CHAPTER 945: THE DRAGON CRUCIBLE

You know that old saying? Some things are pointless to talk about, but not talking about them doesn’t help either.

That’s exactly where Kraken found himself.

Faced with Isabella’s congratulations—laced with a jealousy so sharp it soured the air—he had no idea what to say.

He couldn’t bring himself to flex on her, not when his win was so clearly her loss.

Just as the silence was stretching into truly awkward territory, Alexander’s form materialized in the Leonidas Palace.

That was unusual.

As the crew’s spymaster, Alexander usually operated in the shadows, a ghost perpetually wrapped up in a dozen different secrets. For him to show up in person meant something was up.

"Alexander. A situation?" Leonidas asked, pushing himself up from his lounge chair and pulling an identical one from his inventory right next to him.

"Intel just came in," Alexander said, skipping the pleasantries. "The dragons are massing forces on Dragonflame Island. We’re seeing an exponential increase in troop deployment. Their intent to escalate is getting more blatant by the day."

He took the goblet of wine Leonidas offered, downing a good portion before continuing.

"The next phase is going to be messy. We’re looking at a massive expansion of the conflict. Even if it’s not the final showdown, this is going to be an all-out war."

Alexander’s gaze settled on Kraken. "It’s time to unleash those armies you’ve been building up in the rear. We can’t let the enemy, or anyone else watching from the shadows, think we’re a pushover."

Kraken nodded grimly. He knew what he had to do.

Alexander’s eyes then swept over Orion and Isabella, finally landing on Orion.

"The Deputy Commander set up a solid defensive magical formation on Dusk Continent, but once the war kicks off, don’t expect things to stay quiet. Forget the dragonkin who might send a few raiding parties for shits and giggles; the local heretic factions alone are going to be a massive headache."

He then glanced at Isabella.

"Isabella’s faction is too new. She doesn’t have the resources. She’ll be struggling to play defense, let alone go on the offensive."

If Kraken’s promotion to arch lord had been a gut punch, Alexander’s blunt assessment was like him grinding salt into the wound.

Isabella just bowed her head, looking crushed.

"Patrolling the continent and mopping up the heretics will fall to your people," Alexander said to Orion. "Arthas will have the undead armies from the two graveyards support you."

Orion nodded. The plan was already in motion.

Clymene had been pulled back from the front lines specifically to lead the stoneheart horde’s armies in a full-scale purge of the continent’s remaining rogue factions. Her mission was to eliminate any internal threats and defend against any incursions that came during the war.

Of course, Clymene wouldn’t be enough on her own. Arthas would be sending undead armies to back her up, including more than a few Legendary level powerhouses.

Orion technically had another Legendary at his disposal—Soraya—but she would never leave the city of Lorelia unless it was a dire emergency. The cross-realm teleportation array in Red Moon Valley was simply too critical to the stoneheart horde.

"Alexander, you coming here yourself... does this mean something big is about to drop?" Leonidas asked, his instincts sharp.

Alexander drained his goblet, the silence hanging in the air for a moment before he looked at Leonidas and Orion.

"Brace yourselves. The next wave won’t be as easy as the last one."

He knew about the six demigod phantoms that had appeared on Dragonflame Island. He knew, but he couldn’t say it out loud. Not with Kraken, Makareth, and Isabella here. Announcing an enemy force of that magnitude would crush their morale before the fight even started.

So, he opted for silence. But for veterans like Leonidas and Orion, that silence was a warning in itself.

Harder than last time, Orion thought. Harder than the white dragon avatar of Mondusath, the Great Dragon King of Light. That can only mean one thing: demigod phantoms. Or maybe even a demigod’s true form.

"Hah! So what if it’s dragons?" Leonidas boomed, breaking the tension as he flopped back into his chair. "It’s not like we haven’t slayed them before. What’s the big deal?"

He suddenly sat bolt upright again, as if a thought had just struck him. He turned to Alexander.

"Hey, I remember you had the Building plans for a ’Dragon Crucible’ or something, right? The enemy is literally a faction of dragons. Why haven’t you built one?"

Alexander shrugged, his tone deceptively casual. "Not my territory."

It wasn’t a cop-out; he genuinely didn’t hold any land on Dusk Continent. The city he was currently operating out of still officially belonged to Isabella. Then again, with Blade Hall establishing branches in every major gathering place, owning territory was almost a technicality.

"Isabella’s out," Alexander continued, his words sharp. "She doesn’t have the resources, the foundation, or the manpower. If you want a Dragon Crucible built, talk to Hulk."

As he spoke, a wooden box flew from his hand, landing softly in Orion’s grasp.

Under the burning gazes of Kraken, Makareth, and Isabella, Orion opened the box.

Inside lay a stack of parchments covered in dense, intricate script. He picked up the top sheet, his eyes widening as he scanned the contents.

"This is... insane," Orion breathed. He placed the blueprint back in the box and handed it to Kraken for him and the others to see.

The Dragon Crucible was a unique structure. It could process the corpses and blood of dragons, stripping out their essential power and infusing it directly into bloodline warriors.

A warrior enhanced by the Crucible could awaken new bloodline abilities, with a chance to upgrade their entire bloodline, boosting both their innate talent and their ultimate potential.

For any faction relying on bloodline warriors below the Legendary level, it was a game-changer. For Kraken, Makareth, and Isabella, it was a path to rapidly leveling up their entire race. For the stoneheart horde, it was a godsend.

"Fuck, all those dragons we turned into undead..." Kraken muttered, his voice thick with regret. "What a waste!"

"Kill them all..."

"We’re gonna farm them into extinction!"

"Besides my personal colossal dragon, you guys can slay every single dragon you see!"

Reading the blueprint’s description was like a shot of pure adrenaline. Kraken, Makareth, and Isabella were completely fired up, their eyes glinting with a newfound bloodlust for all things draconic.

"Bro," Orion said, ever the pragmatist. "There’s a catch, isn’t there? A structure this OP can’t be easy to build."

"You can’t just slap it together with common materials," Alexander confirmed. "The foundation requires ore with extremely high elemental energy concentrations. Then you need a mage who’s an expert in magical formations to inscribe the runic arrays. Even then, there’s only a chance it will succeed."

He paused.

"This isn’t like the schematics we get from survivor chests. This tech was most likely incubated by a powerful Awakened from another world. I stumbled across the complete dataset by pure chance. We tried building it a few times before... the results were promising."