novelraw Chapter 502: Gods, and Godlike Life Forms
Chapter 502: Gods, and Godlike Life Forms
"Please ravage me to your heart's content."
Zoraya tightly embraced the red iron dragon's hard, majestic body, her sharp teeth gnawing at his scales. She felt as if she were welcoming the crushing weight of the entire world. Her bones trembled, her thoughts went completely blank from the shivering thrill, leaving only primitive submission and fusion.
A long time passed.
The hall, which had been shaking like an earthquake, gradually returned to calm.
Dust fell rustling from the stone pillars, like shimmering motes in the moonlight streaming through the high windows.
With a flash of light, the red iron dragon returned to his true form, spreading his wings, his scorching aura gradually settling.
He stretched his neck, the joints emitting dull cracking sounds. The blue dragon still maintained her human-like form, gently nestling within the giant dragon's claw, her cheek pressed against his dragon scales, her breathing heavy and not yet steady.
"Rest here."
Garoth slowly said, allowing the blue dragon to remain in his quarters.
After this bout of indulgence, he planned to familiarize himself with his increased power, to perfectly master it. Those new skills needed time to integrate before they could be wielded as effortlessly as his own limbs.Hearing this, Zoraya raised her head, looking up at the giant dragon's face, which was awe-inspiring even without anger.
Moonlight spilled down from a skylight in the dome, flowing over Garoth's dark scales, outlining a metallic, cold, and hard silhouette. Her gaze slid over his spikes and neck scales, finally settling on his deep, vertical pupils.
She said, "My king, please wait a moment. I have a request I hope you will grant."
The giant dragon's steps paused slightly, then he lowered his gaze to Zoraya. "Speak first. I will consider it as I see fit."
Zoraya's voice was slightly hoarse as she whispered, "I want to leave more of your bloodline in this world for you, to bear you excellent and powerful offspring."
In normal blue dragon communities, bonds were often based on family ties.
The offspring and descendants of the master of the dragon group were also warriors under his command.
In the tradition of evil dragons, offspring were both the continuation of bloodline and the extension and guarantee of power. This was the education Zoraya had received since childhood, where familial affection was thin and profit-driven thinking reigned supreme.
Garoth looked quietly at Zoraya, roughly understanding her thoughts.
Zoraya possessed blue dragon thinking patterns and had received evil dragon inheritance and education since childhood.
She wouldn't have much familial affection for offspring.
In Zoraya's eyes, bearing offspring with the emperor, on one hand, could indeed further strengthen the Aola Kingdom and increase high-end combat power; on the other hand, it was an important resource to consolidate her position.
Having offspring flowing with the emperor's bloodline would make her position in the kingdom even more unshakable.
"It can be done, but there is one prerequisite."
Garoth slowly said, "My offspring will be loyal to the kingdom, loyal to me, not to the Dominik Dragon Cluster under your command." He paused, staring at the blue dragon, his pupils reflecting her slightly tense face. "Do you understand?"
Zoraya obediently nodded, her long hair slipping over her fair shoulders.
"My king, I understand."
She said, her fingers tracing the gaps between the scales on the back of the giant dragon's claw.
"And, you know, I have a good sense of proper limits. I've never made you worry."
"In the future, when the descendants grow up, these sons of the emperor will fight for their father's glory, for Aola's banner."
Hearing these words, Garoth gave a slight nod.
Perhaps because Zoraya still possessed some green dragon bloodline, she had always been very ambitious, scheming, and skilled at disguise and deception.
But Garoth wasn't worried about her.
Because, as Zoraya herself said, she had a good sense of proper limits.
She knew when to show her claws and fangs, when to sheathe her edge, knew where the bottom line was, and rarely crossed it. And this premise was that Garoth was above her, keeping her in check.
As long as the red iron dragon still stood upon the throne, Zoraya's ambition would only be a driving force for the kingdom's development, not a hidden danger of division.
In fact, it wasn't just Zoraya.
The entire Aola Kingdom's high degree of cohesion was all because of Garoth's existence.
He was the hub, the cornerstone, the pillar.
If he were gone one day, this kingdom... would splinter into pieces in an extremely short time, ceasing to exist.
The dragons would carve out their own territories with their followers, the lords would establish their own power bases.
Overall, Aola was a very malformed kingdom.
Garoth was well aware of this, but he didn't care.
His original intention in establishing the kingdom was never something like "making the dragons great again." Those were just propaganda slogans used to unite dragon hearts, boost morale, and make management easier.
The true meaning of this kingdom's existence was to serve him, and that was all.
To provide resources, support his path of evolution, become the ladder for him to reach higher levels.
"Come to me once every month."
The red iron dragon said this to Zoraya, then strode away from the quarters with steady steps.
Zoraya watched him disappear at the end of the corridor, then slowly relaxed her body, lying back into the soft pile of furs, her posture lazy, savoring the pain in her body and the previous joy.
