The vast grasslands stretched as far as the eye could see, with tall wild grass concealing lurking beasts beneath.
Strong and powerful front paws crouched low, with muscles arching on the back, poised to spring forward toward the prey.
Not far away, a group of herbivorous giant antelopes were scattered, grazing freely. These antelopes were large, robust, and plump.
With long spiral-patterned horns, they were the most populous herbivores on this grassland.
When these antelopes fed, they would encircle the weak young in the group, with the mother antelopes spreading out around them to graze.
The strongest rams in the herd would be positioned on the periphery, grazing while occasionally lifting their heads to chew and look around, unaware of the impending danger.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, causing the wild grass to ripple like water, revealing the beast.
The vigilant male giant antelope snorted, stamped its hooves, and began to run, triggering the herd to scatter and flee instantly.
The grayish-yellow beast let out a low growl, its powerful hind legs pushing off as it sprang from the grass, pouncing ferociously toward the prey.
Generally, predators prefer to hunt the old, the young, the weak, or the sick in a herd, as they run slower and are easier to catch.
The resistance offered by these is less than that from the strong members of the herd, reducing the risk of the predator getting injured.
In the wild, injury could mean the possibility of death.
However, this grayish-yellow beast focused on the strongest and plumpest giant antelope in the group.
Its body, spanning seven meters, indicated it was beginning to surpass the limits of its species, entering the ranks of ferocious beasts.
In its eyes was not only the wildness of a beast and the cruelty of a predator, but also the glimmer of wisdom.
With a powerful body and strength, an animal's instinct, and gradually burgeoning intelligence, it had become the most powerful predator in this area, the Fierce Saber-Lion.
The Fierce Saber-Lion locked its gaze on the giant antelope running ahead, which stood two meters at the shoulders.
Its sharp horns were straight, with long and sturdy legs running like the wind.
This was one of the fastest-running animals on the grassland, yet, in front of the Fierce Saber-Lion, which to humans would be considered a behemoth, the giant antelope was merely a plaything fleeing for its life.
The giant antelope zigzagged ahead but could never shake off the predator trailing behind.
The rapid running caused the giant antelope to start losing stamina, while the beast remained at ease, the distance between them shortening.
Several times, the Fierce Saber-Lion's claws almost toppled the giant antelope, but merely grazed its rump, leaving dozens of deep claw marks.
This was the predator's sinister pleasure, a powerful being toying with the weaker.
Finally, the strong giant antelope's forelegs gave way, collapsing to the ground, its momentum causing it to slide several meters before stopping.
The Fierce Saber-Lion arrogantly circled the helplessly struggling giant antelope on the ground, pondering where to sink its teeth first, whether it be the sweet innards or the chewy spine.
Suddenly, a shadow rapidly expanded in the sky, with rushing winds surpassing its full sprint speed.
It lifted its head warily, letting out a howl and breaking into a life-saving sprint, faster than before, showing its true full strength.
Yet it had only covered a few dozen meters when a pair of giant claws descended from the sky, piercing through its body, gripping its spine, lifting it into the air, and beginning to ascend.
It howled miserably, its desperate struggles akin to a puppet under the hands of a giant.
It was the top predator in this area, yet it faced the apex predator of the biological food chain.
Also, one of the powerful creatures of the Icaria World, most closest to perfection, the Giant Dragon.
Thus, it too became prey, struggling helplessly.
At the junction between the vast grasslands and the boundless Giant Wood Forest lay a range of mountains, not high.
The highest peaks reached about a thousand meters, serving as the watershed between the grassland and the forest.
Within this mountain range stood a towering peak, once an active volcano.
But now it lay dormant for unknown hundreds or thousands of years, a dead volcano.
The volcanic eruptions of the past left behind volcanic ash, rich in organic matter, which now turned into fertile soil, making the dense forest at the foot of the mountains exceptionally tall.
The originally wide crater at the summit was covered with hard volcanic rock, now half excavated to form a dome-like cave.
Half of the cave was bathed in sunlight, the other half shrouded in shadows.
The sunlit part of the cave was clear and bright, with uneven ground covered by a thick layer of wild grass, scattered with several large eggs of various colors.
Under the sunlight, they shimmered in different hues, dark red, deep green, gray-black, deep blue, and luminous white.
Light played across the giant eggs, brightening and dimming, as if the eggs were breathing.
Gao Xian felt himself constantly sinking into that hazy and profound dream, surrounded by darkness.
His consciousness spiraled into the vortex of the dream, descending deeper and deeper.
His awareness fluctuated between clarity and dormancy, as countless jumbled and illogical pieces of information flowed through his mind.
Occasionally, he would recall his name, his identity, his family, everything about himself.
But soon it was drowned in the vast stream of information, and then the fantasy covered its memory, transforming it into another creature with a different name, speaking another language.
The darkness gradually made him irritable, his consciousness aimless, yet gradually firm under the rush of information.
Until one day he felt his body, and driven by impatience and anger, he smashed the darkness with his own body, bang, once, twice, thrice.
Crack, a crack appeared on the dark red giant egg.
Before it started spreading, a second crack appeared, with more and more seams accompanied by the intense sound of cracking.
