Red Dragon Monster Hunter Template.

But to his utter surprise, the red dragon revealed a ferocious smile and growled.

"Your suggestion is good, very good! I like doing business with smart people."

"Then it's settled: leave behind all your money, half your goods, and a quarter of your men, and I await your ransom."

These words instantly plunged Mark's heart into despair. He didn't have much money on him; when trading in the wilderness, he mostly bartered, so he didn't carry much with him.

Half the goods are still acceptable, but the key issue is the quarter of the manpower—not to mention the dangers that those who stay behind will face, losing so many people will cause major problems for the entire caravan.

"We can give you money and goods, but with a quarter of our manpower gone, it will be difficult for us to continue our journey through the wilderness."

This is indeed a problem. Thor did not intend to exterminate the caravan, but rather to treat them as a goose that could lay eggs.

After all, if all the passing caravans were killed, eventually other caravans would realize that this was a dead end, which would be a loss.

Only by ensuring their safe passage can he continuously collect tolls, spread his fame in human society, and acquire more spiritual essence.

As for whether they will never pass through this place again after they return to human territory?

Saul believed that merchants would sell even the ropes that led to their own deaths if there was profit to be made.

Wilderness trading is inherently a highly profitable business. In my previous life, during a time of low productivity, a small iron pot could be exchanged for a sheep on the grassland, and a pound of salt could be exchanged for a complete animal hide.

Even if profits are halved, there are still plenty of people willing to take the risk.

After a brief moment of thought, Thor smirked and leaned closer to the merchant leader, saying...

"You're right, then I'll lend you some manpower."

"You can leave behind as many humans as you want, and I'll give you that many men. But in return, if I return with even one less man, then one of my men will have to stay here forever!"

At such close range, Mark could clearly feel the scorching breath exhaled from the red dragon's mouth.

Considering the beast's tyrannical temper, he dared not raise any further objections and could only nod with difficulty.

Chapter 103 Controlling Small Creatures

All the merchants and guards dropped their weapons, raised their hands high, and obediently stood in a row against the cliff face on one side of the valley.

A group of kobolds climbed down the crevice in the rocks and began searching their bodies for valuables. They packed these items into a box and respectfully presented it to their dragon lord.

Thor extinguished the flames burning on his body, casually took the box and glanced at it. Inside were some loose gold and silver coins, a brass pocket watch, a water cup, and a personal weapon inlaid with tiny gemstones.

Such junk might be considered a treasure by a typical young dragon, but Thor had long since looked down on it.

The value contained in the various energy crystals and precious metal ores he consumes daily is at least ten times that of these things.

But this was within his expectations. What use is carrying a lot of money in the wilderness? There's hardly anything he can use it for.

However, the short bow in the captain's hand was somewhat valuable. It was a low-level magical weapon that could imbue the arrows with a trace of wind element, giving them the power and range of a longbow.

This naturally fell into Thor's clutches as well. Even the illumination crystal in the command carriage, which was imbued with a constant dim light spell, was pried off by the kobolds with daggers.

After looting these creatures who didn't yield much profit, Saul ordered his men to remove the tarpaulins from the wagons.

Most of the carriages were loaded with various iron household items and weapons, piles of yellowish coarse salt, sacks of food, and small amounts of tea, spices, and exquisite utensils.

These are all hard currencies that sell well in the wilderness. It is precisely because of the existence of these wilderness merchants that monsters such as gnolls, goblins, and ogres, who have no knowledge of mining and forging, have the weapons to attack caravans and large pots for stewing meat.

As previously instructed, Thor divided the caravan in half, then extended his paw and lightly tapped, randomly selecting a quarter of the caravan members standing in a row against the wall.

Then he summoned a kobold and ordered it to go. A short while later, it returned with a humanoid tiger whose body was wrapped in bandages.

This was the tiger-man he had nearly killed with his earth spikes in the beastman camp.

It must be said that these beast-like humans, especially the bear-men, tiger-men, and werewolves, are incredibly resilient.

As long as the wounds weren't caused by silver weapons, they would heal very quickly. The tiger-man, who was seriously injured and on the verge of death just a few days ago, was now able to get out of bed and move around thanks to the old bear-man's secret medicine.

Thor grinned as he looked at the large cat, which was wrapped up like a mummy, and gave the order.

"Take some men with you, follow the caravan, obey their orders, and return on the way back."

"If you dare to try and escape, I'll kill that old bear, understand?"

