Spell Modification

Ignoring White Chubby as she rolled away, Chaos walked over to Agatha and lay down beside her.

He hooked his claws into the fish's head and applied a little force.

The fish split straight down the middle into two halves, its tender pink flesh irresistibly tempting to a dragon.

Fighting the temptation, he offered half of the fish to Agatha.

He could not see through Agatha's intentions, but one thing was certain: she would protect him. Of that, he was sure.

Agatha did not stand on ceremony when he offered her the fish. Dragon Jaws opened, and she caught a section of it in her mouth.

Chaos released his claws. For Agatha, half a fish was only a single mouthful.

He brought the fish in his own claws to Dragon Jaws as well, slurping it in bit by bit as though eating noodles.

Delicious, silky, and tender.

That was how the fish tasted.

"Chaos."

"Hmm?"

"How much longer do we have to wait before we can start hunting?"

Lying on the ground, he looked toward the pit ahead, which was now full of water.

With a thought, numerous underwater images appeared in his mind.

Underwater, quite a few small fish and shrimp, many over a meter long, had entered the pit and begun nibbling on the green plants.

There were some, but not enough yet.

"We need to wait a little longer."

"Oh, Agatha, when we start hunting Kashi, we'll need some physically strong hatchlings to guard the channel entrance. I'll leave that to you."

Chaos explained his idea to Agatha.

"All right, understood."

She braced her claws and raised her body.

"I'll go arrange it."

With that, Agatha started walking.

The channel entrance had been dug wide to let more Kashi into the pit. She certainly could not guard it alone.

Chaos stayed where he was, lying on the ground.

He quietly watched Agatha approach the Dragon Group of hatchlings resting ahead, huddled together in twos and threes.

In terms of strength, Agatha, that big little girl, was undoubtedly the best choice for a third ally.

Yet he had a feeling that she would definitely refuse if he invited Agatha.

Agatha seemed to have had no intention of teaming up with anyone from the very beginning.

[Rustle~]

Hearing the noise, Chaos turned his head and saw a round white dragon head edging up in front of him.

White Chubby was staring straight at him.

No, more precisely, White Chubby was staring at the half-eaten fish still sticking out of his mouth.

Her crystalline white slit pupils held nothing but longing.

Slurp~!

Under White Chubby's disappointed gaze, he quickly swallowed the rest of the fish in one gulp.

As if he would give her any.

White Chubby had eaten a third of his fish. Lord Chaos was already being kindhearted by not making her pay for it.

"Stop staring. Go catch your own in the pit later."

"Hmph-da, hmph-da~"

The round white dragon head sank to the ground.

Chaos could not understand this one's White Dragon Hatchling Speech, but he could hear the disappointment in White Chubby's tone.

He did not care whether White Chubby was disappointed.

Closing his eyes, he shifted his vision entirely to the three Perceptive Vines.

Three fields of vision appeared directly in his mind.

At the bottom of the pit.

Nearly transparent shrimp and fish around a meter long were freely nibbling on the green plants, enjoying this feast that good fortune had brought them.

One, two, three...

Only a few dozen. Far too few.

It seemed he would have to wait patiently a little longer.

[Splash~]

Under the emerald eyes' watchful gaze, a school of fish over a meter long swam past through the water above.

Time continued to pass like that.

He had no idea exactly how long it had been.

Schools of fish and swarms of shrimp had now gathered inside the pit.

Even the hatchlings on the riverbank could see them.

Quite a few hatchlings could no longer restrain their urge to hunt, their claws scraping restlessly at the dirt.

The largest Red Hatchling, a full size bigger than the others, pushed up to her feet.

Agatha walked to the front of the Dragon Group and lay down, facing the hatchlings directly.

In an instant, the restless Dragon Group fell quiet.

His heavy eyelids, covered in fine dragon scales, lifted. His pink eye membranes opened, and Chaos opened his eyes.

He glanced at Agatha a short distance away.

Nicely done, big little girl.

After silently praising her, he braced his claws, raised his body, and walked toward the channel.

White Chubby, who had been lying on the ground idly digging at the dirt, raised her big round head, now smeared with fresh soil, to look at Chaos.

After a moment's blank stare, she quickly got up and scampered after him.

He stopped in front of the channel.

He looked at the clear, tranquil water before him.

With a thought, an emerald casting ring unfolded before his head.

It was the casting ring for Perceptive Vines.

The emerald casting ring was covered in crooked Magic Runes. With just one glance, he automatically understood what the Magic Runes meant, as well as exactly where each one belonged.

It all came as naturally as instinct.

This time, he was not going to summon Perceptive Vines. He was going to modify the spell so it could serve a different purpose.

He raised his right claw and pressed its sharp tip against one of the Magic Runes on the casting ring.

With a gentle press of his claw, the Magic Rune dissolved into specks of emerald light and vanished into the air.

I don't need this one.

Or this one.

Or this one.

As he removed the Magic Runes one by one, empty spaces appeared all over the casting ring.

A round white dragon head leaned over, a pair of sparkling white slit pupils studying the casting ring curiously.

"Stay put."

He pushed White Chubby's head away.

"Hmph-da~"

After being pushed away, White Chubby obediently sat beside him and stopped bothering Chaos.

As he studied the casting ring before him, numerous arrangements of Magic Runes quickly surfaced in Chaos's mind.

As the arrangement of each Magic Rune fell into place.

Chaos slowly raised his right claw.

His claw, covered in Green Dragon scales, began tracing through the air.

His movements flowed smoothly, neither hurried nor slow, with an unruffled elegance.

Every sweep of his sharp claw tip left a trail of shimmering emerald light.

His moving claw paused, and an emerald Magic Rune had condensed in the air.

He gently tapped the Magic Rune with his claw tip.

The Magic Rune automatically sank into the casting ring, settling into its proper place.

His claw tip continued moving.

Emerald Magic Runes condensed in the air one after another, then were tapped into the casting ring.

Until the final Magic Rune settled into the casting ring.

The previously dull casting ring blazed with dazzling emerald light.

One ring became two, the twin casting rings overlapping.

Looking at the casting rings before him, Chaos happily spread his Dragon Jaws in a grin.

Done. Spell modification.

He had succeeded, too. Otherwise, instead of lighting up, the casting rings would have exploded outright.

Raising his right claw, he gently touched his sharp claw tip to the emerald casting ring.

Emerald light spilled onto the soil.

[Crack, crack, crack~!]

Distinct sounds of rapid growth rose from underground, and the soil began to writhe slightly.

[Rustle~!]

Several pitch-black vines burst from the earth. Each was roughly as thick as an adult's wrist, its length covered in dangerous-looking black thorns.