LOTR: The Mincraft Player

[Achievement Unlocked: "The Next Generation"]

After Smaug was confirmed dead, a fiery crimson egg suddenly dropped into Garrett's inventory.

[Fire Dragon Egg]

[Note: Place near lava to incubate.]

Drawing forth the sword lodged beneath the dragon's jaw, Garrett exhaled deeply, signaling the end of their epic battle.

The blade gleamed even brighter, having slain a dragon without being stained by its blood.

Bard emerged from the tunnel entrance, staring in silence at the dragon's massive corpse.

"The legends speak true, your ancestor was indeed a remarkable warrior among Men. From this day forward, your lineage shall be honored, Bard the Bowman."

Thorin emerged from another passage and saluted the human archer with genuine respect.

Then, from the far end of the secret tunnel, the dwarves came rushing forth, cheering jubilantly.

"By my beard!"

"It's dead! The worm is finally dead!"

The dwarves circled around the dragon's remains. Kíli, overcome with excitement, even kicked the corpse vigorously. Unfortunately, he didn't so much as budge it; instead, he stood there grimacing, frozen in place for several seconds.

"What's wrong? Your leg's trembling, are you still injured from before?" Fíli, who had caught up, asked with concern.

"No, I'm simply... overwhelmed with joy."

Thorin gathered all the dwarves and proclaimed, "The dragon is slain! Our great vengeance is fulfilled! From this day forward, Erebor once again falls under the rightful rule of the line of Durin!"

After the dwarves had celebrated to their hearts' content, they finally settled somewhat and began discussing their immediate future.

"Our highest priority now is locating the Arkenstone, then summoning reinforcements. In the short term, only Dáin Iron-foot might be able to arrive in time. Garrett, how many orcs did you estimate in that army?"

"More than twenty thousand, not counting wargs. And among them are many trolls that aren't afraid of sunlight. I suspect they're Olog-hai, probably bred by the Dark Lord through hybridization."

At these words, the dwarves' faces gradually turned grim. The earlier joy was completely gone.

"What do you mean by more than twenty thousand troops?"

"What are you all discussing?"

Bard looked confused. Orcs? Wargs? He had never even heard of them.

"He speaks of a vast army of tens of thousands of orcs marching toward Erebor. They've departed from Dol Guldur in Mirkwood and the depths of Khazad-dûm, heading north. They may arrive within mere days."

Hearing Thorin's explanation, Bard quickly mapped out the Orcs' route in his head.

"That path would take them directly through Lake-town!"

Panic began to grip him.

A horde of tens of thousands of orcs, how could they possibly defend against that? Lake-town possessed no standing army. The only fighters available were the town guards who maintained daily order.

They might repel the occasional small orc raiding party, but a full military host...

"I must return immediately."

Bard turned to leave.

Dragons, treasure, even the promise of royal favor, none of that mattered to him. Everything he truly valued lay in Lake-town.

"Should you require it, Erebor can offer sanctuary," Thorin called after him.

Bard paused, glanced back at the dwarf-prince, and replied, "I shall remember that."

Then, in the blink of an eye, he had climbed over the dragon's body and disappeared.

"There's no time to waste. We must locate the Arkenstone immediately," Thorin resumed directing his kinsmen.

"This dragon—"

He ran a reverent hand over Smaug's corpse and glanced toward Garrett, who had been studying the dragon's remains for some time, apparently deep in thought. This made him a bit unsure of what to make of it.

"Garrett, do you have need of it?"

"Yeah, some of the materials on it will be useful to me."

"Then it's yours by right, you've more than earned it."

"And it won't be counted against your one-fifteenth share of the treasure."

With that declaration, Thorin nodded to Garrett and followed the other dwarves toward the treasure chambers.

Only Bilbo and Garrett remained at the scene.

Bilbo knew nothing of approaching orc armies, nor how much treasure might eventually be his. All the hobbit understood was that the dragon before him was both terrifyingly massive, and utterly magnificent.

He stared at the dragon for a long time, hesitated briefly, then asked, "Garrett, might I... that is to say, may I take a scale as a keepsake?"

"Of course, Bilbo. This dragon has plenty of scales."

"My thanks. You see, I plan to write some tales when I return home, and I thought this could serve as a sort of specimen, something to press into my journal, as I used to do with leaves and flowers. I've always enjoyed collecting such things, sometimes even cultivating them in my garden..."

After receiving the scale, Bilbo tucked it carefully into his waistcoat pocket. He chatted with Garrett a bit longer before heading off to join Thorin in searching for gems within the vast hoard.

Garrett, meanwhile, began harvesting materials from the dragon's body: Dragon blood, dragon bone, dragon meat, fire dragon scales, fire dragon heart...

The dragon was simply enormous, and the loot it dropped upon death was so abundant that he had to craft a chest just to store it all on the spot.

After gathering the materials, his crafting menu updated, unlocking recipes for dragon scale armor, dragon-forged tools, and even a new alloy: "Dragonfire Steel."

This dragonfire steel possessed incredible properties, armor crafted from it would far surpass netherite in protection, and weapons forged from it would exceed even the ancient elven blade he currently wielded. Unfortunately, he didn't yet possess the means to produce it.

The reason was simple: it required actual dragonfire from a living fire dragon, and the last one in Middle-earth, Smaug the Mighty, had just been slain by his own hand.

Fortunately, the dragon had dropped a fire dragon egg upon its death. Once hatched and properly raised, all possibilities would open again.

While sorting through the remaining materials, he also discovered several unexpected drops:

[Wing Membrane]

[Crafting Recipe Unlocked: Elytra]

In the original Minecraft, elytra couldn't be crafted and could only be found in end ships within the outer islands. But the materials from this dragon seemed to compensate for that limitation.

[Achievement Unlocked: "Sky's the Limit"]

Flight capability achieved!

This time, he really could fly.

After storing everything safely, he equipped the elytra and tested its gliding capabilities in the vast hall. The flight felt incredibly smooth and responsive.

As long as his reflexes remained sharp, he'd never have to worry about fall damage again. And as for fireworks, which provided propulsion for elytra flight, Erebor's stores contained ample gunpowder. For his purposes alone, it was more than enough to fly freely.

"Time to go check on Thorin."

After packing up all the loot, he exited through the secret passage and navigated toward the forges based on his memory of the Mountain's layout.

"If I remember right, past that gate and down should be…"

As he found his way through the halls, he passed the massive steel furnaces constructed by the dwarven smiths, and suddenly, a notification appeared before him:

[Crafting Recipe Unlocked: Erebor Engineering Series]

[Multi-block Dwarven Structures Unlocked]

Colossal high-temperature forges, massive bellows systems, automated ore conveyors, master smithies, liquid metal transport networks... An entire dwarven industrial complex had been added to his crafting menu, so much that Garrett didn't know where to look first.