Being a dragon so advanced in [Age] has its perks. I have no need to sleep any more, although I can choose to do so if I want to. I usually keep one stream of my mind busy dreaming so that I can still indulge in the sensation, but otherwise, I avoid it. This gives me more time to get things done as I do not waste one-third of my life with such an indulgence. I do not squander this additional time as there are a few things I try to keep in my schedule every day.

In no particular order, I have time set aside for lovers, both the ones I am close to and the one-night-stands with random mortal beauties. Ever a diligent dragon, I need to collect Traits to craft my future children, and I can only collect Traits from mortals via an intense emotional connection. Research shows that such is best achieved at the moment you make a mortal orgasm, and so, it has remained an effective strategy to do so and to sate one's own lust by bedding as many of them as possible. Gods above knows that Skull can be insatiable after a battle or really any event where lots of people are afraid. As a [Divine Champion] to the god of Fear, Gulthar, she gets off on that sort of stuff, so a big scary dragon makes for a lot of invigorating situations.

However, I always make time for Chooka, my primary love. She is a [Courtesan] and very understanding and encouraging of my promiscuity, as hers is no less intense. Since I can teleport between my little shrines next to my roads, it is very easy to return home to her at a moment's notice, and I tend to plan my schedule around her availability. She is busy working as a leader of the Adventurer Guild in World's End, my capital city for now. She and I have been cooking up some new ideas for the guild that will knock the socks off of some and upset many others. However, between her status within the guild and me being one of the most powerful beings in the world, I think we will be able to strong-arm our changes through.

I also make time for Nanu, my adopted daughter, who is a Princess within my flight. Every day, I have combat lessons with her. Her blessing isn't really related to weapons or fighting, but she does have around 900 years of training. One need not have a Blessing to learn new skills, for while the Skills of a Blessing are nice, as she says, they are just a crutch when it comes to mastery of the forms and weapons. Ergo, training with her is less about shoving a weapon in my hand and me trying my best with brute force and more about technique and deep understanding of how and why things are done. Most of my other companions, henchmen, and bodyguards undergo lessons with her at some point, as it keeps her busy and makes her happy.

I spend time in research or overseeing those that conduct it on my behalf. I am not the best at making new things, but if they can make a prototype for me, I can churn out as many as I want with whatever materials I want via the Skills provided to me from [Material Arcane Science]. It has long since trivialized manipulating, refining, and mixing materials together to construct anything I can imagine objects to be made of, with some exceptions, notably, biological materials. I am no [Biomancer] after all.

I also have time for hobbies. I have been decorating the land that can be seen from my road, crafting stories new and old in the form of art that travelers can witness as they travel along. I also like to build castles, fortresses, and other such structures, only to smash them and do what I can to age them so as to leave behind "ancient ruins" that I fill with treasure, which does wonders to provide homes for the local beasts and to test the might of upcoming Adventurers.

I also have to manage my burgeoning empire. Kaisadoro does an acceptable job at managing the day-to-day affairs, but I have to provide the direction of where we are to go next and the framework of what rules my empire should have. Sometimes that means I have to step in and put my foot down, and my informants paint a picture that I will have to do so here soon again in a rather drastic way.

I have been convincing the locals to turn their allegiance to my own empire, much to the dismay of local [Nobles] in the Theocracy of Ulsfarh. It also makes the [Nobles] of Berkerin rather nervous that I will turn my eyes that way as well. Technically, what I am doing is not an act of war, as the local aldermen vote to approve a transfer of allegiance. In so many ways, while a [Noble] may own the land to a large extent, his rights to it are at least highly contested if the people that live on and work said land switch factions. This becomes a local dispute between the [Noble] and yours truly, not between his country and my empire. At least, that is how general convention rules on it, but the tune may change as I slowly initiate a hostile takeover.

