The Dragon team's game is about to begin, honored guests! Today's match is between the Centaur team and the Ogre team. It's going to be a great game, and a ticket is only ten copper coins! This is an intense game that Dragon used to play to train when he was young! Don't miss it!"
The elderly man at the entrance, who had a gap in his mouth, waved a stack of tickets in his hand, shouting energetically at the passersby outside the Dragon Arena.
His promotion truly piqued the interest of many, especially the Barbarian warriors who revered valor. Soon, a team of adventurers made up of several Barbarian approached, pulled out the few remaining copper coins from their pockets, handed them to the old man, bought tickets, and walked inside.
This newly opened Dragon Arena had sparse crowds, with only a few scattered spectators, but the variety of races was surprisingly large.
Not only were there races like Ogre, Centaur, Kobold, and Green Goblin, which were already frequently active within the Dragon Territory, but also some Elf and Orc appeared in this arena.
There were also some creatures that concealed their original forms, using transformation or illusion spells to appear as Elf or human nobles.
An excellent Barbarian totem warrior keenly sniffed out the scent of Dragon and the Abyss from them, which meant the other party was very likely a Dragon or a demonic creature from the Abyss.
However, these Barbarian warriors were not afraid. Barbarian warriors themselves were a path to advancement through combat; the more battles they experienced, the easier it was for Barbarians to become powerful.
Moreover, these Barbarian warriors had already offered the path of totem cultivation to the Dragon who governed this place, and had registered their names with the Golden City's administrator, pledging allegiance to the Dragon Territory. They were now considered their own people.
In this land, these Barbarian warriors now had backing, no longer the nomadic race that was hunted and captured by various human kingdoms in the past.
This group of Barbarian warriors took their seats, feeling a sense of confidence for the first time, proudly raising their heads and looking around, showing no signs of nervousness.
Soon, the Ogre team and the Centaur team stood in the center of the arena, with an oval ball placed in the middle. This was the team display and introduction before the game began.
But the spectators' gazes were not on the two competing teams, but on the Green Goblin who suddenly scurried out, each carrying a large round tray on their heads.
These Green Goblin, in pairs, walked among the spectators carrying wooden trays. One shouted, selling snacks and refreshments that were special products of the Dragon Territory, which he held aloft.
The other loudly shouted: "Guests can place their bets now! Bet on who wins or loses, it all depends on your judgment. Bet on who scores first, it all depends on your luck. Pay now, and Dragon guarantees no delays!"
Many spectators were moved, asking about odds and various other questions.
These specially selected Green Goblins were smart, agile, and patient, answering every question. Soon, their empty trays were filled with shiny gold and silver coins.
The Barbarian warriors also became interested. Their remaining copper coins had been used to buy tickets, and their pockets were now full of gold coins they had received as rewards.
These shiny gold coins gave these Barbarian confidence. One by one, they arrogantly pulled out several gold coins from their pockets and shouted, "Hey, Green Goblin, come here! We want to bet on the Ogre to win. These Ogre look really strong with their muscles. I think we're going to get rich!"
The Green Goblin scurried over, holding his tray, to these lords of wealth, quickly uttering a string of compliments to flatter these rough Barbarian.
This group of Barbarian warriors were amused by the Green Goblin and laughed. One Barbarian, quite generously, pulled out another gold coin from his pocket and tossed it onto the tray, laughing loudly, "I think you speak quite well. This is my reward for you."
The course of the game satisfied these Barbarian warriors; the collision of muscles between the Centaur and Ogre excited them greatly.
But the outcome of the game saddened these Barbarian warriors. They eventually left the arena dejectedly, no longer showing the arrogance they had when they first entered.
"How about I go ask that Mage adult if we can pledge allegiance to Dragon clan tonight? I heard that after pledging allegiance to Dragon clan, he even provides food and lodging," a Barbarian warrior said with a worried expression, looking at the leader of their group, a powerful warrior covered in various totem patterns, a Totem Berserker.
Gibb, the Totem Berserker, shook his dirty hair and said quite boldly, "Go where? I, Gibb, won't lose face like that. If we said the allegiance ceremony would be in three days, then it's in three days. Is it just sleeping on the ground? Haven't we slept enough in the wilderness jungle?"
