Red Dragon Monster Hunter Template.

"Now, swear to Bahamut that for a long time to come, you will remember to call me Master!"

…………

Everything settled down. The spatial passage torn open by the scroll in mid-air lost its support and slowly closed like a shut-in eye.

Covered in blood and looking somewhat disheveled, the golden dragon descended from the sky with a humiliated expression and stood behind Thor.

She had already made up her mind: as long as those humans could leave successfully, if the red dragon made any excessive demands afterward, she would immediately fight to the death, even if it meant her own death, she would never let him succeed.

On a pine branch extending from a low cliff in the distance, a small canary quietly observes this scene, occasionally tilting its head and preening its golden feathers with its pale yellow beak.

A five-colored rainbow floated above the tiny creature's head, stretching from east to west to form a miniature rainbow bridge.

The rainbow light rippled slightly, and a voice suddenly rang out.

"I thought you would intervene, you cowardly traitor. I never expected you to just watch your followers fall into the clutches of the evil dragon. That's quite a surprise."

The canary gazed ahead, its jewel-like eyes revealing profound wisdom, and responded calmly.

"This was her own choice, her practice of the path of goodness in her heart. Only through the tempering of fire will gold shine ever brighter."

"Aren't you afraid that she will be corrupted and fall into evil?"

“I believe in my child that true justice will never be tainted.”

…………

For metal dragons, submitting to a wicked dragon is ultimately a deeply shameful thing.

Upon landing, Alan's body shimmered with golden light, and her slender, agile form began to rapidly shrink and transform, instantly reverting to her human form.

Unlike the human girl she had transformed into before, this time she appeared much taller, nearly two meters in height. Her beautiful face was framed by eyes that shone with a dignified, holy aura. Her long, golden hair cascaded down to her waist, her legs were long and slender, and her chest was high and full.

This is her true human form; her previous approachable girlish appearance was just a disguise.

Thor's gaze swept over Alan carefully, as if admiring a fine work of art.

This appearance suits his taste much better than his previous one.

A female golden dragon of noble status is far more precious and rare than those so-called human princesses. Only such an existence can highlight one's strength and greatness.

A surge of immense satisfaction welled up within him, and Thor nodded in approval. He then turned to look at the humans and growled in a low voice.

"As promised, the great Thor will spare your lives for now. I heard you've come to make a deal as agreed last time, so present the gold coins!"

Mark cautiously raised his head; his forehead was already stained red with blood from the friction of his head against the ground as he kowtowed.

Upon hearing Saul's words, he dared not delay in the slightest and immediately rushed into the carriage behind him, taking out a wooden box about 30 centimeters long and wide.

The moment the lid was opened, a bright golden light shone out. The box was filled with gold coins, about the size of a one-yuan coin but much heavier, numbering around 1.

If we calculate based on 9 grams per gold coin, this box would weigh a full 90 kilograms, yet Mark was able to lift it easily with both hands, which shows that he does have some strength.

“Great Red Dragon, this is all our possessions, which we now offer to you. We dare not ask for a deal, we only hope that you will spare our lives.”

After speaking with trepidation, he took two steps forward, placed the wooden box containing the gold coins on the ground, and then immediately and respectfully retreated back into the crowd.

Thor summoned several kobolds and had them lift the wooden box in front of him. He casually picked up a gold coin with his fingertip and looked at it. Suddenly, a flame rose up and instantly melted it into molten gold.

This is a standard Ducati gold coin, also known as the Sun Coin or Dragon Coin, with a purity of approximately 90%, and also contains small amounts of copper and other wear-resistant metals.

If it were any other true dragon, it would have been overjoyed to hear that the other party intended to offer gold coins directly.

But Thor, an ambitious and driven red dragon, wasn't interested in such a small gain. He waved his paw, summoning a kobold to give the order, and soon Tana arrived with a large group of grey dwarves.

A large number of weapons of all kinds, with a metallic sheen and blue star-like patterns, were piled up on the open ground like garbage. A rough count revealed that there were hundreds of them.

With the reconstruction of abandoned dungeons in the Underdark, a large number of creatures and merchants have been attracted there, and various trades have become increasingly prosperous.

Furthermore, the grey dwarves that Thor sent out recruited even more of their kind for him. With a sufficient number of craftsmen and architects, he naturally wanted to find ways to earn more wealth for himself.

In this dangerous world, a good weapon is a bestseller no matter where it is, so it naturally became Thor's first choice.

These are his unsold inventory items, which are now being put out to sell.

Chapter 166 The Wonderful Uses of Ether Crystals

At a price of 300 gold coins per weapon, Thor kept his promise and allowed the human merchants to take away more than 30 weapons, thus fulfilling his earlier commitment.

Witnessing this scene, Alan couldn't help but show a hint of surprise on his face and spoke up.

