Chapter 158: The Dragon Mother's Battle Record

In the shadows behind an icicle in the Winter Temple.

Catalina watched the white dragon disappear into the purple magical energy of the teleportation spell. Leaning against the massive icicle with her arms crossed, she tilted her head and asked the Winter Empress beside her,

"Aren't you going to tell him about the Winter Imprint?"

The Master of the Winter Legion withdrew her gaze from the fading purple energy, her voice as clear and cold as ever.

"There is no need. He will find out sooner or later."

Catalina shrugged helplessly.

...

Meanwhile, the ultra-long-distance teleportation spell drained a third of the White Dragon Lord's mana reserves before depositing him back in the Teleportation Chamber of the City of the Sky, Samaria—a place he had not seen in a long time.

After a brief bout of dizziness from the extreme jump, the White Dragon Lord closed his eyes, raised his head, and took a deep breath.

Ah! The scent of the material plane was wonderfully nostalgic to a dragon.

Right then, Tower Spirit One's synthesized magical voice chimed in appropriately.

"Welcome back, Councilor Amos. You have been away from the Nordhill Plane for ten years and eight months."

At Tower Spirit One's routine report, Amos muttered to himself.

"Has it already been ten years? The fleeting bird of my youth is gone forever... Ahhh, I really want to beat up a certain trash author!"

His thoughts turning to White Castle in the Overseas Archipelago, the White Dragon Lord spoke up.

"Tower Spirit One, tell me the current status of White Castle."

"Checking authorization. You possess level-three clearance and have the right to access all intelligence below the top-secret classification within the plane. Authorization approved."

"The current status of White Castle is: one gray dwarf warrior who has newly advanced to the Legendary Rank Tier, two youth stage white dragons..."

Hearing Tower Spirit One rattle off the long string of data, Amos breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed no unexpected disasters had befallen White Castle in his absence.

"The Murloc population stands at 654,750,000..."

Hearing that the Council had investigated even his Murloc population with such exact precision, the White Dragon Lord's face darkened.

"Stop! That is enough."

"Report terminated."

The White Dragon Lord fell into deep thought. Even though he was now an Ancestral White Dragon, that did not mean he was invincible.

At present, Amos was only a newly adult Ancestral White Dragon. He was not even a hundred years old yet. If he wanted to reach the heights of the ancient Ancestral True Dragons and dominate the multiverse, he needed time to accumulate power.

Even though he had stepped into the Legendary Rank and possessed combat strength far exceeding that of an ordinary legendary practitioner, he could not afford to drop his guard.

In this world, the Legendary Rank was not the finish line. Above it stood High-Tier Legends, and beyond even them were existences like Merlin Heavenly Principle and the three great Ice Elemental commanders—beings who far eclipsed ordinary High-Tier Legends. And that was without even mentioning the unfathomable Winter Empress.

Amos suspected that if he threw his weight around just because he had Legendary Rank power, he would eventually be killed without even knowing how it happened.

Furthermore, as the multiverse's last known, still-growing Ancestral True Dragon, he could not afford to carelessly expose his true nature. If he did, he would not even have to wait for powerhouses from beyond the plane to arrive; certain powerhouses within Nordhill itself might give in to their greed and show up on his doorstep on some dark, windy night to slay the dragon.

Fortunately, the greatest differences between an Ancestral White Dragon and a modern white dragon lay internally and within their inheritances. Outwardly, they looked much the same. Unless someone had extensively researched Ancestral Dragons and managed to observe him up close, it would be incredibly difficult to deduce his true identity.

A powerhouse who had researched Ancestral Dragons and might come into close contact with him...

Amos immediately felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. He was currently in Samaria, the very place where all of Nordhill's powerhouses gathered.

If he walked outside right now and bumped into a powerhouse with a sharp enough eye to see through his identity, he would have to consider abandoning the foundation he had worked so hard to build. He would have to flee to another plane and spend the rest of his life on the run, hiding his name.

If things ever reached that point, his progression in strength would certainly suffer a devastating blow.

Setting aside the loss of resources that would drag down his growth, the mere leak of his existence would be a nightmare. The endless swarm of hunters, drawn by the temptation of an Ancestral True Dragon, would ensure he never slept peacefully again.

No! I can't stay here!

Mind made up, Amos decided to use the Spatial Beacon Crystal stored back in White Castle's Teleportation Chamber to teleport directly home.

He rapidly chanted a tongue-twisting magical incantation, but quickly realized that no magical elements were gathering around him.

The White Dragon Lord frowned and cut the incantation short.

