harleyscars Page 62
Page 62
116.Contract
"After all this time... you're finally willing to let me out?"
Beneath the heavily guarded underground prison, the Charson family's Drow Dragon boy appeared and disappeared in the shadows, his voice coming from all directions like a vengeful spirit, seemingly expressing his discontent.
"Is it my fault?" Casalos was completely oblivious to this. Over the years, although it had always been hesitant to let this naturally mischievous and chaotic creature work for it, once its initial thoughts of revenge faded, it had never mistreated it, always feeding and caring for it well. It had its own treasure trove, nutritious food, servants to attend to its daily needs and look after its dragon nest, and even a way for a scabbard dragon to advance... Apart from not being able to leave the underground prison, it had everything a dragon of its age should have, and was even much wealthier and more secure than most teenage or even young dragons.
Compared to the other dragon cubs of the Charleson family, its life was nothing short of paradise.
Of course, this is from Casalos's perspective. Given the nature of drow dragons, which combines the worst aspects of drow and shadow dragons, they generally don't have sisters. No, due to PTSD regarding the matriarchal clans of drow society, the Charson family would directly execute any newborn female dragon or female half-dragon. So, drow dragons generally don't have sisters, and their mothers are mostly drow slaves captured and brought back. Because drow dragons lack the drama of scheming and killing each other with their uncles and brothers in their daily lives, perhaps they have lost the only joy of dragon life?
"It's your fault for misinformation. There's no such thing as a blank devil's contract in Lanlot. Otherwise, you could have gone to the most prosperous Sword Bay on the continent three years ago to enjoy a life of extravagance."
With a flick of his tail, Casalos swept the increasingly audacious drow dragon out of the shadows. Tilting his head, Casalos looked down at the "petite" drow dragon, which was radiating negative energy through its skin-carving runes: "Did you really carve your skin according to my method? It seems like you're getting more and more crooked. Your defense hasn't increased much, but your compatibility with the shadows is getting higher and higher..."
“Your method is correct. This mutation should be the result of the passive fusion of the Skin Dragon and the assassin power I have mastered. It is normal for my innate defense to improve with the progress of Skin Dragon. What is abnormal is a monster like you. As the connection with the shadow deepens, in addition to making my Shadow Dragon power more effective, my magic resistance has also increased significantly, and I have gained some additional immunity. This mutation is very beneficial to me.”
“Indeed, these ancient advanced professions belonging to us true dragons have been lost for too long. Only the Dragon God probably knows what characteristics they still have. As long as the result is good, that’s all that matters.” Ignoring the Charleson boy’s evaluation of his monster, Casalos shook his head and handed over the devil’s contract, which was covered with detailed clauses drafted by his “legal advisory team”: “Have you memorized all the contents of the contract? Sign this agreement, and you will be my dragon.”
"Who can memorize a contract of millions of words in such a short time?"
"Whatever. If you don't sign, you can stay in this cage like a pet for the rest of your life. If you sign, you won't remember what you broke, and I won't be the one punished."
Casalos raised his head, looking at the cave ceiling that was almost right in front of him, and turned to leave.
"I'll sign! I've had enough of this cramped cave where I can't even spread my wings, enough of this pungent air filled with a mixture of sulfur and moisture!" The Charleson boy's slender tail flicked out and snatched the devil's contract from the wing hook, writing his real name, Fitzgerald Charleson, without hesitation in the blank space. Clearly, he had already memorized every word of the contract; he was merely bargaining.
Once the contract was signed, the demonic contract, made of an unknown material, floated into the air and burst into black flames, gradually burning away and turning into countless bright red specks of light that vanished.
Casalos, whose arcane skills were improving day by day, roughly sensed that a teleportation portal to the Hell of Bathor had taken the contract away. He wondered which demon would take over this hot potato. It would probably be that unlucky guy who left this blank contract. He hoped that the guy wouldn't be confused by the millions of words of contract terms... Well, as the most professional person in this field in the entire kingdom, it shouldn't be such a possibility... right?
"So your real name is Fitzgerald."
"From now on, only you will know this real name..."
Are you questioning my professionalism?
"Of course not. I'm only giving you a serious reminder for your safety and mine. As you requested, from now on, I will be fully responsible for your darkest, most dangerous, and most secretive affairs, according to your needs. If my real name is revealed, it won't just be me who will be threatened. What you're about to do, gods..."