"I never expected that you, a dragon, would keep your promise. This is truly beyond my expectations."

She secretly wondered: Could it be that they planned to wait until they left the valley before sending their men to intercept them and take the goods back?

As soon as she finished speaking, a look of vigilance appeared on her face, and her azure eyes locked onto Thor's pupils, as if trying to see into the depths of his eyes to see through the hint of guilt that his lie had been exposed.

Thor merely let out a disdainful sneer, two plumes of smoke carrying sparks billowing from his nostrils.

"Don't look at me with your narrow-minded eyes. A few hundred pieces of junk are not worth me going back on my word."

"Before you question me, you need to understand your place—as a slave, don't ask questions you shouldn't! Serving me well is what you should be doing!"

After saying that, Thor ignored the golden dragon, dragged his massive body into the sky, and flew straight towards his volcanic lava, plunging headfirst into the scalding lava.

Although the battle with the golden dragon did not cause him any real injury, he still felt sore all over and his magic power was mostly depleted. He planned to soak in a "hot spring" to relax.

As for whether Alan will take the opportunity to escape? The oath of the metal dragon is the strongest chain, and no matter how much her strength increases, she will never be able to break free.

Alan looked at the volcano in the distance, which had become increasingly active and started to emit thick smoke due to the arrival of the red dragon, and his face showed obvious disgust.

As a golden dragon, although she possesses the ability to resist fire and high temperatures, she prefers solitary mountain peaks, secluded castles, or magnificent forests and grasslands.

The boiling lava, the pungent smell of sulfur, and the extremely unstable environment all disgusted her from the bottom of her heart.

However, bound by her vow, she had no choice but to follow suit, and eventually chose a low hill near the volcano as her temporary nest.

With the arrival of the golden dragon, her unique magical aura and bio-force field began to spread outwards.

These two dragons, both fire creatures but belonging to completely different factions, have an intertwined influence on the environment that creates a peculiar neutralizing effect.

The fire and earth magic elements, which had become agitated due to Thor's presence, gradually calmed down, and the boiling magma in the volcano slowly subsided.

This was undoubtedly fantastic news for the other creatures under Thor's command.

Originally subordinates of the Red Dragon, they had gained some degree of fire immunity after being exposed to the magic emanating from Thor's body for a long time and adapting to their surroundings.

But Thor's strength increased so rapidly, almost explosively so in a short period of time, that the environment around his lair also changed drastically, leaving them no time to adapt.

Every day, several unfortunate creatures would perish due to the sudden change in environment. Now, the arrival of the golden dragon has slowed down this process, finally giving them time to catch their breath and adapt.

Another benefit for Thor was having a qualified cook, so he could eat fresh meat and blood every day without having to do anything himself.

Although his jackals and orcs could also go out hunting, the rolling hills were too barren, and the nearest hunting grounds where large prey could be caught were tens or even hundreds of kilometers away.

By the time they catch enough prey and drag their heavy prey back, the meat has long since lost its optimal texture over time.

But hunting with a golden dragon is a completely different story. Her high-speed flight allows her to travel back and forth quickly, and her large size makes it easy to carry heavy prey.

In addition, she would use purifying fire to slowly roast the cattle and sheep, so when Thor ate them, he could taste a spicy sensation similar to chili peppers. Combined with the frustrated expression on her face, it was an indescribable pleasure.

Time flew by, everything proceeded smoothly, and Thor's power continued to grow with each passing day.

The ether crystal he swallowed would be digested in tiny amounts every now and then, releasing a wisp of peculiar energy to nourish his body.

At first, Thor didn't notice any obvious changes, but as time went by, little by little, he gradually became able to sense other magical elements besides fire and earth.

Besides the brightest fire element and the slightly lesser earth element, the cyan wind element and the blue water element also suddenly entered his field of vision at a certain moment.

Immediately afterwards, the green life element, the blue-purple lightning element, the white-gold light element, the pitch-black dark element, and the deep white ice element, which was completely opposite to his attribute, also came into view one by one.

The energy field, which was originally only red and yellow, was now filled with various different colored light spots. Although the number of them was extremely small, they greatly enriched the scene before our eyes.

After Thor absorbed the light spots representing different elements, they were not transformed into corresponding magic power. Instead, they underwent a peculiar transformation and became the fire and earth elemental magic power that he possessed.

Could it be because ether crystals, as the primordial power of the world, inherently possess the ability to assimilate and transform all energy? And because I absorbed enough of this energy, my body also acquired a trace of the same characteristic?

So, what about the spacetime attributes it carries? When will they manifest themselves, or how many ether crystals will it need to absorb?

This change in his body excited Thor immensely, as it meant that he would be able to draw enough magic from his surroundings again if he encountered an environment like the Endless Glacier.

