Red Dragon Monster Hunter Template.

In just two months, nine out of ten grain shops in Deepwater Harbor were empty. The price of rye bread, which used to cost three copper coins, skyrocketed. Even if the tenant farmers in the suburbs, who were already suffering from the disaster, spent all their savings, they could hardly make ends meet.

As civilians were displaced and starvation began to appear, the Silvermoon Alliance, together with the Waterdeep City Lords' Council and the Vale Kingdoms, urgently concluded an embargo decree.

They set up armed checkpoints along the east-west trade routes, strictly prohibiting the transport of large quantities of daily necessities into the wilderness. City guards, clad in armor, inspected passing convoys, confiscating all smuggled goods to aid the starving people.

Unfortunately, while the ban blocked the open path, the undercurrents in the shadows grew stronger. Some people bribed officials at border checkpoints to organize smuggling teams of goblins and humans to cross mountains and valleys, bypassing checkpoints to transport supplies to the dragon's lair, and profiting from the chaos.

Moreover, Thor's influence has already penetrated deep into human territory, occupying almost half of the underground world, and he controls the smuggling trade.

Almost every day, the pockets of the lords of various city-states, large and small, would become a little fuller.

Almost every day, the prices of various daily necessities rise.

Even the most powerful spellcaster cannot conjure a large amount of food out of thin air. A wish spell might work, but it is only a temporary solution and will also be subject to backlash from the laws of nature.

Hunger and death weighed on all the poor people like a heavy sea, making them feel suffocated and filled with despair for tomorrow.

It was at this time that a church called "Eternal Dragon" began to quietly roam the streets and alleys.

They proclaimed to the desperate people that the great Red Emperor would one day rule the world and bestow upon his followers a promised land flowing with honey and milk.

When there is no hope, people will grasp at even the thinnest straw.

What's more, this suddenly appearing church would distribute free black bread to people.

Whether for survival or because they genuinely believed in the future they proclaimed, a large number of people from the lower classes chose to join, causing the church to grow rapidly.

Subsequently, envoys claimed that they could lead them to a land far from war and famine, where they could begin a new life.

The impoverished people, who had already been driven to the brink of destitution, naturally chose to follow without hesitation. Under the cover of night, they left their towns and villages, flowing into the wilderness like rivers.

Such a large-scale operation could not be kept secret from the rulers, and they would certainly not allow their people to leave.

So, a group of guards followed closely behind, intending to intercept them, but they were attacked by an unknown enemy halfway and were almost completely wiped out.

As the sun rose, a city-state lord looked at the corpses scattered on the ground, and the huge slash marks and hideous claw marks left on the armor. He knew perfectly well what had happened.

The red dragon in the wilderness is using gold to disrupt the order of the North while taking the opportunity to plunder people.

But even if we knew, what could we do?

Thor conducts legitimate transactions and never forces anyone to buy or sell. If they are unwilling, they can simply refuse.

It is only natural for people who cannot survive to find their own way out; they cannot be allowed to starve to death here. No one who advocates goodness can interfere with this.

Chapter 350 Expansion

Gold may have a thousand wonderful uses, but its value is only revealed when it is used; if it is simply piled up in a warehouse, it will ultimately be nothing more than a pile of pretty stones.

Saul's actions of buying up grain, cloth, copper, and iron ore at inflated prices were undoubtedly a loss in terms of the intrinsic value of the goods. However, he was able to use this to economically drag most of the northern city-states into dire straits.

For him, this was a choice he had no other option but to make.

After all, the entire wilderness was already under his rule, and if he wanted to expand his territory further, he could only do so by venturing into human lands.

But this is no longer the era in which dragons and giants rule the earth. Throughout history, those evil dragons that have committed acts of massacring cities and destroying nations have almost never had a good end.

It should be noted that there is only one Queen of the Five Colored Dragons, and she is also restrained by the Lord of the North Wind, while there are at least a dozen benevolent deities in the human camp.

Any city-state of any significant size would possess more than one temple; to forcibly attack it would be tantamount to waging war directly against the sects of those gods.

But using money as a weapon is different. He's engaged in legitimate business, and in principle, he should be under the protection of the gods of trade and wealth.

As for using his subordinates to absorb people, giving those starving disaster victims a bite to eat and giving them hope to survive, isn't that a commendable act of kindness?

Therefore, even though the powerful figures of the North, as leaders of their city-states, knew that the actions of this "Red Emperor" were gradually dragging the entire North city-state alliance into an abyss, they were powerless to stop it.

Some lords of small city-states even went so far as to plan to make a fortune from this opportunity and then use the wealth they had earned to start anew on the continent across the sea.

