In the early spring of the second year, the chill of lingering winter gradually receded, and the ice and snow covering the treetops and shrubbery began to melt.
When Kael opened his eyes, the first breath of air he inhaled was moist.
It carried the scent of melting snow, the sweet earthiness of soil, and a faint hint of tender sprouts breaking through the dirt.
A thin layer of water droplets condensed on the stone walls at the mouth of the extinct volcano's cave. The morning sun of early spring shone obliquely inside, making the interior much brighter and warmer than before.
He had slept for five whole months, and his draconic heritage, which he had perused for a long time, told him that his slumber had ended.
The hunger surging from his empty stomach felt like a beast that had been caged for five months.
After sleeping to advance, dragons almost completely exhausted all the energy stored in their bodies, which was why the first thing they had to do before every slumber was to gorge themselves wildly.
Kael swallowed hard. Thanks to his rationality, he could now completely suppress the hunger radiating from his body.
Now was not the time to eat yet; he had to first figure out what changes this crucial slumber had brought him.
Kael shook the dust from his body and slowly stood up, feeling every part of his frame awaken and sensing the powerful surge of strength from all across his body.
He raised a foreclaw and flexed his claws toward the center several times as if crushing rock.
"Not bad, not bad! My physical strength has increased quite a bit again! Reaching Third-Tier really makes a difference!" Looking at his draconic body, which was another size larger than before his slumber, Kael marveled to himself.
Now his body length had reached six meters, with a wingspan of eight meters. Just entering the young dragon stage, he had already reached the physical limit of ordinary young dragons recorded in his heritage.
Kael took a deep breath, turned his palm upward, and tried to channel the power within his body.
Previously, his combat power mainly stemmed from his flesh, scales, and dragon breath. But this time, he sensed something different.
Right in the center of his chest, between his heart and lungs, there was something... and it was still beating.
Kael closed his eyes, following that feeling to sense deep inside his body.
In the darkness, an adult-fist-sized crystal hung quietly there, pulsing gently with every breath he took, just like a heart.
The crystal was a translucent purple, crystal-clear just like the purest amethyst in a jewelry shop from his past life.
Inside, extremely fine, flowing streams of elements revolved slowly, as if endowed with life.
With every turn, a wispy stream of warm magic flowed along it toward his limbs, every scale, every muscle, and that slumbering flame at his throat.
A magic core!
Kael opened his eyes, a flash of realization passing through his dragon pupils.
He recalled the Grey Wind Wolf at the edge of the forest from over a year ago, as well as the records in his draconic heritage: magic cores were only born within magical beasts that could use magic.
Back then, he had wondered when a core would form in his own chest so he could also use that miraculous magic. Now, his wish had come true.
Kael did not let excitement cloud his head. He continued searching, because his draconic heritage also recorded another magic organ that was equally miraculous and powerful: the dimensional storage stomach.
Found it. Deep inside his draconic belly, next to the main stomach he usually used to digest flesh and ore, a smaller pouch had formed.
Kael carefully sensed this newly appeared little organ. A layer of peculiar magic wrapped around it, connecting the magic to his draconic mouth.
Probing inside, there was already a stable small space within, roughly the size of a hundred-square-meter warehouse. Moreover, as he grew, this space would continually expand.
Kael tested it out by storing a pile of basalt gravel accumulated at the cave entrance into the stomach pouch.
All he needed to do was bring his dragon mouth close, open it slightly, and with a single thought, the gravel vanished out of thin air, placed into that small space inside his body.
With another thought, the gravel reappeared before his eyes.
Storing items was as natural as breathing.
It seemed that whenever he went on a long journey in the future, he would no longer have to worry about how to carry a mountain of items.
With both magic organs initially formed, next came the time to use his cheat code.
Kael had actually planned out his cheat selection for entering the young dragon stage long ago.
The young dragon stage was when dragons first made contact with magic. The massive amount of magical elements within the magic core had already laid a solid foundation for casting Draconic magic.
However, magic, spell formations, and other magic-related topics could all be considered deep, complex disciplines of science and humanities.
If he hadn't, like Nora, built up magic knowledge in advance and familiarized himself with spell incantations, even entering the young dragon stage would require a very long time of preparation.
In his past life, he had been a student for over a decade, memorizing books for over a decade, and even after entering the workforce, he still had to memorize rules, regulations, and revise plans.
Just thinking about it made Kael's scalp go numb.
Therefore, this time he chose to activate a cheat.
Before entering his slumber, Kael had already made up his mind.
This time, what he needed was a "magic" talent—just like those "transcendent humans" from his past life—that allowed photographic memory, instant comprehension with a single hint, and effortless application.
The moment the thought settled, a familiar coolness flooded from his mind. Just as before, it felt as though his very soul were being cleansed.
Kael opened his eyes and pulled up his information panel. A new entry had appeared under the Special Talent column:
Magic Comprehension: Comprehension and perception of magic far surpass common sense; spell learning speed and spell power are vastly increased.
"...It worked!" Kael's mouth parted into a grin, and he nearly laughed out loud.
He gave thanks to this starry sky for bestowing the talent.
To test its effectiveness, he immediately perused a simple spell recorded in his draconic heritage: Spark, cantrip, unranked.
In the past, he would have had to memorize the incantation word by word and understand the principles over and over.
Now, however, after merely scanning it twice, those runes and their functions were as clear as if they were engraved into his brain.
He raised a dragon claw and silently recited the incantation. Magic channeled the elemental energy within his body to gush forth at the tip of his claw.
"Pfft."
A small orange-red flame began dancing at his claw tip.
Kael stared at the flame, its dancing light reflected in his dragon pupils.
He extended his other claw, lightly nudged the flame, and circled around it; the flame was as tame as a domesticated beast cub.
He blew out the flame and proceeded to try Breeze and Water Sphere; both were executed with effortless agility.
"This talent is strong enough!" Kael closed his claw, and the water sphere fell to the ground with a splash.
"Where are those two little fellows?" Kael had already noticed upon waking that the cave was empty.
"Could it be they've learned to go to sleep early and wake up early?"
He could believe that of Nora, but Carlos? Forget about it.
"Better go outside for a stroll first, take a look at this forest in spring, and then head to the river for a good meal to reward my body." With that, he unfurled his wings and took off, flying toward the small river by the bushland.
Kael flew high in the sky, feeling the warm sun of early spring.
He swept a quick glance over the bushland and finally located the two little fellows.
Carlos was hunting boars on the eastern side of the bushland, while Nora was walking along the small river toward the edge of the bushland.
"Hey, Nora. Out for a walk this early?" Kael had already flown above the river.
"Hm? Kael! You woke up!" Startled at having her name called, Nora turned to look up with pleasant surprise at her dragon brother, who was flying in midair with magic flowing through his dragon wings and body.
"Is today the day Grok reports information?" Kael landed on the ground, remembering the instructions he gave before falling into slumber.
"Mm, yes."
...
During this period, Grok had continued as usual, coming to the riverbank every ten days to report information to the two wyrmlings.
At first, the dialogue between the two wyrmlings and the goblin could only be conducted through hand gestures or drawing pictures on the muddy ground with sticks to convey their meaning.
Later, Nora picked up some simple Continental Common Tongue on her own from her draconic heritage and could already communicate with Grok, so she took on this task all by herself.
Rate on N.U.
