Chapter 238 Three Years
The wind and snow in Anzeta come roaring every year, covering the earth with a layer of white. The tenacious people living in this "springless land" have long been accustomed to the cold winter, even though they migrated from the warm south. Come on, it's just about survival.
And similarly, for the most basic survival, they will gradually get used to the rule of Burning Ember Kingdom and adapt to this new order.
Ice and snow cover the earth again and again, and melt again and again.
In the blink of an eye, three years have passed.
For the dragon, this is not a long time. It can only be regarded as an ordinary deep sleep. After all, there are many dragons who sleep for decades or even centuries.
But this hibernation is of great significance to Cassius, he will usher in the biggest leap in history
With the slight snoring, the red dragon's body rises and falls. The energy overflowing from his body has been greedily absorbed by him, while the ancestral dragon blood in his body is still releasing more turbulent and primitive power through the basal blood vessels - that It is the original dragon power given by the nine-faced dragon god Io from ancient times.
In the past three years, wrapped in that giant egg, the red dragon's form was transformed by this power at a speed visible to the naked eye. When he fully awakens, he will be closer to the ancient times and only exist in mythical epics. The ancestral dragon is not the ordinary five-color dragon that has been weakened and restrained several times in this era.
The power of this red dragon is also increasing day by day. Just an occasional murmur and roar can make birds and beasts miles away panic and flee.
Even the battle-hardened tiefling guards are often suffocated by this unintentional pressure, and even suffer from mental problems, so much so that they have to stand guard in shifts.
Even the bipedal flying dragons that live on the stone pillars often lie trembling on the stone surface, curling up like pitiful little chickens, showing no sign of their majesty when facing outsiders. After all, these blood descendants with thin dragon veins feel the most instinctive suppression from the depths of their blood.
When falling into deep slumber, Cassius would often have dreams - which were actually inherited from the bloodline of the ancestral dragons. Spectacular scenes of the ancestral dragons fighting against those gods and ancient behemoths would often appear in his mind. Whenever this happens, he will roll, growl, roar, and unconsciously release his power as if he were personally on the battlefield.
The real dragon's impact on the environment continues to play a role.
And unlike last time, with the transformation of the ancestral dragon bloodline, its scope of influence and destructive power are increasing day by day.
At the beginning, hot magma would often gush out of the ground in the palace, and the hard steel would be easily melted, turning into red, hot molten iron. The entire main hall was like a sweltering steamer, and even the heavy iron door was red and hot under the high temperature, making the guards stationed at the door miserable.
However, this is only the first year that the red dragon has been sleeping.
In the second year, the sleeping Ember King's impact on the environment further expanded, and extreme high temperatures gradually enveloped the entire palace. Then, in what was supposed to be a cold winter, hot magma suddenly spewed out from the ground outside the main palace. Like a volcanic eruption, the ground turned into dark black lava, and the sky was filled with ashes that almost enveloped the entire palace.
The accident killed twelve tieflings, either burned to death or suffocated in the ashes.
And this is just the result of the power that the red dragon inadvertently leaked.
Since that accident, Metrorash has given up the garrison duty around the main palace, arranged the tieflings to the outermost periphery of the palace, and regularly sent spellcasters to monitor the magic network around the palace. To avoid further accidents and unnecessary casualties. Fortunately, such a tragedy did not happen again, because starting from the third year, the impact of the red dragon on the environment no longer appeared in the form of disaster, but was transformed into a deeper impact on the broad climate system.
Under the influence of Cassius, not only the area around the palace, but also Beifong Castle, which was miles away, became warmer. It gradually became a holy place to deal with the harsh winter of Anzeta, and was even used by Beifong Castle who did not know the truth. Local people call it "Neverwinter City".
——Many desperate poor people will flock to Beifeng Castle in the winter. Even if the guards block them, they will gather outside the city to enjoy the hard-won warmth.
No matter in terms of life level or individual strength, Cassius, who has experienced deep sleep, has completely surpassed the original red dragon in his prime. This has only been ten years, and for an ordinary dragon, it is just a nap.
And in the past few years, what changes have occurred in the vast territory of Burning Ember Kingdom?
It's hard to tell from the outside.
After all, in the past few years when the Red Dragon was sleeping, the Kingdom of Burning Ember changed from its former aggressiveness. Although there were still inevitable frictions and conflicts, the kingdom never had any war with its neighboring countries. It developed steadily for several years, and even Some northern nobles have begun to write articles on current affairs.
They believe that this red dragon has been satisfied with the status quo and will sleep for decades or even hundreds of years, and the North will return to long-term order and peace, so all countries need not worry.
However, Duke Leo sneered at these statements. He never believed that the greedy dragon would stop here. In the past few years, he has not disturbed the Ember Kingdom, but has been secretly contacting the countries in the North, hoping to form a closer "anti-Red Dragon Alliance".
However, even though he was cautious enough, these small actions of his were inevitably discovered by the kingdom's intelligence department. Metrorash quickly sent "Nocturne" to counter, destroy and disrupt this, and this so-called alliance never showed up. Formed in a practical sense, it only remains a verbal agreement.
In fact, the dormancy of the Burning Kingdom has caused many principalities to relax. Until the last critical moment, their short-sighted ruler did not want to be bundled into Bossk's chariot to provoke this terrifying behemoth.
Within the kingdom, people's lives have undergone earth-shaking changes.
The promulgation of the "Kingdom Code" has made all aspects of people's lives restricted by the law. The gaps in power have become increasingly narrow, and those forces that wander between black and white have lost their place. People don't know whether this is better or worse, but they have to adapt to such a constrained life.
The reform of the land system has made the serfdom system of the past gone forever. The former northern nobles and big landowners have colluded to take advantage of the sleeping red dragon to rise up and resist - this may be their last chance.
However, they did not wait for the kingdom's compromise, only for the long-planned brutal suppression. Under the command of Doro, the lead bullets of the Goblin Line Private soldiers ruthlessly tore apart the private soldiers who had been cultivating for many years, and the heads of the nobles were killed. Rolling to the ground, there was only one voice left in the kingdom.
This so-called "rebellion" ended quietly, despite being heavily criticized and accused by the nobles of the North. It set off a frenzy of public opinion, and some scholars even claimed that it was a "bloody tragedy" and "cruel massacre."
But in fact, this rebellion did not have much impact within the kingdom. Those so-called resistances were like a joke. They were extinguished instantly as soon as they showed some sparks.
(End of chapter)