The fourth floor of the Burning Steel Fortress, the chamber of the Lord of Molten Iron.
In the center of the room, Garros's "bed" was prominently displayed.
It was by no means a traditional square couch, but rather a brilliant little hill paved primarily with mountains of gold coins, colorful gems, and various precious metals shimmering with a metallic luster.
The light it emitted was so dazzling that it was almost enough to instantly blind mere mortals.
Admittedly, the land of The Borderlands was barren as a whole, but no matter how barren, it was still a vast and boundless territory.
When all the precious resources from the entire territory gathered toward the Burning Steel Fortress and were finally concentrated here, the scale of the accumulated wealth appeared quite considerable, enough to be astonishing.
Garros moved his claws, stepping steadily onto those shiny trinkets, emitting crisp clinking sounds, and finally found a comfortable position on the "bed" piled with treasures, slowly coiling his body down.
His strong, powerful dragon tail curled naturally at his side, his entire posture relaxing, carrying a certain laziness and comfort reminiscent of a large feline.
"Comfortable."
Garros felt the unique tactile sensation brought by the friction between his hard scales and the cold metal and smooth gems, couldn't help but slightly narrow his dragon eyes, and let out a satisfied sigh.
Such a pile of treasure was obviously not suitable for ordinary creatures to rest on.
Those hard, abrasive metals and gems would make soft skin and fragile bones ache unbearably.
But for Dragonkin, who were born with thick, hard scales, this contact was just right; the subtle stimulation produced by the friction between scales and treasure actually brought an indescribable comfort, and in Garros's view, there was no bed more perfect than this.
The only slight regret was that the number of Magic Gems containing magic power among them was still too small.
Indeed, no large-scale gem veins had been discovered underground in The Borderlands.
The current Magic Gems were almost all looted from the accumulated collections of the Four Great Tribes that originally ruled this place, and their quantity was ultimately limited.
Garros used the flexible and powerful tip of his dragon tail to curl up a few Magic Gems containing magic power and lifted them before his eyes.
The Red-Iron Dragon opened his eyes, which he had just closed, his gaze lingering on those few gems emitting an alluring luster for a few seconds, then, as if having made up his mind, he closed his eyes, steeled his heart, and with a crisp and decisive motion, swallowed four Magic Gems into his stomach in succession.
As soon as these Magic Gems entered his powerful stomach, they immediately began to emit gentle and continuous energy fluctuations.
This energy was completely different from the hot and violent feeling of black oil; instead, it was more like a warm stream nourishing the heart and spleen, continuously born from deep within his body, gently nourishing his massive dragon body from the inside out.
This nourishment could last for a considerable period, subtly improving the reserves and purity of his Life Energy and internal Demonic Energy, making the Dragon Qi around him become more rich and condensed.
At this moment.
Garros took a deep breath, gathered his strength, and slowly put the fifth Magic Gem into his mouth, swallowing it with difficulty; however, when he tried to make persistent efforts and swallow the sixth gem in one go, he found that he could not open his mouth no matter what.
A kind of extremely strong resistance, originating from instinct, instantly swept through his entire body, as if every one of his thoughts and every inch of his muscles were shouting in unison, preventing him from continuing this consumption that exceeded his limits.
"Hoo... take it slow."
Garros helplessly exhaled a breath of hot air and gently put down the remaining gems.
"Being able to eat five at once is already a pretty good improvement, very obvious."
After placing the gems properly, Garros immediately lowered his head, buried his massive dragon head into the pile of precious metals, opened his giant mouth, and suddenly swallowed a large amount of Ore shimmering with metallic luster, chewing it vigorously in his mouth before swallowing it down.
These precious metals would not immediately convert into surging energy, but they could slowly settle and fuse deep within his bones, and over time, make his claws and teeth sharper and more peerless, and his scales increasingly indestructible.
Dragonkin who persist in eating precious metals all year round.
The strength of their bodies is bound to be far superior to those of their kind who can only gnaw on dirt or ordinary meat.
In Garros's cognitive system: the effect of black oil is somewhat similar to a certain powerful "nitric oxide booster" in his cognition.
