"..." The old Red Dragon fell silent for a moment.

Just as he was about to speak to salvage some dignity for his old face...

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM...

It was as if David's youthful Red Dragon mouth was blessed; ominous cumulonimbus clouds pressed in from the southwest. In the blink of an eye, a torrential downpour began. This area was near the center of the original marsh's low-lying terrain. Almost instantly, converging streams of water surged towards the old Red Dragon's newly claimed and remodeled Black Dragon lair, flooding it. When the water met the lava inside, smoke and steam instantly billowed, creating a scene reminiscent of a fairyland...

A furious, guttural sound ripped from the old Red Dragon's throat! For the first time since arriving on the Elariya plane, he was truly enraged.

The next moment, a torrent of Fire Dragon Breath erupted skyward like a volcano, momentarily scattering the oppressive black clouds.

But this old Red Dragon was, after all, merely a legendary Red Dragon, a veritable walking disaster, not a Demigod whose power could shake the heavens and move the earth. How could he contend with the forces of nature? Especially not this annual rainy season, which seemed driven by the very will of the heavens.

Seeing the old dragon struggling for breath, his fury choked by the deluge, David couldn't bear to watch. He soared into the sky, spreading his claws and wings, Magic Power surged from him as he unleashed: Control Celestials!

At last, he managed to temporarily divert the densely packed cumulonimbus clouds somewhat. However, this seventh-circle spell could only manipulate the weather within a few miles' radius. It continued to rain everywhere else, the water still silently flooding in, but this act at least preserved some dignity for the ancestral Red Dragon.

"You, a Red Dragon, can actually cast such... magic?" Christoph paused, then decided against calling it 'useless'.

"Didn't you just say my dad was a Silver Dragon? I 'learned' it from him," David replied, flicking his tail.

He then dispensed with pleasantries and asked directly, "Spit it out. What do you want?"

He wanted to loosen the old dragon's tongue as soon as possible so he could extract some treasure to alleviate the cash flow problems in his territory.

However, the old dragon completely avoided the topic. Instead, with the tip of his tail, he retrieved a letter with a gold-embossed, fire-lacquer seal from a crevice between his chest scales and handed it to David. "A personal letter from Lord Ephelomon," he said, "for you."

It was a letter—an invitation from Barto Hell. More than that, it was a personal letter from Ephelomon, Tiamat's highly esteemed Red Dragon Vassal from Barto Hell. A rarity indeed.

No Red Dragon, especially one from the Sed Ponga lineage, could be ignorant of this name.

For it was this very Ephelomon who had ventured into the Astral Plane, signed a pact with Valakis, the First Emperor of the Githyanki, granted him a ruby-adorned, dragon-shaped scepter, and uttered the words:

"Advance and conquer all."

This Red Dragon was also the true progenitor of their Sed Ponga lineage.

David was genuinely stunned.

The feeling was akin to being back on Blue Star, first having his great-great-great-grandfather climb out of his grave to argue over the family inheritance, and now receiving an invitation directly from Emperor Qin from the underworld...

Yes, strictly speaking, this was an invitation.

It invited him, a distinguished descendant of Sed Ponga, to report to the United Front Department at Evil Scale Fortress in Barto Hell for indoctrination and advanced training.

Of course, this was by no means a mandatory order.

According to the letter, such invitations weren't exclusive to him; they were extended to all outstanding young Chromatic Dragons across the Multiverse.

David sank into deep shock and contemplation. The Chromatic Dragon Queen can already deploy troops to other planes on a large scale. This arrangement is clearly the prelude to an interplanar war. And now, does this mean they're forming a Chromatic Dragon version of the 'Whampoa Military Academy'?

Seeing David's expression, Christoph finally gave a knowing smile, his tail gesturing skyward. "Isn't this inevitable?" he said.

David sighed. Yes, so that's why the Dragon Queen is doing this. It seems Her Majesty Tiamat is determined to obtain the War God's divine portfolio. Only by securing the War God's portfolio can she maximize her gains in the ensuing interplanar wars. After all, engaging in conflict and war is, in itself, an expression of her divine role, allowing her to convert and harvest the faith of her enemies' followers. This is a pure case of war fueling war, a snowball effect in the making.