The highlands, Valentina's Dragon Lair.
The warm morning sun rose slowly from the east, its light spilling over, painting the highlands in a brilliant golden hue, exceptionally handsome and majestic.
From the east, a Green Dragon flapped its wings, slowly descending towards the direction of the lair.
"Xia'er, it's Xia'er returning!"
The Blue Dragon Karta, who was gnawing on a griffon, watched Xia'er speeding over, his heart stirred slightly, and he couldn't help but shout out, also causing the other two small Blue Dragons to call out.
Blue Dragon Karta glanced at the half-eaten griffon, wrestled with himself for a moment, then flapped his wings and took off, arriving before Xia'er, fluttering his wings with a touch of unfamiliarity: "Xia'er, what are you back for? Couldn't make it out there?"
Karta's voice carried a hint of hostility.
He seemed quite nervous about Xia'er's return.
Xia'er glanced at Karta, then looked at the griffon corpse on the ground, couldn't help but shake her head, and opened her mouth to speak: "I found a bag of gold coins to the east, and have come specifically to present them to Her Highness the Princess..."
"Gold coins?!"
Blue Dragon Karta couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
Although what Blue Dragons love most are not gold coins, but gemstones.
The ones who love gold coins the most are Red Dragons and Black Dragons; Red Dragons love gold, Black Dragons love currency.
But whether Red, Blue, Green, Black, or White, as long as there's treasure, they all love it!
It's just not that 'most' favorite.
The moment Karta's vertical pupils heard the words 'gold coins,' they seemed to ignite, a greedy light almost overflowing.
His originally scrutinizing and subtly hostile demeanor completely changed. His massive body leaned forward slightly, his dragon wings flapping unconsciously, stirring up a cloud of dry dust.
"Gold coins? Xia'er, you actually found gold coins!" Karta's voice rose higher, filled with undisguised desire and a commanding harshness, "This is truly... an unexpected windfall! Quick, hand one over for me to see! As a 'token of respect' for your return to the lair!"
Xia'er: ?
What's going on? How have you gotten so full of yourself after just two days apart?
Seeing Xia'er didn't respond immediately, Karta seemed even more convinced of his own authority. He took a step forward, his thick dragon claw stomping heavily on the rock, sending stone chips flying, his voice carrying an impatient urgency: "Do you hear me, Xia'er? Give me the gold coins! Just one will do! You were driven out of the lair, coming back now, this is what you should..."
Halfway through his sentence, Karta's words abruptly stopped.
Without any warning, Xia'er's massive body, covered in emerald-like scales, instantly erupted with astonishing speed. Her powerful hind legs forcefully kicked off the ground, and the entire dragon shot forward like an arrow from a bow, ferociously crashing into Karta.
"Boom!"
A heavy, heart-palpitating impact sound exploded within the dragon lair!
The incident was too sudden, and Xia'er's movements were extremely fast. Karta had no time to make any effective defense or evasion. His chest solidly bore the brunt of Xia'er's 'Dragon Charge.' The immense impact made Karta feel as if he had been smashed head-on by a mountain. He was sent flying by the collision.
Karta crashed heavily onto the ground littered with rubble, stirring up a cloud of dust. The intense pain threw his consciousness into chaos.
Xia'er didn't pause for a second. Her massive dragon claw followed immediately, like the heaviest shackle, descending with the force of a thunderbolt, precisely stomping on Karta's back as he had just tried to struggle to his feet.
"Crash!"
Karta's body was slammed back into the ground once more. Xia'er's strength far exceeded his estimation. The dragon claw pressing down on his spine was exceptionally heavy, making his vertebrae creak, his internal organs churn, and even breathing became extremely difficult.
"Ugh... Xia'er! How dare you..."
Karta was both shocked and furious, barely raising his dragon head, filled with utmost shock and anger.
"Karta."
Xia'er's voice was calm, but brimming with coldness: "Who gave you the illusion that you are qualified to demand 'respect' from me? You are not worthy of touching even a single one of my gold coins."
[Defeated Blue Dragon 'Karta Underwood' (Challenge Rating 4), reward obtained: 'Storm Resistance' experience +1.]
It's been a long time since I bullied the little ones. Do they really think I was driven out?
