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"What's Mudala?"

After sending the eager Orkash away, Caesar rubbed his chin and muttered in confusion.

The black dragon's lower jaw had gradually begun to keratinize. It was astonishingly hard and had an excellent texture, like polished metal—smooth and delicate to the touch.

"One of the orcs' festivals."

Little Luna slurped down a bite of fish fillet from the stone pot, then used magic to draw a card from the stack before her and slapped it onto the ground. "Thirteen attack on the board, then another Flame Strike. You have three health left. Hee, my magic will tear you to pieces."

"Why would they invite me to their festival? True dragons and orcs aren't even in the same picture."

Caesar grumbled twice, pinched a card from his claws, and calmly swept every card in front of Luna into the graveyard. "Sorry, Deathwing. You have no cards left in your hand. You may as well concede."

"You don't understand. Mudala is a festival the orcs value greatly. They only invite other races they acknowledge and respect. You should go."

Having swiftly finished the serious matter, Luna flapped her wings and snatched away the card Caesar had played. Still fuming, she continued, "You're totally cheating. No black dragon this powerful exists in Eladia."

She looked at the black dragon before her with contempt. "This Deathwing was drawn from your own description. It's nothing but your own fantasy, and whenever you can't win, you just make things up on the spot. I seriously doubt this card game even exists."

"Naughty."

Caesar laughed and gathered up the cards one by one. "We agreed on the rules from the beginning, and the cards were picked blind. If you can't play well, that's purely a matter of skill."

Though Luna looked puffed up with anger, she actually treasured this set of cards dearly.

After all, she had made the deck entirely by hand. The cards themselves were materials acquired through trade between orcs and humans, while the richly colored illustrations on them had been drawn stroke by stroke by the little creature, holding a quill as large as she was, according to Caesar's descriptions. They contained no small amount of her painstaking effort.

Ever since the sixty cards had been completed, Luna had worked hard to study the rules. Then, whenever she had the chance, she would pester Caesar to play with her. Unfortunately, she was bad at it yet addicted to it, and the black dragon often angered her until she lost all sense of direction.

Every time, the little creature would huff that she would never touch the thing again. Yet before two minutes had passed, she would eagerly beg Caesar to start another round.

It was fucking fun...

"Wait, let me think about the punishment for losing."

Caesar snorted, stacked the cards neatly, and placed them in a stone box. After a pause, he said, "How about this? You don't have to help pick my teeth today. Go make a round outside and see how many people are still watching the Stone Crow Clan."

"Ugh... These guys really are like ghosts that refuse to go away. They've made me hardly dare show my face."

Because Summergrass fruit nectar had become wildly popular throughout the Northern Kingdoms, people desperately wanted to learn the ingredients and formula used to make it. As a result, someone was constantly watching the orcs' every move, as irritating and difficult to drive off as flies.

In truth, this did not have much effect on the Stone Crow Clan. Caesar had anticipated it long ago. Before luring Roy into his trap, he had already stockpiled a batch of Summergrass and handed it to Sifu to cultivate with magic. The orcs of the tribe continued doing what they needed to do, their lives remaining peaceful.

But Caesar did not have it so easy. As time passed and he gained new achievements, the black dragon's body grew increasingly enormous and eye-catching.

If he went out without restraint, he would cause a great commotion and be easily discovered by humans, triggering an uproar. That did not fit the covert development plan he had set from the beginning.

Come to think of it, the black dragon had truly kept a low profile these past two years. The only time he had acted was when he plotted the death of the priest Anrien.

There was no helping it. That man had stood in Caesar's way. If he had gone to the Duru Basin back then, Roy and the others would not have needed the orcs to rescue them, and there would have been no business to speak of.

After that, Caesar had peacefully hidden in his lair. He spent most of his time sleeping, occasionally cooking when he was in a good mood, or playing games with the little creature to ease his boredom.

"Okay, okay, I'll go right now." Hearing him, Luna nodded and flapped her little wings as she left the lair.

By now, little Luna had truly become the black dragon's follower, thoroughly won over. The first thing to surrender had been her stomach. Heaven knew why a true dragon had taken an interest in cooking, but this fellow was practically a food-making machine. Honey-roasted meat, blackberry jam, ice-and-fire steak—he could make them with effortless ease, leaving anyone who ate them unable to forget their taste.

Thinking about it now, Luna felt her cravings rising again.

Secondly, Caesar was actually quite easy to get along with. He could even be called gentle, and was sometimes rather lively. Being with him was never boring. He was nothing like a detestable chromatic dragon.

Yet when facing people or creatures who obstructed him, Caesar revealed a side even more cold-blooded than a black dragon's. At the slightest provocation, he took others' lives with extreme cruelty.

Sometimes, it was quite frightening to think about.

Luna sometimes wondered: was Caesar pretending?

But she quickly dismissed the thought. For a hot-tempered black dragon, pretending to be like this would be asking far too much. Besides, after years together, Caesar had always been the same—gentle and patient with her and the orcs.

If it was an act, then the difficulty was hell-level.

Black dragon was merely a label, but labels changed with a person's actions. At least for Luna and the Stone Crow Clan, Caesar would never again be associated with the black dragons of their old impressions.

Meanwhile, on another land bordering the Wilds, the Battle of Green City had entered its final stages. Over nearly two years, the green dragon Sylvia displayed savagery and cunning beyond imagination.

Just days ago, the green dragon had somehow obtained secret intelligence revealing the exact location of the Northern Legion's commander. She then used transformation magic to infiltrate the humans and assassinated that valiant commander by an unexpected means, immediately leaving the human allied forces leaderless.

But that alone was not enough.

After confirming that the allied armies had become united in appearance but divided at heart, the green dragon deliberately leaked the transport route of Green City's logistical supplies. She then ambushed the Northern allied forces that had intended to launch a surprise attack, achieving brilliant results.

At the same time, her loyal follower, the ogre chieftain, also rendered great service on the frontal battlefield, crushing the camp of an entire kingdom's legion.

Under such circumstances, the repeatedly defeated Northern Kingdoms could no longer maintain the stability of their armies. The war machine consumed resources no slower than a raging fire, and humanity no longer had the ability to continue this protracted war.

In the end, the Northern Kingdoms withdrew their remaining fourteen thousand soldiers back to the Mostel Grand Canyon, and the war concluded with Green City's glorious victory.

Because of the green dragon's ruthless performance in this war, people added another name to her title, "Emerald of the Green Capital": "Mother of Venom."

It was a human curse, yet the chromatic green dragon took it as praise. Victory in the war sent this dragon's prestige soaring to its peak. Rather than diminishing during this prolonged war of attrition, her power grew stronger, and even now, evil clans continued to flock to the green dragon without end.

Standing at the crest of the waves, Sylvia's ambition swelled enormously. In a short time, she doubled the scope of her territory and stretched her hand toward lands even farther away.