A wave of heat surged from ahead, reminding the tiger-man of that night—

Unrestrained flames, overwhelming power, terrifying physical defense, and exaggeratedly large-scale ground spike magic.

Even though he had replayed the scene in his mind hundreds of times over the past few days, he couldn't find any way to defeat or even escape it.

That unparalleled power had already etched a deep fear into his heart, and upon hearing Thor's command, he immediately nodded instinctively.

Soon, the tiger-men selected some beastmen and kobolds and brought them to the caravan leader Mark. His three-meter-tall body was like a city wall, casting a large shadow.

Looking at the magnificent humanoid beast and the giant sword on its back that was as wide as his own waist, Mark felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

This guy is definitely not someone to mess with! When I was young, I considered myself a powerful warrior, but standing in front of this tiger-man, I felt like he could crush me with one hand.

That damned red dragon! He said he was sending his men to help, but it was all just for surveillance.

Could I really dare to order them around? As long as they don't make things worse, I should be grateful.

But he only dared to think these words in his heart, and still smiled and greeted them warmly.

After Thor left and after a period of rest, the horses that had been stiff with fear finally recovered, and the crisp sound of hooves rang out, with the bells hanging around their necks making a melodious sound.

The caravan set off again, passing through valleys and disappearing into the distant wilderness.

…………

The treasure plundered from the caravans was carelessly tossed aside by Thor in a corner of his lair; items of this quality weren't worthy of being displayed in a prominent place.

Once he has enough spiritual essence, he will definitely exchange it for mountains of dragon crystals and turn his lair into another dragon crystal land.

As for the iron pots, salt, and other things he completely disdained, he distributed them all, which could be considered as a form of incentive for his subordinates.

Otherwise, if the pressure is too severe, they will become numb, and the amount of essence produced will decrease, which is also a loss.

A qualified capitalist should know how to make certain investments to maximize profits.

After finishing these chores, Thor took down a cage made of woven vines and hanging in mid-air from a corner of the cave. Inside were several black bats that made frightened squeaks when disturbed.

However, when he looked over with his molten gold-like pupils, the awakened spell to control small creatures was activated, and invisible spiritual power emanated, instantly rushing into the mind of one of the bats, quieting it down.

With his immense mental power, Thor has learned small-scale spells like vision and hearing sharing from the memories of the undead creature in his mind after this period of research.

As these spells were applied to the quiet bat, Thorn felt a sudden jolt before his eyes, as if the world had been divided into layers, revealing a wondrous new perspective.

Looking at his own body from another perspective, especially from the perspective of small creatures, was quite novel to him.

After a brief adjustment period, Thor began to use his mind to control the bat as it flew up and down. When night fell, he even sent it burst out of the cave and flew south.

He planned to explore the abandoned underground city again to see if he could find more information.

One after another, the low hills were left behind, but compared to Thor's own flying speed, the bats were much slower.

Time passed by, second by second, and after a long time, the mountains I remembered still did not appear before my eyes.

After all, ordinary bats have limited physical strength, and their flight speed is about 20 to 30 kilometers per hour. For a distance of more than 200 kilometers, they would need to fly for nearly 10 hours.

If you add the time needed to stop eating and recover, the process will be even longer.

As dawn approached, Thor felt the delicate mental connection in his mind snap shut; the spell's effect had expired, and he had failed to reach the abandoned dungeon.

The first attempt ended in failure.

Chapter 104 Re-exploring the Abandoned Underground City

True dragons are born with immense spiritual power, and with the added benefits of bloodline purification and monster templates, Thor doesn't feel tired at all, even when he maintains spells that control small creatures for extended periods.

However, the fact that all his efforts throughout the night had been in vain still ignited a surge of anger within him. He took a deep breath to calm his agitated emotions and slowly exhaled a scorching wind with a temperature of several hundred degrees Celsius towards the outside of the cave.

Ordinary bats are far too fragile; perhaps I should strengthen them?

Thor took down the cage hanging on the cave wall again, and with his claws, forcefully pierced his fingertip. A drop of thick blood immediately gushed out, which he dripped onto a bat inside the cage.

The scorching dragon blood landed on the flying rat, instantly causing it to let out a shrill scream. Its black fur was instantly melted through and burst into flames with a "whoosh".

The raging fire not only burned the bat to a crisp, but also the other bats in the cage. A burnt smell filled the cave, causing Thor's expression to darken.

