Chapter 39: The Sound of Bells and the Feast

"No, please!"

"Ow!"

As the two cries of struggle faded away, filled with a sense of powerlessness, the entire restaurant erupted into cheers and jubilation. Seeing their kin in misfortune, these rascally dragons were all too happy, although most of them had tasted the bitterness of the punishment array before.

"These rascals." Muria muttered to himself as he watched the jubilant young dragons, silently cursing in his heart.

On the platform below, the little blue dragon, forcibly dragged into the array by the young dragons, was soaked in bone-chilling icy water, struggling weakly. As a dragon species that preferred nesting in the hot deserts, being soaked in ice water was extremely uncomfortable for the blue dragon.

The punishment array for the little red dragon was different from that of the blue dragon. It too was enveloped in a water sphere, but unlike the blue dragon's sphere, which turned almost white due to the extreme cold, the red dragon's water sphere was a deep blue. It didn't have the bone-chilling cold, but was simply a massive sphere of water elements condensed by the array, which was still quite uncomfortable for the little red dragon.

Moreover, the punishment arrays for the red and blue dragons had more than this effect. After three minutes, the red dragon's punishment array underwent a new change.

Gradually, streaks of blue-white lightning appeared on the water sphere surrounding the red dragon. With the appearance of the lightning, the little red dragon, still struggling vigorously inside, was immediately electrocuted, screaming miserably as its body twitched.

For the blue dragon, streaks of green wind began to appear above its water sphere, swirling around. Then, the water sphere began to spin, faster and faster, until a sphere with a sky-blue center and a white exterior formed, no longer revealing the little blue dragon's figure due to the rapid spinning.

The red dragon's water sphere also underwent a similar transformation, with the blue-white lightning engulfing its body. From the outside, the brightly scaled red dragon was no longer visible; the water sphere had turned into a blue-white lightning sphere, not a hint of red peeking through, only the gradually weakening screams of the red dragon could be heard.

After twelve minutes, the three water spheres became quiet, with no sound coming from the three young dragons inside. Then, the three arrays gradually ceased to operate. "Pop, pop, pop," the three water spheres, wrapped in wind or lightning, burst open one after another, dissolving into sparkling elemental lights that dissipated into the air.

With the arrays no longer in operation, the three limp young dragons fell from mid-air onto the platform, motionless, completely knocked out.

The little red dragon looked damp, with wisps of smoke continuously rising from its body, while the two little blue dragons had visible white frost rising from their bodies.

This pitiful scene delighted many young dragons below, who took pleasure in their misfortune.

"Clang!" Muria, seeing the gradually noisy restaurant below, picked up a bronze hammer and gently tapped it against a bronze bell on his desk. The sound of the bell spread throughout the restaurant, immediately silencing all the young dragons, who obediently sat in their places.

Their life experiences had taught them when it was okay to be noisy and when they should listen quietly. After Muria rang the bronze bell, any dragon that dared to continue making noise would meet the same fate as the three unfortunate dragons in front of him.

As Muria's bell rang out, groups of cloud giant girls, carrying steaming cauldrons, entered the restaurant from every entrance. In order, they placed the black iron cauldrons on the low tables in front of each young dragon.

Then, the cloud giant girls who brought the food left through another passage, one by one. During the entire process, not a single dragon or cloud giant girl made any noise, only the sound of the cauldrons being placed on the tables could be heard, showing a well-ordered scene that pleased Muria.

"Clang!" Muria held the hammer and rang the bronze bell again. With this sound, all the young dragons started to move, signaling the start of the meal.

They propped up their bodies with their hind limbs, placed their claws on either side of the black iron cauldron, stretched their long necks into the cauldron, and began to eat.

Each dragon devoured its food greedily. In terms of food, Muria did not skimp on the young dragons. He arranged for the cloud giant chefs in the castle to cook according to each dragon's taste.

Red dragons ate meat still ablaze with flames, blue dragons ate meat charred by lightning, black dragons' food was sour to suit their taste, green dragons had normal cooked food, and white dragons had frozen meat emitting cold air.

From his high platform, Muria looked down at the young dragons eating below, nodding in satisfaction. This was the result of his three years of taming, although still slightly flawed, but also quite good, at least all the dragons held enough awe for him.

Then, Muria looked at his own table, where the food was abundant, including slices of raw fish from the deep sea, deliciously roasted steaks, huge white sea bird eggs, and freshly picked, luscious fruits from the cloud giants' orchard just delivered to the castle.

Muria, who was attentive to the young dragons' meals, was even more so with his own. The abundance of his meals made the young dragons envious.