I basically use bribery, protection, and low taxes to get a settlement to convert. Simply put, I will level their village and provide them with temporary housing. Then, I build up a modern settlement with all the bells and whistles I can throw in. Give it a high-road with a nice gate on it, and they have a far more comfortable, luxurious, and secure settlement than they had before. The locals put a lot of pressure on their aldermen when they hear that they get a free bathhouse out of the deal, let me tell you. Also, running water and a sewer system make people open to listening to what more I have to say. After my henchmen go through the process of herding cats to get the locals to vacate their village, it might take me a few hours to build a new one. They really could just make a picnic of the whole thing, but they feel more comfortable with the knowledge that they have temporary housing, even if they won't be staying long enough to sleep in it.

I make the villages extra big so they can grow and house specialists. Not many villages have a library or teachers for more advanced professions than simple farming and the like, so many are eager for the prospects of allowing their children to grow up with such advantages. I lay it on pretty thick and deliver on every promise, as my reputation is founded on delivering in full on my promises. It was a slow and rough start, but now, it maybe takes a week to convince a village to flip, and I am rapidly hemming in various cities in the region. Granted, I am doing this with some intermediary [Nobles] of my own, as I WILL NOT bow to mortal [Nobles].

Now, the Theocracy of Ulsfarh is not exactly taking this lying down, as they are clumsy in trying to remain clandestine in how they muster forces for a confrontation, not that an army will do much against me. They do have some heavy hitters, but war is sorta illegal right now according to the gods, so as long as I don't throw the first stone, I specifically am well within my rights to suppress such violence. I may be abusing some of my privileges, but then, if the people are not happy with their current leaders, I see no reason for them to suffer under such a yoke.

The cities are harder to flip. They have their Holy Trinity of gods that they follow, one each from the pantheons for the humans, elves, and dwarves that make up the bulk of their populace. With the worship of other gods being persecuted, some chafe under such rule, but the rest will take some convincing to flip to my side. There comes a critical tipping point when everyone will jump ship once enough do so first, as no one wants to live in a city where many of the goods and services offered disappeared seemingly overnight. The wealthiest citizens will be the least willing to leave as their wealth is tied up in their estates and lands, and so I have leveraged the greed of those that couldn't quite find their way into such a closed society.

In short, I have my fingers in a lot of pies right now as I draw the noose ever tighter. Conflict is as inevitable as it is foolhardy, as they lack the quality of personnel to combat me directly. However, I challenge you to name the last time that stopped rich and greedy bastards from refusing to peacefully hand over power to another. With summer approaching, it will certainly be campaigning season for armies to be marching about instead of waiting in garrison. With any luck, they will send a few assassins after me, as I do enjoy having new stuff to add to my collection, and, as a general rule, assassins of that grade tend to have the best equipment.

With all these events on the horizon, I am reaching a shortage of whelps to handle the task of being my eyes, ears, and voice wherever needed. However, I predicted that problem ages ago, and when I got my boost in power to my current Blessing, I unlocked the means to solve it. Some of you may recall that I have many Skill webs, such as [Flight Management]. That still holds true, but it received a large growth spurt as of late as I invested heavily in the latest and greatest in draconic technology.

Whelplings.

Weighing in at a whopping half a pound, they can sometimes win a fight against a common rat if it isn't very large. Tough for their size, they are just as supernaturally cute and in need of affection as regular whelps. The benefit is that I can have infinite, yes, infinite whelplings! They have almost no combat potential, limited magical abilities, and provide no passive sensory information to me. However, I can actively assume direct control of them and thus use them as a means to keep tabs on mortals, a task for which I had envisioned my whelps undertaking, but with there being a maximum of 5,000 whelps under my control, that soon became a logistical impossibility.

Stolen story; please report.

Now, while whelps use my mana to sustain themselves, whelplings use the mana of whoever they bond to. It is a trifling amount, but that means that they will die if deprived of their respective host's mana. Such a life-bond will make their host feel special, and since only a relative handful of people will have one, they will feel some measure of respect and gratitude towards me. While dragons are not creatures of biology, they generally need biological mass while in the material plane. I have a dragon egg in the depths of a machine filled to the brim with enchantments that goes about the process of crafting my whelplings. I am under the impression that any number of Focuses for a flight could produce them so long as one had unlocked the means to have whelplings. Either way, foodstuffs goes in, whelpling eggs come out, each one waiting to make a new friend.

