Rebirth as a Time Dragon

"The war is still winding down, not completely over."

"Once the war is fully concluded and the other Dragon Gods have more free time, I'll request their assistance."

Garon pondered silently.

"Also, I have two Abyssal layers taken from the Lord of Wrath and the God of Gnolls."

"If I merge these layers into the Hero Domain... No, it's too dangerous. The Abyss is not to be trifled with. Attempting to seize Abyssal layers would invite severe retaliation."

At the end of the War of Order and Chaos, a small pantheon grew overconfident and descended into the Abyss, destroying one of its layers, only to be completely annihilated by the Abyssal consciousness in retaliation.

Attempting to take the Abyssal layers posed too great a risk compared to the potential rewards.

In fact, only the Dragon Court, created by the dragons themselves, was suitable for merging into the Hero Domain.

Seizing a layer from any other outer plane would provoke a strong counterattack from its consciousness, and the resident gods would never allow it.

After a period of contemplation, Garon focused on the other divine kingdoms within the Hero Domain.

There weren't many gods in the Hero Domain, and they weren't particularly powerful.

The God of Strength and Courage and the former Fire Giant God were the strongest among them.

Now, with the Fire Giant God dead and the God of Strength and Courage having abandoned his divine kingdom and left, the remaining gods were not a concern.

If they wished to stay in the Hero Domain, Garon wouldn't forcibly expel them. However, as the Hero Domain gradually became a stronghold for more and more dragons, these gods would likely leave on their own due to a sense of impending crisis.

In fact, the gods of the Hero Domain were already looking for ways out.

When the Dragon God System obtained the Hero's Crown, they had started making preparations for their departure.

Any pantheon that could control an outer plane would naturally want to make it their stronghold, and the gods understood this well.

After spending some more time deepening his understanding of the Hero Domain and studying his abilities there, Garon left the Heroic Spirit Hall and entered the divine kingdom overlapping with it.

The divine kingdom of the God of Strength and Courage had no distinguishing features.

Restored to his original size, Garon surveyed the landscape, noticing only some gigantic mountain peaks resembling colossal exercise equipment.

Since he couldn't take his divine kingdom with him, the God of Strength and Courage had willingly abandoned it, severing all connections and clearing out his divine power and will.

This divine kingdom was now unowned.

However, taking control of an unowned divine kingdom wasn't easy.

To become the new master, one would need to permeate every inch of the divine kingdom with their divine power, reweaving its rules according to their will. The advantage of an unowned divine kingdom was merely saving the materials needed to create one.

This was timely for Garon.

Given his current resources, creating another divine kingdom would be difficult.

When God Garon created his first divine kingdom, it was with the help of the Dragon Gods, cobbling together the necessary materials.

This was the benefit of having a pantheon. A new god without such support would spend countless ages gathering materials and constructing their divine kingdom, all the while fearing attacks from evil or malevolent gods.

"However, since God Garon hasn't fully resurrected, this divine kingdom is of no use to me."

The foundation of a divine kingdom is extraordinary divine power.

Garon had stripped his divine power to create God Garon, so his main body did not possess extraordinary divine power.

In the empty divine kingdom, inhabited only by some mindless magical creatures, Garon quickly left after a brief survey.

Outside the Heroic Spirit Hall.

Under the watchful eyes of countless heroic spirits, their Heroic Spirit King hovered nearby and extended his dragon claw.

A dazzling, dream-like tetrahedral crystal appeared, radiating a captivating light.

"My people, I need your faith."

"From now on, put aside all other activities and focus on worshipping the Dragon of Eternity and Time. I want to hear your sincere prayers resound throughout the Hero Domain."

For ordinary beings, you couldn't simply command faith and expect true devotion.

But heroic spirits were different.

To them, the Heroic Spirit King was inherently their deity.

Upon receiving Garon's command, the heroic spirits began to pray, their hearts filled with faith in the Dragon of Eternity and Time.

