“So he was just asleep.”
“To not even awaken when spells are cast on him, he must have fallen into draconic slumber.”
“Yet, that's not right either...”
...
A flurry of questions surfaced in Elise's mind once more. She jotted down each abnormal circumstance, set up a formation to isolate probing and conceal his presence, and only then sat back down before her writing desk.
“It seems long-term observation will be necessary. For now, I should consider the matter regarding the Viscount's family first.”
...
Two months ago, rumors had spread among adventurers that traces of dragon activity were found in the Blackthorn Forest.
Most people treated it as nothing more than a joke.
For drunk adventurers in taverns to boast about slaying dragons and rescuing elven princesses was the most normal thing in the world; drunken babble had long since become the hallmark of bottom-rung adventurers.
Viscount Cullen, however, held a different view.
A while back, a shipment belonging to his family had been hijacked. The cargo crates contained flame iron ore, whose smelted product, flame iron, was a prime material for forging enchanted equipment. Among the goods was also a high-tier magic material smuggled from a neighboring country's black market: a blazing crystal.
Yet the merchant caravan responsible for transport had been slaughtered to the last person overnight. It had even included an elite escort from his family that he had sent just in case—all of them solidly grounded Fifth-Tier practitioners.
Astonishingly, they had possessed no power to fight back, unable to send out even a distress message in time.
The following day, after failing to receive the scheduled update from the caravan's mage, Viscount Cullen knew something had gone wrong.
When he sent men to investigate, the caravan's temporary campsite had already been burned to cinders by raging fire, the culprit leaving behind not a single trace.
Viscount Cullen had not publicized the incident, quietly investigating it in secret until he heard the rumors that a dragon might reside in the Blackthorn Forest.
Operating on the mindset of giving it a shot just in case, he dispatched an old ranger from his family who had seen battlefield action to scout the Blackthorn Forest.
The veteran ranger had once fought against monsters alongside the royal army on the Kingdom's northern border, which had included a newly established blue dragon family. For that campaign, the scouting unit's captain had specifically taught techniques on how to identify traces left by dragonkind.
A few days later.
The old ranger reported back: a red dragon indeed inhabited the Blackthorn Forest, and judging by the size of the traces left behind, it was a red dragon that had just entered the young dragon stage.
After Viscount Cullen personally went to confirm it, he formed his own ambition.
To hunt down this young red dragon.
In Viscount Cullen's understanding, dragonkind was no longer as formidable as in ancient times; their race had long since declined. Even a young red dragon would possess High-Tier strength at most.
To this end, he leveraged his family's connections and spent a fortune to hire a squad from the Kingdom's north with experience in slaying dragons: the Desert Hunters.
The party consisted of five members: the captain, an Eighth-Tier swordsman, while the remaining members were all Seventh-Tier practitioners—a heavy-armor shield warrior, an elven archer, a mage, and a priest. A standard five-person party, they possessed a track record of twice successfully hunting down young chromatic dragons.
After calculating their combat strength, Viscount Cullen still felt it was not safe enough. He went on to invite the Greystone City Adventurers' Guild Guildmaster, as well as the witch temporarily residing in the south of the city.
Tallying it up, adding himself as a Seventh-Tier knight, they would have the combat power of eight High-Tier practitioners. The Viscount believed that dealing with a red dragon that had just entered the young dragon stage—at most Seventh-Tier—would be more than enough.
Following careful planning and calculation, a scheme to lure and kill the beast was established.
He publicly announced an initiative to expand territory, putting up new commissions one after another on the Adventurers' Guild's quest board, disguised as routine tasks to cull magical beasts in the Blackthorn Forest and scout monster distributions.
To conceal subsequent advances, he even personally posted commissions to scout the activity zones of High-Tier magical beasts deep in the forest.
Batch after batch of oblivious adventurers entered the Blackthorn Forest for bounties, hunting down monsters within. And all of this was encroaching upon the red dragon's territory, plundering its food, and slaughtering its vassals.
If it did not retaliate against even this, then what lived in the Blackthorn Forest would not be a red dragon.
At the same time, he invited the witch to set up an anti-flight formation within the city.
