Chapter 654: Ambition, Extending Claws
The dusk in Atlan came slowly.
After the sun sank below the horizon, the afterglow lingered in the sky for a long time, dyeing the clouds into layers of golden red and deep purple.
The red iron dragon gazed at the sea of clouds.
His eyes were half-closed, his front claws crossed and resting in front of him, his chin pressed against the back of his claws, his breathing slow and deep, his tail hanging down along the edge of the high platform, occasionally swinging lazily.
Just like this.
He had been lying here quietly for most of the afternoon.
Garoth always immersed himself in his own power, enjoying the sensation of strength filling every inch of his scales, enjoying the confidence and assurance that even his breath could make the air tremble.
However, he was not without other emotions.
After going through an extremely dangerous and fierce battle, he was also happy to take some time for leisurely rest.
Emptying his mind, relaxing his body, letting his tense nerves slowly unwind in the dusk.
This was necessary for any living being.
Then, the air in front of the high platform suddenly rippled.
A colorful vortex emerged out of nowhere, like a splash of spilled ink spreading across water, spinning and expanding, stirring the surrounding clouds and light.
Garoth lifted his eyelids slightly, his vertical pupils reflecting the colorful light.
He knew what this was.
His expression didn't change much; his tail just paused briefly, then he continued to maintain his lazy posture.
At that moment, from the center of the vortex.
A tiny, delicate figure burst out.
The faerie dragon Vira's wings flapped rapidly as she leaped out of the vortex. She first made a sharp turn in midair, circling around the red iron dragon's massive head a full lap before stopping, hovering right in front of his eyes.
She looked travel-worn.
A few broken leaves and a small patch of dried mud were stuck to her scales, as if she had rushed over in a hurry.
The great dragon looked down at the little one in front of him and asked slowly:
"What brings you here?"
Ever since Vira became the guardian of the Verdant Homeland, she spent most of her time in the fey settlement, only occasionally slipping over to the Material Plane.
Her personality was lively and she loved to play.
But in matters like this, Vira was surprisingly responsible and rarely abandoned her post without reason.
"Garoth, Garoth."
The great dragon god narrowed his vertical pupils slightly.
He had just lifted his head, but now he rested his chin back on his front claws, his eyelids drooping halfway again.
Important matters...
By Vira's standards, the meaning of this phrase was often different from what he understood.
For example, the first time.
She solemnly said she had something extremely important to report, and it turned out that a new nest of little tree sprites had moved into the berry patch south of the Verdant Homeland, and their chirping was keeping her from her afternoon nap.
Another time, she rushed over in a flurry, saying it was a huge deal.
In the end, it was just a particularly large mushroom she had found, and she thought Garoth absolutely had to see it for himself.
In short.
What Vira called 'extremely important' usually fell into the same category as 'completely trivial' in Garoth's ears.
The red iron dragon couldn't even be bothered to lift his head fully.
He let out a low grunt as a response. "Oh, let's hear it."
The faerie dragon didn't mind his dismissive tone at all.
She leaned in closer, hovering just inches from his faceplate, her wings fluttering so hard that the wind blew into his eyes. "First, take a guess. Guess what happened to me."
"I guarantee you won't figure it out."
The great dragon's vertical pupils shifted, then he spoke slowly:
"Is it the little tree sprites in the Verdant Homeland making noise again, or did those pique spirits hurt themselves during a race?"
"No way!"
Vira's tail flicked in annoyance. "Those are minor things. I'm talking about real big news."
With that, Vira tucked and extended her wings, landing steadily on the bridge of his nose. She put her front claws on her hips, meeting his enormous vertical pupils head-on.
"Can you be serious for once? I really do have something big."
The red iron dragon finally refocused his gaze on her.
The little one on the bridge of his nose was puffing out her cheeks, her wings slightly spread, looking as if she had suffered a great injustice, her tail swishing back and forth behind her, every scale screaming displeasure.
"Alright."
The red iron dragon dropped his casual attitude and asked seriously, "What happened to you?"
Vira took a deep breath, as if trying to fill her entire chest, then said, word by word: "I—was played—by a god."
The red iron dragon's vertical pupils contracted slightly.
His half-closed eyelids flew wide open, and his lazy demeanor vanished in an instant, replaced by a sharp, focused light.
Played by a god?
It sounded like Vira was joking.
But if she wasn't, this was far from a trivial matter.
"Explain clearly."
"Which god? Where? What happened?"
Vira was taken aback by his sudden seriousness, then quickly waved her front claws, her wings flapping twice as well.
"It's not that kind of mean god."
"He didn't hurt me, just played a trick on me, made me look foolish... Let me tell you the whole story from the beginning."
Then, the faerie dragon began to speak.
