Under the Red Dragon

“Venerable Red Dragon, supreme master of the gnoll tribe,”

Gnoll Chieftain Yug, nearly four meters tall, bowed and prostrated himself at the red dragon's feet, like a weak fledgling. He lowered his head, knowing that his thoughts and intentions were difficult to hide from the intelligent red dragon before him, so he stated them directly.

“I hope to receive a favor from you, to become a dragonkin like that centaur. I am sure that after I become a dragonkin, I will be more powerful than that centaur, and I will become the strongest warrior to carry out the will of the dragon.”

“I will prove my ability to you and will not disgrace the glory of the noble dragon blood. I long to have the same favor and honor as the centaur warrior!”

Gnoll Chieftain Yug raised his head slightly, his eyes filled with fervent anticipation as he looked at the layer of scarlet, fine scales covering the muscles of the red dragon’s body—a distinct feature of the dragonkin.

Becoming a dragonkin not only meant possessing greater power but also a longer lifespan, although the increase in lifespan varied greatly between individuals.

Even the weakest green-skinned goblins and kobolds could gain at least 150 years of life. For races with strong physiques and bloodlines, gaining more than a thousand years was not uncommon.

The average natural lifespan of gnolls was about thirty-five to forty years. Each gnoll was considered an adult between the ages of six and eight, and they began to enter middle and old age after twenty-five.

So, although Gnoll Yug was still at the peak of his growth and far stronger than other gnolls, possessing power that most gnolls could never achieve in their lifetime,

without breaking through the barrier of life's essence, he would enter the cycle of decline and death like other ordinary gnolls, unchangeable.

Perhaps he could survive longer than ordinary gnolls with his great strength and talent, but he would not last forever.

This was the hindrance and sorrow of short-lived races. Even if Gnoll Chieftain Yug could easily challenge and defeat ordinary juvenile chromatic dragons, he could not stop time from stagnating on him.

This was the unique advantage of dragons. Even if some short-lived races could surpass dragons in the early stages, it was insignificant. Dragons emphasized late development.

Of course, even the weakest fledgling dragon was not to be offended by ordinary races.

Now, Gnoll Yug was sixteen years old, at the peak of adulthood for gnolls. In a few years, he would enter a period of decline.

Therefore, he yearned to become a dragonkin like Chiron the Centaur, to extend his peak and hoped to continue to break through in the days to come.

The reason Gnoll Chieftain Yug did not rush to kill the black dragon Rosani after defeating him was partly due to his fear of the dragon's power and partly because the gnolls harbored the idea of using a living dragon to strengthen themselves by bathing in its true blood.

However, although Gnoll Chieftain Yug was smarter than ordinary gnolls, he did not know that dragonkin could not be created so easily. Every dragon's true blood was highly corrosive and poisonous to other creatures.

If he dared to bathe in the black dragon's tainted blood, he would not only fail to gain the imagined enhancement but would also suffer torment from the corrosion and poison of the tainted blood. Perhaps he could survive with his great strength, but he would likely enter a period of decline prematurely.

Although the black dragon Rosani was not strong, his tainted blood was far superior to the gnoll's foul blood in essence. Therefore, stories of bathing in dragon blood to obtain a dragonkin bloodline and physique and becoming a powerful warrior were only born in boring tales.

As soon as Gnoll Chieftain Yug finished speaking, the most powerful red dragon before him had not reacted, but the dragons who had been overjoyed to receive the treasure instantly changed their faces, revealing their fangs and growling at Gnoll Chieftain Yug, who was prostrating on the ground.

“You lowly, insignificant reptile, how dare you covet the true blood of a dragon! I will crush you!” The female red dragon Krelnaia swallowed her treasure into her storage stomach and rushed up, baring her fangs.

The furious female dragon completely disregarded that the gnoll had just offered her treasure. Her massive body stepped into the crowd of gnolls kneeling on the ground, directly trampling several gnolls who dared not react. Then, she headbutted Gnoll Chieftain Yug to the ground.

This action fully exposed the evil dragon nature of these dragons. Even if you contributed to these dragons the previous moment, they would instantly turn against you once their interests were touched.

These dragons were only different when facing other dragons. To the outside world, they were always representatives of evil blood.

If Kalon had not made a decision, Krelnaia would have torn the gnoll into pieces. However, the little female dragon was still unwilling to give up, directly stepping on Gnoll Yug's body and pressing him down with her thick dragon claws.

“Let me kill him! This arrogant reptile should become a piece of minced meat in my mouth!” The black dragon Rosani walked up, his cold eyes filled with killing intent. He ground his jagged fangs next to the red dragon, and a chilling coldness surged up the gnoll's back, who had not yet figured out what was happening.

