Caesar already had an answer in his heart when the court's discussion on the conquest of Vilost had just begun. However, while the efficiency of the empire was much higher than that of a city-state or council system, it would still take a long time to prepare for such a long conquest across the sea.
Finalizing the strategy, investing funds, developing equipment, expanding the fleet, selecting people … all of these had to be done gradually. After all, the empire was still unable to announce the plans for Vilost to the public, so the burden of development fell on the empire's shoulders.
However, this was only temporary. Caesar pondered for a while. When the empire truly controlled the estuaries of Vilost and built Blackwing Ports, castles, and fortresses on the new continent, the next step of the plan could be carried out: to guide the people into this project.
When that time came, as long as he spread the word and let the people believe that crossing the sea to seek wealth was as valuable as achieving success on the battlefield, and that they could indeed gain wealth and status from this project, the colonists of the Northern Lands would soon flock over to help the Blackwing Empire expand its territory.
Let's begin the preparations.
After issuing a few orders, the Black Dragon slowly crawled out of the dark and gloomy palace.
The voyage fleet arrived at the port earlier than expected. When Krendor finished his report, it was already dusk.
The sea of flowers reflected the sunset. The thick clouds in the sky were golden as if they were burning. The western horizon was an orange-red color. The sun was half hidden below the mountains, spreading out layers of light above Caesar's head. A crescent moon was about to appear, quiet and tranquil.
A gentle breeze blew through the sea of flowers, stirring up colorful waves. Garen was sleeping in the sea of flowers with his head buried in the haystack, snoring after snoring. Not far away, a few shy little creatures poked their heads out from under the curly leaves of the Yanan flowers. They looked at the Black Dragon from afar with fear and curiosity.
Caesar smiled at them. These were Luna's tribesmen, the Forest Fairies. Ever since the wedding between the Black Dragon and the Forest Fairies had ended, some of the fairies had boldly entered the Black Wing Empire and entered the royal court. Caesar welcomed them. At the very least, the fairies were not annoying. They were much more pleasing to the eye than the gnomes, jackals, beastmen, half-dragons, manticores, demonic earthworms, and flying centaurs.
He squatted down beside the sleeping Garen and took out a small bottle of wine (about three meters in diameter) from his Psionic Space. He closed his eyes and took small sips. This was the 'Midsummer' brewed by the master brewer, Guragast. Ever since his defeat in the Elegy card game, Guragast had gotten himself a good job in the Empire and was now living in the North with his friends.
Caesar sat and watched the sky slowly darken.
A series of dull footsteps could be heard on the walkway to the royal court. The fairies were so frightened that they screamed and fled the scene, hiding in their secret huts in the sea of flowers.
This movement also attracted Caesar's attention. The Black Dragon turned his head with an unpleasant expression.
The Wyvern Guard quickly walked over and said that there was a person who looked quite powerful asking for an audience. Caesar was slightly surprised. He did not know who would come to visit at the end of the night.
He signaled the Wyvern Guard to let the person in while he waited here.
The person who came was indeed unexpected. They had met not long ago in other places. In a sense, they had even fought side by side. He did not expect this person to come here. It was the Gilded Wildfire, the legendary Gurong Kael Doramplet Stannis.
Garen's nose twitched. The strong and unfamiliar scent would cause the body to have an instinctive reaction. The young dragon whose body was almost fifteen meters long shuddered and woke up from his sleep.
"Stannis, Monet has been dealt with. I hope you have other reasons to visit at this time."
As soon as the person stood still, Caesar said with an unpleasant expression. "You have disturbed my dear brother's sleep."
"The Nine-Headed Giant Serpent is only one of Monet's many derivatives."
Stannis said hurriedly. When he heard Caesar's words, he only glanced at Garen. He did not even have time to think about why there was such a huge gap between the two brothers. "The real Monet is still in the Bramble Mountain. He has already broken free from the seal and broken out of the ground. Catastrophe!"
"Is that so?" Caesar nodded lightly. "Thank you for your hard work. You did not have to specially inform me."
"You still don't understand?
Black Dragon. "
Stannis took a deep breath and decided to go straight to the point. "Ukrahir is one of Monet's sealed artifacts. It is because of its absence that this terrifying monster broke free from its restraints."
As he spoke, the Golden Dragon used a spell to replay the scene to Caesar.
In the darkness without any stars or moon, an aurora burst out from the depths of the mountains. At first, it was only a thin line that pierced through the sky. Then, it quickly expanded into a pillar of light that was difficult to look at directly.
The void rumbled and the mountains trembled. When the pillar of light disappeared, the place immediately collapsed. The rivers in the entire mountain range converged towards the center, as if nourishing a spring that was about to break out of the ground.
As the trembling intensified, cracks appeared on the ground. The black cracks were filled with viscous black magma.
"The fission of the earth." Caesar sighed softly.
Scarlet mist gushed out from the black cracks. The magma flowed out from the ground. Along with the magma, there were slender creatures that appeared. They looked like dragons without scales and wings. Their bodies glowed with a metallic luster and their pupils were a ferocious gold. They crawled on the ground that was full of cracks, twisting their slender lower bodies. However, as they crawled, they suddenly jumped up and leaped in all directions.
"Look, they are creatures that have died long ago. They are not undead."
Stannis pointed out to him. Only a small portion of these snakes and dragons were intact. Some of them were missing half of their heads. Some of them had holes in their abdomens. Most of them had fatal wounds on their bodies, but they were still moving.
More and more dragons and snakes crawled out of the ground and crawled, reminiscent of thousands of earthworms crawling out of the soil in spring. Then, a bottomless crack appeared, and thousands of tons of magma, soil, and stones poured into the crack.
Something huge was struggling in the lava. Its scales were indigo, and its back was full of sharp bone spikes. Hundreds of black iron chains pierced through its body, firmly locking it underground. However, the iron chains could no longer restrain it.
Thousands of snakes and dragons began to move towards the camera. They realized that there was a living creature in this place. Stannis's location had been discovered. However, this was not the most important thing. The most important thing was that the chains on the monster in the crack were breaking one by one. The air around the monster formed a tornado. Countless snakes and dragons stopped and raised their heads, screaming excitedly.
At this moment, the image stopped abruptly.
"I ran away before Monet completely broke free of the seal," Stannis explained calmly.
"That aura terrified me. I realized that I could not do anything alone. I could only run, as fast as I could, as far as I could."