Chapter Summaries

Garos trained with Deborah in the Hypergravity Field until her father, Frostmark Aldri, arrived and mistook their lesson for an attack. Garos calmed Aldri with a measured appeal to order, leaving the Silver Dragon wary but no longer ready to fight.

• The Red-Silver Dragon Deborah asked Garos to teach her neck training, and his guidance helped her lift her body against triple gravity.
• Frostmark Aldri appeared in Dragon Valley, froze Garos, and charged after mistaking the training for torture.
• Deborah intervened and told her father that Garos was her friend and that they had only been training.
• Copper Dragon Selina arrived and teased Aldri about losing his temper.
• Garos adopted a non-combat posture and spoke calmly to Aldri about Deborah and his work bringing order to the Borderlands, easing the Silver Dragon's killing intent.

Garos faced Frostmark Aldri’s anger and ambition to become King of the Borderlands, but eased Aldri’s suspicion by offering to yield the title if a Metal Dragon could bring order. After Aldri agreed to watch rather than interfere, Deborah defended Garos to her parents and explained why he had come to the Borderlands.

• Frostmark Aldri’s icy attack tested Garos’s Cold Explosive Scale, and Garos realized extreme cold could bypass its heat-absorbing defense.
• Aldri challenged Garos’s claim to rule the Borderlands and sought an excuse to punish him over Deborah’s affection for him.
• Garos offered to give up the title of King of the Borderlands if a Metal Dragon could establish order, and Aldri agreed to let him try while warning him not to worsen the chaos.
• Aldri and Selina transformed into human forms and asked Garos why he had left the Ser Wilderness.
• Deborah told her parents that human nobles had driven Garos out after he governed a trade route, and she defended him as peaceful and not an Evil Dragon.

Garos gained the Metal Dragons’ trust after Deborah defended him and they learned about his absent, dangerously chaotic father, Gorsas. As dawn approached, Aldri invited Garos to spar, then revealed his true Silver Dragon form, leaving Garos braced for the fight.

• Deborah urged her parents to judge Garos by his actions, and Vera vouched for him while admitting she was torn about returning to the Fairy Wilds.
• Aldri recognized Garos as likely descended from the Steel Queen and Mountain-Burning Wing, and Garos confirmed that his mother was the Steel Queen.
• Selina and Aldri described Gorsas as a violent Red Dragon who had vanished after escaping a siege, and warned Garos to avoid him.
• Garos and the Metal Dragons spoke through the night, and Aldri’s prejudice faded as he grew curious about Garos’s unusual strength.
• Aldri proposed a spar using only their bodies and basic techniques, and Garos accepted before Aldri transformed into his true form.

Deborah watched as Aldri and Garos fought without spell-like abilities or class skills, and the mature Silver Dragon initially gained the upper hand. The fight left off with Garos’s outer scales nearly stripped away, revealing his inner armor, as Aldri realized his attacks had not truly injured him.

• Deborah worried that Aldri might be outmatched by Garos, while Selina assured her that Garos’s father knew how to hold back.
• Aldri attacked first, but Garos dodged his opening strike and absorbed a blow from the Silver Dragon’s claw with his Cold Explosive Scales.
• Garos rammed his horns into Aldri’s palm, piercing the Silver Dragon’s flesh, but Aldri seized his head and slowed him with the freezing blood from his wound.
• Aldri held Garos and battered his body, while Garos guarded his weak points and let his outer scales shatter as heat built within him.
• Aldri’s attacks exposed Garos’s black-and-red inner scales, and Aldri’s satisfied expression turned rigid when he saw them.

Garos fought Aldri in a close-range spar, using his fiery breath and a rapid series of attacks to wound the Mature Silver Dragon before conceding as Aldri prepared to use magic. Aldri acknowledged Garos's strength, but Deborah's admiration for him kept the jealous Silver Dragon's goodwill from lasting.

• Garos pierced Aldri's claws with his horns, then blasted him with Destruction Dragon Breath and followed with an Exhilarated State assault.
• Garos struck Aldri with his claws, bladed tail, wings, and Dragon Qi, leaving the Silver Dragon badly wounded before Aldri began gathering magic and ice.
• Garos conceded and went to Selina and Deborah, while Selina decided he was an impressive Hybrid Dragon with the potential to follow goodness and order.
• Aldri praised Garos's fighting ability and pressed a heavy claw onto his shoulder, while Garos resolved to be more cautious around the Silver Dragon.
• Deborah celebrated Garos's performance, and Garos humbly credited Aldri's restraint, briefly earning the Silver Dragon's goodwill before jealousy returned.

After their sparring match, Garos discussed bringing order to the Borderlands with Aldri and tried to recruit him as an ally. Aldri announced the Boiling Sea Dragon Domain’s urgent summons for adult dragons, while Deborah planned to visit later with Garos, who remained content to rule the Borderlands.