The green dragon Antajena's bright green eyes were filled with disgust and cold indifference towards the gnoll's actions. She approached Kalon's massive body, almost touching the red dragon's scales, as if she was coquettishly pleading.

“Kalon, give me this gnoll and all the gnolls. I will use vines from the forest to pierce through the limbs of these shameful reptiles and let them feel the consequences of offending a dragon.”

“Let those lovely pets in the forest, poisonous insects, ants, scorpions, and snakes, crawl into their bodies through the wounds pierced by the vines, gnawing at their flesh until they die. Then, I will bury the corpses of these inferior species in the dragon's orchard to become fertilizer to nourish the orchard.”

The green dragon Antajena's voice was crisp and sweet, but the sweet voice of a young girl was filled with chilling ruthlessness. The green dragon's cruel nature was displayed in Antajena.

“Let me freeze them all into ice blocks and place them at the foot of the Dragon Nest Mountains. I will control my power so that they will not die immediately even if they are frozen, but can only watch each other's lives gradually fade away, repenting in fear.”

The white dragon Germot sneered. White dragons especially liked to freeze their prey and defeated enemies into ice blocks and display them as trophies to show their power. They also liked to freeze food into ice blocks before eating it.

During the years when Kalon and the dragons fell to the Carthaginian Empire, countless monsters and humans who came to spy on the dragon's territory had been frozen in the white dragon Germot's lair. Only creatures that the white dragon liked would be displayed outside the lair.

So, if a white dragon takes a liking to you, don't be too surprised. It doesn't necessarily like you; it may just want to collect you as a figure.

The white dragon Camide was always a dragon of few words. He did not show his methods to Kalon like his brothers, but sniffed around the shivering gnolls like a hunting dog. The white frost mist spewing from his mouth and nose became more and more intense, and several gnolls were accidentally stained with traces of frost.

“Hmph, let me turn them into charcoal with lightning. These stupid reptiles annoy me even living for a moment longer,” Blue Dragon Doss's wings lit up with lightning-like patterns, and tiny lightning bolts crackled on his horn, as if they would lose control at any moment.

The blue dragon Akz also reacted like Doss, but Akz had already spread his wings, obviously not intending to let go of any gnolls who dared to escape.

Akz's gaze had already swept over the gnolls on the edge of the camp, watching their every move. The blue dragon's speed was second to none among the five-colored dragons.

The blue dragon, who controlled lightning and storms in the sky, had a pure flying speed that even gold dragons could not match. However, because there was a freak like Kalon in the dragon group, the blue dragon's advantage was not displayed, so the blue dragon was very confident in not letting go of any gnolls.

Kalon knew why these dragons would have such a violent reaction, even wanting to kill the entire gnoll tribe because of a few simple words from Gnoll Chieftain Yug. Even the cruel five-colored dragons would not massacre an entire tribe simply because they felt offended.

This was because of the method of creating dragonkin. Every dragon's inheritance contained the knowledge of creating their own dragonkin, and they all knew how to create powerful dragonkin. But in fact, dragonkin did not appear often in the world because dragons generally did not create dragonkin.

The appearance of each dragonkin, besides the descendants born from other dragonkin, or dragonkin born for some accidental, unrepeatable reasons, required the dragon to create them with their own tainted blood.

This tainted blood was not ordinary blood flowing in the dragon's body but the essence condensed from the tainted bloodline, somewhat similar to the heart's blood of humans, but more important than the heart's blood.

The dragonkin centaur Chiron and the dragonkin wolf Saha, and that batch of dragonkin born in the arena, were actually dragonkin species formed under the influence of the nest effect of dragon blood radiation and resonance in some difficult-to-replicate state.

It was more appropriate to call them dragon-attributed monsters, just like the surrounding monsters born under the influence of the nest effect of legendary dragons.

Although they were radiated by the dragon's bloodline, they did not have dragon blood themselves, but possessed some dragon characteristics and power under the dragon's strong bloodline radiation, and their own bloodline also underwent some kind of mutation under the dragon's influence, transforming towards dragon blood.

The reason why the dragonkin centaur Chiron and the dragonkin werewolf Saha had strong dragonkin characteristics was also because they were too close to the red dragon's sleeping place. The influence of the red dragon's resurrected previous bloodline under the resonating nest effect exceeded the red dragon's expectations, but this scene was almost impossible to replicate.

