Time passed by, and recently, the atmosphere in the Catha Empire had grown tense, as Emperor Charal Caesar's fervent desire for conquest rapidly expanded, driven by the powerful hands hidden in the shadows.
Under the Dragon Clan's almost self-destructive resource supply, the Empire's armaments gradually became abundant.
And the resources from the Golden Land, exchanged with neutral noble factions, brought ample food reserves to the Empire.
With sufficient exchange of benefits, those nobles would no longer be stingy with a bit of resource exchange.
However, before the Catha Empire could even make a move, the neighboring human Duchy of Marino unexpectedly launched a silent attack on the Empire's southernmost province, successfully breaking through its defenses.
They not only plundered a vast amount of food, weapons, and resources but also herded and coerced many people into the Duchy of Marino's territory.
Because of this Emperor Charal Caesar was furious and dispatched two legions to support the already chaotic southern provincial front.
But somehow, the news leaked, and the entire two legions were ambushed by the large army of the Duchy of Marino, resulting in their complete annihilation.
Even the legion commander, who had stepped into the Saint Domain, was publicly slain by the Saint Domain Warrior Chief of the Duchy of Marino.
For a time, the Catha Empire fell into trouble; the Emperor had the reason and strength to wage war, but the situation did not proceed as smoothly as he had imagined.
Kalon was now starting to feel drowsy; his hibernation period was approaching, but he resisted his sleepiness and looked at the tall werewolf who had just returned from the gladiatorial arena.
The werewolf and the Vampire had gone out together, but only he had returned.
Luck no longer favored the Vampire and the werewolf; their match was a fight to the death.
The werewolf's body was covered in exposed wounds, with flesh torn open, even revealing the white bones and internal organs hidden within his bloody body; this battle must have been extremely brutal.
But the werewolf who returned alive showed no sign of joy on his face; he silently dragged his heavily wounded body into the cell.
"Hey, how does Vampire flesh taste? Didn't you keep clamoring to eat the Vampire?"
The Centaur Warrior had long understood his inevitable fate; he teased the werewolf, but there was no smile on his face.
"It doesn't taste good at all," the werewolf replied hoarsely, "but I swallowed his heart core, and now his fate will be forever linked with mine."
"Tsk," the Centaur stopped speaking; the Vampire's heart core was the most crucial bloodline of that race.
Perhaps if this heart core were sent back to the Vampire's sacred blood pool and soaked for a few hundred years, that Vampire might revive, but now that possibility no longer existed.
"Guard me," the Red Dragon, his crimson pupils filled with a hazy drowsiness, said in a deep voice, "I am going into hibernation, and when someone calls me to awaken, we will regain control of our own destiny."
The silver-haired werewolf, hidden in the darkness, his eerie green pupils glowing, reappeared from the shadows, kneeling in his cell, bowing to the Red Dragon, "I will guard you with my life, Lord Kalon!"
The Centaur Warrior exhaled, and his strong body also knelt, "I, Chiron, son of the true Centaur tribe, will guard you with my life!"
The Red Dragon nodded, closed his eyes, and soon his breathing became steady as he entered hibernation.
And those Young Dragon also entered hibernation one after another around this time; their childhood had been long enough, and it was time for them to enter adolescence.
Perhaps the gladiatorial arena had no experience raising true Dragon's, for by the time they realized it, all the true Dragon's had entered their hibernation period.
They dared not disturb the sleeping true Dragon's casually; true Dragon's in the midst of bloodline growth would be exceptionally irritable, and they did not want to be torn apart by the true Dragon's.
By the time they reported it, the Empire's high-ranking officials were already too busy to deal with these matters; they were occupied with how to resolve the sudden crisis, so the arena's administrators could only let these Young Dragon sleep peacefully in the quiet underground.
The underground cells where the young Dragon's hibernated began to be intentionally overlooked by the arena attendants; they no longer dared to step into this level of underground cells, and consequently, the gladiators of various races also imprisoned on this level were gradually ignored.
Time slowly passed, and changes occurred in the tranquil underground cells.
Every true Dragon would create a lair effect in its frequently inhabited environment, although the lair effect of these Young Dragon's was very small.
However, due to the overly narrow space and the dense distribution of these Young Dragon's, the lair effect gradually spread from the cell where the strongest Kalon resided.
It gradually came into contact with the influence of the other Young Dragon's, and a mysterious connection suddenly formed between their respective lair effects; this effect, under the mysterious connection, produced an unknown resonance.
Under the Red Dragon's lair effect dominance, an inexplicable aura began to spread throughout the entire underground cell.
