The Red Dragon Just Wants To Do As It Pleases-Chapter 44 - 43: The Year Without a Summer

A few days later, David took a fancy to a natural geothermal area slightly lower than the Dragon Mother’s nest, located about a hundred kilometers from Katjana’s main crater. It was one of the potential nesting areas the Drow had selected.

Under Drow planning, the newly hatched White Hatchling Dragon, Mofei, and more than two hundred High Elf prisoners of war were coerced into free labor. They began to break ground and work in the piercing cold wind.

Some Elf Spellcasters directly used Mud-to-Stone to cast the solidified volcanic ash from a recent eruption into neat blocks of stone for construction.

The Elf Druids then used Animal Friendship or Animal Communication. They summoned some onlooking llamas, yaks, and woolly mammoths to serve as beasts of burden.

Unexpectedly, the most diligent and productive worker turned out to be Mofei, the White Hatchling Dragon, who had hatched only a few days prior.

A Drow of enchanting beauty, Hiatt, casually sat on the hatchling’s neck. When the dragon slacked off, she would wave a small whip in her hand, reminiscent of a succubus, and give it a few gentle lashes. After some hard work, she would feed it a dried fish from the ice sea and whisper softly beside its ear frills.

Under this combination of carrot and stick, Mofei transformed instantly, as if under the influence of some strange potion. The White Dragon, typically seen by the elves as the epitome of stupidity and laziness, became a diligent and honest little draft animal.

In comparison, the progress on the High Elves’ side started to look slow.

In fact, the morale of these High Elves was on the verge of collapse.

The weather in Katjana was already extremely cold, and the season was supposed to be transitioning into spring. But after the supervolcano’s eruption a few days earlier, time seemed to reverse, plunging them back into a sunless and bitterly cold winter.

At this rate, it wasn’t just likely that spring would never arrive; the entire year might become an extremely rare phenomenon: a Year Without Summer.

Some worried Elf Spellcasters suggested that, given the intensity of the eruption, the volcanic ash scattered into the atmosphere might well cover the New Continent and even the entire material plane.

Under such terrible weather, the forest companions they had cajoled into helping also refused to work.

We only came for a few pine nut and chestnut cakes, they fumed internally, and you’re trying to take our damn lives for it! Are you trying to work us to death?!

As the animal companions began to collectively slack off and protest, the Elf Druids and Spellcasters conferred and promptly shed their facade of Kindness.

Their spells transitioned from the initially gentler Animal Friendship and Animal Communication to the harsher Tame Beast and Control Animal.

As more and more animal laborers went on strike or fled, these long-eared beings, ever ready to sacrifice others to save their own skins, resorted to drastic measures. They used the Magical Mark they had secretly applied earlier to directly cast Summon Animal Companions, forcibly recalling those ’partners’ who had run away or even fallen deep into slumber.

Dazed and confused, the once-harmonious animal companions and Elves now regarded each other with nothing but mutual aversion. freewebnøvel_com

These long-eared beings had betrayed the trust of nature!

Seeing that the construction of his new Dragon Nest was proceeding smoothly under the management of the Drow siblings, Hiatt and Kraidian, David, the master of this Dragon Nest, could finally relax.

After the disposals group, led by the Drow Hiatt, set sail from the port, David incinerated the wreckage of the thoroughly looted ships with a blast of his Fire Dragon Breath.

The High Elves, who had been secretly plotting the ’Great Escape from the Old Continent’—intending to sail across the ocean on tiny planks—lost their last glimmer of hope and became somewhat more docile and obedient.

They were without ships, stripped of their weapons and armor. Furthermore, they were tied tightly in bunches with hard, cold seaweed as a form of collective punishment. In this state, they couldn’t ensure their own survival if they tried to leave the relatively warm volcanic geothermal area during this completely altered and cruelly cold spring.

Moreover, it was foreseeable that with their actions exposed and the awakening of the Crimson Calamity, no new ships would arrive for the next few years.

They had been utterly forgotten by the New Continent.

It’s better to live a wretched life than to die a good one, they reasoned.

At least the Evil Dragon hadn’t actually forced them to dig potatoes for a living.

While working, they could sneak a few bites of the animal companions they had become familiar with. With this supplement of fats and calories, they wouldn’t be reduced to skin and bones by such heavy physical labor.

Most importantly, there was Kraidian. He’s so adorable, they thought. And so gentle and beautiful, always understanding the hearts of elves. He completely shattered their longstanding stereotype of the Drow as cunning and cruel. To them, it was as though an angelic sister had descended from the Heaven of Seven Hills to redeem their souls. Whenever they felt weary in body and soul, a simple, plain word of comfort from Kraidian, who was often seen riding the White Dragon, was like a bowl of hot, heartwarming chicken soup capable of melting the ice in their hearts. As time passed, some High Elves even began to secretly pray to Kraidian, and it seemed as though the practice was becoming contagious.

Watching the High Elves, who had all transformed into ’model prisoners,’ David was quite satisfied with the current situation, though he hadn’t yet found the underlying reason for their change. He casually issued a few instructions to Kraidian, then returned to the temporary lair he had gnawed out five years prior, taking with him the three dead eggs and several large canvas-wrapped bundles of elven ’spoils of war.’

He planned to enter a brief hibernation to recover from the injuries sustained in the previous battle.

In fact, more than half a month had passed. The superficial wounds inflicted by the elves had mostly healed. Only the regrowth of missing scales in patches here and there required more time.

What really needed some nourishment and time to heal were the thirteen ribs broken by his Silver Dragon sister, Tania, and the dragon wings she had crushed, which still ached. The Dragon Mother’s seemingly terrifying Fire Dragon Breath, on the other hand, hadn’t caused much damage due to his inherent fire resistance as a Red Dragon.

Besides healing his wounds, David also planned to undertake another task: He planned to try using the Authority of Lust to ’upgrade and remodel’ his own body.

Yes, a literal upgrade and remodel.

As he had become more familiar with his Authorities over the past few days and understood them better, he had gradually figured out some of their workings.

Arrogance allowed him to bend reality with his will; Jealousy allowed him to anchor a target and ’take its place’; Wrath allowed him to vent emotions and share perceptions; Sloth allowed him to spread laziness, encouraging everyone to slack off together; Gluttony allowed him to rapidly devour and accelerate his growth.

And Lust, it seemed, was not just about the narrow pursuit of eroticism. Rather, it was more like encouraging him to constantly break his own limits, pursuing various ultimate experiences to achieve self-’sublimation.’

This also made it harder to satisfy than the other Authorities.

The other Authorities might require a reference or a target object. While their conditions could be somewhat demanding, they all shared the characteristic of being repeatable.

For instance, as long as he genuinely felt rage from the depths of his heart, he could continuously invoke Wrath. It also seemed that by repeatedly invoking Wrath, he could continuously expand its threshold. It was the legendary ’a moment of rage is a moment of bliss; to remain ever enraged is to remain ever in bliss.’

As a Red Dragon, he was practically a perpetual motion machine in this regard.

Only Lust was completely different. Once he had experienced something new, that same experience could never satisfy Lust again.

For example, no matter how much he now increased the kinetic output of his reverse breath, Lust wouldn’t give it a second glance.

But if he wanted to continue enjoying the power of Lust, he had to constantly surpass himself...

This is so bloody frustrating.

Lust...

??? David thought.

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