On planet Kala, within a dragon's nest filled with gold and silver treasures.
More than a month had passed since the raid on the second Imaskar Empire's palace and the retrieval of the other imperial artifacts. The coronation ceremony of the Dragon Court's lord, as agreed with the ancient gold dragon, was fast approaching.
After returning.
Garon contacted Lockwood.
According to the gold dragon, the preparations for the coronation ceremony were proceeding smoothly. All legendary dragons on planet Kala, whether they had decided to join the Dragon Court or were still observing, had received news of the impending coronation of the lord of the Dragon Court. They were just waiting for the time to come to travel to the semi-plane where the Dragon Court was located, to see if the legendary Dragon of Time truly existed.
Since there wasn't much time left, Garon hadn't left Kala or traveled to other timelines lately.
He was quietly waiting for the arrival of the coronation ceremony in his dragon's nest.
At this time, between the claws of the silver dragon were two bronze scepters.
One was the second artifact obtained from the second Imaskar Empire, and the other was the same artifact obtained from another timeline.
The two Imaskar scepters looked almost identical.
Besides their appearance, they also emitted the same power, as if they were carved from the same mold.
"It turns out that items from other timelines can be brought out."
Yuna leaned in, staring unblinkingly at the two artifacts, and said.
She had already heard about Garon's experience in the ancient Imaskar Empire and was very surprised.
After pondering for a few seconds, Yuna posed a question to Garon, saying, "Then, can you bring me from another timeline here too?"
"Two of me, face to face, sounds very interesting."
Garon shook his head, saying, "Maybe in the future, but right now, with my abilities, I can't do it."
After chatting with Yuna for a while, Garon once again closely examined the two Imaskar artifacts.
In his mental perception, there seemed to be some connection between these two Imaskar artifacts from different timelines. They emitted a noticeable attraction towards each other, tending to draw closer. If Garon hadn't been holding them, the two bronze scepters would have already flown together.
In Garon's claws, the two scepters trembled slightly.
The tips of the scepters slightly tilted, wanting to touch each other.
"Why does this happen when items from different timelines appear in the same space-time?"
Garon's gaze fell on the two artifacts, quietly observing.
The illusory river of time flowed silently, emerging in Garon's vision.
He saw that around the scepter from the ancient Imaskar Empire, faint waters of time swirled, sending out rings of ripples that touched the main timeline's scepter and entered it. Then, responding to the ancient Imaskar Empire's scepter, the main timeline's scepter also emitted strange fluctuations.
Their unusual behavior seemed to be caused by the river of time.
Garon tried to increase the distance between the two artifacts.
However, the spatial distance seemed to have no effect on their connection. The trend of them drawing closer did not change at all, existing within the river of time, their strange state seemed only related to the river of time.
Thinking it over, Garon exhaled and decided to let nature take its course.
Since they attracted each other, he let go, curious to see what would happen when two artifacts from different timelines touched.
With that thought.
Garon set up many protective spells around the two artifacts, in case of any unforeseen circumstances.
"Let's see what you want to do."
With a flick of his claw, he released the hold on the Imaskar artifacts.
Immediately.
Under Garon's watch, the two unrestricted Imaskar artifacts, emitting invisible time forces, floated in the air under the influence of the river of time and swiftly drew close to each other.
Time seemed to slow down.
The two artifacts traced a straight line through the air, slowly colliding together.
Garon watched intently, his claws wrapped in the dense power of time, ready to seize the two artifacts at any moment.
However, no dangerous situation ensued.
The two bronze scepters touched, inch by inch merging into each other, the metal of the artifacts seemingly becoming like water, seamlessly blending together in a breath's time, forming a single artifact.
"They really merged."
Garon reached out with a claw, picking up the newly formed Imaskar artifact, examining it closely.
In appearance, there was no change after the merger of the two artifacts.
Garon released a strand of magic power, using a simple energy shaping spell.
Crackle!
Chains of lightning spread like a spiderweb through the air, nearly filling the vast dragon's nest, filling the surrounding space with a high temperature and scorched scent.
