Plans

Caesar should have been able to spend a lazy, comfortable stretch of days after securing his safety by forging an alliance with the orcs, but in reality, he had no way of doing that.

Enjoying a freeloading life with food delivered straight to his mouth, climbing to the top of the food chain by sleeping—perhaps other dragons could do that, but Caesar could not.

In Eladia, it was not impossible to catch a few female slaves, keep a couple of pets, and live an idyllic, shameless pastoral life—but one needed sufficient capital for that.

And Caesar's only capital was himself.

Transmigration really was an utterly unreasonable thing. Why could other people become powerful princes, with countless pretty witches swarming toward them, while he could only become an evil dragon without magical abilities? Even finding himself some followers required him to painstakingly catch people on his own.

...This was painful!

Caesar sighed. He was a black dragon; even if he lay around doing nothing in the future, batch after batch of adventurers would probably come pounding on his door, shouting "For justice," determined to chop him into chunks of minced meat.

That sense of urgency squeezed him at every moment, leaving Caesar with a severe lack of security. Even after obtaining three rewards and signing an alliance with the Stone Crow Clan, his mindset had not improved in the slightest.

So what if his body was strong, his reactions quick, and he could use breath attacks? Could he withstand the siege of a large number of elite warriors, or the chain explosions of mages?

Indeed, his growth so far could be called decent. At the very least, no young dragon of the same age, regardless of species, was Caesar's match. But what was there to be proud of? As time passed and their magical abilities gradually awakened, true dragons would leave Caesar far behind. Without Black Dream, he would never even catch a glimpse of their dust in this lifetime.

He still had to become stronger.

If he were strong enough, then even if he did not hide his utterly different breath ability from anyone, he would not need to worry about inviting trouble. Power was confidence; power was the foundation on which one stood.

For money and women, he still had to keep working without pause.

Caesar picked up a bone spike meant for picking his teeth and, frowning, scribbled on the ground as he considered what to do next. There were countless paths to power, and he had to select one he could actually walk.

In his previous life, he had struggled and fought his way through society. He believed everything required preparation in advance and plans for the future, so as to avoid disaster and failure caused by accidents.

On Earth, the worst outcome of a failed business was losing one's entire fortune, but there was always a chance to make a comeback. In Eladia, however, the price of failure was exorbitant beyond measure. Not only could it leave one starving, it could also cost one's life.

Therefore, Caesar had to proceed step by careful step. He pondered how to enrich his strength to the fullest during his time in the orc tribe, while also considering how he would gain a foothold in this world in the future, and how far he wanted to go.

Now was an excellent opportunity. He had not yet entered the world's field of vision, nor did he have any bitter enemies demanding relentless revenge. Caesar had ample time to lie low and build up his claws and fangs, as well as abundant energy to learn everything that might benefit him.

In the blink of an eye, he had already spent nearly a month with the Stone Crow Clan. During that time, aside from going out every day to observe orc hunting, Caesar had spent quite a lot of time with the tribe's old chief, Sifu, asking this shaman about the principles of spells and the ways they were cast.

To be honest, when Caesar first made this request to Sifu, the old chief had been quite displeased. Dragons were Eladia's most iconic magical creatures, yet this dragon was actually asking him about the foundations of spellcasting. Was this damned dragon not here to humiliate him?

Fortunately, Caesar, an unusual black dragon with a mature soul, was well versed in reading faces and gauging moods. He quickly understood something from the old chief's face as it slowly shifted from green to brown. After a sincere explanation, the shaman's expression finally eased, and he agreed to teach Caesar some basic knowledge.

Sifu never considered that Caesar might not be a true dragon, because this cunning fellow had first breathed out a mouthful of acid—the breath attack most representative of dragonkind's magical abilities in the early stages—before asking the shaman for knowledge. From the very beginning, he had sealed off the old orc's train of thought.

Only after everything was over did Caesar conclude his arrangements for the past days and return to his mountaintop lair.

Little Luna had remained hidden among the spines behind his neck, following him everywhere. She was thoroughly baffled by Caesar's behavior during this period. "Are you really a black dragon? You actually squatted on the mountain so eagerly to watch those orc warriors hunt, and you even went to ask an orc shaman about so-called spell principles like a human would. This is simply unbelievable."