The power of the five-colored evil dragons was closely related to their own evil dragon bloodline. The tainted blood condensed by these juvenile dragons with their current strength was only a dozen drops. Even losing a drop of tainted blood would affect the strength of these juvenile dragons and put them into a not-short period of weakness.

Once ordinary dragons lost their tainted blood, it was almost impossible to replenish it. Even if they reached a more powerful level in the future, the condensed tainted blood was only the new tainted blood bred by the increased life level and powerful strength, not to make up for the old shortcomings.

The tainted blood was also related to the dragon's future bloodline potential and talent growth, so almost no dragon would choose to create dragonkin. Even with Kalon's current strength, the condensed tainted blood was only dozens of drops.

If he gave his tainted blood to the gnoll Yug before him and turned him into a dragonkin, Kalon would also enter a long period of weakness and even have to go into hibernation to make up for the consumption of tainted blood.

Therefore, these juvenile dragons would react so violently, even wanting to kill the entire gnoll tribe.

In the eyes of the dragons, the gnoll chieftain Yug not only did not know how to advance or retreat but was also greedy, daring to covet the dragon's tainted blood. Even destroying all the gnolls in the world was not enough.

Although Kalon's previous bloodline was more powerful than other dragons, he could make up for the consumption of tainted blood through hibernation and growth, and would not be deficient like ordinary dragons.

Losing tainted blood would even affect Kalon's growth and evolution potential for a period of time, and what he would get in return was just a dragonkin dependent that was dispensable to the dragon.

Of course, Kalon would not make such a rash move. For him, his own growth and potential were more important.

However, Kalon realized that when he passed this juvenile stage of hibernation, perhaps the red dragon who grew again could create some dependents at the smallest cost without affecting his potential and growth.

But Kalon decided that even so, he would not easily create dragonkin. Rarity increases value. Too casual a gift would make others despise it, and they would be greedy and difficult to satisfy.

However, Kalon felt that creating dragonkin with the dragon's tainted blood could also be used as a promotional gimmick for the dragon group after he grew again.

Only those who created great enough value for the dragon and paid enough loyalty could have the glory of [Bloodline Granting].

This should be able to arouse the enthusiasm of those monster clans. Perhaps many monsters and clans would take the initiative to join the dragon group. Even those humans, there are not a few who covet the dragon's lifespan. Some creatures whose lives were about to end would do anything to extend their lives.

But now he should be low-key. Before the dragons stepped into a higher level, Kalon would not choose to create dragonkin dependents.

As for the gnoll chieftain Yug, who was afraid to move under the claws of the female dragon Krelnaia, he did not know the method and cost of the dragon creating dragonkin. Although he overstepped, he was ignorant and innocent, and Kalon would not punish the gnoll and the entire tribe for this.

Kalon stopped the anger of the dragons, calmed their anger, and then let Krelnaia release the gnoll Yug, who was stunned by the dragon's ability to turn his face so quickly.

“Cough cough,” Gnoll Yug took a deep breath and then spat out a mouthful of blood suppressed in his chest. Even if his strength was enough to challenge the female red dragon Krelnaia, his body could not withstand the dragon's attack, so he had been injured under Krelnaia's claws.

"The Centaur Warriors have already proven their loyalty and value to the Dragon Clan. Their wholehearted service to the dragons has been long enough, a virtue that cannot be measured by treasure. Even if you offer more wealth, you cannot obtain the same favor and honor as the Centaur Warriors."

The Red Dragon's lofty head looked down upon the humble Gnoll leader, Yugu. His voice was deep and powerful.

"Prove your loyalty to me, prove your worth to the Dragon Clan, Yugu. When you have made enough contributions to the Dragon Clan, my gaze will naturally fall upon you, and the Dragon Clan will grant you the glory you desire!"

"Yes, my supreme master, honorable lord of the Dragon Clan, great True Dragon!"

The Gnoll, Yugu, prostrated with his forehead on the soft earth, respectfully replied.

The Gnoll no longer heard the dragon's voice, only felt a sudden gust of wind rising from the ground, as if the flowing wind between heaven and earth was gathered at this moment.

The Gnoll raised his head. The immense figure of the dragon clan spreading its wings was already far away on the horizon, at the unreachable summit of the high mountain.

Huff.

The Gnoll leader, Yugu, sighed and silently watched the high mountain gradually shrouded in clouds and mist. The gap between the short-lived and the long-lived seemed incredibly clear at this moment. In the eyes of the dragon, several years might only be enough to prove the loyalty and value of a dependent, but in the world of the short-lived, it was already an incredibly vast period of time.

Only now did the unruly Gnoll realize that the summit of the high mountain shrouded in clouds and mist might be a realm he could never reach in his lifetime.