Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

“But…,” Naeli said anxiously.

“No buts, I know you care about your appearance and really despise the undead, especially those rotten and stinky zombies. But now you’re an Undead Dragon, you don’t have to worry about that. Even if you were a Corpse Dragon, Lisa could still make you smooth and gorgeous, isn’t that right, Lisa?” The latter half was addressed to Lisa.

“Yes, no problem, but you’re too big, and your magic resistance is high, so it’s going to be expensive. How about you choose a local skin softening treatment, just for your face?” Lisa replied.

“I… I…”

“Don’t worry, we have…” Negris continued to console, but before finished speaking, Naeli scratched his face with a claw.

“Shut up, let me finish”, she snapped. “I worry about a tornado as much as a dragon bothers with a flea, the fact is, I’m just too happy, too excited! I’m immortal now!”

“You don’t understand, after I turned 8000 years old, my body began to deteriorate. Even my predictive abilities fluctuated. It drove me crazy. I’ve dreamt of immortality. If only I knew you could help me be reborn sooner, I would have followed you ages ago,” Naeli confessed, spinning around excitedly.

“Uh…” Negris was taken aback. Turns out she wasn’t scared, but too excited to speak. He’d completely misunderstood.

Well, if she doesn’t mind becoming an Undead Dragon, then there’s no need to comfort her anymore.

Anthony floated over, tentatively asking Negris, “Uh, Lord of Knowledge, I just heard you guys mentioning something about prediction. Is it the unique predictive abilities that Bronze Dragons have?”

“Uh, yes, that kind of prediction,” Negris responded somewhat reluctantly.

If Anthony was that easy to dismiss, he wouldn’t have made it to Cardinal. He ignored Negris’ tone and continued questioning:

“I’ve always heard that Bronze Dragons can predict the future and pre-empt their enemies’ moves in fights. I was wondering how an adult Bronze Dragon could be killed by a Flying Knight. It just doesn’t add up.”

Naeli, who was hopping about excitedly there, turned and glared at Anthony. “I didn’t die in battle against the Flying people, I died of old age! I was ten thousand years old, what is there to question?” she replied angrily.

Negris quickly pacified Naeli and turned to Anthony, “I know what you want to ask. You’ve asked me many times before. Fine, we only have three Bronze Dragons left, so it doesn’t matter if I reveal our secrets. I will give you a detailed explanation.”

“We, the Three Ancient Dragons; Bronze, Green Copper, Red Copper – also known as the Prophet, Time, and Space Dragons, respectively – possess abilities of future prediction, time stoppage, and spatial teleportation. As Bronze Dragons, our predictive ability manifests in anticipating our enemy’s attacks.”

Anthony gasped in shock, “So the rumors are true. You really do control time, space, and the future. So, aren’t the Ancient Dragons invincible?”

“Sigh.” Negris seemed regretful. “If only it were so simple. As Bronze Dragons, we can see snippets of the future, but it’s vague whether it’s years or days ahead. It’s only when that moment arrives that we realize the future has come.”

“As for prediction, it’s even more useless. What’s the use of prediction if against an enemy strong enough to force us to use it? Even if they warned me they aimed to hit my face, I still couldn’t dodge. In the end, our claws and dragon breath are the most effective in battle. The only benefit might be that we can predict our own death.”

“Time and Space Dragon are the same. Time stops, but they freeze too. Spatial teleportation is relatively more practical, unless it’s for pursuit or evasion.”

“Moreover, once we reach seven or eight thousand years old, our abilities degenerate, sometimes working, sometimes not. It’s even worse than not having them.”

Anthony was dumbfounded. How different this was to the legends, where Ancient Dragons controlling time, space, and prophecy were practically invincible. Only those immune to their abilities, kings, and deities had the qualifications to be their enemy. But in Negris’s mouth, these abilities seemed so worthless?

“You don’t believe it?” Negris questioned.

“No.” Anthony shook his head.

“Sigh, if these abilities were so useful, would I have been dragged to death by Steadfast Locke like a dead dog? I foresaw Locke’s arrival, but what could I do? He simply came. Barehanded, I foresaw his fists aiming for my face, I dodged and sidestepped but couldn’t avoid it.”

Negris said in frustration.

Anthony patted Negris’ shoulder in consolation. It appeared that he had developed a psychological trauma after his fight with Locke. But Anthony didn’t believe that prognosticative abilities would be useless. It’s just that they were ineffective against far stronger adversaries.

“This is why the Dragon God created the Gold, Silver, and Black Dragons, to increase the fighting power of the Dragon Clan. And why he created the Red, Green, and Blue Dragons, to expand the number of the Dragon Clan. Since our Ancient Dragons are on the verge of extinction, I’m not afraid to say it, it’s because we Ancient Dragons are too weak that there are so many kinds of dragons now.”

“You’re not weak at all. Even by your size alone, you overpower other species. You’re very strong, almost as powerful as the Black Dragons,” Anthony constantly reassured.