Gibb kicked the worried warrior in the backside and laughed, "Go, find me a doorway that isn't windy. Our camp tonight is up to you."
Tall and sturdy Orc, accompanied by several fierce Orc warriors, passed by these Barbarian, a thoughtful expression appearing on their ugly faces.
"Judging from the situation in this Goldsea City, these True Dragon territories are already close to having the rudimentary form of a country," the tall Orc frowned, speaking softly in Orcish to his nearby guards.
"Fatti, the Orc Elder Council's mission will likely be very difficult to complete. What kind of price would be needed to bribe the ruler of a Dragon Kingdom?"
A middle-aged fox-person also responded softly in Orcish. Although these fox-people were not strong in combat, comparable to Kobold warriors.
However, the cunning of fox-people was acknowledged by all Orc, which is why many nobles in Orc Kingdom liked to keep some fox-people by their side as external brains.
"Haha, those old farts don't even think. They actually dream of having a territory belonging to the Orc Kingdom next to the Dragon Territory. How much would that cost? From my observation of these True Dragon, they will not allow a force that could threaten the Dragon Territory to exist next to them."
The Orc noble Fatti sneered, his protruding tusks looking particularly ugly.
"Yes, if you want to pick fruit, you should guard the fruit tree when it's planted. If you wait until the fruit is ripe to pick it, then you have to defeat the fruit's guardian," the middle-aged fox-person sighed.
"Hmph, when this place was still a wilderness, those foolish old farts were unwilling to put in effort, coveting their former prosperity and wealth. Now that it's starting to flourish, they want to plunder it. As a base for the Orc to return to the main continent, it's not that easy,"
The Orc Fatti sneered, "Those True Dragon are not idiots. Don't think too little of the True Dragon who can establish civilization in the wilderness."
The group walked and talked, but their voices did not carry.
Many greeting merchants and passing pedestrians only saw these strange Orc's lips moving slightly, as if they were chewing on the dried meat, a specialty of the Dragon Territory.
Now, the first harvest of grain in the Dragon Clans Territory has been abundant, which can alleviate the original shortage of grain in the True Dragon, with much surplus remaining.
So, the meat of wild beasts in the Dragon Clans Territory is not as scarce as it was a few years ago; it has become abundant. Many wild beasts hunted by hunters can only be sold to merchants to be made into dried meat.
Under the laws of the Dragon Territory, short-weighting is severely punished, so these merchants always provide full weight, pounding and drying the exceptionally lean beast meat into dried meat.
No one could distinguish what kind of wild beast the dried meat came from; perhaps it was just ordinary wild beasts, or perhaps it was meat from ferocious species, depending only on the price.
But without exception, just a small piece of dried meat was enough for an ordinary person to chew on for an entire morning, and it had already become one of the popular snacks in the Dragon Clan Territory.
The Orc noble Fatti walked past the newly built Dragon clan Library, watching many of the Dragon clans dependents busily transporting boxes of books into the tall and spacious library, and he couldn't help but admire the True Dragon's grandeur.
This Dragon clan Library not only contained most of the historical and cultural knowledge copied and purchased from human nobles, but it was also said to have books and inscriptions on some basic magic and magic tricks.
Any resident with the Dragon clans Territory resident identity plate could enter the library to read these books using their identity plate, but they could not take them out.
Whether you are a noble or a commoner, everyone is equal before knowledge, and all races are equally equal.
The Orc Fatti clearly understood the benefits this measure would bring to the Dragon clans Territory. Once the reputation of valuing knowledge and culture spread, the Dragon clans Territory would undoubtedly gain much intangible support in the future.
Although the Orc Fatti did not know the rather high-level concept of forging a common civilized consciousness, he could clearly grasp the benefits of this initiative.
"Perhaps the longer this drags on, the fewer opportunities our Orc Kingdom will have," Fatti stood in front of this still relatively quiet library. There were not many people borrowing books yet; most were True Dragon dependents busy at work.
"Perhaps we should start with the True Dragons themselves. The Dragon clan that rule the territory are a True Dragon, not a single True Dragon.especially The Chromatic Dragons cannot possibly be of one mind. We can start with a certain True Dragon and divide them, then we will have some opportunities."
