"Treasure Hunt"

The autumn rain had fallen without pause for three days. Only today had the skies brightened slightly, with ten thousand golden threads of sunlight piercing through gaps in the clouds and bathing the valley in splendor.

Xilong laid his neck flat against the ground, opening his upper and lower jaws as wide as possible to reveal rows of scimitar-like fangs.

On the other side of those fangs was Mochi's head. He was peering around inside, inspecting Xilong's teeth one by one.

"As expected of someone surnamed Solax. Your recovery speed is truly extraordinary. The wounds on your oral mucosa have basically vanished. Only some of your teeth still have flaws and cracks."

As Mochi spoke, he lightly flicked inward with a claw toe. It struck a fang with a ding. "Does it hurt?"

Xilong bared his teeth, rose to his feet, and shook his head. "What do you think?"

"Ah, I know you wanted to put on a show in front of the feeder, but this kind of training was meant for Iron Dragons. It's truly difficult for the likes of us."

Moqi spoke leisurely. "The sight of your mouth full of blood that day even scared me."

"Really?"

Xilong was unconcerned. "But you haven't eaten anything for three days, and you still look fairly energetic."

"The feeder said there would be no blood food for three days. She never said we weren't allowed to find something to eat ourselves."

Moqi was brimming with energy, showing none of the appearance of someone being punished. "My skill at catching fish and crabs is beyond the reach of other hatchlings. In mortal words, it's called 'plucking it as easily as picking something up.' As long as I dive into a river or stream, I can feast my fill whenever I want. Hehe."

By the end, he could not help sounding a little smug.

"Still, fish and shrimp taste fresh at first, but after eating them a few times, they start to feel lacking in fat."

As if worried that Xilong would make him go catch fish right now, Mochi hurriedly added, "The red meat the feeder gives us is still more flavorful."

"Blood food is definitely more flavorful."

Xilong nodded. "That's meat from Kodo Beasts, specially supplied by the feeder for hatchlings. It comes from the great ranches of the Steelspine Plains. It isn't something found everywhere. Gray Dwarves and Kobolds might go their whole lives without ever eating the meat of such large draft beasts. Their food is nothing but barley paste, dried beans, and salted fish."

"The feeder treats us rather well. Though she's an Iron Dragon, she's fulfilled every fantasy I ever had about a mother."

As Mochi spoke, he fumbled around in the gaps between the bony spikes beneath his neck, then extended his claw toward Xilong. "Want some?"

"What is it?"

"Tobacco leaves."

Moqi stuffed a handful into his own mouth and said indistinctly, "I only got these a few days ago. You can keep chewing them in your mouth. The juice is a little bitter, but after chewing for a while, it has another kind of flavor. They smell pretty good too. I heard mortals use this stuff to dull pain. Your teeth are damaged. Want to try it?"

Xilong picked up two leaves, sampled them for a few bites, and glanced at him. "You stole them from the Gray Dwarves' drying shed, didn't you?"

"No. How can taking things from our own Lineage be called stealing?"

Moqi spoke with perfect confidence. "I went and took them when no one was around."

"After these leaves are dried, they still need to be dampened and piled up to ferment. Only then can they be strung together into tobacco. Once it's made, the Great Dragons use it to trade with merchants for gold coins."

Xilong was somewhat helpless. "You're stealing and eating them now. If the feeder finds out, you'll be hung up and beaten again."

Moqi gave two awkward chuckles, clearly frightened, but his chewing never stopped as he muttered, "If you don't tell and I don't tell, who'll know?"

When it came to punishment, Xilong was not exaggerating. The feeder truly would tie offending hatchlings to chains and lash them ceaselessly with magical vines, round and round, without stopping through the entire night.

In short, they were hung up and beaten.

In truth, Jiazhuosa might seem stern, but she was not cruel or overbearing by nature, nor did she wish to resort to violence at every turn. It was simply that the hatchlings sometimes went too far.

When those crimes were laid out one by one, even Xilong could not help shaking his head.

Extorting Kobolds, sneaking into mines to steal, poaching livestock, trampling wheat fields and tobacco plots, deliberately wrecking the dwellings of dependents, and so on. Some especially vile Nickel Dragons even wanted to attack Gray Dwarves and eat them.

