IMC Chapter 54

With their names assigned, the two baby dragons continually tried to snuggle up to their fluffy “mother”. Despite Shu Bao’s repeated refusals, the two dragons persisted, inching their heads closer and closer.

Ultimately, Shu Bao found himself wedged between the two massive dragon heads. He stood there, arms crossed, feeling the pressure from both sides with an expression of resignation.

The dragons controlled their strength with precision, ensuring that the fluffy ball in the middle would neither be harmed nor easily escape.

In response to this situation, Shu Bao simply bent down, dug into the ground, and instantly disappeared.

The two baby dragons, now without their fluffy companion, became anxious and quickly approached the spot where Shu Bao had vanished. After bumping their massive heads against each other a few times, Yinzi, the younger dragon, pressed its big eye against the hole.

Inside the hole was pitch black, and no trace of the fluffy ball could be seen. Yinzi communicated this discovery to Jinzi.

After some roaring and discussion, the two dragons decided to follow their “mother’s” example and began digging the hole themselves.

Having emerged from the ground a short distance away, Shu Bao looked up to see the two dragons digging with their claws and trying to shove their heads into the hole.

Shu Bao sighed, realizing that raising dragon babies was indeed quite challenging.

To prevent the giant flying dragons from becoming burrowers, Shu Bao walked over with heavy steps. When the dragons saw him, they immediately resumed their obedient demeanor and tried to nuzzle their big heads closer.

Shu Bao quickly jumped up, landing on one dragon’s head, and then crouched down to pat it. “Good dragons, you don’t need to dig. Just flying is enough.”

After calming one dragon, Shu Bao leaped to the other dragon’s head to continue comforting it. The well-behaved baby dragons stopped digging, though they did not spread their wings to fly.

Shu Bao pondered for a moment, then decided to jump down and demonstrate the correct behavior himself.

Under the watchful eyes of the baby dragons, Shu Bao positioned himself in front of them, standing upright. He took a deep breath, spread his paws, and began to flap them up and down with effort.

The two dragons, seeing this, naturally followed suit. They stood up straight, took deep breaths, and vigorously flapped their wings. In an instant, a gust of wind was created around them, and Shu Bao, who already had numerous pieces of grass floating above him, was instantly lifted into the air.

Feeling the wind lifting them, the dragons quickly mastered the art of flying. The wind seemed to become a toy in their grasp, easily controlled by them. Once airborne, they quickly fell in love with the sensation of flying.

The two baby dragons soared into the sky, and to ensure their fluffy “mother” was also lifted, they guided the wind to carry Shu Bao up into the sky with them.

Looking down at the receding earth, Shu Bao had a thousand expletives on the tip of his tongue, realizing that as a mouse skilled in burrowing but not in flying, he was now soaring into the sky without any safety measures!

All Shu Bao could do was hope that when the wind died down, he would descend gently rather than plummet.

As luck would have it, the energy from one of the floating grasses finally completed its transmission and vanished into the air. With the first one gone, the transmission speed of the remaining grasses increased significantly!

Thus, the second, third, and fourth pieces of grass…

The disappearance of the grasses accelerated, and soon, Shu Bao, terrified, began trying to grasp the last remaining energy band with his paws.

Despite his fear, the final connection quickly faded away once the energy was fully transmitted. Shu Bao suddenly felt a heavy drop, but the next moment, he was lifted again by a gust of wind. Floating once more, Shu Bao was carried aloft amidst the two baby dragons, soaring through the sky.

Gradually, Shu Bao began to overcome his fear. He tried to relax his body, feeling the cool and comfortable breeze passing through his fur. Looking down at the vast green land below, the view was so expansive that it seemed like he could fly straight out of the horizon at any moment.

The baby dragons, having mastered flight, opened the door to a new world and were reluctant to land. Shu Bao, who was continually lifted by the gusts of wind, felt dizzy and disoriented as if he were on a roller coaster. Eventually, Shu Bao signaled to Jinzi and landed directly on the top of Jinzi’s head.

With that, Shu Bao finally escaped the uncomfortable sensation and could relax and enjoy the pleasure of flying high above.

The only issue Shu Bao faced was that the two dragon babies would compete for his riding position. If Shu Bao stayed on one dragon’s head for too long, they would start fighting, so he had to periodically switch between the two dragon heads.

After a considerable amount of time flying, the two dragon babies prepared to return to the Xia Wang Tribe when a distant dragon roar suddenly echoed from the sky. Both dragon babies looked over with interest. Shu Bao immediately realized it was the dragon who feared the rain.

