For three consecutive days, Lei Luo entered the abandoned mine in the early morning and emerged covered in dirt in the evening.
He hadn't found Silver Dragon, but he hadn't come away empty-handed either.
Deep inside the mine, he found some scattered beast bones with gnaw marks, indicating that some kind of predator lived in the cave.
Deeper still, he discovered some animal droppings, dry and clotted, with a faint smell of sulfur mixed with metal.
"Empty-handed again?"
By the campfire in the camp, Bolin's voice was filled with undisguised mockery. He was scraping mud off his boots with a dagger and said to the old veterans beside him without lifting his head, "Our Lord, isn't he trying to find gold in the cracks of rocks?"
A few old soldiers let out low chuckles.
One of them chimed in, "Lord Bolin is right. This godforsaken place is as cold as an ice cellar at night, and we're eating dry rations with roasted meat, not even a hot soup. If this continues, before we even make any progress, we'll all freeze and starve to death here."
"Quiet!"
Another knight vigilantly glanced at Ade's figure not far away, "If Captain Ade hears you, you'll be in for it."
At the mention of Ade, the complaints immediately quieted down considerably.
Knight Ade was like a silent iron tower, always diligently performing his duties.
Ade naturally sensed the unease spreading through the team.
He tried to talk to Lei Luo several times, at least to inquire about the reason why the Lord was so persistent in exploring this abandoned mine, so as to calm everyone down.
Lei Luo was not unaware of the undercurrents in the camp.
But he didn't have the time or energy to appease or suppress them one by one.
His goal was clear and singular: to find the young Silver Dragon that was rumored to reside there.
So he chose the simplest method.
He rewarded each person with five gold dragons and had the knights switch to a rotation system, assigning five knights each day to scout for news in Blackstone Town.
The so-called scouting, besides understanding the situation in Blackstone Town, was actually a disguised holiday for the resentful knights.
The system's intelligence was not omnipotent; sometimes it could only provide vague fragments of information.
This information was like a marker on a treasure map; where the actual treasure was, he still needed to dig for it himself.
The identity of a deposed noble, a barren fief, a dispirited team...
Lei Luo was well aware of his current predicament.
To break free from this difficult situation and gain the capital to establish himself, he needed a powerful assist.
And an infinitely potential young Silver Dragon was undoubtedly the most important bargaining chip he could seize.
Dragon Knight!
The power and status represented by these three words were enough to silence anyone who underestimated him.
That evening, Lei Luo emerged from the mine again, holding a small, scale-like hard object that emitted a faint metallic luster. He had found it in a hidden corner.
The scale was tiny, with some wear on its edges, as if it had fallen off some creature.
He subtly slipped the object into his pocket, his face still maintaining its calm expression.
Dinner was still roasted meat.
Lei Luo, as usual, sat by a campfire slightly away from the crowd, with Ade sitting quietly opposite him, on guard.
Lei Luo picked up a skewer of sizzling roasted beast meat and slowly ate it, his gaze directed towards the shadowy forest at the edge of the camp.
Three days of searching had him practically turning the mine inside out. Aside from the broken bones, droppings, and today's small scale, there were no other discoveries.
The target seemed to be hiding deeper, or perhaps, it didn't often stay in the mine at all?
He felt a bit disheartened, but more than that, he felt unwilling to give up.
He had already traveled ninety li of a hundred-li journey.
Give up?
Absolutely impossible.
As night deepened, the cold intensified.
Most of the knights had crawled into their crude tents, with only the sentries on watch still pacing in the cold wind.
Lei Luo remained seated by the campfire, the flames illuminating his young yet steady face.
He opened his palm, looking at the tiny scale, which shimmered with a faint silver glow in the firelight.
"Silver Dragon..."
He murmured to himself, a hint of fervor flashing in his eyes, "Where exactly are you?"
Just then, a faint rustling sound came from the nearby bushes.
Lei Luo remained calm, his peripheral vision glancing towards the direction of the sound.
Ade also became alert, gripping the hilt of his sword at his waist.
A moment later, a small, furry head peeked out from the shadows of the bushes.
It was a feline, not large, only slightly bigger than an adult domestic cat, covered entirely in long white fur, with only the tips of its ears and the end of its tail adorned with a few tufts of dark gray fur.
A pair of pale gold eyes flickered with curiosity and vigilance in the firelight. It cautiously sniffed the scent of roasted meat lingering in the air, a faint purring sound coming from its throat.
A lynx?
Lei Luo was slightly surprised.
Such animals usually lived in the forests and snowy plains further north, rarely appearing in relatively barren mountainous areas like Blackstone Territory.