Not only was Muria's food abundant, but its size would astound ordinary humans: half-human-high bird eggs, human-high fruits, and over a meter-long juicy steaks...

These were all cultivated and bred by the cloud giants, whom Muria had ordered to be exiled to the eight islands around Taiji Island. It was for this reason that Muria was slightly appeased.

...After Muria finished all the food in front of him and no longer felt hungry, he picked up the copper hammer again and rang the bronze bell beside him. The amount of time he took to eat was the amount of time the young dragons had to eat.

The sound of the bell passed through the entire restaurant, and all the dragons, whether they had finished eating or not, raised their heads and looked at Muria; their dining time had ended.

"Rest for a while, then follow me to the training field. I want to check your homework," Muria said indifferently from the high platform. His words made many young dragons show envious looks, while some dragons showed fearful expressions.

Just as Muria finished speaking, the three young dragons that had been knocked out by the arrays slowly woke up below, just in time to hear Muria's words. The expression of the little red dragon immediately turned ugly, while the two little blue dragons jumped three feet high, immediately getting up, looking eagerly at Muria, full of anticipation.

Inside a room in the Five-Colored Dragon Castle, filled with wooden targets in various shapes of creatures, Muria brought all ninety-five young dragons here, including three that had been punished and were hungry. They had made mistakes, not only had to be punished but also had to go hungry for a day.

However, for the three young dragons, going hungry for a day was not a big deal; it would pass with endurance. The most

 important thing was what was happening right now.

In the room, there were not only these young dragons but also six juvenile dragons with bright red scales. Their total lengths (including tail length) were all over twelve meters, far more imposing than these young dragons with disproportionally large heads and small bodies.

"Auston," Muria called out a dragon's name, and under the gaze of all the young dragons, one of the six juvenile dragons, slightly larger than the others, named Auston, came proudly to Muria.

"Muria, just name it. I've learned all the fire spells below the fourth ring," Auston declared.

Muria squinted at the juvenile dragon, whose arrogance had started to show again. After bringing the six juvenile dragons into the castle, inspired by the actions of the young female dragon Renata, he had a brilliant idea.

He found all the low-level spellbooks in the library of the golden dragon mother, Atreis, copied them one by one, and then distributed them to the six juvenile dragons for them to start learning spells. As for the problem of dragons not wanting to learn spells, it was easy to solve.

"Transformation spell," Muria looked down at the juvenile dragon at his feet, lowered his head, and named a fourth-ring spell.

Hearing the name "transformation spell," the juvenile dragon Auston immediately looked deflated. It shrank its neck and looked at Muria, "Can we switch to another spell, like Flame Blast or Fireball?"

"Heh, how many times, Auston?" Muria sneered at the juvenile dragon, "Your brothers and sisters have all learned this fourth-ring spell, and you still haven't learned it. As a dragon, not knowing such a simple fourth-ring spell, you're a disgrace to the dragon race."

"I am a red dragon, not a disgrace to the dragon race. White dragons are," Auston, rebuked by Muria, lowered its head weakly and murmured in defense.

"Then you are a disgrace to the red dragon race," Muria unceremoniously continued, "Renata, Cynthia, show your older brother the fourth-ring transformation spell."

Hearing Muria's words, the two young female dragons obediently cast the transformation spell. With two flashes of red magical light, two ferocious dragons disappeared from the room, replaced by two red-haired and red-eyed little girls.

"See, Auston?" Muria pointed at the two dragon girls, scolding Auston, "Your sister Cynthia learned the transformation spell in half a month, and your youngest sister Renata learned it in just a week. And you still haven't learned it."

...Auston was scolded by Muria and couldn't lift his head. As a proud red dragon, he didn't want to endure such humiliation, but he had no choice; his talent for learning the transformation spell was indeed poor.

"Hand it over!" Muria stretched out his still baby-fat hand in front of the juvenile dragon Auston. His growth period was so long that even after three years, he hadn't changed much, except for growing to eleven meters in height.

"Muria, I've learned all the spells except the transformation spell," Auston hesitated, reluctant to hand it over.

"Don't make me do it," Muria squinted at him.

"No need, I'll give it to you," Auston gritted his teeth and, with a pained expression, took out a bunch of clear, sharply faceted crystals and handed them to Muria, "I'll get them back someday."

"I'll be waiting!" Muria responded, then divided Auston's penalty into two parts, giving them to Cynthia and Renata, who had transformed into cute little girls, "Here, this is your reward."

Seeing Muria's action, all the young dragons present were envious, and some were even itching to try...