69novels Page 7
Page 7
The collision of the bodies, breath, and magic of more than ten ancient dragons created wave after wave of impacts and explosions. The intense light and billowing smoke obscured the entire valley, making it impossible for Casalos to see clearly.
"Haha, what a pathetic bunch! Your race should have been swept into the dustbin of history long ago!"
Chassa's maniacal laughter continued, and a strange, chaotic, and hollow voice rang out. Suddenly, the maze that protected the entire holy land cracked open, and a group of adult and older anamorphic dragons, their entire bodies imbued with dragon magic and the maze, crashed down like meteorites, billowing smoke and dust, and causing the earth to tremble.
Although they had never met, Casalos recognized his mother and father at a glance. The female, an extremely old iron dragon, had scales that clung tightly to her body, reflecting light and shadow like ripples on water—so beautiful. The male, an adult dragon, seemed a little smaller, and the reflection of his scales wasn't as dazzling, yet he was still majestic.
But they had all lost consciousness due to the backlash from the shattered illusion lock, their wings and limbs drooping as they plummeted straight down out of sight, obscured by the smoke.
A tingling sensation flooded Casalos's nasal cavity, and dragon tears welled up between his inner eyelids, preventing the young dragon from having his eyes misty like a human's.
In the sky, colorful spells broke through the defenses of the Shattered Lock and fell like raindrops.
Then comes the Dragon's Breath Waterfall, a mixture of fire, electricity, acid, and ice, followed by a massive army of colorful dragons joining the fray.
The wails and screams of young, middle-aged, old, and ancient anaerobes grew fainter and fainter amidst the billowing dust.
The sounds of ancient dragons clashing and exploding, their breath roaring, and the intertwining of spells gradually weakened.
With his vision obscured by the smoke and dust, Casalos hadn't seen Fionamiron for a long time, let alone any other dragons.
It remained immobile. It wanted to cry, roar, and wail, but all these sounds were blocked by its pounding heart. They could only be poured into its basal vessels by the blood pumping from its heart, unleashing endless dragon fury that overwhelmed its remaining consciousness.
Rumble!
A deafening, muffled sound erupted, causing the valley floor to crack. Flowing lava spread along the fissures, engulfing the stone pillar where Casaloz sat. The surging, viscous waves knocked the immobile iron dragon hatchling down into the lava flow, carrying it downstream...
In this battle, the sacred land of the Athelons sanctuated underground following the volcanic eruption. The lineage of the Athelons' sole leader, the Supreme Dragon Garugsingo, was utterly severed. All the ancient overlords of the various Athelon subspecies perished, leaving only one-tenth of the Athelon race alive. The chosen ones of Tiamat, and the vessel for resurrection, the Great Dragon Chassa, completed the final chapter of Tiamat's undertaking, which began 30,000 years ago during the Dawn Age.
However, due to the intervention of certain forces, such a great achievement remained unknown in Faerûn. The entire event, like the existence of the Atheron race itself, was completely hidden from the world's sight.
Even the news of the return of the Great Dragon Chassar to Faerûn is still unknown.
19. Strength and Weakness
Casalos awoke in a damp cave.
Unfortunately, no gentle female dragon rescued it; it was just a natural cave.
The flowing lava formed eddies as it passed through the cave, sucking it in as it tumbled at the bottom of the lava. After an unknown amount of time, it cooled and formed an obsidian cocoon that enveloped it, protecting it from wild animals or monsters while it remained unconscious.
The damp moisture inside the cave was absorbed by the dense pores of the obsidian after the lava solidified, and reacted with substances such as sulfur and phosphorus in the lava to form a highly oxidizing acidic mixture that corroded large areas of Casaloz's shiny scales.
It was the unbearable itching that roused it from its long period of shock.
"what……!"
Once freed from the constraints of the loose obsidian, Casalos roared in despair.
It is pain, it is sorrow, it is resentment, it is anger.
It naturally re-entered the Dragon's Fury, waving its claws, wings, and head, tearing and smashing the stalagmites and pillars in the cave, relentlessly squeezing out the little dragon magic power left in its body, spewing out dragon breath, and sparks of electricity leaping in the dazzling light, melting the cooled obsidian and volcanic rock back into lava, until it was completely exhausted and fell to the ground, panting heavily as it regained consciousness.
"Why……"
Why did this happen? I was reborn as a dragon, and I'm a precious dragon baby with dragon parents and the entire clan protecting me. I also have the golden finger of the Dragon Treasure Vault. Everything seemed to be a perfect start, so why did it turn out like this?
