Iron Dragon's Advancement Journey

　Anyone else might not have a definitive answer, since this is a technical issue rather than a matter of strength. But for the Iron Dragon Casaloz, who has been a sworn enemy of the Red Dragon for tens of thousands of years and inexplicably possesses a wealth of related technical knowledge, the answer is simply "heh."

　When used for steelmaking, the young red dragon's breath could barely reach the level of an ordinary converter. Considering the gray dwarves' own smelting technology, the strange materials of Faerûn, and the influence of the extra intrinsic magical properties of everything in Faerûn, the average quality of steel produced in Blade City could at best reach the level of ordinary steel companies in the 1970s and 80s, as Casalos knew from his previous life—this was not...

Chapter 61

　Instead of wild guesses, this conclusion is drawn from a wealth of related, scattered information, including Iron Dragon's knowledge of Red Dragons, Gray Dwarves, magic and sorcery, as well as Casalos's own knowledge of metallurgy. The conclusion is derived through a large amount of big data analysis and is therefore of great reference value.

　This is already the worst in the Underdark.

　The true extent to which the gray dwarves actually mastered smelting techniques is a big question mark.

　From what Casalos has observed so far, the smelting capabilities of the Grey Dwarves in Gravesend are still at the level of the early Industrial Revolution in their previous life, a level comparable to when humans had just mastered open-hearth steelmaking. Their primary method of producing steel is carburizing using wrought iron, which is far less efficient than converters. Furthermore, the temperature of the molten iron is difficult to maintain, resulting in uneven desulfurization, dephosphorization, and carburization, leading to inconsistent steel quality. Even after being tapped from the furnace, the steel still requires extensive processing by artisans before it can be used properly.

　In short, it was still in the transitional period between industrialization and small workshops.

　A week later, the Karrick tribe completed the construction of a blast furnace and converter using high-quality bauxite ceramic refractory bricks. Amidst rising black smoke, the first batch of molten steel flowed out, marking the Gray Dwarves' defeat in the arms race.

　Steel is the weapon.

　The Karrick tribe, which used inferior iron ore, can now produce ten tons of high-quality steel a day, using ceramic molds to mass-produce steel arrows over a meter long and as thick as a kobold's forearm. Several winch pulley systems with steel ballistae are placed on stone pillars, capable of hurling hundreds of steel arrows at the pillar where the gray dwarves are located at once. If fired continuously, the gray dwarves will be completely deterred from showing their faces.

　Those psionic sorcerers and psionic warriors might be able to escape on their own, but trying to withstand this baptism of steel with psionic energy was a complete pipe dream.

　Of course, Casalos wouldn't do that. After a round of experimental firing, the kobolds dragged the ballista along the tracks into the steel-concrete fortifications and continued their production. Casalos already considered the grey dwarves and their slaves as his own.

　It continued its daily bombing raids on the gray dwarves' positions, only now the round, iron-cased bombs had been replaced with heavy steel shells consisting of a cone and a cylinder, complete with stabilizing tail fins. Dropped from a height of over a hundred meters close to the dome, they effectively penetrated the rocky bunkers the gray dwarves had built for their anti-air ballistae. Thus, Casalos destroyed the gray dwarves' anti-air positions at a rate of one or two bombs at a time.

　Three psionicists, under the cover of psionic warriors, attempted to intercept Casalos twice.

　The first time, they put on invisibility spells beforehand, slowly flying to the dome to set up a trap, waiting for Casalos to walk right into the trap when he was about to carry out a high-altitude bombardment... Unfortunately, Casalos always had to have a kobold prophet perform some divination before he could act, to confirm the location of these dangerous figures.

　Although the psionicists blocked the divination spells used to locate creatures, how could Casalos not know what happened when three high-ranking psionicists and a group of psionic warriors all disappeared during the spell detection?

　Casalos grabbed two primitive air-to-ground rockets powered by black powder and launched a new bombardment from 2 km away from the gray dwarf stone pillars. Without fire control, guidance, or even directional control, the rockets veered far from their targets, streaking with flashes of fire and black smoke as they crashed headlong into the dome, blasting off a rock about ten meters in diameter that fell into the lake, sending up a high column of water.

　The first primitive rocket didn't harm any of the gray dwarves, but it did scare out the mind warlocks hiding in the dome. The Iron Dragon's new contraption was clearly designed to fly randomly; who knew if the next one would just happen to land right there?

　Casalos did not continue the attack, but instead returned to the mushroom bush with the primitive rocket and his iron beak whirring.

