I was a lord farming, how did I become an emperor?

Chapter 248 Underground Ruins
……

……

Perhaps it's due to the influence of a past life.

Although the earth dragon couldn't fly, Rhodes still liked the earth dragon that looked like a dragon.

"Where did you crawl out from?"

Rhodes looked at the earth dragon, his eyes full of doubt.

If the earth dragon was here before, then this cave couldn't be new, nor could it be completely undisturbed.

If this earth dragon mutated under the influence of the entry, shouldn't the true dragon bloodline in its body be activated by Rhodes?

Did they come from the Razor Plains?
Rod also sensed something was off.

The earth dragon was intelligent and understood Rhodes' words. It raised its claws and pointed to the Gray Serpent Canyon behind it, then retracted its claws and pressed its belly against the ground.

Then, the earth dragon twisted its body and slid a few steps on the ground like a snake.

Rhodes stared at the earth dragon, carefully trying to understand its meaning.

"and many more……"

Rhodes turned to look at the white wolf beside him. "You just said that this guy's aura was somewhat familiar. What do you mean by familiar?"

"The giant python in Gray Serpent Canyon!"

"Correct!"

Rhodes turned to look at the earth dragon, "You're that giant python?!"

The earth dragon's head swayed up and down, confirming Rhodes's guess.

"Then how did you become like this?"

Rod stared at the earth dragon in disbelief.

Although the giant python is a magical beast, it can only be considered a low-level magical beast—at most, it's only at the third tier.

But earthworms are completely different.

Judging from the aura of this earth dragon, it is at least a mid-level magical beast, like the white wolf.

This transcends class and race.

Was it affected by the effect of its own Nature Lord attribute?
No, this guy must have had some kind of extraordinary encounter.

Faced with Rhodes's question, the earth dragon's vertical pupils showed a hint of hesitation.

Seeing the earth dragon's expression, Rhodes became even more certain of his guess.

"Tell me what you found."

Rhodes spoke in a commanding tone.

The earth dragon shrank its neck in fear and nodded helplessly.

They then crawled into the cave.

"Inform Lawrence and Durant that the celebration banquet is postponed."

Rhodes commanded, "Light the torches and follow the earth dragon."

……

……

As they went deeper, the air inside the cave became humid and heavy.

Rhodes could clearly smell the earthy, pungent odor and the stench of decay.

The earth dragon suddenly froze, its head slowly turning to the right, its golden vertical pupils staring at the corner.

Rhodes stopped in his tracks, his hand naturally gripping the hilt of the sword at his waist.

Ryan walked slowly forward along the wall, secretly glancing around the corner.

A faint light flickered in the cave ahead, making everyone very wary.

Rhodes waved his hand, and Vika nimbly jumped into the cave and followed the fork in the road.

A moment later he ran back quickly, “My lord, there are no signs of life inside.”

Rhodes asked, "Why is there light?"

“It’s a gem from the cave,” Vika reported.

"gem?"

Rod's heart skipped a beat, and he turned to the earth dragon and gave the order.

"You go and lead the way."

However, the earth dragon shrank its neck and trembled slightly, clearly afraid of something inside.

Rod was helpless.

Is this still a dragon?
So timid.

"Take me there."

Rhodes' voice was calm as he gently stroked the earth dragon's back. "Don't be afraid."

The earth dragon hesitated for a moment, then finally took a step and burrowed into the cave.

The passage suddenly opened up ahead, and the earth dragon led Rhodes into a huge, wide natural cave.

A faint light shone down from above, and Rhodes looked up.

His breath caught in his throat—the cave walls were inlaid with all sorts of extraordinary gems, at least twenty of them.

Each one is the size of a walnut.

"Magic Gem, Spirit Gem, Life Gem, and the orange one is Earth Gem?"

Rod squinted, his heart filled with extraordinary joy.

The number of these gems far exceeded expectations, even more than in the Wizard's Tower.

No wonder it's so bright.

We'll have to take them all away in a bit.

Rhodes snapped out of his daze and took a few steps forward.

I stepped on something hard and looked down.

It's bone.

Huge bones.

"Torches."

At Rhodes's command, a guard immediately brought over a torch.
There were all sorts of bones on the ground, some of them from earth dragons, and others from other wild animals.

More skeletons were scattered in the corners, some still retaining their complete skeletal shape.

But many more have already fallen apart.

"Interesting... What happened here?"

Rhodes murmured to himself, somewhat curious.

The Winter Guards entered one after another, placing torches in various corners to fully illuminate the cave, gradually revealing the scene inside.

Directly in front of Rhodes was a huge stone monument that jutted out from the ground at an angle.

It was covered in runes and inlaid with bone fragments and gems.

There are many stone tablets around, forming a circle, but most of them are buried under soil and gravel.