"So from today onwards, you'll only have a code name." Even if you haven't eaten pork, you've seen pigs run, right? It's seen plenty of related movies and novels. While the specific operational details can't be taken literally, Casalos is very clear about the macro-level dangers of intelligence activities. Especially since the Kingdom of Tianyu possesses mysterious and divine powers interfering in mortal affairs, no amount of caution is excessive—isn't that why it only dares to use Zorlong's code name when it truly obtains a devil's contract—a third-party oversight of absolute order under rules even higher than divine power?
"Your original codename was Charleson—a codename known only to me, and my personal designation for you. You are to decide your own codename within the organization. I suggest you change it regularly, then occasionally deviate from the pattern and change it once or twice, to maintain..."
Chapter 189
Create the illusion of a timely handover. In addition, you need to maintain multiple reliable alternate identities over the long term, while also mixing the original identity among them.
Each time, you can choose one of them and use a new operation codename and disguise codename to impersonate it…
Casalos was in high spirits after finally recruiting one of his most important "confidants" in the future. He pulled "Charson" aside and exchanged some of his limited experience in intelligence work. He handed over some of his servants with relevant professional skills or talents to it to form a basic team, and then hurriedly dispatched this general to the heart of Faerûn to take over the intelligence system currently managed by the Bards' Guild.
In the deepest part of Bato Hell, a gaunt, handsome humanoid demon with dark red horns on his head, pupils flashing with hellish blood, and dressed in luxurious red and black clothing, looked with great interest at the demon contract presented from a certain level of hell, reading the words so small they were invisible to the naked eye, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his lips.
"It's been a long time since I've seen such an interesting contract. How long has it been?"
117. Massive construction creates miracles
Casalos had no idea that it had attracted the attention of the bigwigs of Hell because of a contract, or rather, it was aware of it but still did it anyway, because it didn't need to care too much about the gaze from Hell.
Compared to the gods, the Hell of Bathor is subject to stricter restrictions from the rules of the Celestial Realm. Furthermore, for various reasons, demons find it difficult to cause any significant disturbance in the Material World; their every move is under the vigilant surveillance of the gods. Even if a dragon dies, its soul's destiny is not under the jurisdiction of demons. Dragons have their own gods of fate and death, and their souls have their own cycle of reincarnation. Even though the dragon god of fate, Chronipus, has long since abandoned the Celestial Realm, his face Nur, responsible for handling matters beyond the dragon realm, continues to fulfill his duties.
That's why the likes of the Green Dragons are so fond of engaging in cross-dimensional "trade" with the devils—the devils who can fully enter the Prime Material Plane can't outmaneuver or defeat the Green Dragons, while the great devils who can kill the Green Dragons can't extend their claws into the Prime Material Plane, nor can they use their expertise in manipulating the rules to cause trouble and play with the Green Dragons across dimensions. So, of course, they can only engage in fair trade.
After all, when green dragons and demons collude, they usually share common interests. When one side cannot win big, the demons can tell whether it's a win-win situation or a mutually destructive act that results in both sides losing everything. They are not chaotic and silly monsters.
Casalos's contract falls into this category. Its "legal" advisory team meticulously crafted the contract over many years, leaving virtually no loopholes for "mortals" to exploit. Because it contains numerous shady dealings, it perfectly aligns with the evil order of the devil's contract. Its choice to use a devil's contract to guarantee the contract's binding force significantly supplements and strengthens the attributes of the Bathorian Hell order.
This is why Asmodeus, the lord of the underworld of Bathory, pays attention to it.
But it's limited to just paying attention.
Regardless of the reasons concealed by the gods, Asmodeus withdrew from the ranks of the gods, choosing to rule Bathoria as a quasi-god. It may possess immense divine power, but it cannot influence the affairs of the material world like a true god; it cannot summon battle avatars or recruit chosen ones. Its attention remains merely that—attention. Only when Casaloz's dragon soul, which it finds intriguing, falls into Hell can it take it in… As the day marked with a large red circle on the calendar draws ever closer, Casaloz thinks the chances of it happening are getting increasingly slim.
"The magic network will fail, and magic, divine arts, elements, souls... all magical powers detached from those tangible material foundations will become unreliable. Mountains will rise and walk, lakes and oceans will roar, domes will collapse, and jungle vines will devour people. At that time, all you can believe in, rely on, and control will be the thick steel walls."
