Beneath the Red Dragon

Only Karon Gogomola can converse easily with this Holy Sanctuary Grandmaster.

This is the loneliness of the wise, not Mo Fanleid thinking too highly of himself.

Karon came to his senses and shook his head slightly. The humanoid face, the crown born on the Master of Humanity’s head, was woven like golden thread and osmanthus leaves, shining brilliantly.

”It’s nothing,”

Karon said with a light smile, revealing a charm that no mortal creature could resist.

”I just always thought there are always higher heavens, stronger people outside, but I didn’t expect some potential enemies I imagined to be not as strong as I thought, but rather unexpectedly weak. Perhaps my goal should not have included them in the first place.”

Mo Fanleid calmly laughed and said, ”With your wisdom and talent, in whichever world, you are destined to become the strongest at the top.”

”Being your enemy should be their honor!”

Karon walked forward slowly, turning his head and smiling, ”Mo Fanleid, do you know why I enjoy chatting with you so much? One reason is your wisdom, and the other is your character; you don’t like pretense and don’t like to lie.”

”And praises from honest people are far more pleasing than those given out of fear and flattery!”

Mo Fanleid calmly shook his head and said, ”I am not praising you, I am just telling the truth.”

”Hahaha, you see, that’s it,” Karon laughed heartily, his expression extremely cheerful.

The room was so spacious that it was hard to see the end, and each orderly laboratory door was tightly closed. On the broad road, one could occasionally see hurried scholars and mages passing by.

However, these scholars and mages rarely raised their heads. Even seeing the head of the laboratory, Mo Fanleid, and the Emperor of the Imperial, they only greeted softly.

Some scholars and mages had never seen the human face incarnation of the Golden Empire Emperor, while others were following the lab’s rules: in a place of academia, there was no need for excessive courtesy.

Karon didn’t care for these formalities, laughing and talking with the Holy Sanctuary Grandmaster as they walked towards their destination.

”Your Majesty, there are very few problems that confuse me, but recently some of the Imperial Central Council’s proposals have left me baffled,”

Mo Fanleid said softly, ”The desire for longevity, the pursuit of eternal life, should be every mortal’s quest. Yet those early officials managed to resist such temptation, which I truly don’t understand.”

Although Mo Fanleid had a high status, he had never been involved in politics and power. This conversation stemmed merely from the Grandmaster’s curiosity and puzzlement.

Karon chuckled gently, ”Every creature is limited by its own knowledge, era environment, and wisdom. Your wisdom lies not in this area, and you are also limited by your background and era environment. This is quite normal.”

”There is no truth in this world, only perspectives, just like the purpose of my communication with you is not to discover truth, but to gain new perspectives.”

”Dialogue is to see each other’s reasoning, not to persuade one another. This kind of ’oppositional’ inclusiveness is closer to the truth itself.”

Karon smiled and said, ”Since you have not communicated with them, you naturally cannot understand their motives and ideas, nor can you break through your own limitations and gain new perspectives.”

”They resist life extension because they believe, after thinking, that mortals should not live too long. That would lead to the stagnation of the Empire and society, as the vast majority of people remain unchanged in thought until death.”

”So in their view, if people do not die, they will be trapped by old ideas, and the Empire will not be able to maintain the will to progress.”

Mo Fanleid nodded, instantly understanding the Emperor’s words, and couldn’t help but admire, ”These people are indeed worthy of respect, but by their thinking, this is undoubtedly an unsolvable problem.”

Karon shook his head, ”It’s not really a problem; issues shouldn’t be viewed from just one perspective.”

”Like their concern about becoming conservative with age, in my view, it can be resolved from another angle.”

”The most fundamental factor influencing a person, or a creature, is their body.”

”The microscopic presence of features, hormones, and related substances in the body can easily influence a creature’s subtle emotional tendencies, thereby expanding the influence to affect one’s thoughts.”

”Young short-lived species visibly have more vigor and are more open to change and reform than mature and elderly short-lived species, which comes not only from thought but physiological impact as well.”

Karon paused his steps, stood before an ordinary plant, and smiled, ”If we just adjust their physiological traits and related microscopic hormones to be like in their youth, they will be more inclined to embrace change and find it difficult to maintain their stagnant ideas amid the Empire’s progress.”

”If this also fails to change them, then they are burdens to progress and will be thoroughly crushed!”

Mo Fanleid couldn’t help but admire and said, ”Your wisdom is indeed unimaginable for me to learn, your way of viewing things and tackling questions.”

”Hahaha, naturally, His Majesty’s wisdom is deeper than anyone I’ve seen,” Alchemy Fanatic Ticky, a great professor at the Golden Empire Alchemy Academy, emerged from the lab.

He subconsciously pinched his bulky pants and laughed heartily, ”Your Majesty, Lord Mo Fanleid, I’ve made some progress on my experiment, please come in!”

Karon and Mo Fanleid didn’t mind the Alchemy Fanatic’s act since Ticky’s fame had already spread throughout the Golden Empire.

This fellow not only drank concentration and energy-increasing magic potions like water to research magical alchemical topics in his spare time beyond his patrols at the Alchemy Academy, trying out various bizarre organ experiences.

Ticky also ran a small alchemical surgery shop in the city, performing surgery for those dissatisfied with their firepower to obtain the experimental data he desired.

All these, just to replace many giant elephant organs from the Frost Plain onto himself.

Evidently, this fellow succeeded.

There is nothing dangerous in the lab; it rather resembles a plant garden or more like a silkworm chamber.

In this laboratory, only one kind of plant grows. On the branches and leaves of these trees, which seem no different from ordinary plants, there are creatures crawling like silkworms, gnawing on these plant leaves and stems.

This is a parasitic Rong nurtured from the seeds of a Slant-leafed Rong through magic potion and alchemical rituals, showcasing all of the Slant-leafed Rong’s characteristics, magnified.

The silkworms crawling on these parasitic Rongs are also experimental breeds - Nest Insects, formed after numerous selections and genetic adjustments by the Magic Research Department by Magic Alchemy Professor Ticky.

”Your Majesty, after eleven generations of Nest Insect iterations, the silk woven from what these insects consume has the ability akin to that of parasitic Rongs, and the genetic code is gradually stabilizing into an evolutionary state,”

Magic Alchemy Fanatic Ticky spoke seriously about his field of expertise, pointing to the green thread-like traces on the backs of those silkworms, saying, ”This is the source of their ability. If these mature bodies are nurtured by those creatures’ ’power of truth’, we might soon produce the first batch of embryonic materials for mutation.”

”Mutating using such mature bodies, the experimental subjects obtained should soon possess abilities characterized by ’power of truth’.”

Karon nodded in satisfaction, affirming, ”Then proceed with cultivating the first generation of ’World Eater’ experimental subjects. We have at least ten years’ time, Ticky, I hope you can cultivate what I want as soon as possible.”

”That’s not difficult,” Ticky rubbed his head and laughed mischievously, ”Your Majesty, when the ’World Eater’ is cultivated, shall we try experimenting with a chosen one of the Alien God to see if they can be integrated into it and simulate the operation of Alien God’s power?”

Karon shook his head, ”There is no need to alarm the forces behind them for now; I have a better experimental target!”