Rhodes stepped forward and brushed off the dirt, revealing the extraordinary gem inside.

This is truly a windfall.

Rod looked at the stone tablet with delight and found that he had never seen the words on it before.

It is not a foreign script, not a savage script, and not a shaman's script.

The lines are curved like snakes and sharp like claws; each symbol exudes a primal sense of power.

"Can you find it?"

Rhodes turned to Vivian and asked.

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency."

Vivian shook her head. "I'm pretty sure we don't have any ancient texts, at least not on the manor."

"Ah."

Rhodes nodded, his expression blank.

Everyone is an encyclopedia; there is no such thing as normal.

Rhodes withdrew his gaze and examined the strange items scattered around the stone tablet.

It has huge teeth, horns, scales, and some scattered metal fragments.

There were also huge, transparent snakeskin fragments—this looked like it belonged to an earth dragon.

"Are these dragon scales?"

Rod picked up a scale and examined it closely.

The scales are larger than the palm of your hand, jet black, with exceptionally sharp edges and a metallic sheen.

These are definitely not scales from an earth dragon; if they are dragon scales, they are scales from a real giant dragon.

Rod picked up another giant tooth, its natural curve resembling a short knife.

And there are many such things around us.

Even more astonishingly, there is a complete skeleton in the center of these stone tablets—it really is a dragon.

This dragon must have been digging when it died; its claws are still deeply embedded in the rock face, and its skull is facing down into the soil.

Like a dog digging a hole.

Curious, Rod dug into the soil and found a green crystal the size of a baby's fist.

"Such a large Life Gem?!"

Rod's eyes widened, his heart filled with immense joy.

No wonder this dragon wanted to tear open this land; it turns out there are such good things here!

Rhode immediately reached out to take the Life Gem, and as soon as he touched it, he felt a warm energy!

Before Rhode could even absorb it, the energy had already overflowed and entered his body to nourish it!

"What a good thing!"

Rod tried to lift it with force, but found that he couldn't lift it at all.

He quickly cleared away the surrounding dirt and discovered that the gemstone was embedded in the stone slab below.

Rhodes will definitely take out the gem, but since he hasn't figured out what this altar-like place is like, he won't destroy it yet.

Those extraordinary gems above his head were enough to restore his life force.

Rhodes was now even more curious about where he was.

Ordinary dragons are high-level magical beasts, so why are they all dying here?
How terrible must the creatures that hunt them be?
Rhodes sighed inwardly, snapped out of his reverie, and waved his hand.
"Pick up all these things around here and take them with you."

Long years have passed, and these things show no signs of decay; they look like fine items. "Yes, my lord."

The hunting party took out bags and began to pack them up.

The earth dragon was still outside, not daring to enter the cave hall, and only lingered at the entrance.

"Did you evolve here?"

Rod asked.

The faucet moved up and down in response, giving an affirmative answer.

"Then what are you afraid of?"

Rhodes was even more puzzled.

You've already been here once, and even evolved inside, so why are you starting to get scared again?
and many more.

Rod suddenly realized what was happening.

What was activated here due to the evolution of the giant python, resulting in the creation of some terrifying creature or the setting of a trap?

"Be careful, something's not right here."

Rod spoke up to remind him.

"Yes, Lord Lord."

The hunters carefully picked up the items on the ground, trying their best not to touch the stone tablet.

Rhodes and the white wolf carefully observed their surroundings, but still couldn't find anything unusual.

"Fine, let's just take these gems and leave."

Rhodes cannot abandon these extraordinary gems just because of the earth dragon's fear.

The cave is nearly four meters high, making it impossible for most people to reach it.

"Come in, we need you."

Rhodes waved to the earth dragon, "I command you, come in."

The stern command instilled fear in the earth dragon.

It hesitated for a moment, then decided that Rhodes was more terrifying, and finally moved its paws and cautiously entered the cave hall.

The moment it stepped into the hall, the ground suddenly shook violently.

Gravel fell from the cave ceiling, striking the shoulders and helmets of the Winter Guards with a clanging sound.

The earth dragon behind him let out a terrified growl and quickly took two steps back, and the cave fell silent.

"interesting."

Rod couldn't help but laugh.

He turned to look at the earth dragon and said leisurely, "So this place was specifically designed to target you."

The earth dragon shrank its neck in fear.

Tell me, what did you take from here?

Rod asked with a smile.

The earth dragon shook its head.

"impossible."

Rhodes didn't believe him and questioned, "If you didn't take something from here, why would the traps and mechanisms be targeting you?"

The earth dragon hesitated for a moment, then pointed to the gem on the ground and then to its own mouth.

"You mean you stole the extraordinary gems here, and that's why you were marked?"

Rod asked.

The earth dragon nodded.

