"There's no need to be so frightened. Just keep practicing," I said calmly.
This beauty in colorful clothes from the Moshao tribe is named Rouyu. This name is rare and special in the Tal plane. However, in her hometown of the Aegean plane, the Moshao tribe comes from the Eastern Continent, where such names are very common.
Rouyu nodded timidly and continued to practice the spell, but during this period, she would always carefully observe the changes in her master's expression. If something was wrong, she would stop immediately.
I didn't care about her little actions.
If it were an ordinary dragonborn maid who was lazy, I would definitely be angry. But Rouyu was a little different to me.
Maybe it's some sense of familiarity. After all, the appearance of Rouyu, who has long black hair and black eyes, is more in line with my aesthetics, which often makes me feel a little nostalgic.
Or maybe it's Rouyu's good talent as a spellcaster, coupled with the power of her Void Dragon Vein. If she practices hard, she might become a "good helper" for me in the future.
The other dragonborn maids didn't know what I was thinking, but they were all envious and jealous that Rouyu could gain the favor of their master.
Even Sophia, who is the head maid, often feels a sense of disparity in her heart. As one of the "old people" who has stayed in the Dragon's Nest the longest, she has never been so obviously favored by her master. And a "newcomer" who has only been here for less than a year is already so favored.
Because of this, Rouyu was almost ostracized and neglected by most of the dragonborn maids.
Especially by the more than one hundred harpies. As monsters, their jealousy is very pure, and they cannot hide it—no, they are just too lazy to hide it. They often put small stumbling blocks in Rouyu's path, a calm beauty, to make her look embarrassed, and then cover their mouths and laugh.
Although she is a natural caster and has good talent for illusions, Rouyu is still young, and her strength is not very high. Her caster level is only level four, and her creature order is also fourth. She cannot compare with those who have wielded the power of the Void Dragon Vein for many years—the dragonborn maids.
There are more than 500 dragonborn maids. Except for the latest batch, which are still low-order, the rest have all reached the intermediate order. Among them, the "old people" who have been here for more than five years have reached the seventh, eighth, or even ninth order, which is not far from the advanced creatures.
Although they did not make a contract with me and could not benefit from my own growth, because they stayed with me year-round, they were radiated and infiltrated by the power of the Void Dragon Vein almost constantly. Compared to the monster clans outside, their strength increased much faster.
A lot of bubbles bubbled up in the dragon pond.
A white dragon flew out of the water, unfolded her huge white dragon wings, and flew around the black dragon with a whistling sound and the screams of the dragonborn maids.
This white dragon has glittering scales all over her body, her body is slender, and her flying posture is graceful. In the aesthetics of true dragons, she can definitely be called a little beautiful dragon.
This white dragon is Eirlys, the pet dragon that I adopted many years ago.
More than a year ago, little Eirlys's biological order was intermediate fifth order, and her body size was about six meters.
Now, more than a year has passed, Eirlys's biological order has reached the low level of the sixth order, and her body size has increased to 6.6 meters. The small pair of dragon wings on her back, which previously could not be used for flying, have gradually grown. Now, Eirlys's dragon wings spread to more than ten meters, which looked more majestic than a true white dragon's.
But this is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that little Eirlys's wisdom has increased compared to more than a year ago. She may have originally been equivalent to eight or nine years old, but now she is estimated to be equivalent to a human teenager. In addition to her lack of experience, her intelligence and abilities are not much different from ordinary humans.
Seeing Eirlys flying around me wantonly, frightening the harpy dragonborn maids into hiding, I frowned slightly, stretched out my dragon claws, easily grabbed the white dragon that was as fast as a phantom, and pinched her in my hand, in the heart of my claw.
But before I could scold her, Eirlys, the white dragon, stared at me with big, moist eyes and said in a sweet voice, in common language,
"Daddy, your claws are hurting me."
My claws froze slightly before they fully closed, and Eirlys took the opportunity to slip away. This time, she flew hundreds of meters into the air.
Raising my dragon's head slightly and watching Eirlys flying around wantonly, I also felt a bit of a headache.
I was obviously raising a pet, but the pet didn't know where she learned this trick, and she actually started calling me daddy.
I had corrected her several times before and even punished the little girl for it, but every time I saw Eirlys's pitiful look and heard her sweet, milky voice, I would go easy on her.
As a result, the title could not be corrected at all.
