Chapter 225: Expedition

The White Dragon Lord pondered for a moment. The White Dragon before him shared his ideals and possessed relevant teaching experience. He was undoubtedly the perfect candidate to serve as the principal of the Dragon Beast Academy.

“Senior Soglamo, why don't you and the dragon beasts travel to the Overseas Archipelago? I would like to invite you to serve as the first principal of the Dragon Beast Academy.”

Soglamo was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head.

“Thank you for your kindness, Lord Amos, but I am already weary. Just let me rot here in peace.”

With those words, Soglamo let out a desolate sigh.

Everything he had done for the better part of his life had been aimed at recovering his dragon inheritance and becoming a True Dragon. Yet, having reached old age without achieving this goal, he was left thoroughly disheartened.

The White Dragon Lord considered the situation. Soglamo's ultimate goal was to recover his dragon inheritance and become a True Dragon, but his greatest obstacle was his lack of remaining lifespan.

Having identified Soglamo's pain point, the White Dragon Lord continued his persuasion.

“Senior Soglamo, you might be heading in the wrong direction.”

Soglamo frowned. Having his lifelong pursuit abruptly dismissed sparked a flare of anger within him.

The White Dragon Lord ignored Soglamo's reaction and continued.

“You have been chasing the dragon inheritance, putting the cart before the horse. The power passed down by our ancestors is undeniably formidable, but in the end, it remains a mere gift from them. The power we cultivate ourselves is what truly deserves our focus.”

“I suggest you focus on advancing your magical cultivation first. Once you break through to the Legendary Rank and secure a vastly extended lifespan, you will have far more time to accumulate knowledge. By the time you return to studying the mysteries of the dragon inheritance, your chances of success will be significantly higher.”

Soglamo's heart stirred at the prospect, but his expression quickly dimmed into a bitter smile.

“Lord Amos, if you had arrived two centuries earlier, I might have still held out hope of reaching the Legendary Rank. But now... ah.”

The White Dragon Lord spoke up.

“Even now, Senior Soglamo, you still have a chance to reach the Legendary Rank. Over in the Overseas Archipelago, my Magic Tower has been completed, and it was designed specifically to the standards of us Dragons. Inside its cultivation chambers, the concentration of Magical Energy is a hundred times greater than the outside world. Cultivating there would drastically increase your progress.”

Soglamo widened his eyes in surprise.

“Lord Amos, are you saying you would allow me to use the cultivation chambers of your Magic Tower?!”

Soglamo was no ignorant recluse. He knew perfectly well how precious the cultivation resources of a Mage Tower were. Selfish Mages typically reserved such facilities exclusively for themselves and their closest confidants.

For the White Dragon Lord to allow an outsider to cultivate inside his Mage Tower was simply unfathomable.

The White Dragon Lord replied, “Of course. The cultivation resources within the Mage Tower are more than plentiful enough to accommodate multiple people.”

In truth, hoarding resources wasn't the only reason Mages barred outsiders from their towers. Mage Towers boasted incredibly sturdy external defenses, making them nearly impossible to breach from the outside. Sabotage from within, however, was far easier.

Therefore, unless it was their closest confidant, no spellcaster would dare allow a stranger to linger in their Mage Tower.

But the White Dragon Lord was an exception. His Mage Tower was controlled by the Gold Finger, an interface with processing power comparable to a supercomputer. Should any anomaly occur inside the tower, it could react in a split second and deploy defensive countermeasures.

Unaware of this, Soglamo felt a deep swell of gratitude. A spark of hope ignited within him once more. With the resources of White Castle backing him, he could break through to become a Legendary Mage, thereby securing a vastly extended lifespan.

“Since Lord Amos places such trust in me, I shall wager my life on one last attempt!”

Having secured both the first principal and the inaugural batch of students for the Dragon Beast Academy, the White Dragon Lord was immensely pleased.

“Then, without further ado, you should gather your things, Senior, and teleport back with me.”

Soglamo nodded, hauling himself up before plunging headlong into the sea.

A moment later, Soglamo surfaced, bringing twelve dragon beasts with him to land upon the rocky cliff.

The White Dragon Lord carefully observed the group. The dragon beasts were universally small and emaciated. He couldn't tell whether it was due to malnutrition, a congenital deficiency, or a combination of both.

Seeing the massive frame of the White Dragon Lord, they grew extremely anxious, timidly shrinking behind Soglamo for shelter.

The White Dragon Lord asked, “Senior Soglamo, based on your years of experience, what is the ratio of dragon beasts who possess no dragon inheritance to those whose minds are shattered by it?”

Soglamo lowered his head in thought for a moment before answering.

“Roughly one to two. Among these twelve children, only four possess normal intelligence and have learned the dragon language.”

The White Dragon Lord teleported back to Kumlinge, bringing Soglamo and the twelve dragon beasts along with him.

“Senior, once the capital is finished, I plan to select an island near Kumlinge and have the Dwarven craftsmen construct the Dragon Beast Academy. Until then, you may reside here. Feel free to enter the Mage Tower to cultivate whenever you wish.”

Soglamo nodded.

...

The White Dragon Lord repeated this process, hiring Dragons from other branches to seek out their kin scattered across the continent.

Soon enough, the news that dragon beasts could be traded to White Castle for gold coins spread throughout the entire Dragon Race.

In a mere six months, the White Dragon Lord collected nearly a hundred dragon beasts. It was worth noting that members of the Chromatic Dragon Clan accounted for a full three-quarters of that number.

Many of the Metallic Dragons remained deeply suspicious of the White Dragon Lord's true motives, but the Chromatic Dragons were stark pragmatists. To them, whoever held the gold was the boss.

However, by this point, the White Dragon Lord's primary focus was no longer on the Dragon Beast Academy.

This was because, after half a year of waiting, the Large Teleportation Gate that White Castle had commissioned from the Council was finally complete.

To prevent any catastrophic explosions or similar accidents, the White Dragon Lord had the Portal installed on the archipelago's third-largest landmass following the geographical upheaval—Glamorgan.

On a stretch of flat terrain upon Glamorgan.

A square platform measuring a hundred meters across supported a massive, thirty-meter-tall archway. The circular archway was cast in a brilliant golden-red hue, its surface engraved with exquisitely detailed floral patterns.

The White Dragon Lord strongly suspected that this Portal was the handiwork of Elven Mages.

But it didn't matter. As long as it worked, that was enough.

“Brother, do you really not need our help?”

Willy's voice broke the White Dragon Lord's train of thought.

“No. The power of magic is heavily restricted within the Madilan World, making it far too dangerous for you. Just stay here and guard our home.”

The White Dragon Lord noticed Felicia opening her mouth to interject and immediately cut his Dragon Sister off.

“Rest assured, there are hundreds of our kin already in the Madilan World, along with an Ancient Gold Dragon who stands on the same level as the Grand Duke Silver Dragon. Add to that an army of millions of Orcs, and there is absolutely no possibility of losing this war.”

Indeed, for this expedition, the White Dragon Lord had no intention of bringing his Dragon Brother and Dragon Sister along.

In fact, he was bringing very few of his dependents, taking only three thousand Ogres and two hundred trolls.

Had he not needed troops to transport devastating siege weapons like the crossbow cannons, the White Dragon Lord wouldn't have brought any dependents at all.

Amos looked back at his fully marshaled army and nodded in satisfaction.

Now, they only needed to wait for a single dragon before they could set off!