"One, two, three, pull hard, up!"
An Elf Druid shouted loudly, communicating with the War Treant using natural magic, directing several War Treants to move the huge stones out of the ruins.
Thump, thump, thump.
One War Treant after another, either individually lifting stones or cooperatively moving massive boulders, walked through the ruins, diligently clearing the vast architectural remains.
Many War Treants also extended their branches, carrying giant baskets woven by many Elves from tough, thick vines, and Elf Warriors were filling these baskets with scattered rubble, which the War Treants then carried to the forest for disposal.
After incorporating most of the Elf tribes from the entire plane, some Elf Druids skilled in natural magic were dispatched by Kalon to help the Master clear and explore this ancient magic ruin.
Among most races in the world, gaining the loyalty of War Treants would lead to these Treants being treated as honored guests, as a fighting force to guard territory, and as war weapons for large-scale conflicts.
But in front of Kalon, these War Treants were more suitable as laborers.
These Treants were tireless and knew no fatigue; they only needed to replenish magical energy and life essence to work all day long, truly rare plant-based beasts of burden.
In addition, many War Treants and other Elves migrated together to the Dragon Clans Territory on the main plane of Ekania.
Those War Treants would also take on the important task of constructing the massive Dragon Fortress for Kalon; although these Treants were not agile, for the task of transporting heavy objects, they were more useful than any beast race.
Other members of the Dragon clan personally escorted the treasures and Elf tribes plundered from this world back to the Ekania World.
During this journey, the True Dragon's harvest was incredibly abundant; the fruits of the Tree of Life alone exceeded twenty, and each Life Fruit could extend one's lifespan by no less than two hundred years.
This was the result of countless years of nurturing by the Tree of Life growing in the Green Field Forest plane, and the True Dragons became the victors who enjoyed the fruits.
This alone was a huge fortune; to prevent any mishaps, Kalon even personally led the True Dragons to escort the Life Fruits, placing them in the deepest part of the Dragon clans's treasury.
The Young Red Dragon Kadilos had now become the guardian of the True Dragon's treasury, locked in front of the treasury door by chains forged from divine iron nurtured for tens of millions of years deep within a volcano; besides Kalon himself, no one dared to approach the treasury door.
To protect these important treasures, Kalon re-fortified the True Dragon's treasury, setting up countless trap and warning spells inside.
If the True Dragons hadn't distrusted Hsiusir and the other Mages, these Mages would have even wanted to collaborate to set up a super-large magical barrier for the Dragon clan's treasury.
Because these Mages also received two Life Fruits, although the original agreement between the Mages and the True Dragons was that the Mages only requested ownership of the Ancient Magic Empire's property, while the development rights of the plane belonged to the True Dragon.
But Kalon knew that the future direction of their cooperative relationship still depended on their attitude towards cooperation; those who hogged everything would never come to a good end.
He was not one of those True Dragon natives whose eyes were blinded by greed, so he was quite generous in sharing a portion of the spoils with the Masters.
In addition, there were piles of Life Tree branches, all grown from the Tree of Life, the most tender branches rich in natural power and life essence.
Kalon would not let these Life Tree branches gather dust in the treasury; currently, the Dragon Clans Territory was recruiting Masters skilled in crafting magical and alchemical weapons to turn these Life Tree branches into staves and some unique magical items.
A portion would be sent to the newly opened auction house in the Dragon Clan Territory, adding luster to the auction house's first auction.
The True Dragon Auction House was a crucial part of the territory's economic plan and cultural promotion, and also a point that could demonstrate the True Dragon's credibility.
For this, Fafna, the administrative officer in the territory, under the guidance of newly recruited human Scholars, had already sent invitation letters and gifts to the leaders of major merchant groups active in the Northern Continent and many nobles who maintained neutrality or friendliness towards the True Dragons, even the nobles of the Orc Kingdom received this gift.
As for forces with unclear attitudes, Fafna, after careful consideration, also sent invitation letters and gifts.
Only for some forces that clearly expressed hostility towards the True Dragons, Fafna did not send an invitation letter, but she did spread the news through the Dragon clans merchant group's channels, letting them know this information.
At the suggestion of the Scholar, this intelligent administrator was trying to improve relations between the True Dragons and other forces; after contact, perhaps the stereotypes from their thoughts would be broken, thereby changing the relationship between the two sides.