My new villages already have access to them, mostly with children, as they are seen as childish pets by adults, but I know they will become lifelong companions for those so blessed with the opportunity. Word has spread to the city, and by now, many a child is tugging at the hem of mother's skirt to petition and beg for one of their own. That makes mother look to father for him to make a decision for the family, and the whole affair becomes another wedge between them and the powers that bind them to their city.

All of this costs money, and indeed, it is a war of finances and goodwill more than anything. The buildings and enchantments are free, but the food, clothing, and other consumables of life are not. I am generating massive amounts of wealth from my farming operations of rare herbs, but I spend it almost as quickly. With the promise of low or non-existent taxes on my new holdings, they will continue to be a money sink until the grace period ends. I have increased the quantity and quality of enchanted goods I have auctioned at premier establishments across the continent to help fund my endeavors, but my financial situation is far less stable than I would like. I don't go through the books with a fine-toothed comb, but I have a feeling that not everything adds up. Soon, that will not be an issue, as I will have a new daughter to manage that sort of thing.

And by that sort of thing, I mean the Imperial Audit. I can only pump out eggs so fast, and of my eight potential Princes/Princesses, I must be choosy in the order that I make them. As my empire grows, so do my needs, and I have decided what I need most is an unshakably loyal and highly competent auditor that can both detect and enforce the proper spending of my resources. It was a close call, with Research and Development being needed as well, but the Imperial Audit won out after discussing it with my companions and flight. Iresdora shall be my Princess to answer only to me and to ensure pockets are not lined with the public or private funds I collect. Well, there are some sanctioned cases of it, mostly in relation to the activities of Alterez and my approved criminal networks, as some things need to be kept off the books while still funded.

Tamadora, my daughter, who is a Queen and my flight's Broodmother, will help me craft Iresdora. Nanu and I have already calculated the Traits needed to craft the Templates needed for a Blessing that will make such an ideal offspring. I am missing a few, so Nanu and Tamadora are working vigilantly to collect the rest while my Princess egg matures to the point where it can accept the desired Templates. The other flights are somewhat helpful on that front, as they want to avoid spoon-feeding me everything I need while also being accommodating to cooperation. In short, they may point me in the right direction, but it is up to my flight to act upon that information, as anything more or less than that would be insulting and crass.

In a few weeks, I predict my next daughter shall break free from her egg to join me. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of time to allow her to be born as a child, and such an accelerated growth comes with certain drawbacks to her power and idiosyncrasies to her personality, if my other two children are anything to go by. However, all of my children can and will be fixed eventually when they go through the process of being born again and again at lower and lower peerage within my flight so that they can fully flesh out their Blessings, as each peerage only offers certain Skills. All that assuming we live long enough for it to matter, and so I strive to make sure nothing about it is moot.

Right now, my efforts amount to lounging on my platform and checking my claws as a fuming [Noble] glares at me from across the way. Well, outwardly that is what is happening, as my many minds are typically busy checking in on whelps and their sensory information. The last of the "slaves" for this wave have completed the exodus out of his city. No doubt he will scheme for a way to stop it, but making a new law overnight will only serve to sway the freemen who are on the fence to my side. To that effect, I do have a spy or two whispering in the ears of those who whisper into his ear to try such a thing. I aim to play both sides so I always come out on top.

Casting my senses to a whelp near my city's gates, I see the first of the new soon-to-be citizens approaching. Idly I watch the process of emancipation and the administration of justice upon the wrists of their masters, who in turn decide to return to their city to recruit the next wave, albeit with proverbial pockets a little heavier than when they left. I watch as cohorts of kobolds divide the crowd into groups and take them to different areas to conduct in-processing. Some members of the crowd are quietly cajoled or coerced away from the rest, their bodies never to be seen again as they are executed quickly and quietly within the sublevels of my city. Some call it evil, but I find there to be more evil in allowing evil people to continue to persist in their lives of depredation upon the good citizens of my empire.

