Badge in Azure

Chapter 1486: Dragon Plane (Part 2)

What Grand Duke Iron Blood said made Saleen think. The dragons seemed to be the apex being in the plane, but they had natural enemies. Humans, on the other hand, never had natural enemies like that back at Myers Mainland. It was as if humans were almost always the one standing at the very top of the mainland's power, but the lack of interspecies competition was not a good thing.

Humans were lazy creatures. Saleen knew that very well, he still was unable to think of anything to solve Myers Mainland's problem. It's not like I could just invite powerful races over and fight for living space with humans, right?

Whatever, it's out of my hands. Isn't Myers Mainland under a lot of pressure at hand already? Humans are always at odds with powerful beings, and furthermore, what kind of creature could possibly be more difficult to deal with than gods anyway?

The Dragon God's palace was not far away. Saleen was actually rather surprised, finding that the palace was several hundred meters from the city gates.

That was different from human cities. But the walls at the side they entered from were the tallest. The city walls were the largest sculpture in the entire Dragon City, which was different from the flat, uniform walls of human cities. The wall was probably also completely immune from magic.

"Rorschach the Dragon Knight hereby requests an audience with Lord Dragon God."

"Come in." A deep rumbling voice was heard throughout the palace. The building was over two kilometers tall and was probably over 100 kilometers around.

Saleen followed the Grand Duke inside nervously. He held Lex's hand lightly for reassurance.

Lex's hand was steady, and Saleen touched the God's Ring.

It was the safest to be partnered with Lex. Under the protection of the God's Ring, his family badge would be able to fire without any concern. The bit of worry left in Saleen's mind dissipated at the thought.

The Dragon God was almost immune to elemental magic. At the very least, Saleen's elemental magic spells would have no effect on the Dragon God. He was a mage and posed next to no threat to the Dragon God. He wondered if the Dragon God wanted to do something against him.

Music was heard before them. There were mages who used music as a standard of measure to determine if a lifeform possessed intellect. Saleen listened carefully. The music was brimming and rousing. The tune was mostly grand and proud, with butter notes extremely hard to find elsewhere.

The rhythm was very clear. Saleen felt that his power of the soul was enhanced by hearing the music. The tune was working directly on his soul.

The Dragon God definitely had to be above level 16. Furthermore, the palace was peculiar, as it seemed to be an independent space.

Perhaps the Dragon God would be able to fight better there.

The pillars in the corridor were about 100 meters tall, and there were no dragons receiving them. The Grand Duke led Saleen and Lex into the depths of the palace, since they were not allowed to fly.

They walked for about ten kilometers before they saw a tall platform. A living being was on that wide stage.

Hundreds of human soldiers stood, all wearing dragon scale armor from head to toe. They all carried dragon spears.

They were Dragon Knights in charge of the Dragon God's protection. The leading knight nodded when they saw the Grand Duke and said in a low voice, "Lord Dragon God is watching a play."

Saleen was able to see what the palace looked like after entering the gates. There was a platform in the center, crafted entirely from gold. A being with a dragon head and humanoid body was sitting on the platform.

So that was the Dragon God?

A play was being performed on a stage several hundred meters across from the platform. There were humans, magic beasts, and dragons participating in the play.

At that moment, a dragon was roaring at a human who attempted to challenge it.

"Puny human and insignificant bug. You dare stand against the almighty black dragon!"

Lex was barely able to contain her laughter. There was a similar scene in human plays as well, but things did not usually end well for the dragon.

The Dragon God shot a glance at Lex, but did not mind.

That human actor on the stage shouted, "you shameless dragon. You dare to rob my village and destroy my home!"

Saleen saw that there were many dragons seated on the flanks of the platform, watching the play with the Dragon God. The dragons heard the human's line and burst out in laughter.

A young dragon was even seen rolling on the floor and was hoisted back by its father—a male red dragon—and put back in its seat.

The Dragon God waved in dismissal. While the rules of the dragons were usually strict, exceptions were made for plays. The line was copied from the nations of men, and every time the scene came, the dragons would all burst out in laughter. Young dragons enjoyed it even more.

Dragons assaulting a village? Not even vegetarians would bother with that.

There were no cattle in most villages, and even if there were, the animals did not taste as good as magic beasts. It was a joke to say that dragons would bother assaulting villages.

As for snatching princesses, dragons did not mess with people with statuses like a princess. Even if the king were scum, he would have someone very difficult to deal with serving him. Dragons usually kept a low profile when not in the dragon plane.

"You shall face the wrath of Paraparaprakatru!" That black dragon actor opened its mouth and unleashed dragon's breath. Saleen was startled, but quickly found that the robe worn by that human actor burst in wonderful colors. It was dragon magic.

