Radais learned something today. His mother was very scary.

Dusk pointed to a small pool of water no bigger than a kiddie pool.

“Now, I want you to catch the fish, little one.”

Radais stared at her while his tail tip twitched. He is beginning to understanding the words his parents are saying now.

The young hatchling stared deep into the pool of water, his mother pointing. He sees something in the water. They are also glowing. Never seen this before, Radais keeps his gaze on the pool of water with the glowing lights.

Ding! For Identifying A Creature + [Identify]

“So this is food? “

Ability

Effects

Identify

Tells you the basic [Species] and [Level] of targets.

He looked at the creatures and used the ability.

[Lantern Shrimp Fish Lv3]

The instincts inside himself told him to covertly stalk the prey and then pounce to deliver a devastating attack of claw and crush its windpipe if it was present.

But that won’t work here. So Radais waited and wholly erased his presence as much as he could.

Dusk is quickly proud of her son. Only his second day of life, and he uses ‘Zet,’ a technique by procrastinating his breathing. The fish in the training fields she had set up was swimming closer to the edge of the pool.

They are regular fish, no bigger than 50 centimeters in length, and weigh about 2.5 kilograms. Transparent shrimp fish that produces and stores luminescent liquid called glow oil in their fins. They use it to attract mates and shoot it to confuse predators, as an octopus does with ink. Quite tasty as well.

Dusk remembers when she tried catching one. It took over 100 years. The seafood is an exceptionally cowardly creature that rarely comes out of its nests; at the most, it leaves the nest once in a few decades. Having spent those years not meeting any predators gave the fish a weak heart. If it meets someone or a predator with a powerful presence, it will go into shock and die, which causes it to lose its taste rapidly; thus, only the meek and unthreatening can catch it alive. Or someone who can control presence.

This training method is vital for hunting and getting hatchling to control their bloodlust early.

The purple dragon mother wonders if her son will catch one.

Watching for hours, Radais comes up with a plan. The instinct from earlier to him to pull something from inside himself and expel. Something that he can always do.

He gently lowered his head to the pool and opened his mouth. Next, he felt for something inside her, letting the instinct guide him as he pulled and pushed the lump. His tiny body convulsed, and a clear spray of misty liquid sprayed out of his mouth. As it passed his teeth, he followed the instinct’s direction and flexed an unknown muscle.

There was a spark, and the clear fluid burst into brilliant orange, greenish flame, expanding into a burst of glowing green fire that forced itself forward and out of the young dragon’s mouth.

The water in the small pool vaporized instantly, and the fish were all burnt crispy black from the intense heat of the hatchling breath attack.

Ding! You combined your three breath abilities into one.

Radais pulled the information on the changed ability.

Ability

Effects

Acidic Plasma Breath

The racial ability allows expulsions of biologically created [Ethanol], [Ionized Gas], and [Acidic] glands near the stomach. You can ignite this via [Magic]. It can be liquid or gas.

He only had a rudimentary understanding of many of the terms, but what he drew from this was that he could breathe acid fire. Boiling green fire that can melt and burn, which was awesome!

The extreme need to feed afterward is a fair drawback. That and half of the fish melted into a pile of black goo.

Well, time to eat.

Ding! For watching a species of fish. [Hunting] + [Beast Knowledge]

Ding! For Slaying [Lantern Shrimp Fish Lv2] x30 In Combat +18xp

Ding! For Slaying, a Foe [10] Levels Below You Own [-10%] XP -2xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe 2x Under Your Level [-20%] XP -4xp

Total XP Earned From Combat Encounter +13

Ability

Effects

Beast Knowledge

You have taken the time to read and inspect various beasts and creatures. By [Identifying] with this skill, gain knowledge on how that creature [Grows] and its current state of [Maturity]. Only work on targets below your [Level]. These skills’ effects will scale with [Intelligence]. It revealed how much is based on your [Intelligence] and targets.

That was a tiny amount of experience compared to the stag, but it was far tastier and filled his belly. Where these creatures more balance to his diet. Who cares? Food is food. It looked like a lot more Lantern Shrimp Fish would be on the menu tonight. Also, according to what the new skill said. Radais watched over six different species of Lantern Shrimp Fish. Amazing.

He looked over in the distance, the young hatchling sees five different pools of water. Each one is bigger than the last.

Radais looks over the next and saw mice are running, eating foods around their nest. They are also drinking from the bigger-sized pool of water.

"Little one, you have done well for..." Dusk trailed off as she failed to get her son's attention.

