Chapter 1998: Dragon Altar

The outside of the passage was pitch black as usual, but Xia De's first feeling after stepping out was that it was very hot here, and there was a strange feeling that couldn't be described.

Sniffing carefully, there was no smell of grape fermentation in the wine cellar, nor the smell of vegetables in the hotel's underground warehouse. After his feet left the passage, he clearly felt that the ground under his feet was no longer flat, which meant that this should not be an underground artificial facility.

Dark vision could see part of the situation in front of him. He seemed to be located at the edge of a wide cave. Listening carefully, he couldn't hear any sound of insects, birds, or beasts moving here, and even using "Echoes of the Past" to listen, the miracle couldn't detect any sound:

"No life... Even if the road out is blocked, it's impossible for there to be no insects, right? Powerful Space Perception!"

The miracle was activated, and the terrain of the surroundings entered his brain, and even the range he could see increased a lot.

Xia De's guess just now was right. This was indeed a huge underground cave, generally circular. Although the ground was not flat, it could generally be regarded as a flat space. The exit was roughly on the northeast side. Except for the only exit, the entire underground cavity had no other passages connected to other places.

Determining that there was no heartbeat of other people here except himself, Xia De lit the moonlight to see further:

"Silver Moon."

The height of the huge underground cave was about three stories high, and the area was two St. Deran Squares. This place was not empty. Surrounding the cave, there were murals on the side walls that had faded so severely that their original appearance could not be seen at all. At the same time, crooked stone pillars of various colors stood at the edge of the cave. Those stone pillars that still had traces of elements should also be powerful alchemical items in the past.

This seemed to be a place of worship. Although the glory of the past had completely dissipated, one could still see the appearance when it was prosperous from the murals, stone pillars, and the decorations of collapsed giant beast skeletons.

Although the ground looked flat, when Xia De reached the center of the cave, he found that this position was not only more stuffy, but the ground was clearly smoother, and even had an arc that sank downward.

Checking more carefully, he actually found a few rusted ancient gold coins in the mud. Although he couldn't see which era they specifically belonged to, he could be sure that these were genuine antiques:

"Gold coins... I seem to have guessed what place this used to be."

Continuing to check the wide cave, not long after, he found a large amount of rusted precious metals piled together in the corner. Digging open the ground, he found skeletons that had almost turned into fossils. There were human skeletons, but more were skeletons of various animals.

There were no living animals here, but there were plants. The most conspicuous plant growing in the stuffy cave was a large area of bright red grass located in the southwest position where the "hidden passage" exit was. Xia De recognized at a glance that this was "Dragon Saliva Grass", a special herb born in a dragon's lair. It is said that this herb needs to absorb nutrients from the saliva of giant dragons in the dormant stage that is rich in ether and spirits to grow.

When preparing the "Giant Dragon Sleep Growth Ritual" for Fiona in the "City of Eternal Night", this precious herb was needed. Unfortunately, Xia De didn't have it at that time, so he just wiped some of Fiona's saliva and blood with celery leaves, but the ritual finally succeeded.

"The price of Dragon Saliva Grass seems to be quite expensive, this piece is worth at least... This place wouldn't have been a giant dragon's lair, right?"

Waking up from the memories of the past, Xia De's first reaction was not surprise, but happiness that he didn't encounter a real giant dragon just after walking out of the passage.

Then he continued to investigate in the cave. Besides Dragon Saliva Grass, he also found some red moss on the rock wall. This is also "Dragon Blood Moss" that can only grow in a giant dragon's lair. Of course, it actually has little to do with dragon blood.

And relying on the "Red Butterfly Avatar" to fly up, Xia De also found some remains of huge rune etchings on the top of the cave. Relying on the "A Piece of True Information - Dragon" obtained after the adventure in the Lost Forest, Xia De interpreted the meaning of those runes as "sleep aid", "recovery", "constant temperature", and "protection", which are very ancient dragon runes.

But because too much time had passed, he couldn't know more accurately what ritual those runes combined to form.

"Even if it really is a dragon lair, the time this lair was abandoned should be at the latest the Fifth Era."

Pure-blooded giant dragons are rarely seen in the Sixth Era now, and after taking out the map of the Old Continent and the map of the Moon Bay region, and using "Powerful Space Perception" to locate his current position in Moon Bay, Xia De also confirmed again that this lair had been abandoned for a long time. After all, such a big city nearby, if a powerful giant dragon had appeared in the Sixth Era, it made no sense for books not to record it.

