Chapter 59 Five Years

The snow on the Storm Hill accumulated and covered again and again, and melted into water again and again.

In the blink of an eye, five years have passed.

Five years, for an immortal species like a dragon, may be the time it takes to sleep, but for short-lived guys like humans and goblins, this is enough to make their world change dramatically.

What happened in these five years?

First of all, the number of followers of the Burning Embers Nest is also increasing rapidly, and its territory is also expanding.

Egg-laying creatures such as kobolds and lizardmen can lay more than a dozen eggs in a nest. And viviparous creatures such as goblins are not to be outdone, with a very fast reproduction rate, giving birth to seven or eight in a year, which is also an important factor for these weak races to survive in the wilderness.

Soon, the Giant Valley could no longer fully accommodate them.

The followers had to expand outward.

Today, the territory of the Burning Embers has occupied the entire Storm Peaks. Many tribes have been conquered and absorbed. Dozens of valleys and caves have become the residences of the followers, and only the most elite and powerful followers can stay in the Giant Valley headquarters, receiving the unconscious gift of the red dragon.

Living in the Giant Valley is considered an honor.

Even the name of the valley has been changed to "Dragon Valley".

There are now three chimeras, forty-one wyverns, sixty-five ogres, four hundred and sixty earth elves, three hundred and seventy lizardmen, two hundred and four satyrs, and - too many goblins and dog-headed men to count in the Burning Embers.

Conservative estimates put their number at over ten thousand.

There are also many newly surrendered scattered tribes such as snakemen, troglodytes, orcs, etc., which will not be listed one by one, because they are just paying protection fees.

Secondly, the entire Storm Peaks has become the "pasture" and "mining area" of the Burning Embers.

The earth elves have a long history of animal taming technology. Like some more civilized races, they use cattle and horses to carry goods and weapons for long-distance transportation.

They use tamed crows to exchange information, and let ferocious wolves guard prisoners and protect the hobgoblin camps, and the hobgoblins of Burning Embers Nest do the same.

The goblin family headed by Doro includes hobgoblins, goblins, bear goblins, etc.

They began to consciously raise large herbivores such as mammoths, aurochs, and giant rhinos to provide sufficient meat for their followers. They even began to raise tundra land dragon beasts, but there are only three of them at present. These huge creatures will become weapons for fighting and transportation.

And Rump mainly controls the ogres, kobolds, lizardmen and other families.

A large number of goblins and kobolds have now established huge mining areas crisscrossing underground, continuously transporting metals and elemental ores into the valley.

These metals will be smelted in underground furnaces and forged into simple weapons for the army. The elemental ores will be stored in the red dragon's cave as energy reserves.

It's just that these guys are difficult to control. Once they relax, they often run away with gold. Therefore, Rump has transferred a considerable number of lizardmen and ogres to serve as supervisors.

During this period, Rump is still the chief steward of the Burning Nest. All matters must be approved by him - even those related to the goblins.

Although Doro is dissatisfied with him and often trips him up and uses tricks in secret, he must report the matters he performs to Rump according to the procedures.

They still maintain the peace on the surface and ensure the most basic internal order of the Burning Nest. After all, no one wants to anger the red dragon because of internal fighting.

They are all waiting for the other party to make a mistake, and they expect to report it after the red dragon wakes up and bring the other party down.

As for the friction and conflict between the goblins, kobolds, ogres, etc. below, there are countless, and there are several incidents almost every day, which has gradually become normalized.

"Wait until the master wakes up, he won't be in that position for long."

-This is what Doro often said to his trusted subordinates.

In addition, the contact between the Burning Nest and humans is becoming more and more frequent.

The town of Sger is a puppet actually controlled by the Burning Nest. The "friendly trade" caravan headed by Hart continues to provide Burning Nest with human armor, weapons, and books through trade.

Perhaps because of the bounty order, in the past five years, almost every few months, there have been adventurers who dream of slaying dragons and overconfident adventurers who rashly break into Burning Nest.

Rump also welcomed these uninvited and rude visitors with his own warm etiquette - he made their heads into necklaces and hung them at the door as decorations.

However, this ogre magician often complained about why the red dragon did not let him eat intelligent creatures. He had not tasted these "small snacks" for a long time.

Rump even captured several guys who claimed to be nobles, and got a considerable ransom from their families, and even extorted a few spell scrolls before he was willing to let them go, which greatly expanded his spell collection.

In fact, the rapid expansion of the Burning Nest has aroused the vigilance of human forces such as the Northern Countries.

Not only the Dukedom of Rackman, but also the Grand Duchy of Bosk in the south and the Harpist Alliance, a righteous organization across the continent, have sent scouts to explore here, but most of those scouts never returned.

In the absence of Cassius's awakening, although Rump had a great blueprint to conquer the world, he did not dare to rashly go to war with other countries without the permission of the Red Dragon.

Therefore, despite the constant small-scale frictions and conflicts, the Burning Nest has never directly fought against any large human forces.

And Cassius slept for five years.

When true dragons sleep, due to their own magical nature, they have a huge impact on the surrounding environment. When a white dragon sleeps, the ground will be covered with white frost, when a blue dragon sleeps, the soil will turn into yellow sand, when a black dragon sleeps, the forest will corrode into a swamp, and when a red dragon sleeps, everything will turn into lava.

This is what Cassius did, filling the cave with lava.

During this period, whenever a red dragon turned over or felt uncomfortable, it would make a loud noise. Hot white smoke often came out of the cave entrance, magma splashed out, and several earth elves guarding the gate were burned.

This not only frightened the followers, but also made them more in awe of the powerful power of the red dragon.

At the same time, Cassius was unconsciously releasing the "blood gift".

The scope of this influence was expanding, and the influence was getting stronger and stronger. Now almost all the followers in the Giant Valley have turned into dragon vein creatures, showing distinct red dragon characteristics.

These monsters are considered the most dangerous by nearby adventurers. They have the reputation of "evil dragon claws" and are not to be easily provoked.

The progress has been accelerated, and the entire internal test may be completed in a short time.