When hatchlings like that were hung from iron chains, not a single lash was undeserved.

Even Xilong himself, though he looked well-behaved, had been caught and beaten once.

That had been shortly after he hatched. Filled with curiosity about his surroundings, he had wandered about aimlessly on a sunny afternoon until he strayed beyond the boundaries of Ochre Valley and ran into the Lineage's garrison outside.

The gnoll soldiers had no way to deal with a hatchling, so they could only respectfully escort him back.

"Why would a Lineage heartland like Ochre Valley have a garrison standing guard?" Xilong had wondered at the time, but he had not thought much further about it.

Leaving the valley without permission was naturally forbidden, and the result had naturally been unpleasant.

Still, in Xilong's eyes, the feeder was comparatively gentle with Heavy-Metal Dragons and Lesser Dragons like them. Some Lesser Dragons made small mistakes due to a lack of understanding, and the feeder would forgive them, often sparing them punishment.

But Iron Dragons were an entirely different matter.

Jiazhuosa was especially strict with Iron Dragons. Whenever she punished them, the magical whip would almost condense into physical substance. Her strikes were clearly harsher than those she used on other dragons, and no hatchling watching was unafraid.

Those Iron Dragon hatchlings, however, would sometimes be beaten until their ferocity rose instead. They would crane their necks and endure stubbornly, gritting their teeth even when covered in wounds. It was quite a spectacle.

"Come to think of it, what exactly are we playing today?" Moqi asked again after a while.

"I feel like the feeder's training from three days ago might have had some effect, but I'm worried it was only an illusion. So I wanted you to help me find some more ore and use it to confirm things," Xilong said.

"You're terrifying," Mochi judged.

Though he said that, Mochi readily agreed. He had nothing better to do anyway, and he was more than happy to follow Xilong on a treasure hunt.

Ochre Valley originally had many exposed ore rocks. Their iron content was not high, so the Gray Dwarves had never specially mined them.

But to hatchlings who possessed nothing, they still counted as a fortune. Whenever they saw some, they would dig it out directly. Some hatchlings had even searched the area several times specifically for this purpose, using the ore as currency among young dragons.

After several months, ore rocks in the wild had become extremely scarce. If Xilong wanted to find some, he would probably need to put in quite a bit of effort.

The two Chrome Dragons traveled through the mountains, relying on the natural affinity Heavy-Metal Dragons had for metal. After winding around for nearly an hour, they finally discovered their target behind a rock wall.

The rock wall had cracked from long years of weathering, revealing the outline of iron ore within its fissures.

The Chrome Dragons immediately crouched down and clawed at it. Their luck was good. Most of the ore rock was brittle, and with only a light snap, several chunks the size of dragon claws fell loose.

Moqi was extremely excited that they had accomplished the purpose of this trip so easily. Xilong was happy as well and continued digging deeper.

"Buji, buji."

A few tiny sounds came from within the crack.

"Huh?"

Moqi froze for a moment, then shoved his head inside with all his strength, trying to squeeze in for a look. "Are there Mushroom People in here too? It must be because it rained these past two days. They probably came up to collect moisture."

"What Mushroom People?" Xilong asked in confusion.

"A kind of very small creature. A few playmates and I caught some near Bay Lake before. They were very interesting, but without a fungal nest, they died after being kept for a while. What a pity."

Moqi stuffed half his body into the rock crevice and introduced them to Xilong while scooping around with his claws.

Mushroom People were small fungal creatures that lived in mineral veins. They were only as large as a mortal's palm, with short arms and legs, eyes as tiny as black dots, and broad, hard mushroom caps atop their heads. They possessed a degree of intelligence.

They liked damp mine tunnels rich in vitality. After rain or when the earth veins trembled, they would occasionally appear on the surface.

"Buji."

As Mochi rummaged around, the mushroom people quickly scattered in fright, burrowing deeper into the tiny crevices within the rock wall.

Those were places dragons could not reach.

"They got away," Xilong said.

"Mm."

Moqi withdrew his claws but was not discouraged. "Don't worry. I still have a way."

He pulled Xilong back as if they were leaving.

After waiting quietly for a while, Mochi crept back, lay beside the crack, hid behind cover, worked his throat, and began to mimic sounds softly.

"Buji, buji, buji."