Some truly righteous and benevolent people could only travel around persuading local powerful figures and wealthy merchants to refuse to continue trading with Sol and to open their granaries to relieve the poor.

Trying to take money from someone else's pocket is as difficult as taking their life. Moreover, in this era, people with a conscience can never become powerful and wealthy businessmen.

Under this continuous drain, some small city-states gradually became unable to maintain the basic operation of their territories.

After all, without food, farmers will starve to death; if farmers starve to death, the fields will be abandoned, leading to even greater food shortages.

This vicious cycle is why in some places, a single season's crop failure can directly trigger a major famine.

Seeing that they could no longer survive in the local area, the lords of the small city-states who were planning to flee decided to go on a rampage in their last moments.

Isn't the red dragon in the wilderness buying up food and basic resources? What about population? Buildings? Land?

They simply sold everything they couldn't take with them, used the enormous wealth to buy a new piece of land across the sea, and could still remain high-ranking lords.

Thor accepted all offers. However, this time, he held the initiative and naturally wanted to drive down prices. Moreover, a large portion of the transactions were made using products from his own territory, such as weapons and armor—hard currencies.

Of course, he could also choose to refuse the trade and, after the lords of those small city-states were forced to leave, directly seize their territories.

However, this changes the nature of the matter entirely. Sometimes, the power of a contract or a title can surpass even that of magic.

Thus, people saw that the territory belonging to Sol began to spread little by little across the entire Northland, like the rising tide.

If Mount Doom was initially located at the border between his territory and the human realm, after multiple expansions, it is now almost becoming the central area of ​​Thor's territory.

While Thor was spending lavishly abroad, he also spent lavishly at home, thanks to his almost inexhaustible gold reserves.

According to the different contributions his subordinates made to the territory, Sol rewarded them with large amounts of gold coins, in units of tens of thousands.

When they saw piles of glittering gold coins stacked before them, almost all the dragons' eyes were illuminated with the color of gold at that moment.

The metal dragons found this both incredible and slightly touching.

The five-colored dragon was initially filled with immense joy, but this was quickly replaced by even greater greed and dissatisfaction.

The rewards they received were vastly different from those for the metal dragons. After all, they were still young, and their innate power was inclined towards destruction rather than development, so they couldn't be said to have made much of a contribution.

What was even more unacceptable to them was that the gold coins, which had just been in their hands, were immediately taken back.

They still owed Saul a loan, so now that they had the money, they naturally wanted to pay off their debts first.

To gain something and then lose it is undoubtedly more painful than never having had it at all.

As the young dragons watched the gold coins that had briefly belonged to them being taken away, they felt a sharp pain in their hearts and could barely breathe.

That intense emotion caused the essence balance in Thor's mind to pulsate noticeably.

He felt a surge of pleasure as he watched the dragon cubs writhing in agony on the ground.

Only the white dragons remained indifferent. Their intelligence was insufficient to comprehend the value of gold coins; the so-called "treasure" they collected was nothing more than spoils from powerful prey.

In less than a year, Thor has probably squandered tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of gold coins, but for him, that's nothing.

If each gold coin weighs 10 grams, 100 coins would only amount to one kilogram, and 10 coins would only amount to one ton.

The thin layer of gold that covered his body when he stepped out of the volcano probably weighed thousands of tons.

Legend has it that the Earth Mother Goddess of Gold has tens of thousands of tons of gold constantly adhering to her body. Adding to that the golden land where she dwells, the total amount is probably in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of tons. No wonder it drives all hunters crazy.

As the saying goes, money can make the devil turn the millstone, and money can communicate with gods. Isn't this a manifestation of power?

The large amount of gold coins scattered not only allowed Thor's territory to expand rapidly, but also brought in a surge of population and resource supplies, accelerating the development of the entire territory by more than one level.

Even the canal that runs from near Mount Doom to the coast is almost fully open after a long period of digging.

A huge artificial lake, hundreds of meters deep and twenty to thirty kilometers in diameter, has been excavated and is just waiting for seawater to flow in, which will then become a natural dock and transit station.

On this day, Thor once again dragged his enormous body, now painted pure gold, out of the volcanic lava.

With a forceful shake, gold rained down like drops of water, which were collected by the kobolds accompanying him and sent into the treasure vault.

He glanced at the bustling scene at the foot of the volcano, his wings, which blotted out the sky, spread out against the gale, and instantly turned into a red light, disappearing into the distant horizon.

Chapter 351 The Golden Disc

Following the still-dry canal, a view of the sea and sky merging into one soon appeared ahead, with hard basalt rocks stretching across the estuary less than a kilometer from the sea.