The middle-aged fox-person's slender eyes gleamed with wisdom; the race, known for its cunning, seemed quite resourceful.
The Orc Fatti nodded, and the group walked and stopped, finally halting in front of a building similar to a tavern.
Two cute Pixie, wearing rubber fruit hats, flapped their wings in front of the entrance of the tavern named World Forever Tavern, with two dazzling trails of fairy dust scattering points of light behind them.
They loudly called out, "Woohoo, want to play a round of World Forever? Everyone, come and play! World Forever has released new special cards, and there's a powerful character!"
But the loud shouts of the two cute Pixie were drowned out by the sounds coming from inside the tavern. A joyous roar echoed from within, and the atmosphere was lively.
World Forever, as the name suggests, is a card game encompassing thousands of races. This was the name given by Pixie Raven.
At the request of Alfred, Pixie Raven was appointed as the Vice Minister of the Cultural Propaganda Department, bringing out the game that Kalon had once 'invented' as one of the distinctive cultural promotions of the Dragon Territory.
The material for ordinary World Forever cards was not rare, merely made from common tough paper, with the True Dragon's emblem engraved on the corners, indicating that they were produced in the Dragon Territory.
The True Dragons were not worried about this game being imitated, or rather, they hoped that this game would be imitated and spread widely.
Only special cards would be made from special materials, for example, cards representing True Dragon were made from True Dragon scales, cards representing Elf were made from the leaves of the War Treant, and if they were powerful Elf characters, they would even be made from the leaves of the Life Tree.
In addition, Pixie Raven also recruited a group of idle Pixie, specifically utilizing their fairy dust to cooperate with the magical images engraved on special cards, so that these special cards would display their images, voices, and actions when attacking.
Due to the vigorous promotion by Pixie Raven and Alfred, coupled with World Forever being an inherently interesting puzzle game, this game quickly became popular in Golden City.
And those True Dragon dependents, almost every dependent resting in Golden City had a deck of cards, and during their breaks, they would always run to this place, shouting and playing the game, which indeed attracted a lot of people.
This caused the Pixie to work overtime to print cards, their heads twice their normal size, and Pixie Raven's dark circles had almost spread to her chin.
"Adult Fatti, your spending in this card hall this month has already exceeded two thousand gold coins," the middle-aged fox-person saw Fatti's footsteps habitually stop again, touched his somewhat deflated money pouch, and advised with some unease.
"It's fine, I'll just go in and take a look. I definitely won't spend another copper coin," the Orc, Fatti, mumbled, stepping into the card hall.
As soon as he stepped into the tavern, a wave of warmth rushed over him. The temperature inside the tavern was several degrees higher than outside, and continuous shouts and curses echoed.
Large round tables were almost filled with creatures of various races. Human Mages and Goblins competed at the same table, while Ogres and young girls faced off at another.
Most exaggeratedly, the Orc, Fatti, even saw a demon hybrid with goat horns casually propping up his legs, playing cards with a Naga.
It was like the playful look in the demon hybrid's eyes, teasing the voluptuous Naga across from him.
Without exception, all these creatures wore an identity tag on their chests or hands, a mandatory proof of identity for entering the Goldsea City. With this identity proof, which cost one silver coin, they could move freely within the Dragon Territory.
Any creature caught without identity proof would gloriously receive a lifetime package deal in the Dragon Territory, becoming a serf, with food, lodging, and labor all provided!
Tall Elves with fair-green skin and at least pretty faces, wearing short robes that revealed their tender long legs, moved among the tables. Cups of wine on their trays were quickly bought by the patrons, who also took the opportunity to touch these fresh and appealing Elves.
But these Elves dared not resist. As the first tribe in the Green Field Forest to be flattened by Kalon, becoming slaves was already their best outcome.
They could never forget how the Elf Warriors who had participated in attacking the camp were cut down by the True Dragon's warriors, their heads piled high.
The Elf Elder was brutally tortured and killed by Kobold warriors, finally dying in endless agony and wails. Only the Druids who had not taken action were exiled to the Dragon Clan Territory's beast park, becoming low-status beast officials, raising beasts for the True Dragon.
