Now that she had calmed down, Vienna realized just how embarrassing her behavior had been. Her expression shifted through a flurry of emotions—from relief to gravity, then sudden realization, followed by a sense of inevitability, and finally, a touch of resentment.
Vienna's expressions were fully observed by Deldi.
"What exactly is going on?"
Vienna glanced at him, having no intention of hiding it.
"I just saw a red dragon's followers."
"What!"
Once Deldi regained his composure, he also felt a lingering sense of dread. Although they were currently in their juvenile stage and wouldn't be killed, it absolutely did not mean they wanted to provoke a red dragon.
After all, red dragons were notorious tyrants—irritable, hot-headed, and prone to attacking directly without regard for consequences or reasons. Their primary draconic philosophy was simply to follow their whims and act with brute force.
They were highly likely to attack even without a reason, let alone when they had the justification of these two green dragons "trespassing on their territory."
Therefore, Deldi firmly believed that once a red dragon sensed their presence, they would definitely be pummeled.
"Heh, but there is no need to worry. Seeing that idiot's followers staying with the red dragon's followers, anyone could figure out with their toes that the idiot has been enslaved by the red dragon.
Otherwise, why would the white dragon's followers be out exploring while the red dragon's followers stay to guard the base?"
"You're right. So, what do you plan to do next?"
Facing Deldi's inquiry, Vienna looked back in the direction they had fled and sighed.
"Sigh... the concept of minding one's own business doesn't exist for red dragons. Let's leave the Sleeping Forest before he realizes we were there."
Hearing this, Deldi frowned.
"Is that really necessary?"
Vienna did not argue with him.
"Don't forget, we are only in a partnership. We will part ways once we reach the adult stage, so I won't stop you whether you stay or leave."
After saying that, Vienna flew toward the Regris Forest in the Kingdom of Whit. Even though she still had some very important things in her lair within the Sleeping Forest, she couldn't worry about them anymore at this point.
Vienna's tone made Deldi very unhappy, but there was nothing he could do. Wyrmlings were still too weak; it was difficult to survive alone in the peril-filled wilderness.
Thus, after hesitating for only a moment, he chased after the direction Vienna had left. He also abandoned the mines within their jurisdiction, even though they contained minerals with many uses.
There were no fools among green dragons; only by sticking together could they survive better.
...
Days passed one by one. Fanni maintained the development of White Crystal City, Erlingzi continued to mine iron ore, and Xiao Shunzi kept slowly expanding their territory toward the Sleeping Forest while searching for mines—especially mana crystal mines. The serpentfolk and demi-humans were busy brewing beer.
As for the remaining followers, they were all put into the construction of the palace.
Besides eating, sleeping, and looking at beautiful things, Jonavili Frator Amody added a new activity: studying alchemy. She tried to develop all sorts of novel gadgets. Occasionally, in a fit of inspiration, she would invent various entertainment games like chess, Aeroplane Chess, and The Great Merchant.
Gris was unable to extricate himself from the various entertainments promoted by Jonavili, immersing himself in them every day.
Furiel would occasionally chat with Jonavili or go out to forage, spending the rest of her time sleeping soundly.
One year later...
"Hehe hehe hehe... Hehe hahahaha! I really am a genius! I'm a genius!!"
Jonavili shouted excitedly inside the palace.
After a year, the original lair in the Dragon Roar Mountains had been leveled, and construction of the palace had begun from the mountainside.
By now, the construction was basically complete. A long staircase connected to the palace entrance, with the Imperial Guard standing watch on both sides.
Although this palace did not have a jaw-dropping sense of golden opulence, the magnificent aura it projected was enough to leave one in awe. From a distance, the entire palace looked like a towering mountain, solemn and majestic.
Inside the palace, Jonavili, who had transformed into her human form, held an alchemical creation thirty centimeters long.
The little girl was surrounded by piles of various discarded parts.
Looking at the dragon-shaped alchemical creation in her hand, Jonavili was overjoyed.
Heaven only knew how long she had spent to complete this masterpiece.
Slowly, her excited mood calmed down, but a proud smile remained on her face.
"Alright, I can't be happy too early. I still need to test if it can operate stably."
With that thought, Jonavili took out an alchemy plaque and injected her mental power.
Subsequently, the glass dragon eyes of the little alchemy dragon lit up with a faint white glow. The core hub in its chest began to start up and operate.
"OK—initiate."
With a thought, the main control magic pattern on the mana crystal at the core hub began to flicker.
"Flight rune."
The mana crystal injected power through the magic circuit into the flight rune, which began to emit a faint glow. Then, the little alchemy dragon slowly flapped its mechanical dragon wings. Under Jonavili's expectant gaze, it slowly rose and eventually hovered in front of her.
"Yes, yes, just like that."
Jonavili locked eyes with the little gadget, the excitement and joy in her eyes completely undisguised.
"OK—next, rotation rune."
Receiving the command, the little alchemy dragon stiffly rotated its body like a helicopter. Although it looked a bit eerie, Jonavili didn't care about such minor flaws at all.
"Yes, yes, take it slow, take it slow."
"Stop."
The little alchemy dragon stopped in front of her, and Jonavili nodded slightly.
"Looks pretty good. Propulsion rune."
The little alchemy dragon flew forward slowly.
"Speed rune."
Visibly, the flight speed of the little alchemy dragon increased significantly, but the set of movements still appeared stiff.
"Shared vision."
In the next second, the runes engraved on the eyes of the little alchemy dragon emitted a faint glow, and the vision seen by the little alchemy dragon appeared in Jonavili's mind.
"Very good. My current maximum control distance is within 70 meters."
...
Jonavili tested it for a while longer and summarized quite a few problems.
"Sigh, there are still quite a few issues. The magic circuit is too cluttered; it should be streamlined. I also need to engrave a magic circle that automatically gathers mana, otherwise I'll have to manually inject it or replace the mana crystal directly, which is too much trouble.
Stiffness is also an issue. I should really practice engraving magic patterns; runes are still a bit lacking."
"Once I reach the master level, I can also try to inject a draconic majesty imprint. That way, I can not only increase this thing's combat power but also make it easier to operate. The power of the magic patterns or runes would be enhanced as well. In short, there are many benefits."
"I'm also running low on mithril. Tsk tsk tsk, come to think of it, damn, why are there so many problems?"
"It seems the future has a long way to go."
Just as Jonavili was about to recall the little alchemy dragon, she suddenly had a thought. She slightly parted her draconic snout into a grin and turned to look toward a certain room in the palace.
"Hehehe—"
Rate on N.U.
