Chapter 433: The Development of the Yafeiawei Empire

The White Dragon Lord was handling official business. Few matters across the empire qualified for his personal attention; the Dragon Academy was one of them.

In his dragonborn form, the White Dragon Lord picked up a report from his desk. Submitted by the Dragon Academy, it briefly outlined their progress. Following the divine decrees issued by the dragon god of the North and the Five-Headed Dragon Queen, student enrollment had surged.

To date, the academy hosted 12,347 Wyrmlings of various colors, 2,159 Very Young Dragons, and 565 Young Dragons. As for the older age bracket of Young Dragons, the academy had not been established long enough to have students of that level.

The White Dragon Lord picked up a second list. This one recorded the names of various competition winners, along with their Professional levels and other details.

He looked at the first entry:

Name: Dilodar; Race: Blue Dragon; Gender: Male; Age: Two years and one month; Creature Level: Level 3 Dragon; Professional level: Level 5 Warrior; Attention Rank: Rank B; Honor: First Place in the Wyrmling Tournament.

Profile: Dilodar originates from Nordhill. His mother is the blue dragon, Rending Lightning. He was sent to the Yafeiawei Empire shortly after hatching and later transferred to the Dragon Academy. He currently belongs to the Third Blue Dragon Wyrmling Zone—Howling Wind Desert, and his advising teacher is the blue dragon, Uka Thunderfall.

Evaluation: An excellent Warrior seed. He is passionate about martial training, eager to learn, and fiercely combative. It is recommended to raise his cultivation rank.

"Not bad at all! His Professional level is actually two levels higher than his Creature Level! He's much better than that idiot Willy!"

Controlled by a Mage Hand, a quill hovered nearby and marked a single letter next to the little blue dragon's name: "S".

According to the White Dragon Lord's regulations, the Dragon Academy determined the attention rank of the young dragons based on their performance. The ranks were divided into nine tiers: SSS, SS, S, A, B, C, D, E, and F.

SSS, SS, and S constituted the upper three ranks, which only the White Dragon Lord could award. Receiving one of these meant he believed the dragon had the potential to reach High-Tier Legend and would become a key cultivation target. The academy's resources heavily favored these top-tier dragons.

A, B, and C formed the middle three ranks, while D, E, and F made up the lower three. These were freely assigned by the dragon teachers based on factors like the young dragons' professional talents and daily performance.

Rank E served as the starting rank. If a dragon showed no ambition after entering the academy and merely muddled through their days, they would be demoted to Rank F. If they remained at Rank F for five consecutive years, they would be expelled and sent back to the Yafeiawei Empire, left to reach adulthood under normal imperial protection.

If all they wanted to do was sleep, they could do it anywhere—there was no need to waste a spot at the academy. The White Dragon Lord had invested a massive amount of resources into the institution specifically to cultivate advanced combatants for the Dragon Race.

A High-Tier Legendary Dragon possessed a lifespan a full fifty times longer than an ordinary dragon, and their combat prowess was vastly superior. Cultivating a single High-Tier Legendary Dragon was worth more than producing hundreds or even thousands of ordinary dragons.

The White Dragon Lord looked at the second entry:

Name: Dinami; Race: Gold Dragon; Gender: Female; Age: Two years and nine months; Creature Level: Level 4 Dragon; Professional level: Level 4 Mage; Attention Rank: Rank A; Honor: Second Place in the Wyrmling Tournament.

Profile: Dinami was born in the Nordhill Plane, the daughter of the gold dragon couple of the Golden Plains and Flowing Wind Fire. Idolizing the academy's principal, she chose the Mage class and possesses extraordinary talent. Under the guidance of her gold dragon teacher, Lina, her Professional level has consistently matched her Creature Level. She currently lives in the First Gold Dragon Wyrmling Zone—Flowing Gold Mountain Range.

Evaluation: A rare seed for a magical class. She is full of curiosity, loves to study, and lacks the lazy, lethargic habits common among Wyrmlings.

The White Dragon Lord pinched his chin in thought. Ultimately, he marked an "SS" at the end of the little gold dragon's file. Boundless curiosity was an essential quality for a Mage, and the fact that she had overcome the naturally lazy and sleepy disposition of her kind meant she was indeed worth heavily cultivating.

Magic classes were late-bloomers that scaled powerfully. If a Legendary Mage faced a Legendary Rank Warrior, the mage's win rate would be as high as seventy percent. Moreover, the Mage class possessed creativity far beyond that of a Warrior.

The White Dragon Lord continued reading down the list. As a white dragon himself, he cared somewhat about the performance of his own kind, but the little white dragons disappointed him. It wasn't until twenty-second place that he finally saw one.

