Gordon (Asking for Monthly Votes and Follow-up Reads)

"Since Black Oil can be eaten."

"Then energy ores of higher quality than Black Oil should, barring any surprises, provide me with even more energy."

"The problem is that these are all strategic resources. Small amounts of Black Oil are no big deal; if you're lucky, you can dig up a deposit yourself, and some Alchemists refine it on their own. But large Black Oil reserves and other energy mineral deposits are tightly controlled by the major nations."

Garos fell into thought.

Setting everything else aside.

The Human Empire's Holden and the Elven Empire's Nausir were still secretly competing and constantly clashing over the division of resources from a super-large Black Oil reserve.

If not for the fact that a war between powers of their scale could bring unpredictable consequences, possibly even mutual destruction.

Their conflict would no longer be limited to the shadows.

"There are oil fields in the Ser Wilderness too, but troops are stationed at all of them for extraction."

"I'll think about that later. I definitely can't provoke them now, or I'd be seeking my own death. Besides, I don't need much energy for evolution at the moment. Hunting monsters and savage beasts is enough."

Garos thought silently.

Lowering his head, he looked at the Black Oil on his claws.

He carefully licked it clean with his nimble tongue, then picked up the Alchemy Engine and poured the remaining Black Oil inside directly into his mouth.

The bracing, spicy sensation shot straight to the top of his head.

After gulping down the little Black Oil left in the Alchemy Engine.

Garos felt as though a blazing fire were burning in his stomach, and his spirits became intensely excited.

Whoosh!

He spread his dragon wings and shot into the sky amid howling winds. He soared at high speed through the air, opening his mouth again and again to unleash streams of Flame Dragon Breath. The dark-red patterns on his scales brightened like flowing lava.

The endlessly spreading, churning flames.

Dyed the clouds in the sky crimson, as though they had caught fire.

Half an hour later, Garos folded his wings and landed on a slab of rock. The feeling of raging flames burning in his belly had faded, but he still wanted more.

Because in that brief half hour.

Garos could clearly feel that his training results had surpassed more than a week of training in his normal state, especially in the power and duration of his Dragon Breath.

And he still did not feel particularly tired.

"This really is good stuff."

He picked up the Alchemy Engine and tipped it over again.

In the end, only one drop of Black Oil remained, falling into Garos's palm.

He had originally intended to eat it directly.

But after a second thought, Garos looked toward Samantha.

"The Inheritance says this isn't food, but it clearly packs quite a punch when I eat it. Could the Inheritance be wrong?"

The Dragon Inheritance was not necessarily absolutely correct. Its information could become outdated, or contain omissions and mistakes.

"Let Samantha try it."

Garos woke Samantha and said under her suspicious gaze, "Black Oil contains abundant energy. I just ate a lot of it. You should try some too."

"Really? My Inheritance never said this stuff could be eaten."

Samantha was doubtful.

She extended her warm tongue and licked the drop of Black Oil from Garos's palm.

Then.

Pah!

Pah, pah, pah!

Before she could even swallow it, Samantha's eyelids twitched. She spat several times, spraying the Black Oil onto the ground.

"This can be eaten? It's completely impossible to swallow!"

She rubbed her tongue, unwilling to let even a trace of Black Oil touch it.

"Looks like the Inheritance was fine. I'm the one with the problem."

Garos was left speechless.

"This engine is yours. It'll help you learn Alchemy spells."

He tossed the Alchemy Engine to Samantha.

Black Oil came in different grades, and the Black Oil Garos had just eaten was the lowest grade.

Alchemy could further refine and purify ordinary Black Oil. It could also refine monster bodies into ordinary Black Oil. These were very basic aspects of Alchemy.

Once Samantha mastered them, it would be time for her to repay him.

Garos did not keep freeloading dragons.

And it would not take too long. Dragons actually possessed excellent learning talent, and gaining a basic introduction to Alchemy was not difficult.

Samantha accepted the Alchemy Engine, examined it curiously for a few moments, then wrapped it in her tail. Half-closing her eyes, she continued studying the inherited knowledge.

Garos glanced at Samantha, who was immersed in the knowledge of her Inheritance.

He suddenly wondered how Gordon, the other Iron Dragon Brother, was doing.

Gordon was less arrogant and conceited than Samantha, but he was not as sharp-minded as she was. He had always been somewhat foolish, and surviving alone was probably difficult for him.

Shaking his head, Garos did not think further about it.

He had already given Gordon an opportunity. What choice Gordon made was his own business.

If Gordon came to join him like Samantha had, willing to obey commands and stop causing trouble on his own whims, Garos could accept him as a follower and let him learn, like Samantha, a type of spell that could assist Garos and benefit him.

But what Garos did not know was.

Gordon would not be coming here.

From an extremely high altitude, one could see a main road winding across nearly the entire Ser Wilderness. Its branching roads spread like a dense spiderweb, like forked branches extending in countless directions, forming the veins of the Wilderness.

And this network was called—the Trail of a Thousand Snakes.

Essentially, it was the collective name for the many roads responsible for caravan travel and mineral transport throughout the Ser Wilderness.

The main road of the Trail of a Thousand Snakes led directly into the territory of the southern Lothern Federation. It was broad and paved with a layer of asphalt-like material, stretching endlessly beneath the sun.

As the ground trembled faintly again and again.

Wheels forged from metal within and coated in rubbery material on the surface rolled over the road.

A total of ten enormous Alchemy-made constructs resembling freight trucks, each nearly fifteen meters long, sped past with a roar.

One of the trucks carried an open-air steel cage.

Each steel bar was as thick as an adult's arm, and densely carved with Alchemy Runes.

Inside the cage was Gordon, the Iron Dragonet.

He opened his jaws and bit down on the cage.

Amid the teeth-grating clang of metal, sparks flew everywhere.

Gordon's dragon teeth ached terribly, yet he had only left shallow marks. He could not break through the cage at all.

After leaving the Iron Dragon Mother's territory, he had planned to begin by robbing caravans and head south to make a name for himself.

But the moment he showed himself, he was immediately captured by the powerful caravan guards. After being passed around, he was eventually bought by this large caravan.

"Stop biting. Even if all your teeth break, you won't bite through it. This cage has been strengthened with Alchemy; it can even hold an Adolescent Dragon."

A human warrior standing outside the cage said this, clad in heavy armor.

"Damn humans, what do you intend to do to a great True Dragon?!"

Gordon roared, baring his fangs.

The warrior clicked his tongue and said, "Don't overreact. We won't skin you or strip away your bones and scales. On the contrary, we'll dress you up nicely and let you enjoy a wonderful life."

"What?"

Gordon did not believe him, his eyes filled with Vigilance.

"The beloved little princess of the Lothern Kingdom wants a dragon companion as a birthday gift. The Kingdom has issued an official reward notice, and you, lucky little Iron Dragon, are the gift we'll present to the little princess."

Upon hearing this, Gordon's eyes widened.

He had never imagined that he would travel south, to the place he had wanted to go, in this way.