Looking at the price of "one gram of essence" on the mental wheel, it suddenly seemed reasonable, so I immediately added Ether Crystals to my daily menu.

Once the one in my stomach is digested, I'll immediately exchange it for another one. In any case, the supply of crystals cannot be interrupted.

…………

Following Mark and his group, more caravans traveled to and from Thor's territory.

Some of them were passing through this place on their way to the wilderness, while others couldn't resist the temptation and chose to turn back to make a deal with the dragon.

Using the mental wheel, Thor exchanged essence for resources. In many cases, he could even directly convert the essence produced by caravan members into traded goods, making it a business with virtually no cost.

Furthermore, the unique characteristics of items from another world give his products an inherent monopoly.

Thor sells all sorts of high-performance weapons, unique plants that enhance strength, mushrooms that induce wonderful hallucinations, and even high-quality wood and corn with a unique taste as commodities.

Endless gold coins suddenly flooded in like a tidal wave. He exchanged some of them for resources to build his territory, and the rest filled his treasure vault.

He would also print his own image and name on every item he sold, which made his fame spread rapidly, not only throughout the human kingdoms in the nearby east, but also all the way to the depths of the wilderness.

Chapter 167 Transition

With ample gold and a large following, Thor's next goal is clearly to continue expanding his territory.

He planned to use his volcanic lair as the core, dispatching a large number of his subordinates to rapidly spread in all directions.

The territory of an adult red dragon varies depending on its strength and the environment it is in, and is usually between 200 and 500 square kilometers.

Thor considered himself a strongman among the red dragons, born to be a tyrant who ruled over everything. His territory should be at least 10 times larger than that of an ordinary red dragon, at least 5000 square kilometers.

This area is slightly smaller than SH City, where he lived in his previous life, but it is equivalent to 2.5 times the size of SZ City.

He would never have expanded so easily in the densely populated central part of the continent, where powerful figures gather, or around coastal ports.

But this is a sparsely populated wilderness, with vast tracts of unclaimed land everywhere. In many places, there are only lowly gnolls and goblins, and not even any decent intelligent creatures.

Naturally, they would then expand their territory aggressively, regardless of whether they could manage it all, just to assert their sovereignty first.

At the same time, in the process, Thor can also absorb more evil creatures roaming the wilderness and make them work for him.

If there are any disobedient individuals, then eliminate them all, and through each battle, improve the combat capabilities of your subordinates and eliminate those useless trash.

So, on a bright autumn noon, Thor, after a long absence, climbed to the top of the volcano, looked up and roared, issuing a call to all his men.

The large number of kobolds and grey dwarves who were digging and forging immediately stopped what they were doing.

The wild boars and minotaurs who were busy in the fields and hillsides also put down their hoes.

Those gnolls and ogres, who were either aimlessly wandering among the mountains or fighting each other in the newly built arena to vent their bloodlust, all gathered below Thor's lair.

During the volcanic eruption at the foot of Thor, large amounts of lava flowed down the mountain, spreading outwards from the foot of the mountain, filling the uneven ground and surrounding valleys and fissures, forming a wide obsidian plaza.

As the location of the dragon lord's lair, this place is usually off-limits to most creatures. In addition, the hard obsidian ground is barren, making it appear desolate and empty.

However, just minutes after Thor issued the summons, bizarre and evil creatures began to emerge from all directions, like mushrooms after a rain.

All sorts of different races and appearances are mixed together, some of them even being mortal enemies. When they meet, they immediately start arguing, and there are quite a few who even fight each other.

The chaotic scene before him perfectly demonstrated to Thor what a mob was.

A surge of anger rose within him instantly, his mouth gaped open, revealing large, metallic fangs, and he growled in a low voice.

"Teach those damn trash a lesson, let them know what quiet really means!"

Tana, who was on standby at all times, immediately stepped forward and waved her hand to summon the kobolds scattered around—or rather, the dragon vein kobolds.

The evolutionary acceleration effect of the Mad Dragon Curse, the increased allocation of resources, and the fact that the kobolds already have a thin layer of dragon blood flowing through their bodies, make them, to some extent, of the same origin as Thor.

This led to a dramatic increase in the strength of the race during this period, with more members activating their thin dragon blood. Some grew short dragon horns, while others molted into a body covered in vibrant dragon scales.

Thor now commands seven dragonblood kobolds, enough to form a large squad. However, because they all possess activated red dragon blood, their awakened spell-like abilities are all fireballs.

These dragon-blooded kobolds, with their deep red, light red, or crimson scales, rushed down the mountain and pulled out brownish-yellow pellets from their pouches.

This is a mixture of bat guano and sulfur. In mysticism, sulfur is often seen as a solid flame, while bat guano is used as a carbon-based anchor and is the most common medium for casting fireballs.