"Tower Spirit One, what is going on?"

"All private teleportation is strictly prohibited within Sky City."

The White Dragon Lord blanked for a moment before remembering the rule: absolutely no private teleportation was allowed in or out of Sky City.

What should he do now?

Suddenly, Amos had a stroke of brilliance. He could not cast Teleportation himself, but he could simply have the Tower Spirit send him back.

"Tower Spirit One, activate the teleportation array and send me back to White Castle."

"Authorization approved. As you wish."

Just as the White Dragon Lord was feeling smug about his quick thinking, he remained completely unaware that his reckless attempt at teleportation had caught the attention of Merlin Heavenly Principle, who was sitting in the control room at the very top of Sky City.

Originally, when the Tower Spirit had announced the White Dragon Lord's return, the gray-robed Merlin Heavenly Principle had not paid it any mind.

But when the Tower Spirit reported the dragon's failed teleportation attempt, Merlin Heavenly Principle happened to be completely idle. Out of mild curiosity, he activated the magical surveillance to see what the white dragon was up to.

Through the surveillance feed, Merlin Heavenly Principle observed the White Dragon Lord—whose sheer size had clearly already reached the adult standard. He pinched his chin with one hand, an expression of profound interest dawning on his face.

He clearly remembered that when the white dragon had passed through ten years ago, he had only been in the youth stage, still a long way from adulthood, measuring no more than nineteen meters long.

Now, a mere ten years later, the White Dragon Lord had returned with a body length of twenty-two meters—far exceeding the size of a normal newly adult white dragon.

Although his old friend, the Grand Duke Silver Dragon, had mentioned that the White Dragon Lord possessed extraordinary talent, to directly skip past a century of growth in just ten short years, transforming from an immature white dragon into an adult white dragon of average size... No matter how one looked at it, that could not be explained away with just talent.

Mages were an overly curious bunch, and the monstrously powerful Merlin Heavenly Principle was no exception.

It seemed he would have to keep a much closer eye on this particular white dragon.

Watching the white dragon vanish into the teleportation array, Merlin Heavenly Principle fell into deep thought.

Completely unaware that he had just drawn the attention of the strongest mage on the plane, the White Dragon Lord materialized inside White Castle's Teleportation Chamber.

Glancing around at the familiar, unchanged decor, the White Dragon Lord pushed open the heavy, dust-covered doors and strode toward the main hall of White Castle.

Inside the main hall, Gurgalu was in the middle of a meeting with the various monster leaders.

Suddenly, the monster leaders heard the heavy creak of the side doors pushing open. They turned their heads, only to collectively freeze as they watched the White Dragon Lord emerge and stride straight toward the throne.

The monster leaders rubbed their eyes. Once they were absolutely certain it was not an illusion, their hearts surged with wild excitement. They dropped to one knee and bellowed in unison.

"Welcome back, Master!"

Amid the excited greetings of his monster leaders, the White Dragon Lord settled onto the Crystal Throne—which was now a perfectly comfortable fit for his larger body.

"My loyal servants! Rise!"

The monster leaders stood, their eyes burning with even greater fanaticism as they gazed up at the throne, noticing their master's vastly increased size.

They felt incredibly fortunate to serve a master who was both merciful to his subordinates and capable of such rapid leaps in power.

The White Dragon Lord swept his gaze across the hall, immensely satisfied. It was not just the burning worship in their eyes that pleased him, but the intense energy fluctuations rolling off their bodies. He could clearly sense that, with the sole exception of Rog Giantfist, every single one of his monster leaders had stepped into the Master rank.

"Excellent. You did not disappoint me. Even though I have been gone for ten years, White Castle has continued to prosper, and your strength has grown immensely. You will all be rewarded."

Rog Giantfist lowered his head in shame, while the other monster leaders proudly puffed out their chests.

"Especially you, Gurgalu!"

"Master, I will never fail your trust!"

The White Dragon Lord nodded approvingly.

When it came to combat, Dragon Brother and Dragon Sister were naturally fearless and unstoppable. But when it came to administration...

Amos remembered a time when, trying to save time for magical research, he had dragged Dragon Brother and Dragon Sister in to help process paperwork.

The moment he had left the room, Felicia had simply turned around and walked out, while Willy had face-planted onto the desk and fallen asleep.

When the White Dragon Lord returned, he had been forced to work overtime to finish the paperwork himself.

He absolutely could not count on Dragon Brother and Dragon Sister for administration, and the gray dwarf prince—that hopeless drunkard—was completely out of the question.

