novelraw Chapter 167: The Young Dragon in Heat
Chapter 167: The Young Dragon in Heat
“Don’t call me White Dragon.”
White Dragon Trixie stuck out her tongue and licked her lips, her eyes filled with desire as she inched closer to Garoth.
“I want you to bite my spine with your hard dragon teeth, making me ache.”
“I want you to coil your thick, long tail tightly around my neck, suffocating me.”
“I want you to call me White Scales, trample me, bully me, and insult me.”
At this moment, she seemed to be triggered by something, her whole body emitting a strange aura that made Garoth feel a heat rise inside him, as if poisoned.
“Is she using poison on me? Such a powerful poison that even my poison resistance reacts this strongly.”
Garoth’s heart tightened. He slammed a claw down on the White Dragon’s head, knocking her to the ground, warning, “White Dragon! Put away your little tricks.”
After getting hit by the claw, the White Dragon sobered up somewhat.
She spoke with a mournful yet resentful tone, “Young Dragon! Why resist so much? You’re clearly in heat too. We’re both evil dragons; don’t act like the metal dragons with their pretenses. No need for gifts or soul communication—just come at me wildly.”Garoth frowned.
In heat? How come I didn’t know… no, wait!
The Red Iron Dragon’s expression suddenly brightened.
“Oh, so the heat phase has arrived. I thought it was because the training intensity had reached a point where evolution was imminent.”
He suddenly recalled that for the past few days, he had inexplicably felt his little dragon burning with heat. Because he hadn’t thought about it from this angle, he had mistaken it for an upcoming evolution, so he trained even more frequently, breaking a few iron stones in the process.
Now that the truth was clear, Garoth was stunned and fell silent again.
Normally, dragons don’t enter their heat phase until after the young adult stage, at least after 25 years of age, so Garoth had never considered this reason.
But thinking carefully, it wasn’t too surprising.
His body grew faster than normal dragons’, so entering the heat phase earlier was only natural.
“No wonder Tasha’s gaze at me was strange a few days ago.”
“No wonder Vira hasn’t come near me recently.”
Garoth shook his head, finally understanding the reason, then knocked the White Dragon, who was trying to cling to him again, to the ground.
The White Dragon was covered in scars and sticky blood, her broken scales everywhere—there was simply no way to arouse Garoth’s interest. She had overestimated her own looks and allure and underestimated Garoth’s resistance to desire.
On the other side, the White Dragon, once again knocked to the ground, finally fully sobered up.
The heat-inducing scent that had made Garoth’s body burn was gone.
“Let’s talk business now.”
“I need real, tangible benefits.”
Garoth said straightforwardly, “I can accept just fifty percent of your wealth as compensation, but for the other fifty percent, I need you to swear loyalty to me to repay the debt. During this period of loyalty, that other fifty percent will be held in my custody first.”
White Dragon Trixie wagged her tail and said, “Is forty percent okay?”
“You have no room to negotiate with me.”
Garoth said decisively.
Then he confirmed the loyalty period and the exact terms of service.
For example, in the next fifty years, the White Dragon would work off her debt by serving Garoth. During this time, she would not disobey his orders, could fight, guard, or patrol for him... but Garoth could not force her to undertake suicidal missions, could not treat her like a slave or consort, and could not extort the spoils or new wealth she acquired while serving.
Dragons could accept loyalty to their own kind.
But they would rather die than accept a slave’s status.
This was a reasonable demand.
Because many similar precedents set the standard, Garoth and the White Dragon quickly finalized the agreement. Of course, neither had contract magic or contract items, and swearing to the gods didn’t carry strong binding power. The main leverage was Garoth holding the wealth as collateral to ensure Trixie’s loyalty.
Soon after, Trixie followed the Red Iron Dragon back to the centaur camp to first settle human affairs, then take Garoth to her Dragon Nest to collect wealth.
“She’s about to become my follower.”
Garoth said, easing the tense centaurs a bit.
“I want to praise you, but right now I can’t think of any fitting words. A Young Dragon making an adult dragon submit is legendary, an incredible feat.”
Nick, stationed in the centaur camp, offered his compliments.
Since the White Dragon appeared and they began fighting, the merchant had been nervously watching, afraid his all-in bet on the Young Dragon would fall under the adult White Dragon’s claws.
But the outcome proved he had worried too much.
This Death’s Harbinger’s strength refreshed his understanding of the Young Dragon.
To defeat an adult dragon so easily—once he grew up, he would surely be a dominant force.
Though the Five-colored Dragons’ survival environment was precarious and their overall strength inferior to the metal dragons, every so often, extremely powerful individuals emerged among them, ruling their territories like kings, commanding fear and respect.
In the history of planet Bernardo, the number of infamous evil dragons far exceeded that of metal dragons.
Grown evil dragons were stronger than metal dragons.
This had become a common impression about dragons in the world.
It was just that in this era, the Twenty-Four-Winged Gold Dragon of the metal dragons was too powerful, almost reaching the physical world’s absolute limit, and among evil dragons, there was currently no outstanding overlord, making them seem weaker.
“No need for excessive praise.”
Garoth said.
Nick chuckled, “Only pragmatism can reach the summit. Your wisdom earns my respect.”
No need for praise? No, there must be more said.
He was sharp enough to distinguish which of Garoth’s words were serious and which were just casual.
Garoth narrowed his eyes and ignored the merchant’s little thoughts, saying, “Nick, from today onward, you will be my claws in the south, my reach in the human world.
“I will also give you a chance for rebirth. When you make up your mind and are ready, I will conduct a dragon vein transformation for you.”
Nick’s smile faded, replaced by a solemn expression. He prostrated again, forehead touching the hard earth, and said, “I swear with my life and soul, I will never let you down!”
Sometimes, going all in is a kind of wisdom.
He had already decided to walk this path to the end.
Afterward, Nick received Garoth’s message stone contact information.
Garoth wanted to first establish a dragon faction deep within the southern federation, developing some ears and eyes, so Nick would obey him directly.
Garoth himself didn’t want to bother with trivial matters. These should have been handled by Iron Dragon.
But...
Two days ago, Iron Dragon began dragon sleep and was now slumbering in Dragon Valley.
Sorog was twenty-two years old. This was a high-incidence period for long dragon sleep in the young dragon stage. He would take at least four or five years to wake up at the earliest, or possibly seven or eight years if slower.
When he woke next time, he would most likely be a Mind Sorcerer.
Mind Sorcerers could split thoughts and think in multi-threads. Although the Clan of Molten Iron was growing, at this stage, even after becoming a Mind Sorcerer, Iron Dragon could still manage well.
Also, Garoth guessed his own dragon sleep was approaching.
Probably within the next one or two years, definitely not later than twenty years old.
“Before entering dragon sleep, I cannot cause trouble.”
Garoth thought silently, “There are many powerful existences in the borderlands. If I’m too active and attract attention and hostility, then when I enter dragon sleep, the Clan of Molten Iron might suffer a catastrophic blow.”
It was not yet the time to act recklessly.
The young dragons still needed to endure and hold back their claws, like fierce tigers lying in wait in the forest, only revealing their sharpness when the time was right.