DADH Chapter 24

Beneath the abyss lies a place called the Chaotic Stone Shoal, a riverbank strewn with scattered and intricate large boulders. On one side, there’s a branch of the lost river, and on the other side, there’s a bare and sheer cliff of rocks.

The little dragon cub stood on top of a large rock amidst the Chaotic Stone Shoal, clenching its tiny claws tightly, gathering strength, and with a burst of effort, it let out a milk-powered roar, “Hey! Ya!”

At the moment it shouted with all its might, sparks flickered from the two small dragon horns on its head, emitting a faint “sizzle”.

“Go for it! You can do it! Charge, little darling!” Jing Nian sat in the Dragon Soul Space, leisurely crossing his legs, cheering on the little dragon cub.

In those naive big eyes of the cub, there was a newfound determination upon hearing Jing Nian’s voice.

With a determined stomp, it accidentally stomped its foot too hard, resulting in a slight pain. Instantly, it felt like deflating, almost tearing up.

Seeing this, Jing Nian pretended to sigh, “Oh well, let the little brother have a try then. It’s okay, little brother will protect you just the same! But you have to call me big brother~ Come on~”

As he spoke, Jing Nian was about to push the cub away and take its place.

Upon hearing this, the cub couldn’t agree!

To maintain its position as the big brother, the cub immediately blocked Jing Nian’s attempt to take over its body. It persisted while still holding back tears.

Its little face wrinkled, its fist clenched tight, and even its tail stood upright as it continued to grit its teeth, “Ro~~~ Rawr!!!”

And with that, it roared.

The sparks on its two dragon horns gradually grew larger, and the two thin fire serpents “sizzled, sizzled…” as they converged toward the middle, colliding to form a small fireball.

“Amazing, my dear! Aim for that little pile of grass in front of you!” Jing Nian excitedly stood up in the Dragon Soul Space, directing the cub.

The cub’s face turned red. With great effort, it steadied the fireball atop its head and carefully moved step by step, aligning the small fireball above the little grass pile on the ground. It then forcefully swung its head, flinging the fireball forward.

The ping-pong ball-sized fireball flew out, but before it hit the grass pile…

“Splat~~~ Swoosh~”

Extinguished.

The little dragon cub standing on the large rock was taken aback. The visible anticipation and excitement in its eyes visibly drooped. Its eyebrows sagged, followed by its tiny winglets, and finally, its tail lost its strength and hung down.

Watching the last wisp of blue smoke and ash fall onto the grass pile, not a single spark remained.

The cub was utterly disheartened, and the tears it had been holding back burst forth.

“Wuwuwuwa—”

Standing on the rock, it opened its little throat and began to sob inconsolably.

Having long known that it was impossible to stop the cub’s tears, Jing Nian gave up struggling. Without saying a word, he proficiently lifted the sobbing cub from the ground in the Dragon Soul Space, gently patting its back to comfort it.

The instant Jing Nian held it, the cub used all its limbs to cling to his neck, and with mutual understanding, it buried its head in the crook of his neck.

Crying was inevitable, but it was somewhat embarrassing, so it cried while hiding.

Listening to the cub’s gradually feigned cries, Jing Nian couldn’t help but find it amusing.

He understood now that sometimes tears were the cub’s tool to alleviate awkwardness.

Like now.

Just as the cub started “wailing.”

“Duang! Duang! Duang!” A massive dragon charged out from behind the rock wall, full of indignation.

“Duang!” Another loud sound rang out.

Beside the giant rock, a cloaked figure was smacked by the furious dragon’s paw into the opposite stone wall, creating a human-shaped dent in the wall.

For quite a while, the person had to dig themselves out of the hole they created. Before they could even get angry, the massive dragon’s head pressed against their nose, and it scolded, “You damn human! You’d better watch yourself! My young master hatched less than seven days ago!”

The cloaked person, who was nearly knocked off balance by the dragon’s breath, strategically leaned back against the stone wall with no room to retreat. His face turned red and then pale as he prepared to explain himself, “I…”

“What ‘you’ are you talking about? It’s still a child. Even if you reluctantly act as a tutor, your demands shouldn’t be so strict!”

The cloaked person took a deep breath, put on a polite smile hiding the sentiment “MMP” (“Oh my god”), and said, “Yes, Mr. Dragon, you’re right. So, how would you like me to teach then?”

“Encouraging education, do you understand? You can’t hurt its young heart. You should provide a joyful and happy teaching experience!”

The commotion on the stone wall caught the attention of the cub, who was fake sobbing with “wuwuwu” sounds. It raised its damp eyes and looked over.

However, it couldn’t comprehend the common language of the mainland, so it could only curiously gaze at the humanoid stone indentation on the wall, its eyes widening.

