The dwarf had somewhat regained some spirit energy in his body after absorbing it from the spirit stone, although that only made him more sensitive to the horrible condition his body was in. Silently, he cursed the stupid dragon, then audibly he cursed again, "filthy stupid stinking dragon!"
Since the dwarf no longer dared to cross Lex, he could only change the target of all his hatred and anguish to the dragon itself.
"The dragon's obsession is much stronger than anything we expected. Even with all our protection and preparation, we still lost ourselves to the spirit pull!"
"Speaking of the dragon, aren't you at all worried about aggravating the dragon? Or are you so sure that the dragon is actually dead? Were you the ones who spread that news?"
"No, no we weren't the ones who spread the news, but they are working with us," the dwarf said and he suppressed the urge to moan. The little vitality Lex had provided him was far from enough to heal anything at all, but there was not much he could really do about it.
"I don't know how or why… only Barley, the leader of our group, knows the details, but the dragon is for sure dead. Otherwise, we would never agree to go and steal from a living dragons' hoard. Even if we cannot get our hands on the treasure that has been tainted with the dragon's obsession, any random item will be worth the risk. A dragon's hoard… to be honest, I cannot even estimate how much it would be worth. All I can say is that it should be worth a lot."
"Why did you spread the news of the dragon's death? Wouldn't you end up getting more competition if the knowledge is spread? In contrast, if you keep the knowledge hidden, you have a greater chance to take all the loot for yourself."
"No, no we can't face the strength of the royal family on our own. Spreading the news is dangerous, as it could attract other races as well, but it also presented us with an opportunity to infiltrate the palace. The various noble families attacked the royal family with the desire to get their hands on dragon blood. With that, they can change their own fate, and replace the royal family. Maybe they could even cause a mutation and transform into a real dragon, since they are dragon descendants at the end of the day. Such a conversion is still possible.
"Only when the royal family is busy fighting the other nobles, and the defenses of the castle are focused on the outside would we get the chance to sneak inside. We didn't count on a simultaneous invasion by the icy abomination at the same time, which only helped our chances even more. But we still don't have much time, as we have reports that Elven ships are already on their way here. We absolutely cannot risk staying too long, and are supposed to escape the planet today."
"What are these abominations? I've heard them mentioned multiple times already."
"Again, I don't know too many details. What I can say is that their existence is very unusual, and that they did not exist on this planet even just a year ago. All I know is that they seem to be made of ice and that they naturally hate everything to do with heat. Frigals, as descendants of a dragon, have extremely hot blood and so are frequently targeted by them. But my original impression was that these… monsters have no intelligence, yet the act of laying siege to a castle does not fall in line with that belief. There may be something more going on."
Lex pondered for a moment about what to do. All the signs pointed to the fact that the treasure he was looking for was right here, and was most likely the one infected with the dragon's obsession. But he was not immune to its spirit pull ability, and had constantly fallen prey to distractions.
While such a thing was not inherently dangerous, it did pose some risks. Somehow, the dragon had mysteriously died, but that did not reduce the danger in Lex's eyes. If anything, the danger had only increased, for he could not imagine what could so silently and secretly kill a dragon. Moreover, there were some mysterious enemies targeting the Frigals, and possibly the dragon as well, not to mention the elves on their way to this planet.
After some consideration, he concluded that while there was danger, it was not enough to deter him. Having made up his mind, he threw a golden key towards Terrol.
"If things get desperate and you really need medical attention, crush that key. You'll be fine," he said, already walking away. He wondered what awaited him behind the massive door. Was that the entrance to the dragon's treasures? That would be too easy, right? As it turned out, behind the doors what awaited Lex really was the dragon's treasure hoard - or the very beginning of it.
Mountains of gold were pilled randomly on the floor, though there seemed to be a walkway between the endless coins, nuggets, raw ore and massive bricks, leading somewhere deeper.
Curious, Lex picked up some of the gold and discovered this was far different from the gold he was used to seeing on earth. A quick scan from his Fancy monocle revealed over 216 different types of gold!
In the universe, gold was valuable as well, though not because it could be used to make jewelry. No, the value of gold came from the fact that it was a phenomenal conductor for spirit energy, and each different type of gold before him had a few different traits or uses.
Lex looked at the mountain of gold on his right, then at the one on his left, then he scratched his head.
"Mary, how can I teleport things directly to the Inn?" he asked, knowing that the system would never give him an easy time. If he had to put everything in his bangle and then teleport to the Inn to drop it off every time… he would be here for a while.