Chapter 13: The War-Longing Whelp

With scales still shining a golden yellow, Emperor Riel, who might be mistaken for a young Copper Dragon if placed in a Red Copper Dragon’s nest, gazed around the dragon’s lair.

Still a whelp, his head appeared disproportionately large compared to his body. However, years of feeding and growth had granted him a bit of the majestic aura that belongs to dragons, though he still mostly retained the cuteness typical of a whelp.

Emperor Riel did not mind this. All dragons went through this phase. The true majesty and nobility of a dragon only began to manifest in their adolescent years. During their whelp stage, even the most ferocious species, or beasts, could kill a giant dragon.

Of course, as a member of the Metal Dragon tribe, he didn’t need to worry about dying such a humiliating death. That was something only the young of the Evil Dragons had to fear. For him, it was enough to focus on his own growth.

Years of growth not only brought significant progress for Emperor Riel, but his siblings also experienced considerable changes. Although their physical strength did not match his, they excelled in other areas.

Most notably, his older sister, Elena, became a role model and set an example for the others.

Due to Emperor Riel’s stronger physique, the whelp dragons who sought to solidify their own positions and maintain their authority over their siblings did something that most whelps of their age in the Metal Dragon tribe wouldn’t do—meditation.

When thinking of dragons, the first image that comes to mind is their towering size, capable of overwhelming all other races, and their elemental mastery, which could rival the destructive power of natural disasters.

These are the well-known traits of dragons. However, each dragon tribe focuses on different aspects of their abilities.

The Chromatic Dragons are stronger in physical power but weaker in elemental abilities. The Evil Dragons prefer hand-to-hand combat, relying on their naturally formidable bodies to engage in fierce battles. Only when they reach a certain age, or when their dragon bodies begin to age, do they start delving into magic to compensate for their declining physical strength.

On the other hand, the Metallic Dragons are the opposite. They prefer a more elegant style of combat, which leads them, even as young whelps, to actively tap into the potential within their bloodlines, mastering their elemental abilities, and learning magic.

However, even within the Metallic Dragon clan, it is extremely rare for whelps to meditate at such a young age. Even Gold Dragons usually begin to study magic only when they enter their adolescent years.

The root cause of this phenomenon lies in the pride inherent in the dragon bloodline. No dragon is willing to fall behind, not even compared to their own kin. 

Thus, Elena took the initiative to meditate, hoping to gain the strength befitting her position as the eldest sister, and this proved to be quite effective.

Even though the meditation efficiency of dragons is far lower than that of short-lived species, given that dragons start with an inherently high base, and their souls are naturally superior to those of other races, progress is still extremely difficult to achieve.

For dragons, whose power naturally increases with age, it is often considered more efficient to indulge in pleasure rather than engage in meditation to improve their mental strength by even the slightest degree. 

This mindset is particularly prevalent among the Chromatic Dragons, where nearly all of them avoid meditating or learning magic during their developmental stages. They see no need for such endeavors.

However, this viewpoint has long been discarded in the Metallic Dragon clan.

While it’s true that due to the dragon bloodline, short-term meditation yields no immediate or substantial results, over time, years of continuous meditation can accumulate and transform a dragon completely, allowing them to undergo a profound metamorphosis.

Taking the example of the most favored Golden Dragon by the Platinum Dragon God, if a Golden Dragon diligently meditates every day without slackening, by the time it reaches adulthood, it will almost be on the verge of touching the legendary realm. With some luck or opportunity, it might even break through barriers and transform into a legendary dragon.

Of course, such a result can only occur when all conditions are ideal, and while such Golden Dragons do exist, they are even rarer than Ancestor Dragons.

This is because having a dragon persist in meditation for hundreds of years without yielding any immediate results is an extremely difficult task. Even for the highly disciplined Metallic Dragons, this is no easy feat.

Meditating once is easy, and even ten or a hundred times may be manageable, but continuing to meditate for a hundred years without perceiving any tangible progress—what dragon could continue to endure such a thing? Laziness is a natural instinct embedded in the bloodlines of all creatures, and for dragons, this laziness is even more pronounced than in common creatures. Furthermore, not only laziness, but also arrogance, lust, greed, envy, gluttony, wrath… all of the common flaws of living beings are found in dragons, magnified a thousandfold.

However, sometimes, one flaw can outweigh another and produce a positive effect, just like with the eldest sister, Elena, in the dragon’s lair.

Unwilling to be surpassed by her younger brother, she took the initiative to meditate and tap into her bloodline potential. This sparked a wave of training within the dragon’s lair, with all the hatchlings following their eldest sister and beginning to meditate, as no dragon was willing to fall behind.

Even though it was Emperor Riel, who was already the strongest in physical form among the hatchlings, he was also influenced by this environment and began to meditate. Due to the influence of human memory habits, his subjective initiative in this regard was stronger than that of other dragons.

For Emperor Riel, whose physical form was already the strongest among the hatchlings, this behavior further stimulated Elena and the other hatchlings, making them even more diligent in their efforts over the past few years.

By now, although they still had a clear size difference compared to Emperor Riel, they had surpassed other hatchlings of the same age.

With a body length of over four meters, they were approaching the size of a young bronze dragon, yet they hadn’t entered their slumber and moved to the next age stage.

“Emperor Riel, when do you think this war will end?”

In the dragon’s lair, no adult dragons were stationed, and Elena’s voice, tinged with worry, broke the silence.

Pure-blooded giants were born as extraordinary creatures, and several years of growth were enough for them to digest the knowledge passed down through their bloodline and understand their current situation.

“I don’t know. This is a war between ancient dragons. Perhaps by the time we reach adulthood, the war won’t have ended.”

Emperor Riel, resting his head on a pile of brass ore, glanced at his slightly troubled eldest sister and replied in a calm tone.

“If that’s the case, then when we reach our youth, we can also join the fight and become a force of justice to defeat evil!”

As soon as Emperor Riel’s words fell, a naïve, innocent voice full of longing for the war responded, clearly excited about the idea.

“Hadeson, stop spouting nonsense!” Elena immediately scolded harshly.

“Did I say something wrong?” Hadeson asked, looking both confused and innocent.

“In a battlefield where ancient dragons can appear at any time, don’t talk about being a young dragon— even our parents could fall at any moment, without even having time to react,” came a soft voice. It was Riel’s only sister, Angelica.

“Your sister is just worried about you.”