Golden Dragon: Six Thousand Years of Empire

"What a huge Golden Dragon."

Upon seeing the Golden-Scaled Giant Dragon soaring through the sky, radiating endless golden light, the Beastman King Grom standing atop the hill couldn't help but exclaim, fully displaying the rustic nature of a desert Beast King.

"Saka, my hands are itching, what should I do?"

"Please calm down, you'll have your chance later, otherwise I wouldn't have brought you along."

The High Priest, noticing the Beastman King by his side who had even taken out the Holy Object, quickly reassured him.

"Then can you stop him from escaping?"

Grom's eyes were fixed on the increasingly closer Golden Dragon, feeling an oppressive sensation he hadn't experienced in ages, he made the request.

"I'll try my best."

The Old Priest shook his head helplessly, then looked at the Golden Dragon descending from the sky with his muddled beast eyes.

"Golden Dragon from the Otherworld, why do you harbor such intense malice towards us Beastmen? Is it simply because in your eyes, we represent ignorance and backwardness, or because, unlike humans, our appearance is less pleasing to you, so you target us and launch extinction-like attacks on us?"

Noah gazed down at the old and young Beastmen standing side by side below him, like two muscular hills, and was surprised to hear the old Beastman's questioning.

"Why are you so puzzled? You who still maintain a tribal system indeed appear ignorant and backward in my eyes. Your appearances are indeed less pleasing compared to humans.

But these are not the reasons I attack you. It is because you Beastmen harmed my parents, that's all."

Noah, though wanting to say that all living beings are equal in his eyes, regrettably admitted he was not yet at the level to disregard all beings as insignificant, so he candidly acknowledged his bias against the Beastmen.

Nevertheless, this couldn't be considered bias, as the Beastmen's consistent embrace of brute force has led to their civilization lagging behind other races. They are distinguished from monsters only by the fact they can still maintain a tribal system.

If Beastmen were unable to maintain even that, no matter the number of wandering Beastmen groups, they could only be seated alongside the monsters in the wilderness.

"The Golden Dragon that helped humans resist the Blood Axe and Stone Teeth Tribe attacks, that was your parents?"

Not only was the Beastman High Priest surprised, but even the usually silent Beastman King Grom was equally shocked.

"That's right, is there a problem?"

"Indeed, you are an extraordinary Dragon."

The High Priest was evidently unaware of the concept of the Ancestor Dragon, but he perceived the anomaly in Noah. The feedback from the Earth Spirit was unprecedentedly intense, both fearful and longing, leaving the old Beastman astonished; it was something he had never seen before.

"You too are the fiercest Beastmen I have ever seen."

Although the old Beastman complimented him greatly, Noah was equally impressed by these two Beastmen, the strongest beings of the Material Realm he had encountered besides his adoptive father Casius.

Though physically, the opponent was insignificant compared to his now hundred and twelve-meter Dragon form, it was merely a disguise on the opponent's part.

Beings at this Realm have long discarded the shackles and influences of racial bloodlines, and any species born extraordinary cannot establish an advantage based on bloodlines before them.

The reason these two Beastmen still retained their current appearance was due to their self-perception shaped by their growth memories from childhood.

If they abandoned their racial identity, they could easily distort their forms, shaping their bodies as they wished.

Noah, during several transformations while sleeping, was able to strengthen and evolve his Dragon form due to this.

No matter how Noah changes, he remains a Dragon because his foundation for change derives from bloodlines, completely different from these two Beastmen.

The power these two Beastmen possessed had little to do with their racial lineage. It could be said they were Beastmen only because they chose to be, nothing more.

"So Dragon, you have avenged your parents; why do you still remain here?"

"Because I received payment. Grudia is now my Vassal, and since they are now threatened by you, I have an obligation to protect my Vassal."

"When did Grudia become your Vassal?"

The Beastman King beside could no longer stay silent and asked directly.

As he clearly remembered, the envoy group sent in his name to negotiate with Grudia should have made the human court sign a surrender agreement by now, according to his time estimates, that nation should have submitted to the Beastmen, becoming a Vassal of the tribal alliance.

"The moment I eliminated your two tribes, Grudia was handed over to me as compensation by their current rulers."

"Weren't you acting for your parents?"

"That's right, but I also removed the threat faced by humans, so they needed to pay the price."

"A reasonable explanation, but I am a Priest of the Beastmen, and he is the King of the Beastmen. We cannot stand by and watch our children be trampled by you. With the demise of two Beastman tribes, someone must pay for this."