Iron Dragon's Advancement Journey

　It could be made using real materials... Casalos went to great lengths to reduce the weight of the dragon armor.

　Compared to the mysterious dragon armor in the Dragon Vault dungeon, whose materials and craftsmanship are unknown, this set of dragon armor was designed entirely under Casalos's command and control. Casalos knows every detail of the dragon armor and every step of its production process.

　Firstly, in terms of material selection, steel, which has the best overall performance and the highest cost-effectiveness, was the first material to be eliminated.

　It's not that steel armor is bad, it's just that it's incredibly heavy. On land, the earth provides support, so it's not a problem for an iron dragon with its immense strength. But to fly while wearing such heavy steel armor would be a real challenge for the dragon... Perhaps once Casalos unlocks the secrets of dragon flight, there will be a chance for it to soar through the air wearing such heavy steel armor.

　Without discovering mysterious materials like mithril or adamantite, the remaining options are limited after ruling out steel. Although Dragon's Territory can smelt aluminum, it cannot yet produce high-performance aluminum alloys. As for titanium, the finest aerospace material, no trace of the relevant minerals has been found in the barren Rift Valley, and the related processing technology is also lacking.

　After considering factors such as the availability of raw materials, Casalos ultimately chose carbon fiber as the main material for manufacturing his dragon armor.

　The full name of carbon fiber should be carbon fiber reinforced resin matrix composite material. It is a typical composite material. As one of the four modern engineering materials in Casalos's past life memories, its performance is certainly sufficient to meet its requirements.

　Although carbon fiber is often associated with high-end products, it actually appeared relatively recently and its preparation process is not particularly complex, especially considering that Longling has two types of natural carbon fiber precursor materials.

　On the west side of the rift valley lies a small and low-quality oil field, which yields almost nothing from oil refining but can produce a considerable amount of asphalt; among the vines that now cover the rift valley dome, there is a type that produces abundant resin.

　Asphalt and resin are both rich in high molecular polymers and can serve as good precursors for carbon fiber.

　Using magical methods, the high molecular polymers in asphalt and resin are purified, soaked in a solution, and repeatedly drawn to form precursor fibers. The prepared precursor fibers are heated to over 200 degrees Celsius and kept at that temperature for a long time for pre-oxidation treatment. Then, they are placed in a non-oxidizing atmosphere and heated to over 1,000 degrees Celsius to remove non-carbon atoms such as hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur from the precursor fibers, thus obtaining high-purity carbon fibers.

　As the heat treatment temperature increases, the polymer chains of the carbon fiber precursor filament will increasingly transform into a layered graphite structure. With the expulsion of non-carbon atoms, the remaining carbon atoms in the precursor filament will tightly stack up in countless micro-curved graphite random layers to form carbon ribbons.

　The direction of the carbon ribbon is generally parallel to the fiber axis. As they overlap, the high tensile modulus properties within the graphite layer are extended to the axial direction of the macroscopic fiber, thus obtaining the high tensile strength of carbon fiber.

　Carbon fiber has low density, high elastic modulus, and excellent high-temperature strength. Moreover, as a fiber material, it can achieve different mechanical properties in different directions through different weaving methods, which can basically meet the requirements of the fire-attribute dragon's armor in Casalos.

　The large dragon armor, made primarily of carbon fiber, weighs less than 300 kg. When Casalos wears it, apart from making takeoff and landing a bit cumbersome, his flight ability is not greatly affected. On the contrary, due to its aerodynamic design, it has better flight controllability and maneuverability—optimizing aerodynamics is one of the important purposes Casalos aims to achieve in creating the dragon armor.

　Otherwise, given the defensive capabilities provided by its max-level Carved Skin Dragon, the Dragon Armor would be unnecessary; it doesn't really need that extra defensive power.

　Besides aerodynamic optimization, the more important purpose is, of course, the significant improvement brought by magical equipment.

　Dragon armor is magical equipment, not ordinary armor. The core reason it's called magical equipment is, of course, the "magic" prefix. The greatest advantage of dragon armor, made from solid materials, is that it can permanently imbue specific magical effects, provided that a caster is willing to make a permanent sacrifice for it.

　The benefits of Casalos's painstaking efforts in cultivating a group of kobold dragon vein sorcerers were on full display at this moment. The little dogs who were willing to contribute their magic to it and were proud of it could line up and circle the stone pillar.

