Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 852 - 851 - New Designs

The Sunfire Clan was far from the last to try and offer up women to him. They were the most polite about it though.

He had found no less than 7 women in his rooms after a day of meetings or setting up his area for the work to come. Hope often found it hilarious as they often had no idea she was with him.

In a very real sense, Hope had become his living shield.

She was the little sister of their True Lord no matter her race, so she was given deference. Hope more than understood what was going on but she just enjoyed teasing him once they were chased out of his rooms.

The worst was the 'assistants' offered up that were little more than scantily clad girls!

It took the better part of 3 months before they finally grasped he was not going to mate with anyone. They did not understand as nevermind a True Lord, regular leaders of clans might have multiple mates until one gave birth for them.

It was vastly different from what he experienced with Ethry but it seemed the current circumstances forced them to it. Their birthrates were already low to begin with but now they were barely surviving.

Aside from the Immortals, most would have died out before long if they had not done so. It went against their instinct normally but it seemed when facing extinction, instincts can shift.

Still, Lind was from a different environment and his instincts were long tamed. He was the master of them, not the other way around.

That is not to say he was made of stone!

He missed his family dearly and despite his recent tempering, he was faced with beings over a million years older than him! They were not to be underestimated!

Pheromones were far stronger and under better control for dragons. If Lind had not faced temptresses of far greater skill, he may have lost himself!

"What's that?" A voice broke his reverie as Hope came into his new workshop. It had been used by a refiner before and the place next door had housed the resources but he took it all and renovated it.

Now, it was a massive warehouse with newly Forged shelves holding wood, ores, and other materials.

The shelves acted like a storage treasure, preserving what he needed without letting it degrade over time. It also did what a storage treasure could not. The herbs, for instance, were thriving despite being indoors!

There were several benches, drawing boards with sketches, and generally the look of a person that had been making a mess of things but at the center of it all was a large object. It had a narrow point and a much wider back end.

It could not have possibly come in the door as it nearly filled the 3 storey tall space but it sat perfectly balanced on the bottom bulge.

It had dark wooden panels surrounded by metal bands that glowed with Qi.

"It is called a sky ship. Nautilus Class although there was only ever a transport version aside from this." LInd smiled as he beckoned Hope over and injected his Qi into the hull.

A hiss and crack was heard as a door opened at the fat end above the halfway point. A ladder suddenly swung outward from the lower half.

"That was a Forged effect!" He smiled at her excitement as he nodded. One modification he had made to the original design was that the doors could appear in several positions. It took a weaving and a few experiments to figure it out, but the result was multiple escape routes if needed.

It was the same for the ladder as well but only 2 existed.

They climbed inside to the main control room. The central panel rose on a pedestal that seemed almost stone but the same mixture of crystal and lever controls with an expansive jade stone screen above it.

The other 2 control stations were simpler but made it easier to survive if the main controls went out. There were 2 more hatches that led off to the quarters and cargo areas.

Hope ran around in excitement as Lind brought the ship to life.

The soft glow of Qi was promising but as expected, it was short lived.

The sound of crystals shattering followed by half the panels sparking occurred and Hope jumped back but he protected her.

He sighed as his fears were proven true.

"It can't withstand the Immortal Qi nor the Laws." Unlike an artifact that relied on a cultivator alone, his sky ships relied on their environment. Normally, more Qi and power was good for them, but it was far above anything he had conceived.

It would be like running a lighting bolt through a circuit board.

So blowing out crystals and only half the panels could be considered a decent result as opposed to a complete disaster.

"Why did it cry?" Lind laughed at her question but it was not inaccurate.

"It was never meant to fly here. I have to start over and possibly rebuild it from scratch." He had brought out the original blueprints and sketches.

He smiled as much like back then, he had a young girl asking him many questions and dragon beast types all around him.

It seemed almost poetic that a new generation of sky ships would be born in the temple.

He felt a thrill he had not felt in a long time. Making new elixirs, Forging new items, or delving into the mysteries of weaving were most enjoyable for him but he now had to apply all he could to the creation of a new ship.

Hope was interested at first but it got boring seeing him draw nothing but new sketches at first. He had to also take apart the damaged areas that could prove useful to him.

Seeing how they had overloaded could give him an idea of how much work had to be done.

While that dissection was interesting to her at first too, only so much burnt crystal and broken metal could draw her attention. She eventually wandered off but none would harm her so he did not worry.

He was having a rough time of it sadly. He set up simple conduits to just test Qi flow and it shattered every time. The sound of thunderclap could be heard on a regular basis as time passed.

That would not have been so bad but then all the windows shattered as the ground shook after a month of such antics.

Smoke billowed up from all the openings as Lind stumbled out covered in dust and particles but he was laughing.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" He fell to his knees as he could no longer stand.

"TRUE LORD!" Wen suddenly came running up. She had brought the next consignment but came upon the newest disaster from Lind's experiments.

He looked up and smiled at her. He waved like an idiot.

"Wen! How are you today?! Gosh, it is nice out! My ears are ringing but that was fun!" She stared at him until a faint scent reached her nose. A flash of heat went through her before she felt a giddy sensation but her blood burned it out.

She quickly used her fire to burn the air around them.

"So pretty! Ya know, I always like dragon fire. Ethry's is all colors at once but when I see it with my Immortal Eyes, it dances. Did you know that?" He then pointed at hers like he was a child. "Yours dances too but it is different. It rages and stomps on all that is not part of it. It is really strong!"

She blushed at his compliment but knew it was herb induced. It seemed his herb had been burned in the latest failure and caused a cloud of slightly hallucinogenic effects combined with mood positivity effects.

Outside it was nothing, but inside he must have gotten the full blast.

"Thank you, True Lord. If I may suggest, can you mimic what I do?" She burned her blood once more and his eyes glowed watching her. He nodded, smiling like an idiot, but she found it somewhat endearing.

However, she underestimated how potent his power was!

Emerald flames seared the stone under him as the air purified. It grazed her and she jumped back in fright only to realize it did her no harm at all?

She recalled all too well the power of those emerald flames, but why was it doing nothing now?

The sound of retching was heard quickly and Lind was now on all fours looking pale under the sunlit day.

"By all the spirits, that was a more powerful reaction on so many levels." He was much calmer and slowly seemed to gather himself before he put a hand to his forehead in embarrassment. "There is no chance you can forget that little episode?"

Wen quickly nodded and tossed the storage ring at him. He caught and she fled.

Lind watched her receding back and had a bad premonition.

"I am so in trouble." He was oblivious for too long and had been well educated by his wives after a time to not realize what just happened. He also knew from Lanbao that complimenting the flames of a dragon was akin to strong flirting.

He slowly got up and began to conjure a flow of wind and rain to clear out the dangerous clouds inside his shop. He also quickly sent a message to the High Priestess to hopefully correct his error.

Surely the dragons would understand a drugged compliment was not actual flirting? The would, right?