The former owner of the lair must have been powerful. Even though thousands of years had passed and the once magnificent lair had become what it was today, no creatures dared to appear here. The stuffy air should also be the influence left by the dragon. And thinking of this, Xia De also realized that the strange feeling he felt after walking out of the hidden passage was the giant dragon's racial talent "Dragon Might" - a strange mental suppression ability that brought him mental illusions.

It's just that his mental strength was exceptionally high, and he had been in contact with the demigod Red Dragon Witch, so these residual mental influences didn't have much impact on him.

Basically confirming that this was a dragon lair abandoned in the Fifth Era, Xia De changed back to his original appearance from the red butterfly form. He stood in the sunken center of the cave, raised his right hand and looked at the illuminated lair. Relying on the resonance of mental power, in a trance, he actually seemed to see the huge silver dragon lying on the pile of treasures sleeping in the cave filled with gold and silver treasures.

【Outsider, you have gained insights into 'Dragon'.】

"She" reminded him gently in his ear, Xia De recovered and nodded:

"Really interesting, the exit this time is in such an interesting place. But the abandonment of the lair was a matter of the Fifth Era. The road out now, won't it be blocked, right?"

【Before going out, you might want to look at the right side.】

Xia De continued to explore the cave according to "her" guidance. In front of the wall roughly opposite to the "hidden passage", he saw a brown mud statue again. The base of the statue was a circular platform, and on the platform was a small exquisite dragon crouching on an egg-shaped object.

Clear dragon runes could be seen on the front of the platform base:

【Dragons are born great.】

Xia De reached out and touched the brown egg-shaped object, and only then did he feel the extremely slight traces of elements.

"It should be able to be activated, what should I do?"

He tried to recite those runes in dragon language, but it had no effect. Summoning the life ring, he remembered that he didn't have a spirit rune related to "Dragon". So he turned back home through the "Space Labyrinth", and after taking the "Higgs Dragon Head Stone", he touched the egg-shaped object with it.

This time there was a different phenomenon. The brown mud layer on the surface of the "egg" touched by the relic peeled off, revealing the golden luster inside. But that only lasted for a short five seconds, and the mud layer wrapped the egg surface again.

"Interesting... The long-haired Luweiya said, dragons are very useful..."

Finally, he took out Fiona's glove. After wearing it on his right hand, he pressed his palm against the egg.

Crack~

A clear cracking sound came, and then the small mud dragon crouching on the egg actually moved.

Xia De retreated a few steps, watching the circular platform base radiate light, watching the egg slowly float into the air, the brown mud peeling off inch by inch on the eggshell surface, and the mud layer on the mud dragon also peeling off. And what was finally presented in front of Xia De was a golden dragon egg floating in the air on a golden platform, flashing with golden light, and a small golden dragon statue crouching on the dragon egg, eyes closed but still looking like it was alive.

The dragon egg and the metal dragon were of course dead objects, and when Xia De reached out to touch this radiating dragon egg again, "she" in his ear also gave a reminder:

【Outsider, you have touched a miracle.】

【The ancient Dragon Altar has recognized your identity as a fellow clan member. Touching the altar will obtain the following effects:】

【Restore all your own spirits;】

【Heal part of the injuries;】

【Expel part of the negative status;】

【Obtain wealth.】

【Note: The altar's power is limited, and it can only trigger the effect once a day.】

"Each effect, once a day?"

【Altar effect, once a day.】

The golden light illuminated Xia De's confused expression:

"So, what on earth is this? It's a good thing to save essence by being so close to home, but this kind of altar... is it similar to an ancient sacrificial place like the Night Temple... I want wealth."

So the small dragon crouching on the dragon egg opened its mouth, and amidst the sound of clinking, a small gold coin fell onto the altar.

Xia De picked it up and found that it was a pure metal coin. The material was temporarily unclear, but it had miracle elements, and there were dragon runes on both sides, so it should be more than just an antique:

"Interesting, the exit this time is really interesting."

However, Xia De didn't rush to investigate the origin of this altar, but sent the coin back home, and then planned to continue forward, trying to find a way to leave this ancient dragon lair. The influence brought by thousands of years of time changes and geological movements is something no one knows. Xia De's worry was not unreasonable. In the worst case, he was afraid he would have to use "Stone to Mud" to forcibly dig a road to the ground.

As for that "Dragon Altar", it didn't always maintain a sparkling state. After Xia De left the altar for twenty steps, the floating dragon egg fell back toward the altar, and the mud that appeared on the surface wrapped the altar, the dragon egg, and the small dragon, and it returned to its original unactivated state. ===== CHAPTER 1999 =====