"Please, ravage me to your heart's content..."
Zoraya clung tightly to the Red Iron Dragon's hard and majestic body, her sharp teeth gnawing at his scales. She felt as if she were greeting the crushing weight of the entire world; her bones vibrated, and her thoughts went completely blank from the trembling, leaving only primal submission and union.
A long time passed.
The hall, which had been shaking like an earthquake, slowly regained its tranquility.
Dust fell from the stone pillars like shimmering light in the moonlight streaming through the high windows.
With a flash of light, the Red Iron Dragon returned to his original form, spreading his wings as his heated breath gradually calmed.
He stretched his neck, his joints letting out a dull click, while the Blue Dragon remained in her humanoid form, nestled gently between the dragon's claws. Her cheek pressed against his scales, her breathing heavy and not yet steady.
"Rest here."
Galos spoke slowly, allowing the Blue Dragon to remain in his bedchamber.
After this bout of indulgence, he prepared to familiarize himself with his increased power and master it perfectly. Those new skills required time to break in before they could be used as easily as his own limbs.
Hearing this, Zoraya raised her head and looked up at that majestic dragon face that commanded respect without even trying.
Moonlight spilled from a skylight in the dome, flowing over Galos's dark scales and outlining his cold, hard, metallic silhouette. Her gaze slid over his spines and neck scales, finally settling on his deep vertical pupils.
She said, "My King, please wait. I have a request that I hope you can grant."
The dragon's pace faltered slightly, and he then lowered his gaze to Zoraya. "Speak first; I will consider it as I see fit."
Zoraya's voice was slightly raspy as she whispered, "I want to leave more of your Bloodline in this world and bear excellent and powerful offspring for you."
Normal Blue Dragon communities are often tied together by Family bonds.
The descendants of the master of a Dragon Group are also the warriors under their command.
In the tradition of Evil Dragons, offspring are both a continuation of the Bloodline and an extension and guarantee of power. Zoraya had been educated in this way since childhood, where familial affection was thin and interests were paramount.
Galos looked at Zoraya quietly, knowing roughly what she was thinking.
Zoraya possessed the Blue Dragon mindset and had been raised with the Legacy and education of an Evil Dragon.
She wouldn't have much familial affection for her offspring.
In Zoraya's eyes, bearing offspring with the Emperor could, on one hand, allow the Aura Kingdom to grow further and increase its high-end combat power; on the other hand, it was an important resource to consolidate her status.
With offspring flowing with the Emperor's Bloodline, her position in the kingdom would be even more unshakable.
"Fine, but there is a prerequisite."
Galos said slowly, "My offspring will be loyal to the kingdom and loyal to me, not to the Dominic Dragon Group under your command." He paused and stared at the Blue Dragon, her slightly tensed face reflected in his pupils. "Do you understand?"
Zoraya nodded submissively, her long hair sliding over her white shoulders.
"My King, I understand."
She said, her fingers tracing the gaps between the scales on the back of the dragon's claws.
"And, as you know, I know my place and have never caused you worry."
"In the future, when the descendants grow up, these sons of the Emperor will fight for their father's glory and for the banner of Aura."
Hearing these words, Galos nodded slightly.
Perhaps because Zoraya still had Green Dragon blood within her, she had always been ambitious, calculating, and skilled at disguise and deception.
But Galos was not worried about her.
Because as Zoraya said herself, she knew her place.
She knew when to show her fangs and when to restrain her edge; she knew where the bottom line was and rarely crossed it. This was all predicated on the fact that Galos was above her, keeping her in check.
As long as the Red Iron Dragon still stood upon the throne, Zoraya's ambition would only be a driving force for the kingdom's development, rather than a hidden danger of division.
In fact, it wasn't just Zoraya.
The reason the entire Aura Kingdom could be so highly cohesive was due to Galos's existence.
He was the hub, the Foundation, and the pillar.
If he were ever gone, this kingdom... would fall apart and cease to exist in a very short time.
The dragons would take their Dependents and carve out their own territories, and the lords would establish their own strongholds.
Overall, Aura was a very deformed kingdom.
Galos knew this well, but he didn't care.
His original intention for establishing the kingdom was never something like "making the Dragon Clan great again." Those were just slogans used to unify the dragons' hearts, boost morale, and make management easier.
The true meaning of this kingdom's existence was to serve him, and nothing more.
To provide resources, support his path of evolution, and become the ladder for him to reach higher levels.
"Come to me once every month."
The Red Iron Dragon told Zoraya, then walked out of the bedchamber with steady steps.
Zoraya watched him disappear at the end of the corridor, then slowly relaxed her body and lay back into the soft pile of furs in a lazy posture, savoring the pain in her body and the previous pleasure.