Over there, the furious dragon took a breath, turned back to their adorable and fluffy young master, grinned, received a cute little paw wave from the young master, and then contentedly turned their head back to continue discussing the matter of “how you should instruct our young master in fire magic” with the cloaked person.

But the focal point wasn’t about instruction; it was all about safeguarding their young master.

After listening for a few sentences, Jing Nian thought, “…”

If he didn’t know the context, this would sound like something a bear parent would say.

–

To understand how this all began, we need to go back two days.

The hatching ceremony was nearing its end.

Outside the Abyss, two groups of visitors arrived.

Except for Jing Nian and the two young hatchlings, the other dragons, upon sensing the light and darkness attributes in the wind, became so stimulated that they were on edge, ready for action.

The scene momentarily spiraled out of control.

Those beings that had barely managed to escape the terror of the dragon’s howl, who had just crawled to various corners and edges—behind treetops, within rocky caves, and other hiding spots—whispering as they watched the dragon ceremony from the sidelines, were startled again.

Fortunately, the elder dragon Hesse held back his anger and restrained the dragons from nearly rushing into a fight.

Among the two groups of people, the leaders transmitted a secret message to Hesse.

Hesse was taken aback, and then he let out a low growl, quieting down all the dragons. After that, he shifted his massive body and looked toward the young cub.

More precisely, he gazed at the humanoid dragon soul within the young cub—Jing Nian.

Feeling that piercing gaze once again, Jing Nian paused. He remembered his manifestation on the altar and the dragons’ submission to him. It reminded him of their devoted loyalty.

Not understanding that the dragons had long been aware of his existence would require him to be quite naive.

Sensing that Hesse’s gaze held no hostility, Jing Nian relaxed. Through the young cub’s eyes, he lifted his face to meet the gaze of the old dragon.

In that moment of eye contact, he saw the corners of the old dragon’s mouth twitch upward, only to be reined in within half a second.

Having witnessed the old dragon’s mouth stretching into a wide grin in private, Jing Nian had long suspected that this old dragon knew he looked goofy when he smiled. Thus, to maintain his dignity in front of people (or dragons), he suppressed his urge to smile.

Realizing that he had become so familiar with this old dragon’s habits, Jing Nian’s fear of being found out dissipated completely.

After a serious two-second exchange of gazes with Jing Nian, the old dragon didn’t inquire about the matters discussed by the light and dark mages.

In a calm voice, using the language of dragons, it asked Jing Nian, “These humans want to impart magic to you. Are you willing?”

The young cub didn’t comprehend, but upon seeing Hesse asking Jing Nian, it also directed its attention toward Jing Nian within the dragon soul space.

Jing Nian was taken aback.

He had prepared himself for all sorts of scenarios, but he had never expected that the first thing the old dragon would say after discovering him was a seemingly unrelated statement.

Seeing Jing Nian’s confusion, the old dragon explained slowly, “In certain aspects, the dragon race has unique advantages, but there are also drawbacks. Each dragon possesses only one attribute and can wield only one element.”

Jing Nian understood this point; he had known that dragons were limited to a single attribute, which was why he had been curious about the young hatchling’s attribute.

Hesse’s next words unraveled his confusion.

“However, a Dragon Lord is different. A Dragon Lord is not bound by attribute restrictions, meaning they can wield any attribute.”

Jing Nian’s pupils involuntarily dilated upon hearing this, and the young cub by his side mirrored his astonished expression perfectly.

“The bodies of dragons naturally hold countless elemental powers. This ability is innate to dragons, but it can only gradually unlock as they age, and the process is limited by their innate talent. Dragons with higher innate talents can unlock and develop this ability more quickly and strongly.”

“The strength of a dragon is determined by their age and innate talent.”

Seeing both Jing Nian and the young cub engrossed, Hesse continued, “This is the general situation.”

In other words, there are exceptional circumstances?

Thinking about the upcoming “Dragon Slayer,” Jing Nian couldn’t help but feel intrigued.

Observing the change in Jing Nian’s expression, the old dragon’s eyes flickered as well.

It fixed its gaze on the delicate and beautiful little face within the dragon soul space, striving not to miss any detail.

It said, “The downside of dragons is that they cannot learn elemental magic or elemental arrays.”

Jing Nian, who had witnessed the dragons using arrays, was puzzled, “?”
The young cub beside him had a partial understanding, looking at Jing Nian and then at the old dragon, it followed Jing Nian’s gaze, displaying a puzzled expression: Yeah, why?

The old dragon didn’t keep them in suspense. It directly waved its claw, causing a wall of earth to encircle it, the altar, the young cub and Jing Nian on the altar, and even the altar’s surface.