It can greatly stimulate the body's activity in a short time, it can significantly improve mental excitement, muscle pump, and overall endurance... thereby effectively improving the efficiency of exercise and combat.
And precious metals, especially wonders like Magic Gems that contain pure energy.
They are equivalent to "growth hormones" without any adverse side effects, acting directly on the fundamental level of Life Energy and physical growth, and can directly and significantly increase the growth rate of Dragonkin.
Comparing the two, the latter is undoubtedly more effective and safer to use.
But they are also more precious and difficult to obtain in large, stable quantities.
Even though he can now enjoy the convenience brought by integrating the resources of the entire The Borderlands, as his own strength continues to grow and the demand for various rare resources expands sharply, if the territorial boundaries cannot continue to expand, then the wealth and resources accumulated around the Burning Steel Fortress are destined to gradually become insufficient to meet the demand, eventually falling into a predicament of supply not meeting demand.
Jingle!
Garros used his tail to nimbly curl up an Alchemical Item shaped like a bell, gently shook it, and the crisp and pleasant bell sound immediately echoed in the spacious chamber.
Soon, several low doors designed for servants around the room slid open silently.
Twelve snake-woman maids with the Warlock profession and graceful figures twisted their slender and soft waists as they approached the Red-Iron Dragon.
They humbly knelt down, surrounding the mountain-like Red-Iron Dragon, carefully pressed their delicate and soft palms against his iron-hard scales, and began to perform gentle and skillful caresses.
Meanwhile.
They tried their best to mobilize their own Demonic Energy, making it like a gentle spring rain, slowly permeating through the Red-Iron Dragon's thick and solid scales, infiltrating every muscle fiber that was fatigued and tense from excessive exercise, performing deep-level conditioning and soothing, helping the Red-Iron Dragon recover from fatigue faster.
"From a wanderer living from day to day in the past, to the now majestic and renowned King of the Borderlands..."
Garros relaxed in this comfortable and professional massage service, and a trace of emotion welled up deep in his heart: "Occasionally enjoying the fruitful results brought by victory is also a matter of course."
He slightly closed his heavy eyelids, letting the accumulated fatigue dissipate bit by bit with his deep and long breaths, eventually vanishing into the warm air filled with the scent of wealth.
Two weeks later.
Dragon Valley, on a piece of tamped open ground.
White Dragon Tereshi was meticulously fulfilling her duty as a nurturer, bringing the results of her hunting in the wilderness to the "hungry" Young Dragons waiting to be fed.
A corpse of a powerful Vicious Beast with a Life Level above ten.
"You weak little brats, open your stomachs and eat to your heart's content!"
She threw the massive Vicious Beast corpse, which resembled a giant elephant, heavily in front of the Young Dragons and declared majestically.
Before the words fell, the young Red Dragon Cahill was the first to be unable to hold back, eagerly flapping her wings, rushing toward the tempting food impatiently.
However.
A swift white shadow like a whip suddenly struck, hitting Cahill hard, sending her flying more than ten meters away.
Cahill instinctively bared her sharp teeth, and a furious roar welled up from deep in her throat.
But thinking of the previous painful beating experience, her body seemed to ache faintly again, so she forcibly suppressed the anger that was about to erupt, and could only stare fixedly at White Dragon Tereshi with angry eyes.
"I let you eat, and you really just start eating with your heads down?"
The White Dragon opened her giant mouth, revealing a playful smile, and said slowly: "What about basic manners? Did you say thank you?"
The Young Dragons looked at each other.
After a brief silence, ultimately unable to resist the intense hunger in their stomachs, they lowered their heads one after another, and squeezed out a few words with uneven voices: "Th... thank you..."
Only then did the White Dragon show a slightly satisfied expression.
Immediately after, she restrained her smile, and her expression instantly became extremely serious.
"Pain is the best teaching whip."
She suddenly spread her huge dragon wings, and the shadow cast by her massive body almost completely enveloped the Young Dragons in front of her.
