??Chapter 39: Chapter 39: The Ringing Bell for Dinner
Chapter 39: Chapter 39: The Ringing Bell for Dinner
“Don’t do this!”
“Howl!”
As the two cries filled with a sense of powerlessness faded, the entire dining hall erupted in cheers and jubilation. Seeing their own in misfortune, these damned dragons were all joyous, even though most of them had tasted the bitterness of the punishnt array.
“These screwed up dragons,” Muria muttered to himself as he watched the baby dragons cheering and making a racket, cursing inwardly.
On the platform below, a little blue dragon dragged into the array by the baby dragons was struggling helplessly, soaked in ice-cold water. For a species that preferred to nest in the scorching heat of the desert, being imrsed in ice water was a very uncomfortable experience for blue dragons.
The punishnt array faced by the little red dragon was different from the blue dragon’s. It too was enveloped in a sphere of water, but unlike the blue dragon whose water had turned almost white from the extre cold, the water around the red dragon was azure blue. The water wasn’t bone-chillingly cold—instead, it was simply a mass of water elents condensed by the array, but even so, it made the little red dragon quite miserable.
Moreover, the punishnt arrays targeting the red and blue dragons were not just effective in one way. After three minutes, new changes occurred in the punishnt array for the red dragon.
On the water sphere that wrapped around the red dragon, streaks of blue and white thunder gradually appeared. As soon as the thunder manifested, the little red dragon still struggling within the water sphere was struck by electricity, emitting continuous screams, and its body began to twitch.
Above the blue dragon’s water sphere, streaks of turquoise wind started to manifest, swirling around it. Then, the water sphere began to spin, gaining speed until a light blue core with a white exterior sphere appeared, no longer revealing the little blue dragon within due to the excessive spinning.
The red dragon’s water sphere underwent a similar transformation. The blue and white lightning engulfed its body, and from the outside, the brilliant red scales of the red dragon were no longer visible. The water sphere had turned into a blue and white lightning orb, not a hint of red peeking through, only the increasingly faint screams of the red dragon could be heard.
After an entire twelve minutes, the three water spheres were silent, and not a sound ca from the three little dragons. Then, the three arrays gradually ceased operating, “Pop,” “Pop,” “Pop,” the water spheres wrapped with wind and thunder burst open, turning into sparkles of spirit light that dissipated into the air.
Without the support of the array, the three limp baby dragons fell from mid-air and crashed onto the platform, motionless, completely knocked out.
The little red dragon looked sopping wet and wisps of smoke kept rising off its body, while the two little blue dragons were constantly emitting visibly white cold vapors.
This pitiful scene delighted many of the baby dragons below, who took pleasure in the misfortune of others.
“Clang!” Seeing the dining hall below gradually beco noisy, Muria picked up a bronze hamr and gently tapped a bronze bell on his desk, sending a lingering bell sound throughout the dining hall. Instantly, all the baby dragons fell silent, seated obediently in their own spots.
Their life experiences told them when it was all right to make noise and when they should listen quietly. After Muria rang the bronze bell beside him, any dragon who continued to make noise would end up like the three unlucky dragons in front of him.
As Muria’s bell rang out of the dining hall, teams of Cloud Giant maidens carrying steaming cauldrons entered the dining hall from every entrance, placing the dark iron pots in front of each baby dragon seated at the low tables in an orderly fashion.
Then, the Cloud Giant maidens who brought the food to the baby dragons left through another passage, the entire process carried out without any noise from any dragons or Cloud Giant maidens, only the sounds of the cauldrons being set down on the tables, displaying an orderly fashion that pleased Muria.
“Clang!” Muria once again struck the bronze bell with the hamr, and with this sound, all the baby dragons by the low tables began to move—it was the signal to start eating.
They propped their bodies up on their hind legs, their claws resting on both sides of the dark iron cauldrons, and their long necks allowed them to reach into the cauldrons to begin feasting.
Each dragon devoured its food voraciously. When it ca to food, Muria did not skimp on the baby dragons; he had arranged for Cloud Giant chefs in the Dragon Fortress to cook food according to each dragon’s preferences.
The red dragons ate at still ablaze with flas, the blue dragons ate cooked at charred by lightning, and to cater to the black dragon’s palate, their food was sour. The green dragon’s food was the most normal, just regular cooked food, while the white dragons had frozen at emitting cold vapors.
From his high platform, Muria watched with satisfaction as the baby dragons below feasted, nodding in approval at his three years of dostication efforts. Although there were flaws, the results were not bad; at least all the dragons held sufficient reverence for him.
Then, Muria turned his gaze to his own table, which was resplendent with a variety of food: slices of raw fish from the deep sea, succulent steak roasting with an enticing aroma, gigantic white sea bird eggs… and a selection of fresh, tempting fruits just picked from the Cloud Giants’ orchards and delivered to the Dragon Fortress.
Muria cared about the diet of the baby dragons, but his own was even more extravagant. His als were so bountiful that they made the baby dragons envious.