　34. The dragon-slaying hero finally arrives.

　To equip a permanent spell effect, it's not simply a matter of casting the spell. The caster must transfer the portion of mana used during the normal casting of the desired spell effect to the equipment, which is equivalent to sacrificing a specific spell slot.

　Casalos didn't know if this counted as a difference in the real world, but logically speaking, it made sense.

　Spell slots limit the spells that most spellcasters can use. Normal spellcasting does not actually consume magic power itself, but rather the magic energy that constitutes the "spell slot". If you want equipment to have a permanent spell effect, then giving the equipment a "spell slot" is perfectly normal.

　Otherwise, if a single spell could keep the equipment continuously producing magical effects, who would replenish the energy lost in that process? Perhaps like the Goddess of Magic...? Well, the great arcanists of Netheril were best at exploiting the power of the first magical girl. The vast array of spells they developed, especially those super-ninth-ring spells, were essentially stolen from Netheril's authority and magic. As a result, the Netheril Empire failed to maintain its glory, and most of the great arcanists met tragic ends.

　After the first magical girl died along with the boastful Karthus due to curiosity and "destiny," the second magical goddess probably sealed the loopholes in the magic network, so spellcasters could no longer get free stuff, and the process of making magical equipment had such strange yet very reasonable rules.

　Of course, this may also be because the people of Faerûn have a very shallow understanding of magic net magic. It is not entirely impossible for Casalos to find a way to replace the spell slots and make the magic equipment permanent, but it is not possible now.

　Fortunately, there are a large number of dragon vein warlocks who are willing to permanently dedicate their spell slots to it.

　Thus, this carbon fiber dragon armor luxuriously and permanently holds a series of non-conflicting spells. In addition to the basic function that allows the dragon armor to freely change shape and scale with the Casaroz form, it also includes a 4th-level Sharp Tooth spell, a 5th-level Advanced Magic Fang spell, and a 5th-level High Windwing spell.

　For a duration, the Sharp Teeth spell can alter Casalos's natural weapons, such as claws, fangs, and tails, enhancing them to an enormous size. This is not merely a visual enlargement, but a substantial structural change brought about by the alteration spell within a limited time—after casting the spell, structures like the mouth or claws suddenly become much larger, which looks incredibly magical.

　The Advanced Magic Fang spell, which grants a spell slot fixation provided by a level 12 Dragonvein Warlock, makes these innate weapons essentially +3 level blank magic weapons.

　The two spells that enhance his innate weapon greatly compensate for Casalos's severe lack of melee combat ability relative to his challenge level. If Casalos had been wearing this dragon armor during his fight with Julius...

Chapter 119

　If it's A, then even in melee combat, it won't be suppressed so badly.

　With a high upgrade bonus, Casalos can conjure a mouth the size of an adult red dragon to partially overcome its size disadvantage. In addition, with the +3 base stat boost, it can ignore the red dragon's damage reduction. Even if Julius uses his strength advantage to pin it down, Casalos can bite off its neck in one bite.

　The enhancement of magical effects is terrifying!

　The greatest strength of dragons lies not in their enormous size and robust physique, but in the magical power they possess that places them at the pinnacle of mortal beings.

　With this dragon armor, Casalos finally had the confidence to face the various old monsters lurking within the various organizations of the Dragon Cult.

　With the help of the kobolds, Casalos donned the complete dragon armor piece by piece, activating the core that automatically wove together dragon magic and the magic embedded within it, creating a synchronized resonance. A pale yellow light emanated from beneath the black woven fabric of the dragon armor, creating a striking contrast with the occasional flashes of flame.

　As the light dimmed, the dragon armor was completely hidden inside Casalos's elemental half of its body, only to be revealed when needed, such as during high-speed flight and melee combat.

　"Wearing armor inside the body is too strange. Will it be like this when we can wear steel armor in the future...? No, steel and magic are highly incompatible. Even with permanent magic effects, external effects are preferred. This kind of transformation spell that drastically alters the steel itself is probably very inefficient. It's better to wear it on the outside. So, this kind of dragon armor that can be hidden inside the body should be called inner armor?" After muttering to himself for a while, Casalos suddenly opened his iron beak and exclaimed in realization, "Tsk, isn't this just magical spirit armor? I'm a genius!"

　I wonder if there are similar things on the continent of Karatu.

　Unfortunately, the manufacturing cost is too high now, making it completely unworthy of widespread adoption and not feasible. Otherwise, the thought of a half-dragon legion wearing spirit armor underneath steel magic-powered armor would be incredibly exciting. I'd love to lead my army into Enser immediately and smash the heads of the evil dragon descendants.

