Defeating the World with the Power of One Dragon!

Alberto paced back and forth before Garoth, the red iron dragon, and Nasha, the gold dragon, his head topped with four pairs of twisting, crown-like dragon horns, as if afraid they might not notice them.

"He is putting into practice the charisma theory I mentioned."

Garoth said thoughtfully, a flicker of understanding crossing his eyes.

He roughly guessed the motive behind Alberto's actions.

Beside him, Nasha watched in silence for several seconds before she finally could not restrain her inner agitation and speechlessness.

With incredulous tone she asked, "Alberto, why did you weld three extra pairs of false dragon horns onto your head? What on earth are you trying to do?"

At a glance she could tell those three extra pairs of horns were not natural; they were ornamental pieces forged from some magical metal, molded and fixed onto him.

They were exquisitely made and could easily deceive the casual eye.

But a dragon as familiar with Alberto as she was could tell the structure was not naturally grown.

"I don't understand what you're saying."

Alberto shook his head and bobbed his head, deliberately shifting his angle.

"These are traits I was born with. They only finished developing recently and now show their true form."

He spoke with utter seriousness, saying pompously, "These four pairs of dragon horns, like a natural crown, are my unique symbol, my Dragon King crown, the sacred sign that I Alberto was born to establish the great Golden Order!"

His words fell like thunder, full of unshakable confidence.

If one did not know his background thoroughly, they might even be fooled by his performance and take him seriously.

Nasha...

She drew several deep, icy breaths before she could barely suppress the impulse to pounce on him and beat him senseless.

Of course, the main reason she restrained herself was that she was currently exhausted and had not recovered her strength.

If not for that, she would never have been so controlled inside.

Garoth's reaction was completely different from Nasha's.

He showed no contempt; instead, a trace of appreciation appeared.

He nodded slightly at Alberto and said in a steady voice, "Not a bad idea."

"As long as you are strong enough—strong enough to make other beings look up to you—then that recognition becomes real. No one will question authenticity; those traits will become part of your legend."

Dragon horns have always been one of a great dragon's most important features.

How many horns, where they grow, whether they are straight and long or gently curved—this is crucial to dragon aesthetics.

Garoth's own horns resembled those of a red dragon.

A pair of thick, upward-sweeping sharp horns extended from the back of his head with a chilling curve, showing a black-red metallic sheen. Both in length and girth they far exceeded ordinary red dragons.

Around these main horns, many sharp spines jutted from the skull sides like natural secondary horns.

The overall design was fierce and majestic, exuding raw, unhidden pressure that matched his temperament.

However, frankly speaking, compared with Alberto's four pairs of horns that resembled a flamboyant crown, Garoth's were slightly less visually striking and unique.

In the past, when Alberto and Garoth stood together,

there was no doubt an onlooker's first glance would be drawn to Garoth's powerfully beautiful, imposing body, and Alberto would be subconsciously overlooked, seen as an unnamed gold dragon trailing behind the Lord of Molten Iron.

But now things seemed different.

With Alberto's current appearance standing beside Garoth, after being hit by Garoth's dominant presence, observers' eyes would inevitably be drawn to the conspicuous main crown atop Alberto's head.

The impression of "an unknown gold dragon" would shift to "a gold dragon with four strange pairs of horns."

From a certain perspective, his attempt to increase personal charm and recognizability through these extra decorations had succeeded.

At the same time, when Alberto heard Garoth's words, he cast him a look that said, "You get me."

Then he turned his attention to Nasha and snorted disdainfully through his nostrils.

"You cannot comprehend the greatness of this mediocre dragon."

Alberto held his crown-bearing head high, his gaze haughty, as if looking down on ants: "Nasha, count your blessings. Being related to me is the greatest honor of your life."

Such arrogant words made Nasha so furious her scales nearly bristled.

"Alberto, take back that insane nonsense right now!"

Nasha's eyes flashed ferocity. "Or I swear I will break every one of those ridiculous fake horns off your head with my own hands, and then make you swallow every shattered piece—leave not a single fragment!"

Faced with such a naked threat, Alberto remained unmoved, his face composed.

"Heh, bring it on."

He even elegantly ran a claw through his horns, his tone calm yet provocatively taunting: "I'll give you plenty of time to recover so you don't blame fatigue when you lose."

With that, he said nothing more, turned, and strode away with steady, confident steps.

All that was left was a back that seemed to carry invincibility and loneliness.

Seeing him leave with such fearless swagger made Nasha hesitate; her anger subsided slightly and turned to thought.

"Has he found some new backing? Or is this just empty bluffing?"

She doubted inwardly.

Whatever the case, once she recovered some strength, she would definitely give Alberto a lesson and shake sense into his head—whatever backing he had!

