"It is my honor to be remembered by a dragon as elegant and powerful as Lady Barbara."
Xiluo, the blue dragon hatchling who had just climbed the tree, curled his lips into a gentle smile and spoke respectfully.
Up close, the contrast between the little hatchling's body and the Young Green Dragon's was like that between a house cat and a tiger.
"What did you come to see me for?"
Barbara looked at the little blue dragon. They were all dragons, yet this fellow seemed rather different from the other fools.
He never went out of his way to provoke other dragons, and even when he fought, he knew when to stop. Lately, because of Allen, he had often advised the other dragons as well.
He was a very sensible, well-behaved fellow.
Barbara reserved a rare look of kindness for children like him.
"Are you troubled by how combative we are, Lady Barbara?" Xiluo asked softly.
"If the other dragons were as clever and sensible as you, I wouldn't have so many worries," Barbara said with a sigh.
That was what a good child was like. He could understand her troubles at a glance.
Why couldn't those fools down below see them? Why couldn't they learn from Xiluo?
"I want to help you, Lady Barbara. Your time shouldn't all be wasted on our meaningless fights."
"Oh?"
Barbara gave Xiluo a somewhat surprised glance.
"Help me? Interesting... Tell me what you have in mind."
The Young Green Dragon was clearly pleased, but she did not take it very seriously.
She knew the nature of chromatic dragons well. Even though she constantly punished those who broke the rules, the Dragon Mother's restriction against harming them meant she simply could not bring these nasty little brats under control.
Even a Young Dragon as wise and elegant as her had no solution. A hatchling? Hah...
Still, this child meant well, and Barbara felt a little comforted.
"Lady Barbara, fights between the five kinds of chromatic dragons are merely a way to display our strength and vent excess energy. As long as we let them display their strength in other ways and vent that excess energy, naturally, we won't need to worry about them continuing to fight."
"Hmm?"
Barbara paused at his words and looked at the hatchling in surprise. She actually felt that he had something of a point.
"But how will you ensure both of those things without letting the hatchlings hurt one another? Proving your strength requires fighting! And fighting inevitably leads to injuries..."
"No, no, no... Lady Barbara, competition can actually take many forms.
"Direct combat can be considered a martial contest. Though it is the most straightforward way to display one's strength, the process is too dangerous to be suitable for hatchlings.
"In my view, there is another approach called a noncombat contest, which is clearly more suitable."
"What is a noncombat contest?" Barbara asked curiously.
"What determines victory is nothing more than our strength, speed, Breath Weapon, and mastery of spells.
"Since that's the case, why don't we display those things in a different way?
"That is what a noncombat contest is.
"We can simply arrange for the hatchlings to compete by displaying their pure strength, speed, Breath Weapon, and the power and number of their spells.
"This could be something as simple as arm wrestling, or it could..."
Xiluo spoke at length. Barbara went from dismissive at first to slowly sitting upright, until finally her eyes shone as she stared fixedly at him.
Once Xiluo had finished speaking, Barbara could not help lightly clapping her foreclaws together, producing a series of sounds.
"Well said! Xiluo Utrasis! You really are different from those fools! This is a good method!
"With four contests, whoever has the best overall score will naturally be the strongest! Following that principle, all the dragons can easily be ranked.
"Even if some dragons refuse to accept it, as long as we guide them properly and have them work to improve their scores, they'll burn off that excess energy! Excellent! Excellent! You're very good!"
Barbara looked invigorated and praised Xiluo repeatedly.
Xiluo merely smiled.
After quite a while, once Barbara's excitement had passed and she had calmed down, she looked Xiluo up and down for a time before speaking.
"You've done me quite a favor! Tell me, what reward would you like? Other than gold coins and gems, I'll give you anything I can!"
"I would like to study spells under you, Lady Barbara." Xiluo did not beat around the bush and spoke directly.
"Study spells? You went through a slumber once before. What spell did you awaken?"
"Cleanse..." Xiluo replied, the skin on his young draconic face twitching slightly.
"Cleanse? How laughable..." The corners of Barbara's mouth twitched. She wanted to laugh, but worried about upsetting this clever little dragon, so she held it in and said:
"Although, as a dragon, every slumber you undergo from now on will unlock some of your Dragon Inheritance, granting you memories and some spells.
"But it seems you can't wait any longer.
"That's fine too. I can teach you spells, but judging by the value of the advice you've offered this time, it's only worth one fourth-tier spell or two spells below the fourth tier.
"You can think carefully about what you need."
Only that much? What a stingy female dragon.
Xiluo inwardly grumbled about the Young Green Dragon, but his draconic face remained composed as he spoke:
"Thank you for your generosity, Lady Barbara.
"As for spells, I would like [Rock and Earth Armor] and [Electric Discharge]."
"[Rock and Earth Armor] is a third-tier Earth Element defensive spell.
"It can cover your Dragon Body in a layer of earth. Combined with our own scales, it's quite decent.
"Although [Electric Discharge] is only a second-tier spell, with the enhancement from your lightning affinity as a blue dragon, it can also paralyze enemies in close combat.
"But if you use both at once, the earthen layer of [Rock and Earth Armor] will weaken the effects of [Electric Discharge]. Are you sure you want these two spells?" Barbara was somewhat surprised by Xiluo's choices, but still explained them to him patiently.
"Of course," Xiluo confirmed.
"In that case, listen carefully..." Barbara nodded. Without saying anything further, she began slowly explaining the secrets of the two spells to Xiluo.
Xiluo listened quietly.
Unlike spells awakened through one's bloodline and inherited through it.
Learning spells on one's own was extremely difficult. Ordinary humans were simply not qualified to study them, nor could they master them!
In Xiluo's view, the difficulty almost rivaled getting into prestigious universities under Projects 985 and 211.
Fortunately, as naturally magical creatures with brains more developed than those of humans, dragons could learn these extremely difficult spells with relative ease.
Xiluo remained by Barbara's side.
The other hatchlings beneath the tree had long since noticed his unusual behavior.
Alicia and her follower, the little black dragon Martha, watched the Dragon Shadow on the distant giant tree from afar.
"That Xiluo has actually stayed alone with Lady Barbara for so long! Is he trying to copy those lizardfolk and kiss her draconic backside? What a disgusting fellow!
"He should know his place! Green Forest belongs to green dragons! It belongs to you, Alicia!"
Martha, the black dragon hatchling, growled angrily.
(End of chapter)
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