Sleeping

"Because of me?"

Caesar shifted his gaze back, his pale yellow pupils studying the Forest Fairy on his shoulder. "What happened?"

Luna took a lick of the drink in her little bowl, suppressing her resentment toward humans. "You're pretending, right? Don't tell me you don't know that twenty orc warriors go out every day specifically to hunt Baismai Horned Bulls? There—the kind you love eating most."

"Those horned bulls may not be high-tier monsters, but they move in herds. Catching them is quite troublesome, almost as difficult as when you watched the orcs hunt savage beasts a while back. How about... we try it ourselves next time?"

After saying that, Luna stuck out her tongue, wanting another lick of her drink, only to find that the little cup in her hand was already empty. She could only flap her wings and return to the nest.

While Caesar was not paying attention, she secretly scooped a large bowlful from that enormous stone cup.

Hehe, what a profit...

"Is that so?"

Caesar did not notice Luna's little trick. He turned his gaze back toward the Stone Crow Clan's territory, watching the orcs trading with humans.

Previously, most of Caesar's attention had been focused on observing the orcs hunt savage beasts and asking the wizard Sifu about the principles of spells. He had been somewhat indifferent toward the rest of the orcs, and truly had not known that his appetite placed such a heavy burden on the tribe.

Though even if he had known, he probably would not have changed anything because of it.

After all, this was a clearly priced transaction. If the orcs wanted a true dragon's protection in the future, they had to invest enough resources now. Where else could they find such a good deal? This was not a fairy tale.

What truly surprised Caesar was that, despite the Stone Crow Clan already being this impoverished, they had remained silent and never brought it up to him, never trying to persuade him to curb his appetite or anything of the sort.

"Interesting... these guys."

Caesar stared at the green-skinned orcs of the Stone Crow Clan for a while. Only after the trade was over and the humans rode away did he turn and crawl back into the nest.

The childhoods of ordinary black dragons were mostly unremarkable. They basically spent them in slumber, and as one of Eladia's sleepiest species, that did not begin to change until their juvenile or even adolescent years.

By comparison, Caesar was far more active. He had undergone genetic modification and had no draconic inheritance to learn and digest, so he had not fallen into prolonged slumber for a very long time.

Yet in recent days, Caesar had realized that he was becoming increasingly prone to fatigue and irritability. From his body's various reactions, he soon understood that he was about to enter his third extended hibernation.

He became exceedingly lazy, unwilling even to leave the nest and inform the old wizard. After one lunch, he merely gave the orcs responsible for delivering food a heads-up, then dug out a huge boulder from the bottom of the cave and completely sealed the entrance, leaving only a tiny crack for the Forest Fairy to pass through before swiftly falling asleep.

Little Luna was quite dissatisfied with Caesar's hibernation. Although each dragon slumber might allow him to awaken perceptive abilities and bring her one step closer to regaining her freedom, Luna disliked the lifeless cave, her lonely circumstances—and the big idiot beside her, whose snores were like thunder—even more.

The nutrients Caesar had frantically stored up by eating during the previous period now proved most effective. During his slumber, the black dragon's body began another round of growth, gradually reaching nearly ten meters in length, while his wingspan expanded to an exaggerated nearly twenty meters.

At the ends of his fore and hind limbs, his claws became even harder and sharper. A turn in his sleep or an inadvertent movement could gouge furrows into the hard limestone floor. His head also began to grow somewhat larger, its proportions becoming more like those of a red dragon than a black dragon. The muscles in his cheeks became stronger and more developed, enhancing the force of his bite.

To protect from the outside the pouch in Caesar's neck that contained a special solution, his lower jaw also grew slightly larger. However, the change was not obvious, far from enough to be visible to the naked eye.

At the same time, the fangs at the front outer edges of Caesar's upper jaw became thicker, protruding beyond his mouth so clearly that they could be seen from outside even when his mouth was closed.

Inside his mouth, the pointed teeth of his upper and lower jaws became finer and shorter. Worth mentioning was that during this slumber, Caesar grew another ten pointed teeth with serrated edges, densely distributed around his mouth together with his other teeth.

Time flew by. During Caesar's slumber, Luna, who had signed a contract with him, almost never went outside except occasionally to gather that unnamed plant and boil it in water. She spent most of her time in the little house she had built, and when in a good mood, she would sometimes tidy up the nest.

"Do dragons sleep for so long every time? Don't they grow bugs and grass all over themselves?"

That day, Luna suddenly had a whim. She cautiously approached the black dragon before her, enormous from her perspective. She had to be careful, because Caesar's spines remained highly lethal even in slumber. Every time he twisted his neck or rolled over, Luna had to dart away at once.

—If that big fellow pinned her down, she would never be able to break free with her current strength.

When she drew close to inspect Caesar's body, a heavy stench immediately rushed into Luna's nostrils.

"Blech—"

The Forest Fairy gagged, complaining resentfully, "You stink..."

This black dragon's slumber had lasted long enough for dust and caked grime to accumulate all over him. Luna knew that this strange black dragon also disliked filth, so she tilted her head and thought for a while. In the end, she flapped her wings and carefully began cleaning him.

It took Luna a great deal of effort. A black dragon nearly ten meters long was no less than a colossal monster to a tiny Forest Fairy. Fortunately, she had nothing else to do. Looking at the scales polished bright and gleaming gave Luna quite a sense of accomplishment, so after every rest, the little fellow would still go back to work with a hearty heave-ho, as diligently as ever.

Caesar knew nothing of any of this. He slept soundly.

During Caesar's slumber, the battle between the green dragon and the human adventurers had turned into a war. After gaining the support of the Northern Kingdoms, the main force challenging the green dragon had shifted from adventurers to true royal legions. Meanwhile, in this war of attrition, the Emerald of the Green Capital gained widespread renown for its formidable strength and attracted the allegiance of many evil races, incorporating them into Green City's army. The two sides were evenly matched.

It seemed that this war would drag on for a long time, until one side was worn down alive.

After the sleeping black dragon awakened, his internal clock told him that an entire year had passed. It was still the dry season, and the air was unbearably hot.

When Caesar got up, he felt that the cave had become much smaller. But he quickly realized it was because his body had grown larger. The moment he woke, his stomach immediately cramped. He was ravenous and needed to find something to fill his belly, fast.

Caesar hurriedly crawled out of the nest.

The Stone Crow Clan at the foot of the mountain remained the same, carrying on in orderly routine. But when they discovered that the black dragon had awakened and grown even larger, the orc warriors realized that their hard days were about to come again.