Caves are, what most would consider, the Natural habitat of dragons.

  The in depth explanation would require some mildly [to put it lightly] expensive years of study in Mana Mechanics and Draconic Biology, but most are satisfied with the simpler answer.

  Mana is in everything and everyone, some materials are more conductive, some materials can hold more of it, but everywhere you can think of, Mana is somehow there…

  … Yes, even your imagination, the Dream Plane exists, now shut up and pay attention.

  The task of getting the Mana to what you want requires Intent, what is Intent ? … Well, some pretentious bastards like to link it to consciousness, will, soul, and what have you … that … in this specialist opinion … is bullshit.

  You could leave a rock in a high density Mana environment for long enough and sheer chance will make it infused with enough mana to DO something … Mana wants to DO stuff, it doesn't like to pool somewhere and do nothing, there is a reason Mana crystals are so difficult to make and so rare in nature, Mana don't like to be still.

  Leave enough mana alone for long enough and it will DO something, anything, and say, if a creature was to be close to that Mana, that Mana would be so “eager” to be used as to be practically that creature's own Mana.

  Yes, that's how cultivation chambers work, and why those bastards can sit still for Months on end to get more powerful, now back to dragons.

  They love caves because one, when they are little, they need the extra protection, humanity used caves before they knew how to build settlements, a Dragon does the same.

  Caves are protection and a little tiny dragon needs it, now, why do they Stay in those caves even when they get bigger ?

  Well, that let us back to the Cultivation Chambers and how Mana Pools.

  Dragons are, for lack of a better word, very attractive to Mana, few materials are as attractive as a dragon's natural biology, Mana almost likes to pool around the buggers more than it Hates sitting still.

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  And what happens with too much Mana alone for too much time ? … Yes, it becomes very, very easy to use.

  Dragons like to sleep a Lot when they feel safe, is not a necessity per say, but almost a compulsion, they instinctively know that if they stay still for a long while, when they wake up, there will be a LOT of Mana for them to use, and they use it to fuel their growth in power … like any beast, person, creature would, given the opportunity.

  … Yes, dragons are basically cultivators that can make their own Cultivation Chambers via Sleep … Yes, cheating bastards, why don't you go Sue one ?

  Back to the Cave talk, a Dragon's cave is basically a cultivation chamber in the making, Mana slowly infusing into the Stone, and the Treasures also, and as we all know … Mana makes more Mana, Yes.

  … The treasures ? Boy, did they teach you nothing? Noble metals, Gems and what have you … all of it is way better than Stone at Mana conduction and storage, a dragon's treasure pile is a literal Mana Battery and Generator that they Sleep on, a Generator Battery they Jump Start by being so attractive to said Mana.

  So there you have it, why you can almost always find a dragon in a cave, and why most dragon caves are filled with treasure, and even why some species like Kobolds get involved.

  … Beasts ? … Yes, they are beasts ... At first … a Dragon only gains its intelligent later in life, like most species.

  Think about it, a Human baby is not smart … I could argue that even Human Children are not smart … Dragons take a lot of time and Mana in their development, and most of the Initial development is focused on Size, Power and all that good stuff, like most animals when presented with opportunity.

  … Yes, every beast ever that gains enough Mana acquires intelligence at some point … No, intelligence is not a function of Mana, there is a correlation there, but you have to remember Mana can make everything “More”, and Intelligence is included in the “Everything” set.

  … How do they know? … They don't, no one knows to be honest … Disregard a bit what those entitled Masters and Wizards tell you, Mana is not totally understood, it reacts with Intent, Willpower is a Key component to controlling it, as is Understanding what you want to do with it, some materials deal with Mana the best, and some people are just instinctually better at it.

  There are only a handful of Cultivation Adepts that know anything about Biology or Medicine, yet they can still make their bodies stronger than Steel, so how do They know how ? …

  … The theory I ascribe to, is the Base Reality Theory, as in, there is a base state to the reality as a whole, Mana makes that malleable, makes so that Reality can sprout, for a lack of a better word, Branches with different rules that are also affected by said Mana … the application of it is, if you can understand the Real Base of what you want to do with Mana, the steps Mana itself needs to bypass are reduced, like a fireball for an exemple.

  If you understand what fire is, how fire starts and provide the components for it, the Mana and effort required to do a fireball is minimal, because the Mana is used only for the Necessary Steps.

  Visualization is a great tool for it, if you can visualize, Mana has a guide to what needs to be done and, for a lack of a better word, doesn't need to spend its own energy “Thinking” on how to do it.

  … there is a lot of theories about it and some more adventurous ‘Researchers’ are experimenting with making Demi-Planes with different rules to experiment, but that is a work in progress and we veered of topic by a lot, this was a class about Dragons and Caves, not Experimental Mana Theory.