leaders of order.

Perhaps it was this aspiration expressed by the gold dragon, in whom both ancestral gold dragon blood and ancient Titan blood coexisted, that led many of the new generation of metallic dragons to begin to gravitate toward Erickson.

And in the common language of the continent, Erickson's name also means a noble ruler, with meanings of beautiful, overcoming, victorious, profound, and steady.

"Sounds like a utopian fantasy. I hope it is so," the bronze dragon Gross said with a calm expression and a profound gaze.

"Let's go. I can't wait to see the kingdom established by this noble of the metallic dragons. I hope it can bring me a profound change of perspective."

The silver dragon Valkyrie Chris Tiana smiled at her two companions, "If it is as wonderful as in the declaration, then the intention of the silver dragon Fro that we should assist the ancestral gold dragon Erickson is not something we cannot fulfill."

Thus, the three adult metallic dragons began to step into this newborn kingdom, traveling with their expectations.

But as they gained a deeper understanding day by day, the originally expectant expressions of the three metallic dragons began to become serious.

In the island kingdom, mortals lived and thrived, and there were also elves and giants, as well as traces of chromatic dragons loyal to this ancestral gold dragon Erickson.

The mixed races within, although not as numerous as in the Golden Empire, could also be described as diverse. The races were mixed.

But so many different races lived together, and they also had good order. Although there were still brawls and other incidents that occurred frequently, it was almost rare to encounter serious cases such as murder.

Because in the kingdom of the ancestral gold dragon and the ancient Titan's son, there existed a large number of paladin legions.

Under the order maintained by these paladins, those ordinary mortals were also able to live and work in peace here, and it also attracted many other orderly races to settle here.

But what surprised the silver dragon Chris and the bronze dragons Gross and Natarelli was that, although this gold dragon's kingdom also followed the laws promulgated by other human civilizations, it almost completely relied on the subjective initiative of the paladins themselves to govern the country.

In the kingdom created by the gold dragon, the paladins' stereotypical subjective consciousness almost replaced the role of the law, becoming a symbol of the law.

The most prominent example was the public grand trials that were frequently held in this kingdom, which the silver dragon Chris Tiana had once considered to be boring trials based on morality.

The law is the embodiment of the ruler's national will, but the island kingdom, which has a large number of laws, has never realized this point and is entirely governed by people.

Even in the Golden Empire, the Hogmora dragon clan, which is above the law, would subtly modify the empire's legal norms with their own behavior, in order to reflect the Hogmora dragon clan's intention to rule the empire.

Moreover, the three metallic dragons believed that it was the most foolish thing to simply take the stereotypical impression of the alignment as a starting point, and even paladins could not serve as representatives of the law.

"Is he ambitious but incompetent, or is he completely immersed in his own fantasies?" The silver dragon Chris Tiana couldn't help but frown.

Having experienced the trials in the Golden Empire, these dragons were no longer as pure in their ideals as they once were, but would make corresponding decisions through practical experience and investigation.

But in the island kingdom, the metallic dragons did not see any signs of the development of productivity in civilized society. It was just a precarious production relationship built on the ancestral gold dragon Erickson's wishful thinking of fairness.

The bronze dragon Natarelli also frowned, "No wonder the silver dragon Fro went north to study in the Golden Empire, but in my opinion, this arrogant and conceited gold dragon is probably very difficult to change his way of thinking."

"This so-called ideal kingdom is ultimately too naive a fantasy," the bronze dragon Gross said expressionlessly as he looked at the nobles who were hanged by paladins on the docks, as well as the chromatic dragons who were enslaved.

In the eyes of the three metallic dragons, these nobles certainly deserved to die. But these nobles had not been judged by law and the courts, but were directly hanged after being declared by these paladins.

And among those enslaved chromatic dragons, there actually existed beings similar to dragon liches and dragon undead.

According to what the three metallic dragons had learned, these dragon undead had also once been loyal to the ancestral gold dragon Erickson, but after death, their souls were still controlled by this ancestral gold dragon, without giving the souls of these chromatic dragons the peace they deserved.

You should know that even in the Golden Empire ruled by chromatic dragons, the two juvenile white dragons who died in the Orc War were now enshrined in the temple of the dragons.

On the merit pillars in the central squares of every city in the Golden Empire were also carved statues of the two juvenile white dragons, telling the story of the rare but undeniable merits of these two white dragons.

Seeing the occurrence of various situations, a unique temperament was displayed on the bronze dragon Gross, which was a manifestation of a certain idea.

"Without using the knowledge and clear thinking that one possesses to transform the world, but only wishful barbaric conquest and suppression, such a civilization, according to the empire's review standards, does not have the potential to grow and is garbage that needs to be cleaned up," the bronze dragon Gross said coldly.

"This garbage-like civilization should be swept away, and its land and living space should be left to more promising civilizations to promote progress and development."

If it had been before, the bronze dragon Gross would have felt that it was the strength of the metallic dragons to see the chromatic dragons defeated and enslaved by the metallic dragons, but now such a situation would only make him feel glaring.

"If His Excellency Hogmora knew about this, this ancestral gold dragon Erickson would be in for a lot of trouble," the female bronze dragon Natarelli said with no small amount of contempt.

"Too far, the Golden Empire is too far, and Hogmora is too far from here," the adult silver dragon Chris said faintly, the expectant look that had once been there now turned into disgust.

She had hoped that the civilization established by the metallic dragons would give Caron Hogmora an impression of recognition, but after only a slight contact with this kingdom, she no longer needed to understand it in more depth. Chris understood that the island kingdom would only be the target of the ancestral red dragon's purge in the future.

Although the ancestral red dragon also enslaved dragons, the purpose was to transform the thinking of those dragons, to use the wisdom of those dragons, and to unite the power of those dragons.

And this ancestral gold dragon, judging from his way of doing things, simply regarded these dragons as tools to be used, and only crude tools, thugs, without realizing the true advantages of the dragon race.

Perhaps the other party realized it, but under the desire for his own power, he chose the simplest way—to subdue, enslave, and drive with power, rather than to pursue a common path with ideas and wisdom.

"I have no interest in assisting such a dragon. I want to leave here and return to the Southern Continent. What about you?" the silver dragon Chris asked her companions.

In their long time of getting along and traveling together, the three metallic dragons had already formed a partnership-like relationship. Perhaps every dragon that came out of the Golden Empire would naturally connect with each other in a similar relationship.

"Our path of traveling together will soon come to a fork in the road, Chris," the adult bronze dragon Gross looked at his companion, "No matter what Emperor Hogmora once said to you, I have my goals and the mission that I must complete. You must be careful in the future. Perhaps we will become 'enemies' in the future."

"I will choose to stay and try my best to bring this so-called ideal country back to the right path," Gross smiled on his face, "If I can't bring this country back to the right path, then let the Golden Empire's ideology take root and sprout on this land, which can also be regarded as me adding bricks and tiles to the empire's future path!"

The silver dragon Chris thoughtfully looked at the adult bronze dragon's warning and nodded, "I understand, Gross. I hope you and Natarelli will always be well."

"Let's go. We'll send you off for a while," the female bronze dragon Natarelli said with a soft smile, "Gross and I will stay in the islands, which can be regarded as an explanation for the silver dragon Fro's request. You must be careful after you return to the southern clan, Chris."

The silver dragon Chris nodded, and the three dragons stepped out of the islands. On the edge of the island kingdom, they avoided the guardians of those kingdoms, and then transformed into the true forms of dragons and flew out of the island.

I have a cold, so I can only write a small chapter!