Chapter 346
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 346
Chapter Title: Become Mine
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Back when the Seven Dragon Society was known as the Demonic Cult.
The Red Dragon Clan dominated human trafficking and the mercenary trade.
They bought up poor slum kids or orphans, trained them rigorously, and dispatched them to organizations or nations in need of fighters or mercenaries.
Thanks to having that system already in place and systematized, when the Seven Dragon Group was founded, the Red Dragon Clan could industrialize it relatively easily.
All they had to do was strip out the illegal aspects of their existing mercenary business and pivot to a private military company.
But they soon ran into a problem.
"...You're talking about profitability."
"Exactly."
The Black Dragon Clan in services, the Blue Dragon Clan in logistics, the White Dragon Clan in entertainment, the Green Dragon Clan in pharmaceuticals, and so on.
The other clans leveraged the power of the criminal organizations they'd already taken over or adapted that know-how to transform into solid megacorporations in their domains.
But the Red Dragon Clan couldn't do that.
Whether it was mercenaries or a private military company,
it all boiled down to selling lives for money.
And given the nature of violence—where the shadier it got, the more profitable it was—they actually saw their revenues shrink as they legitimized, unlike the other clans' explosive growth.
It didn't help that the Silver and Gold Dragon Clans had already cornered the military-industrial complex, the most lucrative part of warfare.
"To avoid falling behind the other clans, we needed to break into new business sectors."
"And that's how you got into energy and agriculture?"
"They were untapped by the others, and fields where we could leverage our strengths."
That decision was wise.
The two sectors—especially energy—saw the Red Dragon Clan skyrocket upon entry.
Whether it was thermal power plants
or oil refineries,
they could substitute the massive fuel needs with their ignition abilities.
Apophis Corp could provide cheap, mass-scale energy and refined oil, leaving competitors helpless.
"But even that wasn't enough."
The issue was technological advancement.
Society in the Iron Age demanded ever more resources and energy.
Apophis grew rapidly as a result, but hit its limits just as fast.
Having expanded by relying purely on their clan's ignition abilities—their manpower—their workforce couldn't keep pace with growth.
Further expansion dependent on psionics was impossible.
Without psionics, they'd lose competitiveness and let rivals catch up.
"To overcome that limit, we took notice of a certain endeavor."
"What endeavor?"
"About thirty years ago, an attempt to develop a new power source."
Rimon let out a groan upon hearing that.
He knew exactly what Hasneti meant by "endeavor."
"The Chernobyl incident...!"
The Chernobyl Project.
The Silver Dragon Clan, rulers of the Russian Khanate, had mobilized the nation's and Bahamut Corp's full technological might for this new energy initiative.
They hyped it massively to advertise Bahamut's tech prowess.
Success would free humanity from energy scarcity, ushering in eternal abundance.
But the outcome was horrific.
The city vanished.
A metropolis of over 100,000 souls was engulfed by the Chernobyl explosion, reduced to ashes along with its inhabitants.
The Silver Dragon Clan halted all related research afterward.
The incident became their worst failure and a buried forbidden technology...
"The Red Dragon Clan completed research the Silver Dragon Clan abandoned? And this is the result?"
"It's not complete."
Hasneti shook her head.
The Silver Dragon Clan's goal had been to study and replicate the Sun Spirit's heart from ancient ruins, creating perpetual motion.
But the heart went berserk mid-process, causing the catastrophe.
The Red Dragon Clan had only acquired those research materials.
Lacking the Silver Dragon Clan's tech edge, they couldn't finish it.
Instead, they focused on "nuclear power" discovered in the data.
The Silver Dragon Clan dismissed it as a byproduct, burying it post-accident.
But the Red Dragon Clan saw potential and poured everything into it.
After countless failures and trials, they achieved a sliver of success...
That success: nuclear fusion.
The artificial sun burning before them now.
"Coldly speaking, this research is barely a fraction of a half yet."
Spirit power is hard to control.
So they used ignition abilities.
Pure tech wasn't enough.
They supplemented with sorcery and magic.
Even with every trick mobilized, establishing the formula was near-miraculous happenstance. This artificial sun was mere mimicry.
Too imperfect and unstable for true nuclear fusion.
"But with this incomplete fraction, we've conquered the world's energy sector."
The initial fusion breakthrough demanded immense effort.
Once made, a few clan elites could maintain it, generating vast energy.
One per country would solve their chronic manpower shortage and then some.
"Moreover, nuclear fusion research yielded more than this."
"What do you mean?"
"Want to know?"
Follow if you do, she seemed to say.
Hasneti strode off.
Rimon scratched his cheek and followed.
Better than being left alone; mostly, he wanted to see what she'd show.
Her destination was unexpectedly the power plant's rooftop.
Their initial helicopter landing pad.
He wondered if they were heading elsewhere, but Hasneti didn't go to the chopper.
