Chapter 201: The Dragon’s Nest

In a valley within the Green Cloak Forest, in the southern part of the Izumo Mountains, voices suddenly arose in the silent forest.
From a dark and gloomy cave, a figure slowly emerged—Donald, who had returned to the surface from the dark underground world.
Besides him, the old mage Maelthor, and members of the Agricultural Goddess Church, there were five more people in the group than when they entered the underground world. Four of them were Carlisle and his companions, who intended to follow Donald to the surface, while the fifth was the bronze dragon Nozdorm.
Due to the dragons’ enormous size, they couldn’t pass through the underground tunnels, so Donald ordered Nozdorm to use transformation magic to take on a human form and follow them.
Transformation magic was one of the innate spells of dragons; it allowed them to transform into humans or elves or even change their own size. Usually, dragons could assume human form by the time they reached adolescence. As for other creatures, proud dragons generally refused to transform, accepting only humans and elves, who were also highly intelligent beings.
“Here, you’d better put these on!”
The many creatures living in the dark regions had adapted to the darkness underground. Races like the dark elves, who had lived there for thousands of years, had evolved dim vision.
Staying in the sunless underground for so long and suddenly being exposed to the bright surface world could cause severe eye strain, even blindness in extreme cases.
So before leaving the cave, Donald handed out several hooded cloaks to Carlisle and the others to prevent them from injuring their eyes from excitement.
Carlisle and the others understood this well and put on the cloaks.
They were overjoyed to be able to reach the surface. Compared to the dark regions, filled with schemes and violence every day, the surface world, though imperfect, was like heaven to them.
Especially Carlisle, who was originally from the surface, longed deeply for sunlight, green grass, forests, and streams—things common on the surface.
When the group all emerged from the cave, Carlisle, wrapped in his cloak, couldn’t hold back his tears despite the blinding sunlight. He excitedly lay on the ground, greedily inhaling the unique scent of the surface soil and the smell of grass.
“I’m finally back…”

As for the three Abels, having lived in the underground world for too long, they could not immediately adapt to this light. They had to cover their faces with cloaks, enduring eye discomfort as they peeked through their fingers at the surface world they had longed for.
“What fresh air!”
Compared to the stuffy air underground, the vast forests, acting as nature’s oxygen bars, were naturally a hundred times fresher, instantly refreshing everyone.
Fortunately, the sunlight in the forests was not too intense. After adapting for a while, the four of them, including Carlisle, finally managed to adjust to the light intensity. Even Jerm, a dark elf, still dared not look directly at the light, but his eyes no longer burned with tears.
At that moment, the half-dark elf mage squinted at the plants around him, his heart involuntarily filled with a sense of happiness.
“Father, I’ve finally come to your homeland. I’ve escaped the underground world, which was like a prison. No more cruel and heartless dark elves, no more vicious and twisted Spider Queen!”
Seeing that the four of them had calmed down a bit, Donald said, “It’s time to go. This is just the Green Cloak Forest. I’ve arranged a place for you to stay in my territory. There’s plenty for you to see there!”
“Hmm! Let’s go!”
Without looking back or giving another glance at the entrance to the underground world, the four of them followed Donald out of the forest.
When the group left the forest and arrived outside Dusk Town, it was the busiest time of the morning.
“What a bustling town!”
In his youth, Carlisle had traveled far and wide with his adoptive father and seen many people from noble territories, but a town as prosperous as Dusk Town was rare. Such busy scenes were usually only seen in major cities or even near royal capitals.
Moreover, the commoners passing by all had smiles on their faces; there were no pale-faced poor people, suggesting that the residents of this town must lead relatively prosperous lives.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to Dalaran—the place where hopes and dreams are born!”
Donald waved his hand and led the way into the town.
“The lord has returned…”
When the people on both sides saw Donald approaching, they stopped in their tracks and bowed in respect—a kind of heartfelt admiration rarely seen in others.
Now, the four of them, including Carlisle, were even more curious about Donald, a noble of the surface world. Even the three from the Agricultural Goddess Church could see Donald’s status in this territory.

How could such a genius idea be conceived to transform a once barren land into a prosperous area in less than a year, with strong unity among the people? The layout of Dusk Town is vastly different from that of ordinary towns in this world. Unlike other towns with chaotic layouts and poor conditions, which can basically be described as dirty and messy, Dusk Town is undoubtedly a synonym for cleanliness and beauty.

