Bear School Astartes

”Clink, clink... clink, clink~”

The crisp sound of metal colliding softly echoed through this Golden Silver Sea.

Moreover, due to this Treasure Hall, excavated from the mountain by the Lonely Mountain Dwarves, being so vast and grand, the sound of these metal collisions became distorted and ethereal as they traveled far.

Turning into echoes like the flow of a clear spring.

The entire hall was filled with gold, mostly consisting of polygonal Dwarf Gold Coins, with a smaller portion being gold and silverware, interspersed with a large number of shining gemstones and precious jewelry.

These items piled up like mountains in the Treasure Hall... literally ’mountains’.

The Treasure Hall was vast, but the floor was flat, with just a few massive stone pedestals to stabilize the entire hollow structure architecturally.

Yet this gold had managed to create a variation in heights within this hall.

The highest point of the gold accumulation was at least thirty to forty meters, almost half the height of the ceiling!

The sparsest parts were scattered with a few Gold Coins, revealing the smooth stone floor beneath.

These Gold Coins and gold and silverware piled up with countless tiny gaps in between.

A Hobbit just stepped on them, first compressing them, causing the sound of Gold Coins clashing.

Then as the foot lifted, the Gold Coins pinched underfoot suddenly loosened and fell, making the sound of Gold Coins slipping down a slope.

This wasn’t the noise of just a few dozen Gold Coins falling; it was like a sandcastle collapsing, involving a large area at once.

It only stopped once the structure of the piled Gold Coins stabilized again.

”Be careful, meow!”

By this time, Rong Buqiu had already taken off its little cat armor, carrying only two swords. It moved ahead silently and gracefully on the Golden Silver Sea, turning to anxiously whisper to Bilbo who was following.

”Didn’t you say you were quite capable, meow?”

”I said I could make people not see me!”

Bilbo also replied nervously, shouting in a breathy whisper to Rong Buqiu, sounding almost like a puff, with a hint of humor.

”But I can’t avoid stepping on these Gold Coins, can I?! By the way, how are you walking on them without making a sound?”

Rong Buqiu pressed a paw against its furry forehead, sighing silently.

”Bilbo... if I hadn’t come with you last night, how exactly were you planning to die, meow?”

Rong Buqiu made no noise walking on the Gold Coin mountain, partly because its Elu Cat form was small and light, and it had deliberately removed its armor beforehand.

On the other hand, when Lann taught Rong Buqiu the Iwami Style and Light Body Skill, the thief cat from the Valley Raider Race showed a strong interest in the other ninja techniques.

After all, among Detel (mountain cat) from the New Continent’s Valley Raider Race, there was also the title of ’Ninja Cat’.

The concept of ninjas was brought over decades ago by the New Continent Expedition Team from the Old Continent. Once the Valley Raider Race understood it, they found it resonated with them and adopted it.

Thus, for Rong Buqiu, who originated from the thief cats of the Valley of Miasma, it would be strange not to be curious after learning of the existence of ’true ninja’ techniques.

Subsequently, Lann basically taught all the contents of the Lonely Shadow Ninja Technique Manual to Rong Buqiu.

Among the stealth techniques taught was the skill of moving silently over various terrains—required learning.

This technique was also taught to Phoebe from the Ancient Greece world, where Lann had her run over tiles, roofs, and various other rooftops without being noticed.

Rong Buqiu, without a doubt, had a racial advantage in this aspect, so even now, walking on a mountain of piled Gold Coins, it didn’t cause much commotion.

But for Bilbo, there was really no solution.

The pads of a Hobbit’s feet usually made only a small noise on most surfaces.

However, on this Gold Coin mountain, the efficiency of the pads was better than nothing.

The commotion came from the Gold Coins colliding with each other.

”I think we should just hurry up and find it.”

Bilbo, knowing he couldn’t do anything about it, sighed in resignation and muttered.

After descending the steps and officially stepping onto the Golden Silver Sea, he walked cautiously and slowly.

While Rong Buqiu, on all fours, dashed ahead to search.

The treasure reserves of the Lonely Mountain Dwarves were indeed vast.

Bilbo casually picked up a gold goblet on the Golden Mountain, and the large gemstone inside was nearly the size of his face.

And along with this large gemstone piled in the gold goblet were exquisitely crafted diamond necklaces, and more small gems the size of peanuts than one could hold...

The situation was similar on Rong Buqiu’s side.

The treasures in this Treasure Hall were overwhelming; in less than five minutes, both Bilbo and Rong Buqiu felt themselves going numb from the sight.

Their judgment of the value of precious metals was collapsing, along with their sense of the size and preciousness of gemstones becoming confused.

