Chapter 22: The Continuation of the Red Dragon Bloodline

The galaxy that symbolized the celestial dragon’s eyes were brilliant, yet profound.

In the face of such a gaze, Max could felt non-existent goosebumps rising across his scaly skin.

However, as they were the same person, Max could vaguely sense himself within the celestial dragon’s gaze.

“Keep it up.”

The celestial dragon’s booming voice echoed within the dissipating origin space.

The future Max made sure to encourage his past self before taking his leave.

The present Max replied, “I will.”

Following this, the origin space had completely fallen apart, and time and space had resumed back to normal.

“Phew —”

Max had finally solved the problem that Mia had gotten them into.

After killing three adventurers in a row, Max was exhausted. If there were a soft pillow before him, he would immediately start sleeping soundly.

Nevertheless, there was still one matter to be done.

‘Time to clean up the battlefield!’

Upon this thought, Max perked up once again.

The three adventurers did not seem like regular adventurers.

After all, each of their equipment was more valuable than the previous adventurer!

Moreover, as it was Max that had killed them, it meant that all the spoils had belonged to him!

‘If humans are allowed to slay Dragon Hatchlings and steal their body parts…’

‘Then why can’t I plunder their equipment?’

First of all, the equipment that Max was the most interested in was the warrior’s ruby greatsword.

The greatsword was a huge threat to Red Dragon. It was forged with the singular goal of slaying Red Dragons.

If such a weapon were to fall into the hands of humans, Max’s life would be thrown into living hell.

Even though he had the cheat ability known as the Battle of Existence…

At most, he could only protect himself and Mia. It would be difficult to ensure the survival of all the Red Dragons.

If he and Mia were the only dragons left in the world, how would they ensure the continuation of the Red Dragon bloodline?

It was truly a painful question to consider. 

However, even after spotting the greatsword, Max still sighed in disappointment.

Max had used the Dragon-vanquishing Ballista to kill the human warrior.

The human warrior was very skilled. He managed to block the arrow that was travelling at such high speeds.

However, it was precisely because of his reaction speed that the greatsword had shattered.

The three lines of runes that were made to deal with Red Dragons had also lost their original effect due to it shattering. They were now merely worthless lines of inscriptions.

The only thing that was still intact was the ruby embedded in the hilt of the sword.

“What’s so good about this thing…”

Max picked up the ruby from the hilt and weighed it in his hand.

It was a ruby the size of a bowling ball.

However, it was much heavier than he had imagined.

A ruby of this mass and size was extremely rare.

It could be considered a geological miracle. At the very least, Max had never seen such a huge ruby before throughout his past life.

“How should I deal with this…”

Max suddenly fell into a dilemma.

Had he inherited the traits of Red Dragons, Max would not have such an issue.

After all, any Red Dragon that spotted a ruby of this size would undoubtedly place it among the greatest of their treasures.

Max did not understand why he did not inherit the treasure-hoarding trait of dragons, but he supposed that it was due to him being a transmigrator.

The ruby that capable of making any Red Dragon go mad was just an ordinary stone in Max’s eyes.

…

“Should I just keep it to myself and view it for my own pleasure?”

Max muttered out loud.

‘But I don’t even like it!’

…

“Should I exchange it for money? Though, I feel like it’s not worth it.”

Dragons did indeed collect money.

However, to dragons, the purchasing power of money was not important.

All they cared about was the sparkle of the coins.

Indeed, the dragons adored how shiny and beautiful the pile of gold coins were. It was for this simple reason that they collected coins. 

‘As for the daily expenses of dragons…’

‘Forget it, the concept of expenses do not exist among dragons.’

If they were hungry, they would eat. If they wanted something, they would rob it. If they had no place to sleep in, they would randomly occupy a lair. If they were in a bad mood, they would roar at the sky. If they wanted to fulfill their fetishes, they would capture a princess and lock her up…

All these processes did not cost a single cent.

Dragons were such a simple race. They had no reason to spend money. There were truly a thrifty bunch.

Max suddenly recalled a reason for the Red Dragons’ love towards rubies. It seemed to be due to the magic contained within the rubies.

The magic contained within the rubies was highly compatible with the Red Dragons who were skilled in magic. It was for this reason that they were attracted to rubies.

It was also for this reason that swordsmen would embed rubies in their swords. By doing so, the offensive power of their swords would increase.

However, using rubies to increase one’s magic power was only done by humans.

Due to their natural lack of mana, they required ways to increase their power.

However, such an action was redundant for dragons.

“Then what on earth can I use this ruby for?”

Max scratched his head. Aside from using it as a gift to bribe other Red Dragons in the future, he had no other clue how to use it.

Moreover, there was no way that he could bring it back to the lair!

There was no way that it would go unnoticed by Agatha!

At that point, Agatha would most likely forget about the concept of motherly love and snatch it away from her son.

She would probably say something along the lines of, ‘How dare a small Dragon Hatchling like you keep such a huge ruby for yourself!?’

Agatha would snatch it away right before his very eyes.

‘I should find a hole to bury it in.’

Max could not bear to part with the ruby. Although he had no use for it at the present moment, he also knew that he must not bring it back.

As such, the only choice left to him was to bury it somewhere to be dug out when needed.

Max located a spot and planted a blade of grass to mark it. 

Then, he dug open a hole.

Red Dragons were particularly good at digging. They dug holes faster than an excavator.

Max had initially thought of it as a useless skill, and as such, he was pleasantly surprised to be using it.

After digging a hole, Max carefully hid the ruby inside.

Then, Max turned back to take a look.

He spotted the Dragon-vanquishing Ballista.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot about this thing.”

After saying those words, Max bent down again and made the hole even deeper.

After all, the Dragon-vanquishing Ballista was also something that he needed to keep hidden from Agatha.

As such. he dug a hole that was big enough to fit both the ballista and the ruby.

With this thought in mind, Max continued to dig until he had created a hole that was the size of a room.