"Traitor, Chassa, the Colored Dragon Clan!"
And... those names it dared not mention.
Casaroz, having exhausted all its dragon magic and strength, was filled with conflicting thoughts. It hated the traitors, the colorful dragons, and the things that shouldn't have been on a dragon's body, as well as the regret for its own weak power.
It had clearly discovered something amiss, yet it couldn't even sound the alarm; it had a near-God's-eye view, knowing the true mastermind, yet it dared not even utter their name; it could only stare wide-eyed as one tigress after another fell before its eyes, listening to the mournful howls of their dying moments echoing in its ears.
He witnessed his parents fall from the sky and the destruction of the Supreme Dragon.
If Casalos initially viewed the cheat codes with a playful attitude, the severe psychological pressure and side effects it experienced led to considerable resistance. Now, however, the Dragon Vault has become its only lifeline and its only hope…
The fall of the Supreme Dragon, the successive demise of the Primordial Dragon Overlords, and the extinction of the Atheros race served as a somber wake-up call, stirring Casaroz's soul and causing its human-half-soul to break free from the inherent arrogance, conceit, conceit, and... laziness of a dragon!
Why is this happening? Why are there traitors? Why are there so many ancient dragon overlords? Why couldn't the entire Athena dragon race, with its dragon magic-supported magic lock, withstand the attack of those cross-dimensional colorful dragons?
The ancient dragon overlords of the Atherosthus clan died so miserably, no different from those colorful dragons abandoned by their parents in the wilderness, or stray dogs on the roadside.
Admittedly, Chassa's strength was the most direct reason for the overwhelming victory in this battle.
The Great Dragon Chassa, the chosen one of the Five-Colored Dragon Queen, a level 12 god-level dragon, a demigod purgatory ancient red dragon, one of the most powerful creatures on the continent of Faerûn!
Although Casalos, from the perspective of the fledgling dragon, could not see the source of its power except for being frozen in place, it had a semi-God's perspective and knew that its power was absolute.
Even if the old Supreme Dragon were in its twilight years and weakened beyond repair, it would still be unable to directly confront Chassa, even in its prime.
Not to mention that the new Supreme Dragon is actually a double agent, and there are also traitors among the Ancient Dragon Overlords!
Without the guidance of a double agent, how could Chassa have possibly evaded Misuo's surveillance and secretly infiltrated the Holy Land?
Not only Chassa, but now that Chassa has appeared, the identities of the other two dragons are not hard to guess. The one that lurked in the air and severely injured the two ancient tungsten dragons with a single splitting dragon breath was none other than the demigod Primordial Blue Dragon Maldlitier, who was also a chosen one of Tiamat.
Finally, the one who appeared alongside the legendary Gith Yankee psionicist, disguised under the skin of a tungsten dragon, was likely one of the Dragon Queen's consorts, the Primordial Red Dragon Ephilomon.
Two demigods, an ancient infernal dragon of unknown strength, and a legendary psionic sorcerer from the Geese Yankees—such a lineup would be unstoppable even in a certain level of the Abyss.
But that's not the reason. The most fundamental reason, in the final analysis, is still the dragons. The Faerûn, which now prides itself on being a noble race of Atheros, is simply too weak.
“Weak…heh, yes, really weak.” Casalos muttered to himself, finally realizing the root cause.
No one can deny that the true dragon is the most powerful being in the mortal realm.
Regardless of the subspecies, even the White Dragon, which is known as the shame of the true dragons, and the Rattlesnake, which is the last line of defense for the White Dragon, from a population perspective, they can all be considered the top and most powerful species on the continent of Faerûn.
Each dragon takes pride in this, looking down upon the two-legged ants who truly dominate the continent of Faerûn with a different mindset.
But is that really the case?
Just like mockery, whether dragons are willing to admit it or not, most scholars of humanoid species and books about dragons actually regard dragons as just a strong beast.
Yes, a beast!
Individuals of the humanoid race may fear the power of dragons, but as a group, they are the "civilization" that looks down on dragons.
Some beings who possess the truth have even stated that dragons are nothing more than a group of arrogant, self-aggrandizing, flying reptiles!
The term "beast" starkly reveals the true state of the Faerûn dragons after the end of the Age of Dragons. And "reptile" perfectly embodies their utter contempt.
Dragons' arrogance led them to hide in their past glory, cowering in their naturally growing individual strength, and despising humanoid races. They firmly believed that they were the most powerful species in the material world, ignoring the fact that the age of dragons had long since passed, and the dragons of today were no longer the species that even the gods revered.