Shortly after, Galos arrived at the northern foothills of the Dragon Ridge Mountains.
This was his usual training spot, with rugged terrain and far from the noise.
Galos did not start his exercise immediately; he folded his wings, lost in thought.
He was somewhat curious if the offspring with Zoraya could inherit his Eye of True Sight or his Claw of Extinguishing Law.
If they could, it would mean that as he evolved more traits in the future, his descendants would also inherit more traits from him.
When the second generation, third generation... and more generations of offspring were born.
As the Dragon Group flowing with Galos's Bloodline gradually grew, it might even lead to the formation of a brand-new dragon species.
This would be beneficial to Galos.
"I don't know where the limit of my evolution talent is yet, but if it has a limit such that my growth speed becomes extremely slow after I reach a certain level, perhaps..."
"I can go a step further by creating brand-new dragon species."
He thought silently to himself.
This was a world where gods existed.
On Bernardo Planet, the influence of deities was limited and not so absolute, but in the vast majority of worlds, the gods were synonymous with being high and mighty.
The Realm above Legendary was called the Immortal Realm.
The goal of every Legendary was to become an immortal existence; it was also the threshold to the Divine Domain.
After achieving immortality, there were two main directions of development.
First, deities.
By gaining the recognition of a certain main god, creating extraordinary deeds, or accumulating massive faith, one could ignite the Divine Fire, condense a Godhead, obtain a certain authority, and achieve the status of a deity.
Second, god-like lifeforms.
By constantly breaking through one's own limits and through pure, personal strength, one could rival a deity with a non-divine body, not relying on faith or adhering to authority, but believing only in one's own power and will.
These two directions each had their pros and cons.
Generally speaking, the development prospects for deities were broader, with a clear promotion route, and divine authority was almost omnipotent, allowing for things far beyond a Mortal's imagination. However, the price was being bound by faith, needing to maintain a divine office, playing games with other deities, and even potentially falling due to a decline in faith.
As for god-like lifeforms... the path ahead was dim.
Every god-like lifeform had their own path, which could not be replicated or even referenced by other god-like paths. Growth was more difficult, and a single wrong step could lead to permanent stagnation.
However, god-like lifeforms also had fewer constraints like faith, were much freer, and had a more solid Foundation.
"If there is a choice, it is best to have both."
"For example, the various dragon gods are deities and also god-like lifeforms, which is why the dragon gods are so powerful."
Galos pondered in his heart.
A long time ago, his goal was just to live a bit longer and more comfortably.
Now, he had actually achieved that goal.
But he was not satisfied with this; he had a greater ambition in his heart, longing to become one of those eternal existences above many worlds, transcending the wear and tear of time and looking down upon the rise and fall of civilizations.
This was extremely difficult.
Countless worlds, countless years, countless living beings... the eternal existences everyone knew of were always those few. How many brilliant figures had fallen on the road, how many grand Empires had turned to dust, without even a legend left behind?
Galos didn't know how far he could go.
But he didn't feel lost because of this; instead, he made a clear plan for himself.
The road had to be walked step by step: first become a powerhouse among Legendaries, then touch the threshold of immortality, and then... consider things further away.
In his future planning,
Achieving both deity status and being a god-like lifeform was the first choice and also the most difficult choice.
The second was to develop in the direction of a god-like lifeform because Galos didn't want too many constraints and limitations.
The last was the pure deity direction.
If he could create a genetically stable and large-scale new dragon species, then he would have a good chance to condense a related divine office based on that, ignite the Divine Fire, and achieve deity status.
The absolute last and simplest choice was to swallow all his treasures and hold a god-ascent ceremony.
This could also make him one of the gods, but his rank among the deities would be very low, and his upper limit would basically be locked because a Godhead condensed through such a shortcut was often weak and the divine office was also vague.
However, even the weakest deity was still a god.
If an immortal existence or even a deity knew that a Legendary who hadn't even reached the Destiny level was already planning his path to godhood and god-like lifeform status, and had even ranked them, they would probably find the ignorance of a Mortal amusing.
It was like a human watching a slightly larger ant discuss how to build a cross-sea bridge.
But Galos didn't care about that.
He only knew that as long as he worked hard for it and as long as every step was solid, even if the final result was failure, he would have no regrets.
At least he had tried, he had struggled, and he had reached out his claws toward eternity.
Hoo!
The Red Iron Dragon took a deep breath of the cold winter wind. The icy air poured into his lungs, cooling his restless thoughts.
He temporarily suppressed those distant plans, focused on the present, and then began to familiarize himself with his own traits and various new skills, without neglecting the training of his professional pathway.