But no matter what, this was a fact that the Dragon Territory had to face.
This also meant that the Dragon Clans Territory, as a new political force of order, would begin to step onto the stage of the entire world.
The image displayed by the Dragon Clans Territory to the outside world was one of inclusiveness and openness, with various races coexisting, differing from the self-imposed and isolated image of a ordinary True Dragon monster kingdoms.
This was also a form of public relations, building influence for the formal establishment of the Dragon clan's kingdom; although it would be a long time before the kingdom was established, it was necessary to gradually establish this impression and plan for this goal.
Kalon deeply understood the principle of accumulating grain and slowly claiming kingship, but many things were not legitimate without proper titles. Even some recruited Scholars and talents were unwilling to come because they heard that the Dragons Territory was still just an unorganized lord-governed land.
Apparently, some aspects of the Dragon clans Territory were not yet attractive to these people, such as the undefined official system and corresponding powers.
However, once the kingdom was formally established, all of this would be resolved, and the deadline Kalon set for this was after his next age segment of slumber, his territory still had a considerable amount of time to develop.
However, as long as they walked the righteous path, Kalon and the True Dragon would be regarded as part of the order, and the worries about the gaze of the gods would ease.
As long as they were within order, then at that time, only what belonged to the gods would go to the gods, and what belonged to mortals would go to mortals. As for wars between nations, or rather, wars between proxies, the Giant True Dragon had no fear.
Moreover, thanks to the region where the Dragon Clans Territory was located, to attack the True Dragon's territory, one could only transport troops by ship across the boundless ocean, which was completely unnecessary to worry about for a territory possessing Giant True Dragon s.
For this reason, the Dragon Territory was now even busier; for the future display, the rested warriors were also reorganized into complete legions.
They would then serve as a display of the Dragon clans Kingdom's military might, proving that the Giant Dragon Kingdom possessed the strength and confidence sufficient to establish a nation.
Kalon naturally taught the methods of military discipline training to the legion leaders who trained the warriors; although these flashy methods could not enhance combat power.
But to a certain extent, they could enhance discipline and cohesion, making these warriors more likely to obey their officers' commands on the battlefield.
Most importantly, the formations trained with this method looked very good, and for the True Dragons, that was enough.
"Attention! At ease! Look left!" the Barbarian leader, now the commander of the Berserker Corps, Gibb, loudly commanded, personally instructing a row of warriors selected to serve as legion officers, who would then personally train their own warriors.
Snap! Some warriors looked left, some looked right, and two unlucky ones with overly protruding heads bumped into each other.
"Damn it, you idiots! All you do is cause me trouble! You can't even tell your left from your right!" Gibb roared in anger, cursing, and kicked the two unlucky ones down.
"Look carefully, this is right, this is left," Gibb extended his hand to indicate.
"Com... Commander," a human warrior's face turned red, and he stammered, "You pointed the wrong way."
Gibb was instantly enraged again. He yelled at the top of his lungs, "I know! I did it on purpose! It's to make a deeper impression on you! All of you listen up! If you can't even tell such simple directions apart, go back to being ordinary warriors!"
Given that monster race warriors constituted the majority of the legion's numbers, Kalon chose the simplest and most common military system.
Warriors were grouped into squads of ten, and a squad leader could be called a Captain or a Decurion.
Ten squads, totaling one hundred warriors, formed a company, and the company leader could be called a Company Commander or a Centurion.
Ten companies, totaling one thousand warriors, formed a battle group, and the battle group's main officer could be called a Commander or a Chiliarch.
Ten battle groups, totaling ten thousand warriors, formed a complete legion, and the legion's main officer could be called a Legion Commander or a Myriarch.
However, currently, the Dragon Clans Territory's legion warriors, excluding the Kobold Soldierswhose combat power could temporarily be ignored, did not exceed one legion even at full strength.
Among them, the Centaur cavalry led by Dragonkin Centaur Chiron had only expanded to five hundred warriors, although they were all built as heavily armored cavalry, with combat power far exceeding a five-hundred-strong unit.
Both Gnoll leader Yug and Centaur Chiron held the position of battle group commander, but Yugwas a legitimate battle group commander, with his Gnoll Warriors already fully staffed.
