Brain bloom

A genuine phantom dragon, its body covered in silvery-blue scales. Its powerful muscles accentuated its graceful physique, and its skin was snow-white. The dragon's head was quite terrifying, covered in spikes and blade-like scales.

This is a wingless dragon, yet it is still terrifying.

Sen had killed many monsters through screens, but this was the first time she had faced a dragon directly, and the shock made her go numb from head to toe.

The dragon, with its heterochromatic golden and blue eyes, looked down at the humans with disdain, occasionally yawning and lying on the ground waiting to be petted. Even so, most tourists were still too afraid to approach, and some children were even frightened into tears, making the scene extremely chaotic.

It wasn't until the tour guide touched its scales and reassured everyone not to be too afraid that people gradually dared to approach. In particular, some of the bolder individuals went over and hugged the dragon, eliciting a wicked laugh from the dragon.

"You can touch it as much as you want once you pay. It won't eat you; in fact, it'll be happy to!"

Tour guides seized the opportunity to do business, and people gradually became willing to pay.

As for the four who were planning to slay the dragon, they were all waiting. Mori didn't go up to touch it, but just looked around.

What about dragon lairs? They're usually built nearby... She wasn't foolish enough to raise her bow and aim it at the phantom dragon to see how much the Debt-Collecting Bow's attack power had increased, but she estimated that the dragon's wealth wouldn't be lacking.

After all, being touched costs fifty silver coins, which is a real bargain.

The tour to see the dragon lasted about half an hour, and the tour guide had to urge the tourists to leave several times before they finally prepared to depart reluctantly. However, five people remained standing in place, refusing to move no matter how much the tour guide called them.

Because they weren't tourists; they came to slay the dragon.

The tour guide was a beat too slow to realize the tense atmosphere and immediately yelled for the tourists to leave. But the dragon's murderous aura was far more effective than the guide's shouts.

The earth shook—the phantom dragon stood up, its short but sturdy hind legs supporting its body, and let out a thunderous roar.

People stood there for a few seconds before fleeing in panic, including the tour guide.

In fact, Huanlong had noticed these people's plan from the beginning, and both sides were in tacit agreement, only revealing their murderous intent after entertaining the guests.

"We are the 'Dragonfang' team from Silvermoon City, please remember that." The mage, seemingly the leader, stood at the front and raised his staff. "Oh, but please don't remember, since you'll forget after you die."

Huanlong laughed again.

Battle is imminent.

Mori hid to the right rear, the least likely place to be affected. At the same time, she knew perfectly well the outcome of this battle, so she didn't draw her debt-collecting bow, knowing there was no chance she'd have the opportunity.

"Advanced Magic: Super Fireball!"

"Concealed firing!"

"War Cry - Oh oh oh, I'll fuck your dragon mother, I'll use your dragon stomach as a sleeping bag, and your intestines to warm my dick—"

Fireballs and arrows shot out from both sides, and at the same time, the warriors charged forward while cursing.

The two axes gleamed with dazzling spiritual energy, proving his formidable strength. The assassin awaited his opportunity; the moment the dragon revealed a weakness, his poisoned dagger would strike. He was clearly the most experienced of them all.

"I hereby declare you all defeated!"

The dragon let out a roar that even humans could understand—this was the dragon's might.

The battlefield was instantly shrouded in fear, and even Mori, who was not directly involved, was somewhat affected by the dragon's might.

The roar echoed across the mountaintop, and before the dragon's might had even dissipated, the warriors at the forefront were devoured—mercilessly swallowed whole by a second phantom dragon that suddenly descended from the sky. No one in the group could comprehend why there was an extra dragon.

Then, a third phantom dragon suddenly appeared out of nowhere, shattering all the attacks with a roar, and even killing the hunter instantly.

The mage, who was also struck by the roar, was in pain. He clutched his head, blood flowing from his seven orifices, and lay on the ground groaning in agony.

The only ones who remained unfazed were the assassins who constantly teetered on the edge of the battlefield.

All three dragons were watching him. He gritted his teeth, changed his grip on the dagger to a normal one, and was determined to face the challenge head-on.

"Rest in peace, my dearest friends. But our glory will not be extinguished. Today, I will remove the dragon's fang to console—uh…"

Just as he was about to kill the phantom dragon alone and begin his legendary life, reciting lines he'd copied from who-knows-where, he discovered a fourth phantom dragon had appeared behind him—and as a result, he was swept away by its tail, sent flying like a pebble in his path.

There was absolutely no suspense.

The next second, the scene of the four dragons gathering seemed to be just an illusion, and only one phantom dragon lying on the ground remained in the entire scene.

"If you pay me to touch me, I'll let you go." It looked at Sen Shi.

Volume 1 #069: On How to Abduct a Phantom Dragon

Pay me, then touch it?

To be honest, Sen Shi didn't understand why Huanlong would say such a thing.

Does she really want to be touched? Or does she mean nothing else?

But whatever the other party's purpose is, all Morishi needs to do now is clear up the misunderstanding. After all, those people were just spouting vulgarities and talking about slaying dragons... and she was still here watching.

Mori raised his hands to indicate that he had no weapons and walked out from where he was hiding.

"I am not one of those people."

Mori's travel boots stepped into the blood-splattered battlefield.

Only by personally stepping onto the battlefield can one truly understand how chilling a battle that unfolds in just a few seconds can be.

Although its level wasn't high, the Phantom Dragon's power was already terrifying, leaving deep marks on the ground. But what was even more convincing was the sensation—Sen Shi's skin felt a stinging pain because a trace of killing intent and dragon's might still lingered in the air.