• Garos and Aldri ended their sparring match on outwardly peaceful terms, and Aldri asked how Garos’s efforts to bring order to the Borderlands were progressing.
• Garos claimed the Golden Fang Goblins had submitted voluntarily and invited Aldri to help govern the Borderlands, but Aldri refused until Garos mentioned monthly payments in gold or gemstones.
• Aldri told Deborah that the clan had urgently summoned adult dragons to the Boiling Sea Dragon Domain, but he and Selina said she should stay in the Borderlands for now.
• Deborah insisted that she would not go without Garos and said she would visit the Dragon Realm with him after matters settled; Aldri reluctantly agreed.
• Garos doubted the Dragon Realm would welcome him and decided he did not need its backing to rule the Borderlands.

Selina and the Silver Dragon left Deborah in Garos’s care before departing for the Dragon Realm, while Vera decided to remain in the Material Plane. Garos trained with Deborah, noticed his regeneration improving, and resolved to exploit the Lothern Federation’s coming disorder to consolidate power in the Borderlands.

• Selina gave Deborah a Rune Key to Red Maple Valley and instructed her to use it as a refuge if she faced life-threatening danger.
• The Silver Dragon and Selina warned Deborah and Garos before leaving for the Dragon Realm; Vera’s petal choice pointed toward returning home, but she stayed in the Material Plane.
• Garos resumed training Deborah, and by dusk he noticed that his wounds had healed faster than before.
• After eating and training through the night, Garos considered the Lothern Saint-King’s fall and the prospect of civil strife in the Federation.
• Garos decided to seize the Borderlands, gather its resources, build a strong army, and wait for the Federation to fracture.

Garos and Sorog planned to use Frostmark’s scale to divide the three tribes opposing the Molten Iron Tribe, with the Venomtail Tribe as their main target. Sorog then revealed he had uncovered a bloodline spell that could keep their communications connected across great distances.

• Garos showed Sorog a scale he had torn from Frostmark and proposed using the Silver Dragon’s name to weaken the hostile tribes’ unity.
• Sorog described the Dawn, Ironblood, and Venomtail Tribes and judged the Snake-men of the Venomtail Tribe easiest to recruit.
• Garos tasked Sorog with persuading the Venomtail Tribe and promised to send him Frostmark’s scale by Wyvern.
• Sorog explained that he had unearthed the Blood Kin Chain spell, which let blood relatives communicate across immense distances despite interference.

Sorog established a Blood Kin Chain with Garos and Samantha, then discovered that Gordon was alive in the Lothern Federation. The link revealed Gordon had become enormously obese from indulging in food, leaving Sorog to ask whether an enemy had imprisoned or tortured him.

• Sorog began casting the Blood Kin Chain at the rebuilt Steel Nail Outpost and connected with Garos after he accepted the link.
• Sorog warned Samantha before linking with her, and she calmed down enough for the Blood Kin Chain to take hold.
• Sorog sensed Gordon far to the south and expected to find him imprisoned or gravely wounded.
• Sorog saw that Gordon's mind-form was a fat, food-obsessed Iron Dragon and asked if he was still alive.
• Gordon recognized Sorog from their childhood memories, and Sorog asked whether an enemy had imprisoned or tortured him into his current state.

Sorog completed the Blood Kin Chain with Garos, Samantha, and Gordon, then used it to reveal that Gordon was alive. Meanwhile, the Venomtail Tribe delayed deciding whether to join the Ironblood and Dawn Tribes against the Molten Iron Tribe until its Ancestral Spirit Shaman could investigate their enemy’s weaknesses.

• Sorog completed the Blood Kin Chain, connecting himself with Garos, Samantha, and the distant Gordon.
• Urom and Bretta urged Salgon to join their tribes in attacking the Molten Iron Tribe, but Salgon said Venomtail would give them an answer after a spirit communion in three days.
• Sorog contacted Garos and Samantha through the Blood Kin Chain and showed them Gordon’s mind-body.
• Samantha mistook Gordon for a Dragonblood Pig and said he looked delicious.

Garos and his siblings contacted Gordon and discovered that he had grown enormously fat while being pampered as Princess Elina’s companion in the Lothern Royal Court, rather than tortured. With chaos approaching the Lothern Federation, Gordon vowed to protect Elina, and Garos asked what plan he had.

