In the plane of Dragon Court, within the Eternal Hall and the dragon's nest, Garon didn't stay long in the Five-Color Realm. After learning about the upcoming plans from the Dragon Queen and engaging in brief small talk, he left the Five-Color Realm.
Next, he was headed to the Star Realm.
But before that, Garon had some preparations to complete.
Illuminated by treasures of all kinds, the dragon's nest was a kaleidoscope of colors. Yuna was deep in sleep, replenishing the mental energy consumed by her practice of Titanization, while a silver dragon lay across the other side, a dragon scale transforming into a small, exquisitely detailed mirror.
The Time Divine.
This object, which Garon intended to use as an avatar, wasn't yet a proper avatar.
Although Garon had used it many times and nourished it with the power of time and mental energy for nearly a century, it was, in accurate terms, still a handy tool rather than an avatar.
Creating a true avatar wasn't simple.
The most crucial step was to infuse it with a soul.
And this soul couldn't be that of another creature.
It had to be Garon's own.
This required Garon to voluntarily tear off a fragment of his own soul and insert it into the Time Divine. Now, the Time Divine was almost ready; only the soul fragment was missing.
"Tearing the soul."
"It is said to be the most painful experience."
"Many evil beings enjoy using this method to torture their enemies."
Garon took a deep breath, thinking to himself.
However, Garon was not hesitant; instead, he was somewhat eager to try it.
Dragons have a dull sense of pain, at least duller than humans, which is why it's common to see dragons heavily wounded in battle, sometimes even missing half their body, yet still maintaining a vigorous fighting spirit.
"Let's begin."
In the dragon's nest, the silver dragon focused and closed its eyes.
After closing his eyes, Garon saw himself in the darkness, his own soul.
The soul, that is, the aggregate manifestation of the mind, spirit, will, and thought. After becoming powerful enough, it gains the ability to affect reality.
The soul's power of dragons is superior among all races.
Dragon's might is actually a manifestation of a powerful soul.
Mental spells with negative effects are typically ineffective against dragons because their inherently powerful souls can resist or even completely negate such attacks.
As a demi-god dragon.
Garon's soul had become so strong that it could materialize.
This was something he could do even when he was at the legendary level.
Essentially, all legendary casters and most legendary creatures possess soul powers that can affect reality.
The involuntary shiver and awe that ordinary creatures feel in the presence of legendary beings are due to the unintentional emanation of the legendary beings' soul powers.
Garon's soul looked exactly like his physical body, with no discernible differences.
Even Garon's soul world had a virtual treasure-laden dragon's nest, where the soul lay just like his physical form.
If one paid close attention, they could perceive the invisible barriers protecting the soul.
For others to breach these barriers and tear apart Garon's demi-god soul would be as difficult as reaching the heavens.
But for him to do it himself, there was no resistance.
Exhaling slowly, Garon's expression became solemn, his thoughts more focused than ever.
At the same time.
The soul Garon opened his eyes, revealing platinum dragon eyes identical to his physical form.
The soul Garon slowly stood up and then reached towards his chest with his dragon claw, the sharp claw touching the dragon scales formed by his soul power.
Garon willed it.
Hisss!
The dragon claw tore through the dragon scales.
At the same time.
A heart-piercing pain surged forth.
It felt like a red-hot iron rod had been thrust into Garon's brain, or as if an axe had split his body in two—ordinary damage to the soul caused Garon unprecedented pain.
A gasp echoed through the dragon's nest.
Garon endured the pain, his soul brutally tearing at itself.
Crack!
A chunk of flesh with dragon scales was directly gouged out.
The unimaginable pain spread to every cell in Garon's body at the same time, stimulating his nerves so much that he nearly blacked out.
"The pain, truly as infamous as its reputation."
Garon opened his eyes.
Looking down, he now saw an irregular, translucent crystal in his dragon claw, radiating pulses of soul power that slightly distorted the surrounding space.
Garon could feel the connection between himself and this soul fragment.
Aside from the lingering, electrifying pain that coursed through his body, Garon also felt a kind of weakness, not of the body, but of the spirit and mind.