　Hmm, will this thing still be effective once it enters the Dragon's Treasury...?

　One question after another arose, and Casalos's mind became increasingly active. More ideas emerged from its head, which it recorded one by one in its memo, waiting for the residents of Dragon Territory to develop and put them into practice.

　As for whether the Spirit Armor and Dragon Armor will be effective in the Dragon Treasury, it will soon have an answer. The next guaranteed trial will begin soon.

　Judging by the time, the Dragon Worship Cult's gift-giving team should have just set sail after their training trip. It should have a chance to go to Sword Bay to find Fiona Milon who is waiting for it, and also to lay some pieces in that turbulent place to make some preliminary preparations for a possible entry in the future.

　Maintaining his established warrior training routine, giving Isis lessons and engaging in small interactions daily to cultivate and solidify their teacher-student relationship, and occasionally inquiring about or checking on the exploration progress of the Julius Vault and the excavation progress of the Lelotar Vault, Casaloz's days passed uneventfully as he awaited the start of the next trial.

　Unexpectedly, while the primordial power was still a little short of fully charging the Dragon's Treasury and it was still a bit too early to enter the magical convergence point within the lava, the somewhat idle Casalos unexpectedly encountered a group of dragon-slaying heroes who were trying to rescue the grassland inhabitants from the clutches of the evil dragon.

　Looking at the intelligence sent by Svent, Casalos clicked his iron beak, utterly speechless.

　A level 9 human ranger, a level 8 half-elf priest of the dawn, a level 8 druid of Tiaflin, and a level 6 half-human bard—what gave you the courage to slay a dragon?

　And where were you all before? Why didn't you come to slay the dragon when Julius was around? Did you think I, a mere young dragon, was easy to bully after Julius died?

　35. Adventurer

　Desera City is perhaps the settlement on the grasslands that best evokes the atmosphere of the Faerûn continent. Most fleets that set off from Sword Bay to the Golden Lands to participate in trade with the Eastern Continent would choose to stop here for supplies and a short rest before setting off again.

　In this not-so-large port city, a third of the population are not from the grasslands, but rather down-on-their-luck sailors, refugees, and their descendants from the mainland. They built stone houses that were completely different from the grassland style, and opened bars, casinos, and pink-themed businesses to swindle or even rob gold coins from their fellow countrymen who had crossed the ocean, in order to make a living.

　The people of the grasslands all hate them, but it must be said that their lives are more interesting and exciting than those of the grassland people. Many grassland people are attracted by that colorful world, forget their identity as companions of the wind, and join their filthy business.

　Bars were undoubtedly among the noisiest places. Once a merchant ship docked, the sailors, moldy from being on the cramped wooden boats, would always find an opportunity to go to a bar on shore for a drink or two of cheap goat's milk wine, and incidentally, to throw a tantrum and get into a fight, venting the frustration that had been building up in the wind, waves, and scorching sun.

　Wherever there are mainlanders, there will be adventurers, and Desera is no exception.

　These adventurers, at the slightest hint of profit, would swarm around like flies to sheep dung. No matter how much the people of the grasslands disliked them, they had to admit that these creatures provided considerable convenience to their lives.

　With a few sheepskins and some other grassland specialties, you can hire a few adventurers to eliminate kobold or goblin tribes that are threatening the grasslands; or have them act as bandits to secretly kill the sheep of rival tribes, thus legitimately seizing part of the grasslands... They'll do anything as long as you give them something.

　However, that was decades ago. Ever since that evil red dragon took over the snow mountain, the people of the grasslands below the snow mountain have not seen adventurers for a long time.

　It is said that several tribes invited several powerful groups of adventurers to eliminate the evil dragon, but those who were all talk and no action ended up in the red dragon's belly. As a result, Desera City's reputation among adventurers on the continent was ruined, and no adventurer was willing to travel all the way to this place to risk their lives for meager profits.

　Even the adventurers who protect merchant ships will stay on board and refuse to disembark when the ships arrive at Desera.

　The continent of Faerûn is full of opportunities and gold everywhere, so who would want to fight a red dragon to the death? The key is that the people of the grasslands simply cannot afford the "commission" that can attract those truly powerful adventurers.

　However, a few adventurers were unusually seen in the tavern today.

　"Kenneth, are we really going to slay the dragon?" A girl in a white robe, with dazzling golden hair and pointed ears, closed her book and asked a dwarf who was only half the height of the grassland people.

