They gave him a lead plate tag with his name on it. Him. Like he was some mammal.

"This is degrading!" Radais complained to his loyal servant, as they travelled in a carriage through the roads of Eilla. The news had put him in a foul mood. "Lead? Lead!"

"My Lord adventurer starts with a lead plate," Vandal explained, the wind on his face while he was driving the carriage. "That's the ranks. Lead, copper, iron, bronze, silver, gold, mithril, vibranium, adamantium. I used to be an adventurer too, Your Majesty."

"But you are a manling!" I'm a dragon, Prince! Also, why do the manlings put weirdly colour starmetals higher than brilliant gold? Are manlings stupid?

Zeinnairth agreed with the absurd ranking. "We are dragons human... Can your race fly? Can your kind breathe the elements? Can your presence make the weak beg for your lives? No, so why put gold in such a manner ranking?"

"I am a dragon. Can you manlings fly? Can you breathe fire that melts stone? Can you live forever? No, so why is that not enough for gold?"

"It's just how the rankings work, Your Majesty." servant Vandal explained. "Forgive my poor species, who do not know how to deal with you and your royal guard."

"Just this once!" Radais said, the carriage entering a dense forest, smelling the presence of trolls, monsters, and other beasts all around him.

Xion looked out the window. "Are these the troll woods?"

"Yes, My Lady. Trolls usually live in caves, if we look for one—"

"Manservant, I will not sully my peerless scales or skin, whatever you humans call it, with some troll's dung. I am a dragon, remember?" Radais broke the door to the carriage, taking flight into the sky. He took a long breath and then dived towards the woods. The core in his stomach lit up, the infernal power within turning the air into flames.

Ding! Core Type Unlocked [Amber] [Emerald]

He pulled mana from his core and sent a question out of his mind.

"Core..."

The sensation of building took place, and his mind popped.

Ding! Amber Core: Status [Lv1] 1/150

Crystalline Formation – Increases & Fuels Magic Abilities

Affinity: Fire

Ding! Emerlard Core : Status [Lv1] 1/150

Crystalline Formation – Increases & Fuels Magic Abilities

Affinity: Acid

The great calamity unleashed his mighty Dragonfire upon the forest, a torrent of dark, nearly raven black flames with green tint incinerating melting trees, animals, everything; Radais flew in a straight line around the forest, intending to make a full ring of acidic fire and trap the trolls—and whatever creatures unlucky enough to live with them—within.

Vandal can only sigh in surprise at the Prince's actions. "Your Majesty, what are you doing?!" He yelled through their mind link.

"What do you think, human? Doing what a dragon does." Larxene answered. Watching Radais for a second of Dragonfire.

It was his first time since donning this human flesh that he had used his fire in full force. The volume of fire was double what it was before the demon stronghold, and the liquid green fire was far more forceful in its ejection. The fire blasted in a narrow cone, reaching a peak of twelve meters from the Prince.

Radais roared as he used some of his mana this time, and that acidic flames came out even more powerful and deadly than before; they were a hot white with angry dark red wisps of mana that seemed to glue the fire to the ground and hit a target. A bear from what he can see. It howled and tried to roll around to extinguish the flames. However, the magical fire would not be put out even in the slightest; it simply spread over the bear steadily. Burning for far longer than it should have and long after, the bear stopped struggling. Radais finally flew over to the smoking corpse, rearing up and placing her front paws on the pleasantly warm surface.

He let out a massive roar of victory. The surrounding forest vibrated with it.

The dragonling took a celebratory chunk of cooked flesh from the defeated enemy and waited for his rewards.

Ding! For Slaying [Green Hag Lv15] x13 In Combat +57xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe [8] Levels Below Your Own [-8%] XP -2xp

……

Ding! For Slaying a Foe 5x Below Your Level [-50%] XP -14xp

Ding! Total XP +0xp

Ding! For Slaying [Goblin] x25 In Combat +88xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe [17] Levels Below Your Own [-17%] XP -16xp

……

Ding! For Slaying a Foe 2x Below Your Level [-30%] XP -30xp

Ding! Total XP +38xp

Ding! For Slaying [Rabbit Lv6] x10 In Combat +115xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe [6] Levels Below Your Own [-6%] XP -6xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe 2x Below Your Level [-20%] XP -21xp

Ding! Total XP +60xp

Ding! For Slaying [Bear Lv33] In Combat +479xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe [13] Levels Above Your Own [+13%] XP +49xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe 2x Your Level [+20%] XP +75xp

Ding! Total XP +501xp

....