The very second he had returned to White Castle, he had sensed a powerful aura lurking down in the wine cellar. It had not moved a single inch since his arrival. Even an idiot could guess that the gray dwarf prince, Thaurissan, was either completely passed out in a drunken stupor or currently chugging from a barrel.

Therefore, the vast majority of the credit for keeping White Castle running smoothly during his absence fell squarely onto the shoulders of the Two-Headed Ogre Chieftain.

Therefore, the White Dragon Lord placed Gurgalu at the very top of the reward list.

But before dispensing the rewards, the White Dragon Lord needed a comprehensive briefing on White Castle's current status and the geopolitical landscape of the Overseas Archipelago.

"Gurgalu, what is the current situation at White Castle?"

Hearing the question, Gurgalu answered smoothly, having the information at his fingertips.

"To answer you, Master: we followed the development plans you left behind, gradually cultivating the newly occupied islands and transforming them into genuine sources of income for White Castle. Everything is progressing smoothly so far..."

The White Dragon Lord could not find a single fault with Gurgalu's clear report.

"You have done exceedingly well. Maintain this pace of development."

The White Dragon Lord then turned to the Lord of White Scale City—Old Blind.

"Old Blind, how is the New Murloc project progressing?"

The New Murloc project was the official designation for the program to screen and stimulate Murloc eggs using potions. The project was no longer a secret among White Castle's upper echelons. Every monster leader was deeply envious that the Murlocs were receiving direct help from the White Dragon Lord to reverse their innate racial disadvantages.

It was precisely because of this favor and care that nearly every single Murloc in the Overseas Archipelago—regardless of their status—was a fanatical supporter of the White Dragon Lord.

As the White Dragon Lord's first Murloc dependent, Old Blind's worship of his master had reached an absolute extreme.

Amos did not harbor a single doubt: even if he ordered Old Blind to die, the Murloc would drive a spear straight through his own chest without hesitation.

Hearing the White Dragon Lord's question, Old Blind raised his head, his eyes burning with fanatical zeal.

"Master! The total population of New Murlocs has already reached thirty thousand! Furthermore, the first batch of fully grown New Murlocs has already begun reproducing. However, the Murloc eggs they lay still require potion screening before they can hatch as New Murlocs."

Pausing for a moment, Old Blind continued to answer.

"But the good news is that the Murloc eggs laid by New Murlocs adapt to the potions much better than ordinary Murloc eggs. Their successful evolution rate is nearly a hundred times higher than the latter!"

The White Dragon Lord nodded in satisfaction.

"Old Jimmy, how is the ocean monster clearing work progressing?"

The Murloc Mage, Old Jimmy, leaned on his staff and stepped forward.

"Master, it was only during the first two years that we occasionally found powerful ocean monsters, resulting in heavy casualties among our soldiers. Later on, our ocean patrols met with virtually no resistance."

The White Dragon Lord nodded. With his three most pressing questions answered, he scanned his monster leaders and began to inquire about the outside situation.

"What is the situation on the continent?"

The Two-Headed Ogre Chieftain stepped forward once more.

Garu spoke, "The situation on the continent is fairly stable, with wars breaking out in only a few small nations. Among them, we must mention White Castle's neighbors: the Kingdom of Rowe and the Kingdom of Pavlan."

"These two nations broke out into war over border friction. At first, it was an evenly matched battle. However, the Kingdom of Rowe was struck by disaster. The Northern Barbarians took advantage of the chaos to push south and raid them. Unable to defend on both fronts, the Kingdom of Rowe suffered catastrophic losses."

Checking the white dragon's expression, Garu continued.

"But then came a dramatic turn of events. Your mother, the Scourge of the North Wind, had healed from her injuries inside the Great Glacier. She gathered six adult white dragons and exploited Sandonar's empty defenses to slip in. The barbarian patriarch left behind to guard their home was brutally killed under the siege of the seven adult white dragons."

"After the seven white dragons completely divided up the ten thousand years of wealth accumulated in Sandonar, the Scourge of the North Wind burned the ancient Northland city to the ground. She then vanished without a trace."

"Now, the Northern Barbarians' High Priest, Ogsger, and their legendary barbarian warrior, Siegfried, are scouring the entire world like madmen, seeking revenge against the Scourge of the North Wind."

Amos's expression was a marvel to behold. The Dragon Mother had finally gotten her wish and looted Sandonar completely dry, but she had also been targeted by Ogsger and was forced into hiding.

But even if the Legendary Priest Ogsger was perfectly willing to perish together with the Dragon Mother, he still had to find her location first.

The older generation was as cunning as ever!