In Garon's perception, their bodies began to glow, and over time, pure white threads of faith coalesced from all directions, converging towards God Garon's divinity.

The strength of the faith a deity receives depends on several factors.

The number of followers, the sincerity of their faith, and the quality of the followers themselves. The heroic spirits, though not numerous, were supremely devout and high-quality heroic souls, providing substantial faith power.

The domain where the divinity resides does not affect the absorption of faith power.

However, Garon himself stayed in the Hero Domain to absorb and convert its life energy, deciding to remain there long-term.

During this period, Garon returned to the Dragon Court and took a portion of its accumulated treasures.

Inside the Heroic Spirit Hall, Garon used space-folding magic to create a dragon's nest and placed the aesthetically pleasing treasures within.

This was only temporary.

Once the Dragon Court was relocated, Garon would move the Heroic Spirit Hall to the Dragon Court layer, merging it with the Eternal Hall.

Yes, the Heroic Spirit Hall, the core of the Hero Domain, could be moved.

Before entering the Heroic Spirit Hall, Garon hadn't known this, and neither had the God of Strength and Courage, otherwise, he wouldn't have given up his divine kingdom so easily.

The situation gradually stabilized.

The Metal Dragon God tirelessly built his divine kingdom, progressing quickly.

He had no shortage of materials and plenty of experience.

Garon, as the Heroic Spirit King, resided in the Heroic Spirit Hall, focusing on absorbing life energy. Yuna joined him, leaving the Dragon Court to stay in the Heroic Spirit Hall.

At this moment, inside the dragon's nest within the Heroic Spirit Hall.

The silver dragon spread his wings, lying on a bed of gold and silver gems, surrounded by a milky, vast life energy that flowed into his body like a stream, nourishing his physique alongside the river of time.

Next to the silver dragon, a power dragon with diamond-like scales reflecting the light of the treasures in a rainbow of colors, was snuggled close.

The intertwining of power and time energies allowed Yuna to absorb some life energy as well.

Only the Heroic Spirit King could absorb life energy besides the heroic spirits, but Yuna was an exception.

Initially, the Metal Dragon God tried to stay close to Garon, hoping to share the life energy, but found it impossible. Yuna's ability to absorb some life energy was due to the unique interaction between power and time energies.

And so, time passed by second by second.

In the blink of an eye, it was the forty-third year of the Dragon-Giant War.

After the Giant Pantheon was annihilated, twenty more years of relentless pursuit nearly drove the giants to extinction. The few survivors were scattered and hidden, barely clinging to existence.

Nearly extinct.

Even so, the dragons did not abandon their goal of exterminating the giants.

They issued a bounty: any creature that killed a giant and presented its head to a nearby dragon would receive a generous reward.

Initially, intelligent creatures feared the dragons and hesitated to try.

But some dared to venture, and after killing a hidden giant, they dared to go to the dragons' territories to claim their reward. They left with a pile of treasures, unharmed.

With the dragons now prosperous and feared, fewer dared to hunt them.

Driven by profit, a giant-hunting frenzy ensued.

The remaining giants dwindled further.

In the forty-fifth year of the Dragon-Giant War, the war was officially declared over.

Like the War of Glory, the dragons named this war the War of Vengeance, signifying the avenging of the humiliation of the Dragonfall War.

Other races also had their names for this war.

The most widespread name was the War of Giant Extermination.

These few words starkly and brutally reflected the outcome of the war.

This all-out victory, especially the extermination of the opposing deities and near-extinction of the giants, greatly boosted the dragons' faith in their gods.

After the War of Glory and the War of Vengeance.

The previous state where dragons respected but rarely worshipped their gods changed entirely.

However, despite being the victors, the war had taken a toll on the dragons, reducing their numbers by about thirty percent. The effects of the increased faith had not yet manifested.

