Chapter 32: Curse (Please Follow, Please Vote)

The surrounding air was cold, and a layer of ice crystals had formed on the ground.

Dense ice blades, not yet melted, clustered together like countless blooming flowers.

A black shadow stepped out from the shadows of the nearby forest, its obsidian-like dragon scales marked with red patterns, its body rugged and robust. It was Garos, returning to the scene of the crime.

He looked up toward the direction the Copper Dragon had departed, then glanced at the ravaged abandoned mine.

"Tsk, this Copper Dragon is quite furious. However, dragons treasure their hoards as if they were their lives; the fact it hasn't gone mad outright shows restraint. Truly a metallic dragon, far more controlled than the chromatic dragons."

Garos clicked his tongue.

His claw pulled out one of the ice blades; the touch was icy, freezing his claw and causing some pain.

"This is at least the power possessed by an adult dragon or older."

"Ice affinity... Could one of its parents be a Silver Dragon? Most likely."

Garos thought to himself.

When choosing mates, dragons do not specifically seek only their own kind; pairing with the same species is actually quite rare.

However, because dragon bloodlines are domineering and difficult to blend, the probability of mixed blood is low.

Thus, regardless of the parents' species, the offspring most likely inherit the bloodline of only one parent; mixed-blood dragons like Garos are relatively rare.

Another point worth mentioning is this.

Mixed-blood dragons are not always representatives of strength and excellence.

Garos inherited the strengths of both the Iron Dragon and the Red Dragon, making him a positive mixed-blood.

But there are unlucky negative mixed-bloods who inherit the weaknesses of both parental species.

For example.

The offspring of a Red Dragon and a White Dragon might be weak against both water and fire, with a body as frail as a White Dragon and a temper as rash and explosive as a Red Dragon, truly a dragon with "ambitions as high as the sky, fate as thin as paper."

Garos stroked the keratin on his chin, lowering his gaze toward the abandoned mine.

"Facing the Copper Dragon's vented fury, the Insect King must be severely injured. Should I take the opportunity to subdue it?"

He shook his head, rejecting the idea.

The Insect King hides beneath the abandoned mine. Although Garos could go down, the underground is not his domain, and simply killing the Insect King offers little gain.

As for subduing it.

Garos's method of subduing targets through telepathic communication is essentially coercion and inducement, a transaction lacking a stronger guarantee.

This would not have a very good effect on the Insect King.

Its life level is very high; perhaps it could be subdued at first, but once it recovers, betrayal is inevitable.

Shortly after.

Under the cover of night, Garos returned to the Ironwood Hills and began counting his gains from this time.

With a flick of his dragon wings, gems and gold coins clattered down, shimmering with a beautiful luster under the moonlight.

These gems and gold coins were no ordinary objects; they contained magical energy, and consuming them would aid a dragon's growth and development.

Lowering his gaze at these glittering things.

Garos instinctively felt a surge of excitement and pleasure, along with a strong urge to collect and protect them, preventing any other creature from touching them.

The attraction of treasure to dragons is engraved in their very bones, almost like a curse.

Garos was unwilling to be affected by this.

Excessive pursuit and obsession with treasure is one of the major causes of dragon death, no less than death caused by arrogance.

Garos took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, breathing deeply again and again to resist the inner desire.

His gaze gradually returned to clarity.

When he was four years old, he had luckily dug up a magic gem; at that time, he had wanted nothing more than to stuff it into his anal fissure to hide it, but he felt this emotion was abnormal and should not be allowed to develop, so he thought about eating it.

However, when the gem reached his mouth, he simply could not bring himself to bite down.

It felt as if what was at his mouth was not a gem, but his own lifeblood.

Later, Garos hid the magic gem at the bottom of a lake, playing with it during his leisure time to fight against desire and temper his will.

Finally, at around six years old.

After two years of tempering, Garos gritted his teeth and, as he wished, successfully ate it.

For a young dragon.

This was an absolute feat.

Those who are not dragons find it hard to imagine the obsession dragons have for treasure; it is a throbbing sensation seemingly engraved in the soul, an instinct deep in the bones.