Ding! Level Up x6…

Stats ….[20] [20] [4] [4]... X2

Zeinnairth smelled a bunch of these savage, green-skinned giants attempting to flee the coming flames, only for him to bombard them, spitting his iron shrapnel in a funnelling tunnel. The tunnel of iron contacted the ground, shredding the beasts, blasting the dirt and forming craters.

Congratulations! You gained a level in [Royal Berserker]!

+30 HP, +5 STR, +5 VIT!

Zeinnairth nodded at the mysterious word box. He awaited the declaration of a new Perk, but nothing came up. Maybe because his Prince mostly did all the work? The forest bordered several hills forming a natural frontier, and so Zeinnairth bombarded this area while Radais get the outer layer of the forest, intent on devastating the entire forest instead of just the troll's lair.

After a few minutes of firebombing and shrapnel-bombing the woodlands, Radais and Zeinnairth finished remaking the Woods of Gouendo into a nice, smoking, liquid metal hellscape. "There, the troll punks are dead!" Zeinnairth said, sitting on top of the carriage. "Now we back to the human and get the reward for Prince Radais."

"I like that plan, Zein.." Radais said, happy with his royal guard.

"Your Majesty, Sir Zeinnairth… would you to.." Vandal calmly pleaded, the ash-filled air making cough, "Destroying the entire area just because you want is a bad idea. Especially when you need to have proof to claim your rewards. Also, I'm not immune to your Dragonfire nor its after-effects."

"This must be your lack of scales," Larxene said from inside the carriage. "Well, I empathise with ya situation. I truly do, but what can we do? Not use our dragon breath? Why should we limit ourselves because of your congenital disability?”

"This smell bothers you, Vandal?" Xion asked. The youngling was looking at Vandal with confusion. She thought being a servant to her Prince's parents would make him not so weak. "Are you weak, Vandal?"

"No, my lady, but can you guys not use breath abilities anymore?"

Radais Knightsbane looked down on his insolent lackey. "Minion, what kind of ungrateful demand is that? Have I not given you an honest occupation? When I first found you were a slaver, a hooligan, weak human, working for scum. Now you are chief of staff. A butler to my wonderful but very annoying parents. Do not demand too much."

Vandal sighed at his master's scolding. "Well, at least you completed your first quest. I even got a level out of it, too."

"Well, of course you did. I did all the fighting." boasted Radais.

"Yes sir, I got a level in Dragon Knight when you made me your parents made your 'chief of staff,' and now I got another. I know little about this class... It's a custom class."

"What is a squire? Is it tasty?" Zeinnairth asked.

"It is the apprentice of a knight or a noble. They help them get ready for battle, do menial chores for their boss, and learn from them..."

"Ah, yes. A minion," said Radais.

"You are quite right about that."

Of course, the manlings would copy this honourable dragon institution. They learned from the best. Radais lay down on top of the carriage, waiting for his fires to die down. The iron youngling was in deep thought.

"Old man... Why didn't get these Perk? Is this system trying to cheat me?"

"It's only one per two levels, Sir Zeinnairth... and you need to use your class skill to get the exp.”

"Who the dumbass that decides that?" Zeinnairth growled. He quite hated fighting like those humans.

"The gods."

"These useless fuckers up in the heavens. My pops always claim they made the world when everyone knows dragons did it first. Tell me where they are, and I will give them...."

"A greeting?" Xion asked.

"A beatin' Yeah! A will crush those punks!"

Vandal gave him a strange, incredulous look. "Sir Zeinnairth, you just cannot beat up the Gods for they are not in the realm."

"Who cares about stupid gods... Manling, go down and recover what is mine!" Radais stopped the conversation and ordered Vandal.

"Your, Majesty?"

"According to what those human books and the woman with the cow utters. The trolls below should drop treasures when they die. You do not expect me to get down and sully myself with ashes?"