As the second artifact, the Imaskar scepter was branded with many spells, mostly enchantments to impose negative states on enemies, such as paralyzing spells, dizziness spells, etc. However, as an imperial artifact, the greatest function of the Imaskar scepter was to amplify the casting speed and power of spells.
Ignoring the consumption of magic power, the Imaskar scepter could even amplify the power of spells tenfold.
A simple spell, under the amplification of the Imaskar scepter, could achieve terrifying lethal effects.
The spell that had once pushed Garon to his limits, the Annihilation Sphere, had such terrifying power that it couldn't be confined even by a time-stop area, thanks to the amplification of the Imaskar scepter. Of course, its abilities were not limitless; the colossal consumption of magic power and the strain on mental strength were significant issues.
A regular spellcaster using an amplified spell with several times the power would likely be drained.
When Garon obtained the artifacts on the continent of Faerûn, he had already experimented with their effects and was well aware of them.
With the magic power Garon had just infused into the Imaskar scepter, under normal circumstances, it could amplify the power of spells by about twice, making a third-level Chain Lightning spell have the effect of a fourth-level spell.
But from the recent effect.
The range and power of the Chain Lightning spell were enhanced by more than twice, roughly three times or more.
A third-level spell, under the amplification of this merged Imaskar scepter, achieved the effect comparable to a fifth-level spell, a significant improvement.
"With the same amount of magic power, the amplification effect of the Imaskar scepter has increased, but it hasn't doubled directly. The situation is like two plus two equals three," Garon pondered, holding the new Imaskar scepter, his eyes slightly narrowed.
"If more artifacts from other timelines are merged, one after another, wouldn't it be able to achieve effects comparable to divine artifacts?"
The silver dragon's expression gradually became excited.
Not just the Imaskar artifacts, but if he obtained more powerful equipment in the future, he could also try to merge the same item from other timelines.
However, Garon currently needed the assistance of a time portal to travel through time and space, which required a lot of time and wasn't something he could do at will. He had this idea, but implementing it concretely would be somewhat difficult.
"What would happen if an item from all timelines were merged into one?"
Garon let his thoughts wander, pondering this question.
He shook his head lightly, refocusing his mind, no longer dwelling on this unknown issue.
Timelines are infinite, a single choice by a being can create a different timeline, trying to extract an item from all possible timelines is an impossible task because as Garon travels to other timelines, he is also creating new ones.
So that's a question without an answer.
Although Garon was curious, he wouldn't waste time on an unsolvable problem.
After taking out the other Imaskar artifacts, Garon looked down at the artifacts that were all emitting an invisible attraction towards each other, falling into thought.
"Should I merge these artifacts?"
The merged artifact, looking at the Imaskar scepter, although the quality didn't double directly, the improvement was still significant. The merging of the other artifacts would likely result in the same outcome as the Imaskar scepter.
After thinking it over, Garon collected the other few artifacts.
"Let's not merge them for now."
Garon picked up the only remaining Imaskar scepter and left the dragon's nest, heading to a barren land devoid of life.
Subsequently, the sounds of magical explosions followed one after another.
A great commotion ensued.
As Garon conducted one test after another, his understanding of the new Imaskar scepter's capabilities deepened. With the Imaskar scepter, even spells of the tenth circle could be greatly amplified, and the consumption of magic power was much less compared to before.
The commotion attracted the attention of true dragons living nearby.
Garon had chosen a location between his territory and that of a legendary green dragon.
Due to the intense energy reactions, the legendary green dragon, unaware of what was happening, came to investigate and saw Garon's figure.
The moment it saw Garon, Garon naturally noticed its presence.
This green dragon was an acquaintance, the very ancient green dragon he had hired to enrich his territory with forests.
Having not seen it for some time, Garon noticed it had reached the age of eight hundred, making it an ancient dragon. In Kala, the number of true dragons above ancient dragon status wasn't large.
"Respected lord of the Dragon Court, the green dragon Yax greets you."
In front of Garon, the green dragon bowed respectfully, lowering its head.
Hearing Yax's words, Garon's gaze shifted slightly, asking, "Have you joined the Dragon Court?"