Utterly foolish!
Perhaps the downfall of the Underwood Dragon Flight back then was because there were too many fools like this among them.
Pinned under Xia'er's foot, Karta wore an expression of unwillingness, but he recalled Xia'er's absolute dominance when she was still with the flight. He immediately said in a low voice, "I understand."
Only then did Xia'er slowly lift her claw.
The Blue Dragon who had been arrogantly demanding gold coins just moments ago could now only pant wretchedly in the Green Dragon's shadow, his scales cracked, his dignity in tatters.
"Where's Tyrone?"
Xia'er casually opened her mouth, inquiring about the Red Dragon Tyrone.
Among these young dragons in the lair, the one who left the deepest impression on Xia'er was the Red Dragon Tyrone.
Who knows what that fool is up to now.
"After you left, Tyrone also volunteered to go south to build a lair, saying he wanted to solve his food problem himself."
Karta said in a low voice, somewhat dejected.
It was precisely because Xia'er and Tyrone were gone, and the Black Dragon Saga had also been expelled, that Karta had gotten a bit full of himself, proclaiming himself the number one dragon under Valentina, hence his earlier audacity.
"Is that so?"
Xia'er nodded slightly, feeling a bit regretful.
With Tyrone's personality, it's probably hard for him to survive in the Karugu Highlands.
Now there's one less source for obtaining Fire Resistance.
However, relying solely on the basic attributes gained from combat bonuses is still too little.
In the five years since my birth, I fought with Tyrone almost every day or two. Even so, my Fire Resistance level has only just reached LV2. If I want to continue improving, I'm afraid I'll need to put in thousands, tens of thousands of times more effort.
Xia'er nodded, then paid no further attention to Karta, flying towards the stone palace on another peak, which was precisely Valentina's palace.
The stone palace was somewhat crude.
But it had everything a palace should have.
Including a throne.
On the throne, a massive creature thirteen meters in length looked down at Xia'er, her gaze filled with irritation and displeasure, speaking to Xia'er: "Xia'er, you..."
Before she could finish, Valentina's voice faltered.
She saw the gold and silver coins Xia'er was manipulating with Mage Hand!
And Xia'er didn't hesitate in the slightest, directly using Mage Hand to present these gold and silver coins before Valentina, while speaking respectfully: "Great Princess Valentina, your subject has unintentionally acquired some gold coins while abroad, and has come specifically to offer them to you."
"Shiny little things..."
Valentina's eyes lit up, a flash of greed in her gaze: "My loyal Prime Minister, the princess's right hand, where did you get these things?"
"And, is there more?"
Xia'er lowered her dragon head, answering respectfully, her voice echoing in the spacious stone hall: "Reporting to the great Princess, these meager gleams are tribute seized by your subject while expanding your territory for you, taken from several islands occupied by Bullywugs at the edge of the Sea of Frost. This is all those vile aquatic creatures had accumulated."
Upon hearing this, the greedy flame that had ignited in Valentina's vertical pupils upon seeing the treasure quickly cooled.
Islands in the Sea of Frost...
Valentina remembered that when she fled from the Underwood Dragon Flight, she had also skimmed over those mist-shrouded reefs.
It's just that underwater is truly not a place for Blue Dragons to live, and those skulking aquatic creatures on the islands held little interest for Valentina, even disgusted her somewhat, which is why she built her lair in these highlands.
However, the tangible, jingling pile of gold and silver before her was ultimately pleasing to a dragon.
Valentina's gaze swept over the floating treasure once more. That instinctive fondness true dragons have for shiny things overpowered her disdain for the source.
"Hmm..."
Valentina pondered for a moment, then raised her massive dragon claw. Her fingertip, covered in fine blue scales, carefully, with obvious reluctance, plucked a single gold coin, the one with the brightest golden gleam, from the small pile of treasure Xia'er was holding aloft with Mage Hand.
She slowly pushed the gold coin towards Xia'er: "You, Xia'er, my Prime Minister. Though the gains from this journey are meager, this initiative to add luster to the dragon lair... deserves commendation. This gold coin, I bestow upon you. Remember, continuously adding brilliance to this princess's hoard is your supreme honor!"