Chapter 96: The Golden Dragon's Vault

"Muria, you're not leaving again this time, are you?" Red dragon Renata gazed at Muria with her golden-red dragon eyes, brimming with hope.

"Sorry." Muria apologized gently as he caressed Renata's scales, "I'm only back to pick up some things, and I'll be leaving soon."

"Can't you stay a little longer?"

After a moment of silence, Muria shook his head at Renata. "My training isn't finished; I can't stay."

"Alright!" Disappointed, Renata lowered her head. After a moment, a hazy glow surrounded her, and her fearsome draconic form shrank as she cast a fourth-level transformation spell.

"Muria," said the now-human-sized red-eyed loli standing on Muria's broad palm, looking up at him. "Can I stay with you until you leave? I've become so small, I definitely won't get in your way."

"You can." Muria placed the transformed Renata onto his shoulder.

"Muria, you're so nice." The delicate-faced red-eyed loli happily settled on Muria's shoulder, swinging her little legs contentedly as she proudly looked around at the other dragons and giants.

"Mia, is everything in my room untouched?" After comforting the emotionally charged young dragon, Muria turned to Mia, the pretty blonde maid standing behind the giants.

"Master Muria, nothing in your room has been disturbed, but..." Mia hesitated, her expression troubled, but she continued, "Lady Atelis has been to your room once."

"What did you say?" Muria's face darkened, and an ominous premonition rose in his heart. "My mother went to my room?"

"Yes, master."

Muria exhaled sharply upon confirmation, surrounded by an invisible whirl of wind. His towering thirty-meter-tall figure transformed into a streak of light that dashed into the castle.

Soon after, a roar filled with grief and anger echoed out. The giants and the multicolored dragons on the platform looked at each other but remained silently in agreement to say nothing.

A golden dragon, wrapped in dragon flames and surrounded by thunder, burst out of the Five-Color Dragon Fortress, soaring into the sky. Clinging tightly to the dragon's back, a red-eyed loli held onto the protruding scales.

"Master Muria!" Seeing the dragon ascend, Mia called out anxiously, trying to stop the enraged Muria but eventually sighed in resignation, helplessly watching Muria grow distant.

"Muria, what's wrong?" Renata, clinging tightly to Muria's scales, asked curiously. She couldn't understand why Muria had suddenly become so angry after entering his room.

"All the legendary metals collected and offered by the giants for me are gone." Hearing Renata's soft, childish voice, the rage in Muria's heart simmered down slightly.

"This..."

"The giants and dragons in the castle, along with Mia and the storm giants, are watching; no one dares to touch my things." Muria roared, "So, it must have been my mother who took all my collected legendary metals."

This wasn't the first time Atelis the Gold Dragon Mother had taken his legendary metals. Muria vividly remembered an incident at the Crystal Castle where a cloud giant chieftain named Borton had presented him a piece of mithril, but before he could even warm it in his hands, his mother had taken it, claiming she was keeping it safe for him.

As Muria approached the island where the Crystal Castle of the Gold Dragon Mother was located, golden dragons flew in from all directions through the clouds.

"Roar... all of you, get out of my way." Enraged, Muria, with a crown-like trio of dragon horns, opened his mouth and let out a roar filled with fury.

"Squeak, squeak." The pale gold dragon's might erupted from Muria, sweeping across all directions. The legacy of the Gold Dragon Mother's dragon blood emitted an aura that terrified the bipedal dragons, who scattered in panic. They were naturally subservient to Muria's lineage, which held a dominating influence over them.

"Lord Muria." A golden dragon much larger than ordinary dragons rose from the Crystal Castle below, shouting from a distance.

"Leader Bart." Muria, enveloped in thunder and fire, eyed the "slender" dragon that approached, "Is my mother in the castle?"

"Lady Atelis left the castle some time ago."

"When will she return?"

"Lord Muria, how could a servant like me possibly know that?"

"Then I'll ask Sophia."

As they talked, Muria and Renata arrived above the Crystal Castle. At that moment, a ground dragon patrolling near the castle roared at Muria, seemingly challenging him.

"Boom!" Irritated and looking for an outlet for his anger, Muria released three bolts of golden lightning that struck the foolish ground dragon.

"Ow... woof!" The formidable-looking ground dragon was struck by Muria's lightning, its body skewing to one side before it collapsed on the ground, twitching, its body charred and smoking as golden arcs flickered across it.