The green dragon nodded, looking up at the fifty-meter-long colossal dragon with reverence, saying, "Yes, dragons who have fought alongside you and are aware of your existence have almost all accepted the invitation from the Court of Time. I have already prepared a congratulatory gift for your coronation ceremony."
After a pause, the green dragon continued, "I believe, after your coronation and the revelation of your true existence, more dragons will choose to join the Dragon Court."
Even among legendary dragons, the gap between them couldn't be overstated.
The green dragon, barely thirty-two meters in length, had a significant size difference from Garon.
Despite being a powerful legendary creature, the green dragon felt the silver dragon before it was even more unfathomable, like an endless ocean. It couldn't gauge Garon's strength, which meant they were not on the same level.
Truly the legendary Dragon of Time, thought the green dragon.
If it hadn't participated in the battle against the avatar of the wilderness god and witnessed the mighty power of time, it wouldn't believe that a time dragon actually existed.
A gift?
Garon looked at the green dragon covered in emerald scales, finding it slightly more pleasing to the eye.
Though knowing dragons' stingy nature, he didn't expect anything valuable, but having something was better than nothing.
"The conflicts between different dragon kinds have intensified recently, even leading to deadly encounters. I hope the situation on Kala will improve with the operation of the Dragon Court after your coronation."
Listening to the ancient green dragon's words, Garon's gaze slightly furrowed, asking, "Dragons have died?"
He knew that without a common enemy, the dragons here wouldn't remain peaceful for long.
But how long since the aberrations were cleared? Just a couple of years, and dragons were dying in conflicts, exceeding Garon's expectations. He thought it would take at least another decade, as dragons rarely kill their defeated foes unless there were deep grudges.
"Yes, some dragons have recently died."
"How many?"
Garon, who spent most of his time in his dragon's nest studying abilities and less aware of the changes in the outside world, inquired of Yax.
The green dragon thought for a moment, saying, "To my knowledge, a total of twelve dragons have died, ranging from young to old, and most died in attacks by dragons of different kinds, including metallic, chromatic, and gem dragons. Those rare dragon kinds haven't had any deaths reported."
"Twelve dragons. Any of them legendary?"
Garon's brow furrowed slightly.
"No."
"The old dragons that died were of the weaker kinds, not including red or silver dragons."
"As you know, by the time they reach legendary status, most dragons can restrain their impulses. Conflicts between legendary dragons are rarer."
Garon nodded slightly, not saying anything more.
It's just the nature of dragonkind; such situations are hard to completely avoid.
The purpose of establishing the Dragon Court wasn't to suppress or change the nature of dragonkind. Whether in other material worlds or in Kala, the dragon kingdom, conflicts and struggles between dragons are inevitable. A certain degree of strife and friction can also help true dragons hone their claws and teeth.
In discussions with Lockwood, the original intent of the Dragon Court was to ease the internal contradictions among dragonkind, not to let large-scale, uncontrollable infighting occur.
Therefore, reducing the occurrence of death incidents was necessary.
The Dragon Court doesn't need to overly regulate ordinary conflicts.
Fighting to the point of broken scales and limbs flying is acceptable, but if someone kills another without a proper motive, the Dragon Court wouldn't turn a blind eye.
After a brief conversation, the green dragon left.
Garon continued testing the capabilities of the Imaskar scepter until he understood them completely, then returned to his dragon's nest.
After pondering for a while, Garon decided to merge the Imaskar artifacts after all.
Apart from the Imaskar spell ring, the quality of the first to sixth imperial artifacts all improved, with enhanced effects and less strain on themselves. If he could merge another Imaskar spell ring, Garon believed he might be able to activate seven artifacts simultaneously.
There's always been a legend circulating in the Imaskar Empire, both the ancient and the second.
When the seven artifacts are used by one person simultaneously, they would gain power comparable to that of gods.
But no one has ever succeeded.
Not even the demigod Artificer angels could do it.
Time gradually passed, and almost a month went by.
In the quiet dragon's nest, a golden dragon scale trembled, sending Garon a message.
The moment of the Dragon Court lord's coronation was approaching.
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