"As a strong one, how can you apologize to the weak?!"
"Fine! Fine!"
"Izo, we only said one thing about you, and now you want to kick us out?!"
Hearing Izo's words just now, Leodero was filled with confusion and noisy outrage.
Vivian was clearly a bit annoyed. She hadn't expected her eldest brother to be so cold and heartless. They hadn't even spent a full day together, yet just because she complained a little, he wanted to drive them away?
Clearly, neither of the two little ones had grasped the main point. Izo explained helplessly:
"I'm not trying to drive you away... I'm just trying to solve the problem of the noise."
"Even if you move to a different cave, you can still come over whenever you like."
"Also, the strong can apologize to the weak."
"Because I wanted to, so I did. It has nothing to do with being strong or weak."
After hearing Izo's explanation, Leodero fell into silence. He seemed to be thinking, or perhaps he already had his own answer.
Vivian, on the other hand, instantly changed her tune. She skipped over, grabbed Izo's arm, and smiled sweetly, looking just like a mischievous little cat:
"Ha~ I knew you were the best, Eldest Brother!"
"How could you have the heart to kick us out?"
"Stop fooling around. If you're sleepy, go to sleep."
"I still have other things to do."
Pulling his arm out of Vivian's embrace, Izo walked over to the mountain of accumulated ore and stone dust.
He slowly lowered his head and took a deep breath, like slurping noodles. A large quantity of ore dust turned into a silver line, and in no time, it all entered Izo's mouth.
Passing through his esophagus, the ore dust arrived at the furnace that represented his digestive system.
The furnace began operating at full capacity. The ordinary stone dust turned into faint energy, while the Silver Crystal contained within became the best nourishment for evolution.
Pain spread across Izo's body.
Crack, crack, crack.
The diamond structures on his claws, dragon horns, and wings began to proliferate at a speed visible to the naked eye!
Inwardly, they encroached upon more scales; outwardly, protrusions extended from his wrists, heels, tail tip, and wing joints.
From these proliferating areas, Izo could clearly feel the abnormality in his internal bones, as if a blade were trying to pierce through his dragon scales and burst out from his skin.
By now, his bones had likely completed full "diamondization." Otherwise, with a dragon hatchling's body, it would be impossible to support Izo's current strength.
To be honest, he wasn't quite sure whether the direction of this evolution was good or bad. According to his expectations, these protrusions should eventually turn into bone blades with a diamond-like structure, drastically enhancing his close-quarters combat capabilities.
Truly allowing him to turn his entire body into a weapon, armed to the teeth.
"Hmm... It stopped..."
"To evolve completely, I'll probably have to wait until my next deep slumber."
The changes within his body came to a complete halt; no matter how much more ore Izo devoured, there was no reaction whatsoever.
Watching Izo's transformation, Vivian's expression turned from initial surprise to absolute certainty.
"Izo, you aren't a variant dragon, are you?"
"I don't know. Maybe."
"You definitely are! Otherwise, why would you be so obsessed with getting stronger?"
"Ever since you were born, you've been doing these strange exercises every single day. No wonder Mother drove you out."
"In this world, weakness is the ultimate sin..."
"Huh? Are you going to start with your nonsensical theories again?"
"Come on, we're dragons."
"As long as we live long enough, we're bound to become strong enough. What's the rush?"
Izo opened his mouth to say something, but Vivian immediately cut him off:
"Forget it, I don't want to hear it. You're just the same as before."
"I'm going to sleep. Don't make any more noise, you two."
At this moment, Vivian had completely shed her mask of chunibyou. She didn't want to get into an argument with her eldest brother over something like this.
So, after saying her piece, she walked off toward the mouth of the cave on her own.
Off to the side, Leodero's eyes were shining brightly, as if he had grasped all the secrets behind Izo's power.
"Could it be! Could it be! This is the secret to your power!!"
"Training against the rock wall every day, and then devouring this special ore!!"
Without another word, he immediately flopped down next to Izo and began gulping down dirt and stone.
"Don't eat that, Leodero."
"You can't digest it."
Izo hurriedly warned him. The corrosion resistance and hardness of Silver Crystal were not something a dragon hatchling could digest directly; swallowing it recklessly would 100% lead to unpleasant consequences.
"Don't try to fool me, Izo!"
"Just you wait! Chomp... Sooner or later... chomp... I will surpass you!"
Leodero shouted while chewing vigorously, believing there wasn't a single grain of truth in anything Izo said.
He felt Izo was merely trying to stop him from becoming stronger.
Thinking this, Leodero ate with even greater vigor.
Even when Izo stepped forward to pull him off the pile of ore, he would immediately scramble back up, not even forgetting to grab two pieces of ore and stuff them into his mouth as he climbed.
"Sigh."
Izo let out a helpless sigh. Leodero's behavior reminded him of his past self.
In order to find a way to modify his scales, he had directly swallowed this silver-tinted ore back then.
This had left him severely constipated for a long time until finally, when he couldn't take it anymore, he expended immense effort to dig out the thing that had already been smelted into shape inside his belly.
Painful memories that had once grown slightly hazy became increasingly clear as Izo recalled them.
When that thing was pulled out, it was even tinged with faint traces of blood. Luckily, a dragon's physique was strong, so it didn't leave any lasting damage to his back door.
Later on, Izo swallowed many difficult-to-digest objects, gradually adapting step-by-step before he was finally able to digest this kind of ore.
In front of him, Leodero would most likely retrace his old steps, and even if he used the same method, he probably still wouldn't be able to digest these Silver Crystals.
Even if he did digest them, there was a high probability it wouldn't produce those diamond-like scales.
After all, not every dragon was named Izo, and not every dragon possessed the capability of Adaptive Evolution.
Most dragons actually thought similarly to Vivian: as long as they lived long enough, they would naturally become strong, so why bother putting in effort?
Only a very small minority of variants, or dragons that had experienced life and death and achieved great enlightenment, would strive to grow stronger.
As long as they didn't die young, without exception, every single one of them became an existence that echoed throughout the starry sky.
Watching Leodero's foolish yet right-headed behavior, Izo couldn't help but sigh emotionally in his heart:
"As expected, reasoning can never teach a dragon, but experience teaches a dragon in a single try."
"Good luck to you, my foolish brother."
Then, Izo turned and walked toward the cave entrance, preparing to study other, more important matters.
Deep within his soul: the Dragon Inheritance.
Rate on N.U.