In the newly expanded territory of the Underdark, the city of Gravesend has begun its planned and bustling construction. The grey dwarves, who had spent half their lives as slave owners, have become slaves, bleeding and sweating under the whip, shouldering the heavy responsibility of rebuilding a new steel city—as professionals, they are far more efficient than their former slaves.
Casalos was quite impressed that the speed at which less than two thousand gray dwarves of the right age could complete the entire process of steelmaking, production, shaping, and construction was more than five times that of the mixed army of five thousand ogre, goblin, and drow.
Besides the difference in professional skills, the eccentric personality of the gray dwarves is also a significant factor in the occurrence of this bizarre phenomenon.
To be honest, to ensure production efficiency, although they weren't completely freed from slavery, Casalos didn't exploit them excessively. Based on the condition of these strong and healthy dark creatures, the kobolds created different work schedules and timelines for slave laborers of different races.
Goblins are relatively well-off. In most cases, they can diligently complete their tasks during their twelve-hour workday, receive their rations of food and supplies, and still have ample time for rest and entertainment. With sufficient nutrition and magic, these creatures only need to sleep about four hours a day to reach peak energy. Working twelve hours a day, eating four meals a day in fifteen minutes (each meal taking up an hour), and resting for four to five hours, they can still find six or seven hours to fight!
A kobold chief engineer suggested increasing the goblins' working hours, but Casalos rejected this proposal. He reasoned that in the final two or three hours of a twelve-hour workday, the goblins were clearly struggling to function normally. While their physical strength and energy remained high, their minds were no longer focused on tasks requiring concentration. Forcing them to work longer hours would only reduce efficiency and quality, and increase production risks.
As for how to deal with their excess energy, Casalos believes that perhaps adjustments could be made based on their interests, allowing them to participate in military training and serve as reserves for the Dragon Lord army.
Ogres are just as energetic as goblins. They are stronger, more powerful, and more vigorous. However, these brainless guys have a hard time concentrating. Even with the Demon Slayer spurring them on, they can only stay focused for about fifteen minutes before they start to wander off and make a ruckus with the others around them. This not only drastically reduces their own work efficiency but also affects other workstations, giving the supervisors a real headache.
"Don't treat these things like people; they're just a herd of livestock!"
In response, the dog-headed people, drawing on the experience of the Rift Valley, devised a feasible solution: assigning these irritable giants to heavy-duty tasks that should have been done by machinery, thus partially compensating for the severe shortage of mechanical production capacity after the rapid expansion.
The difficult one is Zhuo Er.
These skinny, dark-skinned creatures were physically weak and lacked the basic qualifications for workers needed for large-scale construction. Not only were they all cunning and lazy, slacking off whenever possible, and creating chaos to achieve their goal of shirking their duties. Even with the intimidating power of the Demon-Slaying Whip, they couldn't shake their mischievous nature.
Since the capture of Lower Grevesend, there have been no fewer than a thousand slave revolts, large and small, each instigated by drow, yet the kobolds have been unable to pinpoint the masterminds. They've even gone so far as to publicly execute hundreds of suspected troublemakers and hang their bodies on the city gates, preferring to kill the innocent rather than let the guilty go free, but the situation has not improved effectively.
In the end, Casalos could only clap his hands and decide that all drow slaves, regardless of gender, would be reduced to prostitutes and given to other races as amusement during their free time...
In comparison, the gray dwarves are practically born with innate divine bodies.
118. Why is large-scale construction necessary?
Putting aside their evil and negative traits, the gray dwarves' fanatical attitude towards work...
Chapter 190
That would make them the most perfect industrial workers. It is precisely this unique form of oppression, "slavery," that effectively curbs the wickedness of the Grey Dwarves—a fact Casalos discovered in the early stages of the Rift's construction.
What it didn't expect was that when the number of gray dwarf slaves reached a certain level, this situation would escalate to a new level!
In the first month, the grey dwarf slaves, deprived of the pleasures of being slave owners, gradually realized their inability to resist. They found in the construction work the most primal and simple joy of their nature, completely immersing themselves in a simple life where all they needed to do was to do their work better and more efficiently. Subsequently, a spontaneous competition and involution in the construction work began to emerge. In the following years of competition, a peculiar class system developed within the grey dwarf slave community, defined by work results.
