Beneath the Red Dragon

The once lively mountains now stand silent, with only the peaks as sentinels.

Of the hundreds of bat-winged flying dragons, half have been tamed by the Flying Dragon Corps, stationed with their knights in the barracks on another peak.

The remaining flying dragons rest silently in the mid-mountain nest canyon or quietly glide around the surrounding mountains.

Although their cries do not affect the giant dragons sleeping atop the mountain peak dragon nests, beware of disturbing the Sleeping Dragons!

Each dragon nest has become distant from the mortal world due to the constant growth of the mountain range.

The Black Dragon’s nest has transformed from a swamp into a lake piled with thick mud. The black mist that once shrouded the mountain peak has also cleared up.

Blown by the persistent winds between the mountains, it has completely dispersed, no more to be seen.

Even once in the swampy land, life and plants could thrive and survive; but now it resembles a barren wasteland, seemingly peaceful but devoid of vitality.

The sleeping place of Black Dragon Rosani is not in this lake but in another underground nest dug beneath it.

The Black Dragon’s body lies on the treasure-laden floor of its nest, peacefully asleep. Apart from the black scale color, its physique is entirely different from the former Black Dragon, strong and dangerous.

The nests of the two young White Dragons are on adjacent peaks, but now the frost has frozen the connecting parts of the peaks, making it impossible for even the hottest season to melt the fierce mountain winds.

Each trophy and collection is frozen into an ice sculpture, standing in front of the White Dragon Gomot’s cave. Sleeping deep within the cave, White Dragon Gomot’s scales have become unlike his brother Camid’s scales.

With the growth of sleep and discovery of bloodline, his scales appear more as if carved from the ice blocks frozen on the cave’s stone walls, with a nearly transparent white color. The pair of dragon horns on his head also look as if built from ice beneath the eternal glacier.

Meanwhile, his brother Camid, this White Dragon maintains the appearance of a normal White Dragon, growing during slumber, burying his head in a small pile of gold coins and treasures.

But the bulge on Camid’s neck grows stronger with time, seemingly harboring another head that is gathering strength, ready to break free and enter the world.

The sleeping place of Blue Dragon Doss has already completely turned into a desert. The mountain top, once a place of life, now transforms into another kind of ecosystem.

Only some plants brought by flying birds, capable of growing in the desert, can survive around the Blue Dragon’s nest.

A thick cloud lingers over Blue Dragon Doss’s nest even on sunny days. The accumulated power within occasionally touches, generating a series of lightning sparks and the rumbling sound of muffled thunder.

The disturbance in Female Dragon Kleyna’s nest is no less than that of Blue Dragon Doss. With help from Karon, a controllable branch from the deep magma layer has been drawn, turning Kleyna’s nest into a small magma lake.

Kleyna finally gets what she wished for, absorbing the fire attribute power to develop and grow faster, a common instinct for every Red Dragon.

Therefore, Kleyna, in her sleep, seems insatiable, absorbing energy from deep underground, transforming her nest into a small erupting volcano.

Fortunately, the territory is already accustomed to the changes that occur in the Red Dragon’s habitat, with a set of mature handling measures in place.

The thick volcanic ash is dispersed and guided, turning into nourishment to benefit the surrounding ecosystem.

Only Green Dragon Antajena, the one among the Dragon Group’s Giant Dragon Lords to take the longest to control Dragon Blood, has a relatively peaceful sleeping place, aside from the expanding twisted forest around the Tree Nest Palace.

But compared to the highest peak of the mountains, the slumbering site of the Master of the Dragon Clans, the Red Dragon Monarch Karon Gogomola, the commotion made by these young giant dragons can only be described as trivial.

The strictly guarded volcanic nest from the summit to the mid-slope is now deserted. Even the most loyal and powerful Imperial Guard Warriors among the Dragon’s Beloved have been forced by the harsh environment and intolerable high temperature to retreat to the mountain foot for stationing.

The mountain peak where the Master of the Dragon Clans sleeps is almost completely shrouded by flames and smoke, with magma jets shooting up more than ten meters high, hot and boiling, impacting the magic array covering the nest above.

But the energy source of the magic array comes from the core beneath the entire nest, so the magma cannot break through the magic array reinforced layer by layer by the Red Dragon. It can only surge into the air in vain, then scatter everywhere.