A deep sleepiness rose up.
Enduring the pain and drowsiness
, Garon placed the soul fragment into the Time Divine.
Time seemed to slow down.
The moment the soul fragment touched the mirror-like Time Divine, they merged seamlessly, indistinguishable from each other. Garon now felt as if he could manipulate the Time Divine as easily as moving his own limbs.
A glow surrounded the Time Divine.
Quickly, it transformed into a small dragon that looked just like Garon, from the color of its scales to the winding curvature of its horns, though it was less than one percent the size of Garon, with the Time Divine located at the heart of this small dragon.
This transformed dragon of the Time Divine had eyes as vivid as if they were alive.
The platinum eyes of this dragon showed an expression identical to Garon's.
"The original body, you need to rest now."
The Divine Dragon shook its head, looking at Garon who was examining himself, and spoke in the dragon language.
The Divine Dragon, being a fragment of Garon's own soul, shared a mental link with him and was under his control, so Garon wasn't surprised by its speech.
In fact, the conversation between Garon and the Divine Dragon could be considered a kind of soliloquy.
"You too, you've just been born, and you are still very fragile."
Garon looked down at the Divine Dragon and said.
The Divine Dragon nodded, then coiled its body and shrank back into a dragon scale, attaching itself to Garon's body and blending in with his other scales.
This avatar was now fully prepared.
If he could successfully ascend to godhood and seize the divine power and authority of the gods of destiny and history, Garon would have a Time God avatar, which might even be stronger than his original self in a short period.
As for the avatar betraying the original body, a rare event.
It was actually a part of Garon, under his control, and lacked the capability to do so.
Having such an avatar had significant benefits.
It was akin to placing eggs in two baskets, providing an alternative path if one day Garon's original body encountered a deadly situation. Through the Divine Dragon, he could be reborn and then find a way to revive his original body.
Soul tearing is a serious injury for any creature.
However, because the torn soul fragment was small, Garon's injury wasn't severe.
And since dragons recover quickly from spiritual and mental injuries through deep sleep, he woke up from his slumber just a few months later, his soul fully healed and his vitality restored to its peak.
Meanwhile.
During Garon's slumber, Yuna had fully mastered Titanization.
Next, Garon convened the Ancient Council again, informing them of his imminent departure from the Prime Material Realm to the Star Realm battlefield.
Upon hearing Garon's words, the legendary dragons were somewhat surprised.
After a moment of silence, the Ancient Gold Dragon, Rockwood, frowned and said, "Dragon Lord, the war in the Prime Material Realm is also important, and you can better exert your strength here."
The Star Realm, an outer plane, was a chaotic realm of mixed species.
In the Prime Material Realm, Garon could dominate all directions, but in the Star Realm, he could no longer display such might. Gods in the Star Realm could exert their full divine power, and facing demigods much higher in level than himself, Garon could no longer maintain an overwhelming advantage.
For instance, the Princess of the Sun Wheel.
The Princess of the Sun Wheel's creature level was as high as fifty-seven, just one step away from a lesser deity.
And Garon's creature level had just reached fifty.
In the Prime Material Realm, he could defeat the Princess of the Sun Wheel without much effort because both their powers were suppressed, and they could only exert the strength of a level forty creature, the threshold of demigod status.
At the same level, Garon's combat power was indeed astonishing, hence his unbeaten record.
But if he fought far above his level, without using Time Reversal, Garon could no longer guarantee victory.
And the Star Realm housed more than just demigods.
Both the Goddess of Life and the Metallic Dragon God were currently using the Star Realm as their battlefield.
Medium divine power and lesser divine power were also present.
Due to his outstanding performance in the war, this Lord of the Dragon Court was now the subject of discussion among all living races, and going to the Star Realm could easily attract much attention, not just from the elven god pantheon.
The attention of many deities often meant risks.
"The Prime Material Realm no longer has enemies worth my effort."
Garon responded to the Ancient Gold Dragon's words, saying.
"Constant overwhelming victories have become tedious and boring."
"Moreover, as the Lord of the Dragon Court, would I become vulnerable just because I am on the outer plane battlefield?"
