Chapter 63

Gray Stone Dragon Fortress.

Three years later, the seven black and one white dragons gathered again in the council hall.

On the central throne, the black dragon propped up its front claws, lowered its hind claws, looked around, and slowly opened its mouth to say,

"What are your thoughts on the undead? Speak up, let's hear."

They had already learned all information about the undead from Huo Ge; now is the time to make a decision.

Although Lai Ang is the leader of the dragons, we must also respect the opinions of the other dragons.

Ai Di, Sai Jia, Pa Na, and the like are not its servants or retainers.

"Charge straight to their door!" Sai Jia said angrily, and also said, "Our warriors are far stronger than those skeletons; they should be the ones feeling afraid."

"I think Sai Jia makes sense." The black dragon 'Da Gen' echoed.

"I think we should be patient, wait for the enemy to reveal a flaw, then strike in one go to kill that filthy undead controller." Ai Di expressed a different opinion.

"Ai Di is right; no one knows what tricks the spellcaster hides, and I also think we shouldn't act first, waiting for the best opportunity." The black dragon 'Fu Lan Qi' said in a low voice.

It is the elder brother of Da Gen and the female dragon Ma Er, with a steadier temperament.

"What about you few?" Lai Ang looked at Ai Erduo, Pa Na, and Ma Er, who had not yet voiced their opinions.

"I lean toward Ai Di and Fu Lan Qi's approach." Ai Erduo said cautiously.

It is relatively afraid of death.

After learning that a spellcaster lay behind the skeleton army, Ai Erduo thought of the magical power of Leader Lai Ang.

If the opponent is a powerful spellcaster, who knows if we won't be taken away by a single spell?

Its dragon rank has not yet broken through to Fourth Rank; given that the opponent can control so many skeleton undead, conservatively, the spellcaster's rank is also Fourth Rank.

Fourth-rank attack spells can seriously injure a Third-Rank dragon, possibly striking a vital spot and even killing it outright.

If instead it were a martial artist cultivating battle energy, then the opponent would have reached Fifth Rank, and Ai Erduo would not be so cautious.

Even if the opponent cannot fly or release battle qi for long-range attacks, what does it matter if they are stronger than it?

As long as we are careful and keep our distance, at least our lives can be safeguarded.

"We'll follow the leader's orders." The female dragon 'Ma Er' said.

"Me too, me too." Another female dragon 'Pa Na' echoed.

The seven dragons looked toward Lai Ang, waiting for it to make the final decision.

Lai Ang thought for a moment and voiced its opinion,

"Being too aggressive would be dangerous, but we can't be too passive either; we will dispatch our respective retinues to lead the Scaleclaw tribe's warriors in clearing out those skeletons—kill enough of them and the enemy will naturally not sit still."

"And if the enemy shows itself, we will selectively act based on its displayed strength—if we can kill it, we do so directly; if we cannot, or if it is too strong, we can contact the three juvenile green dragons of Forest Fortress."

Forest Fortress is the Emerald Dream faction nearest to the Scaleclaw Tribe.

They are all part of the same faction, so seeking help together when danger arises is perfectly normal.

Lai Ang never felt its strength was exceptionally great; it merely felt confident that among peers of the same rank, it was not weak, and few could match it.

Having background and influence, we should make use of them; they are not some wild lord dragons.

"This method is not bad." Ai Di praised, but added, "Those three green dragons of Forest Fortress should be willing to help, but likely we'll have to pay an equivalent price."

Being of the same faction is fine, asking for help is fine, but you can't expect free assistance, can you?

Even blood brothers settle accounts clearly; coming at risk and rushing over, expending effort to help you solve a problem, they'll certainly want some compensation.

At worst, even if you're thick‑skinned, you'll still owe a dragon's favor.

"We don't have much treasure, Leader—are you planning to use those two sixth‑rank magic cores?" Ai Erduo asked curiously.

Lai Ang was speechless, glanced at Ai Erduo, and thought this guy had grown bolder just to keep his treasure from being taken.

He actually dared to probe its magic core.

Lai Ang said lightly, "There's no need to use our currently stored treasures; the silver spider silk produced by the cave monster spider is sufficient as a substitute."

"I will quickly succeed in making the 'monster spider's magic potion' as payment; by then those three green dragons will likely be eager to come help us to obtain the potion." Ai Di added, but in the short term it actually only has the confidence to research a first‑rank 'monster spider's magic potion,' which would likely be useless for the juvenile green dragons.

Ai Erduo and Pa Na had been guarding the Scaleclaw Tribe for three years, and besides, they hadn't had a chance to mention the cave monster spider earlier, so neither of them knew about it.

Now that he knew, Ai Erduo's dragon eyes lit up; he seemed to see a future where his lair piled high with gold and silver magic cores and other treasures, and he immediately flattered the black dragon on the central throne: "No wonder you're the leader—your strength and wisdom far surpass ours, actually managing to find this rare cave monster spider tribe."

"Alright, meeting adjourned." Lai Ang announced the end of this dragon fortress council.

The dragons each flew away from the throne; some flew outside the dragon fortress, like Ai Erduo, who felt an itch for the cave monster spiders that could produce 'treasure'.

Others felt tired and just wanted to sleep soundly.

Gray Stone Dragon Fortress kept growing larger, having undergone two expansions in these three years, and it can be expected that such expansions will occur many more times in the future.

As envisaged, every future dragon prince will possess his own dragon fortress.

Lai Ang returned to its nest inside Gray Stone Dragon Fortress.

The square space is about a thousand square meters, the floor paved with colorful, attractive pebbles.