From discovering another faerie dragon in the meadow, to being pranked by him, and finally realizing that his name felt very familiar... she told Garoth everything in one go.
Garoth didn't interrupt, listening carefully.
The faerie dragon talked for a long time, pausing briefly to catch her breath before continuing:
"I thought there was something off about that guy right away. He looked all smiles, but every move he made was one step ahead of my reactions."
"After I calmed down, I found him even more suspicious."
"Then, the brilliant Vira, after careful review and deduction, finally arrived at the truth."
"That faerie dragon named Netal is definitely the God of Mischief and Trickery mentioned in the ancient records, the God of Faerie Dragons."
The red iron dragon slightly furrowed his forehead scales, forming several imposing lines above his brow bones.
"A god went out of his way to the Verdant Homeland just to play a trick on you."
"What was he after?"
He said in a low voice.
The faerie dragon immediately puffed out her chest.
She held her head high with pride, chin lifted. "It must be because Lady Vira is just too talented, and the stories I tell are just too perfect. Even the gods have heard of my reputation."
"He's jealous of my genius, so he deliberately came to mess with me, trying to shake my confidence."
"Too bad he picked the wrong target."
"I have a huge capacity for forgiveness. This kind of small matter doesn't bother me at all."
She spoke with absolute conviction, clearly very satisfied with this conclusion.
Garoth fell silent.
He looked at the spirited little faerie dragon standing on the bridge of his nose, ripples of thought stirring in his eyes.
A god wouldn't appear in the Verdant Homeland for no reason.
These beings who wield Authority almost always had reasons and considerations behind every move. Even the most casual actions often concealed chains that ordinary life couldn't see.
A god made a special trip just to play a prank on a tiny faerie dragon.
On the surface, it seemed like nothing more than a mischievous nature.
But Garoth wasn't about to accept that explanation easily.
Was the God of Faerie Dragons targeting Vira?
Or, more accurately...
Was he targeting Garoth?
The Verdant Homeland itself wasn't special. What made it special was its current connection to Sacred Aola.
This fey settlement in the Serene Spirit Wilderness had become a bridge between the Material Plane and the fey plane, and on the other end of that bridge was his empire.
A God of Faerie Dragons showing up in the Verdant Homeland could be a probe, or a warning.
Garoth was well aware that the gods had never been friendly toward dragons. In fact, they were filled with caution. If the momentum of the dragon race's rise touched certain boundaries, it would naturally attract attention.
"Still, the God of Faerie Dragons..."
"Although he's a dragon type, he's also a member of the Joyous Court, part of the fey deity system."
Garoth thought to himself, recalling knowledge about the Joyous Court.
Compared to the dragon pantheon, the Joyous Court, composed of fey deities, wasn't particularly powerful. Among the gods, it was a relatively low-key faction.
However, these gods were far more united than the dragon gods.
The infighting among the dragon gods was fiercer than their wars with external enemies, while the fey gods of the Joyous Court at least wouldn't stab each other in the back.
The chief deity of the Joyous Court.
The Queen of the Fey, Titania.
She was unquestionably a powerful deity, a pantheon leader standing at the peak of the divine pyramid.
It was worth noting that...
In theory, both Bahamut and Tiamat were masters of the dragon pantheon, the two pillars of dragon faith.
If it came to a direct confrontation in battle, the Queen of the Fey would definitely be no match for Tiamat and Bahamut.
Because they had too few followers, the latter two were actually only lesser deities, on the same level as the Beast of Might worshipped by the Kantum orcs. They weren't high on the divine ladder, and the scope of their Authority was limited.
However, no god would ever underestimate Tiamat and Bahamut.
The strength of these two lay first and foremost in the fact that they were eternally immortal great dragons, and only secondarily gods.
And it wasn't just them.
The Annihilation Dragon God, the Darkness Dragon God, the Fate Dragon God...
Every other surviving dragon god was similar in nature. Their divine rank wasn't high, but they themselves were extremely powerful immortal beings.
In the most glorious era of the dragon race.
Every dragon god had countless faithful followers. Besides being powerful themselves, their divine status was also extremely high. Tiamat and Bahamut were both powerful deities back then.
Now, they were far from their peak.
Compared to an orthodox powerful deity like Titania, Tiamat and Bahamut only had the advantage of individual might.
Aside from that,
In terms of perception range, prayer response, divine domain control, prophetic deduction, cross-world interference, and so on, they lagged behind true powerful deities.
Gods were always more versatile.
"The Serene Spirit Wilderness is a plane under the watch of the Joyous Court."
"Could it be that the Joyous Court noticed my existence and sent a god specifically to warn me?"
Garoth's heart grew wary.
But then, after some thought, he shook his head again.
"Maybe I'm overthinking it."
"Assuming a god went out of his way to warn me is itself a kind of arrogance. My own arrogance."