'Cunning little girl. From whom do you even learn these tricks?' I secretly shook my head, a little angry, but more amused.
Ever since Eirlys considered me her father, the little girl's status in the dragon's nest has skyrocketed, to the point where she is under three dragons—below only Emilia and Hannah, and above all monsters.
Those monsters and dragonborn maids, even if they were stronger than these three Dragonesses, did not dare to give her any looks. Instead, they had to smile and be respectful.
There was no way around it. Even the Black Dragon King had acquiesced, so what difference did it make whether she was a real daughter or not?
After the dragon bath, I returned to the majestic Castle Black.
The guard barrier was opened, and all the dragonborn maids retreated.
I slowly walked into a blank land, and my huge dragon body disappeared into the air, section by section.
This area was also covered with a layer of guard enchantment by me. Unlike the guard enchantment that enveloped the entire Castle Black, only I could enter and exit this small guard enchantment at will.
Because...
I slowly raised my dragon's head and looked at the black mass of flesh, which was a hundred meters high and looked like a hill inside the barrier. I grinned and revealed my sharp dragon teeth.
The Feast cooldown had come again.
The reason in my eyes gradually disappeared. I looked at the huge mountain of flesh in front of me. I bit down hard with my abyss-like mouth, tearing off and swallowing dozens of tons of black flesh from the mountain of flesh.
Gulp...
Under the terrifying digestion ability of the Void Dragon power, the black flesh and blood were quickly digested, and streams of pure dark evil energy were quickly absorbed and accumulated by my body, finally transforming into the Feast progress bar.
Reinforcement begins.
My body and soul were slowly growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
---
In a mine somewhere...
"So annoying!"
A childish, pleasant, but very irritable dragon roar echoed deep within the mine.
Two young black dragons, each more than six meters long, were vigorously swinging their sharp claws, digging for ore. One of the stronger female dragons, growing irritable with her work, began to fume.
Emilia looked at her younger sister, Hannah, who was still diligently mining, and in frustration, rolled a huge boulder with her long dragon tail and smashed it over.
Hannah, who was hit on the head by the boulder, blinked in stunned silence, then turned to her sister with an annoyed tone,
"Emilia, what's wrong with you? Why are you so angry every day? If you have time to throw boulders, why not dig up two more ores and make more money?"
"I'm tired of mining day after day! We are black dragons! How can there be black dragons doing such menial work?!" Emilia's voice brimmed with indignation.
"What you said makes sense, but what can we do if we don't mine? The dragon warriors in Dragon Nest have already cleared out all the powerful monsters nearby. If we want to hunt, we'd have to go deep into the dark forest. But in those depths, there are high-order and top-order monsters. With our current strength, if they set their sights on us, wouldn't we just die?!"
Hannah was equally frustrated but replied with a sarcastic laugh.
Emilia was a little annoyed by the rebuttal, "Then we will keep mining? If other Chromatic dragons find out about this, they would laugh at us forever.
And you have also seen that even a white dragon can enjoy it as much as we want, but we are the more noble and powerful black dragons!"
Hannah rolled her eyes. Sure enough, her sister was jealous.
This happened not long ago, when Castle Black was first built.
As the younger sisters of the Black Dragon King, Emilia and Hannah naturally came to visit and strongly requested to live there after the visit.
Of course, they were refuted by Barbatos in the end. Putting two little uncomfortable evil dragons next to you is simply making yourself uncomfortable.
Although Emilia and Hannah were a little aggrieved at the time, they didn't think much about it.
One day, as they passed by Castle Black, they caught sight of the white dragon, Eirlys, soaring effortlessly above the castle's spires, her pristine scales gleaming in the sunlight. Both Emilia and Hannah were instantly stunned, frozen in place, watching her glide as if she owned the skies.
Then, they erupted in anger.
A lowly white dragon, living luxuriously in Castle Black, while they—black dragons of the same bloodline—were forced to mine in the depths? It was a humiliating injustice in their eyes.
This was simply intolerable.
Once again, the two young black dragons found themselves fighting—first with each other, then against their circumstances. But, as always, their outbursts led to nothing. The dragonborn male servants, who stood guard at the dragon's nest, drove them off every time they tried to cause trouble. No matter how much they fumed and fought, they were repeatedly sent back, defeated and frustrated.
In the end, they had no choice but to return to the mines.
