Chapter 101 “Waste Dragons”
"Let go," Muria commanded as he stared at the red dragon who had bitten his calf without even opening his eyes and refused to release it.
If it weren't for Muria activating his dragon bloodline in that instant, causing golden dragon scales to sprout on his calf, the dragon's powerful bite would have certainly left teeth marks.
"Muria," the red dragon, Auston, fully awake now after taking out his morning grumpiness on Muria's leg, saw Muria and spread his wings, attempting to pounce on him.
But Muria, with a look of disgust, slapped him aside. Yet, Auston was persistent; even after being flung to the ground, he crawled back to Muria's feet, grabbing the same leg he had bitten.
"Muria, can you let me go back?" Auston looked utterly miserable, "I really can't be without Bonnie."
"Who's Bonnie?" Muria asked, frowning.
"Bonnie is the name of the succubus you gave to my big brother," Cynthia chimed in from behind Muria, making a face as if she was ashamed to acknowledge this brother.
"Succubus!" Muria's expression darkened, recalling the sight of this lust-driven dragon using illusion to transform into a handsome red-haired young man, who was rubbing the succubus Muria had given him against the ground.
And that succubus... remembering the look of utter despair on its face, Muria felt a wave of sympathy. It made him wonder if Auston had relentlessly vented on the poor creature since receiving it, which could explain the demon's hopeless expression.
"Let me go back, Muria," Auston pleaded as he clung to Muria's leg, looking pitiful, "This isn't the place for me."
"That's impossible, you can only stay here," Muria immediately refused the request of this lustful 'waste dragon.'
When Muria had first asked Auston if he wanted to come to the land of the Titans, the dragon had only one condition: to bring the succubus along. Muria, of course, flatly refused.
Demons that appear in the land of the Titans are only welcome as corpses.
Auston had outright rejected Muria's offer in response.
Then, Muria had forcibly subdued Auston, dragging him to the land of the Titans after incapacitating him.
Asking the dragons for their consent was merely a formality, providing them the illusion of choice. Regardless of their decision, Muria planned to bring all the dragons along, keeping them close to erode their wills gradually.
Having seen the epic companions of three legendary leaders, Muria also aspired to influence. While his bloodline had some effect on the dragons, it wasn't as pronounced as it was with the giants, a fact he could verify from Claudia's reactions.
So, Muria intended to keep all the dragons with him, using time to let his bloodline gradually influence them, ideally turning them completely into his own followers.
However, achieving this would be challenging. Dragons are higher beings, and Muria's bloodline had minimal effect on them; the only real influence was on the so-called disgrace of the chromatic dragons, the white dragons. The red dragons showed no changes at all.
"How can I make you let me go back?" Auston looked hopelessly at Muria, finding life without the succubus unbearable.
Especially since Muria, that scoundrel, wouldn't allow him to enter long periods of hibernation, forcing him to memorize boring spell books and learn complex incantations.
"Let you go back?" Muria eyed the restless red dragon, stroking his chin. Dragons are inherently energetic creatures, and he had let these adolescent dragons taste pleasure without allowing more, which was indeed quite draconian. "It's not impossible."
"Really?" Hope lit up in Auston's eyes, radiating a fierce red glow.
"But you can only stay there for one day," Muria said with a mischievous smile. "And there's a condition: the level four spells in the spellbook I gave you, have you learned them?"
"I..." Auston's claws tightened around Muria's leg. Having been tossed into this place without even a proper den, and having had to dig his own cave, he had no inclination to study magic.
"Uh-huh," Muria extracted his leg from Auston's claws. "From your reaction, I guess you haven't even opened the book. You're better off staying here."
"Don't be like this," Auston pleaded as Muria turned to leave, clinging to his leg again. "Muria, give me a little more time, I promise I'll learn the level four spells in the book."
"It's too late," Muria said coldly. "Even if you learn them, I won't let you go back."
"Unless..." Muria pulled out a spellbook written in Draconic from his ring and tossed it in front of Auston. "If you learn all the spells from this book and the previous one within a month, you can go back and stay with your succubus for one day."
"Muria, can you give me a bit more time?" Auston asked sheepishly. "A month isn't enough."
"Scram," Muria pulled free and kicked the lust-driven dragon. "You haven't even learned the spells, don't bother me. Claudia is already starting to learn level five spells."
"Claudia is a different breed of dragon," Auston muttered as he was kicked into the stone wall. "I'm just a strong common red dragon, how can I compare with her?"
"Waste dragon," Muria muttered under his breath, frustrated that a red dragon, supposedly the strongest of the chromatic dragons, would contentedly accept being inferior to a white dragon.
"Come on, let's go see your other two brothers," Muria said, annoyed with Auston, as he headed out of the cave, signaling the two red dragon girls to follow.
"As your sister, you could at least try a little," Cynthia said before they left, her voice tinged with disappointment.
"Brother? When did any of you treat me as such?" Auston grumbled. "And since when do red dragons at our age study magic? Not just us chromatic dragons, even among the metallic dragons, few young dragons study magic. That's something only old dragons and ancient dragons delve into."
"Learning this stuff early won't hurt you," Cynthia retorted, following Muria out of Auston's cave.
Muria then led the two dragon girls to the caves of the other two adolescent red dragons. Their situation was just like Auston's, making Muria sigh that they truly deserved each other as brothers.
He used the same method with these two 'waste dragons,' tempting them with the promise of returning to Taiji Island for a day with their succubus as a reward for learning their spells.
Finally, Muria checked on all the other chromatic dragons, setting up tasks for them to learn spells before returning to his mountaintop residence.
Muria had brought all the chromatic dragons to live in the Titan realm not only to influence them with his bloodline over time but also because the elemental concentration here was dozens of times higher than in the outside world. The Titan realm was like a magical paradise
, beneficial for the growth and development of dragons.
Only the adolescent red dragons in heat were scheming to return to Taiji Island; none of the younger chromatic dragons expressed any dissatisfaction with their environment, especially the green dragons who were most content.
As for the others, while the perennial spring environment of the Titan realm took some getting used to, compared to the comfort of living in a high-magic environment, any discomfort was negligible.
With their robust constitutions, dragons could adapt to many extreme and harsh environments, even thriving in the toxic air of the abyss...
Time passed quietly and irreversibly. Muria's days were filled with urgency; each day, Cassio scheduled at least three battles for him.
After these battles, Cassio would transport Muria to the abyssal training grounds to fight endless demons for six hours, ending his daily routine of combat.
Occasionally, Mikaela would invite Muria to Cloud City for a battle, and sometimes Muria would invite her to his own arena for a fight away from the gaze of any angels or celestial progeny.
Under the harsh training with Mikaela, other Titans of her age, and legendary creatures, Muria's martial skills and mastery of various weapons slowly improved. Gone were the days when his weapon would be knocked away within a few dozen exchanges.
Muria's life was busy, yet it was no longer as austere as before.
He was surrounded by three red dragon girls who could transform into beautiful young women, ready to serve him by keeping him company, warming his bathwater, and so on. And as for Claudia, although she claimed to be Muria's personal maid, she never actually served him in that capacity. After arriving at Muria's residence, she almost never left the house, spending her days buried in books Muria had collected, only occasionally discussing magic with him.
And then there was Tohru, the white tiger with whom Muria had formed a contract, one of the luckiest things Muria felt had happened to him. This 'big cat' was not only good for petting but also for sleeping.
To be clear, since Tohru had moved into Muria's home, Muria no longer slept on a hard stone bed but instead transformed into a small human boy and meditated sitting on Tohru, whose snowy white fur replaced the function of the stone bed.