Agatha! Agatha, get out here! I wanna challenge you!

Heavy eyelids slowly lifted, and pink membranes opened to reveal a pair of emerald vertical pupils. The diffuse golden slits within them tightened slightly.

Staring at the cave wall before him, Chaos fell into a daze.

Was that illusion just a dream? Or some kind of premonition?

For some reason, Chaos leaned more toward the latter.

[Grumble~]

A faint sound rang out.

It was especially noticeable in the silent cavern: a protest from his stomach.

He pushed his draconic body up from the ground, raised his right claw, and rubbed his belly.

Having just woken from his slumber, he was starving.

The hollow hunger inside kept reminding him that it was time to eat.

Normally, a dragon mother would have prepared a second meal for her hatchlings by now.

Unfortunately, his situation was anything but normal, because there was no way a dragon mother would be here.

He turned his head and scanned his surroundings.

Not a single dragon egg remained in the cave. In their place, chromatic hatchlings of various colors lay asleep on the ground.

That hatching rate...

Every egg had hatched. Not one dead egg, not one dragon beast.

With such high quality and such a high hatching rate...

Abandoned?

He could rule that out immediately.

Then the second possibility: had some crystal dragon stolen these eggs and brought them here?

He could rule that out too.

Where would anyone find a crystal dragon that bold, stealing enough eggs in one go to form a small flight of chromatic dragons?

Besides, crystal dragons ranked near the bottom in strength among dragon species.

His mind continued racing.

There was another point: the absurd fact that every egg in their clutch had hatched into a true dragon already proved something.

None of them had weak bloodlines.

So... some powerful chromatic dragon must have deliberately put me and this whole clutch here.

It might even have been done at the behest of the Chromatic Dragon Mother, the dragon god.

Otherwise, a clutch containing all five colors, hatching straight into a small flight of dragons, was no less ridiculous than some nobody walking out the door and suddenly becoming the richest man's son.

Why would the Chromatic Dragon Mother do this?

Seeds!

A thought sprang into his mind.

Their group of dragons had become seeds for the future. For now, that was the only explanation that made sense.

[Grumble~]

His stomach protested again, this time accompanied by a cramping pain.

His thoughts were interrupted once more.

He glanced down at his restless stomach, then calmly lowered his head, opened his jaws, and scraped a mouthful of dirt off the ground with his sharp dragon teeth.

A groove appeared in the relatively flat, dry earth beneath him.

[Chew (￣~￣) chew!]

Hmm, this dirt tastes awful. Metallic and bitter.

His throat worked twice.

With something filling it, his constantly protesting stomach finally settled down.

Having placated his stomach, he stayed where he was.

There was no hurry to get up.

First, he wanted to check what he had gained from his slumber.

He looked at his raised claw.

Its scales had clearly deepened in color, and they looked somewhat thicker as well.

A small stream had appeared within his consciousness.

That was his total mana.

Quite a lot.

This was probably the advantage his bloodline gave him, but it was not the advantage he wanted.

He continued checking the changes in his body.

There had not been much change. He was simply less rounded than when he first hatched, with a more sharply defined shape.

His body was slender, and his head had become more tapered and oval.

He raised his right claw and struck a bodybuilding pose.

Unfortunately, none of the muscle definition he wanted appeared on it.

The flesh remained smoothly rounded, without the slightest contour.

Disappointment showed in Chaos's eyes.

He felt that, as a dragon, he ought to fight up close.

There was romance in every punch hitting flesh.

But now, his talents seemed to be leaning distinctly toward spellcasting...

Hopefully, I'll awaken a talent that boosts my body.

He pinned his last hopes on his talents.

His heavy eyelids closed, and as he focused on sensing them, unfamiliar words appeared directly in his mind.

[Magic Tide: Your mana will continue to increase over time.]

[Dominion: Your inherited bloodline makes you a born master of magic. Commanding the elements is your very nature. Every element will submit to you...]

Still not what I wanted...

And whoever wrote this inheritance definitely had delusions of grandeur.

His gaze skimmed through it quickly, finding a concise summary at the end.

[Absolute elemental affinity, spellcasting costs reduced by twenty percent (increases with age), Multiple Synthesis: you innately know how to combine multiple identical spells to increase their power. Currently, you can combine two into one (increases with age). Elemental Dominion: you can command wind, lightning, fire, water, earth, light, darkness, space, and life. All nine elements are yours to wield (when studying your inheritance, we recommend starting with life. It is the foundational element of our bloodline, and also our greatest strength.)

Elemental erosion: your bloodline's excessive dependence on the elements leaves your body innately frail.]

After reading his talents, Chaos curled his lip.

Not bad. They're powerful, but they're not what I wanted.

Especially that last one.

Forget it. Let's see whether I've awakened any spells. A buff spell for fighting up close would be a decent option too.

Spell talents.

[Venomous Thread: Control emerald threads with venomous properties. Their venomous properties derive from mana.]

Chaos tried to sense further down, only to discover that he had already reached the end.

Huh? That's it?

Just one venom spell from the life branch?

Fine. I'll take it.

With a weary thought, he accepted it, and a vast torrent of information instantly flooded his mind.

It was intense, like turning a page every half second. Yet somehow, in that half second, he could read, firmly memorize, and understand everything on both sides of each page!

His heavy eyelids slowly lifted.

He opened his eyes once more to the familiar cavern before him.

I really did learn a lot.

He raised his right claw, palm up. Tiny emerald lights appeared above it and gathered in the air, soon forming an emerald thread.

Looking at the thread above his claw, Chaos willed it to move.

[Star]

The thread quickly formed a five-pointed star.

[Dog]

[Piglet]

[Agatha]

After playing for a while, the novelty faded, and he waved his claw.

The emerald thread dissipated into the air.

No more playing. If I keep this up, my stomach will start protesting again.

That mouthful of dirt had not been enough to fill him up.

At most, it had placated his stomach for a moment. He could feel it getting ready to growl again.

He raised his head and looked at the passage before him.

It was the cavern's only passage.

He would have to go outside.

As he stared into the pitch-black passage, that dream-or illusion-came back to him.

In an instant, the passage before him seemed to turn dark and terrifying.

Hmm. Better wait and go with those other hatchlings after all.

He looked away from the passage's exit and back into the cavern.

Given a second life, and as a dragon-one of the beings at the very top, no less-he naturally had to be cautious.

After all, he only had to reach adulthood to become invincible.

"Agatha! Agatha, get out here! I wanna challenge you!"

Just then, a young, shrill roar suddenly echoed through the cavern.

It sounded a little familiar.

The green hatchling whose egg he had stolen immediately sprang to mind.

His jaws parted in a grin. This could be entertaining.

Judging by that confident roar, the hatchling must have awakened a pretty good talent.