"Now, all of you come at me together! The rules are very simple—whoever leaves the most scars on me will be the first to start the meal and enjoy the most delicious part!"
Without a doubt, Red Dragon Cahill was the first to attack.
The young Red Dragon's wings stirred up hot air waves, her dragon snout opened wide, and a blazing cone-shaped flame gushed out, rushing straight toward the White Dragon.
Tereshi, however, did not dodge or avoid, her dragon wings flapped violently, stirring up a violent airflow, and she actually forcibly blew the incoming flames off course, sweeping them straight toward Black Dragon Serafina, who was trying to launch a sneak attack from the shadows on the other side.
The Black Dragon was shocked and rolled to the side in a sorry state.
The scorching flames grazed her back scales, instantly scorching a few scales that were still tender.
"Too slow!"
Just in the gap of the Red Dragon's breath, the White Dragon's figure leaped over like a ghost, her huge dragon claws as fast as lightning, hitting Cahill hard, knocking her back dozens of meters again.
Black Dragon Serafina seized this fleeting opportunity.
She darted out from the shadows again, her sharp claw tips precisely aiming at the relatively soft wing membrane connection of the White Dragon.
However, Tereshi seemed to have eyes in the back of her head, suddenly folding her wings, her massive body rolled with the momentum, and she used her hard and thick back armor to slam into the Black Dragon who was close at hand.
At the same time, her hind claws kicked backward precisely as if they had eyes, hitting Green Dragon Ludwig, who was trying to sneakily bite the tip of her tail.
In the distance, Blue Dragon Heriam was accumulating a powerful lightning breath, but was deceived by a realistic feint from the White Dragon, releasing it prematurely in a hurry.
Tereshi's dragon wings flapped rapidly, and her massive body instantly soared high.
That dazzling lightning only hit the blurry afterimage she left in place.
The battle continued fiercely. The cooperation of the four Young Dragons could be described as full of loopholes—Cahill relied blindly on brute force to attack, Serafina was always thinking of opportunistic sneak attacks, while Ludwig appeared too cautious and timid.
Blue Dragon Heriam's grasp of the battle situation was relatively good.
But due to the huge gap in strength, plus the lack of effective cooperation between teammates, it was difficult to play a key role.
"Flaw!"
The White Dragon suddenly let out a low roar and swooped down violently.
Her left claw pressed down on Cahill's head like Mount Tai, slamming her entire dragon head into the ground; her right claw swung out at the same time, swatting away Green Dragon Ludwig who was trying to support; meanwhile, her dragon tail, covered in hard bone spurs, swept across the vulnerable part behind Black Dragon Serafina's knees like a steel whip, causing her to wail and kneel to the ground; and Blue Dragon Heriam, who had just condensed the second wave of lightning, was frozen in place by an ice Spell she cast instantly, unable to move.
(Fighting against many alone, sweeping through The Dragon Flight, I am truly too strong!)
White Dragon Tereshi sighed with incomparable pride in her heart, her brave and unparalleled body moving and shifting among the battered Young Dragons, with ease.
When the biting cold wind gradually dissipated, all four Young Dragons were exhausted, panting and collapsing on the ground.
Tereshi elegantly groomed a few dragon scales on her body that had been scorched by fire, then tilted her head slightly, carefully looking at her back—there were a few charred cracks like lightning burns, as well as some claw marks, which were the results left by Cahill and Heriam with all their might.
In contrast.
The attacks of Black Dragon Serafina and Green Dragon Ludwig only left a few insignificant scratches on her hard scales.
However, considering that the opponents were only Young Dragons, this performance was barely acceptable.
"Hmm, still somewhat interesting little sparks."
She gently poked the scars on her back with her claws, her tone carrying a hint of approval, and then announced: "Heriam and Cahill, you two can dine first. Serafina and Ludwig, you are next."
Immediately.
The Young Dragons panted, as if they wanted to convert the humiliation they had just suffered into appetite.
Cahill was particularly fierce, seemingly treating the corpse of the giant elephant Vicious Beast as the Incarnation of the hateful White Dragon, viciously tearing and swallowing the most tender and fatty loin meat.