Chapter Summaries

Garos learned that a map led to the buried Duergar dungeon of Malnes and showed the Rogue how to reveal its location. After she gave him the map’s secret, Garos let her leave his territory unharmed.

• The Rogue told Garos that she had stolen the map from a count’s son, who believed it revealed the location of a legendary alchemical item in Malnes Dungeon.
• Garos questioned the Rogue’s story, then returned the map and demanded that she show him where the dungeon was.
• The Rogue tore the map apart under the moonlight, causing its pieces to reassemble into a detailed map marking Malnes beneath an abandoned mine.
• The Rogue praised Garos and backed away, and Garos allowed her to flee into the iron fir forest.

Garos let the Rogue flee his territory, then secretly followed her and watched her die to a pack of Needle-Hair Wolves. After identifying the dungeon on her map as an abandoned mine inhabited by Rock-Crushing Worms, he suspected a Legendary Realm alchemical item was involved and struggled to rein in his greed.

• Samantha gathered the adventurers' equipment, and Garos let her keep the alchemical items after telling her to repair her Alchemy Workshop and continue refining black oil.
• Garos flew after the Rogue, explaining that he had promised only to let her leave his territory and wanted to check whether other adventurers were waiting for her.
• The Rogue escaped the Iron Fir Hills but was attacked and killed by Needle-Hair Wolves while Garos watched from above.
• Garos confirmed no other adventurers had come to help the Rogue and returned to the Iron Fir Hills with her map.
• Garos recognized the marked dungeon as an abandoned mine where Rock-Crushing Worms lived and suspected a Legendary Realm alchemical item had given the Worm King its unusual mental power.
• Garos fought down fantasies of claiming the item and ruling the world, reminding himself that greed could lead dragonkin into danger.

Garos resisted his dragonkin greed and arrogance while considering whether to explore Malnes Dungeon for a Legendary Realm alchemical item. He decided to wait until he was strong enough to defeat and enslave the Worm King, then use the Rock-Crushing Worms to explore the dungeon.

• Garos suppressed his greed and arrogance, reflecting that dragonkin emotions could become dangerous shackles and wondering why their Deities had not removed them.
• Garos asked Samantha what a Legendary Realm alchemical item might look like, and she excitedly urged him to explore the dungeon with her.
• Garos told Samantha to stop fantasizing and return to studying Alchemy, and she dropped the subject after sensing his warning.
• Garos weighed the uncertain dangers of Malnes Dungeon against the possible treasure and decided not to explore it yet.
• Garos resolved to grow stronger, defeat and enslave the Worm King, and use the Rock-Crushing Worms to explore the dungeon later.

Garos spent five months pushing his physical training and evolving his Explosive Scales while his strength grew despite his Life Level remaining seven. After his Black Oil ran out, he discovered that the Earth Spiders had stopped returning, leaving him worried that danger had found them.

• Garos hunted, trained his flight, and endured Samantha's Dragon Breath until his Buffer Scales evolved into Explosive Scales.
• Garos trained against the Earth Violent Bear, ice, lightning, and mountain terrain while practicing his Dragon Breath.
• Garos reflected that his body and potential had greatly improved over the past year, though his Life Level remained seven.
• Garos wondered whether he could defeat a Gold Dragon of the same level.
• Five days later, Garos ran out of Black Oil and noticed that the Earth Spiders had not returned for several days.

Garos discovered that three Earth-Splitting Centipedes had tracked the Earth Spiders’ tunnels from the Black Rock oil field to the Iron Fir Hills. He engaged the combat Alchemy Golems and realized they had burrowed underground to evade his charge, leaving their attack imminent.

• Garos found the Earth Spiders’ tunnels empty and reasoned that the Black Rock Troops might discover the oil theft and threaten him.
• An Earth-Splitting Centipede emerged from a tunnel, killed an Earth Spider, and was joined by two more.
• The centipedes detected Garos and identified him as a dangerous target, while ignoring Samantha.
• Garos sent Samantha and Mobel away, then charged the three centipedes as they burrowed underground to avoid his strike.
• Garos sensed the centipedes moving beneath him and understood that they had not fled.