The personnel distribution of Barbarian Gibb's battle group was much more complex; it not only had many Barbarian warriors but also recruited some Elf Warriors and human warriors, as well as some exotic warriors like Trolls, Ogres, and Werebears, which barely made up a whole battle group.
There was also the Imperial Guard leader, Sahar, who also served as a battle group commander, but he had only about three hundred Imperial Guard warriors under him, though they were the most combat-effective warriors in the entire Dragon Clans Territory.
Although the number of these warriors seemed small, they were all elites who had experienced battle, and equipped with excellent weapons and armor, these warriors were already sufficient to demonstrate the Dragon Clan Territory's military might.
Moreover, as professional warriors, they would inevitably be fully disengaged from production.
Although the Dragon Clan Territory was currently self-sufficient in food, it still needed time to develop and could not yet support more disengaged warriors.
Besides these formally disengaged battle group warriors, the Dragon Clan Territory had a large number of affiliated auxiliary soldiers and guards; these auxiliary soldiers and guards, used for daily territory security and logistics management, would also undergo reorganization and gradually move towards regularization.
There were also some Druids, Masters, and Priests skilled in healing spells and divine magic, who were incorporated into the legions as healing teams, but most were apothecaries and mortal physicians skilled in potions and conventional healing methods.
Not only were the people of the Dragon Territory busy, but those not belonging to the Dragon Territory were also busy.
Although the official auction time for the Dragon clans Auction was set for one year later, the letters sent by Giant ogre Fafna, through merchant group channels, as well as raven and magical communication transmission channels, had now been placed on the desks of various targets.
This was the time given during the auction preparation for those who received invitation letters to react; Kalon did not know what kind of reactions and choices those people would make.
But facing the many treasures thrown out by the Dragon clans Auction House to open up the situation and gain fame, it was believed that very few people would be able to refuse this invitation.
Regarding fame, Kalon gradually began to understand some of the mysteries behind it. Some powerful beings were keen to make a name for themselves across endless planes and the Astral Sea, and to coax praise and worship from the creatures below, using this prestige to convert it into primal power.
Some ancient enough beings even used this method to step into the realm of the gods; although not belief gods, they were god-like beings imbued with divine aura.
Although Kalon did not know how to convert this prestige into primal power, he had already noticed the existence of this method, which would be a subject for him to explore and research in the future.
Just as Kalon himself thought, he was a patient with insufficient firepower phobia; the more means he possessed, the more secure he felt.
Thump, thump, thump.
At the Holy Coin Merchant Group's headquarters, hurried footsteps echoed through the splendid hall. The interior, which looked similar to most buildings in the Goldsea City from the outside, was completely different on the inside.
Most of the buildings in Goldsea City are tall and spacious, with simple murals of insects and birds carved inside, appearing particularly plain and grand. This is also a characteristic of emerging cities: abandoning useless decorations in favor of practicality and simplicity, dedicating all efforts to development.
However, the internal buildings of the Holy Coin Merchant Group's station are covered everywhere with the most luxurious decorations. Whether it's the ceiling, walls, floor, or even many of the pillars, they are all covered in golden paint.
The interior decoration is primarily in a delicate, complex, and brightly colored Baroque style, and various precious metals and gemstones are embedded to match the decorative theme as much as possible.
Such a luxurious scene, if seen by a True Dragon, would likely immediately spark a desire to plunder and occupy it.
But this merchant group dared to build such a venue in the Dragon Territory.
The leader of the Holy Coin Merchant Group was a middle-aged man dressed in luxurious attire, but this middle-aged leader, who held all the power of the merchant group, respectfully stood aside, handing an invitation letter and an envelope to the young man seated in the main seat of the hall.
"Lord Satt, I heard of your arrival here today and rushed back to present this good news to you," the luxuriously dressed middle-aged man said with a respectful expression.
The young man named Satt, seated in the main seat of the hall, had a delicate appearance, with deep, sea-blue eyes like the ocean. He wore a silk shirt, leather sleeves, and short boots, and on his head was a gilded crown studded with jewels.
Satt extended his right hand, gloved in white, and took the invitation letter and envelope, beginning to read them.
However, the treasures listed in the envelope by the True Dragon Auction House to attract customers did not stir him, because the Tree of Life fruit was not marked by the Giant True Dragon.
But it also showed how discerning this young man's taste was; even the other treasures were rare and precious in the world.
