Chapter 32: Chapter 32 Five-Color Dragon Fortress Chapter 32: Chapter 32 Five-Color Dragon Fortress The two castles built by the Cloud Titans for Muria belonged to different types. The pure white, towering castle before Muria had rows of crystal windows, and the internal space was so vast that even the largest of the giants, the Storm Giant, could walk through it and still feel very spacious.

The style of this castle, compared to the Kremlin Palace of Muria’s previous life in Russia, was more of a residential complex primarily for living quarters. Its defensive capabilities were relatively weak.

Moreover, its scale far exceeded that of the Kremlin, covering an area of 360 hectares, with spacious and tall buildings that could accommodate the giant figures of giants as they roamed freely.

This majestic castle, which Muria would never have built in his past life, boasted a perfect octagonal high wall with 72 evenly distributed towers along the wall.

Within these walls, palaces of various sizes, ancient and majestic in style, were evenly and regularly distributed, exuding a solemn and imposing aura.

The other castle’s area was not as large, covering only 128 hectares, but this castle was not composed of a scattering of buildings; it was a monolithic structure.

This type of castle, whose defensive capabilities far outweighed its residential qualities, should have been located in a strategic area between two warring nations, serving as an impregnable strategic fortress, rather than being on Taiji Island where its aesthetic appeal surpassed its practicality.

But now, Muria had decided to give this strategic defensive fortress a new purpose; the castle would become an incubation site for the dragon eggs gifted by the legendary Titan, Ansol.

At the same time, Muria also planned to transform this castle into a comprehensive fortress responsible for feeding and “educating” the dragons, preventing it from falling into the mere role of a decorative fortress.

“Thirteen Red Dragon Eggs, sixteen Blue Dragon Eggs, twenty Green Dragon Eggs, twenty-two Black Dragon Eggs, and twenty-four White Dragon Eggs. A total of ninety-five Dragon Eggs,” Muria carefully counted the eggs on the ground, verified the number, and then ordered the Cloud Giants to take all the eggs to the fortress-like castle he named the Five-Color Dragon Castle.

Muria also instructed the Tidal Giants to prepare some materials for arranging the incubation array required to hatch the dragon eggs. The sea’s resources were never inferior to those on land; whatever was found on land could also be found in similar forms in the sea.

After setting up the incubation array, the most used were the Magic Crystals that provided smooth elemental energy, and all types of Elemental Crystals could be found within the sea.

Even Fire Element Crystals, were no exception, as the numerous underwater volcanoes on the seafloor also fostered the growth of astonishingly abundant Fire Element Crystal veins.

As for Earth and Water Element Crystals, there was certainly no shortage; however, the output of Wind and Thunder Element Crystals found deep under the sea was somewhat disappointing. Still, one could find veins of these two types of Magic Crystals on the wild islands of the sea.

The rarest were the Light and Darkness Element Crystals. Muria didn’t need these two kinds of Elemental Crystals yet. Even if he got them, they would be polished and inlaid on the pure white walls as decorations.

It was worth mentioning that the walls of the Muria castle were smooth and clean, made of White Jade Stone, with not a single displeasing gap.

This was thanks to the Mountain Giants’ talent for concrete stone-making. After the Cloud Giants built the castle with uniform White Jade Stone bricks, the Mountain Giants would come in and use their talent to congeal these bricks together into a whole. Therefore, in Muria’s castle, not a single seam could be seen on the walls.

For Muria, who had a long lifespan, time was not precious. He had plenty of time to do anything. His current life should have been rather boring and dull compared to his past life in the era of the information explosion.

However, Muria was not bored at all because he had something that would keep him busy for a long time, such as now, when he was setting up incubation arrays that could provide abundant and stable elemental energy for nearly a hundred Dragon Eggs.

Originally, Muria could have let the equally skilled Cloud Giant Sorcerers and Storm Giants help or even replace him in arranging the incubation arrays, but he felt it was best done by himself. He inexplicably did not want the giants to undertake this task on his behalf.

Thus, Muria personally arranged incubation arrays for the ninety-five Dragon Eggs in different rooms of the Five-Color Dragon Castle. Given the countless number of rooms within the Dragon Fortress, Muria easily assigned a room to each egg and arranged for a Cloud Giant Guard at each room’s door.

In the subsequent period, Muria even moved into the Five-Color Dragon Castle with his Personal Maid, Mia, rather than live in the more comfortable environment and more luxuriously decorated castle that he named “White Jade Divine Palace,” which had a massive complex of buildings.

By the way, Muria also dragged the six young dragons, who clamored to live in the White Jade Divine Palace, one by one into the Five-Color Dragon Castle. No matter how much they struggled, pleaded, or flattered, it was to no avail. The young dragons’ greed was something Muria had come to understand very clearly.

Even the most obedient little female dragon, Renata, would disregard Muria’s warnings in front of glittering gem crystals, not to mention the other young dragons.

Therefore, the most frequent activity Muria engaged in during the castle’s construction was keeping a close eye on these six thieving dragons, preventing them from taking any opportunity for mischief. After the castle was completed, Muria, after some thought, brought the six young dragons into the Dragon Fortress.