However, it was worth noting that with the White Dragon Lord as a role model, the proportion of white dragons choosing the Mage class far exceeded that of Wyrmlings from other races.

"Oh?!"

The White Dragon Lord's eyes lit up when he saw the entry for thirty-seventh place in the Wyrmling Tournament.

Name: Sadassim; Race: Red Dragon; Gender: Male; Age: Nine months; Creature Level: Level 3 Dragon; Professional level: Level 1 Mage; Attention Rank: Rank A; Honor: Thirty-Seventh Place in the Wyrmling Tournament.

Profile: Sadassim hails from the Saluk Plane and belongs to the first batch of extraplanar Wyrmlings to enter the Dragon Academy. He was born with double pupils, and his spiritual strength and willpower far exceed those of ordinary Wyrmlings. He currently lives in the Fourth Red Dragon Wyrmling Zone—Ember Volcano, and his advising teacher is the red dragon, Hornbell Scourge of Flames.

Evaluation: A uniquely gifted red dragon. His anatomy differs from ordinary dragons, and his willpower is exceptionally strong. Given his age, achieving thirty-seventh place in the Wyrmling Tournament is incredible. It is recommended to increase his attention rank.

The White Dragon Lord smiled in delight. Across the multiverse, a few members of the Dragon Race were always born different from the norm. They were known as anomalies, or variant dragons.

As long as they did not die prematurely, such dragons usually carved out great destinies, sometimes even making a name for themselves across the entire multiverse.

As an atavistic white dragon, the White Dragon Lord technically fell under the variant category himself, though his mutation had merely manifested as being larger than ordinary white Wyrmlings. This red dragon, however, was born with double pupils—a degree of mutation that surpassed his own. Furthermore, the hatchling had chosen the Mage class. The White Dragon Lord entertained the thought of taking him as a disciple.

After weighing the idea repeatedly, he temporarily suppressed it, deciding to observe the hatchling for a while longer.

A bright red "SSS" landed at the very end of the red dragon Sadassim's entry.

Having discovered a rare variant dragon, the White Dragon Lord was in high spirits. He continued checking the list but found no other surprises by the time he reached the final name.

He had now reviewed all the top one hundred dragons in the Wyrmling Tournament. Aside from the red dragon Sadassim, the blue dragon Dilodar, and the gold dragon Dinami, only two others had received an "S" rank evaluation.

Naturally, those who hadn't earned an upper-three rank this time would have future opportunities, as competitions like the Wyrmling Tournament were held every year. Likewise, those who had secured an upper-three rank couldn't rest on their laurels; if they performed poorly in their studies, they could still be demoted.

Done with the Dragon Academy's affairs, the White Dragon Lord picked up another report. This one, compiled by the imperial chancellor, Gurgalu, covered the Yafeiawei Empire's development in commerce, public welfare, and other sectors.

Ever since the White Dragon Lord broke through to the Abomination tier, the Yafeiawei Empire's development had been smooth sailing. It had virtually become the political, cultural, and trade center of eastern Nordhill.

Beyond local factions within the plane, the empire had established diplomatic relations with hundreds of planes and thousands of factions across the multiverse, exchanging what one had for what one lacked.

Goods from other planes had already become an integral part of daily life for the empire's residents. The empire also exported these extraplanar commodities to other factions within its own plane.

While extraplanar goods were common, travelers from other planes remained incredibly rare. This was partly due to the exorbitant costs of cross-plane teleportation, and partly dictated by the specific conditions of the Nordhill Plane.

The Spatial Lockdown Magic Array sealed away the Demons, but it also blocked curious gazes from other planes. To prevent demonic infiltration, entering the Nordhill Plane required strict approval and rigorous magical inspections, which dissuaded the vast majority of travelers.

The White Dragon Lord glanced at the astronomical figures trailing the trade surplus statistics and casually flipped past them. Mundane wealth like gold coins had long since lost all meaning to him. The Yafeiawei Empire's treasury had expanded to fill an unconventional demiplane of its own.

He scanned the title of the next section: The Yafeiawei Empire's Seventeenth Population Census.

Thanks to a Murloc version of family planning, the Murloc population in the Yafeiawei Empire had remained relatively stable over the years, hovering around 800 million. Naturally, this did not account for the Murlocs who had emigrated to other worlds.

Murlocs and Troglodytes remained the empire's most foundational producers, and their yield supported the empire's entire operation.

Although the number of producers hadn't increased, their production capacity had vastly improved. This was largely due to the agricultural and pastoral reforms initiated by the White Dragon Lord. Under his directives, imperial officials constantly researched ways to use magic and other means to boost yields, refining techniques and eliminating inefficient practices.