In the dimly lit cave, a massive creature was awakened by the sound, opening its huge eyes.
Bright eyes seemed like concentrated sunlight, looking at the dark red giant egg emitting sound.
The giant egg was covered in cracks and finally couldn't hold and shattered.
A juvenile dragon, spreading its limbs, opened its big eyes to see it, seemingly startled, suddenly hiccuped.
A thin smoke mixed with sparks ventured out from the little cub's nostrils and mouth, then the cub lifted its head, roared loudly, uttering its first dragon language in this world.
Karon Gogomola, this is the hatchling's name in this world.
Although his true name is much longer, he evidently does not enjoy announcing a menu.
The newborn cub is as big as a newborn foal, covered in tiny and fragmented red scales all over its body, but its claws on limbs are still soft.
Even the horns on its head, like two bumps, are soft, the nose's bone is soft too, the wings droop, not yet able to support and spread.
After about a dozen minutes, the cub's claws and scales will begin to harden, and so will the double horns on its head and the small horns on its nose.
In a few days, the scales will start thickening, claws and double horns will become real tools of attack.
What the newborn cub needs most right now is nourishment, eating till its belly is full.
To gain enough nutrition and energy to activate its body and grow organs that are not yet fully developed, and quickly adapt to its body.
But Karon doesn't dare move, the dragon race's innate supernatural vision allows him to clearly see the powerful creature within the shadow-covered cave.
Just the hideous and fierce head is bigger than him, it didn't seem like he'd even make a filling snack for the other.
A sharp, rough, large horn grows diagonally upward from the nose, with a mouth full of sharp teeth.
A pair of massive ears sporadically flapping, the tough blue scales wrapped around soft yet resilient body.
The robust front body blocks the rear, revealing only a tail that continuously swings, clearly this is a Blue Dragon.
And himself, Karon gaped, looking at the dense and bright red scales on his forelegs, combining the information in his mind, he actually is a dragon too, but how did he become a dragon?
Yet, beneath the temporarily chaotic mind, a thought surfaced subconsciously, luckily not the weakest of the Five-Color Dragons, the White Dragon.
Lucky my ass, the other is a Blue Dragon, a Giant Dragon of a different kind, the situation is evidently unfavorable.
Though he didn't sense any malice from the other, there was even a familiar feeling of kinship.
However, Five-Color Dragons are born as Evil Dragons, without understanding the other's intentions, the innate threat felt by the weak towards the strong constantly lingered in the mind.
So he must ascertain the other's attitude, even though his belly already growled constantly from hunger.
The giant dragon in the cave finally stepped out, revealing a strong and graceful body.
The fourteen-meter-long body shows it's at least a young dragon, maybe even a youth dragon.
If not for the fierce dragon head and the bone protuberances on the tail, the soft and resilient body would look like a flying magical big cat.
Its eyes also like a cat's, light blue, with a vertical yellow pupil at the center.
Like a cat indifferently scrutinizing the tiny one ahead, who seemed a bit different from the naturally impulsive, arrogant, reckless dragons.
Gradually cold eyes transformed into proud ones, the Blue Dragon lowered its high-held head, and the breath between its nostrils made Little Karon feel unstable.
"Oh, how healthy, strong yet cautious and timid little cub, you needn't fear me," the Blue Dragon opened its mouth, gentle dragon language accompanied by a subtle electric arc flashed across its open maw,
"You are the cub I hatched, you should naturally see me as your mother, I will nurture you until you can be independent, fulfilling a mother's responsibility."
The little hatchling looked quizzically at the enormous head ahead, the awakened consciousness searched all the dictionaries of the Red Dragon heritage, none contained the word responsibility.
This Blue Dragon, it's a peculiar Five-Color Dragon, maybe a rare good dragon, Karon pondered.
Yet without the worldly knowledge of this life, Karon didn't know, as the rare Evil Dragon that likes forming packs, Blue Dragons sometimes pick up and hatch eggs abandoned by other Giant Dragons of different species, then nurture these hatchlings until they become a firm strength in the family.
"And in return, you should hunt for me, become the strongest shield and sharpest weapon in my hand, conquer territories for me, find treasures for me, your powerful beloved are also my beloved."
The Blue Dragon's huge eyes stared at the little one before it, awaiting his response.
"Alright, I have overestimated the integrity of the Five-Color Dragons, turns out there's this whole ulterior motive here waiting for me," Little Karon seemed to see a streetlamp rise behind the Blue Dragon, then the problem arose, how tall must a streetlamp be to hang a Giant Dragon?
This damned Blue Dragon, imagines having me work for her all life long, used to work, now arrived here became a dragon still needs to work, isn't my coming here in vain?
Moreover, she even wants me to proclaim and establish myself as a fighter for her in the future, even a double-flowered red stick still accounts for something, hmph, though she isn't ugly, well, considering Little Karon's dragon beauty standards now, the Blue Dragon not only isn't ugly, she's rather fine, still thinking too nice.
Damn it, just wait, when I grow, things will change. Little Karon turned many thoughts in his mind, though unwilling to be a working dragon, evidently now he doesn't have the ability to refuse, hence obediently lowered his noble head, muttering in dragon language: "Yes, mother."