Garos fought off three Earth-Splitting Centipede alchemy golems sent from a Black Rock Principality oil-field garrison, destroying two and driving one away. With the Iron Fir Hills exposed and its resources dwindling, he decided to abandon the territory and find a new home.

• Three Earth-Splitting Centipede golems attacked Garos, who resisted their blades, oil-fire, and steel nails and countered with explosive scales and Flame Dragon Breath.
• Garos melted one golem with his breath, then struck another with an electrically charged tail while Samantha failed to stop the third from escaping underground.
• Mobel praised Garos after the battle, while Samantha lamented that the fight had destroyed her alchemy workshop again.
• Garos told Samantha the golems came from a Black Rock Principality oil-field garrison, and her anger gave way to reluctance to pursue them.
• Garos decided that he and his followers could no longer stay in the Iron Fir Hills and needed to find a new territory.

Garos chose Conifer Valley as the Dragonkin’s new territory after deciding the Iron Fir Hills would soon attract a larger Black Rock Troops. He left Samantha and Mobel to move ahead, then burned the Iron Fir Hills to erase traces of his presence before flying after them.

• Garos explained that the Alchemy Golems’ appearance could draw more enemies, and Samantha realized he planned a strategic retreat.
• Garos compared Graystone Ridge, Silver Moss Plains, and Conifer Valley, then chose Conifer Valley for its manageable risks and access to trade routes.
• Mobel celebrated the decision because Conifer Valley was his former home, and Garos promised to put him in command of the bear pack if they subdued it.
• Mobel carried the Earth-Splitting Centipede toward Conifer Valley while Garos flew after him and Samantha.
• Garos turned back, ordered Samantha to go ahead, and set the Iron Fir Hills ablaze to erase evidence of his former territory before catching up.

Garos destroyed the Earth-Splitting Centipede and fled after burning the Iron Fir Hills to hide his tracks. Three days later, Black Rock Principality troops searched the scorched hills for him, and Gronie kept a dragon scale that might help track his direction.

• Garos ordered Mobel to put down the Earth-Splitting Centipede, then destroyed it before leaving with Samantha and Mobel.
• Three days later, Olaf, Gronie, and the Black Rock Principality 3rd Heavy Cavalry Regiment arrived at the burned Iron Fir Hills with an Earth Fury Golem and several Earth-Splitting Centipedes.
• Gronie and Olaf identified the hills as the place where hatchling dragons had stolen Oil Soil and destroyed two Earth-Splitting Centipedes.
• Gronie sent tiny bees to search the hills while the cavalrymen and Golems looked for dragon traces, but they found nothing useful by evening.
• Gronie's bees found a fragment of dragon scale, and he said it might help him determine the dragon's direction.
• Olaf led the troops back toward the oil field, while Gronie kept the scale fragment to examine and prepare a tracking attempt.

Dire Bear Chief Gor killed Raymond for violating his mating rules and, increasingly anxious about his declining strength, threatened the clan. His son Mobel challenged him, then fled as Gor pursued him through the forest.

• Gor continued tempering his claws in the Sulfur Pool while Raymond courted a female Dire Bear with a Thunderbird wing and followed her into a thicket.
• Gor caught Raymond afterward and beat him to death, then warned the other bears he would kill anyone who challenged his authority.
• Gor reflected on his aging and weakening strength and decided to rule the clan more cruelly to preserve his position.
• Mobel confronted Gor and declared that he would kill him, take his place, and claim the female bears.
• Mobel fled with runes speeding his limbs, and Gor charged after him while the other Dire Bears stayed behind.

Garos lured Chief Gor away from the Dire Bears and defeated him in battle, while Mobel helped set the ambush. With Gor dead, Mobel declared that the remaining Dire Bears would submit to Garos and make him king of Dire Bear Ridge.

