Chapter 759: Chapter 748: The Resentment of Dragons Chapter 759: Chapter 748: The Resentment of Dragons Ah!

A chilling and excruciating scream echoed on top of the high platform, causing all the dragons that witnessed the scene to tremble with fear.

They could see four young dragons each being imprisoned within four magic arrays. Chains extended from the arrays, holding them tightly and immovably, no matter how hard they struggled.

Among them, the juvenile Golden Dragon, defined by the Ancient Dragons as the chief culprit leading the class-skipping rebellion, was being cut by the wind blades formed by the wind element. Fine wind blades slashed onto his dragon scales, shattering and knocking them off his radiant dragon body. Revealing blood-red muscle, the crimson dragon blood dripped on the Magic Array beneath him, dyeing it red. Despite suffering such a ghastly ordeal, the punishment array didn’t show any signs of reducing its harmful effects on him.

And when the wind blades disappeared, thunder from the magic array emanated, assaulting his body, singeing the parts of his dragon body which had been beaten bloody to a charcoal black, consuming his vitality and making his situation even more grievous.

Such torture was meted out to this young Golden Dragon, who had been found mainly culpable, and harm of the same degree was also inflicted on the other three dragons: the Silver Dragon, the Bronze Dragon, and the Red Copper Dragon. Their scales were completely stripped clean by the elemental attacks unleashed by the magic arrays, leaving only their dragon form. Their screams and wails grew weaker, as though they could die at any moment.

…

“Your Majesty, this punishment is indeed cruel for Metal Dragons.” On the edge of a cloud island that overlooks the execution grounds of the Dragon Clan, Ancient Green Dragon Fiona stood behind Prince Mureya, expressing her sentiment.

“Indeed. I am not surprised that the Metallic Dragons were the first to break the rules I set. What surprises me is that these Ancient Dragons could bring themselves to be so harsh.” Mureya, scanning the spectacle below with a placid countenance, replied with a faint smile.

The punishment array was personally designed by him. It could make dragons undergo severe pain, wandering between life and death, leaving behind a deeply rooted impression, so they would remember this pain and ensure not to make the same mistake again.

“You had foreseen that the first offenders would be the Metallic Dragons,” Fiona said with a trace of astonishment in her eyes.

“Indeed. Though I did think the Five Colored Dragons could possibly be offenders as well. Nonetheless, the probability of Five Colored Dragons making mistakes is much lower than that of Metallic Dragons.”

Mureya gave a slight smile and proceeded to explain the reasoning behind his conclusion. The majority of the Five Colored Dragons entering the academy had already been disciplined by their predecessors. They knew to respect the rules and what the consequences for breaking those rules were. Hence, they were well-behaved after matriculation into the academy.

As for the baby dragons that had just been hatched, they had already attended their first lesson of life right after birth and were taught to be obedient. Although their obedience required constant reinforcement, they could manage to attend classes peacefully and steadily for three days straight post-joining the academy.

As for the Gem Dragon Clan, despite having no one to rely on and being relatively small in number, they were capable of attending classes obediently, at least for a short period of time, without causing any trouble.

Metallic Dragons, on the other hand, are a different story. Dragons are Eternal Life Beings. Although Metallic Dragons also nurture their offspring from a young age, due to their prolonged lifespan, they have a rather lax attitude towards learning, which can be described as cyclical; like alternating between casting a net and drying it. Despite this lax attitude, their accomplishments at adulthood are still on par with human geniuses, thanks to their exceptional talents and sufficient lifespan.

Such an indifferent attitude, faced with Mureya’s seven-classes-per-day study system, naturally couldn’t persist. Hence, thoughts of evasion were quite normal.

In the academy, among the twelve Ancient Dragon professors, eleven belonged to the Metallic Dragon Clan. Naturally, this kind of allocation led some privileged Metallic Dragons to grow restless, thinking they could get away with skipping classes, considering that the punishers were their own elders and at most, they would receive a few reprimands.

In reality, their conjecture wasn’t wrong. If the Dragon Clan Academy had been specially established for Metallic Dragons, the Ancient Dragons would have perhaps, merely reprimanded them for such actions. However, ironically, this was a true Dragon Clan Academy established by Mureya’s deliberate pursuit for a higher standard of education, and dragons from almost all branches of the world had already gathered here.

Under these circumstances, it seems highly intolerable to the Ancient Dragons that Metallic Dragons have become the first to skip classes, sullying them. Does this not signify that the Metallic Dragon Clan, renowned for diligence and knowledge, are uninterested in learning? Was their previous reputation self-touted? Isn’t this a great disgrace?