　The second time, they unleashed their full set of acceleration and flight psionic spells, charging together to intercept. However, Casaloz carried them around in the air for a long time, weaving and splitting them completely. Casaloz found an opportunity to deliberately roll past one of the psionicists, creating a chaotic wake that caused it to lose its balance and fall. Had a psionic warrior not reacted quickly and caught it, this high-ranking psionicist, a force to be reckoned with even on the ground, would likely have died a humiliating fall.

　After two failed attempts, the gray dwarves could only drive their slaves to dig deeper into the stone pillar, completely retreating into their cave dwellings.

　Another week passed, and the kobolds discovered that the number of grey dwarf slaves was beginning to decline abnormally. The grey dwarves had run out of food and supplies, and began slaughtering slaves for food.

　The time has come!

　假条

　I'm home alone with both kids today. My older son has a lot of difficult homework, and I just finished helping him with it. Now I need to put them both to bed, so I probably won't have time to update. Sigh...

　66. There are still experts.

　"Are you finally ready to deal with this bunch of two-legged gray dwarfs?"

　As soon as Casaloz flew toward the Shadow Dragon's temporary lair, the latter understood its intention and came to greet it in advance, appearing very hospitable. Of course, Casaloz was more inclined to believe that this guy had some good treasure hidden in his lair that he didn't want it to see. Otherwise, it would be too strange not to welcome it into the lair after they had made an alliance witnessed by the Dragon God.

　It would have welcomed Shadow Dragon to visit the Kalik tribe more often, but unfortunately the latter was very wary and never approached the mushroom bushes.

　If I get the chance, I must sneak into the Shadow Dragon's temporary lair and see what it's hiding. Casalos thought to himself as he waved his idle claws to greet the Shadow Dragon.

　"I must remind you first that, according to the oath, I will not do anything too risky."

　Shadow Dragon didn't bother with pleasantries and went straight to the point: "I can only deal with one psionic warlock from the Grey Dwarfs at a time, provided you can lure them into the air and spread them out completely like last time, then I can ambush and quickly kill one of them."

　But once I launch a sneak attack, regardless of whether it succeeds or not, they will all gather together, leaving me no second chance to attack, and they will never risk coming out again... Their burrows are probably full of psionic traps now, and I won't risk sneaking in.”

　"No, no, no, there's no need for that. Can't you bunch of chaotic idiots stop thinking about fighting and killing when you encounter problems?" Casalos clicked his iron beak, shaking his head as he rejected the "battle plan" from Shadow Dragon Summer Overlord. A psionic mage who had stepped onto the path of paragon—such a valuable laborer, how could he just be killed like that?

　"Can I consider your malicious mockery as psychological harm to me?"

　"Huh, your trash talk has gotten better these past few days." Casalos shook his head nonchalantly. "I told you before, killing them is easy, but that would be a complete waste. Since you can help me, we have a better solution..."

　A fledgling Iron Dragon and a teenage Shadow Dragon, two creatures who would normally have nothing in common, got together to plot how to give the Grey Dwarves a hard time. Meanwhile, their target, the Grey Dwarves, were also meticulously planning a major operation.

　Did Edgeworth, Hubbard, and Penny, three exemplary psionicists, live together in a dungeon room?

　As the highest-ranking, strongest, and most powerful slave owner in the expeditionary force, the three also assumed the responsibility of leading the team. The gray dwarves, no, all dwarves, disliked the power struggles of other humanoid races. For them, it was better to devote themselves to their work and gain real benefits by focusing on improving their skills rather than wasting energy on trivial power struggles.

　Therefore, even in such a difficult time, the three evil gray dwarf leaders did not fight amongst themselves, which would be unimaginable for other intelligent races, but was perfectly normal for the gray dwarves.

　However this

Chapter 62

　This doesn't mean the three have a good relationship. Their evil nature makes them always covet each other's skills and treasures, and their volatile personalities make it difficult for them to get along. Whenever they meet, a quarrel is inevitable, and it's not uncommon for this to escalate into a duel.

　The sight of them sitting peacefully in the same room discussing things like this is probably only seen when the Lord of Gravesend summons them all at once, which shows how much pressure Casalos has put on them.

　The reason is simple: after a long period of remote exploration, the three psychic wizards have confirmed that the collapse of the passage was not caused by a natural earthquake. The traces of the Iron Dragon Hatchling's excavation, along with the remnants of a black powder explosion, prove one thing: it was the dragon that destroyed the passage.