• Mobel led Chief Gor to a cliff, where Gor discovered Garos waiting in the sky.
• Garos dived at Gor, broke one of his arms, and demanded that he submit.
• Gor fought back with lava armor, but Garos used repeated aerial attacks to sever his other arm and knock him away.
• Garos engulfed Gor in Electric Fire Breath, killing him despite his refusal to surrender.
• Mobel returned to the cliff, praised Garos, and vowed to serve him as the Dire Bears' future king.

Garos and Mobel forced the Dire Bears to submit after Garos killed their chief and a defiant bear. The next day, Garos challenged the bears to attack him in exchange for priority mating rights.

• Mobel used Gor’s charred corpse and promises of power and mating rights to persuade the Dire Bears to follow Garos.
• Paris challenged Mobel’s betrayal, but Garos killed him with Dragon Breath after warning the bears that those who resisted would die.
• The Dire Bears submitted to Garos one by one under threat from the dragons and promises of better survival.
• The next day, Garos gathered several subadult male bears and ordered them to attack him for priority mating rights.
• One nervous Dire Bear cautiously touched Garos with a paw instead of striking him.

Garos trained his Explosive Scales by letting the Dire Bears attack him, then began targeting the vulnerability around his reproductive opening. Meanwhile, Gronie tried to use a scale fragment to create a tracker, but its reaction to fire surprised him.

• Garos encouraged the Dire Bears to attack with their magic, and his Explosive Scales began converting impacts into heat and explosive retaliation.
• The Dire Bears used their Spell-like Abilities against Garos, prompting him to recognize that his reproductive opening was vulnerable to certain attacks.
• Garos sent the exhausted Dire Bears to rest, then secretly began striking a stone pillar with his reproductive opening to train its defenses.
• At the Baran Black Oilfield, Gronie tried to smelt a scale fragment to make a tracker, but it turned scorched red instead of melting.
• Gronie intensified the flames, excited by the possibility that the fragment's unusual reaction could lead to a new Alchemy discovery.

Gronie was badly injured when an Explosive Scale detonated in his workshop, while Garos continued training and hunting in Conifer Valley. The next morning, his training left him sore, and he refused Samantha’s offer to test a healing rune on him.

• Gronie examined a heated dragon scale, which exploded and blinded his left eye while destroying several valuable alchemical tools.
• Olaf found Gronie and said he had caused the explosion through carelessness; Gronie grew enraged, spat blood, and fainted.
• Garos trained by repeatedly thrusting his hips into a pine tree to toughen a vulnerable area, then stopped when the pain became unbearable.
• At dawn, Garos planned to go hunting but landed again when his lingering soreness made walking painful.
• Samantha offered to inscribe a new healing rune on Garos, but he told her to test it on the Dire Bears instead.

Garos hunted Thunderhorn Sheep to test his lightning resistance, rewarded the Dire Bears with extra prey, and tempered his scales in a Sulfur Pool. After training the Red Iron Dragonet at night, he discovered a Fairy Dragon watching him from the bushes.

• Garos attacked a flock of Thunderhorn Sheep, evaded their lightning attacks, and killed the leader.
• Garos hunted other magical creatures to train his resistances, then gave two beasts to the Dire Bears as rewards.
• Garos soaked in a Sulfur Pool, where metal particles tempered the scales beneath his Explosive Scales.
• Garos trained the Red Iron Dragonet by having it smash a tree, then decided against making it smash rocks.
• Garos heard movement in the bushes and found a small Fairy Dragon trying to leave unseen.

Vera, a Fairy Dragon from the Fey Wilds, encountered Garos while he was smashing a tree trunk and was discovered watching him. Garos approached her with a false show of friendliness, and Vera blinded him with glittering magic dust as she fled.

• Vera left the Fey Wilds, was swept through an unstable spatial passage into the Ser Wilderness, and made a home near Conifer Valley.
• Vera went to Dire Bear Ridge to gather fur but heard pounding sounds and secretly watched Garos striking a tree trunk.
• Garos spotted Vera and identified her as a Fairy Dragon, while she panicked and denied seeing anything.
• Garos tried to befriend Vera, but she released dazzling magic dust that blinded him.
• Garos dropped his friendly act and swept his wings, raising a fierce wind.

