The Red Dragon Just Wants To Do As It Pleases

Saeolus City, Alchemy Room beneath the Mage Tower.

The young Silver Dragon, his body wrapped in bandages and casts, was performing the final checks before coupling the potions. He occasionally shot David a guarded look, ensuring his son maintained a safe distance. His body truly couldn't handle any more roughhousing from his son.

Attilicia, too, had learned his lesson after being 'accidentally seriously injured' by his son in human form for the second time: He had to always maintain his dragon form when alone with David. Otherwise, with his son growing increasingly strong, a trip to the Styx River might happen any day.

As for why he didn't use a Regeneration Spell? Simply put, we haven't seen a single Gold Coin come in from that yet, and the 3,000 pounds of gold David himself brought has already been spent like water. That gold was equivalent to the treasure we earned from Spider Nest City. Aside from some Magical Items that were relatively harder to liquidate, the rest only took a nap in David's Dragon Nest before vanishing.

This was because the Dragon Nest camp had not yet fully developed and was currently self-sufficient only thanks to the Green Dragon Nifadora's personal investments. Otherwise, any other dragon managing finances in such a way would not only be incredibly stressed but would also see their territory's trade cash flow completely severed. This was why most dragons could only 'hold a hilltop' and indulge in small ventures, never managing to establish a true domain of their own.

Most dragons, constrained by their greedy nature, rarely let treasure leave their hoards. Their followers not only lacked 'salaries' but, after offering up their earnings to their Dragon Lord, also had to find ways to siphon off resources to support their own subordinates. Followers and their subordinates had desires too. Even an earth elemental follower desires to consume earth or even rare minerals to grow, doesn't it? Dragons unable to overcome this greedy nature and allow their treasure—or at least a portion of it—to circulate tended to achieve little, at least in terms of direct influence on continental civilization.

In draconic statistics, the sly and clever Green Dragons usually fared slightly better, often able to create something akin to a legion. The social and clannish Blue Dragons were next, followed by the Black Dragons. Only the solitary Red Dragons typically remained loners. It wasn't that Red Dragons had no awakened ones; rather, few followers under a Red Dragon's command survived more than three years. They either died charging into battle or from the Red Dragon Lord's overwhelming 'fire support.' As for White Dragons? They either hibernated near the Arctic Circle, were captured by Frost Giants to be used as hunting hounds, or were taken by some spellcaster to serve as a Mage Tower's guardian beast. Even among Metal Dragons like themselves, aside from Gold and Silver Dragons who generally cultivated a few elite, adventurer-like followers, most didn't amount to much.

And in any world, developing potions required a significant investment. Even though this research had begun under Attilicia's own initiative six years ago and was now nearing completion. In a way, David was preempting the Duke of Silver, Mirillian.

It was only in these moments of spending that Attilicia truly appreciated the generous attitude towards finances exhibited by the Duke of Silver, Mirillian, and his own son, David. Especially David, who had contributed almost all his accessible funds, except for the portion reserved for little Tania. This, in turn, made Attilicia, who couldn't produce a single silver coin from his own hoard, feel both embarrassed and pressured.

We'll have to save where we can, as long as it doesn't affect daily activities. For minor bone fractures like these, dragons like them would heal on their own after a few days of rest. Spending several thousand Dewensen Gold Coins on that would be unwarranted!

Fortunately, the diligent dragon's hard work paid off.

The underground laboratory of the Mage Tower erupted with strong magical fluctuations and heavy floral scents every two to three hours, which were then neutralized by the alchemy apparatus. After half a month of such continuous coupling trials, conducted with David's full cooperation, Attilicia found himself on the verge of success. Under the almost breathless watch of David—his eyes crimson like the 'Sharingan'—Attilicia cautiously picked up a goose-egg-sized crystal. It shimmered like a Graff Ruby: the original crystal of the Anger Potion.

Yes, after a year, Attilicia had once again used his newly developed alchemy formula to create a crystal-grade potion 'essence.'

"We did it... I succeeded, my boy! HAHAHA—COUGH, COUGH, COUGH!" Attilicia's sudden laughter nearly drove his fractured ribs into his lungs.

"Dad, you're truly freaking amazing," David said with sincere admiration.

Typically, an alchemist who developed a low-tier potion suitable for the general public—one that was relatively cheap or even adopted for military use—would have their name immortalized in the annals of alchemy. And yet, his father had managed to develop, in just six short years, an upgraded version that bypassed the one-hour demonic transformation limit imposed by Century Aroma flower's pollen. That was truly impressive.