Now, the yield from a given parcel of land was more than ten times what it had been during the empire's founding.

Beyond basic agriculture and animal husbandry, the Yafeiawei Empire heavily invested in magic and alchemical technology. By refining raw materials into higher-value magical products, items like golems, magical equipment, and potions had become their primary exports.

The New Murlocs had also grown robustly. Numbering a staggering 200 million, they had long since replaced ordinary Murlocs as the backbone of the navy, patrolling the empire's waters and maintaining maritime order.

Furthermore, entrusted by the Council, the Yafeiawei Empire had taken on the responsibility of patrolling the waters surrounding the Nordhill Continent. The New Murlocs made outstanding contributions in combating pirates and hunting down demonized marine beasts.

Notably, Feixi Darkscale, as the patriarch of the Murloc race and a major contributor to the birth of the New Murlocs, had earned the recognition of all Murlocs, both old and new. He was revered as the leader of all Murlocs in the Yafeiawei Empire, and the Imperial Emperor, Amos Aldrich, officially bestowed upon him the title of Common Lord of the Murlocs.

The gnoll population had surpassed 30 million. They remained a vital component of the empire, indispensable in the military, public security, and all other aspects of society. At the same time, the gnolls of the Yafeiawei Empire had long been recognized by the other nations of the Nordhill Continent, distinguishing them completely from wild monsters.

Yafeiawei Empire gnolls were also very easy to identify. In short, if a gnoll looked tall, muscular, and cleanly dressed, possessed formidable strength, and was wealthier than the commoners of other nations, they were undoubtedly from the Yafeiawei Empire.

They traveled through other countries unhindered, and it was even common for foreign city administrators to hire gnolls with Yafeiawei citizenship to assist in solving crimes.

The Ogres—the absolute main force of the imperial army—had reached a population of 8 million. Much like the gnolls, the empire's Ogres had shed the label of wild monsters and roamed freely across the continent.

Compared to the gnolls, imperial Ogres were even easier to recognize. They were practically a different species from their wild kin. Wild Ogres were filthy and foul-smelling; imperial Ogres dressed neatly. Wild Ogres had crude equipment and relied solely on brute force; imperial Ogres wielded excellent gear and possessed superb martial skills. Wild Ogres were incapable of communication, but an imperial Ogre could brag to you for a whole day straight.

Furthermore, due to their childhood education and worship of the White Dragon Lord, almost all members of the Ogre race were fanatical followers. These burly warriors, each several meters tall, loved tattooing images of white dragons onto their bodies and displaying them as conspicuously as possible.

Perhaps owing to the militarized management they experienced from childhood, these Ogres were bursting with curiosity about the outside world. They hungered for adventure, and imperial Ogres could be found frequenting every famous adventuring hotspot across the continent.

The populations of other races such as kobolds, lizardmen, Harpies, and trolls had also experienced a certain degree of growth.

Another key focus was professional education. After years of continuous improvement, the teaching quality for professionals had grown steadily better, and more schools had been established.

Among the adult citizens of the Yafeiawei Empire today, novice professionals were looked down upon, intermediate professionals were the standard, advanced professionals were seen everywhere, and only Master Tier professionals qualified as experts.

The number of legendary powerhouses had seen explosive growth. The registered count of legendary powerhouses had reached 3,000, making the Yafeiawei Empire the nation with the highest number on the continent.

As for High-Tier Legends, there were still only four: Gurgalu, Elena, the Hydra, and the Ancient Gold Dragon. However, Willy, Hogger, the Earth Dragon King, the Nether Panther, Bucky Darkscale, and Feixi Darkscale were all on the verge of a breakthrough.

But breaking through to High-Tier Legend required a certain degree of luck. Other than Willy, the White Dragon Lord couldn't guarantee that the rest would succeed.

The White Dragon Lord turned the final page, closing the national condition summary compiled by the imperial chancellor and setting it on the desk. He then noticed several requests to establish diplomatic relations.

With the Yafeiawei Empire's fame spreading far and wide, factions from other planes were taking the initiative to request diplomatic relations. The White Dragon Lord refused no one; exchanging what one had for what one lacked was always a good thing.

The empire's third largest island—Glamorgan—served as its center for foreign exchange. Island residents often saw diplomats from extraplanar factions stationed in the empire. These bizarre creatures from other planes became a major highlight that made Glamorgan famous across Nordhill.

Suddenly, the White Dragon Lord sensed a peculiar fluctuation of energy from afar. Delight bloomed in his heart.

Someone had broken through to High-Tier Legend!