"Hmph!" Muria snorted and transformed back into his Titan form, landing on the platform of the Crystal Castle.

"Master Muria." As always, when Muria returned to the Crystal Castle, the eternally youthful-looking maid Sophia was there to greet him, "Have you finished with the books you took last time, or are you here to swap them for new ones?"

"No, I'm here to find my mother."

"Lady Atelis left the castle three months ago?"

"When can she return?"

"I don't know; Lady Atelis was invited by a human organization on the mainland to investigate a cult that worships demons."

"Worshipping demons." Muria scoffed dismissively, having slain countless demons in the abyssal training grounds, "What's there to worship about those chaotic and evil beings?"

"Lord Muria, for ordinary humans, even the lowest-tier demons are unbeatable."

"Are humans that weak?" Muria frowned.

"Master Muria, humans have the highest number of legends among all races in Erathia."

"Numbers." Muria smirked slightly, then turned the conversation back to the maid, "Sophia, where would my mother keep the legendary metals after acquiring them?"

"The castle has a vault for valuable items that aren't for display." The implication was that unprocessed legendary metals, having no aesthetic value, wouldn't be displayed along the corridors as decorations.

"Take me there." Muria stared at Sophia.

"Master, did Lady Atelis take away some legendary metals you had?"

"Yes, all the legendary metals gifted to me by my giants were taken by my mother, not a single piece left for me." Muria spoke through gritted teeth, clearly resentful that his immensely wealthy mother would pilfer from her impoverished son.

"Master Muria, the legendary metals taken by Lady Atelis are not something you can retrieve now." Hearing Muria's words, Maid Sophia spoke softly, her gaze lowered.

"What?"

"I can take you to the vault to see for yourself."

"Good, lead the way."

"Please follow me." Sophia led the way into the interior of the castle.

"Bart, no need to keep watching;

 it's just a minor flesh wound, I still have my measures." Before following Sophia into the castle, Muria addressed the dragon leader, who kept looking back at the ground dragon knocked down by Muria's thunder.

"Your grace is appreciated, Prince." Relieved by Muria's words, Bart bowed gratefully. For a servant to roar at his master's progeny was indeed deserving of punishment.

"Whoosh!" As Muria and Renata entered the Crystal Castle, something seemed triggered. A beam of light shot from the glittering floor into Muria's body.

Unaware of any change, Muria did not feel anything unusual, and neither did Renata, now in her loli form, seated on his shoulder. Only the dragon leader Bart saw this, but he respectfully lowered his head, offering no warning to Muria...

A grand metal door, inlaid with gemstones and magical runes, was opened by Maid Sophia. The dazzling array of colors that burst forth as the door slowly opened made even Muria squint his eyes.

"Master Muria, this is Lady Atelis's vault. You are free to look around."

Muria glanced at the dragonkin maid leader at his feet, then stepped into the colorful, mystically illuminated vault. Cold iron, jade steel, high-purity elemental crystals, and other items were piled up as commonly as weeds by the roadside.

"Legendary metals." Muria narrowed his eyes. The vault also featured rows of display stands carved from crystal, each holding particularly precious treasures.

On crystal stands in one area, Muria saw legendary metals arranged by type: Solaryan Gold, Cyclonic Blue Gold, Oceanic Blue Gold, Godsunder Steel...

"Such quantities!" Muria was moved. Golden thunder flickered in his eyes. The legendary metals displayed in this area were more than enough to forge three personal weapons.

"Ah!" Muria's gaze shifted as he approached a crystal stand displaying irregularly shaped voidstar gold, including a familiar elongated piece. "This was gifted to me by a mist giant chieftain."

Muria reached for the voidstar gold that had once been in his dragon castle room. "Hum!" Complex and dense runes appeared on the crystal stand, forming a protective barrier that blocked Muria's hand, preventing him from touching the voidstar gold.

"The same defense array as the one on the display outside." Muria looked at the familiar runes, withdrew his hand, clenched it into a fist, and a wave of anger burned through his mind, scorching his rationality...

As a child, parents might take new year's money under various pretenses, but when a child grows up, most families pour out everything they have to prepare everything for him or her.

In this world, most parents think of their children first, but their ways of expressing it are often not very effective.

Among metallic dragons, gold and silver dragons behave in ways most akin to humans.