According to Donald’s original plan, the town was designed in a precise geometric pattern, with squares and streets all arranged strictly according to mathematical principles. Along the main roads stood rows of neatly arranged crystal street lamps, powered by magic crystals fueled by pure crystals. Every so often, there were cylindrical trash bins, and passersby voluntarily threw their trash into them, with no one littering carelessly. The neat stone roads were spotless, with the widest ones capable of accommodating seven or eight carriages side by side.

Such a perfectly tidy environment—far beyond what even Carlisle and his three companions had seen, let alone the three high-ranking members of the Agricultural Goddess Church who had only encountered such places in royal palaces and church headquarters—still filled them with awe, even though it wasn’t their first time seeing it.

When they arrived at the lord’s mansion with their group, the main officials of Dalaran welcomed them outside. After a brief introduction, everyone entered the mansion together. Passing by the garden in front of the mansion’s hall, Carlisle and the others saw several neatly dressed people filling buckets of water from a stone basin in the yard to water the plants, which surprised them greatly.

“What is this? It waters itself—could it be groundwater?”

In response to Carlisle’s question, William smiled and explained for his master: “This is the lord’s invented water supply system. It uses crystals as pipes, and alchemical devices draw clean water from reservoirs to supply various parts of the mansion. This makes daily drinking water and kitchen use much more convenient. There are even water sources for washing hands in the mansion’s dressing rooms—even kings don’t enjoy such convenience!”

After hearing William’s explanation, everyone became even more curious.

Several months ago, Donald had already begun preparing a plan to provide tap water throughout the town. Now, in Dusk Town, apart from the lord’s mansion, places such as the Forest House Hotel, Alchemy Fire Equipment Shop, and inns and taverns all have access to tap water. There are also public water collection points in the town to make it convenient for residents to fetch water, eliminating the need to travel back and forth to Moonlight Lake.

Of course, the source of this tap water isn’t from the reservoirs beneath the lord’s mansion. The purified water is only available at the manor and the lord’s mansion, as although the purification spell isn’t costly, it still represents a significant expense over time, making it impossible to supply the entire territory.

So Donald ordered a water station to be built on the shore of Moonlight Lake to supply water to Dusk Town, which is several miles away. After all, the water from Moonlight Lake, once purified, is much cleaner than river water from other areas, and there’s no risk of diseases.

Of course, Donald places great importance on protecting the water source and water supply pipelines. He personally issued several regulations to prevent anyone from accidentally damaging or contaminating the water.

Temporarily housing the guests in the lord’s mansion, Donald didn’t even deal with the affairs piled up in his territory before going to arrange a place for the Bronze Dragon Nozdormu. As a dragon, it couldn’t live in human form forever. Although Bronze Dragons in this world tend to prefer human food and can survive on it for long periods, Donald, as its master, still needed to provide it with a nest.

Before returning, Donald had already thought that the most suitable location would be a peak in the Cloud-Cutting Mountains to the north of Moonlight Lake. This was the highest peak in the southern part of the Cloud-Cutting Mountains, far from the people in the territory but accessible quickly by a dragon’s flying speed, making it ideal for a Bronze Dragon that relies on water sources to build a nest.

This way, the dragons would be closest to his territory, with abundant food sources in the vast forests. With a powerful Bronze Dragon King like Nozdormu at the helm, surely no magical beasts would dare to invade!

With Nozdormu’s help, Donald quickly carved out more than a dozen rock caves of various sizes on that mountain. Besides Nozdormu, he also permanently summoned another pair of young Bronze Dragons and ten juvenile Bronze Dragons. The remaining caves were prepared for them.

Adult dragons are ranked at level 10 in the Truth Book’s summoning list—essentially gold-tier beings. Apart from the perfect soul required to summon heroes, they also need massive amounts of energy to create their powerful bodies.

It can be said that creating a giant dragon requires more energy than building a human main city castle. Therefore, even though Donald now has divine power as a massive source of energy, he doesn’t plan to summon another golden giant dragon for now. However, it’s still possible to summon several younger dragons and adolescent dragons, which require much less energy. In a few decades, once those adolescent and younger dragons have grown up, they will form a large dragon family. With such powerful forces in one’s territory, one can hardly fear any force in the main world! “Anyway, after obtaining elven bloodline and divinity, my lifespan is extended—decades is nothing to wait for.”