Chapter 66 I Must Regroup My Forces

After the consumption of this battle, Linden's prestige points dropped from over one thousand five hundred to a mere three hundred and fifty-six.

A single use of Heavenly Thunder cost one thousand, the base reinforcement for the torso and back cost a total of one hundred, plus an additional fifty prestige points consumed to further reinforce the torso.

Since they did not clash directly with the red dragon, the points originally intended for fusing the arms and legs were saved.

Even so, trying to fight the mutated red dragon with these remaining few hundred points was still too much of a stretch.

It is easy to go from luxury to frugality, but hard to go the other way.

Back then, gaining a mere ten prestige points could make him ecstatic; now, he could spend a thousand in one go without blinking an eye, feeling only the desire to do it all over again.

Spending is always easier than earning.

Sometimes he wondered, just how many prestige points would ever be considered enough?

Linden was still anticipating the appearance of various achievements to boost his prestige points, just like last time.

Yet a minute or two passed, and the system prompt still failed to pop up.

However, a new special buff had indeed been added to his status bar:

[Dragon Soul: Boosts all attributes based on the number of dragon tribes that have submitted to you, with a 100% upper limit. Current boost: 13%]

[You carry their hopes, gathering thousands of wills into a single strike—a strike that shall pierce through the stars!]

Combined with the pre-existing [Continuity of the Tribe], he now effectively possessed two long-term passive buff effects.

With Continuity serving as a safety net, whenever his prestige points fell below three hundred, they would automatically be topped back up to three hundred.

Three hundred is three hundred. If he could not rely on raw numbers, he would win through operation and mechanics.

When Linden returned to the deep crater, the dragons had already gathered together.

Pair after pair of eyes looked towards him, their eager gazes filled with absolute trust in him.

If Linden were to give the order right now, these dragons would immediately follow him into battle to storm Red Dragon Mountain.

The closer one gets to the final moment of victory, the steadier one's mindset must be. Once you start getting carried away, you can still lose even with a flying dragon riding your face.

Linden swept his gaze over the dragons and delivered his pre-decisive-battle declaration:

"The red dragon's momentum is now gone; its current actions are nothing more than a dying gasp, desperately trying to huddle inside its palace for a stubborn last stand.

And we will not give it such a chance! United by the strength of all dragons, right now is the best time in one's life to strike while the iron is hot and eliminate the red dragon's tyranny in one fell swoop!

Swords in hand, follow me, up the mountain, capture the dragon!"

As Linden's passionate and stirring words fell, the dragons became as excited as if they had been pumped with adrenaline, raising their claws high in unison and shouting with one voice:

"Up the mountain, capture the dragon!"

"Ura!!!"

The deafening cries of "Ura" echoed through the mountain forests, their fighting spirit soaring straight up into the clouds.

The fighting spirit of the dragon pack was thoroughly ignited, and the light in their eyes shone far brighter than ever before.

At this moment, Linden was also methodically formulating a new strategy.

Following the consumption from the battle just now, the supply of high-explosive consumable weapons, TNT, was seriously inadequate.

At this point, it was necessary to dispatch several logistics teams to mine raw materials such as sand and sulfur.

Meanwhile, he would lead the main force to camp at the foot of Red Dragon Mountain, summoning the tribes from the surrounding mountains to form a piecemeal encirclement. While continuously synthesizing siege weapons at the crafting tables, they would also await the supplies transported by the logistics troops.

In addition, the rails originally used for powered minecarts could now be dismantled and reassembled to form a new railway.

Who could possibly be more familiar with the shortest paths than the indigenous residents here?

Assigning this task to the veteran chieftain of the burrowing dragons, letting him select suitable young and able-bodied members to carry it out, was all that was needed.

One could say that with everyone united as one, something that would take a single person half a day of exhausting effort to handle became a mere trivial matter in front of the collective.

This major operational victory was by no means Linden's achievement alone.

If one were to look solely at output statistics, it would alienate and diminish the contributions of the dragons.

Whether it was the various tribes tilting their resources and offering various favors to him before the battle, or their unconditional trust in him and obedience to every command he issued, these were all indispensable links in achieving this great victory.

After arranging the captains of the logistics teams and preparing to lead the main force departure, Linden returned to the edge of the crater where the smoke had dispersed, attempting to find any trace or clue regarding the red dragon's mutation.

This inspection indeed yielded a new discovery.

At the bottom of the deep crater, black blocks were scattered irregularly, and Linden was more than familiar with them—

Obsidian.

He immediately summoned Victoria, who had fully recovered after eating the "Golden Fertilizer," and rode her down to the bottom of the crater, mining this batch of obsidian at top speed.

There were twenty-four blocks in total.

Able to craft TNT, and now equipped with obsidian—his damn TNT cannons finally had a realistic prospect!

The red dragon was turtled up in its palace, huh? Then it could not blame him for firing cannons to wake it up and refresh its mind.

After packing their gear, Linden, along with Victoria and Shirona, led the mighty main army in a grand march toward Red Dragon Mountain.

Along the way, the young dragon carrying both Linden and Shirona seemed somewhat dissatisfied:

"Hey, Linden..."

"Call me General."

"What the heck, you only self-proclaimed yourself a general today; if anything, I should start calling you that from tomorrow."

"Watch your tone, soldier."

Victoria let out a disgruntled snort through her nose, but remembering that she still needed a favor from Linden, her attitude softened slightly.

"General Linden, look at me running back and forth, almost losing my little life—it's been really hard work, right?"

"Mhm."

"You see, you've already given Shirona the position of strategist, shouldn't the other dragons be rewarded or shown some appreciation too?"

"That is true."

"Then look at my position..."

"I'll make you a corporal, one rank higher than a soldier," Linden said with a smile.

Hearing this, the young dragon dropped the act on the spot and said resentfully:

"Do you believe I'll shake you two right off my back! The three of us can just be ordinary soldiers together."

Here she goes again, Shirona sighed inwardly.

Seriously, she had no idea what use these makeshift positions conferred by Linden actually were.

Weren't they all going to defeat the red dragon and serve the dragon pack together anyway?

Only Linden and Victoria seemed to take this matter extremely seriously.

She could not help but step forward to mediate:

"Victoria, let's swap. You be the strategist, and I'll be the private, how about that?"

"No, no, strategist is too small! I want to be a Grand General!"

How could a general appoint someone else as a Grand General? Shirona was left speechless, between laughter and tears.

Linden had anticipated this long ago and flatly rejected Victoria:

"There's no negotiating about being a Grand General. I've been so modest that I didn't even bestow that rank upon myself, yet you're already reaching for it? At most, I'll give you a colonel—one rank lower than me. Take it or leave it."

"I'll take it, I'll take it, I'll take it!"

Victoria happily and hastily replied.

She had no idea what kind of rank a colonel was, but being just one rank below Linden was within an acceptable range.

Beneath one person, above all others...

Once she later pinned him down beneath her body, she would undoubtedly become the true, undisputed Grand General.

Wahahaha.

Just as she was indulging in her daydream, two figures—one green and one purple—appeared on the road ahead, hurrying toward the three of them in a rush.

The two ran while shouting:

"Great King! Great King! We've finally waited for your arrival!"