Chapter 10: The Small Dragon Grave

"Back the way we came? Don’t you realize that returning by the same route is nothing but certain death? We haven’t even seen a single enemy yet—only vague sensations have frightened you all. How am I supposed to trust that you’ll fight to the death when real enemies appear?" Hearing the words of the Forest Pursuers, Li Bin could not restrain his anger.

The Forest Pursuers, however, did not plead with Li Bin; they simply lowered their heads and refused to go any further. Li Bin was so furious he almost wanted to disband them on the spot, but upon checking their attributes, he finally understood their behavior. Below their attributes, in glaring, flashing letters, it read: "Affected by Dragon Pressure, morale -3; sensing heavy undead presence, morale -4."

A loss of seven morale points in an instant—no matter how strong the unit, not a single one would dare to move. But what was with this Dragon Pressure and undead aura? The two shouldn’t coexist. Could there be a dragon tomb ahead?

At this thought, Li Bin’s eyes shone. A dragon tomb was a true treasure. Not only would there be heaps of dragon bones, dragon crystals, and dragon souls, but even the soil itself was a precious commodity.

Excited, Li Bin left behind the Forest Pursuers, who could not move forward, and, together with San, rode the Undead Scorpion straight toward the suspected dragon tomb.

He never considered whether the guardians of the tomb would simply let him in, even if a dragon tomb awaited him ahead.

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Li Bin’s luck seemed to hold. He rode on for seven or eight miles without encountering a single enemy. Only when the system prompt informed him he had entered the dragon tomb’s range did he finally halt in a clearing.

Dismounting from the Undead Scorpion, Li Bin looked around in confusion. The system had indicated he was in a small dragon tomb, yet the surrounding area was unnaturally flat, as if bulldozed. There were no dragon bones, no dragon tomb moss, not even a speck of ash to be seen.

He circled the area several times, nearly crawling on the ground in search, but found nothing. At that moment, a distant voice called out, "Stop searching. There’s nothing left in this dragon tomb for you to take."

Alarmed, Li Bin turned to see a small force had appeared in the direction he’d come from.

The leader appeared to be a human male, but bore a pair of silver dragon wings, clad in gleaming silver scale armor, with short silver hair, his entire being radiating a dazzling silver light that drew all attention, causing one to overlook the black two-handed sword he carried.

Behind him stood a small squad of ghost soldiers and three squads of skeletal troops—though these units were nothing like Li Bin’s own basic soldiers.

The ghost soldiers all wore white cloaks, the veined patterns clearly indicating they were crafted from dragon wings. The three squads of skeletons were robust, their bones shining with a jade-like luster. Their weapons weren’t mere femurs or rusted swords but heavy weapons gleaming with a dark sheen.

What shocked Li Bin most was the aura they emanated, and the battle flag raised behind them. Painted in black and red was a large phantom dragon.

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Are these the guardians of the dragon tomb? The thought flashed through Li Bin’s mind.

The figure opposite seemed to sense Li Bin’s thoughts and spoke calmly, "You needn’t worry. I’m not the tomb’s guardian, nor will I attack you. Otherwise, you’d have received a system warning by now."

"Then who are you?" Li Bin asked hesitantly.

"Me? I am merely a pitiable soul trapped here. Since someone has finally managed to enter, would you mind listening to my story?" With that, he sat down before Li Bin, and his troops formed a tight circle around Li Bin and San, giving the impression they might silence him after the tale.

Seeing the situation, Li Bin sat obediently on the ground, listening as the man began his tale while considering escape routes.

According to him, his name was Reed (provided by the reader Purple Cloud Vagabond), once a level 16 Dragon Warrior of Silver Dragon City. During a defense against a human invasion, he was cursed by a sorcerer, dropping to level 5 and suffering partial bodily decay.

Because the Silver Dragon clan harbored a particular loathing for the undead, Reed was abandoned by his kin. Forced to hide in the dragon tomb, he studied the bone dragon enhancement branch of necromancy, hoping one day to avenge himself on the sorcerer who cursed him and the Silver Dragons.

Yet, being self-taught, he only knew how to create skeletons and ghost soldiers. Though he had copious dragon bones for experimentation, he had never summoned a single bone dragon—only the level 6 troops behind him.

Upon hearing this, Li Bin quickly inspected the attributes of the ghost soldiers and skeletons, and was infuriated. Pointing at Reed, he unleashed a barrage of scolding: "You wastrel! Do you know what a dragon tomb could bring to undead players and heroes? And you’ve produced these pitiful troops and act proud of it? Shameful!"

As it turned out, the ghost soldiers and skeletons were all created from dead dragons within the tomb. The ghost soldiers were called Spectral Ghosts; besides boasting 80% resistance to physical attacks, they had 40% resistance to magic below level 3, and even possessed the Silver Dragon clan’s unique Mirror Shield ability.

The skeletons were even more formidable—Dragonbone Skeletons, crafted from dragon bones, wielding heavy weapons and exuding powerful dragon might, capable of crushing any enemy before them.

There were also Dragonblood Skeletons, soaked entirely in dragon blood, granting them nearly perfect defense and self-healing abilities. Unless utterly destroyed, Dragonblood Skeletons were virtually immortal.

Finally, there were Dragon Servant Skeletons, created from the bodies of tomb robbers who had made it into the dragon tomb. While their bodies weren’t as potent as those made from dragon bones or dragon blood, any tomb robber who reached the tomb had some skill. Their abilities were sealed within, making this squad the most useful under Reed’s command.

Yet, no matter how impressive these troops’ stats, they were nothing compared to bone dragons. Even the lowest-level bone dragons possessed extraordinary power. Judging by the size of the tomb, its dragon corpses could easily have produced two squads of level 9 bone dragons, but now all had been turned into these level 6 troops. How could Li Bin not be furious?

Ignoring the fact that every skeleton soldier was armed and glaring at him, Li Bin pointed at Reed and scolded him again: "You muscle-headed fool! If you can’t make bone dragons, why didn’t you wait? You’ve used up all the dragon bones—who else can help you make bone dragons? You should just go find an undead player to work with, so you won’t waste resources like this!"

"Very well," Reed replied calmly, looking at Li Bin.

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