Clearly, meat roasted with a mixture of colored soil and Danyla's special seasonings readily satisfied the Great Dragons' tastes.
Today, both Dreamfyre and the four young dragons had much heartier appetites, eating a full fifty percent more than usual.
"A healthy appetite is a good thing! The more you eat, the faster you grow!"
Watching Dreamfyre and the four young dragons feast, Danyla felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
Once the Great Dragons had eaten their fill, they all lay down in the barbecue square and lazily closed their eyes. Myracis even boldly climbed onto Grey Ghost's back to doze.
Grey Ghost clearly did not mind Myracis's behavior. As she climbed up, he even turned his head and gave a few fond little whines through his nose.
Seeing that the Great Dragons were full, Danyla had the Dragonkeepers Guard carry the remaining roasted livestock and accompany her to the beach where Cannibal was restrained.
After all these days, Cannibal had finally regained consciousness yesterday. But the old dragon, already ravenous before, had now grown somewhat weak.
The enormous, specially made metal chains binding his entire body had made his temper particularly vicious.
The nearby sand and stones had already turned glassy beneath the heat of his scorching dragonfire.
That made people even less willing to approach him, so no one brought him food.
After venting his rage for nearly a full day and night, the irritable old dragon had finally begun to calm down. Of course, the cunning old dragon might simply have been putting on a show for others.
When the group reached the range of Cannibal's dragonfire, Danyla had them stop.
She had several elderly yellow cattle brought over and their eyes covered with strips of cloth, then had the roasted livestock loaded onto their backs.
After pointing them in the right direction, the Dragon Guards lashed the old cattle hard several times. The pain sent them charging toward Cannibal.
Cannibal immediately perked up at the sight of the old cattle being delivered straight to his jaws. Scorching, viscous, sickly green dragonfire engulfed them at once. Then he swallowed them along with the roasted meat on their backs.
As he savored today's rather unusual food, Cannibal could not help turning his gaze toward Danyla.
Danyla took the magic-rich Purple Diamond from her whale-skin bag and waved smugly in Cannibal's direction, prompting the cunning, ill-tempered old dragon to roar loudly at her.
"From now on, just feed him one scrawny old ox this way every week!"
"Don't let him eat his fill, or he'll have the energy to wreak havoc again."
After giving the Dragon Guards her instructions, Danyla turned and left.
Automatic filter, a swordsmanship training scene.
By the time Danyla returned to the orchard's barbecue square, Dreamfyre and the others had more or less finished digesting their meal.
Danyla woke Dreamfyre and rode her toward her cave.
Myracis and the three young dragons followed Dreamfyre back to the volcanic caves.
It seemed Myracis had already grown fond of her new cave. That was hardly surprising. The abundant magic there was vital to her growth, so naturally she preferred to roost there.
The entrance to Dreamfyre's cave was much larger than the volcanic fissure used by the three young dragons. Even Vhagar could have entered and exited with ease.
The passage at the entrance bore clear traces of scorching by dragonfire. The surrounding rock had turned black and glassy, looking rather like obsidian, or the legendary dragonglass.
Danyla already knew that enormous deposits of dragonglass lay beneath Dragonstone, however, so these did not particularly interest her.
Dreamfyre's cave was not only vast and deep, but its ceiling had no cracks at all, leaving the interior pitch-black.
"Dreamfyre, dragonfire!"
In truth, Dreamfyre and Danyla could already communicate through their minds. Even without a spoken command, Dreamfyre could sense what Danyla wanted.
Dreamfyre therefore breathed her scorching pale blue dragonfire directly at the cave ceiling.
By the light of the flames, Danyla quickly got a clear view of Dreamfyre's cave.
It was not as extravagant as the three young dragons' cave, with colored diamonds scattered everywhere, but quite a few superb-quality rubies lay strewn throughout Dreamfyre's cave.
Deep within the cave where Dreamfyre roosted, Danyla also spotted a swath of golden yellow. Clearly, it was a gold vein, and an exceptionally rich one at that.
Under the searing heat of Dreamfyre's dragonfire, large quantities of pure gold had already been smelted out.
"This new volcanic island really is my greatest cheat. Though it makes sense when I think about it. After all, this island came into being along with Danyla."
"But I'm not short of money right now, so I'll just treat this as my own enormous reserve treasury!"
"And this is an ideal place to hatch dragon eggs and raise young dragons. Not only does the active volcano supply an endless stream of heat, but there are also all these magic-rich gemstones."
"All of these play a crucial role in the growth and development of young dragons."
Now that she had confirmed what was here, Danyla climbed down from Dreamfyre's back and, guided by instinct in the darkness, felt around until she found a fist-sized ruby that was warm to the touch.
At that moment, Danyla could not help thinking of Melisandre's ruby, the one that allowed her to remain eternally young.
"Could all the rubies here be gems of that quality?!"
But Danyla was immediately amused by her own greedy thought.
"What am I thinking? If gems like that were so common, wouldn't the whole world be thrown into chaos?"
Still, the ruby Danyla had picked up at random was already an extraordinarily rare treasure.
Whether in color or size, nothing like it had ever appeared anywhere in Westeros.
And its warmth would surely be a great help to her mother, Aemma.
Danyla quickly tucked the ruby into the whale-skin bag she carried, then rode Dreamfyre off to explore elsewhere.
Someone came with a unicorn.
There were many caves of varying sizes near the volcano on New Dragonstone Island, but few were large enough for Dreamfyre to crawl inside.
So, after exploring five caves that Dreamfyre could enter together with her, then investigating more than a dozen smaller caves on her own, Danyla brought this expedition to an end.
Danyla had discovered that almost every cave contained something of value. Gold veins were the most common, but there were also plenty of diamond, garnet, peridot, and obsidian deposits.
Sulfur and lithium veins were even more abundant. She had not exactly been a top science student in her previous life, though, and had no idea how to put these things to use!
Besides, House Targaryen already had Great Dragons. There was no need to rush into unlocking the tech tree. It would be enough to make the best possible use of what she had learned in her previous life and help more people.
More high-yield crops and a relatively peaceful society free of oppression would surely do more for most ordinary people at the bottom.
Before you continue