These untainted female Elves, however, were enslaved, never to know freedom. Even the Tree of Life, once considered sacred by these Elves, was toppled by the True Dragon, its heart chopped down and dismembered piece by piece.
The Orc, Fatti's, gaze did not linger on these people for too long. He looked towards the tall fireplace, where a long counter was surrounded by a crowd of people, packed tightly.
Sally, once the top assassin in the Scarlet Rose mercenary group, known as the Shadow Black Widow, this charming assassin clad in a tight leather suit, a female assassin who wouldn't even flinch when assassinating a duke of a former kingdom, was now trembling as she tore open the card pack in her hand.
Suddenly, a dazzling golden light flashed, and the image of an Elf holding a zither, playing it with legs crossed in front of an enemy's corpse, appeared in the golden light. A lazy voice also sounded, "Allow me to play an Elf ditty!"
Whoosh! Instantly, the surrounding crowd cheered.
"Golden card, golden legend, wow, I'm rich, I'm rich," a Human Mage's eyes were bloodshot, and he unconsciously touched the staff in his hand.
"Damn it, why is this woman's luck so good?" Dwarf Kragon was dejected. His salary this month, besides drinking, was all spent on opening card packs, but clearly, Kragon hadn't gotten anything good.
"Wow, a golden card! This is a legendary card comparable to Chiron! This is only the second one this month. Quick, let's see what its effect is!"
The surrounding crowd clamored, and even those who were currently battling couldn't help but cast their gaze over.
Only Sally, the female assassin in the very center, held her card tightly, laughing wildly, "Hahaha, I'm rich, I'm rich! My pension is back!"
The Orc, Fatti, silently furrowed his brows, recalling that all the gold coins he had invested this month had been for nothing. A thought suddenly flashed through his mind, "Indeed, the joys and sorrows of people are not interconnected; their happiness just sounds noisy to me!"
The Orc, Fatti, took a breath and silently extended his hand to his attendant, the middle-aged Foxman.
The middle-aged Foxman's heart tightened. He whispered, "Lord Fatti, nearly half of the activity funds approved by the Elder Council have already been used. Are you…?"
"What are you afraid of? Everyone knows that True Dragons are incredibly greedy. When I go back, I'll just say I spent tens of thousands of gold coins to get a chance to meet the True Dragon," the Orc, Fatti, impatiently pulled a heavy money bag from the middle-aged Foxman's arms. It slammed onto the counter with a thud.
At this moment, his expression was full of vigor. Fatti shouted, "Give me a hundred packs first! I feel my luck has arrived!"
…
The sky gradually darkened, and night once again enveloped the endless forest.
The Gnoll warriors stopped their logging activities and leisurely dragged the timber back to the clearing, beneath the Temple of heroes that emitted endless light, and began to set up their camp for the night.
Under the light of this Temple of heroes, the forest's will to suppress outsiders was dispelled, unable to affect these warriors.
The entire forest, connected by the Life Trees, had already developed a will to suppress outsider creatures. At first, Yug, the Gnoll, had tested it. Once they delved too deep into the forest, this forest will would suppress their souls.
It made these Gnoll warriors' awareness dull, their vision blurry, and some weaker Koboldwarriors couldn't even maintain their balance.
They would even become muddled under the influence of the forest's will, involuntarily leaving the group and walking into the forest.
Fortunately, the Temple of heroes could easily dispel and suppress the forest's will within a certain range, and these True Dragon's warriors, encouraged by the Temple of heroes, were fearless of death.
Even if they died, their souls would not perish; they would have a resting place.
From the soul of the Gnoll overseer in the Temple of heroes, who no longer sang but roared all day, wanting to rush down and kill the Elves, one could see how fervent the battle-lust of these Gnolls was now.
Unfortunately, after Kalon returned, the Elves tentatively launched an attack, but as a result, the enraged Red Dragon and his warriors, aided by Mages, killed all the invading Elves, and the War Treants were also dug up.
Corpses and heads were sacrificed for the souls of the Temple of heroes, making the Temple of heroes floating above the camp grow even larger.
And those Elves, however, lowered their flags and ceased their drums, no longer daring to launch open attacks, only occasionally shooting their poisoned arrows from the depths of the jungle to harass these warriors.