Every intelligent being was limited by its own perception.
Garoth was no exception.
But one of his strengths was that he didn't stubbornly insist that his own ideas were always correct.
Just as he hadn't believed Vira could bring any truly important news earlier, he realized he was applying his own cognitive framework to the behavioral logic of an unfamiliar deity.
When it came to matters concerning gods, Garoth was always inclined to approach every detail with caution and suspicion.
But this time was different.
Netal was a god of mischief known for playfulness and pranks.
This god was very active, and his nature was clearly recorded.
Frivolous, playful, fond of teasing other creatures but without harming them. More interested in where interesting things happened than in power and faith.
Perhaps this god really was just acting out of playfulness.
Maybe, on a whim, he saw an interesting faerie dragon and couldn't resist coming down to toy with her, just like Vira herself couldn't resist flicking the caps of little mushroom sprites.
It probably didn't mean the Joyous Court had actually taken notice of him...
Thoughts churned.
Garoth slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again, his gaze returning to Vira.
She was tilting her head, waiting for him to speak.
"Vira, if you run into that faerie dragon again next time, remember to inform me immediately."
"Don't be nervous either."
"He might not even be a god. He could just be using that name to scare you on purpose."
The red iron dragon said slowly.
"Nervous? Do I look nervous to you?"
Vira flapped her wings, lifting off from his nose, and flipped in midair. "Being personally approached by a god, even if I was pranked, just shows that my reputation has reached the ears of the gods."
"That's something to brag about."
Even as she said that, Vira knew this was no ordinary matter. Otherwise, she wouldn't have come in person to tell Garoth.
Time flowed unhurriedly.
After a brief exchange, Vira bid farewell to the red iron dragon and returned to the Serene Spirit Wilderness.
Garoth looked up at the sky, stained by dusk.
Most of the clouds had darkened. The last trace of golden-red afterglow clung to the horizon like a stretched line of fire. Stars began to appear on the other side of the sky, one by one, sparse and scattered.
His mood was heavier than usual.
The Serene Spirit Wilderness was Garoth's escape route.
If an utterly uncontrollable disaster struck Bernardo, he could choose to lead Sacred Aola in a retreat to the Serene Spirit Wilderness, take root again on fey land, and regroup.
That was one of his foundations.
But what if the Joyous Court didn't welcome him?
That escape route would be completely cut off.
The fey welcomed him, but on a macro level, this group of fey wasn't very large.
The gods representing the fey might not welcome him.
There was an invisible line between the attitudes of the two. Garoth couldn't yet tell which side of the line he was standing on.
"I haven't shown any evil tendencies in the Serene Spirit Wilderness. My interactions with the fey have been very harmonious. I've even sheltered more than one fey settlement, protecting them from evil ferocious beasts."
"The Joyous Court shouldn't bear me any ill will."
Garoth reasoned from a logical standpoint.
He asked himself if there was anything worth faulting in his actions in the Serene Spirit Wilderness. No plunder or destruction. No oppression or exploitation of the fey.
Still, one couldn't be too careful.
A cunning rabbit has three burrows. Perhaps he should seek out other escape routes beyond the Serene Spirit Wilderness, just in case.
"The best option is still on the main material plane."
"On the Material Plane, even if I offend the gods, there's still a chance to survive. The gods' ability to interfere on the Material Plane is limited, and the rules and restrictions are far greater than in the Outer Planes."
"Still, the Material Plane is vast beyond measure. Material Worlds that are suitable for habitation and rich in resources aren't so easy to find."
Suddenly, the red iron dragon's eyes narrowed slightly.
"The Imathia Empire on Faerûn is currently enduring the wrath of the gods. It's probably unavoidable that it will be destroyed."
"When that happens, that empire's territory will become ownerless land. Perhaps I can claim a piece of the spoils."
He thought to himself.
The annihilation of Imathia was only a matter of time.
Once Lolth got serious, no Material World empire could resist for long.
When that time came, the resources on that land, the ruins, especially the legendary creations capable of stripping divinity and reconstructing belief systems, would be an irresistible temptation for any ambitious life form.
At the very least, establish an outpost first.
After much deliberation.
Driven by a flicker of desire and uncertainty about the safety of the Serene Spirit Wilderness, Garoth decided to send a trusted offspring and some followers to Faerûn, to first sink some roots into this material continent.
No need to do anything immediately.
First, observe, get established, make some preparations in advance, then adapt to the situation and decide on the next concrete steps.
At that moment, the dusk fully sank into darkness, and the stars filled the sky.
The red iron dragon lay down again on the high platform. He emptied his mind, ceasing to think about anything else, crossed his front claws, and slowly closed his eyes, which had been reflecting the stars. He continued to enjoy his rare leisure time.