Garos pursued the Fairy Dragon Vera through the forest, but its illusions and concealment let it escape temporarily. He eventually caught it and decided to keep it for its illusion training and valuable scale powder.

• Vera used Illusory Sound Art and Phantom Puppet to confuse Garos and flee, while Garos broke through the illusions and chased it.
• Garos grabbed a false image of Vera, then searched the area and left after failing to find it.
• Vera emerged from a rock crack after Garos left and imagined ways to take revenge on him.
• Garos returned at high speed and caught the exhausted Vera before it could escape again.
• Garos told Vera he would not kill it but would make it pay, intending to use its illusions to train his mental resistance and benefit from its scale powder.

Garos captured Fairy Dragon Vera, who had wandered from the Fey Wilds into the Material Plane, and tricked her into believing he had enslaved her with a contract. He promised her freedom to roam and play with the Dire Bears if she obeyed, and Vera eagerly asked whether Garos would play with her too.

• Garos questioned Vera about her origins and learned that her curiosity had brought her from the Fey Wilds into the Material Plane.
• Samantha wanted to taste Vera, but Garos refused and sent Samantha to recharge the Silver Frost Ring.
• Vera thanked Garos for saving her from Samantha, and Garos pretended to cast an Enslavement Contract on her.
• Garos falsely claimed the contract controlled Vera's life and promised she could roam the valley and play with the Dire Bears if she obeyed.
• Vera eagerly accepted Garos's offer and asked him to play with her.

Garos trained his mind by enduring Vera’s illusions and consuming Fairy Dragon Scale Powder, then decided to investigate the creatures surrounding Conifer Valley. He left to assess the nearby territories and potential dangers.

• Garos asked Vera to use illusion magic on him, and he practiced enduring the warped visions without fighting them.
• Garos swallowed Fairy Dragon Scale Powder and found that it heightened his senses and sharpened his thoughts.
• Garos judged that physical strength remained his best path to survival, but continued mental training with Vera’s increasingly powerful illusions.
• Vera exhausted herself casting illusions for Garos and fell asleep, while Garos noted that the Scale Powder had slightly improved his perception.
• Garos considered the risks and opportunities around Conifer Valley, then flew out to investigate nearby creature territories.

Garos secretly surveyed Crescent Moon Valley and discovered a well-defended tribe of Gray-maned Werewolves. He estimated their strength and found evidence that they had raided merchant caravans along the Trail of a Thousand Snakes.

• Garos flew over Conifer Valley, observed its inhabitants, and headed northeast to scout his neighbors.
• Garos found Gray-maned Werewolves training their cubs and reflected on how Dragonkin's natural gifts encouraged laziness.
• Garos observed the tribe's sentries and Dire Wolf Knights, recognizing that the knights were bound to their mounts by blood.
• Garos estimated the tribe had over thirty Dire Wolf Knights and at least a hundred adult Werewolves, but had not spotted its leader or a Shaman.
• Garos spotted a wrecked metal transport wagon in the tribe's territory and concluded the Gray-maned Werewolves had robbed caravans on the Trail of a Thousand Snakes.

Garos watched the Gray-Mane Werewolf Tribe and discovered that its Shaman fed a cruel Cliff Serpent Dragon living in a nearby cave. The Serpent Dragon sensed another dragonkin nearby and began searching, leaving Garos at risk of being discovered.

• Garos considered robbing caravans along the Trail of a Thousand Snakes and decided he needed intelligent thralls to strengthen his forces.
• The Gray-Mane Werewolf Shaman brought bound prey to the mountain wall and summoned the tribe’s terrifying neighbor with a bone whistle.
• The Cliff Serpent Dragon emerged from its cave and slowly tortured and devoured one of the prey animals as the werewolves cowered.
• Garos recognized the beast as a dangerous dragonkin whose venom and curses made fighting it a poor choice.
• The Cliff Serpent Dragon caught Garos’s scent, returned from the cave entrance, and began sniffing for the nearby dragonkin.