"Dragon Dad, are you going to walk the path of divine enthronement?"
As she lay atop one of the Golden Dragon’s scales, the young girl clung tightly to the edge of the scale while stretching her neck to look down at the mountains and rivers below. Witnessing the many dragon subjects prostrating in worship under the radiance of the Holy Dragon, she couldn’t help but ask.
"Divine enthronement? I’m not interested."
Without a moment’s hesitation or thought, Noah provided an answer.
Ascending to Legend, elevating one’s realm, increasing fame, gathering faith, consolidating divinity, igniting the divine fire, raising the divine throne, seizing a divine position, acquiring divine status, achieving eternity—this is the path almost all Legends aspire to take.
But not all Legends choose this path, because it is not the only way. There is another, more arduous and obscure path unknown to many Legends.
The Dragon King Road, also referred to as the Epic Path.
This path is exceedingly difficult, but its costs and rewards are proportional. Unlike becoming a Divine being maintained by faith, the Dragon King does not need any worship, as his achievements stem from his own power, not the offerings of all living beings.
Of course, even if Noah chose to embark on this path, he still has a long way to go; this is not something he should be concerned about right now.
"Since you’re not interested in divine enthronement, why do you maintain such a vast territory? And why do you update and publish Noah’s Book every year?"
In her view, since childhood, Dragon Dad has been writing and spreading his ideas, as well as knowledge and techniques that genuinely improve the lives of the common people. After gaining enough power, he established an ideal land on the continent that aligned with everyone’s vision, attracting countless people to seek refuge.
If all this isn’t about divine enthronement, then what is it for?
"If a reason is necessary, it’s simply because I like it, I am willing, and I want to. There is no other purpose."
Noah responded to his daughter’s confusion, then posed a question of his own, expressing his own perplexity,
"Why do you think there always needs to be a reason to do something? Sometimes, you can simply do it just because you want to, just to pass the time, or merely because something rubs you the wrong way. Aren’t these enough as reasons?"
"But this is all your one-sided effort; you haven’t gained anything from it!"
This was the part Gwen couldn’t comprehend the most. In her eyes, the Golden Dragon made countless one-sided efforts to establish territory and gain the people’s recognition and the following of dragon groups. But in terms of actual gains, without aiming for divine enthronement, there seems to be none.
Let alone a dragon, no living creature would unilaterally make an effort for no purpose.
Pure fame and the admiration of short-lived species mean nothing to a dragon whose lifespan is counted in millennia.
When faith is not required, these become meaningless.
"No, you just haven’t seen my gains. In fact, I’ve gained a lot."
The benefits Noah referred to were naturally the Golden Tree, but he had never disclosed its existence to anyone, not even Gwen. Hence, there was a significant misunderstanding in her understanding of Noah’s words.
"Dragon Dad, I’m sorry, I was too utilitarian!"
The girl mistakenly believed that what Noah pursued was a seemingly ethereal and ideal path, akin to that of a Paladin, who doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice their life for the justice and goodness they uphold.
This is also something incomprehensible to the world, given that their efforts and the actual material returns they receive are not proportional, nor even comparable.
Using worldly values to measure a Paladin’s actions is an insult to the Paladin.
Noah burst into laughter, but did not explain further, as he wasn’t ready to reveal the existence of the Golden Tree to anyone, even if he believed himself to be the strongest in the world.
Upon awakening from deep sleep, soaring through the sky, and wandering over the Elidis Mountains, Noah had already sorted through the power he now possessed.
He fell into a deep sleep at the age of one hundred and three, with the deep sleep lasting five years. He was now one hundred and eight years old, and his body had grown to ninety-two meters in length, a size unattainable for most Ancient Dragons, even Ancient Golden Dragons.
Do know, even a Primordial Golden Dragon at twelve hundred years of age would only be about seventy to eighty meters long.
This is the largest known dragon species in existence, even Red Dragons slightly fall short, yet still cannot compare to Noah, who had just entered his youth.
It’s not an understatement to say that Noah had transcended the category of ordinary dragons, comparing ordinary dragon statistics with Noah would only serve to highlight his terrifying nature.
The colossal dragon body Noah possessed was not merely an empty shell, his muscles, bones, flesh, and the strength of his scales far exceeded those of dragon species.
Even in the same size and posture, with his Ancestral Dragon bloodline, he could crush his kin, let alone now with his greater size.
Unless having an Ancestral Dragon bloodline, no dragon could compete with him in this aspect, even within the Dragon Clan, there was no match for him, and outside the Dragon Clan, how many creatures could rival him?
Undeniably, such creatures do exist, but in his world, on the Xilantia Continent where he operated, how many were there? How many could there be?