The dragons of Faerûn now are merely relying on the residual innate power of their ancient bloodlines, reminiscing about their past glory and feeling complacent. They have become extremely weak.
The world of Toril is now dominated by humanoid races: humans, elves, dwarves... and dragons, whether metal dragons, chromatic dragons, or other sub-races, are actually detached from the core, living a precarious existence under the social rules set by the humanoid races.
Even from a social and group perspective, the true dragons are not as powerful as they appear on the surface, especially the sub-dragon race, which was already weakened to the point of near extinction.
20. Strength and Weakness (2)
Among the true dragon species of Faerûn, the Iron Dragon is the most powerful dragon, second only to the Gold Dragon and the possibly extinct Rainbow Dragon. Of course, generally speaking, no Iron Dragon would admit to being weaker than the other two, and in fact, the difference between the three is very small.
If the true dragon represents the pinnacle of mortal power, then the iron dragon must be considered one of the most outstanding representatives of it.
Is that really the case?
Casalos itself is an example. When it hatched, it had a biological level of 8hd, which is directly equivalent to a humanoid species having a comprehensive professional level of 8—an achievement that most humanoid species may never reach in their entire lives.
Reality is not a game; the idea of leveling up by rolling a few dice and killing a few monsters doesn't exist.
Aside from those chosen ones, advancing in one's profession requires extensive training under proper guidance, consuming vast amounts of resources, and accumulating sufficient skills, experience, abilities, and most importantly, magic power before advancement can be achieved.
In humanoid societies, those who reach a comprehensive level of 10 are considered powerful figures capable of intimidating a region.
Most military lords will never reach level 8, which Casalos is born with, in their entire lives.
However, if we change the algorithm and use the Challenge Level (CR) that Casalos despises, its CR is only 5. This is because it has abundant nutrition and dragon magic, and its HD was 1 level higher when it hatched, which just exceeded a certain measurement threshold and was forcibly increased.
The challenge level of most Iron Dragon hatchlings is only 4.
The challenge level is essentially a reference level developed by humanoid adventurers through long-term travel, adventure, and learning, using their own experiences and knowledge to make experiential comparisons to measure the strength of "monsters".
In layman's terms, the challenge level is what humanoid beings consider the appropriate level for the corresponding adventurer to take on the challenge.
In other words, Casalos, a creature of level 8 who prides himself on being a noble and powerful iron dragon, is only considered a barely level 5 professional in the eyes of humanoid creatures. This means that, in the eyes of humanoid adventurers, Casalos's current strength is only suitable for an adventure team composed of level 5 professionals to challenge... In fact, killing Casalos is no different for a level 5 adventurer team than killing a wild boar.
If you are well prepared, even a level 4 or level 3 adventure team shouldn't have much difficulty killing it.
Then look at what dragons should be proud of: their natural growth, almost like evolution. With natural growth, Casalos would need to reach old age to be worthy of the attention of a legendary professional, while a normal iron dragon would need to reach an extremely old age.
Dragons enter old age at 400 and extreme old age at 600. Compared to humanoids, that's an incredibly long period of time. The legendary figures of humanoids are truly the chosen ones; how many years did it take them to reach legendary status?
This is merely to bring the dragon's challenge level to the attention of a legendary figure!
It is important to understand that in the general understanding of humanoid societies, dragons, even golden dragons, even those from the Primordial Era, are not considered legendary creatures because they lack the unique power of legends.
Dragons that can be considered legendary, aside from those that almost never appear in the prime material world and are born legendary, fall into only two categories: one is those that have learned humanoid combat professions and then integrated them with their own power over their long lifespan, thus embarking on a legendary destiny; the other is those that, upon reaching old age, use unknown methods to break through the innate lifespan limitations of dragons, transcending their twilight years to begin a new period of growth and development.
Given Casalos's innate advantage of being one level higher, he might have already reached the legendary level standard for humanoid professions by his youth...
Ancient dragons often have a creature level of around 40, but even the highest-level Golden Dragons, which are considered challenging by humanoid adventurers, only have a challenge level of 27. They have 13 empty levels, which are practically useless except for their impressive stats.
This is the true situation of what is known as the most powerful species on earth!
If these aren't obvious enough, and you can still find excuses like "creative level isn't a profession level" to deceive yourself, then look at the ancient dragon overlords who truly stand at the top of the mortal power pyramid.
