The Wheel

"Damn thief, sooner or later you'll pay dearly for this!"

Mental Power Essence Fragment +1.

Mental Power Essence Fragment +1.

"I'll break your bones with my own hands and rip every scale off your body!"

Mental Power Essence Fragment +1.

Mental Power Essence Fragment +1.

Several small lines of pale blue text flashed before Sol's eyes, but he had no time to pay them any attention. The two furious wyrmlings had let out shrill, resounding roars and were charging straight at him.

Faced with their assault, he showed no fear either. He kicked off the ground with his short limbs and rushed to meet them.

Although newly hatched wyrmlings possessed the inheritance of dragons, that vast mass of information would take a long time to be gradually released.

On top of that, their breath organs had yet to fully develop, and their mana was also very thin, so their fight was no different from a clash between wild beasts.

At a moment like this, Sol's advantage from being born almost an hour earlier became apparent.

Moreover, he had eaten enough eggshell to fully activate his muscles, and his scales and claws had begun to harden.

All told, that gave him greater strength, tougher defenses, and sharper claws and teeth.

The three red dragon hatchlings rolled and wrestled together like angry wildcats.

At first, the other two could still work together against Sol, but the flaws in their personalities soon changed the nature of the fight entirely. Once they got carried away, they paid no attention to whether they might hurt each other.

Tiny red scales flew everywhere, mixed with blood, and clouds of dust rose into the air. Before long, all three wyrmlings were covered in grime.

Fortunately, their claws and teeth had not fully developed, and true dragons had naturally tough bodies. So despite how fierce the fight looked, none of them were in any immediate danger of dying.

Chilier, who had left the nest earlier, had crawled back at some point.

She watched the three hatchlings fighting, her glowing charcoal-red pupils contracting sharply as she let out a low roar.

Rolling waves of sound swept over them like a gale, and the three wyrmlings abruptly froze.

Their instincts screamed: If we don't stop now, danger will strike immediately.

Red dragons had no regard for family ties to begin with. Or rather, most chromatic dragons had little to speak of.

Chilier didn't care at all if her hatchlings fought each other, and it wouldn't matter even if one or two died. But she would never tolerate the little ones making a racket in front of her and disturbing her rest.

Sol glanced at his younger brother and sister, who stood there dumbfounded. He rolled away and quickly darted out, picked up the largest piece of eggshell on the ground in his mouth, and hid in the shadows in a corner of the cave.

The other two wyrmlings came to their senses, anger flaring in their hearts once more. But under their dragon mother's watchful gaze, neither dared make a rash move.

They exchanged wary glances and began quickly gnawing on the eggshells left on the ground.

Even without Sol, they were rivals. Since they couldn't fight now, they could only do their utmost to eat faster and more than the other.

Only after every last eggshell fragment on the ground had been eaten, and even the dust coated with eggshell crumbs had been licked clean, did the two wyrmlings each find a corner and curl up in it.

True dragons had extraordinarily powerful digestive systems. The eggshell fragments soon turned into an abundance of energy and nutrients, continuously stimulating their physical development and gradually sending the three red dragon hatchlings to sleep.

In their sleep, a great deal of information began to emerge. During this process, the inheritance unique to true dragons would give them a basic understanding of the world, teach them to master various common languages, and familiarize them with the various common races...

Sol felt as though he had a dream in which he was still human.

That day, he had taken advantage of a break at work to pull out his phone and slack off, as he often did. Soon, a post about pitting beasts against each other caught his eye.

The post discussed which was stronger: the dragons of DnD or the dragons in the world of Monster Hunter.

There were hundreds of replies below, with netizens of all kinds arguing endlessly.

As a veteran "keyboard warrior," he naturally had to share his thoughts.

"DnD has the higher ceiling, while Monster Hunter has stronger average stats. Of course, you have to consider everything together..."

The dream came to an abrupt end there, then dissolved into an empty white light.

The bodies of the three sleeping wyrmlings gradually grew larger.

The bones inside their previously limp wings began to develop, raising the wings upright. Their scales grew darker, and two small bumps rose on top of each of their heads.

Their once-bright scales gradually took on a gray hue and began to fall away one by one, starting at the top of their heads and revealing tougher new scales beneath.

Normally, the nutrients and energy contained in one true dragon eggshell were just enough to meet a wyrmling's needs during its first sleep.

Because Sol had eaten until he was somewhat stuffed, he was developing extremely quickly and had grown noticeably sturdier.

His two siblings were not so lucky. Without enough nourishment, they wouldn't starve to death in their sleep, but some less important organs couldn't fully develop. As a result, their bones grew while their muscles couldn't keep up, leaving them nothing but skin and bones, their features somewhat distorted.

Their sleep didn't last very long. About fifteen days later, Sol woke up.

But before he opened his eyes, a blue screen appeared in his dark field of vision, displaying some basic information.

Name: Suo'er Heliozuoge Aisemoge...

Race: Red dragon

Age category: Wyrmling

Challenge rating: 3

Talent template: None

At the bottom of the screen was a huge wheel, made up of seven nested rings. Each ring was divided by lines into different sections, with the number of sections increasing toward the outside.

Below the wheel were the words "Mental Power Essence," followed by a quantity of 0.17.

When Sol focused his attention, he discovered that he could use Mental Power Essence to draw from the huge wheel.

The countless tiny sections packed into the outermost ring represented various miscellaneous items from the world of Monster Hunter, including but not limited to wild fruit, ores, dirt, and materials dropped by monsters... Each draw cost one point of Mental Power Essence.

The ring one level inward had noticeably fewer sections, corresponding to various weak endemic creatures. A draw cost ten points.

Further inward were, in order, low-tier ecological niches, mid-tier ecological niches, high-tier ecological niches, elder dragons, and forbidden monsters. The Mental Power Essence required for each draw also increased tenfold with each level.

*Where did this thing come from? Whatever, as long as it works. With just a million Mental Power Essence, I can become a forbidden monster comparable to a god. That really gets a dragon's blood pumping.

But where am I supposed to get this Mental Power Essence?

Sol's intuition told him it probably wasn't that simple.

When his attention moved down to the "Mental Power Essence" field, a detailed description appeared, just as he had expected.

Every living creature possessed mental power. The greater its intelligence and strength, the stronger its mental power, and intense emotions were the outward manifestation of that power.

As long as a creature felt strong emotions toward Sol, whether anger, hatred, love, or admiration, he could obtain Mental Power Essence.

Wasn't this the same as gods absorbing faith?

At that thought, Sol opened his eyes, and two gaunt, ferocious dragon faces immediately appeared in his field of vision.

"Kalpu! Xisitana! What are you two sneaking around for?!!"