After watching Alberto's silhouette disappear, Garoth made no further comment.

He instead looked at the still-angry Nasha and asked, "You and Alberto have both been away a long time. Won't your parents be concerned?"

Nasha blinked her beautiful golden eyes and answered lightly.

"It's fine."

She paused, then added, "I've already gotten their tacit approval."

Yes, tacit approval.

She had unilaterally cut off frequent communication and left the Vophal Dragon Domain in silence, which in a way amounted to tacit approval.

As for the possibility of their parents personally coming to seize the siblings, she thought that unlikely.

She was an adult dragon, and Alberto was nearly mature; metallic dragon parents' desire to control adult offspring usually diminished significantly.

From her understanding of her parents, unless something serious happened, they probably wouldn't come in person.

"That's good."

Garoth glanced at Nasha suspiciously, sensing a hint of guilt in her evasive eyes, but he did not press further.

After a short silence, he changed the subject.

"Nasha, that armor set you're wearing performs exceptionally well. Is it yours?"

The gold dragon shook her head and said frankly, "It belonged to my father—it's called the 'I Alone Am Supreme Dragon Emperor Armor.'"

I Alone Am Supreme Dragon Emperor Armor?

The name... Garoth's mouth twitched slightly; he found it hard to comment.

Nasha clearly knew the name was overly grandiose and even a little embarrassing.

She awkwardly swished her tail and explained helplessly, "My father, um, he prefers exaggerated names."

"He even likes to shout the skill names loudly during battle for dramatic effect."

Garoth relaxed immediately.

He had always thought Alberto's odd personality was merely individual eccentricity.

After meeting Nasha—who was also somewhat abnormal—he began to suspect a family trait.

Now he felt he had found the source.

The old-fashioned thing Alberto spoke of probably wasn't the conventional image of a noble gold dragon.

Garoth nodded and said, "I understand."

After a pause, he got straight to the point: "This 'I Alone Am Supreme... Dragon Emperor Armor,' may I try it? I want to feel its amplification effect personally."

Nasha was generous and replied readily, "No problem."

She didn't worry that Garoth might try to steal this valuable armor.

After all, with his strength, he would have had many opportunities to forcibly take it if he wished; there was no need to play it safe by first instructing her in combat and building rapport to lower her guard.

As soon as Nasha finished speaking,

golden streams of light poured from the gaps of her scales, rapidly coalescing and transforming into numerous intricately structured armor plates. With crisp metallic clicks, those components, as if alive, attached themselves to Garoth's massive body!

In an instant, a magnificent and imposing golden cuirass snugly donned Garoth.

The golden armor contrasted sharply with his black-red scales, making him even more awe-inspiring.

Strangely, the armor fitted his muscular form perfectly with no tightness or discomfort; it moved freely, as if it had grown from him.

It had some adaptive property.

Garoth sensed carefully and detected no obvious increases in strength, speed, or defense; the runes on the armor were dim, as if it were merely a finely crafted decoration.

He turned his great head to Nasha with a questioning look.

Nasha seemed prepared and leaned forward, lowering her voice: "It needs a specific command phrase to fully activate."

Garoth sized her up.

He recalled, "I don't remember you yelling any phrase in our previous fights."

Nasha shook her head slightly, showing a faint embarrassment, and explained softly: "No, I did. But every time I say it, I habitually shield the sound with a silencing spell."

After all, shouting such an embarrassing line in front of an opponent would damage her dignified image.

Garoth was momentarily speechless as he reached a deeper understanding of the gold dragon family's quirks.

Then Nasha quietly told him the command phrase.

After a few seconds of silence to digest the awkward information, Garoth beat his wings and shot high into the air. He inhaled deeply, as if to roar out the tension in his chest, and then bellowed the phrase as instructed.

"Cang—yi—tian—yi—one—one—xià! Da—yi—di—yi—one—one—shang! Wei—yi—wo—yi—du—-zun!"

The instant his voice fell, it was as if some invisible switch had been triggered.

Swish!

The I Alone Am Supreme Dragon Emperor Armor covering him suddenly burst with dazzling golden light.

The runes on the surface lit up one by one.

The amplification arrays embedded across the armor activated and began ravenously drawing in various elemental energies from the surrounding air.

A vast, overwhelming power surged from the armor like a flood, pouring into Garoth's limbs and body. He clearly felt his strength, speed, and Dragon Qi replenish—his attributes increasing at an astonishing rate.

Now he truly felt that sense of "I alone am supreme."

With such all-around amplification, he might even, in a fit of strength, twist the red dragon father's head off.

"This grants such tremendous amplification—truly an exceptional piece of equipment."

Garoth's heart stirred. "Pity it doesn't belong to me."

"Still, borrowing it from Nasha when necessary shouldn't be a problem."