• Sorog linked Garos, Samantha, and Gordon through their Blood Kin Chains, and the siblings were startled by Gordon’s bloated appearance.
• Gordon explained that humans had captured him and brought him to the Royal Court, where Princess Elina and the nobles lavishly cared for and fed him.
• Garos realized Gordon had become fat from luxury and felt bitter imagining how much stronger he might have grown with the resources Gordon received.
• Gordon said he loved Princess Elina and intended to keep her safe as turmoil threatened the Lothern Federation.
• Gordon claimed the Royal Court’s spellcasters had given him numerous permanent spells that let him fly quickly, despite Samantha’s mockery.
• Garos stopped the siblings’ bickering and asked Gordon what plan he had to protect Elina.

Garos persuaded Gordon to abandon his plan to kidnap Princess Elina and instead work with him toward establishing a Dragonkin Realm amid the Federation’s turmoil. Gordon described Elina’s wealth, loyalties, and anxieties, giving Garos a clearer picture of how she might affect his plans.

• Gordon asked Garos to shelter Elina, but Garos and Sorog warned that taking in a Lothern princess would invite danger and that the kingdom was unlikely to collapse completely.
• Garos proposed that he and Gordon use the coming upheaval to build a Dragonkin Realm, beginning in the Wilderness, and Gordon eagerly agreed to follow his guidance.
• Gordon explained that Elina controlled three fiefs producing magic crystals and held shares in three royal alchemy factories, despite her loyalty to the kingdom.
• Gordon admitted he had considered knocking Elina unconscious and kidnapping her, and Sorog pointed out the danger of attempting it inside the Royal Court.
• Garos questioned Gordon about Elina’s recent behavior, routines, relationships, and concerns, learning that she felt anxious and wanted to help her kingdom.

Garos prepared for the Federation’s looming civil war while consolidating his position in the Borderlands. After his Dragon Qi reached 3.9, he weighed six Martial Dragon paths and decided to choose between the Four-Symbols Dragon and Star-Self Dragon before reaching Level 4.

• Garos told Gordon to earn Princess Elina’s trust without revealing dragonkind’s existence, and planned to use the Federation’s future civil war to pursue his ambitions.
• Garos ordered Sorog to investigate the Venomtail Tribe’s attitude as the Molten Iron Tribe moved to secure the Borderlands.
• Garos noticed his Dragon Qi had reached thirty-nine percent, bringing his Martial Combat Level to 3.9 and requiring him to choose a branch path.
• Garos compared the Four-Symbols Dragon, Eternal Death Dragon, and Star-Self Dragon paths, considering their elemental abilities, death-based skills, and invisible Dragon Qi double.
• Garos ruled out the dangerous Eternal Death Dragon path and postponed his final choice between the Four-Symbols Dragon and Star-Self Dragon while he continued training.

Princess Elina confided in Gordon that she wanted to help Lothern despite her father’s protection, and Gordon discreetly considered a way for her to support the kingdom from afar. Meanwhile, Sorog arrived at the Venomtail Tribe to negotiate with its leader, Naris, and provoked the tense gathering by spreading his wings.

• Elina told Gordon she wanted to use her spellcasting to reduce casualties, though she felt her father treated her as a sheltered ornament.
• Gordon asked whether Elina would accept a price to support Lothern and strike its enemies without going to battle, then concealed that he had an idea.
• Sorog reached the Venomtail Tribe’s marshland and was admitted to meet its leader, Naris.
• Sorog felt attracted to Naris but suppressed his desire and focused on the negotiations.
• Naris warned Sorog to restrain himself in the tribe’s territory, and Sorog spread his wings, smashing two trees and provoking the Snake-men.

Iron Dragon Sorog used Frostmark’s scale to persuade Naris and the Venomtail Tribe to stay neutral, then reported their decision to Garos. As war with the Dawn and Ironblood Tribes approached, Garos ordered the Molten Iron Tribe to prepare for battle.

• Sorog presented Frostmark’s scale to Naris and urged the Venomtail Tribe to submit, but she chose neutrality rather than ally with either side.
• After Sorog left, Naris explained that the Venomtail Tribe would wait for the war’s outcome and preserve a chance to benefit or withdraw safely.
• Sorog told Garos that the Venomtail Tribe planned to sit out the conflict, and Garos agreed that they could be dealt with after Dawn and Ironblood were defeated.
• Sorog analyzed the opposing forces and recommended combining top-level decapitation with bottom-level attrition to offset the Molten Iron Tribe’s shortage of mid-ranking fighters.
• Garos ordered the leaders at every major stronghold to prepare for war, and the Molten Iron Tribe’s kin answered with high morale.

Brunhilde and Ugosh abandoned hopes of an alliance with the Venomtail Tribe and prepared the Dawn Tribe and Ironblood Tribe for war against Garos's Molten Iron Tribe. The Molten Iron army attacked Blackstone Pass, where defenders repelled its first charge as Lizardfolk began climbing toward the archer positions.