At the same time that Muria moved into Dragon Fortress, a total of six hundred Cloud Giant Guards and thirty Storm Giants, under Muria’s command, followed and took up residence in Five-Color Dragon Castle, assuming the duties of castle guardians.

At the same time, relatives of these Cloud Giant Guards, as well as the fierce animals they raised—Fierce Wolves, Ferocious Eagles, Griffins, and the like—also entered the castle with them. Within Dragon Fortress, the Cloud Giants further set up auxiliary buildings specifically for these fierce birds and beasts, such as Griffin cages, Eagle nests, and Wolf dens.

On the first day the Cloud Giant Guards were stationed in the castle, Muria gave an order to six cloud giant leaders, “Without my permission, do not allow any dragon to leave the Dragon Fortress.”

After issuing this significant order, Muria began to devote all his attention to incubating Dragon Eggs; he maintained the incubation array and regularly replaced the Magic Crystals for more than a month. Then Muria discovered something quite interesting.

“Dragon Eggs of the same kind absorb elements from the Crystal Stones at completely different rates,” mused Muria, seated on a wooden chair scented with a light fragrance, comparing twenty-two Water Elemental Crystals of the same size but different colors in front of him.

The Magic Crystals used in the incubation arrays for these Dragon Eggs had been cut, and the elemental energies they contained were almost equal; before being used, it was nearly impossible to notice any differences.

But today, after replacing the nearly depleted Elemental Crystal of a Black Dragon Egg, Muria naturally assumed that it was time to replace the Magic Crystals of the other Black Dragon Eggs as well.

However, when Muria removed the Crystal Stone from another Black Dragon Egg’s incubation array, he was somewhat surprised to find that the elemental energy in the Magic Crystal of this Dragon Egg still had about half remaining, not yet fully absorbed.

It was at that moment Muria had an epiphany; he had fallen into a misconception. The six Red Dragon Eggs he had previously incubated all came from the same pair of Red Dragons, and their differences were minimal, with consistent incubation times, which had given Muria the illusion that all Dragon Eggs were alike.

But the twenty-two Water Elemental Crystals with varying shades of color before Muria highlighted an issue he had overlooked: these Dragon Eggs all came from different dragon parents, and as such, they exhibited very clear differences.

Just as the world does not contain two identical leaves, there are no two identical Dragon Eggs. This is the real world, not a virtual one found in games—every life, every dragon, is a unique individual.

These ninety-five Dragon Eggs, stemming from different dragons, meant that the yet-to-hatch Baby Dragons contained within had spent different lengths of time in their shells.

Therefore, some Dragon Eggs could take years before hatching into Baby Dragons, while others might hatch within a few months.

“The arrays I’ve set up were all copied from Books; they provide the same amount of elemental energy,” Muria murmured with his eyes closed. “But Dragon Eggs at different stages require different amounts of energy. Perhaps, the high-concentration elemental environment that the incubation array draws from the Magic Crystals is too much for some Dragon Eggs, but too little for others.”

“In this way, I’ve kept some Dragon Eggs perpetually in a state of semi-starvation.” Muria opened his eyes and clapped his fist into his palm, “This can’t continue; I need to readjust the incubation arrays. I’ll strive to make the environment provided by these arrays as suitable for each Dragon Egg as possible.”

But, Muria patted his head in frustration, “However, modifying arrays… I don’t seem to have the skills to do that yet.”

Muria’s level of setting up arrays was still at the stage of copying by rote. When it came to knowledge related to arrays, he was on the verge of complete comprehension, just short of one crucial element.

“Should I learn about arrays?” Muria wondered hesitantly, then he looked at the different shades of blue Water Elemental Crystals on the table and made up his mind, “I’ll learn. It’ll be a good way to pass the time.”

Soon after, Muria arrived at the castle’s Eagle Nest, a very spacious building with a high, arched dome that towered over one hundred and twenty meters above the ground. Inhabiting this place were not the Ferocious Eagles raised by the Cloud Giants, but rather the Giant Peng, a mount only powerful Storm Giants were worthy to rear.

The Giant Peng is an extremely large bird species with a wingspan close to eighty meters. It feeds on elephants and is also capable of carrying the stout-bodied Storm Giants—a very formidable mount.

Normally, such a prideful creature as the Giant Peng, other than its recognized Storm Giant, would not allow anyone to ride it, including other Storm Giants. But this ironclad rule seemingly did not apply to Muria.

The moment Muria entered the Eagle Nest, a Giant Peng, whose Storm Giant owner was unknown, humbly bent down and even spread its wings in front of Muria, allowing him to step on them to climb onto its back to ride.

Screech!!!

The cry of the Peng echoed through the heavens. The giant bird took flight, carrying Muria into the sky. In just a few breaths, five Storm Giants riding their own Giant Pengs hurriedly pursued.

One Storm Giant with a complex expression remained on the Dragon Fortress platform—the Giant Peng that Muria had ridden away was his. But he was not alone; more than twenty Storm Giants with eyes full of envy were also present. They did not have their own Giant Pengs.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read