Chapter 7 Schemes
"With so many gemstones, I'll just take one, the smallest, least noticeable one," Brian mumbled.
Brian had already discarded the idea of snatching his siblings' eggshells at this moment.
The benefits of swallowing a gemstone were far more enticing than those of the eggshells.
The energy contained within magical gemstones could help a Newborn Dragon grow faster and survive the vulnerable newborn phase. Even ordinary gemstones had components beneficial to the growth of a Newborn Dragon's scales and bones.
The White Dragon Mother naturally knew this, but the selfish nature of Evil Dragons and their obsession with treasure meant she would never share her gemstones with the Newborn Dragons.
Usually, while Newborn Dragons had an innate love for treasure, they wouldn't dare touch their mother's hoard.
Not out of respect or filial piety, but because the power difference was too great, making it easy to get caught and potentially receive a severe beating.
When Newborn Dragons grew into juveniles, becoming physically strong and developing a strong desire to collect treasure and establish territory, the dragon mother would unceremoniously drive them away to ensure the growing juvenile dragons don't target her.
But Brian's determination was firm.
The most fragile period for dragons was the Newborn Dragon phase, primarily due to the mother dragon's negligence and the physical weakness of Newborn Dragons. To quickly pass through the Newborn Dragon phase, Brian set his sights on the gemstones.
As the weakest White Dragon Newborn Dragon without any special abilities, Brian knew he had to take some risks to survive to adulthood, given the high mortality rate of newborn white dragons.
Soon Brian clapped his claws, coming up with a feasible plan.
He immediately ran back to the nest entrance to observe.
Amidst the swirling snowflakes, there was still no sign of the White Dragon Mother, indicating she would be away for some time.
When he returned to the nest's depths, Dragon Sister, Hill had finished eating her eggshell and was sitting on the ground like a wolfhound.
Her sleek head followed Brian's movements, and she stared at Brian with curiosity.
It was just Hill and Brian, along with the slightly trembling dragon eggs in the nest. The eggs were uninteresting, so she had nothing else to watch but Brian.
Brian knew that if Hill saw him take the White Dragon Mother's magical gemstone, she would undoubtedly report him once the White Dragon Mother returned and enjoy watching him get driven out of the nest.
"First challenge, stealing a gemstone from the White Dragon Mother's treasure hoard."
"First step, get rid of the witness."
Brian's platinum-gold dragon eyes narrowed slightly, glinting with a strange light.
Hill uneasily wagged her long dragon tail for sensing the malicious intent.
Brian grinned at Hill, trying to appear friendly, but his sharp young teeth made him look somewhat menacingly cute.
Brian slowly approached under the watchful gaze of his wary sister.
His lion-tiger-sized body was quite intimidating which was much larger than Hill's.
This malevolent approach made Hill retreat repeatedly.
Hill soon found herself against the reflective ice crystal wall, like a girl being cornered by a ruffian.
She angrily shook her head, baring her teeth in a low growl, adopting a warning and threatening posture, showing her sharp, young teeth.
White Dragon Newborn Dragons generally had low intelligence, which was the lowest among Evil Dragons. Even with Dragon Heritage, they mostly acted on beast-like instincts.
Their intelligence gradually increased with age, reaching human levels by the juvenile stage, and most adult White Dragons could use magic, possessing the intelligence of a mage.
But Hill was still in the dumb stage, easily deceived.
Brian said softly, "Don't blink. I'll show you something."
Brian shook his tightly clenched dragon claws and then slowly extended them.
His exaggerated movements immediately caught Hill's attention, and she lowered her head as Brian hoped, focusing on his claws.
Then Brian's armored dragon head snapped back, his neck stretched like a drawn bowstring, and he suddenly slammed down in a flash.
The hard bone armor collided in an instant, .
A crisp, powerful sound echoed in the nest.
Thanks to the highly reflective ice crystal walls, the sound reverberated liked an echo in a valley, lingering long, stimulating the slightly trembling dragon eggs to shake more violently, likely hastening their hatching.
Hill across him collapsed to the ground without a sound, her limbs going limp, eyes rolling back, knocked out by Brian's headbutt.
Dragons were incredibly resilient, so a single headbutt posed no real danger to Hill. Brian had controlled his strength, ensuring she would be unconscious for no more than half an hour.
"Hill, you mustn't be so easily deceived in the future," Brian said earnestly to the unconscious Hill, showing no guilt for repeatedly bullying his Dragon Sister.
Next, Brian excitedly rubbed his claws and quickly ran toward the treasure-filled depths of the nest.
"First step, successfully completed."
"Now for the second step, make it difficult for the White Dragon Mother to notice the theft."
Brian looked up at the treasure pile, which was large enough to bury him, his platinum-gold dragon eyes reflecting the colors of greed.
He took a deep breath, his mind racing.
Dragons had incredibly developed memories. Even ancient dragons that had lived for a thousand years could remember clearly the monsters they hunted, the skies they flew, the jungles they traversed, the rocks they gnawed... every detail vividly.
It was a terrifying photographic memory.
With such memory, combined with their greed for treasure, dragons remember the exact quantity of their treasures, noticing even the slightest missing piece.
Considering all this, Brian thought carefully. If he didn't want to incur the White Dragon Mother's wrath and deceived her, he had to meet several conditions.
First, the gemstone he took had to be isolated, at the bottom, not leaning on other gemstones to avoid triggering a chain reaction.
Second, he needed a similar-looking substitute to replace the missing gemstone.
"An isolated gemstone at the bottom..."
Brian's eyes flickered, scanning the treasure pile, quickly locking onto his target.
It was a diamond-shaped white crystal at the lower left edge of the treasure mound, about the size of a baby's fist, making Brian's mouth water.