“I am not with that group of people, and I have never intended to harm you.”

Even Sen Shi herself didn't believe it, but she had to convince herself—yes, she had never had such a thought, really, she had never thought of slaying a dragon.

The dragon, who had been staring at her, spoke up: "Do you feel like you're lying to me? Whatever, just give me the money, and then touch me."

Huanlong's eyes gleamed, looking very expectant. This struck Senshi as extremely strange. There were groaning mages and occasionally twitching assassins at his feet, yet this person immediately opened the door and started doing business, acting like a desperate old prostitute.

Why should I touch you?

"I feel a sense of wealth about you, which I like, and... there's a feeling of closeness that's hard to describe."

But Sen Shi had a hunch in his mind that it was still due to the identity of the coffin carrier.

Whether it's the stars going out during astrology, the creation of the bow for collecting debts, or the two pairs of over-the-knee socks made for the dandelion, they all prove the same thing—the coffin bearer is not just a figurehead.

Sen Shi originally wanted to say a few more words, but Huanlong's eyes revealed a hint of displeasure, so she had no choice but to do as he said.

The feeling of being threatened is awful, and more importantly, I don't know how much wealth this phantom dragon possesses...

If he couldn't kill it with a single blow using the Debt-Collecting Bow, he would be the one to die. But if he took out the bow, he would be torn to shreds by a claw before he could even confirm the number. Mori was filled with helplessness and temporarily abandoned the idea of ​​killing the dragon to level up.

"I have a few questions before I touch you."

"Ask a question? Sure."

Huanlong chuckled a few times, his lips parted to reveal his teeth, still stained with blood.

"I will charge an extra one hundred silver coins for each question I answer."

"I've already given you the money."

"Where?" Huanlong blinked his heterochromatic eyes in confusion, looking down at the ground for a while.

"Inside the belly of your illusion."

"...You know my illusion?" it asked, grinding its teeth in confusion.

That refers to the other phantom dragons that appeared before.

It was neither an illusion nor a phantom clone, but a genuine phantom dragon, a powerful and troublesome ability.

"Um, you're still a young dragon, right? It seems difficult to maintain multiple avatars at the same time."

"Hmm, I didn't expect you to know so much about our race. That's true. No, no, no, don't think you can get away with not taking money by trying to get close to me. Give me your silver coins, silver coins!"

"Don't rush. The axe-wielding man you swallowed initially had one of my gold coins on him. Unless you spit it out and return it to me, I've already paid."

But Huanlong simply exhaled, turned his head away, and snorted, "I don't believe it."

"it is true."

"I won't listen."

Helpless, Sen Shi silently took out a gold coin and tossed it over. It wasn't the first time he'd thrown money away; it would fulfill Huanlong's wish and directly buy him the right to ask ten questions. Paying extra was worth it, and it would also prevent him from being devoured by Huanlong.

However, Huanlong looked down at the SB coins on the ground and yawned disdainfully: "Take them back. I want silver coins. Gold coins are useless to me."

"Huh? Aren't they all just money? Gold coins are worth more! These are gold coins from the Holy Coffin Kingdom, delivered by the coffin bearers!"

"Who cares? Gold coins are hard to digest, silver coins are much easier to digest."

"You mean...it's delicious?" Mori wondered if he had misheard. "So, you're charging admission just to...eat it?"

"Yes, yes."

“I doubt you are a true Phantom Dragon, because in my understanding, Phantom Dragons are a species that feeds on books... and can digest the knowledge in the books, shedding ‘tears of knowledge’ from their eyes.”

This is also what Senshi wanted to ask, because the Tears of Knowledge produced by the Phantom Dragon is an excellent material that can be used to create all sorts of things, especially spellbooks. Perhaps, combined with the Trillion Star Spectrum, it could create a powerful new spellbook.

In fact, Mori had originally planned to hunt down the Phantom Dragon and then dissect it himself... Mori completely gave up on shooting it. Since it had eaten all his money, what was the point of shooting it? It was a penniless dragon!

However—this dragon doesn't eat books? That's like Sichuan people not eating spicy food, Cantonese people not eating Fujian people, and Angelica not eating demons.

But upon hearing the word "eat book," the phantom dragon actually shrank its neck and bristled its scales like animal fur, as if it were afraid of something.

"I had no choice... I was raised by the Snow Crystal Dragon. I could only eat shiny, white-glowing minerals since I was little... Eating paper is too terrible, it's paper!"

"...But that's your recipe, recorded in your genes and soul."

"I won't eat, I won't eat."

Sen Shi saw this as a golden opportunity. A young dragon, naive and inexperienced, was cowering here, surviving by selling itself—it was pathetic. The Phantom Dragon was a powerful species destined to reach max level; in fact, it was hailed by players as the strongest area boss on the ground.

They seem easy to talk to—in that case, how about taking them home?

She cleared her throat: "Books are sweet, but knowledge is even sweeter."

"sweet?"

"Ten times tastier than silver coins."

"No way! Eating paper? That's eating paper! Mom said that eating paper will make you mute, your intestines will get knotted, and you won't grow up."

“Yes, eating regular paper will indeed cause this.” Mori wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, preparing to start coaxing Huanlong. “But do you know there’s a type of paper called parchment?”

"I've heard humans say that."

“Only powerful and beautiful dragons can eat that. Your mother didn’t tell you because you were too young. I know many phantom dragons, like the knowledge-devouring dragon god Aldessis, the enemy of magicians Blue… They all eat parchment.”

One of them is a wild leader that specializes in eating the mages' secondary spellbooks. I've probably killed it over three hundred times in the forest.