Under the Red Dragon

Karon admitted that the mage had a point. In his view, the secrets in his mind were like a power amplifier. The more he knew, the stronger his foundation, and the more he would gain in return.

Treating it as a mindless tool for power was a great waste. It should be a ladder for self-transcendence, not just a stepping stone on the path to becoming stronger.

Perhaps he should shift his future strengthening efforts in this direction. The red dragon slowly closed his eyes, gradually accumulating his strength. In times of hardship, it was the perfect time to cultivate. He would use the thorns along the way to temper his will.

The days at sea were extremely dull and monotonous, especially since the young dragons were confined to the ship's hold, unable to move freely. All they could hear was the sound of the sea, which made them feel mentally exhausted.

Mealtime was the most active time for the young dragons, even though the food was scarce, barely enough to sustain their basic physiological needs.

Fortunately, dragons were born extraordinary creatures. Unlike ordinary beasts, they didn't need to relieve themselves daily. A dragon's stomach could digest almost all food, but there would always be some food residue that was useless to the dragon's body.

Dragons could condense these useless food residues in their stomachs and excrete them when needed. Otherwise, the entire ship's hold would have been stinking long ago.

However, with so little food, the dragons didn't have much food residue left. Only an excessive amount of magic potions slowly settled in the dragons' stomachs, forming crystals.

The young dragons' bodies were suppressed, and they couldn't excrete these harmful substances for the time being, so they had no choice but to make this compromise to reduce the impact on their bodies.

Will Clarence, the nobleman, would come down from the airship on time every day in an attempt to persuade the red dragon, but the red dragon ignored him.

Days passed, and just as the young dragons were beginning to get used to falling asleep to the rhythm of the waves, the ship finally docked.

The young dragons didn't know where they had arrived. After the ship docked, they were pushed into large iron cages covered with black cloth in the pitch-black night. Each cage was pulled by six tall, sturdy geldings with mixed blood, heading towards an unknown world under the cover of darkness.

Karon didn't want to reveal his perception abilities, but his sensitive ears could hear that the number of escorts had increased significantly. The heavy sound of horses' hooves indicated fully armed knights, perhaps even heavily armored knights. He counted about a hundred knights.

There were also a considerable number of foot soldiers. Their footsteps were not light, but there was no conversation between them, indicating that they were also a well-equipped and carefully selected escort team. This number of knights and soldiers might be the entire elite force of the Clarence family.

The procession moved quite slowly, with light cavalry constantly coming and going, obviously because Will was extremely cautious, constantly sending out light cavalry to scout the situation.

Only at night would a corner of the black cloth covering the dragons' heads be lifted for ventilation, allowing the young dragons to eat. At this time, the originally well-organized team would always cause some commotion and shock.

The knights, who had been trained from childhood in the Clarence family, didn't know what they were guarding on this trip, because even these loyal knights hadn't received any information. They could only stare in shock at the unusually quiet young dragons in the cages for half the night.

Dragons had long become legends in most people's minds. This world was no longer the ancient, barbaric era ruled by dragons, titans, giants, and other magical creatures. The dynasties created by powerful species such as the ancient orc empire, the elven kingdom, and the dwarven kingdom had also withdrawn from the world's stage.

Now was the era of human rule. They even wanted to rule the sky and the sea after developing an extremely prosperous magical culture. The giant ships sailing on the ocean and the airships flying in the sky were proof of this. Some crazy mages even proposed building mage towers that flew in the sky and floating city fortresses above the clouds.

Those declining races and powerful creatures were now scattered in the wilderness all over the world of Akania. The powerful chromatic dragons and metallic dragons rarely appeared in the sight of humans. Only the southern empire far away was said to have good dragons, who had even received titles in the human empire.

Even so, many chromatic dragons were still slaughtered by greedy, ubiquitous treasure hunters and dragon hunters.

Now, only in the remote wilderness swamps and deep mountains and forests could one find information about those chromatic dragons. There were no particularly high-profile chromatic dragons anymore.

Even adult dragons only dared to appear in sparsely populated边缘 towns. Only when an evil dragon could develop to adulthood, when the evil dragon's power was usually already a monster kingdom, would it brazenly roam the continent.

At this time, only a kingdom or even an empire of the same size as its power would have the strength to crusade against it, but very few evil dragons could grow to such a stage.

After spending a few days in cages covered with black cloth, the black cloth was finally lifted. Although the procession was still moving, it was obviously much more relaxed.

Many passing merchants and pedestrians began to appear on both sides of the wide stone road that could accommodate sixteen carriages side by side. The merchants shouted at their orc slaves who were driving the carts, and the earth dragons slowly pulled the vehicles forward on the road.

Some merchants with considerable power even had centaur slave guards and elf slave guards. These slaves wore leather armor and were allowed to hold bows and arrows and weapons, guarding the merchants' carriages.

In the vast fields on both sides of the road, many farmers also stopped to watch, and there were also rare black-skinned minotaur slaves working in the fields. The stewards sat aside drinking wine and chatting comfortably while holding whips.

Someone exclaimed, "Dragons!"

"My god, they are actually dragons."

"Look, that's the brutal red dragon, and there are many young dragons!"

The exclamations rose one after another, quickly spreading across the entire road and field, causing a sensation here.

The entire wide road suddenly became crowded and stagnant. Many merchants stopped their teams just to see the legendary dragons. The farmers in the field also stopped and looked over here.

When those slaves of different races saw the dragons, their eyes not only showed curiosity and incomprehension, but also some dimness. Were even the powerful dragons captured and treated as commodities?

Fortunately, the escorting knights were all fully armed. The sharp spears flashed with cold light, forcing back the crowds surging up on the road. The city guards who came to meet them from afar also drove the crowds away, allowing the procession to pass, but the noise and clamor were endless.

Karon quietly poked an eye out from under his wings and looked at the tall, majestic city that rose from the plain against the mountains.

Neat megaliths were piled up, and several wide and tall city gates were opened in the tens-of-meters-high city walls. Hundreds of beast and scroll patterns were carved on the heavy city gates. Soldiers in full iron armor guarded the passages with long spears, their greedy eyes looking at every pedestrian passing through the city gates.

This was the political and economic center of the Cathay Empire, the capital where the Cathay Emperor resided, Hobbes.