　Although they didn't know how the fledgling dragon accomplished such a feat, it didn't prevent them from drawing a conclusion that was closer to the truth: since the dragon could use limited explosives to blast down the passageways of the Underdark, it could also occasionally blow up the stone pillars to bury the gray dwarves hiding in the stone pillar crypts alive, or blow up part of the dome above the stone pillars to directly kill the entire expeditionary force.

　If the stone pillar had collapsed, at least the three psionicists and the high-ranking psionic warriors would have had a chance to escape. But if it had been the dome that had been blown up, and the gray dwarves hadn't noticed any signs beforehand... Imagining the mountain-like boulders crashing down on the stone pillar, the psionic energy overflowing from the three gray dwarf psionicists stirred up a strange mental storm, plunging the waiting servants outside into a terrifying illusion from which they could not move.

　They need to find a practical way to prevent this terrible possibility as soon as possible.

　Eliminating the Iron Dragon Hatchlings at all costs is the only viable solution—at this point, they no longer harbor any illusions about making Gravesend City the second Blade City…

　On the other side of the passage leading to Gravesend, Dubois Gravesend stood with his warhammer in hand, having heard the news from the scouting party that all the other passages leading to the Nameless Rift had collapsed. His iron-black eyes were fixed on the collapsed passage, and the veins on his bald head throbbed incessantly. After a long while, he finally issued an order: "Summon all the craftsmen in the city and dig it open!"

　No matter how long it takes, if one year isn't enough, then five years; if five years isn't enough, then ten years.

　Even if it's just to build a camp here, or even a new city, we must dig it up.

　Only then can we capture that 'Dragon Blacksmith' that belongs to our city of Gravesend, and to me, Dubois!

　On the other side of the rift valley, which leads to a deeper area, a ship resembling a living nautilus, with a transparent sail at the stern and "oars" propelling it on both sides, floats silently beneath the dome.

　Inside the shell ship, Mei'ao Noisy Words gripped the control panel with its claws, and four purple tentacles on its chin were intertwined in a knot, revealing its owner's agitation.

　The mind flayer captain piloting the Shell Ship wasn't bothered by the collapsed and blocked passageway. As a magical ship capable of traversing different planes, the Shell Ship could easily teleport directly to a fixed route node that had already been recorded. The nameless rift valley on the other side of the passage was an area it always passed through on patrol, and it was already recorded in the Shell Ship's navigation system.

　The Mastermind dispatched the Shell Ships to patrol this remote area for a specific purpose. In recent decades, a strange and elusive mental fluctuation has been observed in this area. The Mastermind deduced that it was definitely a legendary-level, powerful, unclaimed spiritual energy source. The Shell Ships' patrols were actually searching for the source of this spiritual energy, but they had always found nothing.

　A few weeks ago, during a minor earthquake, the elusive psionic energy suddenly vanished without a trace.

　67. Each has its own merits

　The disappearance of the psionic aura coincided remarkably with the earthquake, and the Noise did not consider this a coincidence; it believed that the two must be directly related.

　Therefore, after determining the location of the minor earthquake, it immediately tracked it down.

　It took a route it often took.

　It seems the mastermind hadn't chosen the wrong target; it was just that the source of the psionic energy was too hidden and the energy it emitted was too elusive, which is why the mind flayers had been searching for nothing for decades. If Casalos knew about this, he would definitely laugh at these tentacle monsters for chasing after a few swarms of dragon vein flies burrowing into the cracks of rocks for decades. It would be strange if they found anything.

　The familiar route allowed the fast-paced bird to quickly pinpoint the earthquake's epicenter, a remote rift valley that was also a point it frequently passed through on its patrol route.

　That area was far too remote and barren, inhabited only by kobolds and murlocs driven out of the Serpent Abyss. To make matters worse, the rift bordered the damned city of traitors, situated right on their slave-hunting routes, where traitors were frequently seen.

　The traitors are also a psionicly sensitive race; the Overmind can sense the presence of legendary psionic energy, and they may well be unaware of it as well. Given the secrets of the legendary psionics, and to successfully complete the Overmind's mission, the hulled ships tasked with the search must avoid contact with them as much as possible. Therefore, amidst the previous commotion, they always hurriedly left whenever they passed the rift, never thoroughly searching it, never expecting to miss their true target.

　As luck would have it, the commotion they were following in the earthquake's wake happened to coincide with the traitors' slave-collecting team. Fortunately, those sturdy dwarves didn't have the habit of looking up, and the visibility in the gloomy region was so poor that they didn't notice the snail-shell ship silently flying overhead.