Vandal Savage glanced forward-looking at the fiery forest before them, then back at his master. "Your Majesty, I am not immune to fire, acid, or melted metal."

Not immune to—ah yes, he had omitted the failures of the human race. But, by the elder wyrm, how could the manlings avoid extinction so far? "Very well... We will delay my gratification until after the fires die down," Radais Knightsbane said. "Now we must go! But first, you need to tell me of your previous employer's crime and their location."

"Yes, My Lord."

No wonder these humans lowered themselves to hire slavers to enslave her kin. Larxene, too, would be bitter at living in a palace with only one tower.

Scouting ahead, she blended into the green environment with no difficulty. She may not be a full dragon anymore, but it doesn't mean she lost her camouflage abilities! Still, she feels pity for these humans with such small ling. The manlings would seethe in jealousy upon seeing her Lord's own lair when he builds. Until then, they would settle with the castle... that guild gave them after Radais gave them rare monster parts.

That castle had little stone walls, overseeing villages from above its mound, and staffed by manlings equipped with guns and arrows. They had fired a few of these toothpicks as Radais and that idiot Zeinnairth landed on their front door, with both retaliating, destroying their front gate. After they stopped, Radais had patiently waited for them to bring their master for a civilised chat.

"Larxene... get ready to kill their leader... According to the stories, they usually look like overweight, ugly males... Something about NTR bait or something?" Radais said in their native tongue.

"I got ya, Your Majesty," Larxene said, taking out her rune bow.

The castle overflowed with the smell of cats and felines, including lions, tigers, chimaeras, and even a sphinx, according to Larxene's nose. She had the best noise of the party. A flag representing a Gorechimera looking down to the world, much to the dragoness amusement. The flag waved in the wind, revealing the symbol of a guild Larxene saw back in the human guild.

Larxene was surprised at how a legal guild was involved with slavery. It doesn't matter... Maybe they had Hydras? It had been a while since she last have eaten them.

"I have been wondering, Vandal, what does Marquise mean in your language?"

Vandal answers his question with a bow. "That means she's a noble lady."

A noble lady? Radais's head perked up. Was this to be his first princess?. "Is she a princess?"

"A princess? No, she is not. Why?"

Disappointing. "I wanted to start my family business."

Vandal blinked. "Does Your Majesty wish to kidnap princesses?"

"Yes...” Radais said, fondly remembering the stories his father told him of all the beautiful kidnapping of princesses. "This is a very popular sport among dragonkind since the red dragon Deathwing ransomed the manling, Princess Silvermoon, a hundred thousand years ago. Turing the skies asunder, making night day, and getting treasures of the entire elf kind! Maybe someday I will take you, minion, on a hunting season with me"

"Yeah...!" Xion and Zeinnairth agreed with Radais.

"Would you guys eat them?"

"Fuck no!"

"Of course not. Do you take me for a savage? I will naturally release them after getting my gold. Also, what those mangas say about chucking the hoes?" Radais said, thinking about all the manga he read back in his parents' lair. Humans have weird rituals and most of it involves mating of some kind. No wonder they have a large species.

As if hearing their conversation, a chubby, two-legged cat the size of a manling joined the soldiers on the walls, wearing emerald and gold jewellery that Radais thought it be a great start of his hoard; so would her golden fur. Two pretty manling maidens attended to the cat, looking fearfully at him and Zeinnairth.

Apparently, the owner wasn't a manling but a catkin. Mother said they were tasty people. "What business have you here, threatening my castle, halflings? Do you think just because one of your parents was dragon think you can attack my castle?" the cat, Marquise Lunch Aster, asked Radais and his party.

The male of the group couldn't help but laugh. Humans and Dragons having hatchlings? "Marquise Lunch... I introduce Radais Knightsbane and his royal guard." Vandal said to the catkin.

"You seem weak, " Zeinnairth bluntly said. Even if that talking cat was probably the Marquise, she didn't smell like a princess or even look like she could even see her toes. She didn't even smell like a virgin! But, of course, every dragon knows virgins are a must for a dragon hoard... Still, she was noble blood, right?

