Beautiful dreams are always fleeting.
After a day, Xia'er awoke from slumber, feeling refreshed and invigorated.
Newly hatched wyrmlings cannot control their need to sleep.
But as they grow, dragons can freely choose when to enter slumber, preventing others from calculating the timing and taking advantage of their vulnerability.
Upon waking, Xia'er quickly remembered the game interface from before falling asleep and immediately called out softly in his heart, "That thing... Evolution Game?"
Following Xia'er's call, three task panels appeared before him in the next second, simple and direct.
【Slaughter Task: Hunt 10 creatures with a challenge rating of 3 or higher.】
【Domination Task: Acquire a subordinate race with a population of no less than one thousand.】
【Evolution Task: Reach personal level 10.】
【Slaughter, Domination, and Evolution tasks correspond to three independent paths. It is recommended to specialize in one, prioritizing leveling up.】
"Slaughter, Domination, Evolution?"
Xia'er fell into contemplation. Although he didn't know what the rewards were, based on his past gaming experience, they shouldn't be bad. At the very least, they might give some experience points or something.
However...
Recommended to specialize in one?
I want them all!
Xia'er was filled with ambition. Just then, a whistling sound of something cutting through the air came from the distance. Xia'er stole a glance and saw a blue dragon, a full twelve to thirteen meters long, holding a wild boar in its jaws, flying swiftly towards the highland where Xia'er currently was.
Seeing this, Xia'er immediately closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
Blue dragons are fond of living in groups, gathering in flocks. And blue dragon flocks don't consist solely of blue dragons; they include other varieties of Chromatic Dragons as well.
The reason for this is...
Blue dragons like to pick up children from outside.
He might have some connection with this blue dragon, but just to be safe, he'd pretend to sleep first.
Better than risking the other being a racially discriminatory dragon within the blue dragon community.
...
Valentina Underwood.
A young adult dragon from the Underwood Dynasty of the Blue Dragon Empire.
A year ago, the Underwood Dynasty, which once possessed over a hundred young adult and adult dragons, and even three mature adult dragons, was destroyed. The imperial dragon descendants fled in all directions. As an intelligent blue dragon, Valentina, before leaving, swept up the dozen or so dragon eggs she was responsible for guarding and escaped to this highland named 'Karugu'.
Valentina was an ambitious young female dragon. She took so many dragon eggs with the hope that one day, in this remote backwater, she could restore the Underwood Dynasty and become a Blue Dragon Empress.
But only after finding a home and starting to put things into practice did Valentina realize she had been somewhat naive.
Simply put—
Little dragon lady Valentina's empress dream wasn't going ideally, though she had managed to find a territory and tame a kobold tribe. They were just pathetically weak; even daily hunting required the Dragon Empress to do it herself...
"Damn it, why haven't the dragon eggs hatched yet? Was I this difficult to hatch when I was born?"
Holding a large wild boar in her jaws, Valentina thought gloomily to herself. According to her plan, by this time, she should have been leading her underlings to conquer the 'Karugu' Highlands, completely incorporating this place into her domain. How did it end up like this?
"Sigh."
Valentina let out a long sigh.
Endure it. One day, all the dragon eggs she brought out will hatch into true dragons. Then, the illustrious Dragon Empress of the Underwood Dynasty will reign supreme, plunder the world's gold coins, wake up every day lying on a pile of gold coins, and after waking, enjoy delicious prey without needing to hunt. Every race in Karugu will chant the mighty name of Empress Valentina!
Imagining this beautiful future life, Valentina spread her wings and slowly descended to the nesting site she had chosen.
The moment she landed, Valentina exclaimed in surprise, "Huh?"
A dragon! Egg!
It hatched!
Valentina felt her eyes grow slightly moist. As the saying goes, the starlight does not disappoint the traveling dragon. Finally... the bitterness ends, and sweetness arrives!
Dragon eggs have an incubation period of about two years.
Counting on her claws, it was about time for new dragons to be born.
Still, the birth of the first wyrmling was enough to excite Valentina, this young adult dragon.
Ambition was burning fiercely within her!
The first step of the True Dragon Dynasty begins with hatching eggs!
Only...
Valentina looked at the wyrmling curled up with its head tucked in and tail unconsciously coiled, her gaze lingering on the emerald green scales for a moment before a hint of disappointment surfaced.