Not long after, Garoth arrived at the northern foothills of the Dragonback Mountains.
This was his usual training ground, with treacherous terrain, far from the hustle and bustle.
Garoth didn't start training immediately. He folded his wings, lost in thought.
He was somewhat curious whether offspring with Zoraya could inherit his Eye of Truth or his Spell-Extinguishing Claws.
If they could, it would mean that in the future, as he evolved more traits, his offspring and descendants would also inherit more traits from him.
When the second generation, the third generation... more generations of offspring were born.
As the dragon population flowing with Garoth's bloodline gradually grew, it might even be possible to form an entirely new dragon species because of this.
This would be beneficial for Garoth.
"My evolutionary talent, its limits are still unknown for now. But if it does have a limit, to the point where my growth speed becomes extremely slow after reaching a certain level, perhaps..."
"I could take a step further by creating a new dragon species."
He thought silently to himself.
This was a world where deities existed.
On planet Bernardo, the influence of deities was limited, not absolute. But in the vast majority of worlds, deities were synonymous with being lofty and supreme.
The realm above Legendary was called the Immortal Realm.
The goal of every legendary being was to become an immortal existence. It was also the threshold to the divine Domain.
After achieving immortality, there were mainly two major development directions.
First, deities.
By gaining the recognition of a certain chief deity, creating extraordinary deeds, accumulating vast faith, and other methods, one could ignite the divine spark, condense a divine spark, obtain a certain divine authority, and achieve the position of a deity.
Second, god-like lifeforms.
By continuously breaking one's own limits, through pure, personal strength, with a non-divine body, one could rival deities, not relying on faith, not attaching to divine authority, believing only in one's own power and will.
These two major directions each had their pros and cons.
Overall, the development prospects for deities were broader, with clear promotion paths. Moreover, divine authority was almost omnipotent, capable of things far beyond the imagination of mundane beings. But the cost was being bound by faith, needing to maintain divine duties, playing games with other deities, and even possibly falling due to the decline of faith.
As for god-like lifeforms... the path ahead was obscure.
Every god-like lifeform had their own path, which could not be replicated or even used as a reference for other god-like paths. Growth was more difficult; a single misstep could lead to permanent stagnation.
However, god-like lifeforms also had fewer constraints like the need for faith, were much freer, and had a more solid foundation.
"If there's a choice, it's best to have both."
"For example, the various dragon deities are both deities and god-like lifeforms. This is also the reason for the dragon gods' strength."
Garoth pondered in his heart.
A long time ago, his goal was simply to live a bit longer, live more comfortably.
Now, he had actually already achieved this goal.
But he wasn't satisfied with this. He harbored greater ambition in his heart, yearning to become one of those eternal existences above many worlds, transcending the erosion of time, overlooking the rise and fall of civilizations.
This was very difficult.
Countless worlds, countless years, countless living beings... the well-known eternal existences remained the same. How many brilliant talents fell on the way? How many grand empires turned to dust, not even leaving behind legends?
Overall, Aola was a very malformed kingdom.
But he didn't feel lost because of this. Instead, he had formulated a clear plan for himself.
The road must be walked step by step. First, become a strong being among legendaries, then touch the threshold of immortality, and then... consider things further ahead.
In his future plans.
Simultaneously achieving the position of a deity and becoming a god-like lifeform was the first choice, and also the most difficult choice.
Next was developing towards the direction of a god-like lifeform, because Garoth didn't want too many constraints and limitations.
Finally, there was the purely deity direction.
If he could create a genetically stable and large-scale new dragon species, then he would have a good chance to use this as a foundation, condense relevant divine duties, ignite the divine spark, and achieve the position of a deity.
The lowest, and simplest choice, was to devour all his treasures and hold a deification ceremony.
This could also make him one of the deities, but his grade among deities would be very low, his upper limit basically locked. Because the divine spark condensed through such a shortcut method was often weak, and the divine duties were vague.
However, even the weakest deity was still a god.
If an immortal existence, or even a deity, knew that a legendary being, not even at the Mandate of Heaven level yet, was already planning the path to deityhood and god-like lifeforms, and had even graded them, they would probably laugh at the ignorance of the mundane.
Like humans watching slightly larger ants discuss how to build a cross-sea bridge.
But Garoth didn't care about these things.
He only knew that as long as he put in the effort, as long as every step was taken solidly, even if the final result was failure, he would have no regrets.
At least he had tried, struggled, reached out his claws and fangs towards eternity.
Hah!
The red iron dragon took a deep breath of the winter cold wind. The icy air filled his lungs, cooling his restless thoughts.
He temporarily set aside those distant plans, focusing on the present. Then he began to familiarize himself with his own traits and various new skills, not neglecting his training in the professional path either.