Among all the slaves, there were actually different classes: nobles, commoners, and slaves below slaves.
Whoever completes the most work each day, and whose work is most recognized by the kobold overseers during inspection, will gain the right to control the living resources and free time of the other "inferior" grey dwarves. Crucially, this system was not devised by the kobolds to spur the grey dwarves to work hard; it was entirely a rule spontaneously formed and followed by the grey dwarves themselves.
What's even more interesting is that those who gain control over the free time of other grey dwarves will order those grey dwarves under their control to allocate their free time to "meaningless" entertainment and relaxation activities, while they themselves will devote most of their own free time to a new round of work, in order to better consolidate and solidify their acquired position...
With their personal strength enhanced by a "mysterious" power, their work efficiency is naturally directly linked to their original strength. Whether it's the warriors' powerful physique and long-honed body control, or the dual enhancement of their mind and body by psionic energy, high-level professionals gain a significant advantage in improving work efficiency and ensuring work quality. Furthermore, their focused dedication to their chosen cause allows their psionic energy to undergo a pure sublimation… Therefore, their original social class was not broken by becoming slaves; they were simply perfectly implanted into the slave class under the Dragon Lord's command.
"Strict self-discipline, voluntarily working overtime, a master of self-time management, their own desires are labor, and they can even level up through labor, what a fine beast they are, they are simply the epitome of Zimo Fenglei!" Casalos could not investigate what purpose these "racial traits" of the Grey Dwarves, or even all the subspecies of the entire Dwarf race, were created as artistic images in the Western fantasy system of his previous life, but in this real world, all of this can only be "attributed" to the main god who created these races, right?
While it's true that kobolds possess similar traits, the kobold god was created by the dragons as their "servant," so whose servants are the dwarves? This is perhaps a question that can't be answered and has no concrete answer.
In response, Casalos, unusually kind-hearted, decided to raise the status of the grey dwarf slaves by one level, allowing them to exchange it for greater freedom and recognized dominion over other "slaves." After all, they would use these things to contribute to the large-scale construction and production, which would be extremely beneficial to the construction of the new steel city.
The unnamed new steel city, personally planned by Casaloz, has actually deviated from the conventional definition of a city. With the blood and sweat of slaves and the assistance of those massive and crude magical engineering machines, the foundation of the original Greifsend city was dug into a flat pit tens of meters deep. Towering iron towers made of I-beams and angle irons rose from the bottom of the pit, with cage-like steel rings connected to each other at the base of the towers. Several layers of steel mesh were then laid on top, and a thick foundation was built by pouring mud mixed with carbon fiber and using large-scale mud-to-stone magic.
Above the foundation, the steel towers are interwoven with trusses, supporting each other to form a stable structural whole. They are then reinforced with steel cables and, like the foundation, wrapped with steel mesh before being poured into shape, becoming a super steel-concrete structure.
Once these dense steel-framed towers are completed, the top of the entire city and its "walls" will be covered with thick steel plates, and stone walls will be built over the steel plates to enclose the entire city, making it a veritable "fortress".
The steel fortress's defensive capabilities far exceeded the needs of war, because it was not originally designed for war, but rather to deal with impending natural disasters.
This is a refuge, a place where the people of the Underdark can find safe haven during the impending turbulent year of calamity.
Casalos's most vivid memory of the turbulent years wasn't the battles between the banished gods, nor the bizarre spectacle of a saint embodying divine essence exploding like a low-yield tactical nuclear bomb. He'd seen plenty of grand-scale scenes in his past life. Frankly, the depiction of the various forces in that turbulent year in this "toilet paper" (a popular online novel) is far too petty—perhaps a common flaw in mainstream Western fantasy?
It was the natural disasters that struck Faerûn due to the collapse of the magic network caused by the loss of the gods that left a deep impression on it.
"Mountains will rise and walk, lakes and seas will roar, domes will collapse, and jungle vines will devour those they encounter." This is not false propaganda, but a straightforward description of reality. When the gods are banished from their divine realm, the mountains of Faerûn will truly rise and walk on the earth like giants, flattening everything in their path; lakes and seas will transform into wild beasts, rampaging across the world and swallowing everything in their path... These are all disasters that occur on the surface; Casalos has no idea how severely the deep, dark underworlds will be affected.