Dragons were not watching a blood sport when they watched a play.

The play was still far from over. That human continued to list the dragon's crimes angrily, and the dragons burst out laughing again.

"Come on up, Rorschach," the Dragon God pointed at Saleen and the other two around him.

The Grand Duke dared not linger. He walked up from the back of the platform and came before the Dragon God. Saleen walked up to the platform and saw that the Dragon God had humans by its side—six elemental mages.

The six mages were all level 15, which surprised Saleen.

When the six mages saw Saleen, one of them smiled faintly, showing no animosity. The other five closed their eyes and rested. None of them found dragon plays very interesting.

Of course, dragons would not insult humans repeatedly in their plays. Everybody was out to have a good time.

The scripts were stolen from human kingdoms, and the dragons had only done some simple modifications on them.

"It's been a while since powerful human mages have shown up here. Are these your friends, Rorschach?"

"Indeed, Lord Dragon God," the Grand Duke answered respectfully.

"Right. Are you here to get away from your family?" The Dragon God's words made him shudder.

"Haha, nothing much to it. Your family is greedy. You, on the other hand, still hold a lot of potential."

"My lord, Saleen and I are here to offer you three items."

The Dragon God leaned on the back of its chair impatiently. "If you're here to trade, just say that you're here to trade. Since when have I been giving you a bad deal, huh?"

"No, Lord Dragon God, the word 'trade' is inappropriate this time. In my perspective, this is offering tribute. And Lord Dragon God, the gifts you would offer would be of gratitude, instead of bestowal." The Grand Duke elaborated carefully.

"Heh, Rorschach, if what you're about to offer is something I find less than satisfactory…"

Saleen was able to hear the threat in the Dragon God's tone and thought that the dragon had been too quick to anger. Despite his thoughts, he did not leave his hands hanging. Saleen carefully unleashed a set of remains of ancient dragons from his Ring of Cosmos.

The dragons in the palace were alerted, turning their attention to the platform. Even the black dragon actor forgot its lines and turned toward the platform.

The Dragon God straightened itself and looked at the remains of ancient dragons intently.

It extended its hand at the remains and light of magic flashed. Saleen put the remains away in his space equipment and took out another set. The Dragon God quickly put it away and the third set was presented.

"That's all?" The Dragon God did not look pleased.

"Indeed, if you're referring to remains of such levels. Everything else was broken and there was no need for them to be returned to a dragon graveyard.

The Dragon God's eyes were as sharp as blades when they scanned Saleen's face, which remained unperturbed.

"What is your name?"

"Saleen Metatrin." Saleen was able to feel the raging power in the Dragon God's body. Its power was far more terrifying than that in a Lord of Glory's double, as if a mountain was coming down on him.

If it had not been for the lightning territory, Saleen would have been left limping from dragon might of such magnitude.

"Very well, Saleen. How do you find the play?" The Dragon God changed the subject suddenly.

"Looks dumb," Saleen answered.

"Looks dumb?"

"They are meant for ignorant people in the human world. They would never become powerful. They can only sate themselves with fantasy."

"Tell me. Are humans being foolish or are dragons being foolish instead?" The Dragon God eyed Saleen, waiting for his answer.

"Just foolish in different ways. Why does there need to be a competition in this sense?" Saleen smiled.

The Dragon God laughed and asked jovially, "Tell me then, what do you want?"

"Dragon scale magic shields."

The Dragon God's face turned glum right away. He stared at Saleen. "Do you know how the dragon scale magic shields are made?"

"I do. Using dragon scales."

"Do you know that such shields can not be made from scales of dead dragons? You have to tear the scales out of living dragons?"

Saleen was dumbfounded. He had never heard that before. He only learned of the dragon scale magic shields from magic notes, which told only about how the shields were used for defense, abilities, and other data. Nothing about how they were made was mentioned. Saleen thought that the number of dragon scales shed every year would be immense in the dragon plane, and he thought getting some would not be all that troublesome.

The Grand Duke was not only able to get a good amount of dragon scales, he was also able to sell them back at Myers Mainland, so it was obvious that there was few restrictions on the items.

However, scales required for making dragon scale magic shields needed to be pulled off of living dragons.

"I didn't know," Saleen answered truthfully.

"Now that you know, do you still intend to ask them from me?" the Dragon God asked angrily.

"I do!" Saleen's answer almost made the Grand Duke puke blood. The Grand Duke had no idea what dragon scale magic shields were, but if the Dragon God were enraged, Saleen might be able run, but not him.