One might wonder why they were relegated to such labor. Was Barbatos being cruel to his sisters?
Not at all. Despite their complaints, all of their needs were met—lavish meals prepared by servants, fresh food delivered daily, and they never had to hunt for themselves. Yet, like all dragons, they craved treasure, that irresistible hoard that symbolized their power and status.
So some get treasure by plundering; others get it by mining.
Since they lacked the strength or daring to plunder, the sisters had turned to mining. It was their way of gathering wealth, and Barbatos didn't mind one bit. He saw it as a way for them to learn some valuable lessons.
In the past, they even enjoyed it. Mining wasn't just a source of treasure from the dragon's nest; they could also feast on the magic ore they unearthed, gaining strength and satisfaction from both their labor and their spoils. The sisters would often spend days on end digging, their spirits high, their energy boundless, until exhaustion finally forced them to rest.
But now, seeing a white dragon enjoying all kinds of high-quality monster flesh and blood, magic ores, and magic crystals without having to work, and then looking at themselves... the mentality of the two little dragons, Emilia and Hannah, naturally began to become unbalanced.
This is the different treatment of the White Dragon Beast!
However, the majesty of Brother Barbatos cannot be resisted. The two young black dragonesses knew this deeply, so they were still doing the mining work, and they were still stealing what they should eat, but often it would suddenly change, like today.
They got cranky.
Of course, it was Emilia, the older female dragon, who was the one who was furious, and Hannah had accepted her fate.
As for why Hannah accepted her fate so easily?
That's because, after living in the dragon's nest for so many years, Hannah had a deep understanding of what kind of virtuous dragon her brother Barbatos was.
Looking at the irritable, incompetent, and furious Emilia, after thinking about it, Hannah finally gave her advice:
"Emilia, actually, we still have a way to stay in Castle Black, but you just didn't find the right method."
"What do you mean? What method?" The little female dragon frowned and looked at Hannah in surprise.
Hannah did not answer her directly but smiled mysteriously, "Look at what kind of beings live in Castle Black."
"Dragonborn maid, dragon lair guard, and that hateful white dragon... Do you mean to let us be the maids?" The little female dragon reacted quickly and became a little embarrassed and angry after realizing what Hannah meant.
"You let a noble black dragon be a maid? Hannah, are your dragon scales itchy again? Or have you lost your mind?!"
Hannah snorted, "Be the maids? Sister, you have become stupid. I didn't ask you to be a maid. What I meant was that we were going to seduce Brother Barbatos and be his mating partners!"
As soon as these words came out, Emilia was stunned. Hannah struck while the iron was hot, "Brother Barbatos is very lustful. Look at the beautiful maids of various races under his command, and the white dragon you are jealous of. Isn't she also a beautiful little female dragon? Why do you think Brother Barbatos is willing to let that little female dragon live in Castle Black? That little female dragon must be Brother Barbatos's mating partner!"
"But... I feel like we are still a little too young. Don't you think so?" Emilia whispered with a hesitant expression.
In response to this, Hannah just sneered and said with disdain, "That white dragon is only a teenager, about the same age as us. And for our dragon clan, the young dragon has already developed. Look at yourself—the dragon body is strong and slender. The dragon scales are so beautiful, not inferior to that white dragon at all. You should have confidence in yourself! Look at me; I believe I'm beautiful just like you."
Hannah saw a trace of hesitation on Emilia's face and pressed on:
"Moreover, tell me—where in this plane could we ever find a black dragon greater than our brother Barbatos? So powerful, so commanding, so majestic, and so rich—and he hasn't even reached his twentieth year yet. Just imagine the heights he'll ascend in a century. By then, his riches will be unimaginable, his power beyond measure. If you're not willing to seize this future with me, if you won't stand beside me in this, then fine—I'll carve out my own path, alone if I must."
"That's enough, stop talking." Emilia suddenly snorted coldly and continued to work hard to dig up the ore.
However, maybe even she didn't know it, but all the changes in her expression were seen by Hannah.
'What a foolish sister,' Hannah thought to herself, a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. Her spirits lifted almost instantly, knowing Emilia would take the risk instead of her. If Emilia succeeded in approaching their brother, she could simply ride her coattails to victory. And if she failed? Well, Hannah wouldn't have lost anything; the burden of rejection would fall squarely on Emilia's shoulders.
***
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