Chaos Phobetor Amoros

Thick and reeking.

That was all he could smell.

His eyelids were heavy, too. He could not open them.

His mind was groggy, as if he were drunk, and painfully sluggish.

I remember drinking with a client yesterday.

Did I get so drunk that I passed out?

No, I can't afford to lose this client, too...

I...

The moment he opened his mouth, slippery liquid flooded in.

Startled, he hurriedly shut it.

Wait, this taste...

It doesn't stink. It's even a little sweet.

It smells foul, but tastes sweet?

A warm current was clearly coursing through his body.

His limp body began to regain a little strength.

So what exactly is going on?

Everything he could sense around him was still and silent.

He tried to open his eyes, but could not. He could not feel his hands or feet, either.

Strange images sprang unbidden into his mind.

Bonds, restraints, liquid-filled tanks holding people like something out of a science fiction film.

No, don't panic. Stay calm. I need to stay calm. This isn't the time to be afraid. Fear and panic won't help me.

My body seemed to gain some strength after I accidentally swallowed that liquid.

If drinking it helps me recover...

Drink! Get my strength back first!

His thoughts gradually cleared.

Open my mouth!

The same sweet liquid slipped smoothly into his mouth.

Though he had no idea what was happening, one thing was certain: he was submerged in some kind of liquid.

And there was plenty of it.

He kept drinking until his stomach was full.

So sleepy...

His head grew heavy and dull. He wanted to sleep.

No, I can't sleep yet...

His fierce will to survive failed to overcome the overwhelming drowsiness. In the end, he gradually drifted off.

A dream.

A very, very long dream.

In the dream, he became an enormous Green Dragon covered in emerald-green scales.

The dragon stood upright upon the earth.

His head hung low.

His powerful yet lean body was long and covered in emerald-green scales as smooth as gemstones. His belly was large, covered with thick, white, elongated scales that looked considerably sturdier than those elsewhere.

The dragon stood upon the earth, elegant and majestic.

[Chaos Phobetor Amoros]

A voice seemed to speak that name inside his mind.

Directly before him stood a solid gold hourglass.

It was huge, at least larger than he was now.

Chaos lowered his head and looked at the claw he had raised.

Emerald-green scales covered the powerful limb, though they looked a little smaller than those on his body.

His sharp talons curved slightly, like hooks.

He studied his raised claw.

Thanks to the true dragon inheritance unique to the Giant Dragon Species, he had just come to understand his situation.

So I've been reborn as a green dragon?

This...

This is just...

Fantastic!

No more working nine to nine, six days a week, getting up before the roosters and going to bed later than the dogs!

Once his excitement passed, Chaos quickly reined in his emotions and calmed down.

Celebrating before the game was over was a cardinal mistake.

It was time to assess his situation.

Right now, he was still just a dragon egg.

His true name had already awakened, too.

He was definitely a true dragon, so he did not have to worry about his mother killing him.

All he needed to do now was sleep and grow, then hatch when the time was right.

As for the solid gold hourglass before him...

There was no record of it in the true dragon inheritance he had received.

So he had no idea what it was. Based on his years of reading novels, it was probably some kind of cheat. As for what it did...

He had no idea about that, either.

He raised his head and looked at the solid gold hourglass. Golden sand kept falling from its upper half, which looked about half empty already.

[Perhaps something will happen once the sand runs out.]

A vague intuition rose within him, powerfully insistent.

Then he would wait until the golden sand ran out and see.

Chaos looked away and scanned his surroundings. This was a pure white space, with nothing in it besides him and the enormous golden hourglass before him.

So what was a true dragon in the making like him supposed to do?

An answer soon came.

A familiar wave of overwhelming exhaustion washed over him.

It felt just like staying up all night slogging through a manuscript until the next morning, desperately needing a pillow and a soft bed.

Without resisting, Chaos let the drowsiness carry him into sleep.

His thoughts sank into oblivion.

Inside the hollow eggshell, a plump little emerald-green hatchling lay curled into a ball.

His heavy eyelids, covered in fine emerald scales, quivered and began to rise. A pink membrane beneath them opened, revealing deep emerald-green slit-pupiled eyes, the golden slits within slowly coming into focus.

Looking at the wall before him, suffused with a faint emerald glow, Chaos slowly gathered his thoughts.

A wall?

No, this isn't a wall. It's my eggshell.

He reached out and placed a claw against the shell.

The hatchling's claw was rather rounded, covered in emerald-green scales, with jet-black hooked talons and sharp tips.

Looking at his outstretched claw, Chaos smiled.

His Dragon Jaws parted slightly, revealing two rows of pearly white, rounded, pointed dragon teeth.

Thankfully, none of this had been a dream. He truly had gone from an ordinary corporate drone to a dragon, a creature at the pinnacle of life.

So from today onward, I'm Chaos, an elegant and majestic green dragon, no longer a human.

My past? There's nothing to miss.

He had been alone all his life, unlike those novel protagonists with so many attachments they could not let go of.

He raised his head and saw a semicircular magic ring shining with a faint emerald glow.

[Dragon egg weak point: To protect their eggs, female dragons infuse them with large quantities of magic during gestation. This magic gathers and takes shape around the hatchling, forming a hard shell. The shell has no external weak points. An emerald magic ring forms only at the top of its interior. This is the dragon egg's sole weak point.]