The most direct and obvious example is the scene in the war of annihilation that Casalos personally witnessed, where more than a dozen ancient dragon overlords of the Atheros were utterly destroyed by Chassa and the traitor.
With his limited vision at the fledgling stage, Casalos naturally couldn't discern how well their battle was behaving, or whether it matched the strength and prestige befitting his status as a hegemon.
However, from a semi-God's perspective, the Atheros, and even the ancient dragon overlords of all the true dragons of Faerûn, are actually the epitome of dragon supremacy!
As naturally magical beings, ancient dragons generally cannot even cast a legendary spell, as if ninth-ring spells are the pinnacle of their magical mastery—aside from certain special dragon species, true dragons' innate spellcasting ability can only grow to a maximum of spellcasting level 19. Even those arcane dragon subspecies that can break through to legendary spellcasting levels, such as the Scroll Dragon and the Calamity Dragon, cannot cast legendary spells unless they truly acquire a legendary destiny and seed through advancement.
Once Casarosz regained his senses, he understood perfectly well that the Ancient Golden Dragon's 27cr was a result of the humanoids overestimating its power. After all, throughout the entire world of Toril, among the various humanoid groups, there were very few beings who could reach this level of power. They were all powerful figures in their own right, and they had no interest in revising the fantasy challenge levels that adventurers had established based on experience and imagination.
Following the adventurers' method, let's make a horizontal comparison and see what other beings have reached such a high challenge level: The Orb of Whispers, CR26, the common ancestor of the Eye Demon and the Fear Eater, a divine abomination; Asmodeus, CR27, a former Seraph, the actual supreme ruler of Bathor, possessing godlike power; Sassia, the Sky Duchess of the Sixth Rank of the Elysian Gadin, possessing godlike power; Gwenhaviv, the Whirlwind Fury, the consort of the Queen of the Royal Court of Olympia, possessing godlike power; Pistis Sophia the Ascetic, one of the Seven Heroes of the Seven Heavens of the Void Gods, possessing godlike power…
Which ancient golden dragon can compare to these guys?
Let alone these divine abominations or the top powers of the Celestial Race, even ordinary Seraphim, or those lords of the Abyss who failed to obtain godlike power, the demon dukes of the Bato Hell, and those powerful otherworldly creatures with a crit of around 20, how many ancient dragons with crits of 26 or 27 dare to say that they can escape unscathed from their sight?
How many ancient dragons in Faerûn's history have had their heads cut off by humanoid lords?
Why is this so?
21. Freshmen
Why is this happening?
Another question popped into Casalos's mind.
The answer to this question, however, has long been hidden in the advancement method of the Dragon Treasury, as well as in its previous contemplation on why powerful dragons are weak.
The profession, specifically the combat profession within the broader D&D universe, is the answer to this "why".
What combat class?
Warriors, mages, priests, rangers... every dragon is familiar with the basic combat professions developed by humanoid races. It is these combat professions that have enabled the weak, fleshy, two-legged ants to open the path to the main body of the world of Toril.
Most combat professions were developed and designed by humanoids based on their observation, research, and reference to the various innate abilities of "monsters." These professions are systematic methods tailored to the humanoid race's own circumstances, allowing them to enhance their own power. Dragons are their primary role models.
The remaining combat professions are either divinely or the result of sheer luck.
But this is only the origin of combat professions.
Since their first period of prosperity, humanoid combat professions have developed for over 25,000 years. The most basic professions have undergone countless generations of improvement, supplementation, and adjustment, and their actual effectiveness is now vastly different from what it used to be. Furthermore, they have developed hundreds of advanced paths, which is the fundamental reason for the current glory of humanoid species and their true "power".
More than 25,000 years have passed since the end of the Age of Dragons. How have the dragons fared since then?
The answer is, there is no development!
The dragons' civilization has been destroyed, their race is declining, and their knowledge is being lost due to their arrogance, self-abandonment, and laziness.
Everything the dragon possessed became dust of history, swept into the dustbin of history by the dragon itself, never to be looked at again.
Only the innate power that dragons possess, flowing in the blood of a hybrid of flesh and magic, is preserved. Along with it, the dragon's wicked traits such as greed, arrogance, and hubris, as well as its inescapable dragon rage, are also retained.
Why is the seemingly powerful Ancient Dragon so weak now?
The simple answer is that all dragons nowadays are basic, unrefined dragons.
If we draw an analogy with humanoid species, the ancient dragons are nothing more than human farmers who have grown to the most robust stage of their lives!
No, they are not even as good as farmers.
Farmers also need to learn farming, herding, gathering, and other life and production skills.