Once the red dragon flew in, the formation could seal off the airspace, stripping the dragon of its aerial advantage and preventing it from taking to the skies to flee. Forced to land, it would fall into their encirclement.
The plan was set, and the hunting party had already arrived; all that remained was to await the opportune moment.
...
The turmoil of the outside world had nothing to do with Kael, who had slipped into deep slumber.
After drifting into dreamland, streams of information once again flooded into his mind, yet this time felt entirely different from before.
Kael curled up like a cat, his draconic neck tucked toward his chest, his dragon wings covering the soft parts of his belly, and his tail draped over his wings.
Starlight from outside the window cascaded over the red dragon, the glow shining brighter than anywhere else. His scales gradually gleamed with light, reflecting the stars above.
As if some form of energy had reached a critical threshold, with a clear chime, a peculiar stream of information poured into Kael's mind:
Race: Red Dragon
Tier: Unranked
Growth Stage: Wyrmling
Special Talent: Rapid Growth (Possesses digestive speed far surpassing ordinary dragons, faster growth rate, and can gain greater benefits from food.)
Passive: Blessing of the Starry Sky (Grants an initial talent; upon each tier advancement, grants the special talent you desire most.)
(Apologies, soul from another world, for dragging you into the destiny of this world. Hopefully, this provides you with some small measure of assistance. Look toward the stars often; there are many little surprises waiting. Wishing you a pleasant journey!)
“Is this my golden finger? Not bad at all.”
After absorbing the information, excitement took over Kael's mind. With a cheat of his own, he at least wouldn't repeat the tragic fates of those predecessors in the draconic heritage.
Thinking of this, a sweet, maidenly smiling face with soft, long grayish-white hair suddenly surfaced in his mind... Kael did not dwell on it further, instead continuing to absorb knowledge from the draconic heritage.
Knowledge changes destiny; Kael chose to believe in that once more.
Outside, watching the changes on the red wyrmling, Elise could no longer conceal the curiosity in her eyes as she noted it all down:
The stars in the sky seem to favor this little fellow exceptionally.
Starlight has begun to gradually converge toward its wings. Could there be an unexpected effect? Remains to be observed.
...
In the blink of an eye, the sun and the stars had rotated five times.
Above the Blackthorn Forest, a fiery-red figure shot like an arrow toward the towering mountain peak deep within the woods.
Halfway up the precipice lay a naturally formed karst cave. Its mouth was broad and its interior cavernous—a fine nesting haven for a dragon.
Naturally, it was also the lair of the red dragon that had just folded her wings and landed at the cave entrance.
Seria Elmi Favos.
A mother who had just entered the young dragon stage and borne offspring with a male red dragon she had met for the first time. Sixteen meters in length, she had not reached the standard body length of a young red dragon, yet her rank had already reached Eighth-Tier, superior to the vast majority of red dragons that had newly entered the young stage.
Three days ago, while Seria was hunting far from the dragon lair, a faint prickle of magical stinging suddenly passed into her perception along a contractual bond. The alarm spell she had set upon the crystal in her lair had been tripped.
Seria's massive crimson dragon wings hesitated slightly in midair, her draconic pupils sinking.
Yet she did not turn back. Her valuables were stored in the inner cave, protected by a sophisticated illusory defense formation and additional alarm spells.
When no further movement came after some time, she continued hunting the magical beast before her.
A lava troll, a magical beast rumored to feed on dragons. Its magic core was rich in fire elements—the very nourishment she urgently needed for her slumber and advancement.
After two days of fierce struggle, she slew the troll, sliced open its flesh, extracted the magic core, and swallowed it whole. Without pausing to digest it, she took flight toward the dragon lair.
A magic core was a magical organ formed within magical beasts amidst dense mana. Containing vast amounts of magical elements, it could serve as an energy source for various magic formations, and naturally, aid magical beasts in advancing in tier.
Upon returning to the lair, the boulder blocking the outermost treasure cave had been shoved aside. The crystals and gold coins usually stored within had vanished without a trace. Furthermore, the dragon egg placed in the karst cave's central hall was gone as well.
Rate on N.U.