Then it manipulated the power of earth elements to create a much smaller version of the altar, which rose from the ground before Jing Nian and the young cub.

This small altar was identical to the one under Jing Nian’s feet; it had complete golden flames and array patterns on it. Jing Nian could even sense that this miniature version had the same function as the full-sized one.

Hesse continued to control the small earth altar, slowly lifting it off the ground and into the air.

It wasn’t until the base of the small altar became visible that Jing Nian, through the young cub’s eyes, saw something.

As soon as Jing Nian saw it clearly, Hesse retracted the small altar and turned his gaze back to Jing Nian.

Jing Nian speculated, “… Is that the power of an array?”

The old dragon nodded, “The Abyss Forbidden Land is actually the source of the Dragon Clan’s arrays. Once they leave the Abyss, dragons can’t use arrays anymore.”

“As for elemental magic, it’s the same. Once they leave the Abyss, dragons can only use pure elemental power.”

Nevertheless, even so, the Dragon Clan was powerful enough to make all living beings on the Grans Continent fearful.

“So, can the Dragon Lord do it?”

Jing Nian finished speaking and felt that something was off.

Sure enough, Hesse shook his head and looked at Jing Nian with a self-explanatory gaze.

An idea flashed through Jing Nian’s mind, and he hesitated before asking, “Can I do it?”

The old dragon nodded, and the gaze it fixed on Jing Nian was full of understanding and a trace of openly displayed affection.

Just like the way it looked at the young cub.

Jing Nian fell into contemplation. Although he didn’t know when the Dragon Slayer prophesized in the future would arrive, his answer was naturally affirmative. It would be best if it happened before the server opened, and the stronger, the better.

Furthermore, it wasn’t just him who needed to become stronger, the young cub too.

Moreover, it had been well taken care of by the dragons even within its eggshell. The incident where it almost broke the eggshell due to squabbling over the egg was also a manifestation of love.

After these few days of interaction, Jing Nian had long stopped treating the dragons as mere AIs, regular NPCs, or bosses.

Therefore, it would be great if all the dragons in the Dragon Clan became even stronger, to the point where players couldn’t catch up!

However, he still remembered the tense atmosphere of the dragons when those two groups of people had arrived earlier.

Seeing the concern in Jing Nian’s eyes, the old dragon thought for a moment and chose to reveal half of the truth.

“Do you remember the accident before hatching?”

Jing Nian was taken aback and quickly realized, “The two egg thieves?”

The old dragon nodded.

Jing Nian thought for a moment and finally nodded gently.

The old dragon opened its mouth slightly and said, “That’s good.”

Inside the Dragon Soul Space, the young cub, seeing this, widened its eyes unhappily and looked at Hesse: What about me then?

The old dragon thought for a moment and said, “Throughout the generations, only one Dragon Lord has successfully learned magic and arrays, but the specific method has been lost…”

Jing Nian thought of the image of the golden dragon being impaled on the altar and then looked at the lively young cub in front of him. He suddenly felt a pang in his heart after listening to the old dragon’s words.

Hope also welled up in his eyes, and he asked, “So, the Dragon Lord can also do it?”

Upon hearing this, the young cub wagged its tail happily.

However, when the actual learning began, Jing Nian realized how challenging it was for dragons to learn magic as the old dragon had mentioned.

The process was indeed quite difficult.

As a result, the young cub gave up on the spot.

But for the sake of ensuring the young cub’s survival in the future, Jing Nian used what the cub cared about most, its title as the older brother, to deceive it back onto the right track.

—

In a small fishing village.

The day after encountering the three brothers, Huo Yi’s divine consciousness split into two parts.

Half of it remained with Uncle Pippilu.

The other half, using the player data copied from the three brothers, was used to reconstruct a new player data. As he became increasingly familiar with the data code of this world…

The “Dragon Slayer” game silently gained a fourth officially registered player, yet no one noticed. Even the studio only saw three officially registered accounts.

Huo Yi named his player account “Yi Huo.”

Taking inspiration from the young cub, he covered his face and approached Uncle Pippilu to begin the newbie quests.

After all, Uncle Pippilu was generated based on his own appearance. The NPCs in this game were virtually real people. It would be troublesome if they encountered a player who looked just like Uncle Pippilu.

After completing the newbie quests, he went to the riverside and found the warrior, swiftly delving into the mainline quests.

As he was about to leave the town and head to the city for new mainline quests, he paused.

Because suddenly, on the side of “Uncle Pippilu,” he saw many people with quest indicators above their heads.

Or, to put it differently, players.

 

Author’s Note:

Young cub: I’m an expert in backing off QAQ.

Jing Nian: Sure, call me big brother (*wearing sunglasses*).

Young cub: Yiyiyuwu, I’m back in action!