Evolving by devouring from a young dragon

At the cave entrance, Bru remained standing in the same position, without moving an inch for a whole month.

The stone giants have no need to sleep; they remain constantly guarding the entrance to the dragon's nest, never leaving its side.

Sensing the commotion inside the dragon's lair, Blue slowly turned his head to look at Alduin, who was walking out, and said in a low voice, "Boss, you're awake?"

Alduin responded with a curt "Mm".

Grimm came earlier to say that he would be inspecting the territory, mines, workshops, and orc camps today, and all the stewards were waiting for him to come and check on them.

Blue scratched his head before continuing, his tone awkward.

Auduin thought for a moment, and since he had been lying down enough, he figured it might be good to go out for a walk, so he said, "Let's go."

The massive dragon strode out of its lair, with Blue silently following behind. The dragon and the stone walked slowly along the main road of the territory.

The road surface is made of compacted gravel, making it smooth and easy to walk on.

Neat wooden stakes stood on both sides of the road, with thick ropes strung between them. Small flags hung from the ropes, each flag bearing a majestic dragon emblem, simple and orderly.

The entire territory was well-managed and clean, more than twice as tidy as it was before he set off to chase Leon.

There's not much to see at the mine anyway.

Everywhere you look, there are kobolds mining, their dusty bodies darting around, carrying pickaxes and pushing minecarts, repeating the same actions.

Auduin glanced at it and lost interest; the place held no appeal for him. He simply ignored it and led Blue deeper into the area.

After leaving the mine, the group headed straight for the workshop.

The workshop's manager was also a dwarf runemaster, an assistant Krieg had brought in. He was equally skilled in runecraft and also had considerable knowledge of dwarven forging techniques.

He was short and stocky, with arms thicker than an average person's thighs, a thick, brown beard, and a pair of worn-out goggles. His leather apron was covered in oil stains and rust, making him look like someone who spent years by the forge.

At this moment, it was standing in the center of the workshop, shouting and directing the goblins to move materials and hammer ironware.

Upon seeing Auduin enter, he immediately put down the heavy iron hammer he was holding and trotted over with his short legs. His round, plump body moved like a potato rolling on the ground.

"My lord! You've come at the perfect time!"

He rubbed his hands together, his eyes shining. "Let me show you some new things."

After saying that, he immediately turned around, walked quickly back to the workbench, picked up a forged longsword, held it steadily with both hands, and respectfully handed it to Alduin.

The longsword's blade gleamed with a faint blue light, and a neatly shaped stone was embedded in the hilt, its surface covered with intricate runes that exuded a chilling aura.

"This is an enchanted weapon!"

Iron Hammer raised his hand and patted the sword, making a crisp sound.

"I imbued it with a frost rune, so that when it hits an enemy, it can freeze the wound directly, forcibly suppressing the opponent's self-healing ability and slowing down the healing of the wound!"

It's specifically designed to deal with monsters with super-strong self-healing abilities, like the Wasteland Trolls, and it's incredibly effective!

This weapon is perfect for those orcs.

Thinking this, Alduin took the sword, curled it up with his tail, and swung it twice. The tail felt good, the blade was light, and the runes lit up. "What about production?"

"We can currently make about twenty pieces a month," the blacksmith replied.

"Thirty runes would be fine if we had enough materials, but we'd need more runestones. Runestones have to be imported from the human kingdoms to the south, and they're not cheap."

Alduin frowned, and asked with dissatisfaction, "Why not just carve it directly onto the weapon?"

"My lord, ordinary runes can indeed be directly engraved onto the surface of weapons."

The forging dwarf scratched his stubble-covered chin and explained honestly.

"But ordinary metals cannot retain magic, and the etched patterns cannot withstand long-term enchantment. The effect dissipates quickly and will become ineffective after a few days."

Dwarven artisans typically use runestones as carriers, carving runes into the stones and embedding them into weapons. The stones lock in the magic, making it a low-cost and mass-producible method.

Although magic crystals are better, with richer magic power and stronger stability, their effect of locking runes far surpasses that of ordinary rune stones, it's just that we couldn't bear to use them much before.

After all, magic crystals are for storage and trading, so I don't dare to use them in large quantities for forging and enchanting. That's why I've been making do with imported runestones.

Alduin nodded; he hadn't considered that.

The materials used to forge weapons nowadays are just ordinary smelted metals, of average quality, and cannot be compared with those top-grade alloys.

He thought for a moment, then said in a calm tone:

"The magic crystal mines in the territory have been continuously mined, and magic crystals are plentiful. There's no need to use runestones; just exchange them for magic crystals."

The dwarf blacksmith was overjoyed and quickly nodded and bowed.

Then he picked up a shield with magic circle patterns engraved on the front, the patterns flashing with yellow light.

"This is a defensive magic array shield."

He pointed to the patterns on the shield and said truthfully,

"It can reliably withstand all magic attacks of the fifth rank and below. If it encounters a fifth-rank spell, it can also withstand one blow. However, the magic array will collapse and be destroyed. Although it can only be used once, if you really encounter a strong enemy, having this as a backup is much better than being unarmed."

Alduin nodded. A shield that could withstand high-level magic, was cheap to make, and had a high production rate was indeed a good one.

Perhaps it can be improved further in the future to become more durable.

Seeing Alduin slowly nod, the dwarf blacksmith's heart leaped with joy. His eyes darted around, a fawning smile spread across his face, and he spoke cautiously:

"My lord, there is something else I would like to tell you. I am just an insignificant dwarf with only two hands. I have to do all the delicate work myself, from drawing magic arrays and carving runes to embedding magic crystals."

The goblins in the workshop only know how to do rough and heavy work; they don't have any rune-crafting skills whatsoever. With so much work, they're simply overwhelmed.

He continued to complain, "Krieg is nowhere to be seen every day, he's busy researching his so-called core carving..."

Auduin glanced at him and said directly:

"The expenses for recruiting apprentices will be allocated from the territory's public account."

His eyes lit up, and he straightened his back: "Thank you, Lord!"

Auduin nodded slightly, said nothing more, and led Blue out of the workshop.

The construction planning of the territory, the selection of personnel, and the implementation of government orders were all handled by the old goblin Grimm; he didn't need to worry about them.

After leaving the workshop, Alduin headed straight for the western side of the territory, with Blue following silently behind him.

The orc training grounds are located here, near the edge of the Ash Plateau.

On ordinary days, the new orcs in the territory would train here to improve their combat abilities.

Besides the orcs, the Shadowscale Lizards are also present in this open area, training alongside them.

A row of sturdy wooden stakes stands at the edge of the site, specifically used to display war achievements.

The skull of a jackal hangs on the stake; it's completely dried out and creaks in the wind.

These items were spoils of war acquired by the young orc warriors of the territory when they went out or patrolled.