The iron half-dragon answers verbatim. "Name is Zeinnairth Redfox, Black Steel of Radais group, Great Butcher of Kazan! You sent ruffians to kidnap dragons, drakes, and hatchings on my boss’s territory, interrupting my day in process ya dumbass furball. So deal the deal, punk. My boss demands half your cattle as restitution for the trouble caused, a payment of one thousand gold coins per dragon you tried to capture... Which was three if you couldn't count! Also, stop your slavery business of dragonkind. We don't care if you switch to those weaklings."

"Half the cattle in my marquisate?" the catkin asked with her shrill, insolent voice. "Have you gone mad?!"

"We had to fly over that stupid manling kart for five hours to get here." Radais emphasised his pain, "Hours fat cat... Hours, my badass Berserker, and I burned pounds of fat and smelled the dung of your peasants coming to this place."

"Also, His Majesty and Sir Zeinnairth scorched and sundered the local woods coming here!" Vandal said to the Marquise. "Per the request of the Eilla council... Troll hunting. If so, ask." The butler was pouring some tea for Lady Xion.

"Who owes me ten thousand golden coins for this service!" Radais crossed his arm and lifted his neck, showing off the lead tag around his neck. Behold fat one; I am an adventurer, the greatest your puny races have ever known!"

"Of course, sir. Vandal said, “They will know Your might to the world."

"What Vandal said is true." Xion agreed with the servant.

The Marquise let out a hiss as she squinted at the lead tag, then turned to whisper at one of her manling knights, "You dare..." The catkin hissed but reframe from doing so. The land around her castle is laced with magic runes that make intruders unable to use their magic. So unless they are gold or higher adventurer, that seals would work. But they don't even phase these three. "If I give you want, you will let me live?"

"That depends. Got anything worth killin' for gold?" Zeinnairth asked, eager for more gold and blood.

"No, no, we do not," the Marquise declared with haste.

"Do you have a priest or bishop? I would like to learn what spells he has." Xion asked.

"Our deacon is away on a diplomatic assignment." The Marquise then turned to whisper to the same knight as before, "Tell our cooks to prepare a feast for this party. The special ingredient dish."

"I will tell the cooks to put the maximum dose," the knight rumoured back.

"We will provide you with a feast, and the reward for your noble deed!" the Marquise told Radais and his party. "I hope you will forgive us for our insolence."

"Only if your cattle are good!" Radais replied.

"You will find it most exquisite," the ex-slaver catkin noble replied strangely before leaving with her knight.

Radais made motions with his hand. In five seconds,

As the sun began to set, armorless manlings came out of the castle, bringing the four hungry half-dragons fat, cooked sheep, pigs, and cows on carriages A tall manling wearing brighter, cleaner clothes than the servants led the way, carrying purses and sweating. "Who is that Vandal?" Xion asked the butler.

"Judging by his attire, he must be the with gold."

"I'm the treasurer of this castle." the manling sweated. "I'm here to give your gold. I also sent word on the nature of your troll quest."

Radais looked at the man with little respect. He should get a treasurer as well.

"The council was not happy about how… Your Majesty solved the problem." The treasurer gulped as he looked at the smoke rising on the horizon. "You were very zealous…."

"I was simply doing what my father taught me and my warrior. Radais stated, swallowing large chunks of cows whole and spitting out some meat stuck between his sharp fangs. “Eat Vandal... Let it never be stated that Radais starves his staff."

"A human cannot eat that type of meal, Your Majesty. " Vandal poured wine into the glasses of the party, dodging the bones, meat, and plates with ease.

Manlings... However, did they survive? "You have come to deliver my reward?"

"Alongside the marquise's apology gift, she said this was my duty as her vassal."

"You are a very good minion... I should take you on my staff." Radais said, feasting on Uraí bear covered with a peculiar-looking sauce. It was purple. "Vandal, count the coins at once!"

"Yes, sir!" Vandal replied, taking the purse from the sweating man.

Congratulations. By stomaching the poison in the food like a champ, you gained the [Lesser Poison Immunity] Perk!

Error Target has high Poison resistance.... Adding points to [Emerald Core]

Congratulations. [Emerald Core] has levelled to 2!

"Poison, what was this Manling seasoning?" Zeinnairth asked. The treasurer was sweating so much that former Iron drake thought he would die. Why do the weak sweat so much?