As a brand new bloodline became available to him, the dragon became excited and rushed to break off a few more shards of frozen blood. Without even a moment's rest he spent 20 minutes slowly separating it from the cave’s icy floor, but only a few flakes from its edges ever came off.

The majority of this snow gibbon’s blood long since melded with the floor. However, from the fragments of blood he did swallow, the Nexus stated that his progress hit 2%. Slow. At this rate, he had no hope of reaching assimilation. Two ideas came to mind.

A rather convoluted plan to somehow lure insects here constantly, then assimilate their bloodline and see what effects it had. He spent the better part of two hours pondering this through, eventually giving up when realising that he didn’t have any indication of where they came from.

This led to his second idea, switching from learning ice and water spells to a fire one! While it is dangerous for ice dragons to use fire, there is no such restriction on magic. Dragons are masters of all elements by nature, it was purely a matter of learning different words to reach that stage. In comparison, most animals only really used a couple elements of magic due to lacking talent.

Dragons were indeed the strongest species! The little hatchling nodded to himself while thinking… Even if he did not aid that image at the moment.

Moving away from the basic water and ice spells, he quickly found the words to create small flames. This idea turned out to be a lot faster and far more seated in reality. Create a flame to melt the blood, then easily lick it up for assimilation.

He realised that a single spell made so much more of a difference than he originally believed. Additionally, those ice ants should be extremely weak to flames, giving him a long distance attack. Every time the bursts of genius slotted together he couldn’t help but wag his head and tail while walking.

On the fifth day, he laid in a ball with the egg nearly completely eaten. He spent hours practicing the words for this Fire spell, and still had yet to even form a spark. If the ants decided to attack full force then his fate was sealed.

Excitement and hope gave the little dragon dreams, but the imminent fear of death fueled all this diligence. Unfortunately, dragons do not believe in childhood.

Unless one counts years of struggling alone in the wilderness as a suitable upbringing…

Sometime through the hours of trying to speak those magic words and reading through the bundles of information within him, a question about the mutations came to him. Not a complex one by any means, just that he had cared far more about not dying for now.

Unfurling for a few moments, he asked, “Will Mutation Rate affect how I assimilate bloodlines?” The exact concern being that he may grow ant eyes… or even strange limbs coming from his sides!

[There is no need for concern from current information, but this bonus should decrease the quantity of material required for assimilation. Please assimilate a bloodline for more information]

For the second time he saw the Nexus request something of him. Or maybe it was a reminder in this case? The hatchling did not understand tone very well, and without a voice it could truly have been either.

From the numbers given by the Nexus, it predicted that the blood and raw meat of this gibbon was more than enough for two whole assimilations, maybe even three. With that knowledge, he sat back down and continued practicing the pronunciation, sometimes switching to those Ice and Water spells from prior.

He initially thought that focusing on fire magic was for the best, but in reality his mouth needed to be used in any number of ways to properly gain control. For now learning a large selection worked out best.

Additionally, learning only one spell is tantamount to suicide as a spellcaster!

The young dragon did not feel discouraged though, as as the fifth day closed he finally received some results! While no flames appeared, the Nexus informed him of his MP dropping to 98%!

Not just that. But he felt the small shift of mana within him! The books claimed that all dragons stored mana within their heart, but then surely he should have sensed that by now?

Instead, it just sort of appeared once he correctly cast part of the spell, allowing him to ignore whatever weirdness occurred for pure excitement. It did not take long until his speaking of those few characters worked every single time, meaning he already reached the halfway point of the spell.

But before he could reach that final step, a horrid fact befell him! Ants began crawling into the cave, some slightly bigger than the ants from before. Just another day and he might have roasted them alive!

He learnt a lesson though, staying wrapped up tightly as before, only his body slightly shifting when breathing chilly air. Those stupid ants just walked right up to him with no aversion! Not even cautious when digging their horrid little mandibles through his soft body.

From the corner of his eye, five ants came this time. He did not doubt all of them scurrying away like the cowards they were in an instant, and just as their mandibles jabbed into his body…

He jumped and swiped! Four of them received his small arm swatting them, only one barely escaping with a mouthful and instantly turning to run. But he refused to let them get away at this distance!

Using all his strength to leap, his slightly extendable head quickly moved forward to catch this ant in his mouth. A horrid feeling to have something moving like that, but his soft teeth crushed down on it over and over. While tough to bite through, an ant is still an ant. But just this did not satisfy him, those other four had already recovered.

Not today! Picking out the larger two ants of the remaining four, he cut them off from retreating from their place of arrival, in fact the same patch of snow those ants from last time came from!

But those ants, even with horrible eyesight, quickly realised the sweet smelling creature became their enemy. And now they absolutely had to fight.

Both ants charged forward, their mandibles held high to bite away at their giant enemy. A cute offensive, but even against a dragon made of ice-cream these two held no chance. Akin to a man being crushed by a house sized sponge, they simply stood no chance against such a large difference.

Both ants barely even snipped at his feet before receiving multiple stomps, the one in his mouth still being chewed to death. The others continued to resist, but eventually their little bodies broke. He had no forgiveness for these pests, treating him like food.