And the Young Dragon's, in the midst of their respective bloodline growth, continuously enhanced the power of the lair effect within this resonance, gradually affecting all the gladiators of different races in this basement.
Their personalities, originally worn down by monotonous and indifferent lives, gradually began to change, becoming irritable, prone to anger, and more aggressive; they began to crave the flesh and blood of their companions, with whom they had previously coexisted peacefully.
Coupled with the arena attendants gradually neglecting this place, the warriors of various races, already in a state of starvation, suddenly erupted into battle one day, with every cell engulfed in slaughter and bloodshed.
They roared and tore at each other's bodies, settling scores in the most barbaric and simple way; teeth and sharp claws unleashed unimaginable destructive power on each other's bodies, blood flowed like rivers, and flesh was strewn everywhere.
The weak died at the hands of the strong, and their bodies were devoured by the victors; after satisfying their hunger for flesh and blood, these victors, replenished with nutrients and energy, also entered hibernation like the Dragon Clan.
A layer of extremely tough epidermis began to grow on the surface of their bodies, and short, spiky thorns emerged from the skin of their varied faces, transforming them into the legendary bloodline Dragonborn.
The strongest of these monsters, the Centaur and the werewolf, also underwent a strange and bizarre mutation under the Red Dragon's gradually strengthening bloodline radiation.
Without food replenishment, the werewolf and Centaur, who had also autonomously entered hibernation through some mystical method, experienced different changes on the surface of their bodies.
The Centaur's bloodline was inherently inferior to the Red Dragon's atavistic Evil Dragon Blood, so although his strength was greater than the werewolf's, he was affected even more significantly.
The Centaur's already tough outer skin was covered with a layer of reddish scales, the same color as those on the Red Dragon's body; the dense scales gave him even stronger defense than before.
The Centaur's tail also began to transform into a Red Dragon's tail; the hair on his bushy horse tail began to fall off, and the regrowing hair was short and coarse, more like some kind of leathery thorn.
His ears also became upright like a Dragonborn's, and his body became even stronger under this influence; his slowly beating heart emitted a sound like a drumbeat.
Similarly miraculous changes also occurred in the werewolf.
However, the werewolf did not grow scales like those on the Red Dragon's body; instead, his fur gradually fell off, and an extremely tough leathery skin covered the werewolf's original skin.
The regrowing fur turned white mixed with crimson, like a layer of fire burning on white fur; two wings emerged from both sides of the werewolf's shoulder blades, and when they grew to a certain extent, a layer of fine red scales began to cover the newly formed fleshy wings.
Two small Dragon horns emerged from the werewolf's beautiful fur on top of his head; if it weren't for these Dragon horns continuously growing thicker and longer as time passed, the top of the werewolf's head would look comically like it had four ears.
And the Young Dragon's bodies also gradually changed during bloodline growth; their bodies, nourished by the bloodline, gradually surpassed age limits and began to grow and develop anew.
The originally somewhat fine scales began to grow larger and thicker, and their color also changed from vivid to darker shades.
Spikes of varying lengths, similar to Kalon's, also began to spread on both sides of their heads, as if the bloodline growth had converged to some extent within the resonance of the lair effect.
During this time, the Young Dragon Klenaya, who had been actively fighting and drinking the fresh blood of her opponents, seemed to have found some satisfaction for the Evil Dragon Blood within her.
The will of the Evil Dragon Blood quietly receded, and a more powerful force was born from Klenaya's bloodline.
An aura similar to Kalon's atavistic blood emanated from Klenaya, though far less intense than Kalon's, but undoubtedly, this Red Dragon also successfully embarked on that path of success.
Atavistic blood, this is the most orthodox and powerful method for true Dragon's; since true Dragon's are all born from the Dragon Gods, the closer a true Dragon's bloodline is to the Dragon God, the greater the power they possess.
Kalon, the strongest Red Dragon among the Dragon Clan, his body also continuously adjusted during bloodline growth.
After many repeated practices of using will to influence and strengthen psionic energy, Kaloncould now begin to let his will influence psionic energy, causing his body to adaptively adjust spontaneously during bloodline growth.
Originally, the Five-Colored Dragons, when born from the hands of the Dragon Goddess Tiamat, basically possessed very strange body proportions.
A long neck, like a snake's, would roughly account for one-third of the body's proportion, the tail also accounted for one-third, and the relatively most important body was also one-third.
Although the Red Dragon's relatively thicker neck compared to other Five-Colored Dragon concealed this overly bizarre proportion, Kalon still found this proportion too ugly.
