Red Dragon Emperor - Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Power and Ambition

Jose closed his eyes and consciously gathered the fire elements around him, channeling them into his heart.

Half an hour later, he suddenly opened his eyes that were filled with surprise. His heart was like a bottomless pit: even after absorbing a large amount of fire elements, there was no change at all.

No change was the biggest change. His intuition told him that he had found the right direction and continued to guide the fire elements into his heart.

A day passed, and his heart felt slightly warm.

Three days passed. His heart felt like a heat pack used in winter, but it was far from reaching its limit.

A week passed, and Jose felt as if he was on fire.

At this moment, he had almost reached his limit. He stopped absorbing the fire elements and opened his eyes to see the flames leaping on his body.

“I’m really burning!”

Mirror Image!

Mirror Image could create a mirror image that was exactly the same as the original body. Although the mirror image did not have a physical body, it could make all kinds of movements. It would be difficult to distinguish between the real and this fake with just the naked eye.

This magic was usually used to interfere with the enemy’s judgment and could also be used as a mirror under special circumstances.

For example, right now, Jose was amazed at his own reflection.

The Mirror Image’s body was covered with a layer of flames like an undying bird. The air around the scarlet flame was distorting from the heat. In comparing this distortion to the air above the lava, he could tell that the temperature on his body was probably higher.

There was also a small golden area that looked like the sun at the center of his chest. With the sun as the origin, golden irregular cracks spread out in all directions, covering all his left chest muscles. It looked mysterious and dangerous.

“It looks really cool. I wonder what effect it has.”

After a series of experiments, Jose was ecstatic.

“Very good!”

…

Jose exited the underground lava lake and returned to his lair. At this moment, the flames on his body and the golden sun phenomenon on his chest had all disappeared. The violent fire elemental energy was locked in the [Heart of the Undying Bird] without leaking even a single bit.

He lay on the ground and fell into deep thought. His eyes were like two burning fireballs in the dark cave. The thing that fueled the flames was called ambition.

All intelligent creatures with autonomous consciousness had ambitions. The only difference was whether their ambition was big or small.

When kindergarten children performed well, they would be rewarded with an extra candy by their teachers. This led to ambition. Employees in the workplace worked hard to get a promotion. This was ambition. Leaders worked hard to accumulate more wealth. This was also ambition.

All this time, Jose had ambitions, and they were not small. He would not mind holding the whole world in his hands if his strength allowed it.

However, when the followers suggested an attack on the gray-tailed centaurs and looting the wealth that they had accumulated over the years, he had refused.

Because he knew one thing: ambition required strength to support it. Otherwise, it would only harm oneself.

Back then, he did not have the strength to take down a medium-sized centaur tribe.

But now he did.

After careful consideration, Jose gave up on the idea of annexing the gray-tailed centaur tribe.

The forces of the Great Plains were complicated, and there was no guarantee if the gray-tailed centaurs had a backer behind them. Even though he was no longer the same person as before, his identity was sensitive, and it was best not to act rashly before he figured out the overall strength of his opponent, which included their network and connections.

“Keep a low profile and grow. I want no trouble!”

Moreover, there were many delicious, weak, and easy prey nearby — the native tribes in the forest.

Annexing prey did not have to be done with force. Gathering, tempting, and threatening could achieve one’s goal, as long as one knew how to use their brain. This might be the biggest difference between Jose and the other Red Dragons.

He recalled the distribution of forces explained by his follower. Kobolds, gnolls, and goblins were the main residents of this area.

Many of the surrounding kobolds were from the blood-tooth tribe. Under the pressure of the gnolls and other races, they were still connected to each other, and he could try to rope them in. Goblins were very weak and did not form large tribes. The only problem was the gnolls.

Nearby, there was a medium-sized gnoll tribe called the moss skin tribe. Before the blood-tooth tribe split up, the moss skin tribe’s gnolls were the blood-tooth tribe’s strong rivals and had stood strong for decades. They were probably on the same level as the gray-tailed centaur tribe, or even stronger.

However, there were a few buffer zones between the moss skin gnoll tribe and the blood-tooth tribe, so he did not need to bother about them for now.

With a thought, Jose used the spiritual connection established by the Follower Contract to check what his followers were doing.

Through the visual sharing, he saw Ergou instructing the kobolds to climb the trees and pick the pine cones. The kobolds had nails on their fingers and toes, and with their light weight, they climbed the trees quickly.

One by one, pine cones were thrown onto the soft soil. The young kobolds weaved under the trees, picked up the cones, and placed them in a wicker basket. There were three spear-wielding kobolds around the gathering team.

“Their efficiency looks good.”

Turning to look at Soda, he saw that the leader of the kobolds was training the warriors in the cave.

In a spacious arena, the kobolds who had undergone many rounds of selection practiced with their spears. Every attack was merciless and painful.

At the edge of the arena, the kobold recruits were practicing piercing at the wooden stakes.

This was progress possible after having sufficient food. In the past, the kobolds, who were too busy with their livelihood, had no time to train.

Jose nodded his head repeatedly as he watched. His two subordinates fulfilled their roles very well, accumulating rations and preparing for war.

“Come to my cave.”

After receiving the message, Soda quickly put down what he was doing. Before long, he arrived at the cave where the Red Dragon was.

“Master.”

“Soda, I heard that many kobolds split from the blood-tooth tribe decades ago. Are you confident that you can bring them back?”

Soda lowered his head and pondered for a moment before he raised his head and answered, “Yes, it is thanks to you, Master. The blood-tooth tribe has found a new mineral deposit and has a lot of food stored. Most importantly, you are here. I am confident that I can convince them, but…”

“But what? Just say it.”

Soda looked up at Jose guiltily before replying, “Master, the leaders of those tribes are not weaker than me. I’m worried that I won’t be able to suppress them.”

Jose had a faint smile on his face. After more than ten days of observation, although it was not enough to see through an intelligent creature, he could still understand some things about these kobolds.

Among this sibling pair of dragonkin followers, Ergou was smart but easily satisfied, and Soda, the leader, was competitive and full of desire for power and authority.

Any animal with an independent will would have their own selfishness, and Jose would not go so far as to not have such tolerance. On the contrary, he felt that only with desire would there be motivation, and it was a good thing that his followers had a competitive spirit.

“If you can convince them to join you, you’ll be the greatest contributor. I will support you to become the chief.”

Soda’s face lit up as he expressed his gratitude, “Thank you, Master.”

“Right, what’s the situation with my companion?”

“Lord Cassie dug a pond in the fifth living area and then went into a deep slumber. During that time, he only came out for a meal once.”

“Is there any issue with the meat supply?”

Each time the two True Dragons ate, they had to eat half of their own weight. It was estimated to be about two thousand kilograms of meat. Even if they only ate once every 10 days, they still had to hunt for two hundred kilograms of meat on average every day. This was not a light task for the blood-tooth tribe that only had a population of several hundred.

“Don’t worry, Master. There are many deer and wild boars in the mountains. The blood-tooth tribe’s warriors are valiant and fearless.”

Soda paused for a moment and frowned before saying, “However, Master, the winter is coming in two months. I am worried that the snow will seal off the mountain and our warriors will not be able to find enough prey then.”

After saying that, Soda looked ashamed. He was a follower, and his master had helped to solve the food crisis in his tribe, yet they could not hunt enough food for him in return.

Jose rubbed his chin and thought for a while before he suggested, “Perhaps we can stock up on a large amount of grass and capture some young herbivores to rear our own livestock.”