At first, they would gasp at a gem the size of a basin, but soon, as such gems appeared more frequently, they even found themselves unable to discern whether it was large or small.

The various standards within a creature’s heart come from the common sense and perception accumulated in previous life experiences.

However, after just a few minutes of activity on this gold mountain, the two of them felt their standards for judging gemstones and gold were rapidly collapsing.

What exactly is valuable? What is worthless?

The psychological chaos brought about irritability, not to mention the even thicker smell of dragon in this place, making one feel physically uncomfortable.

Unconsciously, Bilbo’s steps began to gradually lose their caution.

He stepped on the loose pile of Gold Coins, making a clattering sound, and began to try to pull out the gold cups and bowls buried beneath the pile.

However, as Bilbo took a step, he accidentally kicked a small gold statue askew...

”Clatter~~~”

At first, only a small pile of Gold Coins by the base of the statue began to slide down.

But like an avalanche’s chain reaction, the small pile’s descent completely destroyed the stable support of a large area of coins above.

On top of the gold mountain, thousands of heavy Dwarf Gold Coins began to flow downward.

Along with them, buried gold and silver utensils collided loudly.

In this silent Treasure Hall, the largest noise so far echoed.

The large-scale collapse of the Gold Coins made Bilbo and Rong Buqiu, who had begun to unwittingly abandon caution due to growing anxiety, suddenly tense again.

At a distance of over twenty meters apart on the gold mountain, the Hobbit and Elu Cat exchanged a glance, instinctively ducked their heads, and quickly found places to hide.

The Treasure Hall was filled with giant pillars supporting the structure, each with a base area as large as a usual house.

Bilbo quickly curled himself behind a pillar, which the Dwarves had carved such that a small Hobbit could hide in the indented area.

Rong Buqiu found it easier.

In a few moves, it jumped onto another pillar, climbing up the enormous column that was as lengthy as the ceiling was tall, reaching at least a hundred meters.

When it was ten meters from the pile of Gold Coins below, the kitten stopped.

Once hidden, both the cat’s and the Hobbit’s heads cautiously poked out, scanning the vast Golden Silver Sea.

Interestingly, the Dwarves always said how terrifying and savage Smaug was, how enormous.

But in this treasure hall where it should be most fond, Rong Buqiu and Bilbo hadn’t seen even a scale or claw, only the dragon’s smell.

Yet suddenly, in the collapse caused by Bilbo, in front of the Hobbits’ pillar, a small hill in the gold mountain...

Something appeared amidst the large sliding of Gold Coins...

Reddish-brown tough skin, sharp and menacing scales, and in an instant, the instinctively repulsive dragon’s smell became more intense.

Bilbo stretched his head out from behind the pillar, opened his mouth in surprise, then immediately covered his mouth and nose, holding his breath.

Beneath the hard skin and scales, muscles began to twitch, and eventually, they opened slowly.

Just like a lizard, first the red-brown eyelids opened up and down, then the inner white membrane opened side to side, and finally the dim yellow, vertical reptilian pupils!

Smaug, who had slept in the gold mountain for over sixty years without awakening... had opened its eyes!

The Gold Coins on the dragon’s back cascaded down in large amounts from its brow ridge and eyelids due to Smaug opening its eyes.

Rong Buqiu clung to the pillar, watching Bilbo hardly dare to breathe deeply.

The fearsome dragon was too close!

But now Rong Buqiu’s fur was all standing on end, originally sleek fur now puffed up to make it look fatter by a circle!

It didn’t dare to call to Bilbo to come closer because beneath the enormous pillar Rong Buqiu was on, it was also clattering!

It seemed that something deeply buried in the gold mountain was slowly rising, pushing aside many Gold Coins.

And the contour being pushed up from under the Gold Coins, along with its revealing motion, looked like a thick swimming snake.

——Smaug’s tail!

Rong Buqiu’s mouth involuntarily gaped.

It was a cat with a mixed heritage of Elu Cat and Detel, born and raised in the New Continent.

Though it followed Lann out for adventure, to enhance itself and accumulate experience.

But up until today, saying it’s ’seen more monsters than people’ wouldn’t be inappropriate. Nor would it be exaggerated.

So even though Smaug was still stretching its body rhythmically, having just woken up and remaining partially buried in the gold mountain.

Rong Buqiu could already roughly understand the outline of this legendary evil dragon through its experience.

”Generally, the sleeping posture is curled, and when waking up the tail engages mainly from the midsection and backward, from this perspective...”

The little cat perched on the giant pillar cautiously poked its head out, muttering softly to itself.

”At least a hundred and thirty meters?! It’s an ultra-large Ancient Dragon?!”