This crucial final ceremony of opening the floodgates and releasing the water naturally had to be performed by myself.

Thor waved his claws, signaling the earth giants, elementals, and darkin overseers to step back. He then took a deep breath and began to wield the power that originated from the earth.

A beam of yellowish-brown light shot out from his mouth, and wherever it passed, the solid rocks and soil it touched instantly crumbled into fine dust, as if weathered over millions of years.

The sand breath technique that Thor mastered as a fledgling dragon has undergone a complete transformation in his current form.

In the blink of an eye, a huge gap was pierced through the hard rock layer, which was less than a kilometer long. A large amount of seawater, carrying mud and sand, rushed in and churned all the way, just like a roaring yellow dragon.

Due to the long distance and the enormous size of the artificial lake, the surging water continued for several days and nights before finally calming down completely.

After the huge artificial lake was filled with seawater, numerous docks and shipyards began to be built one after another.

In addition, Thor ordered his men to dig numerous small channels to bring seawater into pools dug at the foot of the volcano where geothermal energy was concentrated.

Using the heat of the magma, the seawater is rapidly evaporated, and the salt concentration in the water continues to rise until white crystals condense at the bottom and on the walls of the pool.

This crude salt-making process produces salt that not only tastes bitter but also contains various impurities and harmful substances.

But it's more than enough for those lowly, evil creatures under my command, and given their constitution, it won't cause too many side effects.

If they are intelligent enough, they can also perform secondary purification on their own. In short, in this way, Thor's territory has achieved complete self-sufficiency in salt.

With ample salt and iron, abundant food, a powerful ruler, a capable leader, and a vast territory, the region was well-positioned to thrive.

All the basic conditions required for a powerful empire were now in place, and Thor immediately decided to build his own imperial capital.

Having just completed a magnificent project, the earth giants and earth elementals had no time to rest before throwing themselves into busy work once again.

The surrounding low hills, which were the best building materials, began to be hollowed out and removed one by one.

At the foot of Mount Doom, in a place untouched by falling rocks and lava, numerous buildings rise up around the volcano.

Because the creatures under his command were generally tall, these buildings were constructed to be magnificent and imposing, resembling the dwellings of giants.

Furthermore, since most of their creatures were rewarded with a large amount of gold coins, some powerful Darkin simply melted down these gold coins to decorate their buildings.

…………

Surrounded by layers of mountains, Mount Doom, under Thor's influence, still erupts from time to time, continuously bringing him metal resources from deep underground.

Some precious metals, such as nuggets of gold, were sprayed into the air and collected directly by the kobolds under their command, while more flowed down the outer wall of the volcano, forming a super rich mine.

The gold content in those jet-black basalt and obsidian was so high that, combined with the influence of Thor, they shimmered with a black-gold luster under the sunlight.

Even from tens or hundreds of kilometers away, as long as the view is unobstructed, you can still see the light-like reflection.

More gold was melted down by Thor and poured into his Crimson Palace, making every crack in the brick walls exude nobility and luxury.

From a high altitude, the area surrounding Mount Doom is bathed in dazzling golden light, as if one were in the kingdom of the god of wealth, or the legendary golden city.

Even so, Thor was still not satisfied. After all, gold is something that can only be used to show off if it is not used.

Hiding it in a treasure vault is no different from wearing fine clothes in the dark.

Therefore, Thor planned to exchange some Sky Stones, melt them into gold, and forge a huge floating disc.

At that time, it will float above the Doomsday Volcano like a second sun, a spectacle that will be second to none in the world.

This will undoubtedly bring Thor a very high level of legend, as well as countless envy and jealousy.

Perhaps even the gods will take notice, not to mention those who yearn for wealth and will surely come regardless of everything.

…………

Without hesitation, Thor immediately swung his claws, activating the Golden Law he had obtained from Kulve Taroth. As a result, specks of golden-red liquid floated up from the crater like raindrops flowing against the current.

With a gentle tap of consciousness on the wheel in his mind, a peculiar crystal shimmering with white light appeared in the void.

They were mixed together by Thor in a certain proportion, melted at high temperature, and forged into a round embryo.

At this time, it was still small in size, but its golden material was still particularly eye-catching.

As Thor extended his claws, the entire disc rose straight into the sky under the influence of the amphibole, which could make the entire Sky Mountain float.

A fierce wind blew high in the sky, and the helpless disc swayed and began to drift away into the distance.

Seeing this, Thor thought for a moment and added several long chains to it, tethering it to the sky above the volcano like a hot air balloon.