NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32: Chapter 32: The Chromatic Dragon Fortress
The Cloud Giants built two castles for Muria, each of a different type. The Pure White Castle before Muria, with its rows of crystal windows, was so spacious that even the largest of giants, the Storm Giants, could walk through it comfortably.
This castle, reminiscent of the Kremlin Palace from Muria's previous life in Russia, was designed primarily for residential purposes, with relatively weak defenses.
Its size far surpassed that of the Kremlin, covering an area of 360 hectares, with vast and tall buildings that could accommodate the large bodies of giants.
This grand castle, something Muria would never have constructed in his previous life, was enclosed by a perfectly octagonal high wall, adorned with 72 uniformly distributed towers.
Inside the walls, palaces of various sizes, all ancient in style and pure white, were evenly and systematically arranged, emanating a solemn and majestic atmosphere.
The second castle, covering a smaller area of 128 hectares, was a single, integrated structure, its defensive capabilities far surpassing its residential utility. Ideally, it would serve as a strategic fortress in a war-torn region, rather than the purely decorative role it seemed destined for on Tai Chi Island.
However, Muria's decision endowed this strategic defensive fortress with a new purpose: to become the incubation site for the evil dragon eggs gifted by the legendary Titan, Ansor.
Muria also planned to transform this castle into a comprehensive facility for feeding and "educating" the evil dragons, preventing it from becoming a mere ornamental fortress.
"Thirteen red dragon eggs, sixteen blue, twenty green, twenty-two black, and twenty-four white. Ninety-five dragon eggs in total," Muria meticulously counted the eggs on the ground. After confirming their numbers, he instructed the Cloud Giants to transfer the eggs to the fortress-style castle he named the Chromatic Dragon Fortress.
Muria also ordered the Tide Giants to prepare materials for the enchantment needed to incubate the dragon eggs. The ocean's resources were no less abundant than those on land, with equivalent materials available underwater.
For the incubation enchantment, magic crystals providing gentle elemental energy were used extensively, and crystals of all elemental types could be found in the sea.
Even fire element crystals, despite their association with heat, could be nurtured in vast numbers by the undersea volcanoes.
As for earth and water element crystals, they were abundantly available. Air and lightning element crystals were scarcer underwater, but could still be found on some of the more remote islands.
The rarest were light and dark element crystals, but Muria did not need these for incubation. Even if he had them, they would likely be used as decorative items on the pure white walls of his castle.
The castle walls, made of smooth and pristine white marble, showed no sign of unpleasant gaps, thanks to the Mountain Giants' concrete stone-making talents. After the Cloud Giants constructed the castle with uniform marble bricks, the Mountain Giants fused them into a single, seamless entity, leaving no visible seams in Muria's castle.
For Muria, with his long lifespan, time was not a precious commodity. He had ample time for any task. His life, compared to his previous existence in the information explosion era, could seem quite boring.
Yet, Muria was far from bored, as he had the significant task of setting up incubation enchantments for nearly a hundred dragon eggs, providing them with abundant and stable elemental energy.
While he could have enlisted the skilled Cloud Giant sorcerers or Storm Giants to help or even replace him in this task, Muria felt a strong inclination to do it himself, unwilling to delegate this responsibility to the giants.
Thus, Muria personally set up incubation enchantments for the ninety-five dragon eggs in different rooms within the Chromatic Dragon Fortress. Given the castle's numerous rooms, Muria assigned each egg its room and placed a Cloud Giant to guard the door.
Over time, Muria, accompanied by his maid Mia, moved into the Chromatic Dragon Fortress, foregoing the more comfortable and luxuriously decorated "Jade Divine Palace" with its extensive architectural complex.
He also dragged the six young dragons, which had been clamoring to live in the Jade Divine Palace, into the Chromatic Dragon Fortress. Despite their struggles and pleas, Muria was unyielding, having seen through the greed of the evil dragons.
Even the most obedient young dragon, Renata, would ignore Muria's warnings in the presence of glittering gems and crystals, let alone the other dragons.
Thus, Muria spent much of his time in the castle ensuring the six "thief dragons" had no opportunity for mischief. Once the castle was complete, he pondered briefly before deciding to bring the young dragons into the Dragon Fortress.
With Muria's move into the fortress, six hundred Cloud Giant guards and thirty Storm Giants, upon his command, also took up residence, assuming the role of castle defenders.
Their families and the ferocious animals they raised, including fierce wolves, eagles, and griffins, also entered the castle. Special enclosures, nests, and dens were built within the fortress for these beasts.
On their first day in the castle, Muria issued a significant command to the six Cloud Giant leaders: "Without my permission, no dragon is to leave the Dragon Fortress."
After giving this meaningful order, Muria focused on incubating the dragon eggs, maintaining the enchantments and periodically replacing the magic crystals for over a month. Then, he made an interesting observation.
"The same type of dragon egg absorbs elements from the crystals at different rates," Muria noted, comparing twenty-two water element crystals of varying shades but identical size before him.
These incubation enchantments, powered by cut crystals with nearly equal elemental energy, showed little difference initially. However, when Muria replaced a nearly depleted crystal for one black dragon egg, he expected the others to need replacement as well.
But upon examining another crystal, he was surprised to find that half of its elemental energy remained unabsorbed.
Muria realized he had fallen into a misconception. The six red dragon eggs he had initially incubated came from the same pair of dragons and had minor differences, leading him to believe all dragon eggs were alike.
The varied shades of the twenty-two water element crystals reminded Muria of an overlooked fact: these eggs came from different evil dragons, each with distinct differences.
Just as no two leaves are identical, no two dragon eggs are the same. Each dragon, each life, is unique in the real world, not a virtual one.
These ninety-five dragon eggs, each from a different evil dragon, meant the unhatched dragonlings would spend varying amounts of time in their shells.
Some might take years to hatch, while others could emerge in months.
"My enchantments, taken directly from books, provide uniform elemental energy," Muria mused. "But eggs at different stages require different amounts of energy. Perhaps the high concentration of elements from the magic crystals is too much for some eggs and too little for others."
"I've been keeping some eggs in a state of semi-starvation," Muria realized, determined to adjust the enchantments to provide the most suitable incubation environment for each egg.
But he faced a dilemma, "I don't know how to modify enchantments yet."
Muria's knowledge of enchantments was basic, understanding enough to mimic but not to innovate.
"Should I learn more about enchantments?" Muria pondered, then, looking at the varied blue crystals, decided, "Why
not? It'll be a way to pass the time."
Soon after, Muria visited the eagle's nest, a vast structure with a high, arched dome standing over 120 meters tall. It housed not the fierce eagles raised by Cloud Giants but the mighty Roc, only tamed by powerful Storm Giants.
The Roc, a colossal bird with a wingspan of nearly eighty meters, could feed on elephants and carry robust Storm Giants, making it an excellent mount.
Normally, such proud creatures would only allow their chosen Storm Giants to ride them. Yet, this rule did not apply to Muria. When he entered the nest, a Roc, belonging to an unknown Storm Giant, bowed and extended its wings for Muria to climb onto its back.
With a piercing cry, the Roc soared into the sky with Muria, followed closely by five Storm Giants on their Rocs.
A Storm Giant with a complex expression watched as his Roc was ridden away by Muria. He was not alone; over twenty envious Storm Giants stood with him, none possessing their own Roc.