Chapter 78: Deborah's Riddle, the Alchemical Horn Ring

Exactly one month has passed since the copper dragon Deborah left Red Maple Ridge.

The copper dragon's goal was clear: defeat the hybrid dragon that had made it taste failure, then capture and tame it, purge its evil nature, and guide it into the embrace of the good dragons.

A naturally evil red-iron hybrid dragon, if allowed to grow, would absolutely become a super evil dragon.

Conversely.

If it could be turned from evil to good, this would be an extremely glorious achievement, a feat difficult to replicate, worthy of praise and song!

The copper dragon itself thought this way.

Its silver dragon father and copper dragon mother had also encouraged and praised this idea.

For some reason, metallic dragons generally hold the thought of persuading evil dragons to turn good.

For instance, metallic dragons like to steal, or even raid, the eggs of evil dragons to raise themselves.

Such examples are not rare among metallic dragons, and those metallic dragons who successfully raise evil dragons into good dragons are recorded in the metallic dragon lineage and highly rewarded.

The process of searching for Garos did not go smoothly.

Marking alchemical items, gold coins, or gems was a technique the young copper dragon could not master.

Although its belongings had been stolen, it could not use them to locate Garos.

At first, the copper dragon returned to the place where it had been defeated by Garos, starting a carpet search of the surrounding area from the abandoned mine where the rock-crushing worms had dwelled.

Dragons are extremely sensitive to the aura of other dragons.

Furthermore, when dragons soar through the sky, their view of the earth below is unobstructed; if they focus single-mindedly on searching for a specific target, the efficiency is extremely high.

But the wilderness is vast; finding another dragon in such a vast wilderness within a short time is no simple task.

During the first week.

Remembering Garos's scent, the copper dragon discovered the Hemlock Hills.

Unfortunately, this place had already been burned to the ground, covered in blackened traces everywhere, turned into a barren mountain; the copper dragon found nothing.

It did not lose heart, continuing its search with high morale.

While passing over a certain oil field, the copper dragon was suddenly attacked.

Enraged, it discovered the attackers were Black Rock Dwarves and immediately descended toward the oil field.

Upon discovering the target of the attack was a metallic dragon, the Black Rock Dwarves quickly halted further attacks; high-ranking officers from the garrison stepped forward, gifted the copper dragon some small toys from the southern nations, and played a guessing game with it for a while before appeasing its anger.

A young copper dragon was actually not enough to make the Black Rock garrison fear.

If it had been any other young evil dragon, even a young red dragon, daring to land in their garrison, it would inevitably have been beaten by a group, or even skinned and dismembered.

But metallic dragons are different from evil dragons.

Evil dragons are loners, their relationships with each other cold, with no backing.

Metallic dragons place great importance on blood bonds, protecting their own to the extreme.

When a young metallic dragon adventures outside, if a conflict or contradiction arises and it is injured, that is fine; even if it is severely injured, it is considered a testament to the attacker's skill.

But if it is killed, the consequences are severe.

Unless one can guarantee not to be detected or tracked, the wrath of a more ancient and powerful metallic dragon will descend at any time.

Magic flourishes on the planet Bernardo, and civilizations of various races are developed; the dragon race is not the absolute top ruler, but is definitely a hegemon-level existence, especially the metallic dragons, who are united and closely connected.

It is said.

If a gold dragon is killed, it might even provoke the wrath of the Dragon God.

The Black Rock Duchy belongs to the Lothian Federation, a member of the orderly nations; knowing the troublesome consequences of provoking metallic dragons, they naturally would not attack a metallic dragon.

While staying at the oil field garrison, the Black Rock Dwarves explained to the copper dragon the reason for the attack.

A dwarf warlock in the army named Groni had been ambushed by an evil hybrid dragon, which had blinded him with an explosion.

This hybrid dragon had previously sent minions to steal their black oil from underground and destroyed two of their alchemical golems, making the garrison somewhat sensitive; thus, when the copper dragon flew overhead, they mistook it for an evil dragon scouting the area and launched an attack.

The copper dragon asked if this evil dragon was a red-iron hybrid dragon and received an affirmative answer.

It immediately pressed the Black Rock Dwarves, asking if they knew the whereabouts of the red-iron hybrid dragon, but the Black Rock Dwarves did not know either; otherwise, they would have already dispatched soldiers to hunt and exterminate it.

No leads were obtained.

The copper dragon left the oil field garrison.

It wandered aimlessly over the wilderness; whenever it smelled a dragon's aura, it would go to investigate, but it never found Garos.

Until today.

Rain poured down like a flood, making the fire-aligned copper dragon feel uncomfortable; amidst the howling wind and rain, it conceived the thought of giving up the pursuit of Garos.

Then it noticed.

Lightning was constantly striking in the distance, illuminating the sky as bright as day; strangely, all those lightning bolts fell on a single location, as if attracted by something, and the air vaguely carried the aura of a dragon.

Driven by curiosity, the copper dragon flew toward it.

When it saw the target being struck, it was first slightly stunned, then overjoyed, and involuntarily shouted.

"Naturally evil hybrid dragon! I have found you!"

Garos looked up, saw the figure of the copper dragon, and also heard its loud shout.

Why shout so loudly?

Also, how did this fellow find me?

Garos felt somewhat puzzled and wary.

After stealing the copper dragon's equipment and treasures, he had carefully and seriously inspected them, finding no tracking marks or spells on them; moreover, a young copper dragon theoretically would not possess such skills.

Of course, the safest course of action would have been to discard or destroy everything.

But Garos had not yet fully overcome the dragon's innate greed for wealth.

The mere thought of discarding the treasures made his heart ache like a knife; since he found no tracking marks, he kept them. Later, when he met the faerie dragon Long Long Weila, he had her re-inspect them, and still no abnormalities were found.

"I was negligent."

"My subconscious obsession with wealth made me overlook potential risks; this is a major weakness that requires targeted training."

Garos thought.

He noticed keenly.

On the Copper Dragon's horns sat a shimmering, radiant silver ring, and the scales on its neck appeared slightly bulged, as if hiding something precious beneath.

He suppressed the urge to strike immediately and seize it.

Garos gazed at the Copper Dragon and asked in a deep voice:

"How did you find me?"

"Hehe, the answer lies within the riddle."

The Copper Dragon, Deborah, circled in the downpour, her scales washed by the rain until they gleamed; she grinned with a cunning smile, cleared her throat, and recited in a rhythmic tone:

"It is formless and intangible, yet lets the fool triumph and the wise fail."

"It makes no sound, yet lets the weak rise and the strong fall."

"It is invisible and undetectable, yet turns chance into certainty and certainty into chance."

"It is neither magic nor skill, yet brings you here today—to meet me again!"

"Tell me, half-blood dragon, what is this?"

(End of this chapter)