After the war, the dragons occupied the former territories of the giants, beginning to recuperate and breed on a large scale, encouraged and rewarded by the Dragon Gods to expand their population.

Typically, a dragon would only be willing to raise one clutch of offspring, regardless of how many were in that clutch.

However, a healthy adult dragon, if willing, could reproduce easily until they became an old dragon.

Therefore, the Dragon Gods issued a divine decree.

For dragons that raised three clutches of eggs, all expenses for raising the hatchlings would be reimbursed by the Dragon Gods with treasures.

For those that raised four clutches, expenses would be reimbursed, and they would receive additional treasures worth ten times the expenses.

For young adult dragons lacking wealth, this was the easiest way to get their first fortune!

For those that raised five clutches, expenses would be reimbursed, and they would receive treasures worth fifteen times the expenses.

Each additional clutch would increase the reward by fivefold, up to ten clutches.

Dragons that

 raised more than ten clutches would receive treasures and a blessing from the Dragon Gods, gaining a chance for transformative change.

Of course, these rewards required properly raising their offspring, not just feeding them minimally.

The Dragon of Life and the Dragon of Wealth were specifically assigned to oversee the breeding process, tallying the costs of raising offspring and assessing the hatchlings' health.

Since faith could be harvested, this wasn't a thankless task, and the two Dragon Gods happily took on the responsibility.

In fact, with the territories of giants and elves now under their control, most dragons' territories had expanded several times, making it easier to raise offspring, and they didn't mind the task.

Coupled with the Dragon Gods' incentives, a breeding boom among the dragons began.

A phrase spread among the dragons: Four clutches fill the belly, five clutches make you rich, six clutches bring freedom, and ten clutches let you soar!

However, even for dragons capable of self-fertilization, producing ten clutches was extremely challenging, achievable only by those with exceptional talent.

Despite this, many dragons were driven to crazed breeding for the chance of receiving the Dragon Gods' blessings, secluding themselves in their nests.

In the short term, the Dragon Gods had to part with much of their treasure.

But this was undoubtedly a beneficial measure. A flourishing dragon population meant more believers, enhancing the Dragon Gods' divine power, making the treasures seem insignificant. Strong divine power would bring endless resources.

When the population recovered and expanded, and faith grew, the Dragon Gods' power would leap forward.

Meanwhile, in the upper planes led by Mount Celestia, an even larger assembly of gods convened.

This time, no Dragon Gods were invited.

The God of Light privately contacted the Metal Dragon God and Garon, informing them of the proceedings.

In essence, the gods would issue decrees to their followers, increasing hostility towards dragons and targeting them in various ways, viewing dragons as a major threat to the multiverse.

The victories in two wars had indeed made the dragons more prosperous and renowned.

But this had a downside.

Tall trees catch the wind.

The dragons became a target, feared and loathed by other races, leading to concerted efforts to suppress them, especially with divine backing, unafraid of the Dragon Gods' protection.

A term of unknown origin spread widely, used to describe the dragons.

[Calamity of the Multiverse].

The destruction caused by dragons was widely termed as Dragon Catastrophe.

Catastrophe was a highly negative term.

Driven by the gods, kingdoms of intelligent beings ceased trade with dragon lords, deepening their enmity towards dragons. Dragon-hunting resumed, and the deeds of dragon slayers were celebrated.

Under these divine restrictions, the dragons, still recovering from the war, were mired in a quagmire.

This wasn't a direct confrontation but a subtle, pervasive suppression by many gods, restraining the dragons' recovery.

The Dragon Gods didn't rage meaninglessly but pondered strategies, responding with calm and rationality.

Putting themselves in others' shoes, they understood that as non-dragon deities, facing a resurgent dragon race like a storm, they would also act. No one wanted the Dragon God System to become hegemonic again, overshadowing other gods.

Especially while the dragons were still weak.

The gods wouldn't miss this opportunity.

Facing this suppression, the Dragon Gods had no immediate solution.