Especially under the comparison with other Dragon clans, the behavior of Metallic Dragons appears utterly reprehensible. It should be known that not a single dragon among the over one thousand Five Colored Dragons has skipped class, even those newly hatched baby dragons are honestly attending classes. However, the teenage Metallic Dragons who were more mature, instead led their roommates to propagate truancy. Their abhorrent actions and its extensive influence are indescribable.

“Your Majesty, if an ancient dragon plead for mercy on behalf of someone, how would you react?”

“I would undoubtedly refuse it without hesitation,” Muria replied. “Maybe hundreds of years after the establishment of the academy, when there could be students skipping classes, if an ancient dragon were to plead for mercy on their behalf, I might consider leniency. However, my academy has just been established, and this first dragon that broke the rules cannot be easily forgiven. Otherwise, the academy’s prestige will be completely lost. For the long term, the rules I set will no longer be respected by the dragons. Sooner or later, my academy will fail.”

“What if the ancient dragon insists on protecting their descendants?” Ancient Green Dragon Fiona proposed another possibility.

“Then let them get lost,” Muria sneered. “Those who break the rules and refuse to be punished should be expelled, never to be admitted again. If that ancient dragon takes issue with this, then let them resign! Rules cannot be broken, at least not for now.”

“Even an ancient dragon could be forsaken?” Upon hearing Muria’s words, Ancient Green Dragon Fiona was slightly stunned.

“Because things are different now, I have shown to those huge dragons that my educational superiority fully demonstrates the potential of huge dragons. Now, I no longer have to worry about the source of students.”

Muria smirked. The situation has reversed. It was no longer him begging other dragons to enroll, but others seeking him, wishing to send their children and grandchildren into his academy.”

Even with the rule that ancient dragons must be professors, I don’t need to worry about teachers, I just have to wait. Naturally, there will be ancient dragons coming forward, requesting to serve as professors. A professorship position within the Dragon Clan Academy, with over two thousand dragons in constant residence, is a highly rewarding position in itself. No dragon would resign unless they were foolish.”

…

After the Metallic Ancient Dragon punished the truant dragon without any leniency, the subsequent teaching activities went very smoothly. All of the dragons obediently adhered to the curriculum and no dragon wanted to taste the meaning of the Six Elements Punishment. The four dragons who haven’t recovered by now have already explained everything.

The rigorous schedule influenced by human ideas that Muria implemented sparked intense backlash among the dragons. They did not dare to openly express their resentment, but their grudges continued to accumulate.

With four classes in the morning, three in the afternoon, a meditation class before bedtime after dinner, and an early meditation class before sunrise, the sleeping time is only six hours, and the time for free activities adds up to less than two hours. The student dragons were arranged in an orderly manner every day, leaving no room for personal freedom.

Such arrangement would be no big deal for human students, but for god-given powerful and free-spirited dragons, it was as good as another punishment. For many Metallic Dragon Clan students who had shaped a dragon lifestyle and gotten used to a lax life, such a learning method was practically torture. But they had to bear it, as they couldn’t resist the ancient dragons.

However, what they didn’t know was that the ancient dragons had also approached Muria over the curriculum, which seemed to be derived from human teaching methods, and they wanted him to modify the curriculum according to the actual situation of the Dragon Clan, but Muria refused.

“Compared with letting the giant dragons bleed in the future, I would rather have these giant dragons shed tears now,” Muria gave his refusal reason in the face of these suggestions from the ancient dragons. “Every effort pays off. Each gain they make now lays the foundation for their future rise to the top. The harder they work now, the less danger they will encounter while traveling in the world. When danger comes, they will have more strength to protect themselves.”

“But Your Majesty Muria, could you possibly lighten up a bit? The course load you arranged is really too much, making school for young dragons feel like being in jail.”

“Even if it feels like jail, what, they thought they came here to have fun?” Muria scoffed. “Don’t talk to me about freedom. Only the powerful are worthy of freedom. For the weak, their freedom is nothing but a joke.”

Muria directly rejected these suggestions from the ancient dragons, and under his perseverance, they could do nothing about it, because the main body of the teachers of the Dragon Clan Academy is not just the twelve ancient dragons, it’s also composed of other soul-meaning dragons, human beings, and the giants.

Ancient dragons could reduce the course load for their descendants, but doing so would make the Metallic Dragon Clan too embarrassed. Other dragon clans still have regular classes. If the other dragon clans can endure the classes, should the Metallic Dragon Clan be special?

Therefore, the proposal to reduce the curriculum was dropped, and all dragons continued to attend classes according to the schedule set by Muria. In this case, the resentment of these underage dragons, especially the metallic dragons, grew.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read