Chapter 78: Deborah

It had been exactly one month since the copper dragon Deborah left Red Maple Ridge.

The copper dragon’s goal was clear—to defeat the hybrid dragon that had made it taste defeat, then capture and train it, purging its evil nature and guiding it into the embrace of good dragons.

A naturally evil iron-blood hybrid dragon, if allowed to grow, would surely become a supreme evil dragon.

On the other hand.

If it could be turned from evil to good, it would be an extraordinarily glorious achievement—an unparalleled feat worthy of song and legend!

The copper dragon itself thought so.

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

For reasons unknown, metal dragons generally held the notion of reforming evil dragons.

For instance, metal dragons liked to steal, even seize, the eggs of evil dragons and raise them themselves.

Such cases were not rare among metal dragons; those who successfully raised evil dragons into good ones were recorded in metal dragon lineage and highly honored.

The search for Garos was not going smoothly.

Marking alchemical items or coins and gems with tracking sigils was beyond the capability of a juvenile copper dragon.

Though its belongings had been stolen, it could not use such means to locate Garos.

At first, the copper dragon returned to the place where it had been defeated by Garos, beginning a systematic search from the abandoned mine choked with rock-worms.

Dragons were highly sensitive to the scent of other dragons.

Moreover, dragons soared through the sky with unobstructed views; if they focused intently on searching for a target, their efficiency was extremely high.

But the wilderness was vast, and finding another dragon within a short time amid such boundless wastes was no simple matter.

In the first week.

Remembering Garos’s scent, the copper dragon discovered Iron Fir Hills.

Unfortunately, the place had been burned to ashes, covered in blackened ruins, turned into a barren mountain—the copper dragon found nothing.

It did not lose heart, pressing on with fierce determination.

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

Enraged, it discovered its attackers were blackrock dwarves and immediately descended toward the oil field.

Upon realizing the target was a metal dragon, the blackrock dwarves halted their assault; their high-ranking officers emerged, presented the copper dragon with some small trinkets from southern kingdoms, played a round of riddles with it, and finally calmed its fury.

A juvenile copper dragon alone was not enough to instill fear in the blackrock garrison.

Had it been any other juvenile evil dragon—even a juvenile red dragon—descending upon their base would have meant being beaten into submission, or worse, skinned and dismantled.

But metal dragons were different from evil dragons.

Evil dragons traveled alone, indifferent to one another, with no allies.

Metal dragons placed great importance on blood ties, fiercely protective to an extreme degree.

When young metal dragons ventured out and clashed with others, injuring them was acceptable—even severely wounding them was seen as skill.

But killing one carried grave consequences.

Unless one could guarantee complete invisibility and immunity to pursuit, the wrath of older, stronger metal dragons could descend at any moment.

Magic flourished on the planet Bernardo; civilizations of all races were advanced. Dragons were not the supreme rulers, but unquestionably dominant powers—especially the tightly bonded, unified metal dragons.

It was said.

Killing a gold dragon might even provoke the wrath of the Dragon God.

The Blackrock Principality belonged to the Lothain Federation, a realm of order, and well understood the dire consequences of provoking metal dragons—it would never dare attack one.

While staying at the oil field garrison, the blackrock dwarves explained to the copper dragon why they had attacked.

The garrison’s dwarf sorcerer Groni had been ambushed by an evil hybrid dragon and blinded.

That hybrid dragon had previously sent its kin to steal black oil from underground, destroying two of their alchemical golems, leaving the garrison nerves taut—so when the copper dragon flew overhead, they mistook it for an evil dragon scouting and launched the attack.

The copper dragon asked whether this evil dragon was an iron-blood hybrid, and received an affirmative answer.

It immediately pressed the blackrock dwarves for information on the hybrid’s whereabouts, but the dwarves knew nothing—if they had, they would have already sent troops to hunt it down.

No leads obtained.

The copper dragon left the oil field garrison.

It drifted aimlessly across the wilderness, investigating every scent of dragon it detected, yet never found Garos.

Until today.

Torrential rain poured down, making the fire-type copper dragon uncomfortable; amid howling wind and storm, it considered giving up the pursuit of Garos.

Then it noticed.

Far off, lightning continuously struck a single spot, illuminating the sky as bright as day—strangely, all lightning fell there, as if drawn by some force, and faint dragon scent lingered in the air.

Driven by curiosity, the copper dragon flew toward it.

When it saw the target being struck, it froze for a moment, then burst into ecstatic joy, crying out involuntarily:

“Naturally evil hybrid! I’ve found you!”

Garos looked up and saw the copper dragon’s form, heard its shout.

Why shout so loudly?

And how did this thing find me?

Garos felt puzzled and wary.

After stealing the copper dragon’s gear and treasure, he had carefully and thoroughly checked everything—no tracking sigils or spells were present, and a juvenile copper dragon theoretically lacked such abilities.

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

But Garos had not yet fully overcome the dragon’s innate greed.

The thought of abandoning the treasure made his heart ache; since he found no tracking marks, he kept it—and later, when he met the fairy dragon Weila, he had her inspect it again, still finding nothing unusual.

“I was careless.”

“My obsession with wealth made me unconsciously ignore potential risks—this is a major weakness that needs targeted training.”

Garos thought to himself.

He noticed sharply.

On the copper dragon’s horns rested a gleaming, radiant silver horn ring; its neck scales also appeared slightly swollen, as if concealing some valuable items beneath.

He suppressed the urge to immediately strike and seize them.

Garos gazed at the copper dragon and asked in a low voice:

“How did you find me?”

“Heh, the answer lies within a riddle.”

Deborah the copper dragon circled in the rain, her scales gleaming under the downpour; she grinned slyly, cleared her throat, and chanted in a rhythmic tone:

“It has no form, no substance, yet makes fools triumph and the wise fall.”

“It makes no sound, yet lets the weak rise and the strong be broken.”

“It leaves no trace, yet turns chance into certainty and certainty into chance.”

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

“Tell me, hybrid dragon—what is it?”

(End of Chapter)