"Has the Dragons Territory finally decided to reveal itself to the outside world?" Satt remained silent for a moment, then finally spoke: "Looking at the development of the Dragon Territory, this place will eventually become a prosperous nation, and its wealthy population will also attract the covetous gaze of the Churches of the Gods."
"But I didn't expect these True Dragon to move towards order so early. This will open a loophole for those churches. What's the price? Is it to make all the Churches of the Gods who want to settle in the Dragon Territory acknowledge the legitimacy of their rule?"
"Hmm, I like these True Dragons. Order always makes wealth circulate more easily and can create more wealth!" Satt said with a low smile.
The middle-aged leader of the Holy Coin Merchant Group silently wiped the sweat from his forehead. When he first received this news, it was only because of the many treasures at the auction, and he hadn't thought of anything else.
But the person in front of him had thought of deeper implications through a simple matter. This ability made the middle-aged man sigh, fortunate that he was merely a glove for those divine officials. If he were also a divine official, he might have been completely devoured long ago.
In fact, Satt was just thinking too much. Kalon, although planning to introduce one or two relatively harmless churches in the future, it wouldn't be now, but after unifying the ideology within the territory.
By then, Kalon could open one or two opportunities, allowing some churches with good relations with him to settle in the territory, but whether they could gain the power of faith from the Dragon Territory would depend on their own abilities.
"Lord Satt's foresight is remarkable. I hadn't thought of this at all," the middle-aged man said, flatteringly and skillfully.
Satt nodded, graciously accepting his subordinate's praise. A smile appeared on his lips: "It doesn't matter. Anyway, we have no other purpose than to enrich these people through trade, bring them happiness, and incidentally offer some faith to the Goddess."
"Hey, tell me, a noble person like me is surely capable of opening up new dioceses for preaching and ascending to a higher rank, right?"
Satt smiled, his white-gloved hands gently clapping together.
Crack!
The thin but tough invitation letter was thrown against the wall, the immense force causing the entire invitation letter to stick completely to the castle wall.
"These True Dragon, damned a thousand times over, actually sent me an invitation letter. Are they mocking me?" The originally calm eyes of the enraged Charal Caesar instantly took on a strange, eerie green hue.
Realizing his emotions were out of control, he immediately stopped, taking deep breaths. "However, the Spring of Life, that kind of thing would be of some help to me. Heh heh, Golden Land, I can send someone to take a look."
Most of those who received the Dragon clan's invitation showed a certain interest. In their view, the Dragon Territory, far removed from many civilizations, posed no threat; instead, it could establish a certain degree of mutually beneficial relationship, if the True Dragon were truly as rumored.
Profit first, no matter in which world, it is always so, even among the gods, it has always been so.
There were also some well-informed Chromatic Dragons who were very interested in this news. In the eyes of these Chromatic Dragons, they couldn't get away from those hateful humans and other races fast enough, so why were these True Dragon so keen on establishing connections with these civilizations?
This is a truth that these Chromatic Dragon will never understand: an isolated civilization is a civilization with no future. Closing oneself off leads to a dead end.
...
Kalon's body was now extremely massive, and standing upright, he resembled a red castle. But compared to the corpse of the adult Green Dragon lying on the ground, some differences could still be seen.
This adult Green Dragon's body exceeded twenty meters, with only two wounds on its entire body. One was a pierced heart, as if penetrated by a concentrated laser, creating a large hole that went completely through the heart.
The other was on its head; the adult Green Dragon's crown-like horns were broken off by immense force, as if during a past battle, an opponent with powerful strength had held its head, snapped off its horns, and then a single fatal attack easily and simply dealt with this adult Green Dragon.
Even after countless years of death, this enormous Green Dragon corpse had not rotted; its body had only shriveled, as if all water and blood had drained from it.
This enormous Green Dragon corpse was found by mages in the center of the ruins, in front of the only intact building. Thanks to this discovery, the exploration team had been very cautious.
It wasn't until the entire ruin was cleared that this intact Mage Tower, mostly submerged in the mud with only two floors exposed, finally revealed itself completely to everyone.
During the War Treant's clearing of the ruins, no danger was found. And judging by the direction of the Green Dragon's corpse, it's highly likely that the Green Dragon, after suffering a fatal injury, struggled to escape the Mage Tower, then finally couldn't hold on and collapsed, dying.
