Chương 108: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 108 - Shameless

Since the Black Dragon demanded he set the gold and keys down in front of him, the Sakura Players' representative had nothing left to say. Fine. He'd see exactly how this dragon planned to haul away that many coins. Let it choke on the sight of them. With that thought, the representative opened his inventory and dumped all one hundred thousand gold coins out at once. A small mountain of gleaming gold appeared on the ground.

"Hiss—" Gold coins. So many gold coins. Ohohohoho~ Something deep in his bloodline surged, and Su Nian shivered head to tail. Bliss. He crawled up to the pile, opened his maw wide, and inhaled. The suction was tremendous. The entire gold mountain lifted off the ground in a single sweeping rush of air, and within moments, not a single coin remained. Just three keys, gleaming gold, lying lonely on the bare earth.

"Burp~" [Host devoured 497, 000 grams of gold. Analyzing via Advanced Devour...]"Hey! Don't process all of it — leave me 5 grams, I still need that!" [Alright then.] [Congratulations, Host. Gold-attribute scale armor strength increased by 1. 1%. Fire element resistance increased by 1. 7%.]"That's it?" Su Nian smacked his lips. One hundred thousand gold coins could buy an absurd amount of things in any human kingdom, and all he got was a 1. 1% bump. No matter how he looked at it, that was a terrible trade. [Ding! Reminder: true strength comes from within. Relying on external materials is, at best, a minor path.]"Yeah yeah, I get it. Your functions are absolutely the best, okay? Happy?" System: "... (T_T)" One offhand sentence jammed the system's mouth shut. Su Nian scooped the three keys off the ground and tucked them between his scales, then turned his cold gaze back toward the Sakura Island players.

"Kekekeke..." The players watched the enormous dragon grin at them with all its teeth. A very bad feeling settled over the group. This thing isn't about to kill us all, is it?

"Great Black Dragon," the representative started, voice careful, "we've delivered the compensation as agreed, so surely..."

"Compensation?" Su Nian lifted his head, looking down at them with nothing on his face but contempt and killing intent.

"What compensation? Where are my gold coins?"

"You just ate them!" The representative's voice cracked into something shrill and desperate. The rest of the Sakura players erupted in furious disbelief. They had never, in all their time playing games, encountered a creature with this level of shamelessness. And they all knew the same thing: this dragon was not going to let them walk away. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Baka!"

"Amaterasu will not forgive this!"

"You— you despicable dragon!"

"You'll die for this!" Su Nian tilted his head.

"So many gold coins," he said pleasantly.

"You claim I ate them. Where's your proof?"

"You attacked my Dragon's Nest. You slaughtered my followers. And now you're standing here trying to con me?" His expression sharpened.

"Kekekeke. All of you, die." He was done talking. Su Nian pulled in a deep breath and unleashed a full mouthful of dragon fire directly into the crowd. Blue-green molten flame rolled out in every direction. The Sakura players in front of him were reduced to cinders in an instant. To keep Anna clear of the fire, Su Nian launched himself back into the sky. He gave the pit below a thorough coating first, then climbed higher. He took a moment to build up the pressure inside him.

Then he dropped two spherical payloads of dragon breath liquid straight down. BOOM. BOOM. Pale green mushroom clouds billowed upward. The blast waves punched outward and warped the edges of the rectangular pit into something shapeless. Rolling green flame filled the space from wall to wall, thick black smoke churning above it like a chimney. Nothing moved inside. There was nothing left to move. [No players affiliated with Newbie Village No. 1 within five kilometers.] [Congratulations, Host, for annihilating a Newbie Village.] [Congratulations, Host, for obtaining Newbie Village Core Fragment x1.] [Player respawn point transferred. Locating... complete. New respawn point for Sakura Players No. 1 and No. 6: Sakura Island Newbie Village No. 2.] [Notice: your exposure level has increased. You are the first entity to destroy a Newbie Village, and the first to destroy two Newbie Villages consecutively.] [If you continue destroying Newbie Villages, you will draw the attention of [REDACTED] and be designated a World Boss, subject to player crusades and coordinated assault.] The system notifications came in rapid-fire, as if it expected Su Nian to immediately fly off and bomb another village the moment he finished reading.

"Relax, System-chan."

"Caution is my middle name. I'm a professional~" He took one last look at the newbie village burning below, then turned and flew back toward his Dragon's Nest, thoroughly satisfied. He had originally considered setting up shop right here, enslaving the players, putting them to work. But now that he had the Village Establishment Order, the calculus had changed. That token clearly mattered. The system had flagged it too many times for it not to. Which meant his path forward was obvious: Newbie Village Destroyer.

He'd farmed enough system points for one day. Time to go back, let the absorption settle, and sort out the issue with his followers. A dragon who was strong alone wasn't truly strong. He needed to bring his people up with him. As for Sakura Island Newbie Village No. 2. He'd let it breathe for now. Once the heat died down and attention shifted elsewhere, he'd pay them a visit.... Half an hour later, Su Nian touched down in Silvermoon Forest. He didn't return to his Dragon's Nest, though.

There wasn't much of one left to return to. The kobolds were already at work rebuilding it from the ground up on the original site, same location, bigger footprint. The rest of his monsters were occupied too: some hauling and burying the bodies of those who had fallen in the battle, others standing guard over the captured players and soldiers. Su Nian and Anna had nothing to do. So they did nothing.

The two of them lounged near the river, a dragon flat on his back with his armor plates spread open, and a small elf stretched out on top of his exposed belly, using him as a bed. By any reasonable comparison to other transmigrators, Su Nian lived an extremely comfortable life. That said, it wasn't as if he didn't work. Dragons were, as a species, profoundly lazy. By that standard, Su Nian was practically a model of productivity.

"Anna." He lay there a while longer, then let something small roll out from between his jaws. He caught it carefully in one claw, a tiny thing that caught the sunlight beautifully, and called her name.

"Yes, Brother? What is it?" Anna's fluffy ears perked up at the sound. She climbed down from his belly with careful, light steps, making her way up to the curve of his neck. She grabbed hold and pressed her soft cheek gently against his scales. Like an affectionate cat that had decided he belonged to her. If Su Nian grew much larger, the climb alone would leave her breathless. For now, she managed it easily.

"This is for you." Su Nian set the small object into her palm. It was a pure gold pendant. The design showed a black dragon and a girl curled close together. The girl was unmistakably Anna. It had been made from the 5 grams of gold he'd held back from the system's processing. The crafting method was, admittedly, a little strange.

After reaching the fourth tier, Su Nian's control over his own body had grown precise enough to manage individual muscle groups, including, as it turned out, the peristaltic movement of his stomach. The pendant had been shaped inside his stomach, worked into form using dragon breath liquid like a living kiln. A handmade gift, in the most literal sense possible.

ps: Brothers, should be two more chapters today, quack quack powering up, quack quack bonus chapters! ➤ Next: Gift — What Was Lost