"A Green Dragon..."
It wasn't that Valentina discriminated against Green Dragons. After all, in the big blue dragon family, whether blue dragons, red dragons, green dragons, or black dragons, they were all one whole, a loving family. Except for white dragons, blue dragons wouldn't casually discriminate against their own kind. As for green dragons... well, uh...
Alright.
It is discrimination!
Green Dragons? What tier are they!
Bullying the weak, fearing the strong, greedy and cunning, always hiding behind the scenes doing despicable deeds, not a shred of the majesty of us true dragons!
Of course, Valentina didn't think much of the other dragon types either.
Red Dragons?
Pure brutes! So what if they're powerful? How can they compare to the noble blue dragons, living in groups, carefree and content!
Black Dragons?
Hot-tempered, going back on their word! Eating rotting corpses every day, disgusting!
As for blue dragons, now that's different!
They are lively and clever, witty and brave! Living together in highlands or deserts, they can unleash thunderous breath, using family as a bond to establish one vast true dragon empire after another, something red dragons, green dragons, and black dragons cannot compare to!
Naturally, Valentina wanted a fellow dragon of the same blue dragon kind.
As for white dragons?
Nothing.
In Valentina's worldview, red dragons, green dragons, and black dragons were still considered kin. White dragons were just some dragon-shaped beasts. If they had a bit of intelligence, they could be used as gatekeepers, managing those subordinate races below.
"Forget it, a Green Dragon it is."
Valentina could only silently comfort herself, "At least Green Dragons also have a strong territorial sense and imitate us noble blue dragons by nesting and living. There's also a large Green Dragon dynasty in the southern continent. Perhaps it will become the Dragon Empress's right-hand man, the future Hand of the Empress, the Prime Minister..."
After comforting herself, Valentina stood before the dragon nest, looking at the other wobbling dragon eggs that seemed about to hatch, and then at the first hatched Green Dragon. For a moment, she wasn't sure what she should do.
"The blood food probably won't be enough. Should I catch some more?"
Valentina hesitated. Because she had fled here secretly, Valentina only occupied the most remote corner of the Karugu Highlands. Further north was a vast ice field. This place, affected by the northern cold air, was the coldest part of the entire Karugu Highlands, and prey was indeed scarce.
The only advantage might be its proximity to the beach.
If things got really bad, they could always go to sea to fish.
Or worse, let these little ones eat dirt.
The stomachs of Chromatic Dragons are incredibly strong; they can survive even by eating dirt. However, the energy in dirt is pitifully low. Dragons that sustain themselves by eating dirt will definitely develop much less than dragons of the same age.
But that's not for an empress to consider.
Send the subordinates out?
Ugh, forget it.
Valentina's subordinates were a small kobold tribe of only two hundred, struggling to survive themselves...
Thinking of this, Valentina realized how difficult being an empress actually was.
Sigh, better to just be a princess.
With this thought, Valentina flapped her wings and landed on the highland. She casually tossed the wild boar aside and looked at the Green Dragon before her.
Breathing evenly, it seemed...
Awake?
Seeing this, Valentina was about to move her tail to test Xia'er when she saw Xia'er suddenly pretend to open his eyes sleepily.
The moment he opened his eyes, Xia'er saw the ferocious dragon head of the blue dragon, instantly startled. He quickly prostrated himself on the ground, showing submission to the powerful dragon race.
Seeing Xia'er's demeanor, Valentina was quite pleased. She banished all her previous thoughts, raised her head proudly, and declared, "Wyrmling, what is your name? I am Princess Valentina of Underwood. From now on, you are a member of my Underwood dragon flock!"
With that, Valentina tore off a piece of the wild boar's hind leg meat and tossed it in front of Xia'er, proclaiming haughtily, "This is a reward from this princess. Eat!"
Hearing this, Xia'er rolled over and got up. Looking at Valentina before him, he directly knelt to the seasoned veteran, "Xia'er has drifted through half a life, regretting only that he never met a wise lord. Today, having seen the great Princess Valentina, he wishes to offer his heart to the princess!"
If not for worrying that this blue dragon might be racially discriminatory, Xia'er would have directly called out 'Mommy'!
Who cares if it's a young dragon or a young adult dragon.
As long as it gives meat, it's a good dragon!