Dragon blood is indeed a deadly poison for most creatures. To truly transform a creature, one needs to combine it with magical materials, a complex ritual, and a small amount of essence blood.

Thor didn't want to waste resources on these flying rats, so after thinking for a moment, he decided to take the most rudimentary approach.

Since the mountain won't come to see me, then I'll take the initiative to go to see the mountain.

This place is too far from the abandoned dungeon, so let's fly to a place that's closer first, and then send out the bats under my control.

Without hesitation, Thor quickly summoned a kobold and ordered it to catch a few more bats, while he ate his breakfast in the meantime.

The thousands of evil creatures under his command provide Thor with nearly 50 points of mental essence almost every day.

He exchanged more than half of them for various energy crystals and ores to meet his own physical growth and development needs.

This is undoubtedly an extremely extravagant act; if converted to gold coins, it would require consuming at least a thousand coins every day.

Only with such a sufficient supply of energy can the blood in his body be continuously purified.

This is probably why the true dragon bloodline in the material world is constantly degenerating. Ultimately, it's due to resource scarcity, which causes the body to naturally make adjustments.

After all, not all dragons can eat energy crystals. The vast majority of true dragons, after obtaining precious magic gems, will simply store them deep within their treasure vaults and never even consider eating them.

Thor felt that the purification of his bloodline was partly due to the monster template, but the large amounts of dragon crystals and various ores he had consumed also played a crucial role.

With a slight thought, several shiny crystals fell into his large paws. He stuffed them into his mouth like candy and swallowed them without even chewing.

"The mental energy I've spent on eating should be enough to extract a mid-level monster template."

However, this would significantly delay physical development and could even lead to malnutrition, which might be counterproductive.

As such thoughts flashed through his mind, the kobolds didn't keep Thor waiting for long; they soon climbed up again, carrying cages woven from vines.

For these little guys who love digging tunnels, bats are a common sight, and they can catch as many as they want.

Thor didn't bother to choose; he casually picked up a cage, hung it on his claws, spread his wide wings, and roared out of the cave.

Facing the rising sun, he flew rapidly southward, the flames burning on his body leaving a long trail behind him, like a shooting star streaking across the sky.

The enhancements to his wings from the Rathalos monster template have further increased his flight speed, now estimated to be around 150 kilometers per hour, and he can fly continuously for extended periods.

The distance that an ordinary bat might not be able to cross in a day and a night is just over an hour's journey for him.

The low hills were quickly left behind, their low peaks seemingly forming a gray-brown afterimage.

Upon reaching the southernmost point of the mountain range, Thor did not rush to explore the abandoned underground city, but instead searched around.

This is Cyclops territory. Since they've come all this way, we should naturally treat them with the utmost hospitality.

It didn't take long for him to find another Cyclops and his herd of animals on the gentle slope between the two mountains.

This guy isn't herding rough-haired sheep, but rather domesticated wild boars.

When it saw the red dragon descending from the sky, this one-eyed giant, less than 4 meters tall, with a slightly hunched back, unkempt white hair, and cloudy yellowish-brown eyes, did not put up any resistance. Instead, it grabbed the thick wooden stick in its hand, which could be used as both a weapon and a cane, and ran away without looking back.

The wisdom accumulated through age and experience made this elderly cyclops clearly realize that this red dragon was no match for him, and any act of resistance would be suicidal.

Seeing that the other party was so sensible, Thor had no intention of killing them all and began to eat heartily.

He ate 10 of the strongest boars in one go, with more than two tons of meat, until his belly swelled up like a round ball.

However, this state will not last long. The super-powerful digestive and absorption system will quickly digest this flesh and blood, transforming it into high-energy polymers to meet the body's needs for a long time to come.

Even the residue produced after digestion will not be wasted.

Although a dragon's digestive system can extract more than 99% of the energy from food, these residues are also tainted by the magic within its body and carry some waste products from bodily metabolism.

Just like when Thor ate the Dragon Slayer Fruit, the magic and bloodline energy impurities expelled from his body were waste for him, but an ultimate tonic for the kobolds.

His excrement is a super fertilizer for plants, and can even be used to extract medicines, and can also have a health-strengthening effect on ordinary people.

Therefore, some poor dragons even rely on selling their excrement to earn a meager fortune.

When the food in his stomach had been mostly digested, Thor found a sheltered spot and took a nap. When he opened his eyes again, night had already fallen.

With his previous experience, he was much more skilled at dealing with bats this time.