Breaking the deadlock required greater power that would make the gods wary, preventing covert suppression.

Thus, the Dragon Gods redoubled their efforts, cautiously sending apostles into the Fiery Hell, seeking clues for reviving the Nine-Faced Dragon God, but to no avail.

In such a context.

Inside the dragon's nest in the Heroic Spirit Hall in the Sky Garden of the Hero Domain.

A pair of platinum dragon eyes slowly opened.

Garon stretched his wings, waking from over a decade of slumber, flexing his muscles before examining himself.

Another black ring had formed on his body, located on his abdomen, which he kept hidden as it looked odd. His normal body size had also grown slightly, but at his level, size mattered little. His full form could rival a world.

Apart from that, his appearance hadn't changed much.

Regarding his power, having absorbed life energy during his slumber, he had made significant progress. His biological level had risen from seventy to seventy-six, nearing pseudo-mid-level divine power.

Yuna's biological level had risen from sixty-one to sixty-five. Over just ten years, this was impressive, almost inconceivable to ordinary gods, though it seemed ordinary compared to Garon.

As her life level increased, Yuna's progress hadn't stopped, but catching up to Garon was now impossible.

When Garon reached pseudo-mid-level divine power, Yuna would still be at pseudo-weak divine power, and star core refinement wouldn't help her achieve such significant gains again.

"At this level, breaking through becomes increasingly difficult."

"But pseudo-mid-level divine power is close, and reaching pseudo-greater divine power will be even harder, even with the Hero Domain's assistance."

After examining his state, Garon's eyes flickered as he absorbed recent events.

"Calamity of the Multiverse?"

"The gods' united suppression of dragons in all aspects is more dangerous than open war, but it can't be resolved immediately. We'll have to take it step by step."

Garon pondered the situation.

"Aside from reviving the Nine-Faced Dragon God, I'll keep thinking..."

"In the Abyss, the demon lords are also stirring, making things more chaotic."

"If the situation stabilizes and a Demon King emerges, the gods' focus will shift, leaving them less time to target the dragons. Thus, using Abyssal forces could break the deadlock, though it risks Abyssal backlash."

Garon didn't ponder for long.

This wasn't something to solve in one session; brooding was pointless.

He turned his gaze to another part of the Heroic Spirit Hall.

A silver dragon, similar in appearance to himself and radiating divine light, lay there, eyes closed, continuously absorbing faith from all directions.

Through the heroic spirits and dragon believers' ceaseless prayers, God Garon had resurrected.

However, God Garon's form still seemed somewhat unreal, his divine body unstable, with the divinity faintly visible.

Complete resurrection required more time.

Reviving a deity wasn't simple. Achieving the current state in over twenty years was remarkable, thanks to the heroic spirits' faith, the dragon believers' devotion, and the Dragon Gods' assistance. The Wind Elemental Queen had also visited the Hero Domain once, gifting a solid Reviving God Wind Crystal, crucial in forming God Garon's divine body.

The other deceased Dragon Gods were still struggling to revive, not yet having formed a divine body.

Turning to his companion, Garon saw Yuna still soundly asleep, not waking with his return to consciousness.

Now both were adult dragons, even more prone to sleep than in their youth.

Garon donned the Hero's Crown and sat on the Heroic Spirit Throne, his body at the center of the rule chains, beginning to repair the Fire Realm layer.

Even with the Dragon Court merged, the Fire Realm still needed restoration.

In his focused efforts, time flowed like the river of time.

Seconds turned into minutes, until...

The little dragon on the throne suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze sharp.

With a swipe of his claw, space rippled, creating a rift.

A beautiful ice crystal feather floated out, trembling uncontrollably, emitting intense cold that rapidly lowered the temperature, filling the air with frost.

"Ani's Feather, gifted to me by Anivia, has always been quiet. Why is it suddenly like this?"

Garon didn't act rashly. He quietly observed the feather's change, sensing something was about to happen.

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