The black dragon lay comfortably on the pebble bed; the friction between its scales and the pebbles brought a rather pleasant sensation.

Dragons like to sleep on gold and silver treasure; besides their innate love for wealth, the elemental power naturally gathered by the treasure and the hard friction experience are also reasons.

"The Water Pearl spell is nearly max level; let's practice it a bit."

With a thought, Lai Ang instantly unleashed the first‑tier spell 'Water Pearl' that it had been studying in spare moments over these years.

With Level 9 Water Pearl plus Lai Ang's Third‑Rank peak spiritual power, releasing this spell is almost instantaneous.

Round, rolling blue beads encircled the dragon's body.

This spell has an automatic defense function and can be pre‑released; maintaining it for a long time requires only a tiny bit of spiritual power.

However, this first‑tier spell is too weak; even at max level it can only block attacks from Second‑Rank creatures, making this defensive ability optional for Lai Ang.

But what Lai Ang values is not this spell's defensive effect, but its inherent trait.

After several hours, the proficiency of Water Pearl reached max level, with no further upgrades possible.

The information that spells could be fused entered Lai Ang's mind.

Lai Ang's mind sank into his mental space, taking the acid dragon breath rune from the first idle slot and then placing it into the third-circle spell 'Tide Shield'.

Tide Shield is also something he learned over the past three years, without any boost from the idle slot, relying entirely on Lai Ang's own comprehension and study; its level has only reached 1.

Its defensive power is not bad; breaking through requires considerable effort against Third Rank attack power, and Fourth Rank attack power can still be partially resisted. Moreover, Tide Shield also possesses a weak healing ability for injuries.

With a thought, Lai Ang touched the already max-level first-circle water pearl rune with the Tide Shield rune inside the idle slot.

"Fusion."

After waiting a while, the fusion succeeded.

【Unknown Spell】

【Level】: third-circle 1 (36/150)

【Fusion Traits】: 1 Reserve (the released Tide Shield can persist for a long time as 2 instances), 1 Defense Boost (on top of the base, defense ability gets a slight increase), 1 Auto Defense (auto defense against incoming attacks) "Well, let's just keep calling it Tide Shield." Lai Ang casually gave this fused spell its original name.

It also glanced at its current panel information.

【Dragon Race Level】: Fourth Rank (8.5 m) innate-type spell: Dragon Might: Second Rank 9 (8/50)

Acid Dragon Breath: Fourth Rank 1 (255/500)

Levitation: First Rank 1 (0/20)-【Caster Level】: Third Rank mastered spells:

Third-circle spells: Berserk (max-level, 1 all-attribute boost), Tide Shield (1, 1 reserve, 1 defense boost, 1 auto defense), Chain Water Cannon (2) Second-circle spells: Water Demon Cannon (max-level, 2 casting speed increase, 1 spell damage increase, 1 auto homing) First-circle spells: Water Pearl (max-level), Water Shield (5), Mage's Eye (max-level), Breath Barrier (4), Mage's Hand (3) Zeroth-circle tricks: Small Water Ball (max-level), Weak Power Boost (max-level), Weak Agility Boost (max-level), Homing Missile (max-level)

Black Dragon Contemplation: Third Rank 4 (30/150)-【Warrior Level】: Fourth Rank Black Water Battle Qi: Fourth Rank 4 (21/500)-During the nearly three years since returning to Emerald Academy, the first idle slot was used to boost the acid dragon breath rune, raising the Second Rank acid dragon breath to the current Fourth Rank.

Speaking of power, the dragon breath has now become Lai Ang's strongest long-range attack trump card.

The continuous Fourth Rank dragon breath spew, a dual magical-physical attack, is enough to make beings of the same Rank feel despair.

The second idle slot was used to boost the third-circle spell 'Berserk'; after the Berserk spell's idle training reached max level, Lai Ang, to further enhance its effect, deliberately spent some energy learning the zeroth-circle trick 'Weak Agility Boost'.

Subsequently, the two max-level tricks 'Weak Agility Boost' and 'Weak Power Boost' were fused with the Berserk spell, granting this spell an additional trait of 1 all-attribute boost.

The max-level third-circle Berserk spell is already not much weaker than ordinary fourth-circle spells; adding this 1 trait makes its effect roughly equivalent to that of fourth-circle boost spells, while the mana and spiritual power consumption is only a seventh or eighth of that of fourth-circle spells, and the casting speed is also much faster.

This is also one of Lai Ang's important trump cards today.

Furthermore, with the Seventh Rank Alchemy Weapon 'Platinum Sword' bestowed by the Dragon Mother, Lai Ang's own trump cards now total three.

"Once the first-circle spell 'Water Shield' is maxed out, I'll fuse it into the third-circle spell 'Tide Shield'." Lai Ang thought to himself.

Learning spells is a very difficult and tedious task.

However, with increased spiritual power and the knowledge gained from boosting multiple third-circle spells via idle training, Lai Ang now finds learning tricks and first-circle spells much easier than before.

These low-level spells, once learned and understood to max level, can then be fused with the strongest spells to enhance their power and effect.

This is a rather practical use of the idle slot that Lai Ang has come to realize.

Lai Ang glanced at the first idle slot, where the Fourth Rank 1 acid dragon breath was still being idly trained, and at the second idle slot, which held the Fourth Rank 4 Black Water Battle Qi; his dragon eyes slightly narrowed as he began to rest and recuperate.

As Ai Di and the others said, asking for help from the Forest Fortress Green Dragon was merely a helpless measure, only used as a last resort.

If one can solve it oneself, it's certainly best to do so. I've heard that spellcasters are quite wealthy.

(End of Chapter)