Layers of magma and ash piled up on the mountain top, then spread down the rocky slopes, dyeing the entire peak a reddish-gray hue.

Many of the magic plants naturally growing around the nest have been harvested and circulated in auctions and markets, but the remaining plants, along with the animals that grew here or migrated here, were completely destroyed the moment the volcano erupted.

Even the half-finished golems once created by the Red Dragon were reduced to ashes by the continuously erupting magma.

However, these disturbances did not affect Karon, who was sleeping in the Magma Lake, as the volcanic eruption caused by his strong extraction of energy from the depths of the core naturally avoided the Red Dragon floating in the magma.

Yet, due to the long sleep with his body soaked in the magma, a thin layer of dark red crust began to form on the gaps of Karon’s scale armor, and his wing membranes were also dyed with a dark red leathery layer.

Once a Giant Dragon enters adolescence, not only does its body gradually reach its peak growth period, but its magic ability and power also experience a leap, like the rising sun climbing high in the sky.

And Karon Gogomola, in his deep slumber, is entering his golden transformation period.

But unlike other sleeping Giant Dragons, this Red Dragon’s figure has not started to grow, yet he greedily absorbs more and more energy, accumulating it in his body.

He consciously brings his bloodline growth to its current limit state, then leaps forward to embrace a more powerful transformation, which is also the result of his study of the bloodlines of Flame Demons from the Abyss and various monsters with the same attribute as his.

Cracks have already appeared on the stone walls around the volcanic lake, with magma and fire streams flowing out from the fissures.

This is where a secondary Fire Elemental Plane attached to Aikania’s Main Plane has been torn open, attracted by the innate talents of the sleeping Red Dragon.

An ocean-like energy of fire attribute surged into the volcanic nest, turning the already boiling volcanic nest into a semblance of purgatory. An unparalleled high temperature descended, with the Red Dragon’s domain absorbing this vast energy to grow.

Every so often, a curious low-level elemental spirit would peer through the cracks from the Fire Elemental Plane, attempting to cross these passages and arrive in Aikania’s Prime Material Plane.

However, the Red Dragon’s domain actively invited these curious elemental spirits. Once these spirits accepted the summons, they would be drawn by the domain of the Red Dragon, twisted and torn to pieces, becoming a source of rising power.

Apart from the Fire Elemental Plane, there are also some fissures exuding the breath of Earth and Metal elements. The vast elements are drawn from the planes from which these breaths emanate, absorbed and digested by the Red Dragon’s body.

The excess elemental energy transformed the rocks surrounding the Red Dragon’s nest into minerals, with various minerals being born around the Red Dragon’s nest.

And those layers of cooling magma and mountain ash gradually turned into fertile soil, exuding a strong aura of Earth elements.

Two domains, somewhat similar to "All Things Turn to Ash" but of different attributes, gradually took form under the massive energy supply, enveloping the entire Dragon Nest with a terrifying field suppression force. They conflicted and eroded with the Red Dragon’s original domain, but under the guidance of the Red Dragon’s instincts, they gradually reconciled and harmonized.

In this situation, the two previously long and thick trident dragon horns on Karon’s head underwent changes, replaced by six long horns with slight undulating arcs growing from the sides of the skull.

Among them, the dragon horns on either side of the skull’s center were the most robust, while the other dragon horns were slightly shorter, but all were incomparably sharp.

As subtle changes appeared on the exterior, something within Karon’s body was also changing. To prepare for the upcoming transformation and to bear and operate the terrifying bloodline and magic power, another heart was quietly gestating.

Before sleeping, Karon consumed food several times his weight, stored in a stomach with space attributes. Even the storage stomach was filled with food imbued with blood and magic energy, which smashed in this moment.

Once pulverized, these foods were quickly dissolved, turning into flesh nutrients and magic energy, transmitted to a spot not far from Karon’s heart via feeder tubes connected to the stomach and the magic transmission organs.

This energy and nutrition were swiftly digested, with blood threads forming in the flesh and rapidly developing. After connecting to other organs, a small red heart quietly emerged like a swelling bulge at the center of the organ network, then grew rapidly.

Until the newly born heart and its affiliated organs matured and nearly reached the size of the original heart, all of Karon’s consciousness sunk steadily into the depths of his Sea of Spiritual, entering deep slumber, and impending true bloodline growth.