So the danger came from inside the Mage Tower.
This is normal; a mage's Mage Tower is equivalent to a mage's war fortress, and it's not surprising for it to contain terrifying methods within.
Therefore, they could only gradually probe before proceeding with the exploration.
These Elves already belonged to the True Dragon, so Kalon could not simply send these Elves into the Mage Tower to risk their lives for no reason. This would be tantamount to executing them without cause, which is a great taboo for a ruler.
He was an autocratic ruler, but he was not a tyrant, at least not when facing his own subjects.
So these mages could only carefully study the ancient knowledge, using various spells to probe, hoping to find a safe way to explore the ruins.
While the mages were studying the ruins, Kalon was studying the adult Green Dragon's corpse to see what use it still had.
He would not consider it a sacrilege just because he was a Giant True Dragon, and since this Green Dragon had no relation to him, he only had the idea of making use of waste.
However, this Green Dragon had been dead for countless years, and the magic in its body had dried up. The reason it remained uncorrupted was partly due to the special nature of a Giant True Dragon's body, and partly due to the life-filled Green Field Forest plane.
Even its scales could not be used to forge armor, as they had lost the True Dragon Scale's formidable defensive capabilities. And its bloodline was dry, so it could not be moved into a laboratory as a research sample.
And Kalon planned to take the Green Dragon's corpse back to the territory and bury it within the mountain where the True Dragons temple of heroes stood, the place designated as the Heroes Cemetery. But then he felt that this Green Dragon was not worthy.
Ultimately, he decided to drag the Green Dragon's corpse deep into the forest and bury it, allowing the Green Dragon's bones to rest in peace.
But as Kalon finished burying the Green Dragon's corpse, a thick layer of dense fog once again permeated the forest. The strange creature that had once appeared in the mist, the creature resembling a shriveled giraffe, appeared before Kalon's eyes.
This time, this strange creature did not remain indifferent to Kalon's presence as before; this strange creature spoke first.
Its voice, to Kalon, sounded as if it were communicating directly through spirit and soul, rather than the vibrations of physical throat organs.
"Red Dragon, be careful. The soul is the untouchable bottom line of the Gods. Although the gazes of many gods are already drawn to the edge of the world, one day, those high and mighty Gods will get a chance to breathe and cast their gaze upon you!"
Although this strange life was warning Kalon, it was more of a benevolent reminder.
"I have walked the Prime Material Plane for countless years, and all the Giant True Dragon I've seen are the same: greedy, boring, and foolish. You are different, Kalon. I like you very much, so please, don't make a mistake."
"Release those restrained souls. As for the souls that have become your believers, you may keep them. This is a right that even the Gods cannot deprive."
Kalon felt the goodwill of the creature before him. He nodded politely and then said, "Thank you for your kind reminder, mysterious and benevolent being. May I know your name, which is noble by virtue of your character?"
"Katos," the strange creature also nodded. Although its appearance was ugly, in Kalon's eyes it was so beautiful. It said, "I am an envoy dispatched by the Beast Homeland, walking in the material world. Kalon, from the moment you restrained the soul of that Titanoboa, I had already noticed you."
"But you were still wise and restrained. Although you possess the ability to retain souls, you never put this act into practice. Otherwise, I would have had to fight you!"
Upon hearing this, Kalon secretly heightened his vigilance. It was indeed the correct choice not to rashly retain souls back then. In this world, one still needs to remain cautious at all times.
"Thank you for your reminder, Katos. May I ask why the Gods are entangled? As far as I know, many gods have not responded to their believers and church priests for a long time," Kalon's curiosity prompted him to ask his question.
"Many people even speculate that those gods have fallen into some kind of intractable trouble, if it weren't for the fact that those divine officials' divine spells are still useful, they would probably think—" Kalon stopped speaking, not finishing his sentence.
But the strange creature Katos clearly understood Kalon's meaning. It turned its head to look at the sky of this world, hesitating to speak.
Finally, Katos hesitated for a long time, then still shook its head, "I don't know either. After all, that is something belonging to great beings like the gods. However, I do know that those gods were entangled due to the chaos created by the Ancient Magic Empire. To this day..."
The mist gradually thinned, and Katos's figure slowly faded, leaving only its last words: "Be careful, Kalon, don't get too close to those crazy mages. The trouble they've caused is greater than you imagine!"