Chapter 131 - Dragon Blood Potion

Ah!The miserable, muffled groan came from deep within the cave.

The young red dragon caught in the middle had no space to dodge, and was likely drenched in strong acid breath from above.

Uncertain if the strong acid breath had severely wounded him, or if the young red dragon no longer had the strength to counterattack, there was no new movement from within.

Even after the young red copper dragon mustered another mouthful of strong acid breath and sprayed it inside, there were no more groans. It seemed as if the young red dragon had completely perished.

"Is he already dead?" The young dragon started to cautiously peer into the cave, seemingly trying to glimpse the situation inside.

"Seal it up." Gaven had no intention of looking inside but instructed two gnolls to seal the entrance that had just been melted by the flame dragon’s breath. Whether dead or alive, his plan was to delay at least for a day or half a day.

If the young red dragon wasn’t dead, it was certainly immobilized by its injuries.

The longer the delay, the more advantageous it was for them.

Gaven and his men guarded the site for a whole day and night.

During this period, there were several more disturbances among the rubble, but each was weaker than the last. At least, there were no further instances of flame dragon’s breath.

Of course, Gaven and his men were not just idly standing guard; they were rearranging the battlefield. An abundance of tremor bombs were being produced on double time, transported here, and buried into the cliff’s upper region. If necessary, they were prepared to trigger a second landslide to completely bury the young red dragon.

Goblin Sorcerer Vick, the half-ogre, the dog demon, and Erde’s one hundred warriors led by Bark also took their positions one after another.

Only after full preparations had been made did five gnoll miners, carrying their mining picks, begin to cautiously dig.

The scene of excavation resembled an archaeological site, where they feared damaging anything inside.

They were afraid that digging too recklessly would free the young red dragon, potentially causing it to leap out suddenly.

The digging speed was slow but ensured safety.

They only cleared the surrounding rubble, not moving the large boulders.

The young dragon bellowed a bored yawn and said, "At this rate, when will we finish clearing this up? Better to just set off all those tremor bombs above, cause a major landslide, and completely bury this place. We can come back in a year or so; I guarantee Roderick would be starved to death by then."

"No."

Before Gaven could respond, Zack, Susie, Bark, and the host of gnolls unanimously rejected the idea.

"Sorry, Lord Aivensa."

"Sorry, Lord Aivensa, we didn’t mean to question your decision."

The gnolls remembered they were dealing with a giant dragon and hastily apologized.

"Does Roderick’s corpse have any use to you?" The young dragon was youthful but not foolish, and immediately sensed something was off with these gnolls’ demeanor.

"Well..."

"Uh..."

Facing the interrogation of the young dragon, all the gnolls looked hesitant, their eyes darting around and seeking help from Gaven, uncertain whether they should answer the question.

After all, they were dealing with another giant dragon, and what they were doing could, bluntly put, be considered desecration of a dragon’s corpse. Who knew what the other party’s stance was.

Gaven knew that it was impossible to conceal this matter from the young red copper dragon and simply told the truth, "Have you heard of a Dragon Blood Enhancement Ritual?"

"Dragon Blood Enhancement Ritual? No." Aivensa shook his head, his gaze shifting thoughtfully among the gnolls, "Are you saying that the Dragon Blood Enhancement Ritual you speak of is related to these gnolls? You’re planning to use the essence of Roderick’s fresh blood to enhance them?"

Gaven nodded, "Exactly. Gnolls have an ancestral connection to giants dragons, but the magic power of the dragon’s blood within them is too diluted. If they could harness the essence of a true dragon’s blood, they might strengthen their lineage, allowing them to gain greater power. Since we weren’t certain whether we could defeat this young red dragon previously, we hadn’t discussed this matter with you."

Despite being part of the giant dragon family, metal dragons and colored dragons have always been at odds due to differing beliefs and innate alignments.

Legend has it that during the war with the Desolate God, the Nine-Faced Dragon God Ao was slain and split into two.

The benevolent aspect birthed the King of Good Dragons, Bahamut, the Master of the North Wind, who used the remaining essence of the Nine-Faced Dragon God – the good aspect combined with various metallic properties – to create the good dragons. Because their scales shone with a metallic luster, they were known as metal dragons. Examples include the gold dragon, silver dragon, red copper dragon, bronze dragon, and brass dragon.

Out of jealousy, the evil dragon queen Tiamat used the evil and berserk essence of the Nine-Faced Dragon God, combined with various elements, to create the greedy and evil dragons, known for their distinctive colors and therefore called colored dragons. Examples include the red dragon, blue dragon, white dragon, black dragon, and green dragon.

Of course, this is just a widely accepted origin story of giants dragons among humans.

In reality, the metal dragons have their version of the myth, and the colored dragons have theirs.

Each version highly extols its own kind and belittles the other.

However, led by Bahamut on one side and Tiamat on the other, these two factions have been in a perpetual war. On the Felen Continent, clashes between them have occurred more than once or twice, even during challenges from giants and resistance with the Dragon Madness Locks crafted by elves, they never joined forces.

The wars between the two dragon species are collectively known as the Dragonfall Wars.

Neither side acknowledges the other as a member of the same species.

"Is there such a thing? How does this Dragon Blood Enhancement Ritual work?" Aivensa displayed no displeasure towards Gaven and the others for their plans regarding the young red dragon’s corpse. Instead, he seemed more intrigued by the idea of enhancing the gnolls.

Relieved by this understanding, Gaven took a deep breath.

The gnolls, who only had a vague understanding of the dragon’s origins, looked incredulous.

While gnolls didn’t place much value on their bodies and wouldn’t really care if other species used them, they wouldn’t be particularly comfortable with such casual disposals or uses.

