Chapter 12 | They Called Me the Dumbest Dragon, So I Paused Time and Built an Empire

Jonavili turned her dragon head impatiently, but with just this casual glance, her pupils instantly constricted into thin slits.

Swish!

A white shadow flashed, and her crystal blue dragon eyes looked at the glittering gold coin from almost zero distance, her dragon muzzle curling into a delighted grin.

Jonavili's movements combined with her appearance were terrifying in Fanni's eyes.

Fanni was already struggling to hold the gold coin, and with Jonavili's sudden movement, she was so frightened that she let go on the spot.

The gold coin fell, but Jonavili was quick and caught it, extending her dragon tongue to give it a lick.

Mmm... that's the taste... an authentic gold coin!

Her crystal blue dragon eyes dilated with pleasure, looking every bit the miser.

"Whew... whew..."

Fanni was panting from exhaustion, but seeing Jonavili carefully tucking the gold coin between her scales, she felt her effort hadn't been in vain.

Suddenly, the snow white dragon head thrust right in front of Fanni, the greed in her eyes completely unconcealed.

"Fanni, tell me, where did you find this?"

Fanni pointed toward the depths of the cave, smiling brightly.

"Right inside! Does the Great White Dragon want more?"

Jonavili ignored Fanni's words; she took the silver coin out from under her reverse scale and put the gold coin in, then rushed toward a tunnel just wide enough for a single goblin to pass through.

Then, she raised her dragon claws and began digging rapidly.

The hard rock was like tofu under those digging claws, easily carved away.

After digging for about a minute, Jonavili finally reached a spacious area inside the cave, her dragon claws already feeling slightly hot.

But the excited Jonavili didn't care at all, instead scanning the small cavern which was arranged more neatly than the outside.

Soon, she saw several silver coins and over a dozen copper coins lying quietly.

"My little darlings, I'm coming for you!"

With a shout, Jonavili rushed to them, picked them up with her claws, and began to count carefully.

"One, two, three, four, five... plus the one on me, that's six silver coins. As for copper coins... thirteen."

Fanni flew in just in time to see Jonavili smirking while rubbing her head against her claws, which made her want to laugh.

But remembering the fickle nature of chromatic dragons, she forced herself to hold it in.

Once Jonavili composed herself, Fanni flew in front of her.

"Great White Dragon, you seem to be in a very good mood."

Jonavili glanced at her, finding her a bit more pleasing to the eye now.

After stashing everything into her scales, she said indifferently:

"In the future, you may simply call me Jonavili."

Hearing Jonavili give her name, the little sprite Fanni happily flew in circles a few times before landing in front of her.

"Then... then, Lady Jonavili, are we friends from now on?"

"As you wish."

"Oh yeah! I've become friends with a dragon!"

Fanni happily performed a Thomas flare in mid-air.

Clang!

The sound of a heavy object hitting the ground echoed, and Jonavili instantly looked toward the source.

She found a dazed goblin standing outside the inner cave, a broken stone pickaxe at its feet.

"A survivor?"

Jonavili didn't rush to kill it; after all, she was sure she had killed every goblin in the main cave, so this sudden appearance was unexpected.

Jonavili walked toward the goblin, who was so scared it fell to its knees, hurriedly kowtowing in desperation.

"Great White Dragon, please spare me!"

Jonavili stopped, surprise in her eyes.

The goblin before her could actually speak the Common Tongue fluently, which meant it possessed intelligence.

After scrutinizing it again, Jonavili walked up and looked down at it from a height.

The dragon's stare put immense pressure on the goblin.

"Where did you come from?"

Jonavili spoke in the Common Tongue; hearing her voice, the goblin couldn't stop trembling.

"I... I came out from... the mine."

After speaking, the goblin pointed toward a tunnel leading underground.

"Mining?"

"Yes... yes."

Jonavili frowned, finding a contradiction with what the goblin leader had said earlier, and her tone unconsciously grew cold.

"You have evolved higher intelligence than other goblins, but I remember your leader saying before he died that he wanted you all to live better lives. If so, why did he send you to mine instead of developing other more important things?"

Fanni flew to Jonavili's head, hands on her hips, pointing a finger at the goblin as she said crossly:

"Exactly! I think you're lying to us, you deceiver! You should be executed!"

Hearing this, the goblin shook even more violently.

"I'm not... I'm not! Please, my lady... see the truth!"

Fanni had no intention of sparing these filthy creatures; after all, if she hadn't been so small, she would have been used by the goblins to propagate their race long ago.

Jonavili ignored Fanni's words; the little thing was clearly venting her anger. After all, anyone would be furious after nearly becoming a holy grail for such creatures.

"Answer my question, ugly reptile, or that will be your fate."

With that, Jonavili swept her dragon tail toward the artworks frozen into ice statues.

The goblin was so terrified its legs went weak, and yellow urine leaked from its lower body.

A dragon's senses were extremely keen; smelling the stench of urine, Jonavili frowned.

"In... in response to the lady, because... the leader was afraid we... would threaten his rule, so... so he sent the intelligent goblins to... to the mine."

Jonavili saw no sign of a lie; besides, given the nature of goblins, that leader would indeed do such a thing.

But now she was more interested in the mine the goblin mentioned.

"Mining?"

"Yes, beneath... beneath this cave, there is... an iron ore vein. It was... only recently... discovered. We are mainly responsible for mining it."

Her crystal blue dragon eyes slowly widened. An iron ore vein was a good thing; development required iron tools, and iron tools required iron ore.

Although she didn't have her own faction yet, as a true blue Chinese person, the influence of history was ingrained in her genes, specifically the desire to compete for hegemony and achieve grand unification.

Who doesn't want to be a First Emperor who sweeps through the world? Who doesn't want to unite the world? Who doesn't want to be admired by thousands and be an emperor whose name lasts for ten thousand generations?!

In the mind of this white wyrmling, a grand scene had already been sketched out: her sitting upon a throne, watching thousands of subjects worship her.