All it knew was that after the turbulent years, much of the underground territory was directly erased from that already limited map of the dark regions.
The surface inhabitants might accept a few visitors from underground, but they would not accept a large-scale migration of underground residents; they would only see it as an invasion. The area where Rift Valley-Grevesend is located also has few passages to the surface, and the carrying capacity of a magic ship is extremely limited, making it an unfeasible means of migration. The Underdark Dragon Territory does not have the necessary infrastructure to migrate to the surface. In addition, Casalos is unwilling to give up this hidden underground base, which it has always regarded as its stronghold.
In order to ensure that the Dragon Territory could safely weather that terrifying moment, the steel fortress had to be able to withstand the collapse of the dome, which is why it was built to such high standards... Otherwise, what would happen if thousands of dark creature slaves were left idle and causing trouble?
119. Free Flight
A sanctuary is ultimately just a sanctuary. Casalos's essence remains the Dragon Treasury, which propels it ever stronger—the dragon is the empire, and the sole core of a dragon empire is the dragon itself. If Casalos becomes powerful enough, the Dragon Territory will soon become a new empire on the continent of Faerûn. But if it fails to grow, all its efforts will ultimately amount to nothing but dust.
With some time before the next round of trials, Casalos, who returned a little earlier, resumed his physical training, which had been interrupted by his trip.
It stood in the center of the stone platform. Several ogres huffed and puffed as they dragged equipment and carts loaded with large steel plates to the workstation. Under the shouts of the kobold engineer, they set up the truss and rails for lifting, pulling the thick iron chains and pulleys, which sparked as they rubbed against each other. They lifted thick armor plates and attached them to Casalos's body, assembling them by nesting them together. They inserted several-centimeter-thick fixing bolts into the pre-reserved tenons, and then used hinges and fiber straps for secondary reinforcement and locking.
This is not armor. Although the all-steel material can greatly enhance Casalos's defense, it is too cumbersome to wear, and its weight is enough to seriously affect its mobility.
It took about twenty minutes to finally put on a basic physical training set weighing 5 tons – Casalos
Chapter 191
Its development is normal with a slight overachievement. Although it is still in the juvenile dragon zone, its body size is already moving towards the standard of super-large size. However, its weight is only a little over 3 tons at this time, which shows the intensity of its so-called basic physical training.
After stretching its limbs, neck, and tail slightly, Casaloz climbed onto the high platform supported by the steel frame beside the stone altar. It sat atop the enormous slide that led directly to the edge of the cliff, took a deep breath, and leaped forward, plunging into the abyss amidst sparks and lightning and the rumbling of metal scraping. Gravity gripped its body tightly; the immense acceleration made its heart pound upwards, and the dragon magic flowing in its veins began to boil. Its sliding speed increased rapidly, easily surpassing the limits of running, and then approaching the speed achievable by flight.
Casalos spread his wings as wide as he could, the tough and thick wing membranes covered with scales bulging upwards, splitting the oncoming wind in a horizontal motion.
The wind on the upper wing surface, stirred by an unknown force flowing over the leading edge and wing membrane scales, forms streams of spiral airflow that cling to the wing surface and blow over it, like suction cups adhering to the wing membrane and causing it to bulge higher.
The wind blowing across the lower wing surface was largely unimpeded and undisturbed, continuing its initial path straight across the entire wing surface, merging again with the spiraling airflow flowing across the upper wing surface, mixing into a raging gale before departing. In reality, there was hardly any strong wind in the underground rift valley; it was Casalos's outstretched wings, moving forward, that cut through the calm air, creating the gale that swept across the ground.
Casalosz learned this principle back in middle school: the bulging of the wing membrane creates a significant difference in airflow velocity across the upper and lower wing surfaces. The higher velocity on the upper surface leads to a lower static pressure, and an upward force acts on the wing surface—this is the so-called lift. However, in practice, the actual effects throughout the process are far more complex, and the lift generated is far greater than the static pressure difference caused by the different airflow velocities on the upper and lower wing surfaces. Fluid dynamics and aerodynamics are a very abstract field. Due to the discrete nature of airflow, the countless defined sub-processes ultimately constitute a complex chaotic system. Without ample professional knowledge and supercomputing capabilities, it is virtually impossible to understand this system.
