Levi could feel the temperature of the eggshell enveloping the fragile silver dragon's body stabilize. He could even feel her sorrow as she cried out towards the receding, distant starry sky.
The egg fell for an unknown amount of time. Just as it was about to smash into pieces, the silver halo around it reappeared.
In an instant, the dragon egg seemed to lose all its mass, floating down like a feather and landing near the smoking crater of a volcano.
It was only then that a new set of words seemed to pop into Levi's mind:
[Astral Protection from Mother Tolistana]:Sylvie, my child, may the stars illuminate your path, may the earth bless your steps. May you never lose your way, and no matter how far you roam, may you always find the way home… (I, Sylvie Morningstar Tolistana, will never die from a leap of faith!)
"???"
Levi was speechless at the note Sylvie had clearly added to the blessing herself. Seriously? You just left home and you're already getting this cocky? Where did all that deep-seated grief go? Did getting licked by that indescribable horror flip a switch in your brain and turn you into a chaotic idiot?
Of course, Sylvie, in her own time and space, couldn't hear Levi's commentary. Having survived the ordeal, she immediately discarded all negative thoughts. After scanning her surroundings to confirm there were no immediate threats, she devoured her own eggshell in a few bites, not leaving a single scrap behind. In the process, she ended up eating quite a few rock fragments from the ground…
She was clearly resentful about losing that piece of shell back in the astral sea. This was a feeling Levi, who had also lost a piece of his own shell, deeply sympathized with!
"Ah! You damned kobolds! Just wait until I wake up and get a full meal. I'll stew all of you in a hot pot!!!"
The inheritance dream continued. After finishing her eggshell, Sylvie was even hungrier. She first swept through all the visible scorpions, centipedes, and other insects. Then, she flopped down on the volcanic ash, wrinkled her nose, and sniffed the air. A grin spread across her face as she muttered something and began digging a hole with her two delicate front claws, like a dog.
Fat, white volcanic worms were constantly unearthed. The famished Sylvie wasn't picky. She ate every one she caught, their juices splattering as she chewed, completely devoid of the dignity of a noble silver dragon.
A starving dragon can't be picky.
This was the greatest danger of being without a parent to feed you. In a perilous environment, a newborn wyrmling was only the size of a dog, its combat prowess possibly even less than that of a hyena.
Yet, the amount of food they needed to eat daily just for normal development was several times their own body mass. Food was digested within ten minutes of entering their stomachs, making survival an extremely heavy burden.
As an observer, Levi felt a sense of relief. It seemed this silver dragon ancestor's situation wasn't much better than his own. He diligently memorized all her methods for finding food along the way.
If she could survive, then she's the best survival guide! After I wake up, these precious lessons from my ancestor will be my key to surviving in this new world!
Just as Levi was hoping to learn more survival skills, a savage and ancient roar echoed from the distant sky.
"ROOOOAR!!!"
The terrifying dragon roar instantly swept across the entire volcanic mountain range. A palpable, terrifying pressure descended from the heavens!
Levi could feel Sylvie's body go rigid. Her once-lively eyes were instantly filled with a numb despair.
Following Sylvie's gaze to the horizon, a colossal red creature was steadily beating its wings, which had a wingspan of over thirty meters. It flew towards the volcano—its nest—with an air of absolute authority.
A Red Dragon!
The most powerful of the chromatic dragons!
An adult Red Dragon!
If one were to use the narrow classification of human levels, this was a massive dragon of at least level 18, one foot already across the threshold of legendary status.
If she wished it, turning a bustling town into a sea of fire was little more than a casual excursion.
In her mouth, she carried a Manticore, long since dead. This ferocious magical beast, a deadly foe in the eyes of human adventurers, was no different from a cat in her jaws!
It was a meal for her soon-to-hatch children.
Although most mothers of the chromatic dragon lineage were notoriously irresponsible—many even ate their own eggs due to prenatal depression or after being abandoned by a callous mate—Glietania, the [Scarlet Matriarch], was an exception.
In a way, Glietania was an oddity among the promiscuous chromatic dragons. Exceptionally talented and famous from a young age, she was extremely picky about her mates, making her a well-known old maid in dragon circles.
Dragon society was a typically matriarchal one. Unlike humanoid societies where males usually pursued females, among dragons, it was generally the powerful female dragons who took the initiative to court males.
It wasn't uncommon for them to simply force themselves upon a male with potential but less strength, which was a major reason why many "tool" dragons became "heartless" mates, especially among the evil dragons.
According to a certain human author's Draconic Observation Diary, it was this pathological courtship dynamic in dragon society that, to some extent, led male dragons to seek out other species to vent their desires.
Coupled with the fact that a dragon's genetic material was extremely aggressive, rendering the reproductive isolation mechanisms of most creatures ineffective, this led to the birth of a wide variety of unheard-of draconic creatures throughout the world of Corell.
In a sense, dragons did an excellent job of helping the Creator continue its work of creating all things…
And this was Glietania's first clutch of eggs, sired by an old red dragon she had reluctantly settled for.
Although the much stronger old red dragon had, unsurprisingly, left without a trace after the deed was done, Glietania decided to raise a clutch of whelps for fun. If she got bored, she could always just kick them out later.
Levi could feel Sylvie's absolute despair. The power difference was not on the same plane of existence!
If she were discovered, she wouldn't even be able to kill herself, let alone escape.
A good-aligned female silver dragon falling into the hands of a naturally evil red dragon… Levi couldn't imagine the number of twisted games that would be played.