Her son, Radais, is crawling slowly to them. At least, he knows how to approach his prey, but is it enough to catch them or not. Now, he is in the position to attack; he waits for the right time. He breathes slowly and quietly. Those mice did not know what was going to happen. They are goofing normally.

Suddenly, her little one jumps from his position, and the hunt begins. But, unfortunately, the attack scattered the mice around. Some ran to their hole while others run without direction. He tries to focus on which one he should chest, but the number of his prey confuses him.

He saw a mouse that is running away from the group. That's his target, he decided. He is chasing it through many terrains such as trees, holes, and vines. Dusk was watching him closely and thought her cute little hatchling was going to exhaust and give up. Mice are in the lowest class in the food chain, but they are difficult prey to hunt.

They used their size, speed, and environment as their advantage to escape from hunters. But, look what happened to her son. He stuck with vines while the mouse can pass through them quickly. Luckily, the hunt is still on.

"He is good, "Dusk thought. "He has more than I expected. I thought that breath attack of his would drain him try. "

"Eeeeeeeeek" Mouse screamed

Snap!

"Eeeeeeeeek," another mouse screamed

Snap! Crunch!

Soon over twelve cries of mouse rang through the training area.

"Sweeeeeeeeek" Mouse screamed.

Radais come out of the vanes and a mouse in his mouth, but it is still alive. He wants to show and see his mother's face after this, but that will not happen.

Dusk jumps and pushes him to the ground. "What is happening, "Radais thought. Why did mother attack him? She opens her mouth wide. It looks like she is going to kill him. Radais tried to escape but failed to move a muscle, still exhausted from hunting.

Not going to happen. Radais opens his open, ready to fire even though he is exhausted.

"You pass," Mother said. Then point her enormous claw to his forehead.

Radais suddenly felt knowledge in the back of his mind surface, knowledge of how to properly speak in draconic, what different words meant, and more. Also, another language he never heard his parents said before.

Radais had to stop moving for a few seconds as all the knowledge slowly trickled in and settled as if it had been there his entire life.

"Little one?" Dusk said, worrying as her son laid there for a few seconds. Radais came to, shaking his head briefly before saying in draconic,

"I'm fine, mother. Mind telling why you push me down?"

"You pass my trial," she said, ignoring his question; her voice was filled with repletion. "But you need to improve your stamina. Look at yourself; you cannot fight after one little hunting game. And after one breath attack. There is no way you are going to survive here,"

She stepped away from him while Radais stood up angrily.

"That's not fair, mother," He yelled. "I did not know you were going to attack me,"

"Rule number one, there is no fair in the wild." She said while walked away, "Are you coming or not?"

Radais stumped to his feet before following the purple dragoness. He is so pissed and upset but agreed with her at the same time. There are so many things for him.

Doesn't

"So what should we know, mother," He said positively.

"Haha, the little one acting all cocky now." She laughed. "I am going to teach you everything I knew. I hope you will learn and remember all of it."

"I will, and I will do style." He yelled while his tail waved.

"Acting so mature already? "Dusk thought. An idea comes to mind testing his rapid maturity.

"Shall we play a game?"

That got Radais's attention. He knew that word, 'Game.' He enjoyed playing games.

Dusk set her tail down a few meters away from Radais and made it twitch a little.

Radais was drawn to the movement instinctively and watched the twitching with great interest.

"Well?" Dusk said, still grinning. "Are you going to catch it?"

Her tail twitched again, and Radais immediately fell into a crouch.

Dusk watched with amusement. So much for being mature; she knew ANY young hatchling would go after a moving target.

Radais couldn't wait anymore and bolted for the scaly appendage with the third twitch of her tail. Dusk dragged it back sharply but not so far that her son couldn't reach it.

She would not make it easy for the little hatchling. This was an important lesson, even if Radais didn't realize it yet. He needs to learn how to fail.

Radais growled and leaped again, trying to pin the tail down with an attack from above, but Dusk moved it just out of his reach and stopped again to twitch some more.

The movement of his tail and the challenge that came with trying to catch it were irresistible to the little dragon.

Radais made a barking roar, then lunged with every bit of speed he had. Dusk is actually surprised for a moment by how swift her son was, but she got her tail out of the way nonetheless. That said, Radais nipped it just slightly.

"Aw, you were so close, little one." Dusk mocked her son.

Radais was too busy to acknowledge his mother's mockery. So instead, he shot after the twitching tail and tried to catch it once more.

***At that night***

Dusk continued to dodge Radais's attacks until the little dragon was panting for breath.

With one last leap, the chaos hatchling attacked the tail with all energy he can spare.

Only to miss by a wide margin and fall asleep upon landing.

"Let's go back to your father, little one."