The information surfaced automatically in his mind. This was the true dragon inheritance at work, automatically providing information about things a hatchling encountered for the first time.

This was also why dragons were so powerful. Adult dragons analyzed the things they encountered and recorded them in the inheritance.

After countless ages of accumulation, it was fair to say that every true dragon now came with an encyclopedia from birth.

One with automatic identification and information retrieval, at that.

This was why the Giant Dragon Species stood at the pinnacle.

And yes, he was just such a powerful dragon. He stood upright inside the shell and planted his chubby claws on his hips.

After basking in his pride for a while, he lowered his claws.

He looked up at the egg's weak point overhead. Time to get down to business.

He raised a claw, gathered his strength, and aimed at the top of the shell.

It was time for him to hatch.

The golden slits in his emerald eyes narrowed slightly.

He gathered all his strength.

Then drove his claw forward.

Raaagh!

That hurts!

No, that's so hard!

The little hatchling inside the shell shook his right claw while hopping in circles.

After hopping around for quite a while, Chaos finally slowed to a stop once his claw no longer hurt so much.

He held his still-trembling right claw in his left.

Looking at it, he saw that its deformity was no longer so obvious.

Though it still stung a little, his claw had indeed recovered. At the same time, hunger stirred in his stomach.

It seemed to have consumed some nutrients to heal.

So this is what being a member of the Giant Dragon Species means?

Once again, Chaos gained a clearer understanding of his own bloodline.

This powerful ability to heal alone was already far beyond the reach of other races.

No wonder dragons were always arrogant in those fantasy stories.

With advantages like these, it would be hard not to be arrogant.

His claw had recovered, and he looked up at the egg's weak point with conflicted feelings.

According to the inheritance, a mother dragon would usually prepare prey and wait outside for her hatchlings to emerge.

He raised his head toward the weak point overhead, an invisible flame of determination blazing in his emerald eyes.

For food!

Compared with before, the supposed weak point overhead now bore a very obvious web of cracks, covering roughly a third of it.

His emerald eyes narrowed slightly. In other words, he needed another two full-strength blows to hatch.

And his claws would have to break twice more.

He was a green hatchling, so his mother was surely a female green dragon, too.

Compared with other dragons, Chromatic Dragons were outright thugs who followed their every desire.

Greedy, violent, evil, cold-blooded...

Forget expecting a chromatic mother dragon like that to help her hatchling break out.

If he found a mother willing to raise him past his juvenile years, he ought to thank his lucky stars. Even bowing down before that Chromatic Dragon mother would not be excessive.

He certainly could not count on his mother. If he wanted to hatch, he had to rely entirely on himself.

He stood up.

He extended both foreclaws and lowered his head to look at the two chubby limbs.

Left or right?

Left, then. Keep things fair.

Gather strength! Strike!

"Raaagh!"

With that cry, the web of cracks at the egg's weak point spread to cover two-thirds of it.

(〃＞皿＜)!

That hurts!

Agonizing pain shot through his claw once again.

He did not need to look to know it was broken again.

Anger surged within him.

Damn it, break already!

In his fury, he gathered all his strength into his right claw and slammed it forward again, striking the weak point at the top of the egg dead on.

[Crack!]

A faint, crisp sound rang out.

Like shattered glass, the shell overhead broke apart completely and fell inward.

Chaos raised his draconic head. His twisted, drooping claws had yet to recover, so he could not climb out of the eggshell right away.

Curious about the world outside, he strained to straighten his neck and peer beyond the shell.

Everything outside was pitch-black.

No, my vision seems to be clearing little by little.

It was like a camera gradually coming into focus.

Not seems-it is!

The next moment, the darkness broke.

The stalactites at the top of the cave came clearly into view.

So clearly that he could make out even the fine textures on their surfaces.

A cave? That fits the criteria for a home that Chromatic Dragons choose, according to the inheritance.

Just then, the true dragon inheritance supplied another piece of information.

[There are many hospitable neighbors across the planes. Not only will they bring dragons treasure, but they will also "kindly" provide them with a palace and a royal capital to live in. These helpful neighbors vary; they might be Elves, humans, or other intelligent species such as Goblins.

Young dragons tend to be rather "shy." Aside from greeting intelligent creatures who happen to pass by, they rarely go out. These "shy" youngsters live in caves. Fortunately, this shyness fades with time. Once they are old enough, they generally learn from their elders and find some helpful neighbors to "borrow" a palace from.]

After reading this information, Chaos understood.

His dragon mother lived in a cave, so she was still in her "shy" phase.

He plopped down and sat idly in the eggshell for a while, until his broken claws no longer seemed to hurt quite so much.

He raised both claws and tentatively began moving them.

His draconic claws nimbly clenched into fists, then opened again.

Still hurts a little.

Probably about eighty percent healed.

But that's enough.

He stood and looked up at the opening above him, anticipation stirring within him.

I wonder what this unfamiliar world of magic looks like outside right now. Towering forests reaching into the clouds? Endless grasslands? Or perhaps...

With that anticipation, he gathered a little strength in his hind legs and pushed off, hooking both claws directly over the rim of the shell.

His big, round head slowly squeezed through the broken opening at the top.

Before he could take in his surroundings inside the cave, an urge to let something out surged into his throat.

It felt as though something was blocking it.

He did not suppress it. His Dragon Jaws opened.

"Chaos. Phobetor. Amoros!"

The young dragon's childish yet cold roar echoed clearly through the cave.