"Why?"

Luna frowned in thought, then suddenly slapped her forehead. Like she had solved a riddle, she sprang up excitedly. "Oh! I get it, I understand!"

With no one around, she flapped her wings excitedly and circled Caesar's neck. "Caesar, can you tell me about your conspiracy? How are you going to destroy this orc tribe?"

Sure enough, the power of imagination was truly limitless. The little fellow had already concocted an elaborate conspiracy in her head.

Caesar ignored her and swept his claw over the ground, erasing the words "combat" and "magic," written in Chinese characters that only he could understand.

He had made plans as early as a month ago. The reason he had gone to observe the orc warriors hunting was to study this race's combat techniques.

The Stone Crow Clan possessed only a primitive level of development. Why could they gain a foothold in the Wilds, where the environment was so harsh? Not merely because of the orcs' powerful bodies, but because of the combat arts they had inherited through generations and honed over countless years. They might not be the strongest humanoid race, but the orcs' combat skills were unquestionably the finest among humanoid races. They were practically synonymous with battle itself.

This was good. Caesar only needed to thoroughly study the orcs' various attack methods, then work out the most effective ways to counter them, and he would be able to suppress the warriors of every humanoid race in Eladia.

His consultations with the old shaman Sifu followed the same principle. Caesar had never hoped that he himself could master magic. He simply adhered to the maxim that knowing oneself and knowing one's enemy meant never losing a battle. He only wanted to thoroughly study his potential opponents and understand the mechanisms behind mages' attacks and their countermeasures. That would be enough.

He had intended to do this long ago, but the mainstream spellcasters at present fell into two categories. One kind consisted of sorcerers who cast spells through bloodlines, such as high-level ferocious beasts, dragons, and Forest Fairies like Luna.

The other kind consisted of shamans—mages—who gained the favor of power through studying theoretical knowledge, such as the orc chief Sifu.

Most races that cast through bloodlines, apart from humans, did not even know the mechanisms and principles behind their own ability to cast spells, much less how to teach others.

Caesar had long ago humbly asked Blakeshia and Garon about the principles of magic. They had also tried hard to impart their knowledge to their elder brother, but all they could offer were vague concepts like "instinct" and "thought control," which left him deeply embarrassed.

Shamans—mages—on the other hand, generally possessed a clear understanding and framework of magical principles, allowing them to teach such knowledge. That was why Caesar had sought out Sifu.

After a month of unrelenting effort, he had basically completed his goal. Next, it was time to begin the next plan.

Caesar licked his lips—the orcs themselves.

In Eladia, where even ancient dragons could be flayed alive by human legions until every last drop of blood was drained, the size of one's forces was a crucial factor in determining overall strength. In terms of importance, it even outweighed individual power.

Thus, in Eladia, even the proudest and most noble gold dragons had to bow to circumstance and roam everywhere in search of followers. Naturally, Caesar had set his sights on these orcs as well.

Every evil dragon had more or less some orc followers. If a race could win the favor of all evil dragons, then it absolutely had something exceptional about it.

Orcs were renowned for their courage and prowess in battle. They could endure hardship and work tirelessly, and they were loyal and reliable. Aside from being somewhat dim-witted and living rough, they had almost no unacceptable flaws.

As followers, being dim-witted and living rough instead became advantages for orcs. They were extremely easy to support, the standard template for the main combat force when building a faction.

If it had been a month ago, Caesar would never have been so inflated as to think of subduing a group of orcs. After all, he was still only eight years old even now.

But circumstances were different now. He had enough time to grow, and enough time to coax and deceive the Stone Crow Clan. Bringing all these orcs under his command did not seem difficult at all.

At the thought of coaxing and deceiving, Caesar subconsciously glanced at Luna. The little fellow was repairing her tiny house with broken stones, huffing and puffing until she was drenched in sweat.

The strange expression on the black dragon's face sent a chill through Luna's heart. She hurriedly threw away the stone shard in her hand and instinctively hugged her arms tight.

"Y-you... what are you going to do?"