• Brunhilde and Ugosh agreed to declare war on the Molten Iron Tribe and planned to reinforce Blackstone Pass.
• Garos told Deborah that the army approaching the pass was a feint, while the dragons would strike when the fighting peaked, and vowed to punish the Venomtail Tribe after the war.
• Brunhilde and Ugosh mobilized their tribes and sent troops to defend Blackstone Pass.
• Doug ordered the Molten Iron army to attack the pass in the name of the Lord of Crimson Wings.
• Dawn Tribe archers and Spellcasters inflicted heavy losses on the charging Gnolls as Lizardfolk climbed the cliffs toward the archer positions.

The Dawn Tribe and Orc Berserkers repel the Molten Iron Tribe’s assault at Blackstone Pass, but the Ignas Siblings use the battle to launch a surprise attack on the Dawn Tribe’s Ancestral Altar. The Red Iron Dragon arrives with Sorog and Samantha, leaving Ancestral Shaman Leoni and the surviving guards facing their assault.

• The Lizardfolk attack the archers with corrosive venom, but Barbarian guards counter them, and Doug kills a Berserker squad leader.
• Ogres led by Baroque break through Blackstone Pass’s gate and clash with the Orc Berserkers waiting behind it.
• Dawn Tribe Shamans and Barbarians strike the attackers, while the Orc Berserkers kill Baroque and the remaining Ogres and force the Molten Iron vanguard to retreat.
• Doug kills Ancestral Shaman Leoni’s fellow elderly Shaman at the pass, and Skullsplitter Skar receives word that the Ancestral Spirit Altar is under attack.
• The Red Iron Dragon crashes into the Ancestral Altar, killing its central guards, as Iron Dragon Sorog and Red Dragon Samantha arrive beside him.

Garos, Samantha, and Sorog destroyed the Dawn Tribe’s Ancestral Spirit Altar despite the Shaman Leoni’s sacrifice, then exploited the Barbarians’ fury to attack Blackstone Pass. The pass fell and the Molten Iron Tribe counterattacked, while Brunhilde regained enough composure to consider his next move.

• Leoni and the Ancestor Guardians fought Garos and the Young Adult Dragons, but the dragons killed them as their totem light sank into the mountain.
• Leoni sacrificed her life to restore the Ancestral Spirit Altar, which summoned a regenerating Rock Guardian to defend it.
• Garos used Samantha’s and Sorog’s Dragon Breath to build up his Heat Energy, then destroyed the Rock Guardian and the altar with Destruction Dragon Breath.
• Brunhilde and the Barbarian chieftains rushed toward the ruined altar as Garos led Samantha and Sorog to attack Blackstone Pass.
• Garos’s force demolished Blackstone Pass and helped the Molten Iron soldiers defeat the Ironblood Tribe’s Orc berserkers.
• Brunhilde learned that Blackstone Pass had fallen, controlled his renewed fury, and began considering how to limit the losses and counterattack.

Garos flew into a trap at the Raging Tide River, where the Dawn and Ironblood Tribes tried to kill him with a prepared formation and a joint ambush. He unleashed his four Dragon Arms, killed Brunhilde, and left the battle still facing the surviving enemies.

• Brunhilde and Ugosh learned from a prophet Shaman that Garos would attack the Raging Tide River and gathered their elite forces there to ambush him.
• Garos flew to the river at peak strength, destroyed the Ironwood Giant Bridge, and was caught in a Double Anti-Air Formation as the allied armies attacked.
• Garos fought off the warriors and magic of both tribes, but Brunhilde and Ugosh wounded him with a coordinated assault.
• Garos unleashed Destruction Dragon Breath, killing many elite fighters and driving Brunhilde and Ugosh into their Furious Berserk States.
• Brunhilde bound Garos with Ancestor Tattoos while Ugosh attacked from behind, but Garos formed two Dragon Arms and knocked Ugosh away.
• Garos used all four Dragon Arms to break Brunhilde's protections and beat the Dawn Tribe chief to death.

Garos defeated the Orc leader Ugosh and crushed the remaining resistance at the Raging Tide River, securing the Molten Iron Tribe’s dominance over the Borderlands. After considering the Wild Dragon path, Garos spared those who surrendered and burned the rest.

• Garos used his fused Dragon Arms to destroy Ugosh’s Savage Bear, Giant Wolf, and Azure Eagle souls, then killed the berserk Orc.
• Garos reflected on the battle, his cautious tactics, and the possibility of becoming a Wild Dragon despite his difficulty experiencing the rage needed to awaken its power.
• Garos ordered the Warlocks and Shamans on both riverbanks to kneel or die.
• Less than half the Warlocks and Shamans surrendered, while Garos burned the stubborn ones with Dragon Breath, ending the battle and beginning the Molten Iron Tribe’s domination of the Borderlands.