The dragon's head rested on its front claws with its eyes firmly shut. The golden scales gleamed faintly as it reflected the light on the glowing stone in the Half-Elf's hand.
Although there were signs of rot here and there, the body was mostly intact, making Lux unable to determine how long the Dragon had been dead.
"This is an Ancient Golden Dragon." Keoza's confident voice echoed faintly inside the cavern. "If I have to make an estimate, it has been dead for only two to three hundred years."
"Do you know him?" Lux asked.
"No," Keoza replied. "I have been away from Karshvar Draconis for hundreds of years, and yet, I don't know who this dragon is despite the fact that he is older than me. Perhaps, he is a vagabond who chose to return to this place in order to look for his final resting place."
Keoza's words were solemn as if he was paying tribute to the dead Dragon, whose name he didn't know.
"So, what are you going to do, Lux?" Keoza asked. "Are you going to turn him into an Undead Dragon?"
Lux glanced at the floating Dragon Token beside him with a troubled face. A part of him wanted to say yes, but the other half was afraid that if he said yes, Keoza would think badly of him.
As if sensing his worries, Keoza chuckled and gave his opinion about the matter.
"I believe this is Fate," Keoza stated. "Just like how you met me, I believe this is also a fateful encounter. I would be offended if other Necromancers took advantage of this Dragon's body, but if it is you, I can accept it."
"You won't get mad?"
"If this was a Crystal Dragon, then yes. However, it is a Golden Dragon, and he reminds me of that standoffish brother of mine. I'm sure that he would be pissed as hell if he ever saw you commanding an Undead Golden Dragon."
"Um, wouldn't that be bad?" Cai, who was listening to their conversation, commented.
Although it still hadn't seen the Dragon King, basing on how he treated Lux, the Boar was sure that the Half-Elf would be in trouble once the Undead Golden Dragon's existence was discovered.
Keoza once again chuckled before saying in an evil tone.
"He doesn't need to know, and even if he does come to know, there is nothing he can do about it," Keoza replied. "Just don't go wagging this dead Dragon in his face, and he can still turn a blind eye to it.
"Since it is an Ancient Dragon, you can just say that you found it somewhere while exploring the lands of Elysium. Our kind is free to go wherever we wish, after all. Even the Dragon King cannot command us to stay in Karshvar Draconis for eternity."
Lux nodded his head before summoning Asmodeus by his side.
"What a fantastic specimen!" the Archlich exclaimed as soon as he saw the dead Dragon in front of him. "You found a great treasure, Master. However, may I offer some advice?"
"Speak your mind, Asmodeus," Lux replied. "The reason I summoned you is because I want to discuss how we should handle this Dragon corpse."
The Archlich smiled as his bony hands caressed the head of the golden dragon, as if trying to better understand its history.
"Frankly speaking, we have three methods we can use in order to utilize this Dragon corpse to our maximum advantage," Asmodeus stated. "The first one is to fuse Keoza's soul with it, allowing this Dragon to gain a fraction of its power. If we're lucky, the Undead Dragon will be revived with Dreadnaught Rank. If not, the lowest it can go is still Argonaut."
The Arclich paused and gave the Dragon Token a side-long glance before shifting his attention back to his Master.
"The second option is to, of course, turn it into an Undead Dragon, and make it a part of your Undead Legion," Asmodeus stated. "It is a shame, but you can't make it part of your Necromancer's Covenant because only sentient Undead Creatures or newly revived Undead that haven't been dead for more than a month can be part of it.
"This Dragon has been dead for hundreds of years now, and the most you can do is to revive it and make it the Commander of your Animated Undead Legion. But, doing so will be doing great disservice to this magnificent creature.
"Master, right now, you are only a Grade A Apostle, and not even an Initiate. If you revive this Monster, its strength would only match yours, which isn't a good thing. Also, knowing you, you'd probably spend a lot of Beast Cores to raise its rank, which is a very normal thing to do, but that is not very cost effective.
"It will be much better if you just upgrade us with those Beast Cores, rather than spend it on this thing."
The Archlich chuckled before leaning on the dead dragon's body with his arms crossed over his chest.
"The last option is to, of course, store this dragon's body inside Blackfire. Although you cannot revive it using its powers, Blackfire can easily store any dead creatures inside it, similar to an enchanted Beast Ring.
"I suggest that you wait until you become a Ranker before you raise it as an Undead Dragon. That way, this Dragon corpse will not be wasted and will be put to good use once you reach that threshold."
After hearing the Arclich's explanation, Lux glanced at the floating Dragon Token beside him.
"No need to concern yourself with me," Keoza said. "I am not interested in having a physical body right now."
Lux nodded his head in understanding before looking at the Giant Corpse in front of him.
"Blackfire, swallow it," Lux ordered.
Immediately, a black coffin materialized behind Lux's back and sucked the Dragon's corpse into itself by turning it into particles of light.
The Half-Elf knew that Asmodeus' words were right. Currently, he had neither the rank nor the ability to maximize the Dragon corpse to its fullest potential.
Since that was the case, he would just wait until he became a Ranker before summoning one of the strongest Undead Creatures that every necromancer wished to have under their command.