Moreover, the lynx's fur was so pure white, which was even rarer.
The little creature seemed to be startled by the campfire and the unfamiliar humans. After peeking out, it hesitated and then withdrew, only revealing a pair of darting eyes, fixed intently on the skewer of dripping roasted meat in Lei Luo's hand.
Its gaze was so longing, as if it hadn't eaten for three days.
Lei Luo's heart stirred. He tried to offer the roasted meat in his hand forward, moving very slowly so as not to startle the timid little creature.
The white-furred lynx tilted its head, seemingly judging the bipedal creature's intentions.
The aroma of the roasted meat continuously tempted its olfactory nerves.
After hesitating for a moment, it finally couldn't resist the temptation and fully emerged from the bushes.
Moonlight and firelight shone on it, making its fur appear even more spotless white.
It cautiously approached the campfire.
It stopped about three or four paces from Lei Luo. After confirming there was no danger, it stretched its neck and cautiously approached the roasted meat in Lei Luo's hand.
Seeing this, Ade released his grip on his sword, a slight smile appearing on his face.
In this dull, anxious camp, the sudden appearance of such a cute little creature was a rare diversion.
Lei Luo tore off a small piece of roasted beast meat, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with not too many bones, and placed it on a stone beside him.
Seeing this, the white-furred lynx immediately came forward, picked up the meat, quickly retreated to a safe distance, and then began to feast.
Its eating manners were not very elegant; it swallowed the piece of meat in a few bites, then looked expectantly at Lei Luo again.
Lei Luo was amused by its greedy look, and his earlier Boredom dissipated quite a bit.
He simply placed the remaining half of the roasted meat on the stone.
The little creature let out a louder purr, as if cheering, and pounced on it without ceremony.
This time, it ate even faster, like a whirlwind, quickly sweeping away all the considerable amount of roasted meat.
After eating, it still licked its mouth, as if unsatisfied, and even wiped its face with its front paws.
"Looks like it was starving," Ade said in a low voice.
Over the next few days, this white-furred lynx became a regular visitor to the camp.
Every evening, when the campfire was lit and the scent of roasted meat began to waft, it would always appear on time, familiar with the routine, running to Lei Luo's campfire and looking at him with expectant pale gold eyes.
Lei Luo was also happy to have a companion and would always share some roasted meat with it.
The spices he used were brought from the Duke's mansion; there weren't many types, but when combined, the flavor was rich, and it clearly suited the little creature's palate.
After a few days, the white-furred lynx's wariness towards Lei Luo greatly decreased. Sometimes it would even rub its furry head against his boots at his feet, purring contentedly.
Lei Luo's interest in this white-furred lynx grew stronger and stronger.
Not only because of its rarity and friendliness, but also because of the illogical details about it.
For example, its bottomless appetite.
One time, the knights roasted an entire cleaned wild boar, weighing about a hundred pounds. He and the knights shared half of it. The rest, after feeding the little creature five or six pounds, was hung by the campfire to preserve.
He thought the little creature was full, but he didn't expect that when he groggily woke up in the middle of the night to relieve himself, he found that the little creature had actually devoured the remaining nearly fifty pounds of roasted pork without a single bite left!
After eating, it simply let out a satisfied burp, still looking lively and showing no signs of being overfed.
This completely subverted Lei Luo's understanding of biology.
How could such a small lynx possess such a terrifying appetite?
An even stranger thing happened a few nights later.
That night, the wind was strong, and the campfire's flames flickered between strong and weak.
Lei Luo, as usual, handed a freshly roasted beast leg, still with a bit of blood, to the white-furred lynx.
The little creature took the meat, probably thinking it wasn't cooked enough.
It tilted its head, looked at the meat, then at the campfire, seeming a bit dissatisfied.
Then, under the dumbfounded gaze of Lei Luo and Ade, the white-furred lynx opened its seemingly delicate mouth.
A small stream of orange-red flames suddenly shot out from its mouth!
The flames precisely singed the piece of beast meat it was holding with its paws, making a soft sizzling sound. The surface of the meat instantly turned golden brown, emitting a richer aroma.
After doing all this, the little creature contentedly retracted the flames and lowered its head to enjoy the roasted meat it had "re-processed," as if it had just done the most ordinary thing.
Lei Luo: "..."
Ade: "..."
The two exchanged glances, both seeing incredulous shock in the other's eyes.
A... fire-breathing... lynx?
Lei Luo's heart pounded, and a thought flashed through his mind like lightning.
White fur, a rare species, a huge appetite, and... the ability to breathe fire.
Could it be...
He suddenly looked at the "white-furred lynx" that was eating with relish, his breathing involuntarily quickening slightly.
