Hearing Maria's words, Solam's heart went cold. An old dragon! This was simply not something Solam could handle right now.
A dragon's strength was closely, closely tied to its age.
Generally speaking, dragons between zero and twenty years old were considered wyrmlings. At this stage, dragons were very weak; practically anyone could easily kill them. However, wyrmlings were usually closely protected by their parents, so killing one at this stage was no different from dealing with one or two adult dragons. (Some dragons, usually metallic dragons, raised their young together as a male and female pair.)
From twenty to one hundred years old, they were young dragons and could not yet fly. At this point, they were as formidable as giant beasts, but they were still protected by adult dragons.
From one hundred to two hundred years old, they were juvenile dragons. Their wings and bodies had mostly developed, and they could already breathe dragon breath. They would also awaken some spell-like abilities, though that depended on their talent. Thus, dragons at this stage would leave the adults and live independently. Chromatic dragons usually drove them out of their territory at this point, or else killed them. Metallic dragons, on the other hand, allowed their children to remain in their territory and sometimes even offered help. Dragons at this stage were the easiest to kill, because their parents would not be around. However, they could already breathe dragon breath, possessed considerable melee abilities, could fly, and had spell-like abilities, so they were by no means easy to deal with. (About ten meters long.)
From two hundred to five hundred years old, dragons entered adulthood. They awakened more spell-like abilities, while their bodies became further matured and stronger, and both the number and power of their dragon-breath attacks increased. Although their