Fortunately, this world doesn't have supercomputers, but it does have magical wonders. Casalos entrusted the "aerodynamics" project to Isis, a young girl with exceptional arcane talent. Although the mystical processing of magic couldn't make it understand everything that happened in the process, it could still produce a useful result, and that was enough.
As the speed increases, Casalos gains more and more lift from its wings, gradually approaching the balance point of its heavy dragon body and the full weight of its armor.
The sounds of metal scraping and the sparks flying faded away. Casalos could no longer feel any support in his limbs. Instead, the weight of his entire body, except for his wings, including his training gear, was concentrated on the shoulders of his wings.
The wing-shoulder joint is the largest and most stable joint in the dragon's entire body. It bears most of the weight of the dragon's body when it flies. The wings, which are connected to it and spread out horizontally, are the strongest limbs in the dragon's skeleton.
The slide ended abruptly at the top, and Casalos first felt a sudden jolt, then his sliding direction was pushed to an upward angle, and then he completely lost support, flying to a fixed point and then falling into the abyss... no, not falling, but a dive and acceleration.
Without the frictional resistance of the slide, Casalos's speed rapidly increased to a level rarely achieved in normal flight. The lift provided by its wings finally exceeded its total weight, thanks to the increased speed. Its body rose again, gradually leaping above the horizontal line at the top of the stone pillar, and higher and higher, taking off steadily and resolutely.
Casalos, carrying a suit of equipment nearly twice his own weight, took to the sky!
This is an achievement that a dragon could never accomplish under normal circumstances. Apart from those mysterious anti-gravity spells, even with the blessing of magic, it is impossible for a dragon to carry something twice its own weight while flying.
But it did it with just one gravity-accelerated slide, and it flew faster and more swiftly.
Perhaps it's not just the gliding technique that's responsible; if other dragons were to observe it over a long period, they would discover that its current flight method is completely different from that of dragons.
Casalos circled again and again in the rift, its wings always outstretched, never flapping up or down, as if gliding. Yet, there were no updrafts in the rift for it to utilize, and its altitude never decreased. It was as if an invisible hand was supporting and propelling it, allowing it to fly freely beneath the dark dome of this gloomy realm.
Only Casalos, who was carrying a heavy load and flying continuously, could truly feel that, in addition to his physical strength, his dragon magic power was also being consumed steadily and continuously.
Dragon magic is that invisible hand.
However, this "spell" that consumes dragon magic is not a narrow magical effect based on the magic network in Faeruna, but a special ability that a true dragon of an elemental subspecies is born with.
120. Dragons and Flight
How do the dragons of Faerûn fly? Ask any dragon this question, and they'll answer without hesitation: they just flap their wings and fly!
Yes, flying is that easy and simple for the dragons of Faerûn—within an hour of hatching, once their bones have hardened, the dragons can fly.
They don't need to stay in the nest for a long time like birds that are good at flying, waiting to shed their down and grow feathers suitable for flight; nor do they need to spend their entire juvenile years in the nest flapping their wings desperately to get enough exercise; and they don't need to risk their lives to take that first step out of the nest, which has a very high mortality rate.
So naturally, as if they were born with the ability to fly, they only need to wait a mere hour in their lives to be able to soar through the sky.
Perhaps it was this unique talent that made Long Fei fly so badly, so clumsily, and so stupidly!
This talent is not "scientific" at all, but it's magical.
Yes, dragons fly using magic. Otherwise, given their size and weight, and disregarding whether they possess the power to flap their wings and take flight, or even considering deeper issues like whether their wings have sufficient area, just examining Casalos's current weight of around three tons reveals that the storm generated by its wings flapping when taking off from a standstill would be equivalent to at least a seventh or eighth-level spell.
Dragons do fly by flapping their wings... All dragons fly this way, so is that correct?
Obviously not.
Casalos doesn't know about other dragons, but when it flies with a load, it can clearly feel that it loses a lot of lift when flapping its wings—flapping its wings is probably wrong for dragons to fly; that's the way birds or other flapping-winged species fly, that's "scientific," not "magical."
Admittedly, dragons have hollow skeletons similar to birds, extremely well-developed flight muscle groups, and wings with huge wingspans and wide wing areas, but this is far from enough for dragons to fly by flapping their wings.
The biggest difference between birds that flap their wings and dragons is their size.