　The Roaring Words realized that the traitors had returned laden with spoils and judged that they had not come for earthquakes or spiritual energy. Therefore, it decided to temporarily hide in a deserted little cavity nearby and wait for the traitors to leave before coming out to search the rift valley.

　But little did anyone know that the Kotō fishmen and kobolds in the rift valley were fighting each other.

　Out of curiosity, the traitorous grey dwarf slave-training party stopped to observe the conflict. What they saw revealed that the kobolds' growth had exceeded the limits allowed by their main city's control, so they called for reinforcements. Among the traitorous reinforcements were three exemplary psionic mages; if the elusive psionic energy were to suddenly return, they would be perfectly capable of detecting it.

　The situation spiraled out of control. The Roaring Words lacked the capacity to simultaneously contend with three Exemplary Mind Masters, yet it was unwilling to let other Mind Flayers steal its credit—legendary psychic energy, after all, who wouldn't want it? The Mastermind didn't care who wielded this legendary power; as long as someone was under its control, whoever acquired it was essentially acquiring it for the Mastermind. How could the Roaring Words possibly allow anyone else to share in its spoils at this crucial moment?

　Therefore, it still decided to risk a longer wait.

　Then things started to spiral out of control.

　A dragon suddenly appeared from the kobolds' side and blocked the traitor's attack with an air strike.

　Fortunately, it wasn't a red dragon associated with another group of traitors, but a rather rare iron dragon, and it was even a cub.

　No, it wasn't just one dragon; then another hidden dragon appeared. But that didn't change anything; the iron dragon cub was the key to the changing situation.

　The clamorous voice knew all too well the obsession these gray dwarf traitors had with fire dragons. As it expected, the traitors immediately summoned even more and stronger reinforcements, and even their leader personally set off for the rift. Therefore, it dared not act rashly.

　Just as the noisy voices were seriously considering whether to connect with the mainframe to report the situation, a new change occurred.

　The Iron Dragon cub somehow created three new earthquakes, causing all three of the rift valley's only land passages to collapse.

　This slight tremor was exactly the same as when the aura of the released spiritual energy disappeared before. This iron dragon cub might be the culprit behind the disappearance of the legendary spiritual energy.

　Capture this iron dragon cub and you'll get a clue to the legendary spiritual energy!

　A series of inferences strung together in the clamor of words, and it made up its mind to take a desperate gamble, completely cutting through the layers of rocks that concealed it.

Chapter 63

　He established a weak connection with the mainframe and eliminated all the other low-level mind flayers on the Shell Ship to prevent them from leaking information and attracting other patrol ships.

　Next, it devoured the brains of all the psionic brethren it had killed, briefly boosting its psionic power. Then, it silently infiltrated the minds of three psionic warlocks in the rift via the Shell Ship, subtly guiding them to discover that it was the Iron Dragon that had collapsed the passage, drawing out the deep-seated fears within them, and amplifying them little by little.

　How could these volatile slaves possibly understand the true meaning of mind power? As long as it's not a direct confrontation, mind flayers can easily manipulate them at will.

　It knows these traitors too well. When they are surrounded by fear for a long time, that fear will inevitably turn into irrational anger, leading them to make crazy choices.

　For example, disregarding the losses and going all in, they fought to the death with that iron dragon cub.

　When the gray dwarf traitors took action, its clamorous voice descended again as the savior, perfectly rescuing the iron dragon cub. Thus, it opened a small opening in the innocent window of the naive iron dragon cub's heart, gradually and subtly permeating it with its own spiritual power, guiding it, influencing it, changing it, and becoming the "person" it trusted most.

　Clues to legendary psionic energy, and a future dragon slave—what a worthwhile adventure for Meio's Roaring Words!

　Hmm? That's strange. How did that Iron Dragon cub and the Shadow Dragon end up together? Weren't they fighting all the time? What are they doing now?

　Inside the rift, the Shadow Dragon, who had just received a long lecture from Casalos, was drowsy and listless. Casalos dragged him back into the mushroom bushes, slung a bundle of paper books bound with iron wire vines over his back, and disappeared into the shadows, avoiding the eyes and ears of the gray dwarf psionicists, before burrowing into the crypt where their slaves were located.