However, after rebuilding the planar teleportation gate, the warriors who received support and supplies were not afraid of such attrition. With high morale and a determination to kill, they marched towards the Elf tribes.
However, after flattening the first Elf tribe, those Elf tribes, risking severe damage to their Tree of life, actually migrated their entire tribe and Tree of life deeper into the forest, as if playing guerrilla warfare with the True Dragon.
If it weren't for his usual cautious approach, the Red Dragon would have wanted to pursue them alone and slaughter those Elf tribes.
However, although currently in a tug-of-war, the Red Dragon still held back. These tribes could keep migrating, but the Life Tree couldn't always migrate. One day they would stop and be forced to face the True Dragon.
Whoosh! Kalon flew from the distant sky, then folded his wings and landed in the camp.
These days, Kalon had been using his flexibility to constantly follow the Elf tribes that fortunately encountered him on their migration path. As soon as he found an opportunity, he would quickly swoop down, breathe Dragonfire, and burn these Elves to ashes.
Then he would strike and retreat, never risking danger for more kills. The enemy could use guerrilla tactics, but Kalon, as a True Dragon, had a more distinct advantage.
The will of those Life Trees and the forest could not suppress the Red Dragon's soul, and his strength would not be affected. Doing this was just being careful to prevent any mishaps.
Under the Red Dragon's continuous harassment, two Elf tribes, unable to bear the disturbance, offered to surrender to the Red Dragon.
But the Red Dragon's demand was to kill all the Elf instigators who had participated in attacking the camp. The rest of the Elves could remain unharmed. This caused these two Elf tribes to fall into dispute.
The Elves who decided to launch the attack were all those who held power in the tribe, and now asking them to kill themselves was absolutely impossible to achieve.
But some Elves who had not participated began to have other thoughts. They believed their tribe should not be destroyed because of these Elves.
The Elf tribes began to fall into internal division and conflict.
Kalon's appearance made many True Dragon kin stand up and bow to the True Dragon. These warriors had now become loyal followers of the True Dragon, and Kalon could even sense the power of faith being born in these warriors, converging towards Kalon.
Especially the loyal souls in the Temple of heroes provided Kalon with an incredibly resilient power of faith.
Now, a considerable amount of faith power had gathered around Kalon's psionic vortex, but Kalon still sealed this faith power within a psionic envelope until he understood it clearly.
Kalon walked into the camp. Now, every time this team passed through an area, they would extensively cut down the forest and establish a camp, partly to weaken the forest's will, and partly to serve as future connection points for operating the plane.
Kalon walked to a temporarily built large wooden house and pushed open the door.
This was a bloody and dark scene for ordinary people.
A dozen Mages and alchemists were busy here, and rows of cages held their experimental materials.
Inside were Elves, beasts, and some extraordinary magical beasts that had developed intelligence.
A male Elf, his limbs tightly bound, lay on a long table, where a Mage used magical instruments to dissect his body structure, constantly studying the bodies and bloodlines of these native Elves.
On the other side were some magical alchemy instruments that even Kalon didn't recognize, with blood of many colors rolling and boiling in the instrument's vessels.
A Mage continuously cast spells to test the properties of these blood, while his apprentice assistant held a small notebook, ready to record everything.
Kalon walked past each scene without changing his expression, arriving in front of the Squinty-eyed mage.
The Squinty-eyed mage was currently shaking a long test tube, inside which was a swirling mass of green liquid, emitting a crystalline glow.
Seeing Kalon, the Squinty-eyed mage smiled, happily saying, "Kalon, I've successfully experimented with the heart of the Life Tree and some special toxins! This mixed toxin can quickly and effectively kill trees, turning them into crystal blocks."
"Even the Tree of life, if the dosage is large enough, can suffer severe damage. Most importantly, this toxin spreads extremely fast, feeding on the unique life energy within trees, and thus spreading throughout the entire forest."
"And if you want to stop the spread of this toxin, you just need high temperatures. It won't be too much trouble to clean up then!"
Kalon's calm expression finally showed a hint of joy. He nodded and praised, "That's good, Hsiusir. You Scholar Mages really have some tricks up your sleeves."