Chapter 4: Mining

The Iron Dragon Mother glanced at the two bewildered, foolish young dragons.

From Garos's words and gaze, she understood His thoughts.

However, the Iron Dragon Mother had no intention of stopping them.

Regarding squabbles among offspring, unless life and death were involved, she would not interfere in ordinary bullying and oppression.

Besides.

The two young dragons ate and drank from her every day; once full and satisfied, they just wandered aimlessly within the territory, doing nothing of substance, so they should be made to do something useful.

As for the matter of forcing young dragons or hatchlings to mine for oneself.

The Iron Dragon Mother herself could not do it; while evil and cold, she strictly adhered to the rules in her own mind.

But, having Garos do it was entirely reasonable.

"The problem is, your 'mining slaves' also live under my protection."

The Iron Dragon Mother's eyes gleamed as she swished her tail lightly.

Under her gaze, the Red Iron Young Dragon immediately said, "We will provide you with an additional Ten jin heavy raw precious metal ore every month."

"Acceptable."

After a few seconds of silent contemplation, the Iron Dragon Mother nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, Mother. If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave first."

"Go, do what you must do."

Garos turned and walked toward the two young dragons, stopping abruptly before them.

"Samantha, Gordon."

Reciting the names of the Red Dragon Sister and the Iron Dragon Brother, Garos narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "Follow me."

Both dragons looked wary and did not move.

"What do you want to do?"

They asked.

"Of course, to make you mine for me."

Garos grinned.

"On what grounds!"

The two young dragons refused vehemently, finally realizing that the 'mining slaves' Garos had mentioned earlier referred to them.

"On the grounds that I am stronger than you."

Before the words had fully faded, Garos lunged at the Iron Dragon Brother and Red Dragon Sister.

Boom!

With a mighty dragon charge, he slammed head-on into the Iron Dragon Brother, sending him flying.

When their dragon scales collided, dense sparks flew; Garos's scales were unbroken, not a single one lost, while the scales on the Iron Dragon Brother cracked and even shattered in large patches. The entire dragon was driven into the metalized cave wall, emitting a dull thud.

The Red Dragon Sister had just reacted.

Garos twisted his waist and turned; his thick, long tail, covered in blade-like dragon scales, whipped through the air with a piercing shriek.

Boom!

The dragon tail, carrying immense force, struck the Red Dragon Sister's shoulder, tearing through a layer of her scales upon contact, then sending her flying like a broken sack.

"If you don't listen, I will beat you until you do."

Garos lifted his chin, looking down at the two young dragons who had just been knocked down.

"You bastard Garos, let us show you our power!"

The ferocity of the two young dragons was also aroused; their tough and strong dragon bodies allowed them to withstand Garos's previous attacks as if nothing had happened.

They roared and bellowed.

The two young dragons, one year younger than Garos, lunged at him from left and right.

With a one-year age difference, it would normally be difficult to fight two opponents alone.

But.

Unlike Garos, the Red Dragon Sister and the Iron Dragon Brother lacked the awareness to train independently at such a young age; like most young dragons, they believed that growing up step-by-step would inevitably make them a dominant power, so they lazily accepted their fate and neglected training.

And Garos.

After realizing that dragons were not absolute rulers and that this world was actually fraught with danger, he had consciously begun to train and strengthen himself.

"Hey, let me teach you a lesson."

Garos shook his neck and faced the two young dragons.

Thud, thud, thud!

A series of dull sounds of flesh colliding filled the air.

Just three minutes later.

The two young dragons lay sprawled on the ground, bellies up, appearing to have fainted; they were covered in bruises from Garos's beating, with patches of dragon scales missing from their faces, several teeth missing from their mouths, and even their dragon horns bent askew.

As for Garos, not a single scale had fallen off.

Aside from some dust, the worst injury was on his forearm, where the Red Dragon Sister had bitten him viciously; but because Garos's scales were exceptionally thick and hard, the Red Dragon Sister's teeth ached from the effort, and she only barely managed to crack Garos's scales, leaving a row of small tooth marks, yet not a single drop of blood seeped out.

