If You Don't Attack Them, I'll Attack You

Sol looked at the essence balance beneath the enormous wheel in his mind. It had dropped to zero after he drew the Rock Jagras Monster Template, but had climbed back to 7.56. Only then did he let out a contented sigh.

Not far away, three Green Dragons lay sprawled on the ground like dead snakes. Great patches of scales had burst apart, their tiny spines were broken, and their flesh was torn open. They had clearly been given a brutal beating.

Fortunately, True Dragons were exceptionally resilient. As long as their vital organs were unharmed and no magical energy remained in their wounds, they could heal quickly on their own.

An ordinary creature would probably have died of such grievous injuries long ago.

"Before sunset tomorrow, I want to see you waiting outside my cave. If you aren't there by then, I'll beat you every time I see you from now on!"

The repeated breaths and the intense fighting had left Sol hungry again, even though he had eaten his fill only a few hours ago.

He swept a disdainful glance over the Green Dragons on the ground and let out a deep roar. Then he flapped his wings and flew toward his lair without looking back.

After flying over a good portion of the oasis, Sol returned to the flat ground atop the Gobi and found that his two dimwitted blood relatives were still lying motionless on the ground.

"How long are you two idiots going to sleep? Get up, now!"

Their feeble appearance made his anger flare, and he nearly lashed out at them with his tail.

The gust from his roar struck Xisitana and Kalpu in the face. The two hatchlings jolted awake, nearly jumping off the ground.

After dragons were injured, they could use deep sleep to speed up their recovery.

Earlier, Xisitana and Kalpu had seen Sol crush the young dragons besieging him with overwhelming ease. Relieved, they had fallen into a deep sleep.

Now, startled awake, they hurriedly raised their heads and looked around. Seeing only Sol, they immediately growled in displeasure.

"What are you shouting about?"

"Damn it! Who do you think made us like this? If it weren't for you, why would we have suffered like this?"

Sol narrowed his eyes dangerously and stared at the two ungrateful wretches. He growled, stressing every word.

"Say that again if you dare! Useless trash. You were beaten to the ground like dogs by those other mongrel dragons. You've disgraced Red Dragons!

"It's hard to believe we're blood siblings born of the same mother, yet you didn't inherit a single one of my good points."

Seeing the anger and frustration on Xisitana and Kalpu's faces, and how they didn't dare talk back, Sol finally swayed his tail in satisfaction and crawled back into his lair.

True Dragons really were remarkably resilient. He had thought those two would be laid up for at least a few days, but after only a few hours, they had already regained the basic ability to move.

It seemed he hadn't hit them hard enough and hadn't hurt their bones.

Back in the cave, Sol stretched out comfortably on the ground. He folded the exceptionally broad wings on his back around himself, covering his body perfectly like two enormous shells.

Waves of hunger washed over him, but he no longer felt like going out to hunt. He focused on the enormous wheel in his mind and tapped it a few times, and a Dragonvein Crystal and a piece of Coal fell into his claw.

After some thought, he turned his attention to the little square where he had drawn the Rathalos Spirits before, intending to get another bottle.

But the next second, he froze. That tiny bottle of liquor cost a full three essence points.

The Large Barrel Bomb was even more outrageous, costing five points.

The squares corresponding to the Creature Templates he had drawn also glimmered faintly: another Mernos cost 200 points, while a Toad cost 270.

As for the Rock Jagras, there was no need to look. The price was sure to be far beyond Sol's reach for now.

"Damn it, what a rip-off! How is this any different from robbery?"

Sol had thought that, now he could steadily earn three or four points of Mental Power Essence a day, he was about to get rich. But as things stood, he was nowhere close.

And at this rate, the Elder Dragon and forbidden templates further on would definitely be impossible to obtain easily. For all he knew, a trap had already been laid, waiting for him to jump in.

The greed lurking in his bloodline sent Sol into sleep filled with resentment.

As he slept, the magical elements in the environment began flowing into his body of their own accord, transforming into magic power and gradually replenishing what he had spent in the earlier fight.

Once his body was full of magic power, some of the excess escaped through his breathing and metabolism, gradually seeping into the surrounding earth and stone and quietly changing the environment.

When he woke, it was already dusk.

Sol felt refreshed all over. He lazily crawled out of the cave and looked down from the Gobi, where, as expected, he saw the three Green Dragons.

Just as he had said before, they could run, but they couldn't hide forever. The three Green Dragons clearly understood that as well.

If they didn't do as he said, they would run into him sooner or later, and life would be difficult for them then.

With a rush of wind, Sol landed heavily in front of the three Green Dragons. His pale golden eyes looked them up and down as he spoke mockingly.

"You green four-legged snakes aren't much in a fight, but you recover pretty quickly!"

The three Green Dragons' eyes were full of frustration. They cursed Sol fiercely in their hearts, but didn't dare show the slightest dissatisfaction on their faces.

"It's all thanks to Lord Sol showing mercy."

"May we ask what orders you have for us?"

The notifications of essence fragments increasing kept popping up at the bottom of Sol's vision, making him grin involuntarily. To the three Green Dragons, his grin looked particularly terrifying.

"If I remember right, you four-legged snakes are pretty close to those black bugs, aren't you? Take me to them. It's time they paid for what they did before."

The three Green Dragons immediately nodded in agreement and slithered ahead to lead the way.

Though their wounds had stopped bleeding, their broken wing bones and missing scales hadn't grown back yet, so they still couldn't fly.

After passing through dense forest and following a gently sloping riverbed downstream, Sol was finally led to a sunken pool in the forest.

A faint smell of decay drifted over, making him wrinkle the scales over his brow.

Several structures made of branches stood in the black, murky water, looking very much like giant beaver lodges.

This was the lair of the young Black Dragons. At this age, True Dragons weren't much different from ordinary beasts. Few of their magical abilities had awakened, they had no followers or wealth, and Black Dragons preferred stagnant swamps, so it was only natural that they had built a den like this.

Sol had no desire to let the filthy, stagnant water dirty his scales. He turned and gave the three Green Dragons waiting beside him a cool glance, then growled.

"Get down there! Drive those Black Dragons out!"

The three Green Dragons were visibly taken aback. They answered reluctantly.

"You want us to attack those Black Dragons first?"

"No! They'll hold a grudge against us!"

"We're only responsible for leading the way!"

Sol rolled his eyes in disdain, and flames began billowing from the corners of his mouth.

"You four-legged snakes don't seem to understand the situation. Listen carefully: if you don't attack those Black Dragons, then I'll attack you!"