He did not cling to the sudden power.

After initially adapting and feeling it out, he reined in his mind and slowly descended from the heights.

Then the splendid golden cuirass dissolved back into streams of light, detaching from him and reforming into plates that flew back to Nasha, who collected them.

"I thought you'd be eager to experience that power a while longer."

Nasha said with some surprise as she packed away the Dragon Emperor Armor.

"It's still external," Garoth replied. "When needed, it is an excellent tool to achieve specific goals, but in daily life I prefer relying on the strength honed through my own trials, rather than external boosts."

The armor Samantha had commissioned for him was not to amplify him, but to restrain him.

"Exactly."

Nasha nodded in agreement. "I also rarely use it, unless a truly troublesome enemy appears."

"But when it's time to use it, there's no need to be pretentious about hiding it."

As she spoke, she glanced toward the direction where Alberto had disappeared, a cold smile curling her lips.

Time slipped by unnoticed. Although heavy clouds and falling snow obscured the sun and moon, subtle changes in the sky suggested night was slowly fading and dawn was approaching.

After a period of rest, Nasha felt her strength had recovered about seventy to eighty percent.

The fury Alberto had provoked flared up again.

"It's time to take those fake horns off Alberto and use them as decorations!"

She grinned, exposing rows of ivory teeth, and began searching for him with fierce intent.

However, minutes later Nasha returned, irritably cursing.

"Damn Alberto! Cowardly turtle! What a spineless fellow!"

It turned out that after searching and sensing, she found Alberto was asleep.

After last night's taunt, Alberto had strolled to a prepared place deep within Dragon Valley to sleep.

No matter how angry she was, Nasha wouldn't disturb his slumber.

Alberto counted on that and purposely provoked his sister before settling into a pleased sleep.

"When he wakes up this time, I swear I will make him regret his words and actions!"

Nasha ground her teeth in a vow.

Garoth reminded her quietly, "Alberto's sleep this time is deep."

"When he wakes up, his life level will very likely reach level 18. Even if he's still not a match for you wearing the Dragon Emperor Armor, he won't be easy to suppress casually."

To Garoth, Alberto had always been a punching bag, losing repeatedly.

But surviving repeated defeat and recovery itself was an extraordinary forging.

Besides, Alberto had never ceased training; his physique and battle tenacity had long surpassed typical gold dragons of his rank.

This sleep was a period of accumulation before a great release.

Once he awoke, his strength would inevitably take a leap.

"His sleep will last at least decades."

Nasha bared her teeth, determination flashing in her eyes. "During this time, I must break through to level 18! Then the moment he wakes, I'll rush in and tear his horns off!"

She felt an even stronger desire to remain with Garoth.

She would not allow Alberto to achieve such growth alone and leave her behind.

Once she made up her mind, she looked at the red iron dragon beside her with burning eyes and said, "Garoth, intensify my training. Besides the previous sparring and elemental drills, I want to work on my physical strength!"

No matter what, she could not tolerate being surpassed by her arrogant, foolish brother.

"Very well."

Garoth nodded slowly and agreed.

Days passed.

In the dragon domains of the convergence lands, under Garoth's influence, all dragons immersed themselves in intense training. Their bodies grew and their strength increased at speeds far surpassing normal kin elsewhere.

Across the vast plains of the Ser Wilderness,

the Molten Iron Tribe's rule over the northwest region grew ever more entrenched. Iron discipline brought efficient resource extraction and utilization, and resources were continuously converted into nourishment supporting the tribe and dragon clusters' growth.

Meanwhile, under the leadership of the blue dragon Zoraya,

the reorganized Dominik Dragon Cluster, with the support of the enfeoffed lords under the Molten Iron Tribe, steadily and patiently brought the chaotic central region under control.

Thus, the Molten Iron Tribe's offensive once again paused.

The resource-rich northwest and central areas were firmly held, entering a new round of consolidation and steady development.

However, changes elsewhere in the wilderness did not stop.

The Ogre King led his forces to attack the Fungus King's territory but suffered a crushing defeat; the Ogre King fell in battle, his creatures scattered, and the Fungus King expanded into the southwest region, leaving thick fungal carpets wherever it went.

From then on, only three regional kings remained to dominate the Ser Wilderness.

In the northeast, the Mountain King defended his domain and held still.

The newly enlarged Fungus King's expansion slowed noticeably after territorial gains.

The Molten Iron King, holding the northwest and central regions, was content with the massive resources under his control.

After the Five Kings Rise, the power structure now became known as the Three-Part Wilderness.

The three regional kings lived in uneasy peace, bringing the long-standing chaos of the wilds to a pause and ushering in a rare period of tranquility.

However, the wars among the southern nations grew increasingly fierce.