Moreover, such an overly long neck would appear more fragile when attacked, making it a weakness, and after analysis by the sub-brain , this proportion had more disadvantages than advantages for the Red Dragon.
Thus, under Kalon's will and the analysis and control of the sub-brain , his already somewhat adjusted neck gradually shortened its body proportion, becoming a relatively normal length that did not appear abrupt.
His neck also grew thicker as a result, with thick muscles and epidermis wrapping around it, perfectly matching his already mighty and ferocious head, displaying a unique aesthetic of power.
His body therefore became longer and stronger, allowing the developmental limits of his internal organs to expand further. His blood vessels and various organs adjusted to accommodate the increase in his body size.
His blood vessels and various transmission nerves widened as a result, and his heart also grew, meaning that the blood and magic flowing through his body would be even more turbulent in the future.
His explosive power was also enhanced, capable of unleashing unimaginable strength under mental overcharge.
And the axe-bat-wing-like tissues that originally grew on the Red Dragon's back and the back of his tail transformed into tough, skin-covered bony spikes that grew backward.
These spikes were of moderate length, extending all the way to the Red Dragon's neck, appearing quite ferocious and very intimidating to those who liked to jump on backs.
The Red Dragon's wings originally also had a pair of wing claws, but in fact, these wing claws played no role in a true Dragon's daily life or combat; a true Dragon's flexible limbs were more practical than any wing claws.
And the flapping of a true Dragon's wings served more as an intimidation, no Dragon would expect to harm enemies using their wing claws.
Thus, under Kalon's will, the thickest wing claws on his wings gradually changed.
They transformed into a type of claw-shaped membrane, similar to bony nodules, protecting the bone joints of the Dragon Clan's wings, making the Red Dragon's wings appear smoother.
And after the lesson of his wing bones being fractured by the advanced magic Flame Ring last time, Kalon also strengthened the reinforcement of his wing bones.
The originally relatively slender wing bones grew thicker, and the porous bone structure gradually became denser, with the hollow spaces within the bones shrinking.
The cost of this change was that his Dragon wings became longer and wider, far exceeding the proportion of a ordinary true Dragon's wings.
These changes and the growth of his true Dragon bloodline required massive amounts of nutritional energy and magical nourishment, as his true Dragon body was growing.
His nine-meter body gradually grew to eleven meters, but the Red Dragon's body became thinner.
Under the body's craving, the magic energy filling the air also began to be gathered and absorbed by the Red Dragon's body, but other Young Dragons were also absorbing the already scarce magic energy during their growth.
The magical crystals used for lighting and ordinary lights also extinguished under the influence of his Dragon body .
Under the influence of the Red Dragon's bloodline and magic, the magic circle on the walls of the underground cell began to be slowly eroded; faint magical patterns became blurry and gradually disappeared.
Cracks began to appear in the solid walls, and countless abundant fire elements emanated from the cracks, the aura of a fire elemental plane whose existence was unknown.
Affected by the Red Dragon's lair effect and bloodline, the barrier between this fire element and the primary plane, Ekania World, quietly broke open; however, due to the immense magic circle covering the entire gladiatorial arena, the aura was concealed.
The Red Dragon's body, replenished with elemental magic, began to become full; nourished by abundant elemental magic, the Red Dragon's bloodline rapidly grew, undergoing some miraculous changes.
A deeper level of power was awakening and being born from his bloodline.
The Red Dragon, saturated with magic, had already begun to emit excess heat between his scales; a misty magma aura covered the entire cell.
As time passed, the Red Dragon's power spread throughout the entire underground passage; drops of highly condensed fire elements transformed into flowing magma, dripping from the cracks in the walls.
Pop, a spark splattered in the completely silent darkness of the underground.
The glow emanating from his Dragon body and the countless drops of dark red magma became the dominant theme of the entire underground, like a deep fiery hell.
Days passed, so long that one might have thought this place had become an eternal, gloomy purgatory.
Until one day, a soft calling voice reached the Red Dragon's ears from afar, "Kalon, Kalon, wake up, it's time."
The entire dim underground immediately lit up; it was the Red Dragon's opened eyes.
His crimson vertical pupils emitted an incredibly scorching red light, and his low voice echoed through the deep, narrow passage, "Who is it that calls me!"
As the Red Dragon's voice fell, specks of light instantly illuminated various dark corners of the entire underground.
They were pairs of eyes, also emitting light, belonging to true Dragon's, and also to Dragonborn!