Moqi made the same sounds as the Mushroom People.

Dragons possessed an extremely broad vocal range and could imitate most sounds in nature. If young dragons ever ended up surviving in the wilderness, they could use this as a skill to lure or deceive prey.

Watching Mochi lie on the ground, wag his tail, and imitate mushroom calls, Xilong immediately became alert and swiftly swept his gaze around the area.

It was not because there was any danger. It was simply that if other hatchlings saw Mochi like this, they had no idea how long they would mock him.

With rumors spreading from mouth to mouth, even Xilong, standing beside him, would probably be dragged into it.

Fortunately, the wilderness was quiet, and no one had deliberately followed the two young dragons. Xilong withdrew his gaze and discovered that Mochi's seemingly ridiculous lure had actually worked.

Rustling sounds came from the crack. Some Mushroom People had returned to the surface, cautiously hiding inside and peeking out.

Moqi could wait no longer. He lunged forward, using his exquisite fish-catching and crab-catching technique as he grabbed ahead like lightning.

This was a strike certain to succeed, sealing off every retreat available to the little mushrooms. Moqi bared his teeth, and a smile even began to spread across his dragon face.

By the time the Mushroom People realized they had been tricked, it was already too late to hide or flee. With no road left beneath heaven or earth, they could only rise up and fight back.

The little creature simply stood where it was, raised its mushroom cap, aimed it at Mochi's reaching claw, and delivered an explosive headbutt.

The dark mushroom cap collided with the hatchling's sharp claws with a clang, somehow producing the crisp ring of metal striking metal.

Moqi stopped from the sharp pain, while the Mushroom People took advantage of the monster's stunned reaction to quickly turn around, spread their matchstick-like short legs, and disappear into the depths of the crack with a buji buji.

"This time it really got away," Mochi said with a dejected face.

"Why did you stop? Were you hurt?"

Xilong examined the tip of Mochi's claw. There was only a shallow scrape, not even enough to count as a wound. If they did not see it now, it would probably vanish in a moment.

"That mushroom cap is actually these little things' weapon. It's hard and heavy, and getting hit by it hurts quite a bit."

Moqi sighed. "It doesn't matter if we can't catch them. They can't live after leaving their nest anyway. I only wanted to see whether I could follow the vine and find the melon, track down their nest. If I succeeded, we'd strike it rich."

"How so?" Xilong knew it was time to ask.

"I asked Iron Dragons who had relevant knowledge in their inheritance. They said these Mushroom People live in mineral veins and feed on mineral dew."

Moqi was delighted to have a chance to teach Xilong. "So-called mineral dew is actually an aggregate of salts, fungal membranes, and humus. That's what Mushroom People eat."

"But because they live around mineral veins, the mineral dew they lick must contain trace metal components. Mushroom People cannot absorb those, so they can only store them in their bodies, periodically return to their nests, and transfer the metal elements into the fungal bed. That is how they survive."

"Then the fungal bed undergoes an enrichment reaction, gathering together all the metal elements from every mushroom person and condensing them into iron grease."

Moqi spoke without pause.

Xilong pondered it. "It sounds a little like bees making honey."

"You can understand it that way. These little creatures don't damage mineral veins, so they aren't pests. But the Iron Grease in their nests is excellent stuff, like crude iron billets that have already been smelted once."

The more Mochi spoke, the more regretful he became, and a little irritated as well. "The adult dragons don't care for it, but it's much more valuable than the ordinary ore we have."

"You said their nests are inside mineral veins."

After thinking for a moment, Xilong asked, "But the feeder doesn't allow us into the mines. How could you get to them?"

"Ah, I just wanted to catch one when I saw Mushroom People. When I failed, I made up an excuse and started babbling. It was a spur-of-the-moment idea. How could I have thought that far ahead..."

A hatchling's life was always carefree. After being discouraged for a while, Mochi quickly cast the matter behind him and became cheerful again.

He pulled Xilong toward the river stream, insisting on showing off his exquisite fish-catching and crab-catching techniques.

The two Chrome Dragons swam underwater in the stream and caught several Tropical Giant Crucian Carp together, happily feasting their fill.

Only when the sky turned overcast did Xilong bid Mochi farewell and return to the nest with the iron ore they had gathered.