Chapter 76

"Lord of the City, I have already occupied the crystal mine. I immediately discovered a fifth-tier gold treasure chest deep in the mine, but it is guarded by seven crystal dragons. They detected me when I occupied the crystal mine and are now moving towards here. What should we do?" Wolf spoke quickly but steadily, without any sign of anxiety.

A treasure chest in the crystal mine? Under the influence of the laws, it makes sense that crystal dragons live in the crystal mine, but the mine itself is already a special resource building. How could there be something else inside?

Although he didn't know the reason, the appearance of an additional fifth-tier gold treasure chest was a good thing. However, seven crystal dragons—just as many as the mantises, but the combat power of these two units is vastly different, making them much harder to deal with.

"Thump, thump, thump..." The sound of heavy footsteps, like something heavy striking the ground, came from the depths of the crystal mine. Liu Siyi waved his hand, and everyone quickly mounted the thunderbirds. The thunderbirds, ready, flapped their wings and took to the sky.

The first thing to appear was a large piece of purple crystal...

No, that's not right, Liu Siyi shook his head. How could a crystal move on its own? Upon closer inspection, he realized that the large piece of purple crystal was actually the head of a dragon.

The dragon's head was enormous, taking up almost half of the mine's entrance. Its deep purple eyes, glowing with a dark purple light, scanned the area outside the entrance and then focused on the sky. Although it was just a glance, Liu Siyi was certain that it had seen through each of them.

The purple crystal dragon let out a low roar and emerged from the mine, standing not far away and stretching out its entire body. Only then did Liu Siyi see the true appearance of the dragon.

This was a crystal dragon that closely resembled the Western dragons of the real world, with a lizard-like body, two large bat-like wings, and short front limbs. Its entire body was purple, covered in dragon scales that resembled purple crystal. Some areas were darker, while others were lighter, creating a stunning display under the sunlight.

This was not the ugly green crystal dragon from Heroes of Might and Magic V. The crystal dragons were not only colorful but also majestic and powerful, with their sharply defined head scales emphasizing their strength.

Don't assume that crystal dragons are puppets or manufactured beings like diamond men. In fact, crystal dragons are true dragons, living beings that can resurrect after death. When a crystal dragon is born, its scales are colorless and transparent. The more of a certain color crystal it absorbs, the more its growth will lean towards that color.

After the purple crystal dragon emerged, the other six also came out one by one, standing on either side of it.

The crystal dragons all looked the same, except for a few rare mutations, which were still very rare and not present here. Their colors were all different. The two on the sides were a red crystal dragon and a yellow crystal dragon, while the other four were blue, white, black, and green. This was due to the different types of crystal ore they consumed, which changed their body colors.

"Damn!" When Liu Siyi saw all seven crystal dragons emerge, he knew it was going to be difficult and couldn't help but curse inwardly.

The first three crystal dragons were all larger than a behemoth, with the largest being the purple crystal dragon, which was even bigger than a giant mantis, at least thirty meters long. The other four were significantly smaller in comparison, but even the smallest was about the size of the third behemoth, and the largest was not much smaller than a behemoth.

Size was one aspect, but there were also significant differences in appearance. For example, the first three had very pure colors, while the last four had more mixed colors, though they still looked more vibrant under the sunlight.

The biggest difference, aside from some minor aspects, was that the first three crystal dragons had two large horns on their foreheads, while the last four did not.

Doesn't this mean that the first three crystal dragons are seventh-tier advanced units?

If that's the case, there's no guarantee that we can defeat them.

"Was it you who occupied this crystal mine?" The first crystal dragon stared at Wolf and asked.

"Yes, it was me who occupied this crystal mine," Liu Siyi quickly answered. "These people are all my subordinates, and all their actions are carried out under my orders."

"Can you give up this crystal mine?" The leading purple crystal dragon looked at Liu Siyi and said directly, "The crystal mine can only produce one unit of crystal per day. If you give up the crystal mine, we are willing to provide you with one unit of crystal daily. You don't have to worry about the safety of the crystal mine, nor do you need to send laborers to mine it. We won't have to hear those annoying mining sounds all day. You just need to come and collect the resources on time. This would be beneficial for both of us. What do you think?"

Give up? Liu Siyi didn't believe the crystal dragons would be so easy to talk to. They were even willing to compensate him at the original price. No wonder when he thought about the crystal dragons, some strange information appeared in the legacy of the legendary mage, saying that crystal dragons are a race that doesn't initiate wars and are mostly good... He found this information laughable.

This isn't the world of "Dungeons & Dragons," where there are good and evil factions.

Killing the enemy gives you the power to evolve and become stronger. Who would be good?

He didn't believe it before, and he was very skeptical now.

"Why are you making such a big concession when your strength is clearly much greater than ours?" Liu Siyi asked in confusion.

"Ha ha." The purple crystal dragon smiled and explained, "You have goblins, werewolves, minotaurs, and thunderbirds, and many of them are heroes. This indicates that you have a city or a large force of the orc race. Whether you currently lack top-tier units or didn't bring them, it won't be long before you bring them here. So, even if we drive you away this time, the crystal mine will still be occupied by you. When you come back next time, it might be us who are driven away. The key point is that although our crystal dragon race is not afraid of battle and has great strength, we do not like fighting and do not want to fight. We just want a peaceful life. We hope you can agree to our request."

It was really difficult. These crystal dragons were not unwilling to fight for him but simply disliked fighting. Forcing them to fight would not result in much combat power, even though dragons are very powerful.

Liu Siyi frowned, thinking of a strategy. It was not easy to encounter such reasonable crystal dragons, and as he said, if they really ran away, his side would have no way to deal with it.

Liu Siyi was not against starting a battle now, as he had a no-fly scroll. He believed that these seven crystal dragons would not be able to fly and would be at his mercy. However, the crystal dragons had extremely high magic resistance, and looking at their thick crystal scales, he had no confidence that the Thunder God's Spear could penetrate their defenses. He had been able to severely injure the giant mantis because it had little magic resistance, not even comparable to ordinary dragons, let alone crystal dragons.

Besides, why not think about the problem from a different perspective? If everything had to be solved by force, he would definitely be in trouble when force was no longer effective.

"To show our gratitude, we can give you a fifth-tier gold treasure chest as a token of our sincerity," the purple crystal dragon added, seeing Liu Siyi frowning in silence.

"That's not enough, far from enough." Liu Siyi was not swayed by these things that were originally his. He needed a greater benefit.