That dragon was likely the first to hatch from its egg. However, after hatching, something had gone wrong in the valley, causing it to flee in a panic without even eating its own eggshell. By a stroke of fate, it ended up in the current world and was contracted by the participants.

Having not seen it for a while, Shu Bao was unsure of the dragon’s current size. For safety’s sake, he decided it was best for the two dragon babies to return to the tribe immediately.

Though curious about the source of the roar, the two dragon babies obeyed their fluffy mother’s request and turned back toward the tribe.

Meanwhile, at the Long Tribe, the dragon, sensing the presence of its kin, anxiously tried to take flight to chase after it but was firmly restrained by its contractor. Yu Lingqi, busy with the base construction, watched the suddenly agitated dragon with frustration, wondering what had caused the dragon’s distress.

Since contracting the dragon, although Yu Lingqi had gained many advantages, the dragon’s numerous quirks had become a major headache. The dragon seemed like a newborn, lacking the inherited knowledge of its kind, and had to relearn everything. Most importantly, it had a huge appetite!

Since arriving at the Long Tribe, the people had not had a full meal because the dragon’s one meal equaled the total consumption of everyone in the tribe.

Despite the hunting team’s increasingly diligent efforts, the dragon’s appetite seemed like a bottomless pit. Alongside the intense hunting, they had to continuously engage in physical labor. While the deity had indeed performed miracles, the initial reverence and admiration had been worn down by hunger and prolonged labor.

This was one of the reasons why Yu Lingqi later had no time to trouble the Xia Wang Tribe further.

The dragon felt quite wronged. The food in this world had generally low energy content, so it needed to eat a lot to feel full. Moreover, the food supply was limited, leading to frequent periods of hunger. This made flying increasingly difficult due to lack of energy.

Shu Bao was unaware of Yu Lingqi’s food crisis. The eggshells contained high energy, so the two dragon babies could go without eating for a month without any adverse effects. However, even without hunger, the dragons would still often eye the warhorses and the big cat with longing when they returned to the tribe. Clearly, in their eyes, those were very tempting foods.

Fortunately, Shu Bao had sternly informed the dragon babies that neither the big cat nor the warhorses were to be eaten, as they were guests of the tribe.

The dragon babies could only reluctantly divert their gaze.

Shu Bao patted both dragons on their heads. “Don’t worry, there will be a late-night snack tonight. Feel free to choose any flavor!”

After observing them for a day, Shu Bao noticed that the dragon babies had not inherited the knowledge of their dragonkind. They could only learn or master skills on their own when they were exposed to them or tried to learn.

Shu Bao guessed that this might be due to the dragon babies being from a different time-space. Having hatched in a new world, they needed to understand this new world on their own. Hence, the inherited knowledge would only activate when necessary; otherwise, applying old-world knowledge that didn’t fit the current world could be detrimental and potentially lead to their extinction.

In situations like this, the dragon babies might get injured or even die while exploring the world. However, gaining new understanding would help them better adapt to the current world and reduce the risk of extinction.

Reflecting on the wisdom of life, Shu Bao felt the weight of responsibility on his shoulders even more.

The two dragon babies observed their fluffy mother and, imitating him, placed their paws on their chests and sat down.

The passing tribe members saw the two giant dragons trying to mimic their deity’s gesture of crossing their arms and found the scene rather odd. Clearly, they were unaware that on a distant cold planet, people used to warm their hands by tucking them into their sleeves. Shu Bao’s habitual gesture was learned from that place.

Shu Bao didn’t notice the impact of his actions and was deep in thought about his next plan. If he needed to search for the construction materials for the Magic Academy, he would have to stay in the Chaotic World for an extended period. Should he bring the two dragon babies with him or leave them behind?

The two giant dragon babies seemed to sense something and anxiously moved closer to Shu Bao. Eventually, they were almost glued together, leaving only a tiny space for their fluffy mother.

Shu Bao realized he was being cornered again and was about to dig a tunnel to escape. However, remembering the previous actions of the dragons, he resisted the urge and said, “I will be leaving for a few days. You…”

Before he could finish, the two dragon babies immediately let out sorrowful roars and lowered their big heads, looking utterly heartbroken.

The once intimidating vertical pupils now gleamed with the pitiful look of someone about to be abandoned.

Shu Bao felt a pang of guilt. Just as he was struggling with his feelings of guilt for considering abandoning them, the reflections of the white cat and the warhorse appeared in the dragons’ mournful eyes.

The two enormous dragon heads began to move in sync with the warhorse’s movements, and their expressions of sorrow instantly turned into longing.

Shu Bao: “…” Forget it. Even if it’s just for the safety of the warhorse and the white cat, I might as well take the two dragon babies with me this time!

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