Rod frowned. Wouldn't it be a waste of time to discover all this stuff?
"Hurry up and put all the animal bones and scales out here. Hurry up."

"Rod commanded."

"Yes, Lord Lord."

The hunters quickened their pace, and the Winter Guards came forward to help.

Perhaps because of the long time that has passed, the bones inside the cave are also very fragile.

If you hold it in your hand, it will break and crumble into bone fragments.

This probably isn't anything good, so let's just give up on this kind of bone.

As for the rest, all the still-hard bones were moved away.

After a busy day, the entire cave hall was cleaned up.

Rhodes called the white wolf to his side, "Come on, help me."

The white wolf walked up to Rhodes.

"Be alert."

Rhodes jumped directly onto the white wolf's back, lifted Ashbringer, aimed at the Life Gem above his head, and suddenly exerted force on his hand.

The Ashbringer easily sliced ​​through the rock and scooped out the Life Gem.

"Snapped!"

Rhodes reacted quickly, grabbing the Life Gem and cautiously observing his surroundings.

The cave was completely silent.

The tremor we just experienced did not occur.

Rhodes frowned and looked at the earth dragon at the cave entrance.

"Are you bluffing me?"

The earth dragon sensed Rhodes's oppressive aura and immediately shook its head violently.

"What happened?" Rod pressed.

The earth dragon hesitated for a moment, then stretched out its claw and pointed to its mouth.

"Did you eat the extraordinary gem?"

Rhodes looked at the Life Gem in his hand.

I can't eat it myself, so I'll try to absorb it.

But not now.

We need to cut these gems out first.

Rhodes patiently stood on the white wolf's back and chipped off the gems one by one.

Thirty-three extraordinary gems.

Even after all of it was removed, the scene from before still didn't happen.

Rhodes no longer cared about anything else and began to pry all the gems off the stone tablet.

There are forty-five in total, including the life gem that is about the size of a small fist.

Having done all that, there was nothing left in the cave worth staying for.

Rhodes tried to absorb a common life gem.

The warm energy flowed into his body, making Rhode feel as if he were soaking in a hot spring, and he breathed a long, comfortable sigh of relief.

When the light of the Life Gem in his hand dimmed, Rhodes felt refreshed and relaxed, as if he had unloaded a heavy burden.

But the strange noises in the cave have not yet occurred.

"What exactly did you swallow?"

Rhodes stared at the earth dragon, even more curious, "It looks similar to these extraordinary gems, right?"

The earth dragon nodded.

Rhodes squinted in thought, then suddenly realized something.
"You swallowed the dragon crystal?!"

Rod pinched the scales on the earth dragon's face.
"Did you eat an irregular crystal that looks a lot like these gemstones, sparkling with a bright light, but with sharp edges and a murky, smoky aura inside?"

The earth dragon was somewhat bewildered and nodded blankly.

"Bastard!"

Rhodes couldn't help but let out a wail.

Dragon crystal is far superior to extraordinary gemstones!

Dragon crystals contain not only energy but also inherited knowledge; they are filled with the essence of dragons!

Rhodes was extremely frustrated.

No wonder this guy was able to evolve directly into an earth dragon.

It turns out it all came down to dragon crystals—or rather, gem dragons.

Rhodes stared at the earth dragon, trying to console himself that since the giant python hadn't died from being swallowed by a low-level magical beast, the dragon crystal probably wasn't complete either.

Even so, the earth dragon probably hasn't fully absorbed it yet, and it can still evolve in the future.

Rhodes let out a long sigh of relief and calmed down.

Turning back to look at the cave hall, my mind was racing with thoughts.

If that's the case, then what is it that makes the earth dragon fearful?

Rhodes thought for a moment, then took out another Life Gem and held it in his hand to absorb it.

A moment later, the system notification appeared:

[Absorbing a small amount of life force increases the body's basic vitality by 5% (estimated lifespan increase by 6 years)]

The increase in natural lifespan means that Rhodes's vitality has been restored.

Furthermore, the ability of nature's lords to sacrifice themselves has been revealed.

Rhodes waved to the earth dragon and commanded:

"Go in."

Rhodes' imposing presence made the earth dragon dare not hesitate, and it obeyed Rhodes' command to enter the cave.

The tremors resumed, sending pebbles flying everywhere.

The ground in the center of the cave began to rise, and soil and gravel were pushed to the sides and quickly converged together.

An orange-yellow light illuminated the cave, and a figure formed from rubble and dirt appeared within it.

"You despicable thief, return my heart core to me!"

An angry roar echoed through the cave, but it did nothing to frighten Rhodes.

interesting.

Rhodes couldn't help but laugh, watching the figure before him with great interest.

—A giant dragon made of rubble, but only the size of a pet dog.

(End of this chapter)