　"Go for it, Charleson family brat. Go and ignite the boiling blood in the hearts of these oppressed slaves, remove their slave marks, unlock the shackles in their hearts, and let them smash the slave master's head... You think I wouldn't know where you come from if you didn't tell me? You were hiding in the shadows before, so I couldn't find you. But now that you've revealed your true form to me, how could that stench mixed with the aura of a true dragon possibly escape Iron Dragon's nose, which is extremely sensitive to the aura of a true dragon?"

　68. Zhuo Erlong

　"Wait, how does it know I'm from Charleson City!"

　The Shadow Dragon, no, the Drow Dragon, which had ventured deep into the cave, suddenly snapped back to reality. It had just been force-fed a whole bunch of dubious social theories by Casalozian, leaving it completely bewildered and oblivious to the fact that the Iron Dragon had ultimately revealed its concealed origins.

　Now that I've realized it, I just feel a chill all over my body.

　If that leather-skinned iron dragon cub had harbored any ill intent, a single grab would have been enough to crush it to death in the mushroom patch—now that the iron dragon has confirmed its identity, it understands that the oath it swore in the name of Landis is invalid, because it is not under the dragon's control.

　In order to lower the Iron Dragon cub's guard, it deliberately pretended to be wary of the Iron Dragon, but it did not expect that it would reveal the aura of its own spiritual bloodline at some point.

　The Iron Dragon cub must have confirmed its identity through this bloodline aura. After all, throughout the entire continent of Faerûn, the only Shadow Dragon with Elven blood in Faerûn is the Drow Dragon of the Charsena family.

　In the eyes of some dragons, the dragons of the Charleson family don't even qualify as dragons. The same is true in the eyes of the dragon gods; the dragons of the Charleson family don't worship any dragon god, and the proud dragon gods disregard their oaths.

　They were not originally dragons.

　The Charson family is a large drow family. The ancestors of the Charson family stole the secret of the Thousand-Phase Magic Orb and used its mysterious power to forcibly fuse with the bloodline of the Shadow Dragon, thus becoming a semi-true dragon subspecies.

　"Drow Dragon" is a unique classification name for shadow dragons belonging to the Charleson family. In certain judgment spells that affect true dragons, drow dragons are considered to have elven blood rather than being true dragons. This is perhaps the reason why the iron dragon cub could sense that elven bloodline; it was truly careless.

　With this in mind, Zhuo Erlong calmed himself down and carefully reviewed every possible reason that could lead to his exposure.

　When attacking the Iron Dragon cub, I always used my claws cautiously for single scratches, rather than the dragon's habitual three-hit combo of biting, scratching, and wing attacks. Even when I was enraged, I used continuous and rapid scratches, preventing the Iron Dragon cub from seizing the opportunity to successfully grab me.

　This is also a very big point of doubt.

　Furthermore, every time it was about to be grabbed, it reacted quickly and avoided being grabbed, only suffering minor scratches.

　It had undergone rigorous and systematic assassin training in Charson City, though it hadn't yet successfully obtained the assassin's class rank—otherwise, with Casalos's current innate defense, it certainly wouldn't have been able to withstand a sneak attack from a teenage drow assassin. However, this long-term, systematic training was enough to change some of the drow's behavioral habits inherited from its true dragon bloodline, giving it extremely rich combat experience and greatly enhancing its soft-combat capabilities. It was precisely for this reason that it dared to boast of being able to sneak attack and kill a model mind mage.

　Unfortunately, there was nothing it could do; these doubts were impossible to hide. At the time, it never imagined that it would be helpless against the Iron Dragon cub.

　This is unbelievable! How can there be an iron dragon cub with such hard scales? Did this guy eat adamantite as soon as it hatched?

　Fortunately, the Iron Dragon cub still needs its power to deal with the Grey Dwarf's mind control, so it shouldn't turn against them for now. However, we'll need to keep our distance in the future. For now, let's focus on finishing what we're doing.

　A spell scroll to remove the slave brand, a bunch of psionic protective items, plus some books written in Common and Dwarven languages—hopefully, these slaves will actually jump out and rebel against the Grey Dwarves…

　Casalos, having observed the Shadow Dragon's reaction through the kobold warlock's hidden surveillance within the cargo, was now completely certain of his suspicions.

　This is so interesting, a drow dragon!

　Charson City is located almost in the northernmost region of the Forgotten Continent. How did this guy end up on the Churt Peninsula, the southernmost part of the continent? Is he an unlucky fellow who lost in the daily infighting of the Drow and exiled himself here to save his life, or is he carrying out a "mission" for the Charson family to carry out some kind of conspiracy against the southern continent?