Don't worry about the orphans. They will be taken care of in my well-funded orphanages. They will receive some of my best education, especially since they serve as trial runs for Bellwright's new education system that he is putting together. Most will become skilled experts in one arena or another, and many will find employment in my service. And some will be trained to become skilled assassins, as orphans just make the best for wet work. Their career usually leads to more orphans, so that whole thing should be relatively sustainable. Just imagine the grateful little buggers with no familial loyalty, lost and scared, looking for a new home and resources so they don't have to scrounge for scraps on the street. If that doesn't create a peaceful society that takes care of its own and endears them to my cause, I don't know what will.

Nabonidus helps a lot with that sort of stuff. As an [Oracle] and a [Vizier to the Draconic Emperor], he has the means to scout talent and ensure I am appropriately staffed. As he gazes into the relatively near-futures that surround me, he can more than glean what individuals will be useful to my cause and which ones will be thorns in my side. While he cannot communicate how he gets the answers to his divinations, I have utmost trust in his loyalty and competency to act upon his intel. He is probably the busiest of all my companions, even if very few ever interact with him or know that he exists. I like to keep it that way, for if word gets out, everyone will want their future told to them, which would get annoying really fast.

However, I don't need an [Oracle] to see the fruits of my success. While I do eventually tend to other concerns, upon the morrow, I am back upon my high-wall with a host of new guests and freemen that shout words of encouragement to their former countrymen. By noon, another wave leaves the city, these ones appearing more confident than the last, sans the kobolds, which are really hyping up the downsides to true slavery. There are also more than there were yesterday, which seems like a red flag. I make a note to consult their leaders before this time tomorrow.

Once again, most people settle in while the select few, who were clearly warned about their fates should they seek to infiltrate my city, find their way to dark tunnels with long knives. Their bones will be taken with me down south to World's End, as the skelie boys down there are always in need of fresh recruits. One could say they are running on a skeleton crew and are just waiting for someone to throw them a bone. The rest of the biomass can go to become whelplings, which feels poetic and in a way offering karmic absolution, that their remains become little guardian angels for the masses, as much as karma exists at least.

As a demigod, I can tell you that the truth behind karma is highly classified. Just kidding, but, it only works for your own actions, not actions to help on behalf of you, so no having descendants buy your way to salvation with their karma after you kick the bucket. It is a relevant thing, and in many ways, it is much the same as the stuff you detect in a person's aura to know if said person is good or bad in character. I happen to be very good at that with my [Aura of Certainty], and so, I take care that I do not become too tainted. Morality can sometimes become a murky gray rather than black and white, and I tend to lounge in such controversial areas when it comes to the greater good.

Does that mean that I would do something like sending assassins after my own supporters within the city to have them killed in a way that looks like the [Noble] is behind it so as to drum up support for my own agenda? Not at all, as I take care of those loyal to me. I mean, I did send the assassins, but they are to counter the assassins the [Noble] and his camp may send after those in my camp. Saving their necks at the last moment will strengthen their allegiance. Now, would I send fake-assassins to lose to my real-assassins? Mmm, not yet, but I don't rule it out. Perhaps as a last resort, as that seems underhanded, weak, and prone to being exposed. But do I expect that someone somewhere could be doing that? Yes, I do, such as any number of third-parties that want to make a mess of things.

In truth, it is all plans within plans and schemes upon schemes. Smoke and mirrors, misdirection, double and triple bluffs, and all manner of mind-games and information warfare are afoot, those both foul and distasteful as well as those palatable. Some of my own agents have their unique ways of interpreting my orders, and sometimes their methods do not align with my own, so I need even more operatives to watch over my other operatives. Now, for this [Noble], it would be a miracle of consecutive successes if he were to win on his own, but at the level I play at, it is more decided by whichever side makes the fewest mistakes. I am not so naïve as to think there are not any number of factions with an interest in how it plays out, and many fingers will be put upon the scales to tip it one way or another.

And since I plan to win, I try to have as many fingers on as many sides as possible so the scales always tip in my favor.

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