Beneath the Red Dragon

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Bloodline Manifestation, Innate Ability Solidification

In days of idleness and abundance, the first slumber of the hatchlings soon arrived.

The blessed hatchlings didn’t need to make any preparations, they just had to consume enough food.

At least three times their own weight in food to sustain the growth and development during slumber.

Kleyna’s injuries had long healed with ample food, and Karon allowed her to eat with him, but she couldn’t snatch food.

The choicest, energy-rich parts were reserved for Karon to eat first.

So now she was buried in the rump of a white-haired wild bull, gnawing voraciously, even crunching the hard bones to swallow.

Karon routinely started with the energy-rich heart, then the tender, chewy breast muscle, and finally the delicious ribs, all his favorites.

Only when he could eat no more, and even breathing caused oil bubbles, did Karon stop eating.

He dragged himself to a corner of the cave, curled up with his tail around his head.

With relaxed wings covering his eyes, leaving only the flapping ears and winding sharp red horns exposed.

No dragon can autonomously determine their slumber time, moreover, slumber time increases with age.

The first slumber of a hatchling lasts about ten to fifteen days, since their not-yet-fully-developed bodies can sustain only that much consumption.

The second slumber lasts a month and so on, until the young dragon stage, when slumber is measured in years.

Today is Karon’s first slumber, he will slumber for about ten to fifteen days, a crucial event for the hatchling.

During slumber, hatchlings truly digest the Dragon Race’s inheritance and awaken with their innate Dragon Power aura.

Moreover, the body autonomously adjusts its development based on bloodline growth, developing new organs, and individual differences become more pronounced.

Currently, the young female dragon Kleyna and Little Karon look almost identical, except Kleyna’s scales are a bit darker.

But once the first slumber is complete, both dragons will undergo earth-shattering changes, and many individual differences will be particularly noticeable.

Originally larger than Karon, Kleyna will greatly surpass him upon awakening, causing Karon to worry if he will be able to suppress the headstrong young female dragon in the future.

Even though Little Karon feels the simple and crude attack techniques of the young female dragon pose no problem, as fighting requires not only technique but also talent.

However, once the disparity in power and size reaches a certain point, a situation like ”overwhelming power defeats ten techniques” could occur.

The thought of being overshadowed in the future, the rebellious scene, fills Karon with an urgent sense of crisis for growth.

During this period of reflection, he wonders if suddenly finding himself in this world was due to luck or misfortune, but it shouldn’t be that simple.

He had been living his life normally, only to find himself in a different world after a dream, leaving him with many doubts.

Oh, who knows when he can become as powerful and free as Blue Dragon Mother Carlette, perhaps with Carlette’s power, he would have self-preservation abilities to start exploring this world and gradually uncover the truth of why he came here.

Karon glanced at the massive Blue Dragon lying inside the cave through a gap in his flesh wings, thoughts swirling in his mind.

Excessive fullness redirected his blood flow slowly to the stomach, as drowsiness crept into his mind.

The Red Dragon hatchling Karon, filled with a sense of crisis and a desire for strength, succumbed to his life’s first slumber.

Karon’s consciousness returned to a familiar scene, and facing the mysterious colorless, formless vortex in the dream, a strange feeling arose.

In slumber, the consciousness of all giant dragons sinks into the Dragon Race’s bloodline inheritance, fully digesting it, akin to a mortal in a deathlike sleep, hardly aroused by normal disturbances.

During this time, even if someone quietly approached a giant dragon, they wouldn’t notice, realizing it only after a few cuts.

Often, the slumber of a giant dragon is the opportune moment for Dragon Slayer Teams to make their mark, one reason why most giant dragons favor enslaving many beloveds.

Karon’s consciousness, along with his slumbering body, sank into an expansive, endless, surging river of blood.

This is the embodiment of the Red Dragon bloodline within the giant dragon, the place where the Red Dragon inheritance hides, and where Karon’s consciousness sleeps.

Yet, all of Karon’s consciousness, immersed in slumber, could still sense or see that vortex hidden within the dream, as if part of his consciousness hovered above, overseeing from an omniscient viewpoint, the vortex formed by countless rings of water ripples.

That part of consciousness was utterly rational, indifferent, unperturbed, and existed beyond control, even by Karon himself.

But at a certain moment, that part of consciousness suddenly sensed Karon’s feelings of crisis and desire, thus stirring itself.

The vortex’s power, intangible, formless, colorless, noiseless yet perceptible, was drawn, the power that couldn’t be seen or touched, only sensed by soul consciousness, transformed into strands.

These strands pierced the space barrier, embedding deeply into the blood river embodiment of the bloodline, leaving the original swirling vortex with only its core center.

The legacy and treasures scattered within the bloodline were gradually lifted by the mysterious power infused into the vortex, weaving together into a bundle, eventually solidifying.

The mysterious power merged within, becoming complex principles and rules transformed into comprehensible information for Karon, sinking into the depths of his consciousness.

Once Karon’s consciousness absorbed this information, he would understand the changes occurring within himself: the bloodline manifestation, [Talent Solidification - Superlimit State Growth].

The manifested Bloodline Talent Power took root in the blood river, becoming a source, gradually influencing the entire river.

The Talent Power flowed with the river through Karon’s body, nourishing and transforming the slumbering hatchling.

The talent’s power slowly permeated the bones; the giant dragon’s skeleton became sturdier during growth, the body frame expanding, and the hatchling continuously grew, with growth limits increasing slowly.

His size stopped growing upon reaching the size of an adult yellow bull, not because he’d reached his current growth limit.

His body had merely self-adjusted to the current adaptive growth state, meaning his body was currently only the foundational version for future development.

Only the basic framework was built, expanding the bottlenecks and restrictions of size development.

The body needed to supply remaining nutrients and energy to internal organ systems and muscles for adaptive development.

Nourished by bloodline talent, the hatchling’s heart grew a size larger, with a slower but more forceful beat, each contraction pumping vast amounts of blood through expanded vessels, quickly delivering it to other parts.

Many organs developed along with this, the body began growing numerous magic power organs and many tiny channels flowing completely with magic.

As a magical creature, the giant dragon began perfecting its body during slumber.

Many magic channels linked to the giant dragon’s wings, many others to its throat, where the magic power breath-organ began forming next to the existing Breath organ.

The original Fire Dragon’s breath inherently contained subtle magic power, now with a dedicated magic power Breath organ forming, Karon’s future breath would pack terrifying power.

A physical Dragon Breath mixed with a magic Dragon Breath would intensify elemental reactions during the Breath process, resulting in unpredictable outcomes, unknown even to Karon.

This means Karon’s future opponents would need resistance and means to handle both physical and magical flames, and be wary of the delayed reactions post-Breath.

Externally on the body, the hatchling’s changes were equally conspicuous, with initially bright, vivid scales darkening to a deep red.

The membrane wings now extending twice the body’s length were covered by a layer of dense, thin red scales, transforming into Scale Armor Wings.

And the muscles on the limbs grew fuller, differing from the streamlined silhouette of a female Red Dragon; the male Red Dragon’s muscles were more robust, exuding strength.

The hatchling’s delicate and somewhat adorable head grew more defined contours, with tiny spines beginning to grow along the statuesque cheeks, further thickening the winding backward-growing horns, lending the hatchling a fierce, menacing look.

Originally slender and elegant, the neck grew additional muscles, the layers wrapping the hatchling’s neck appearing powerful.

The slumbering hatchling began, like the Red Dragons in his memory, showcasing its own sharpness.