At the same time.

Samantha, who was engraving alchemical runes on Mober's body, paused, her ears suddenly perking up.

"Ah, from where comes this so beautiful, heavenly sound, so crisp?"

She turned her head and saw the pile of gems and gold coins at Garos's feet; immediately, her breathing and heartbeat accelerated, and her eyes glowed.

Her claw accidentally swept in a wide arc, tearing a long bloody wound on Mober.

"Awooo!" The sudden pain made Mober let out an abrupt howl.

Samantha seemed not to hear it; her eyes were fixed straight ahead, as if her soul had been hooked, and she walked step by step toward Garos.

"My dear, wealthy, great, glorious brother!"

Samantha completely abandoned the dignity of a Red Dragon, approaching Garos and bowing her head to the ground.

"I beg you, I beg you."

"Share some treasure with me; I am willing to do anything!"

Samantha felt as if ants were biting her from top to bottom, from soul to flesh, compelling her involuntarily to pay any price to obtain treasure.

Garos looked at Samantha with pity.

Its appearance was simply the reaction of an ordinary young dragon seeing treasure.

It knew it couldn't snatch it by force, otherwise it would have already pounced.

Even so, Samantha needed to expend much mental energy to suppress the desire to snatch the treasure from Garos's hand.

One common tactic used by adventurer parties when hunting dragons was to go to great lengths: scattering numerous gems and gold coins in areas where dragons appeared, setting traps around them, and silently waiting for the dragons, who were especially sensitive to such things, to arrive.

"No problem."

Garos agreed lightly, making Samantha unable to believe it.

After a pause, he added a sentence, saying: "But the premise is that your actions must satisfy me. If I am pleased, I may reward you with some treasure."

Samantha's eyes widened, and she asked with joyful excitement: "What exactly should I do?"

Garos smiled and said: "I can't be precise either. This requires you to figure it out yourself. In short, just make me happy."

As the saying goes.

The law must be unknown, and the power must be unfathomable.

Without fixed standards, this meant whether to give or not depended entirely on His thoughts.

Simply put, he was just drawing a pie in the air.

"Making Garos happy sounds so simple. He wants me to master alchemy that can help him as soon as possible."

After a moment of thought, Samantha thought of a point that could make Garos happy.

"My dear brother, I know what to do!"

Leaving behind a sentence full of fighting spirit, in order to get the 'reward', Samantha turned her head and continued to practice alchemy diligently.

Having sent Samantha away.

Garos picked up a gem, moved towards his mouth with considerable slowness, finally closed his eyes and tossed it in, then gritted his teeth ruthlessly, crunching and swallowing it down.

A thick surge of energy, several times greater than the same mass of black oil, rose from his belly.

The slight fatigue generated by training and combat.

Vanished into thin air almost instantly.

Magic gems are difficult to mass-produce and mine; they are rarer and more precious resources than black oil. Their beneficial effects when eaten are stronger than black oil, but they are harder to obtain.

After eating one.

Garos, seizing the momentum, wanted to eat a second one.

But when the gem reached his mouth, he simply couldn't open it.

The attempt to swallow two gems consecutively made Garos feel as if his heart were being cut by a knife; every scale on his body, every muscle, resisted, making it truly difficult to bite into.

"This instinct is still too strong. Eating one at a time is already my current limit."

Garos shook his head and put down the gem.

The gems remaining in his hand were five in total: three white crystals of the cold attribute, one ruby of the fire attribute, and one sapphire of the water attribute. The gold and silver coins totaled roughly two hundred.

With a sweep of his dragon wings, all these gems and coins were stored away.

Immediately, while the energy within his body was abundant and vigorous, Garos grabbed three alchemical items and shot up into the sky to test their specific strength and effects.

Alchemical items are not Like magic items.

Such things focus on being useful; whoever gets them is the owner.

If an ordinary person obtains a powerful alchemical item, as long as it still has energy to activate, it is not impossible to exchange blows with a transcendent existence using it.

Unless it is a very high-level alchemical item, the concept of recognizing a master does not exist at all.

(End of this chapter)