Beneath the dragon scales lay another layer of dragon skin.

Before the Red Dragon Sister could reach the dragon skin, Garos grabbed her by the horns, yanked her head away, and beat her senseless.

"My dear Garos, I look forward to your future performance."

The Iron Dragon Mother flicked her tail, producing a crisp sound, indicating her satisfaction with Garos's performance.

In fact.

She had always admired Garos; this hybrid dragon possessed talents superior to normal dragons, was exceptionally serious and persistent in his pursuit of power, and had great potential to become a great evil dragon.

Appreciation is appreciation.

Letting Iron Dragon Mother raise Garos for free, it wasn't willing either.

However, now that Garos was trading treasures for food and shelter, Iron Dragon Mother was quite happy to witness Garos's gradual growth.

As for the two hatchlings that had been beaten badly.

Iron Dragon Mother felt no pity at all; instead, she thought they should look for problems within themselves.

"Thank you for your concern, Mother."

Garos replied, then grabbed one in each claw, dragging the red dragon sister and the iron dragon brother by their tails, hauling them out of Iron Dragon Mother's nest.

The two hatchlings had been knocked unconscious by Garos, dead weight.

Carrying them by their tails, he flew to the lake at the center of the sinkhole, and Garos tossed them down.

Plop! Plop!

Countless sprays of water burst out, the scattered droplets glistening under the moonlight.

Garos beat his wings and circled in midair, staring down at the lake below.

Barely ten seconds passed before two figures shot out of the water as if their tails were on fire, and in tacit understanding flew off in different directions, trying to escape from Garos.

Garos flapped his dragon wings.

Under the cool moonlight, his pair of dragon wings were long and broad, with a wingspan of a full twelve meters—twice his body length. The wing membranes were extremely tough, whistling sharply as they cut through the air, the edges as sharp as blades, and they even gleamed with a cold metallic luster.

Whoosh!

The sound of the dragon wings tearing through the air was like a shriek, piercingly shrill.

In the blink of an eye, Garos caught up with the red dragon sister, grabbed her tail in one claw, then swung her around in a full circle and hurled her at the iron dragon brother fleeing the other way.

Boom!

The two hatchlings crashed down together, slamming into the ground and sending gravel and dust flying, with cracks spreading all around.

"Still running? I'll give you a three-second head start."

Garos folded his wings and landed in front of the two hatchlings.

The red dragon sister and the iron dragon brother both wore faces utterly devoid of hope, not daring to defy Garos any longer.

Then, Garos brought them to the place where he often trained at Rishan.

His perception of metal minerals was very keen, and because he came here often, he had sensed the presence of some metal ores, though they lay very deep.

Pointing in a direction, Garos ordered the two to start digging.

The two hatchlings were reluctant, but under Garos's overbearing might, they still submitted and obediently began digging.

Crack! Crack!

The sound of dragon claws digging into the rock rose and fell in succession.

At the same time, Garos flew into the air again and again, then folded his wings, letting his heavy body free-fall to kiss the earth, smashing one deep crater after another into the ground.

This was an even more intense form of training than Rishan.

—Ridi (Sun-Ground).

If the altitude wasn't judged correctly, there was a risk of crippling himself, so Garos didn't train this way very often.

But this time, Iron Dragon Mother's "expulsion" made Garos realize that sooner or later he would have to face danger alone, and so he longed even more to become stronger.

The two hatchlings couldn't understand Garos's strange behavior at all, digging at the mountain while grumbling and consoling themselves.

The red dragon sister spat, spitting out a pebble from her mouth, and muttered: "Garos isn't right in the head; sooner or later he'll cripple himself falling, and then we'll be free."

The iron dragon brother had just smashed a hard rock with his dragon horn.

Shaking the dust and gravel from his face, he chimed in viciously: "Not just free—once that happens, we'll force him to find ores for us and dig for us!"

Thinking of the wonderful future of bullying Garos and making him dig for ores to accumulate treasures for them.

The two hatchlings digging for ore didn't even feel tired anymore, the corners of their mouths curving up in pleasure, their claws instinctively digging a bit faster.

(End of chapter)