Nox's eyes flashed with a strange gleam. Other elents? Of course, he knew there would be other elental dragons, just like with elental beasts.
What he didn't expect was for all these elental dragons to settle in one realm. He had thought that if he wanted to increase the strength of his monster army in the near future, he would have to sohow find the rest of the elental dragons, which was a nearly impossible goal.
Eos was vast. He was just in the periters of the non-human continent, and yet, there was a whole realm inside with one of its overlords dwelling there. With such a setup, the power structure was bound to be intense.
'If I play my cards well, I might just recruit all of them into my army.' Nox's eyes shone with an ambitious light. This thought process was very grand, and Nox didn't believe he could accomplish it now or anyti soon.
Why did he think so? It was rather simple. The dragons that dwelled here were incredibly powerful. Although Nox hadn't witnessed King Drakos Frostpire fight before, he imagined the king to be monstrously strong—several tis more formidable than the Dreadfiend Tyrant, which was the most powerful enemy Nox had faced.
And guess what? There were other Dragon Kings just as powerful as him!
Regardless, it never cost much to think big sotis.
To Nox, it only ant that he now had a new goal to strive toward.
He took a deep breath and listened to Zara with an even more serious expression on his face. He needed to understand the Dragon Realm as much as he could before even thinking of pursuing this goal.
Zara folded her arms, leaning back on the plush chair as she observed Nox's expression, noticing the intriguing gleam in his eyes. She then recalled the promise she had made to him back in the academy.
Back then, she had promised him that if he could sohow defeat the Scourge Alpha Dragon, she would convince her people to beco his subordinates.
How was she supposed to do this?
'Convince Father. I have to convince Father that following him is the best path. Even with power, we still struggle to find evolution materials, but with soone like him, evolving shouldn't be much of a problem.'
With this thought out of the way, Zara spoke, her tone serious. "The Dragon Realm isn't just ho to Frostpire. It's divided among the elental dragons—fire, earth, water, wind, lightning, and even rarer kinds like light and shadow. Each of them rules over their own territory."
"Lightning dragons?" Nox felt goosebumps prickling all over his skin. Lightning was the strongest elent in the world. Yes, shadow and light were rare, and so could argue they were equally powerful, but a lightning dragon…
Nox took a sharp breath. He couldn't even imagine how terrifying a beast of that caliber would be. It would practically wreak havoc on any battlefield.
Zara continued a mont later, her tone serious. "Naturally, just like humans, not all dragons get along well. So elents don't even see eye to eye. Whenever they do, there's a fifty percent chance that a fight will break out between them."
"So who is the strongest kingdom?" Nox asked curiously.
"That…" Zara hesitated. "That is very debatable. Let's just say the title of the strongest dragon changes every decade."
Confusion grew on Nox's face, and he seed even more lost, so Zara explained further.
"Every few decades, the Dragon Realm holds an event nad the Competition of Kingdoms to determine supremacy. The current reigning champions are the fire Dragons."
Nox raised an eyebrow. Not the lightning dragons?
This was unexpected. However, he didn't interrupt Zara.
She gestured toward the window, where the grand expanse of Frostpire Kingdom stretched beyond the castle walls. "Right now, our kingdom holds a very precarious position. The winners of the tournant claim not just the title of the strongest kingdom but also a large share of the other kingdoms' resources."
Nox, familiar with this kind of reward system from having participated in sothing similar in the Western Region, asked, "How much are we talking about?"
"Thirty percent."
"Thirty percent… that makes a lot of sense." He nodded his head and leaned back. He recalled that Duke Felix, at that ti, had demanded fifty percent, which was outright greed.
But…
'Their thirty percent might be even more valuable than ours, so I shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet.'
"Yes. Each kingdom must give up thirty percent of their resources to the champions. That includes everything from monster cores, magic items, and food supplies—you na it. Except for skills, of course, since elental beasts can only learn skills that align with their elents."
Nox exhaled as he processed the weight of the rewards. "That could easily shift the balance of power."
"Exactly." Zara's expression darkened. "That's why the tournant is so important. The weaker kingdoms are forced into submission, and the stronger ones gain an upper hand in what truly matters."
And what she ant by that… was the corrupt dragons.
Dragons who had fallen into madness, tainted by an unknown force that twisted their minds and bodies beyond recognition. They were mindless, insatiable creatures that attacked without reason, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake.
Nox could easily tell this was what Zara ant.
In the past, the tournant might have been just about growing stronger and claiming the title of the strongest. But now… it was purely about survival.
"The resources allow the victor to strengthen their armies and create stronger defenses, thus reducing casualties on their side." Zara's voice turned solemn as she added, "If we don't win this ti… our kingdom might not have enough to withstand the next wave of attacks."
"Then I assu the others aren't too happy about competing, especially the weaker kingdoms, knowing that they'll lose their resources."
"Sothing like that." Zara sighed.
"But a majority love it. For so, it's a matter of pride… Despite the potential risk of extinction, so of those old bastards see this as a ans to settle rivalries." She seethed with rage and cursed under her breath.
"Those prideful bastards."
While their conversation continued…
anwhile, in the royal chambers where Nox and Zara had just arrived—
"You called for , Father." A young man spoke, locking eyes with King Drakos, who was lounging on his throne.
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