Chapter 59 Five Years The snow on the storm's high slopes accumulated and covered the ground again and again, and melted into water again and the blink of an eye, five years have passed. Five years, for an immortal species like a dragon, might just be the time it takes to sleep, but for short-lived creatures like humans and goblins, it is enough time for their world to undergo earth-shaking changes. What happened during these five years? First of all, the number of followers of the Burning Nest is also increasing rapidly, and its territory is also constantly expanding. Oviparous creatures like kobolds and lizardmen can lay more than a dozen eggs in one nest. Viviparous creatures like goblins are no exception, with extremely fast reproduction rates, giving birth to seven or eight eggs a year, which is also an important factor in the survival of these weak races in the wilderness. Soon, the Valley of the Giants could no longer fully accommodate them. The dependents had no choice but to expand outward. Today, the territory of the Burning Embers has occupied the entire Storm Highlands. Many tribes have been conquered and absorbed, and dozens of valleys and caves have become residences for their followers. Only the most elite and powerful followers can stay in the headquarters of the Giant Valley and receive the unconscious blessings of the red dragon. Living in the Valley of the Giants is considered an honor. Even the name of the valley was changed to "Dragon Valley".
There are now three chimeras, forty-one wyverns, sixty-five ogres, four hundred and sixty hobgoblins, three hundred and seventy lizardmen, two hundred and four satyrs, and - too many goblins and kobolds to count in the Burning Embers. According to conservative estimates, their number has reached tens of thousands. There are also many newly surrendered tribes such as snakemen, lizardmen, orcs, etc., which will not be listed one by one because they are just paying protection fees. Secondly, the entire Storm Peak has become the "pasture" and "mining area" of the Burning Embers' Nest. Hobgoblins have a long history of animal training, and like more civilized races, they use horses and cattle to carry goods and weapons over long distances. They use tame ravens to exchange information and have vicious wolves guard prisoners and protect hobgoblin camps, as do the hobgoblins of Emberroost. A group of goblins headed by Doro, including hobgoblins, goblins, bear goblins, etc. They began to consciously raise large herbivores such as mammoths, aurochs, and giant rhinos to provide sufficient meat for their followers. They even began to raise tundra land dragons, but there are only three of them at present. These huge creatures will become weapons for fighting and transportation. And Rumple mainly controls the ogres, kobolds, lizardmen and other tribes. A large number of goblins and gnolls have now established huge, criss-crossing mining areas underground, continuously transporting metal and elemental ores into the valley. These metals will be smelted in underground furnaces and forged into crude weapons for the army, while the elemental ores will be stored in the red dragon's cave as energy reserves. However, these guys are difficult to control. Once you let your guard down, they will often run away with the money. Therefore, Trump has mobilized a considerable number of lizardmen and ogres to serve as supervisors. During this time, Rumple was still the chief steward of the Burning Nest, and all matters had to be approved by him - even those related to the goblins. Although Dollo was dissatisfied with him and often tried to trip him up and use tricks in secret, he still had to report the matters he performed to Trump according to the procedures. They still maintained a superficial peace and ensured the most basic internal order of the Burning Embers Nest. After all, no one wanted to anger the red dragon because of internal fighting. They were all waiting for the other party to make a mistake, hoping to report it after the red dragon woke up and bring the other party down. As for the frictions and conflicts between the goblins, ogres, and others below, there are countless of them, with several occurring almost every day, and have gradually become normalized. "Wait until the master wakes up. Hehe, he won't be able to sit in that position for long." ——This is what Doro often said to his trusted subordinates. In addition, the Burnout Nest's contacts with humans are becoming more frequent.
The town of Sger is a puppet actually controlled by the Burning Nest. The "friendly trade" caravan headed by Hart continues to provide the Burning Nest with human armor, weapons, and books through trade. Perhaps because of the bounty, over the past five years, there have been overconfident adventurers who dream of slaying a dragon and who have overestimated their own capabilities and have rashly entered the Burning Lair almost every few months. Trump also welcomed these uninvited and rude visitors with his own warm etiquette - he made necklaces from their heads and hung them at the door as decorations. However, this ogre mage often complained about why the red dragon did not allow him to eat intelligent creatures. He had not tasted these "snacks" for a long time. Trump even captured several guys who claimed to be nobles, and got a considerable ransom from their families, and even extorted a few spell scrolls before he was willing to release them, thus greatly expanding his own spell collection. In fact, the rapid expansion of the Burning Nest has already aroused the vigilance of human forces such as the northern countries. Not only the Duchy of Rackman, but also the Grand Duchy of Bosk in the south and the Harper Alliance, a righteous organization spanning the continent, have sent scouts to explore this place, but most of those scouts never returned. As Cassius has not awakened, although Trump has a grand blueprint of conquering the world, he dare not rashly go to war with other countries without the permission of the Red Dragon. Therefore, despite constant small-scale frictions and conflicts, the Burning Nest has never engaged in direct combat with any large human force. And Cassius slept like this for five years. When true dragons sleep, due to their magical nature, they have a huge impact on the surrounding environment. When a white dragon sleeps, the ground will be covered with white frost, when a blue dragon sleeps, the soil will turn into yellow sand, when a black dragon sleeps, the forest will corrode into a swamp, and when a red dragon sleeps, everything will turn into lava. This is what Cassius did, filling the cave with lava. During this time, whenever the red dragon turned over or felt uncomfortable, a loud noise would be made, and hot white smoke would often come out of the cave entrance, splashing magma and scalding several earth elves guarding the gate. This not only terrified the followers, but also made them more in awe of the red dragon's powerful strength. At the same time, Cassius was still unconsciously releasing the "Gift of Blood". The scope of this influence is expanding, and the intensity of the influence is getting stronger and stronger. Now, almost all of the followers in the Giant Valley have been transformed into dragon vein creatures, showing distinct characteristics of red dragons. These monsters are regarded as the most dangerous guys by nearby adventurers. They have the reputation of "minions of evil dragons" and are never dared to be provoked easily. The progress has been accelerated, and it may take a while for the entire internal test to be completed.
(End of this chapter)