Why is it that when it comes to Lord Aivensa, you simply no longer care?

Behind the question was even more a sense of stealthy joy.

If the Young Red Copper Dragon does not care about this matter, then there would be no more obstacles.

"Susie, you are the expert in this matter, please explain it to Lord Aivensa," Gaven, too, only had a half-understanding of the matter.

"This..."

Though it wasn’t the first time Susie had faced Aivensa, being stared at by her still brought great pressure, and it took a while for her to adjust her mindset and say, "Actually, I also know about this from the tribe’s traditions, I’ve only heard of it, never seen it, let alone actually operated it because the dragon blood potion for the dragon blood enhancement ritual requires True Dragon blood to prepare, and I have no confidence in whether I can prepare the dragon blood potion or not."

"I see," Aivensa said with a look of regret, "when you are preparing the dragon blood potion, you must call me. I’d like to see what a dragon blood potion prepared by a vile person like Roderick would be like, and whether it would also be black."

"Certainly, certainly, certainly," the only thing Susie could do was to nod and promise.

"We’ve found it... we’ve found it... it’s still alive, it seems to be still alive..."

Excited screams came from the Gnolls on the other side.

"Pull back, pull back first," Gaven quickly withdrew the Gnoll miners who were excavating.

In the cleared stone pit, what was revealed was a thick dragon leg.

It looked very tragic, with the twisted form indicating at least three fractures, and not a single dragon claw in sight.

The occasional twitching showed that the owner of the dragon leg was still alive.

"Since it’s a dragon blood potion, the freshly extracted dragon blood is best, right?" Gaven turned and asked Susie.

"Naturally," Susie nodded her head.

Seeing that the young Red Dragon was trapped solidly with no possibility of escaping, Gaven decided to adjust the plan slightly, "List what materials are needed to create the dragon blood potion immediately, and I’ll have them start preparing."

Susie was stunned, then incredulously said, "Leader, you aren’t thinking of preparing the dragon blood potion here, are you?"

"What’s wrong with that?" Gaven said as if it were only natural, "Since we have him trapped, we need to fully extract the greatest value from him. Where would you get more blood than from a living Giant Dragon, compared to squeezing it from a corpse?" Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on NovᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt

"It does seem to make sense," Susie was no longer hesitant and quickly listed the necessary tools and various herbs needed.

The core of the dragon blood potion is dragon’s blood, and the other herbs and minerals are merely auxiliary, commonplace goods that aren’t difficult to collect.

With Bark leading a group of Erde who helped with transportation through the air, it was quite simple. In less than half a day, a makeshift alchemical laboratory was established not far from where the young Red Dragon was buried.

On the other hand, bringing over the Maiden Priestess, Anna, took more time.

Of course, the Maiden Priestess was brought over to cast healing spells on the young Red Dragon.

Although Anna’s healing spells had side effects, most of the time, the effects that should work, do indeed work, especially for a young Red Dragon with such tenacious life force. It was sufficient to just barely maintain its life, making the Maiden Priestess’s job easier, relieving her of any pressure.

After dealing with the affairs here, Gaven led a small team of Erde, following Lord Aivensa in a grand air to rush to the young Red Dragon’s nest.

Gaven had previously shown little interest in the treasures of the Half-Ogre and Harpy caves, not because he was indifferent to wealth—quite the contrary—his standards were just rather high.

Ordinary magic items couldn’t catch his eye, let alone the broken and beaten ones.

Even the Harpy Cave, the yield was miserably low.

After all, deep in the Rocklands, the best the Harpies could rob were the Gnolls or the Goblins, none of whom had particularly high-level forging skills.

Even adventurers would not travel great distances just to hunt down a flock of Harpies.

Among the spoils gathered from the Harpy Cave, apart from a valuable long spear, the next most valuable items were the eight unhatched Harpy eggs.

Compared to Harpies, the potential wealth in a young Red Dragon’s nest was much more significant, which even Gaven anticipate highly.

With Aivensa, a local expert who knew her way around, locating the young Red Dragon’s nest wasn’t difficult.

Enticed by the dragon’s nest, the young dragon with potential as a shrewd merchant was uncharacteristically generous for once, serving as Gaven’s mount, and flew him directly to the nest.

However, it did not involve riding on her back but rather holding onto her forelimbs.

In the young Red Dragon’s nest, various traps naturally presented some inconvenience for Gaven, but that was all.

After all, the master of this nest had already been taken care of by them, there was no worry of the original owner returning, and Gaven’s party had ample time to probe and uncover all of the traps one by one.

Limited by the capabilities of the master, the traps in the young Red Dragon’s nest consisted mainly of physical traps with magical traps in a supporting role, making them relatively easy to dismantle.

The young Red Dragon’s nest was built on the foundation of an abandoned Dwarf Castle—not large in size—and many signs were still fresh, at most no older than five years.

Upon entering the treasure vault,

What caught the eye first was always the dazzling sight of piles mixed with gold and silver coins.

This is the eternal theme of a Giant Dragon’s nest.

All Giant Dragons like to build their nests atop piles of gold coins, without exception.

They enjoy sleeping on heaps of gold and silver coins, appreciating the sound and sensation as they rub against their dragon scales.

As to whether they find such a bed hard or if sleeping on it would be uncomfortable, if you were to sleep amidst a pile of gold coins wearing a suit of heavy scale armor, you’d find it not only comfortable but actually quite pleasing to the touch.

Upon seeing the piles of gold and silver coins, Aivensa’s draconic eyes took the shape of gold coins as she eagerly rushed towards them.

"Be careful, there are traps above," Gaven hastily called out.