She stood at the pad's edge, gazing at the vast wheat fields around the plant.
"You know what this area used to be, right?"
"A desert, back in the day."
"Yes. But now it's one of Africa's top granaries, not just Egypt's."
Hasneti stubbed out her cigarette between her fingers.
She flicked the butt away.
Rimon narrowed his eyes.
He felt immense psionics whirl around her.
The psionic storm spiraled from her, devouring ambient heat and shooting skyward.
"Thanks to this power."
Rumble!
Storm clouds gathered overhead.
Lightning cracked down repeatedly.
Thick rain poured over the plant and farms.
Whoosh!
Unheard of in low-rainfall North Africa—a freak downpour.
Rain-soaked, Hasneti asked softly.
"Surprised?"
"...A little."
"You knew we Dragon descendants could manipulate weather."
"Didn't know it could be this effortless."
Rimon was genuinely impressed.
Weather control demanded vast psionics.
The original seven dragons could trigger disasters like breathing.
For mere princesses, it was a huge strain.
Yet Hasneti altered this vast region's climate on a whim.
Impressive even for the ignition-gifted Red Dragon Princess, adept at thermal conversion and energy manipulation.
"This from nuclear fusion research too?"
"Yes."
Hasneti murmured.
Nuclear fusion: the sun's power.
Researching and controlling it strengthened the Red Dragon Clan terrifyingly.
Not just attaining their ignition ability's pinnacle.
It advanced psionic handling itself.
More gains than centuries of Seventy-Two Demon Arts study.
So Hasneti could boldly claim:
In the last thirty years, the Seven Dragon Society's biggest power-up was their Red Dragon Clan.
"...No wonder Apophis Corp took the grain market."
Rimon clicked his tongue.
The Red Dragon Clan's method was simple.
Buy worthless deserts or wastelands,
turn them into farmland via sustained weather control.
Mass-producing cheap farms—even the Green Dragon Clan's bio-manipulation couldn't compete in agriculture.
That's why Rimon and others wondered at their weather secret...
'They just powered up their clan?'
Not formations or high-tech, but raw clan evolution.
Fusion breakthroughs made it possible, but very Red Dragon Clan style.
One mystery remained.
"Why show this to me?"
Nuclear fusion was Red Dragon Clan top secret.
Hidden even from other clans—why reveal to a mere consort like him?
Hasneti gazed at skeptical Rimon with serene blood-red eyes.
"Can't guess why?"
"I'd not ask if I could."
"You know what dominating food and energy means."
"..."
Services, logistics, entertainment, pharma.
The Seven Dragon Society's industries mattered, but none as lethally as food and energy.
Lack the others? Inconvenient.
No food or energy? Life-or-death.
Why Rimon came to Africa.
"Above all, we have nuclear fusion."
Crucially, only they could wield it now.
And its potential.
"We're mimicking now with psionics and sorcery, but one day we'll perfect it technologically."
"..."
"Imagine weaponizing it then?"
Rimon's face hardened.
He'd seen the artificial sun.
Master it freely, and Chernobyl-level disasters become repeatable.
"I can state it now."
Knowing that,
Hasneti said coldly.
"Ultimately, we'll conquer the world."
Rimon didn't refute.
With artificial suns, even Absolute-class transcendents—maybe them too—could be ashed.
Mass-produce thousands?
No one dares challenge the Red Dragon Clan.
Win a war? Only scorched earth left.
"...So? Butter up the Pharaoh now?"
"No. It means I can reshape the world as you desire."
"Reshape the world?"
"Yes."
She nodded slowly.
Hasneti continued.
"Want peace? I can eradicate all poverty."
"..."
"Want rule? I'll spread terror, force submission."
Abundant food and energy: a hunger-free world.
Fusion weapons: unify the globe, unchallenged dominion.
No need to borrow his power.
She could do it alone.
Declaring coldly,
Hasneti stepped forward.
"In short, only I can fulfill your true wish."
"...No idea what you mean."
"No need to play dumb."
The closing distance felt oppressive.
Rain-drenched, Rimon instinctively stepped back.
Hasneti pressed on.
"I know the secret desire you've hidden so long—and still hide."
Unknown to others,
even Li Chingwei perhaps.
Only as Red Dragon Princess could she perceive and understand Rimon's secret.
Reaffirming it,
Hasneti reached through the rain.
"So if you want your wish..."
Chin.
No room to retreat,
or struck to the core?
Silent Rimon backed against the wall; she braced it, trapping him between arm and stone.
Tilting her dripping helmet close,
"—Become mine."
Her usual icy expression.
But her face flushed with heat unlike before.
Her red eyes burned hotter with desire, fixing on the blond, tanned boy.
The uncompromising tyrant spat the craving harbored since ten years ago, voice trembling.
"Rimon Asfelder."