Chapter 2: The Red Dragon's Treasure Hoard
Following the familiar st left by his mother in his bloodline, Cassius twisted and turhrough the deep cave until he finally reached a stone door.
The stone door was thid emanated a sense of danger.
This was the secret treasure hoard of the red dragon.
It was her private domain, her pce of greed, a location in all of Ahat every creature loo reach but could never find.
The red dragon cautiously extended a cw, pushing open the heavy stone door and quickly beating his wings to take off.
"Boom!"
In an instant, seething va surged forth.
It roared like a furious gia, steaming with terrifyi, eager to devour any living being.
This was the red dragon's harshest punishment for creatures that dared to covet her treasures—redug them to molten remnants in the va, leaving no bones behind.
Even though Cassius reacted in advahe va filling the entraill iably engulfed him.
Fortunately, the same blood flowed within him as his mother, naturally attuo fire a.
Although his scales were thin and his skin tender, uo enjoy a va bath like an adult red dragon, the va was merely unfortably hot for him, posing no threat to his life.
"Hey-yoh!"
The young red dragon used his wings as paddles, fpping with all his might to push himself toward the depths of the treasure hoard, entering a deep tunnel.
The view opened up before him—
Gold, piled high like hills.
s shifted at the slightest touch, flowing like a river and king down onto the rocky ground.
Amidst the golden mountains, items glimmering with magical light were buried.
Cassius felt his breath qui, involuntarily exhaling a puff of heat, his e-yellow slit pupils refleg the gleaming gold.
The deeply ingrained greed in his red dragon bloed him to stay here, as if a voi his mind was telling him:
Cim this gold, cim these treasures—they are all his.
"Boom!"
A tremendous sound made the mountain shake.
It was the roar of the red dragon and the fierce shout of the padin.
The sound snapped Cassius out of his deep greed.
Yes, he didn’t have much time.
The red dragon was battling the padin, and it was clear she was losing.
Once his mother was killed, the vengeful padin’s arget to eradicate evil would likely be him, this "young evil."
But taking all this gold with him was simply impossible.
No wohis red dragon was being targeted by this near-legendary padin—so much gold, probably millions of s.
She must have looted aire kingdom's treasure accumuted eions in one go. Otherwise, even an a dragon’s hoard wouldn’t be this extravagant.
He also uood why a heat-loving red dragon would appear in the cold Aa Wilderness—she was fleeing with her loot.
"Magical items, I only need magical items that enhance my ability to survive."
Cassius quickly regained his posure, suppressing his greed as he sifted through the golden piles, cheg the magical items glimmering with energy.
"Bde Ring, reduces sshing damage."
"Soul Amulet, allows once-daily Speak with Dead."
"Magiullifying Amulet, egate a spell of level six or lower on artifact for exploration, taking it."
The young dragon swallowed the mithril-crafted, intricately decorated amulet in one gulp.
Red dragons are natural spellcasters, their bodies serving as i magical ste and materials, allowing any magical item to be preserved within and fun.
It’s said that some a dragons with "spell addi" even carve magical runes onto each scale, using them as magical scrolls at any time.
"Heart of Lava, deals additional fire damage, nice."
"Bzing Staff, three charges of Fire Ray, taking it."
In mere seds, the red dragon had swallowed over a dozen magical items, but only these were valuable. Many of the rest were fshy court magic items, expe not particurly useful.
Clearly, this adult red dragon had a much stronger love fold than magic.
The sounds of battle outside grew more intense, but the roars were noticeably weakening.
The red dragon was reag her limit.
"Time to go."
The young dragon headed toward the cave exit but frequently looked back at the pile of gold, as if under a charm spell.
The greed rooted deep in his bloodline created a nearly irresistible urge to devour all the gold, a craving as addictive as a drug.
Unfortunately, the magical items were already close to filling his stomach.
"Just oe, just oe."
Cassius opened his massive jaws and gulped down a big mouthful of gold, the remaining s flowing like a waterfall from the ers of his mouth.
He expected a metallic texture, but surprisingly, in his sulfur-den, scorg mouth, the gold s felt like greasy sweets with a strange, soft texture.
The translut panel appeared before him again.
Achievement: 【Gold Devourer】
"As an evil dragon, you are not satisfied merely h gold in your cave; you wish te it into your insatiable body. Yreed astounds even the gods.
When you gain suffit strength, the world will be ed by your boundless desire."
Obtained passive trait:
【Metallic Scales】 Level 4 (4250/5000)
AC +2, stitution +1
When you devour a certain amount of preetal, its elements will adhere to your skin a. Your scales will take on a correspondiallic sheen, signifitly enhang your armor and stitution.
(Note: Yoan Caparius was one of the most greedy dragons in the multiverse, even eyeing the gods’ treasury. He ultimately got his wish and was turned into a massive golden statue, eternally adrift iral Void.)
"k, k..."
The red dragohe gold rapidly melting inside him, flowing to his skin, where his crimson scales began to show a faint golden glow uhe firelight.
Meanwhile, the red dragon’s heart beat powerfully, nourished by the elements, pumping even hotter blood throughout his body.
"Huff——"
Cassius exhaled a satisfied breath of hot air.
It’s worth noting that increases iribute panel are not merely linear but almost expoial. Each level is about 1.2 times stroha, greatly enhang stitution.
"Good stuff, too bad I ’t take all the gold."
Cassius hadn’t expected that a moment’s greed would yield such a delightful surprise, but with the battle outside nearly over, if he didn’t escape now, he’d lose his ce.
Allowing his bloodlio affect his mind in this life-or-death situation would make him the stereotypical red dragon with muscles for brains.
"Time to go."
The red dragon, filled with extreme pride and arrogance, would never even sider abandoning treasures and fleeing the .
Fortunately, his dear mother wasirely like that, at least leaving a narrow escape route for the hatg.
With his belly bulging, the young red dragon scrambled out of the treasure hoard, running and flying toward the cave exit in the opposite dire of the .
This led to the southern slope of Cloud Peak, and further down was the Bokara Forest. Ohere, he would be free to "fly as high as the sky, and roam as wide as the sea."
An adult red dragon would have too much size and o hide easily, but the t spruces, birches, and other trees made it simple to ceal a young dragon, even allowing him to live and hunt there.
"The wind’s tight, let’s scram."
Cassius looked at the cave exit ahead a forward.