It was like when Nobel invented 'yellow dynamite' using nitroglycerin mixed with diatomaceous earth—a relatively stable explosive, though slightly less powerful than black powder. Later, J. Wilbrand developed the second-generation TNT dynamite using trinitrotoluene, making it 20 times more powerful than black powder. Similarly, Attilicia's upgrade of the Clarity Potion to the Anger Potion was akin to the third-generation CL-20, 90 times as powerful as the original. This new crystalline version of the Anger Potion—or perhaps it should be called Thirst for Blood's Rage—was comparable to the fourth-generation tetraoxotetrazine, 170 times more powerful than the original. Most importantly, it bypassed the harsh limitations of the original materials and even reduced the cost by nearly one-third. If this were on Blue Star, it would surely have been worthy of winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry that year.

Although David was reluctant to dampen his father's spirits at such a moment, he still took a deep breath and used his tail-tip to cover Attilicia's hand, saying, "It shouldn't be released just like that; it could cause big problems."

"But..." Attilicia started to speak, but then his jaw dropped as he instantly realized what his son meant. If word of this got out, it would definitely shake the entire Continent. At the same time, as the developer, he would instantly become the public enemy of the Elven Kingdom. This was because Attilicia had not only cost the Elven Kingdom its monopoly on a series of well-known low-end potions that relied on Century Aroma as an essential ingredient, but he had also directly used 'Century Aroma seeds' as a raw material—a practice the Nature Sect considered akin to killing the hen to get its eggs. This too was an original sin! An unforgivable original sin!

Attilicia wasn't too worried about this, though. If worst came to worst, he could just head back to the Old Continent or even Dragon Island to lay low for a while—after all, he usually went out disguised using Shape Manipulation. But how could he make money if this thing didn't circulate? Wouldn't that mean he and his son had been busy for nothing lately? Was he supposed to find a way to make a 'degraded version' now? That would be an insult to my research!

David clearly understood what his father was worried about and immediately pointed at himself with the tip of his tail, laughing as he said, "There's still me. Just leave the rest to me."

"Huh? You've just been watching by my side these past few days, and you've already learned it?" Attilicia was still somewhat incredulous.

"Ah, otherwise, where do you think last year's Anger Potion came from?" David cocked his head and gave his father a knowing smile.

Attilicia's heart sank as he recalled David's 'masterpiece'. Last year, out of curiosity, he had taken a sip. As a result, he had immediately spewed fire like a Red Dragon and then suffered from diarrhea for three days straight. His rear ached for over half a month before it finally healed.

With a mix of reluctance and uncertainty, he asked, "You're not thinking of adding devil chili capsaicin to it again, are you?"

"That's right! That's my trademark as David Uthos, the Red Dragon!" David replied with a beaming smile.

"Trademark my ass... Damn it!" Attilicia seethed with impotent fury. This was a desecration of his research. And yet, given the circumstances, he had nothing to say. He could only head through the Teleportation Gate early, pretending he hadn't seen anything. After all, making money to pay off debts was more important than his own sour mood. I can't let my son, who invested all the research funds, lose everything, can I?

Yet, two hours later, David came out with an alchemy bottle shaped like a fructose candy, coiled at the tip of his tail, and handed it to Attilicia. "This is problematic. The usual methods can't dissolve it. We can't just add saliva, can we?"

Attilicia looked at his son as if he were an idiot. "Wouldn't that trigger the potion's magical transformation process prematurely?"

He just didn't understand. His son didn't grasp much basic alchemical knowledge, yet he could seemingly learn his alchemical processes with just a glance. It was ridiculous... So much so that he even began to doubt draconic life itself: Does possessing divinity truly make one superior? Can one really do whatever one pleases with it? He just couldn't comprehend!

"Forget it. We'll just sell it like this. Anyway, with the stuff I added, its effects aren't much different from the Anger Potion."

"But it probably won't stay hidden for long," Attilicia stated with conviction. The ingredients and even the magical particle structure had changed. Any Alchemist who reverse-engineered it would spot the difference.

"So, are we doing this or not?" David goaded him.

"Damn it all, let's do it!" Attilicia decided, throwing caution to the wind.

CREAK. Just then, Shalaina, who had just finished work at the academy, returned with Tania from school.

After some brief pleasantries, while Shalaina went to the kitchen to prepare a Dragon Food meal for David's family, Tania approached them. Her expression was strangely grim as she handed over a folded newspaper she had sneakily brought back. "Dad, Dad, look what I found!"

Then, the two dragons' eyes widened.

"Huh... What in the world is this?"

David—or rather, an illustration of David in his Red Dragon form—had made the papers...