"Hm, well, in general, red dragons mainly inhabit Leran, deserts, and tropical islands with volcanoes - perfect conditions for them. Besides, in Leran, if you have money, it doesn't matter if you're a dragon or a demon."
"Ahem-ahem, I must ask you not to insult my homeland." The red-eyed girl demonstratively cleared her throat, but Ragni pretended not to hear.
"Descendants of Nihelim are black dragons, like me and my mother. After the death of the dragon-god, my mother led the dragons of Verania, established new laws, and brought peace between humans and dragons. So black dragons became the unofficial representatives of all Veranian dragons."
"So, your mother is a queen?!"
"Hm, well, you could say that. After all, she was Nihelim's eldest daughter and probably the most powerful dragon in history after the dragon-gods."
"Wow!" All the students exclaimed in admiration, which greatly embarrassed Ragni in turn.
"Heh, it's all just tales made up by black dragons to glorify themselves," the red girl joined the conversation again. "Red dragons are no weaker, and maybe even stronger than black dragons."
"What are you talking about! Unlike red dragons, we have almost complete immunity to any magic, and their fiery attacks have no effect on us."
"Haha. Your attacks are mostly fiery as well, and red dragons can absorb the surrounding heat to increase their strength. Moreover, the crimson flames of red dragons can melt even your scales."
"That's all just fiction! Only Saraz possessed the crimson flame, and among the living dragons, none can defeat us."
"Ragni, what does it mean to melt your scales?" This phrase made me wary.
"Oh, well, it's..." Ragni stood up, carefully surveyed the area, moved a few meters away from us, and began her transformation.
After half a minute, a full-fledged black dragon stood before us, which elicited enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. Using one paw to make a gesture similar to putting a finger to her lips, the dragoness asked everyone to be quiet. Then she clenched her left fist tightly, causing the scales on the back of her hand to bristle, and tore off one of the scales. Following this, a black flash illuminated the area, and she appeared before us again in her human form, holding a sizable scale in her hand.
"Wow! So, you can simply pluck them like that. Considering how much they cost, you could build a decent business out of this," I suggested a practical solution.
"You fool! You have no idea how painful that is, and besides, it takes several months for one scale to grow back!" Ragni was indignant. "Look here instead."
Displaying the scale to everyone, the dragoness gathered some flames in her mouth and blew onto the reverse side of the scale. The scale, as big as a palm, easily withstood the flames. Everyone watched closely as blue veins appeared on it, forming a complex network, interlacing inside the horn material.
"Ah, I read about this," I suddenly recalled a book I recently read about blacksmithing. "Nihelim's scales were made of star metal or meteoric iron. Is yours made of the same?"
"No, no, what are you talking about," the dragoness rushed to dispel my assumptions. "I'm not as grand as my grandfather. With each generation, there's less star metal in our scales. My mother had three-quarters of it, but I only have half. Somewhere around fifteen generations from now, our scales will just become thick horn growths. But that doesn't matter; the main thing is that this metal gives us incredible resistance to all attacks. And melting it is not that simple; you really need hellfire."
"Hm," from this spectacle, the red-eyed girl pouted discontentedly; it seemed her pride for red dragons received yet another blow. "But even your armor has weaknesses."
"Well, if you know about it, then there's no need to hide it. Almost all dragons are highly vulnerable to one type of magic."
Everyone held their breath in anticipation of the revelation of the greatest dragon secret, and Ragni deliberately continued to speak in a whisper.
"Our scales, regardless of the type of dragon, are vulnerable to decay magic, one of the types of death magic."
Surprise and disappointment were evident on the students' faces.
"I can tell you this because I know that there are hardly any necromancers among humans anymore. My mother said she knows only five people in all of Verania, although I honestly thought there were none left."
The disappointment was understandable; even if they knew the secret, no one could make use of it, as only necromancers possessed death magic, unlike elemental magic.
"Our scales, no matter how strong they may be, remain susceptible to poisons and acids, which is why death magic is so dangerous for us. Of course, if you manage to gather a large vat of acid, you could defeat a black dragon without magic. But those dragons I haven't told you about yet have resistance to death magic much higher than all other types."
Ragni paused theatrically.
"White dragons, rulers of the northern winds and children of the dragon-goddess Azura, incidentally the only female among the first dragons. They are incredibly beautiful, with transparent scales tinged with white. I've heard that Azura's scales were made of pure diamonds and shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow in the sunlight. All her descendants also carry fragments of her diamond armor in their scales, although now most of their scales consist of mountain crystal and compacted ice. However, the fact that their scales are entirely made of inorganic minerals makes them nearly impervious to death magic. Their scales don't dissolve in acid, and even the ice particles they contain are condensed by magic and don't melt from hot flames. By the way, they only use ice magic, and other dragons are incapable of it. And their size far exceeds that of other species. You must have seen my mother."
Recalling the black dragon that scared the students a couple of weeks ago, the listeners vigorously nodded in response.
"So there you have it. An adult ice dragon is almost one and a half times larger than her!" The dragoness proudly puffed out her chest, as if she belonged to their kind. "You could even say that white dragons are the strongest among all, but..." Ragni paused for a moment, lost in thought, "They are not as numerous as other species, and they live in Nordrune. To preserve their hunting grounds, they periodically go into a centuries-long slumber, so they're not much concerned with political matters. But despite all their strength, they share the general weakness of dragons; they are vulnerable to strong poisons."
And that was suspicious.
"But there are green dragons, right? They can resist strong poisons and are quite venomous themselves," I was concerned about this from the beginning, as the five great dragon races did not include this type.
"Unfortunately, I can't say much about that," Ragni spread her hands. "Green dragons are not one of the primary tribes; they didn't exist during Nihelim's fall, and they don't possess a human form. More likely, they are some strange hybrid of one of the noble dragons and wyverns. Although they may look like dragons, they are smaller than even the tiniest blue dragons, and they lack developed intelligence or a human form. In behavior, they are more like wyverns than dragons. Perhaps someone artificially bred them, but for what purpose, we don't know."
It seemed this topic was a mystery for the dragon princess.
"Mmm. You know, what becomes a myth for humans is history for us, and what becomes a myth for us, humans cannot know. Do you want me to tell you another dragon myth?"
"Yes, of course!"
"Tell us."
"It will be interesting."
It seemed Ragni had unintentionally gained a small crowd of fans.
"Ordinary dragons don't know if it's true or not. Whenever I ask my mother about it, she either jokes or pretends not to hear the question. But among dragons, there are rumors about Gray Dragons. It's unknown where they came from or how they appeared, but they say there were gray dragons capable of wielding death magic. They were the only dragons to overcome the main weakness of all other species. Some think they are simply resurrected dragons brought back by necromancy, but that's not true. They are intelligent and don't follow a necromancer's orders like mindless zombies. I always dreamed of meeting one of them, but no one knows where they live or how to find them. Even among ancient dragons, few know about them; I heard about them accidentally from my mother during a conversation. So, if you ever see a dragon with gray scales and green eyes, be sure to let me know."
The lost tribe of dragons that nobody had heard of. It would be interesting to meet them.