He pitied Sylvie, imagining her likely fate. The most probable outcome was being kept as a pet and slave. And if the red dragon had her own clutch of whelps… the scene… tsk tsk, the future would be too grim to describe…
Sylvie could naturally imagine the consequences that Levi was thinking of.
But this wyrmling didn't choose to sit and wait for death. As if making a decision in a split second, she wrinkled her nostrils, searching for a scent. Her silver form leaped through the barren volcanic landscape like an agile cat, racing against death itself!
"What is she looking for? Did she find a way to escape?"
As the adult red dragon drew closer, Sylvie pushed her meager stamina to its absolute limit! Finally, as she reached the edge of the volcanic crater's cliff, her view opened up!
Her head darted back and forth several times before her gaze locked onto something diagonally below!
A red dragon's nest, built inside the crater!
Inside, there lay three deep-red eggs covered in black spots!
"Damn! Is she planning to use the eggs as hostages? No, that's not right! How could a red dragon be threatened by a few worthless eggs? A metallic dragon, maybe, but a red one?"
Levi was shocked by Sylvie's insane actions. He realized that even now, he still couldn't fathom the thought process of this nearly crazed silver dragon.
Without a moment's hesitation after spotting the nest, Sylvie took another leap of faith!
Even though she couldn't fly yet, the astral protection from her mother activated again. Sylvie floated down like a feather, landing lightly in the scorching hot red dragon nest. She folded her wings slightly, and then, under Levi's confused gaze, she coiled her body and gently tapped each of the three eggs with her claws.
The first two sounded crisp, as if they were partially empty inside. But when she tapped the third one, the sound was dull.
Sylvie let out a sigh of relief.
It was a dead egg.
A common occurrence. Usually, the mother dragon would swallow it to be "reforged in the womb"...
Even more common were Dragon Beasts, whelps that failed to awaken their True Name. They were typically driven out by their mothers to fend for themselves in the wilderness.
In recent times, however, many adventurers had learned of this and would lie in wait nearby to pick them up. A newborn Dragon Beast could often fetch a sky-high price at auction, without the risk of retaliation from an evil dragon—assuming, of course, they could escape the dragon's territory alive with it.
However, Sylvie's next move left Levi utterly dumbfounded.
Sylvie gently chipped off a piece of the dead egg's shell with her claw. Then, she pierced the milky-white membrane with her head and drank the semi-coagulated egg yolk inside in one go!
Fighting the urge to burp, she quickly picked up the piece of shell she had removed. She then curled her entire body, which had shrunk considerably from the exertion, into the now-empty red dragon egg. She carefully placed the shell fragment, which was just the right size for her head, back over the opening and licked it a few times from the inside.
From the outside, it merely looked as if the eggshell had a few cracks…
At the same time, though Levi couldn't see it, he could feel a rapid change occurring in Sylvie's body!
Outside, not long after Sylvie had finished, the mother red dragon, Glietania, returned to her nest with her prey, riding a gust of wind. She performed her routine check of the three eggs, her gaze lingering for a moment on the slightly cracked one. Then, she turned her head aside, narrowed her eyes, and began to doze, quietly awaiting the birth of her first clutch.
An unknown amount of time passed. The leftmost egg began to shake slowly. With the sound of cracking shell, a round head popped out. It wasn't Sylvie, but a newborn red dragon!
The mother red dragon opened her eyes, which looked like molten abyssal lava, and glanced at her first child with interest, her expression gradually turning serious.
Perhaps frightened of its mother, the red dragon whelp seemed to remember something and let out a powerful roar: "Soren'grel Glietania Yormungand-da!"
A Dragon's True Name.
Glietania nodded with satisfaction. Her child had not disappointed her.
At the same time, the second egg also hatched, but this one was noticeably weaker. Glietania waited patiently for a full three breaths, but the whelp could only let out meaningless hisses.
The mother red dragon's eyes narrowed. The next moment, she casually picked up the Dragon Beast that had failed to awaken its True Name and tossed it into the churning lava below the nest. With a gloop, it vanished without a sound.
Her firstborn, Soren, was clearly terrified by his mother's brutal act. His previously ravenous appetite for the Manticore was momentarily suppressed.
As the mother dragon's unkind gaze turned to the third and smallest egg, just as her limited patience was about to run out…
The last wyrmling pushed open its shell. It feigned a dazed look at the behemoth before it, then let out a roar:
"Sylvie C.C. Glietania Yormungand-da!"
The mother red dragon stared at Sylvie for a long time. Finally, a strange, meaningful smile spread across her lips. She then averted her still-cold gaze, as if she hadn't noticed at all that her third egg had been swapped.
Sylvie immediately began to devour the eggshell beneath her. As her perspective shifted, the already-numb Levi finally saw that the scales on her body had, at some point, turned red!
Not just the scales! Her facial structure, even her powerful hind legs, were identical to a red dragon's!
After finishing the shell, Sylvie lifted her head. A playful smile, identical to her mother's, spread across her lips. The sight sent a cold sweat down Levi's back and shocked him awake from the dream!
A piece of information lingered in his mind:
[Silver Dragon Sylvie's Talent]: True Polymorph!
(Available Forms: Red Dragon / ∞)
(There's nothing I, Sylvie, can't become, as long as I've eaten it!)
After witnessing the entirety of this master's insane maneuver, Levi's mind was left with only one thought: Holy. Fucking. Shit.