　"Of course we have to go! This is such a rare opportunity, Quintina. If we can defeat that evil dragon, the name of the 'Dawn Wind' team will surely resound throughout the entire continent, and there's even a chance it will spread to the East on merchant ships. At that time..."

　“But it’s a dragon!” Another girl in the group interrupted the halfling’s fantasy. She had a pair of long, curved horns on her forehead, and her skin was somewhat grayish, but different from the brown of the grassland people. She was a Tyflin.

　“Wrong, Stephanie, it’s not a dragon, it’s a young dragon.”

　"Killing a young dragon will make our team's reputation resound throughout the continent?" This time, the speaker was the last member of the team, who looked like a normal continental person. She was still a young girl, and her agile figure couldn't hide her strength. She carried a longbow on her back and a curved sword at her waist, looking like someone you wouldn't want to mess with.

　A boastful halfling, accompanied by three strikingly different girls, attracted a lot of attention wherever they went. They even used some kind of magic to muffle their conversation, leaving the patrons with only a cacophony of noise. Therefore...

Chapter 120

　The group, oblivious to the stares from the other drinkers, continued their conversation without noticing that a seemingly disabled grassland boy had quietly crept up to the table behind them. He sat sideways, one ear just inside the magic shield, as if listening to an interesting story, sipping fresh goat milk while eavesdropping on their conversation.

　“Hey, Karina, you don’t understand. It’s no ordinary young dragon.” The halfling didn’t show any displeasure. Instead, she picked up the bottle of goat’s milk wine on the bar, tilted her head back, drank it down in one gulp, let out a burp, and confidently stated, “We’ve been searching among the nearby tribes for days, and the information we’ve gathered suggests that this young dragon may possess immense wealth!”

　He paused briefly, a sunny smile spreading across his face: "What do you think fame is based on, my little Karina? Is it on overwhelming strength or unparalleled achievements?"

　Let me tell you, none of that is true; it's all thanks to wealth that rivals that of a nation!

　"If you don't pay them, the bards won't spread your stories for free, nor will they boast of your power to others. Only when you possess sufficient wealth to provide them with ample funds to 'support' their cause will they compose magnificent epics for you and sing them far and wide."

　At this point, the halfling stroked Tifflin's head, calming her dissatisfaction with the theory, and turned to her to continue: "Of course, the premise is that you have made some achievements worth praising. A lie that is purely fabricated without factual support is hard to believe."

　Therefore, this young dragon is our rare opportunity!

　"What do you mean?" The half-elf Quintina glared at Tifflin and pressed the halfling Kenneth for an answer.

　"Don't you understand? Let me put it another way. The one threatening the Tindor Grassland is that infamous adult red dragon Julius, not that juvenile red dragon whose name no one even knows!"

　We are so fortunate to have passed by at this moment and learned that the red dragon Julius has just died for some unknown reason, and his position has been taken over by a young red dragon.

　The epic poems that bards will sing in the future are about the achievements of our "Dawn Wind" team in eliminating the evil dragon that plagued the great grasslands.

　Aside from these primitive people who are trapped in the grasslands and won't go anywhere else, who could know that we only killed a young dragon and not an adult red dragon?

　"Indeed, that's a brilliant idea!" The eavesdropping boy suddenly stood up, his eyes wide, and awkwardly raised his hands to clap and cheer, drawing the attention of the four adventurers.

　36. A confident team

　The boy was, of course, Casalos in disguise. After learning about this group of goofballs, he decided to come down the mountain to take a look.

　If it descended in the form of a dragon, chaos would surely ensue, so for the first time, it reluctantly transformed into the form of a human.

　Whether it was because he had been a dragon for too long, or because the bipedal walking posture of humanoids was so different from the rest of the animal kingdom, Casalos, who had been human in his previous life, was completely unaccustomed to human movement. Not only did he walk with a limp, but his movements were also extremely uncoordinated, making him look like he had polio. Therefore, he could only disguise himself as a boy with some congenital disability. Fortunately, this appearance was convincing enough that he eavesdropped for quite some time without attracting the attention of the few "powerful" adventurers.

　Casalos wasn't just being sarcastic, but with this adventure team's composition, it could easily dispatch a squad of goblins... no, not even a squad. The goblins it brought to the surface were all elite dragon vein goblins; any one of them could easily "annihilate" this group of dragon-slaying heroes.

　It was genuinely curious what gave this group of people the courage to cause trouble for it.