The silver dragon said calmly, his tone even.
The true purpose and plan for going to the Star Realm were known only to Garon and the
two dragon gods; he definitely wouldn't discuss these with the Ancient Dragons, otherwise, the divine power and authority of the gods of destiny and history would be jeopardized.
"We believe in your strength, Dragon Lord."
"Even on the Star Realm battlefield, you will still shine and achieve glorious victories."
Seeing that Garon had made up his mind, the legendary dragons no longer persuaded him.
Clearly, Garon wasn't there to seek advice; he was merely informing the Ancient Dragons of his departure.
"Yuna."
Garon called out softly.
Hearing his voice, the force dragon girl emerged from the twisted light field, her pale purple eyes emotionless as she scanned the Ancient Dragons present, sending a chill down many of their spines.
The dragons vividly remembered her treatment of the ancient red dragons at the last council.
"After I leave, my partner will take my place in the Dragon Court's wars in the Prime Material Realm."
This was Yuna's request to Garon.
There's an old saying that fits well here: "When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail."
Armed with a powerful weapon, the desire to kill arises. Having grown to a demigod level and now having mastered Titanization, Yuna was eager to test her skills, eager to battle against other demigod creatures.
As a legendary dragon species with mastery over unique forces, Yuna's combat strength was also second to none in the Prime Material Realm.
If she were in the outer planes, it would be possible to bully her, a newly made demigod, but it would be difficult to do so in the Prime Material Realm.
"Honorable Dragon Queen, we'll be depending on you from now on."
The Ancient Dragons bowed slightly to Yuna, showing their respect.
In the Dragon Court, the dragons had several titles for Garon and Yuna, but the most common were two.
Time Dragon Lord, Force Dragon Queen.
After hearing the Ancient Dragons' words, the 'Force Dragon Queen' nodded almost imperceptibly, her demeanor rather aloof, but she acknowledged them with a slight response.
After delegating some matters, this session of the Ancient Council ended.
One by one, the Ancient Dragons began to leave, but as Rockwood was about to depart, Garon stopped the old familiar dragon.
"Rockwood, wait a moment."
The Ancient Gold Dragon turned around, shaking its head with a puzzled look at Garon.
Seeing a hint of mischief in Garon's grin, Rockwood felt uneasy and flicked its tail, asking, "Is there something you need?"
Garon looked Rockwood up and down, saying, "I have a spell that requires a certain ingredient."
Moments later, the Ancient Gold Dragon left the Dragon Court plane with a somewhat deflated aura.
Placing the gold dragon's stomach and the other already collected materials together, Garon nodded in satisfaction.
The materials for the ascension spell were ready.
Under Karsus's personal guidance, Garon had mastered this spell in Faerûn over decades, able to strike precisely unless seriously interfered with by external forces, in which case the spell might fail.
"If only Korylon wasn't staying in his divine realm, and the Goddess of Life didn't hold back her full strength, I'd really like to try this spell on these two powerful deities."
If Garon, as a dragon, managed to seize the elven godhood from these two elven deities, that would indeed be interesting.
Unfortunately, the odds of success were next to none.
Korylon was in poor condition, healing in his divine realm and not an available target.
The Goddess of Life had been conserving her strength in her battles with the Metallic Dragon God, knowing that the war was doomed and there was no point in expending more effort.
The Metallic Dragon God had also mentioned the difficulty of finding an opportunity to severely injure the Goddess of Life, and by her name alone, it was clear she was of a type with substantial resilience.
Everything was ready.
After spending some time with Yuna in the dragon's nest.
Garon opened the portal to the Star Realm.
Looking at the peculiar, silver-lit portal, Garon's face showed curiosity.
In the Star Realm, gods of good, evil, and neutrality, different god pantheons, and different types of deities all had a certain presence, and Garon had never been there before.
To say he wasn't curious about this outer plane would be impossible.
"Star Realm, the great Lord of the Dragon Court is about to descend."
Garon muttered softly, then moved and stepped into the Star Realm portal, disappearing from the Prime Material Realm.
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