Chapter 50 New Goal: Riddle Sage
Seven days after returning to the nest, the system suddenly popped up a window.
[New Target Detected: Wandering Copper Dragon]
[Name: Lorenzos Theo Doronto]
[Race: Copper Dragon (Pureblood)]
[Age: Mature Adult (Approx. 1,200 years old)]
[Body Length: 29 meters (Human form: 178cm, slightly chubby)]
[Combat Power: B+ (Not good at fighting, but intelligence suppresses those of the same level)]
[Intelligence: S (Obsessed with riddles, has created 300 original riddles, none of which have been fully solved to date)]
[Current Status: Wandering, living alone, in seclusion somewhere in the Southern Ash Plains]
[Special Note: This individual has a habit of writing a diary. The diary has an enchanted lock, and the password is the answer to that day's riddle. If you can obtain the diary, you can acquire a large amount of Copper Dragon secrets and ancient dragon knowledge.]
Lia stared at the line "password is the answer" for five seconds.
System.
Are you serious?
She closed the panel and lay back down on the lava rock slab to continue sunbathing.
Three seconds later, the system popped up again.
[Task Hint: By obtaining Lorenzos's diary, you can gain the following information—]
[1. The lost forging secrets of the Copper Dragon clan]
[2. More details regarding the "chaos homogeneity theory" theory]
[3. Insider information on the internal factional struggles of the Metallic Dragon]
[4. The true ancient relationship between Tiamat and Bahamut]
The tip of Lia's tail twitched.
She opened her eyes and stared at those four rewards.
Forging secrets—the Fire Dwarves could use those.
chaos homogeneity theory—the theory she was most interested in.
Metallic Dragon insiders—Caesar had joined the Metallic Dragon, so it might be useful.
Tiamat and Bahamut—the ancient past between the Dragon Queen of the Five-Color Dragons and the God of Good Dragons?
She was silent for three seconds.
Then she climbed up and walked toward the cave entrance.
Halfway there, three small heads poked out from a corner.
"Mother, where are you going?" Kalendil asked.
"I have business."
"What business?"
"To find a dragon."
"What for?" Valerion blinked.
Lia thought for a moment and answered truthfully: "To steal his diary."
The three small heads froze simultaneously.
Aetheriel raised a hand: "Mother, I can help! I can release electricity! I can shock him unconscious!"
Just as he finished speaking, a flash of lightning flickered, and he himself trembled first.
Lia looked at him: "Wait until you can stop shocking yourself unconscious first."
Aetheriel pouted.
Kalendil puffed out his chest: "Mother, I can accompany you! I can spray a thousand meters now!"
Lia looked down at him: "Do you know where the Ash Plains are?"
Kalendil froze: "N-No..."
"Do you know what the personality of a Copper Dragon is like?"
"...No."
"Do you know how to solve riddles?"
Kalendil fell silent.
Lia stroked each of the three heads: "Wait at home."
Three seconds later, the massive Red Dragon took to the sky and flew south.
——————
The Ash Plains, located south of the Caldron Empire, is a wasteland covered in volcanic ash. The ground is covered in a thick layer of grey-black dust, and a single step can sink up to the calf. There are no trees, no grass, and no water—only occasional protrusions of black rock, standing on the plains like tombstones.
Lia landed on the peak of a rocky hill, transformed back into human form, and looked around.
The target location displayed by the system was nearby.
But looking as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but ash everywhere.
She stood there and waited for three minutes.
From a distance, a strange sound drifted over.
It sounded like someone talking, yet also like someone talking to themselves; the voice was intermittent and couldn't be heard clearly through the wind.
Lia followed the sound.
Rounding a rocky mound, she saw it—
A massive black rock, about ten meters high and fifteen meters wide, its surface polished smooth and flat.
In front of the rock squatted a plump figure.
In human form, he was a middle-aged man, slightly chubby, wearing a grey-stained robe. His hair was as messy as a bird's nest, and some kind of residue hung from his beard. He squatted on the ground, holding a branch, focused on writing in the ashy soil.
As he wrote, he muttered to himself:
"Hmm... the answer to this riddle should be... no, too simple... let's change it..."
Lia stood five meters behind him, watching him write.
The ashy ground was already covered in dense writing—all riddles.
[What gets dirtier the more it's washed?]
[What has a head but no feet, eyes but no eyebrows, and scales but no flesh?]
[What walks on two legs during the day, four legs at night, and three legs at noon?]
Under each riddle were dozens of crossed-out answers.
Lia stared at the words for three seconds.
She spoke softly: "Water."
The plump figure jerked violently, the branch in his hand poked into the ash, and he jumped up like a spring, turned around, and stared at her with wide eyes.
"W-Who are you?!"
Lia looked at him.
Round face, small eyes, flat nose, thick lips.
A pair of amber eyes were filled with shock and wariness, but deep down, there was a hint of—curiosity.
"Water," Lia repeated. "The thing that gets dirtier the more it's washed is water."
The chubby man froze for a second, then looked down at the riddle he had just written.
Then he looked up, his gaze changed.
"Fish," he said. "Has a head but no feet, eyes but no eyebrows, scales but no flesh—it's a fish."
Lia nodded.
The chubby man took a deep breath and continued: "Man. Walking on two legs during the day is adulthood, four legs at night is a baby crawling, and three legs at noon is an old man with a cane—it's a man."
Lia nodded again.
The chubby man stared at her, his eyes growing brighter and brighter, like two small suns.
"Y-You can solve riddles?"
Lia thought for a moment and said modestly: "A little."
The chubby man suddenly lunged forward and grabbed her hand—but just as he touched it, he pulled back as if burned. He pulled a handkerchief from his robe, wiped his hand, and then grabbed her again through the handkerchief.
"Wonderful! Wonderful! It's been twelve hundred years! Finally, someone can solve my riddles!"
Lia looked down at his hand grabbing hers through the handkerchief.
Germaphobia.
A Copper Dragon can have germaphobia too?
The system popped up at the right time:
[Copper Dragon Lorenzos Theo Doronto]
[Special Note: This individual has a mild germaphobia (only towards strangers), a severe riddle obsession (gets depressed if he doesn't guess riddles daily), and social anxiety (not good at communicating with stranger dragons). Current mood: Excited (finally someone can solve riddles) + Nervous (will they think I'm dirty?) + Anticipation (she should be able to solve more riddles, right?).]
Lia was silent for three seconds.
Then she pulled her hand back and said calmly: "I am Lia. I've come to ask you some questions."
Lorenzos nodded repeatedly: "Ask questions? Sure, sure! But you have to help me solve a few riddles first! Just a few! I've been holding onto riddles for three years with no one to solve them, I'm about to burst!"
He turned and ran back to the rock, digging a box out of the ash pile—it was iron, about half a meter square, its surface covered in complex magical runes.
"This is my newly designed Riddle Box! There are thirty riddles inside, and it only opens if they're all solved! I only realized after I finished designing it that I can't solve it myself—"
He scratched his head with an innocent look.
Lia stared at the box.
Then she looked at the expectant Copper Dragon in front of her.
A twelve-hundred-year-old dragon.
S-rank intelligence.
Created three hundred original riddles.
And then he can't open the box he designed himself?
She suddenly felt that the style of this "Riddle Sage" might be a bit different from what she had imagined.