The portion size of Muria’s food would astonish any Mortal: bird eggs as tall as a person, fruits of a similar height, steaks over a ter long…
And these were the fruits of labor cultivated by the Cloud Giants who had been exiled to the eight islands surrounding Taiji Island by Muria’s orders. Precisely because of this, Muria had managed to quell so of his fury.
…Once Muria had finished all the food in front of him and no longer felt hungry, he picked up the bronze hamr in his hand and struck the bronze bell beside him. The amount of ti he took to consu his al was the amount of ti the baby dragons had to feed.
The prolonged tolling of the bell echoed throughout the entire dining hall, and all the dragons, whether they had finished eating or not, raised their heads to look at Muria. Their feeding ti had co to an end.
“Rest for a while, then follow
to the training ground. I want to check your howork,” said Muria from atop his dais with a detached tone. His words ignited a look of envy in many baby dragons, while so displayed expressions of fear.
Just as Muria had finished speaking, beneath him, three baby dragons that had fainted from the tornt of the magic array slowly regained consciousness, just in ti to hear Muria’s words. The expression of the little Red Dragon imdiately turned sour, while the two little Blue Dragons sprang up three ters high, swiftly getting to their feet with eyes brimming with anticipation as they looked eagerly at Muria.
Inside the Five-Color Dragon Castle, Muria brought all ninety-five baby dragons to a room filled with wooden targets shaped like various creatures. Among them were three battered baby dragons with empty bellies; they had made mistakes, and not only were they to be punished, but they also had to endure a day of hunger.
However, for the three baby dragons, going hungry for a day was not a horrendous ordeal – they could endure it. More important was the issue imdiately at hand.
Inside the room, in addition to these baby dragons, stood six young dragons with brilliant red scales, all of whom were over twelve ters in length, including their tails. They were significantly more imposing than the small baby dragons with disproportionately large heads.
“Auston,” Muria called out the na of one dragon. Then, under the watchful gaze of all the baby dragons, the slightly larger Auston, among the six young dragons, strode forward with his head held high, his face proud as he approached Muria.
“Muria, just say the na. I’ve learned all the spells of the fire type below the fourth circle,” Auston declared confidently.
Upon hearing this, Muria squinted at the increasingly arrogant baby dragon. After bringing the six young dragons into the Dragon Fortress, and spurred by the actions of the little mother dragon Renata, a brilliant idea struck him.
He found all the low-level magic books in the Library of Dragon mother Atreus, then copied them one after the other, and finally distributed them to the six young dragons, instructing them to begin learning magic. As for the issue of dragons who were unwilling to learn magic spells, that was easy to solve.
“Shape-shifting Spell,” Muria looked down at the young dragon at his feet, lowered his head, and spoke the na of a fourth circle spell.
Upon hearing the na “Shape-shifting Spell,” the entirety of young dragon Auston sowhat deflated, his neck retracting as he looked at Muria, “Can we switch to another spell, like Fla Shockwave or Fla Orb instead?”
“Heh, for the nth ti, Auston,” Muria ridiculed the young dragon coldly, “Your siblings have all learned this fourth circle spell, yet you still haven’t mastered it. For a dragon, not knowing such a simple fourth circle spell, you are literally a disgrace to the Dragon Race.”
“I am a Red Dragon, not a disgrace to the Dragon Race. The White Dragons are,” Auston murmured a weak defense, lowering his head when confronted with Muria’s scolding.
“Then you are the disgrace of the Red Dragon Race,” retorted Muria bluntly. “Renata, Cynthia, show your brother, the Fourth Circle Shape-shifting Spell.”
At Muria’s command, the two young mother dragons obediently perford the spell. As two streaks of crimson spirit light flashed by, the room suddenly had two fewer fierce-looking evil dragons and gained two small red-haired, red-eyed girls.
“Did you see that, Auston?” Muria pointed to the two delicately crafted dragon girls and upbraided the Red Dragon Auston, “Your sister Cynthia learned the shape-shifting spell in just half a month’s ti, and your youngest sister Renata, even quicker – it took her rely a week. Yet, you still haven’t mastered it.”
“…” Auston couldn’t lift his head after Muria’s scolding. As a proud Red Dragon, he couldn’t bear such humiliation, but he had no choice as his talent for learning the Shape-shifting Spell was indeed poor; nevertheless, he had to endure.
“Hand it over!” Muria stretched his still sowhat chubby hand towards young dragon Auston. His growth period was so prolonged that, even after three years, there hadn’t been much change in him, except for growing to a height of eleven ters.
“Muria, aside from the shape-shifting spell, I’ve learned all the other spells,” Auston awkwardly squird, reluctant to surrender.
“Don’t force
to act,” Muria narrowed his eyes at him.
“No need, I’ll give it to you,” Auston begrudgingly relented and pulled out a bunch of sharply faceted transparent crystals from within his body, handing them over to Muria, “Soday I will take them back.”
“I’ll wait,” Muria responded, then he split the penalty Auston handed over into two, handing them to the now petite and lovely loli-shaped Cynthia and Renata. “Here, this is your reward.”
Seeing Muria’s action, all the baby dragons present were filled with envy, and a part of them were itching to make their move…
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