　Sven only sent back intelligence instead of directly crushing these ungrateful bastards, probably because he also thought they were a source of amusement.

　Adventurers' tracks were easy to find; the surface wasn't like the Underdark where the environment forced professionals to roam freely. A few casual questions to a few herders revealed the group's whereabouts, and Casalos sauntered into Desera, then followed the dragon-slaying team into the bar.

　It intends to take a closer look at this group of goofballs.

　This discovery was astounding; it realized that this halfling was actually a rare talent… the kind who could study journalism. After all, bards, aside from their role in combat, didn't seem to be fundamentally different from self-media personalities.

　"Who are you, kid? Why are you eavesdropping on our conversation?" Kenneth reached out to stop the human girl who was trying to drive Casalos away, and asked with narrowed eyes.

　"Huh, eavesdropping? I wasn't eavesdropping. I've been sitting here the whole time. You were talking so loudly, everyone could hear you. How can you say I was eavesdropping?"

　Casalos twisted her hand to point to where she was sitting. The awkward gesture lowered the four people's guard slightly. They looked in the direction she was pointing and then understood what was going on. The three of them turned to look at the half-elf girl together.

　The latter blushed, lowered her head, and whispered, "I'm sorry, I didn't pay attention to the spell's range..."

　“No, it’s not your fault, Quintina, it’s just that this bar is too cramped.” The halfling gently comforted the priest, who seemed to have made a spellcasting mistake, then turned to Casalos and snapped, “Boy, this is none of your business. Forget everything you heard, get out of here and go back to your mother’s arms.”

　"No, anything related to dragons is related to me! The red dragon killed my whole family, so if you want to kill that red dragon, you have to take me with you!" Casalos wasn't lying; his whole family had indeed been killed by the red dragon.

　Upon hearing the words "the red dragon killed the whole family," the Tiaflin girl Stephanie wanted to say something, but was stopped by a gesture from the halfling. He jumped down from the bar stool in front of the bar, looked up at Casalos, who was taller than him, and asked in a condescending tone:

　"Why should we take you along? What does it matter to us whether your whole family was killed by the Red Dragon? You're a stunted little brat who can barely walk. Why should we take such a burden like you along?"

　"Because I'm the only one on the entire grassland who knows the safe route to the Red Dragon's lair..."

　Casalos eventually persuaded the leader of the squad.

　Although it couldn't quite understand how a level 6 bard halfling could command the subservience of three beautiful girls far stronger than him, the undeniable facts forced it to accept them.

　Perhaps this is the advantage of high charisma?

　Iron Dragon's charm is not low either, so why can't it attract any pretty little female dragons... Casalos ignored the fact that he had already "attracted" a large group of dogs.

　In short, after Casalos reasoned with him and appealed to his emotions, the halfling Kenneth finally agreed to his "request" to take it up the mountain. However, he solemnly warned Casalos that he would not provide it with any protection and that if he discovered any unusual behavior from it, he would be severely punished. Casalos nodded in agreement to this temporary agreement.

　What would have taken a few hours to fly down from Casalozé would take several days to walk back.

　Led by Casaloz, the adventurer party used potions to mask their scent and snaked through the vast grasslands, sometimes stopping to hide and sometimes speeding up. They always managed to avoid the dragon vein goblin teams patrolling the foot of the mountain and climbed up the mossy area in the belly of the snow mountain without incident.

　"From here on, there will be no more lush grass to provide us with cover. You must stick close to me. When it's time to move, move; when it's time to stop, stop; when it's time to hide, hide. Those dragon vein earth spirits have much better eyesight than us. If you don't hide in time, they will be able to spot us from a great distance."

　"Strange, little brother, how do you know these dragon minions' patrol routes so well?" Perhaps it was a sense of shared misfortune, but among the four adventurers, Tieflin...

Chapter 121

　The person who was most friendly to Casalos became the one responsible for communicating with Casalos.

　“I wanted revenge, so I studied them. At first, I was often discovered by them, but luckily they weren’t wary of a half-crippled child like me. They just threw me back into the grassland and left me alone. Gradually, I discovered their patrol patterns—the patrol routes of these dragon vein goblins are actually very fixed, even somewhat rigid. The error in the trajectory of each patrol route is no more than one meter, and the time fluctuation for each route is no more than 5 minutes.”

　In this way, once you are familiar enough with them, you can completely avoid their line of sight.

　I've actually ventured into the dragon's lair three times already, but unfortunately I'm not capable of killing that 'evil dragon'.