So what if he was food? Should he just let everyone take a bite of him? No way that embodied a true dragon in the slightest.

Licking up the remnant of those ants, and some ice-cream to mask that nasty taste, he noticed that the Nexus had not sent any prompts about that battle. He opened his status to check what was going on even.

Name

Title

Species

Dragon

Bloodline

Vanilla Ice-cream

HP

100%

MP

100%

Level

1

EXP

72%

Unallocated Stat Points: 3

Strength

0

Luck

0

Agility

0

Growth

0

Magic

0

Mutation Rate

0

His experience had absolutely gone up, but the exact number eluded him. To make sure he didn’t accidentally ignore the experience gain, he asked the Nexus, “Where are my prompts about killing those ants?”

[If a battle continues the Nexus automatically halts prompts and collates them until you ask to see them]

“Ohhhh… That’s what that meant. Can I see the results of the previous battle?” He absolutely remembered seeing that in the Nexus book, but at the time its phrasing made little sense to him. This time, a new prompt appeared

[Killed Ice ants! Received 4% exp.

Consumed Ice ant bloodline! Assimilation progress 5%]

The numbers were too low to mean anything serious, and he regained his sights on the snow gibbon once more. A problem he quietly glossed over was digestion of the gibbon body, but he found it weird that his body so quickly digested the food. In the end he simply used the books to create a childish conclusion.

Dragons can eat everything! Okay, not really, but it was close enough!

* * *

No more ants came on the next day, although he did check that specific corner of the cave they always dug through, finding a minute air flow passing through tiny holes. The idea of more ants coming through pleased him, but that hint of cautiousness remained even against these weaker creatures.

He decided to cover it up completely with a layer of snow until ready for a proper battle. Unlikely to stop their inevitable arrival, he just hoped to slow down their next wave from arriving soon. He was so close to spellcasting!

And extremely hungry at that, but it was beside the point.

Unwilling to lick his body, the hatchling left his tummy rumbling and continued to say those few draconic words more and more. By the next day his fire spell went from using mana to making sparks. Even the water spell began forming some small droplets in the air!

“Nexus, would luck also increase the amount of assimilation I can obtain?” Once more an idea came, but it already sounded ridiculous. Experience was something created by the Nexus as a reward, of course it could freely multiply that stuff. But bloodlines came from living creatures.

[That is possible for bloodlines modified by the Nexus, but these are rare]

Rather than a dismissal, he received a useless answer. But still, he took the bait. Curious enough to want to know why these things were rare and asking, “How does the Nexus modify bloodlines?”

[On rare occasions, or through the catalysis of some item, a fundamental rewrite of bloodlines may occur. In those specific situations, the Nexus modifies bloodlines]

Just the words 'fundamental rewrite’ caused him to jump up, wagging his tail without realising and the possibilities of obtaining that rare chance becoming an even more important goal for the future. That was his chance! His way to be normal!

He imagined flying with thick leathery wings, scales tougher than titanium yet lighter than sky steel. Or at least, anything that could actually stand up on its own in this world and not fear being licked to death.

As dreams and ideas blew up in his mind, the closer details became somewhat hazy. Only after several minutes of daydreaming did reality return, and his mouth continued trying to say those seemingly simple words. Just two words, albeit a dozen characters. A short, simple spell that was literally expected of hatchlings.

The eighth day ended, and the distracting hunger grew stronger. He was so close to completion now! Mana left his chest, escaping and coming together in the air to form small sparks… but it constantly failed at the final step!

But just like the many failures before, he knew success happened eventually. He was a dragon! A basic spell never stopped them from greatness. And if he wanted to live so much, then why settle for less?

With so much time to think, the hatchling realised just how far its dreams went. Then again, why should it stop at so little?

Days of dedication mounted to these moments, where every failure meant a loss of mana and slow waiting as his heart slowly refilled. But the taste of his first spell was nearing, every little movement feeling more and more correct. And then…

A blistering flame erupted in front of him, intense heat radiating throughout the cave. Quickly quelled by the weakened snowstorm outside and the icy wall’s general chill. However, it was him who suffered the worst of it.

Immediately rushing away, his body softened simply standing near the flame, having not once realising just how dangerous even this ‘basic’ spell presented itself. The top layer of his body turned runny and gooey just from a few moments nearby, and while rushing away to cool off, his mind both panicked and failed to grasp why things turned out so bad.

He read the Fire spell… No, that effect was perfect! He correctly cast it as stated. But the introductory book said that using opposing elements was safe, fire dragons can use water spells and vice versa with little damage.

Unless. Unless he forgot to account for his terrible defences. Other ice dragons have a toughness field… They can withstand basic attacks with little fear. But his defences were close to zero. A hatred sprung up from within him.

A fully developed hatred of himself. Of this crappy body. Of how his parents should have killed him to stop this sad existence. An existence so weak that using a small flame dangerously harmed him.

With those feelings quickly rising up without stopping, he almost decided to go curl up and sleep. And would have if not for the new prompt.

[Obtained title ‘First Magical Step’. Unlock requisite - Learn and use a Basic tier spell]