Finding lone creatures proved a lot easier than he gave credit for, although not being frightened out of his mind probably played a larger part. On three occasions now he found some sort of creature quietly moving around the snow field alone, but the moment he locked eyes with them it was too late.

Ice bolt is perfect for large and stationary targets, but for these beasts only one or the other existed. Even so, his chance eventually came.

From behind a small lip of snow, he caught sight of a small snake moving lazily along the snowy ground. It left an interesting wavey motion as its body slithered in an extreme bend. But the slow speed gave him more than enough time to quietly whisper the Ice bolt chant and aim the spell mentally.

Just like the Basic elemental spells, this Ice bolt first formed in his cone of vision and flew in the direction he desired it to. Focusing his sight on the back of this snake’s head, he tried his best to predict its movement just as the burst of force appeared.

It flew straight ahead, dipping slightly after a small distance, but enough that he estimated such a thing. But he made a single flaw, completely underguessing their true distance.

The shard continued forward, quick as ever, but it arced down further and further, stabbing into the body of the snake. He prepared for a dangerous battle… but such a thing did not come. The snake quickly pushed against the snow with a light burst of speed, trying to escape.

His ice shard slowly opened the snake’s wound with its every slither, leaving a trail of blood in a long forward stretch.

Unfortunately, the bleeding was too severe at the start for this weak snake. With poor regenerative abilities, it quickly lost half its blood before even travelling beyond his eyesight, quickly fainting as darkness enclosed its aching body.

He sort of felt bad for seeing how this snake struggled… sort of like how he almost died to the wassat. Surely this wasn’t what a true dragon did?

Deciding to put it out of its misery, he walked over and cast a second Ice bolt, this time aiming straight for its head to destroy the poor thing’s brain.

[Killed Level 3 Chill-bite snake! Obtained 23% EXP]

Quickly, he licked up blood escaping its corpse, as well as part of the trail left in its wake, very surprisingly already hitting 30% in its bloodline assimilation. He would be eating snake for dinner tonight!

Fortunately, he chose to hunt this snake after making it back to the first hole he dug to check out the root, the distance to his cave being extremely small. While the snake’s body wasn’t huge or extremely long like the wassat, it was a couple days of food if rationed.

Alternatively, he could feast for the first time in over a week…

Obviously he wanted to feast on it! Filling his belly for the first time in so long, today was a pretty good day! He obtained two bloodlines, discovered a very powerful tree. And formed a very clear goal for the first time in a while.

Then came roasting the snake, he knew that taking the standard way was not an option. Instead, removing the skin and slicing its body into edible pieces became the most troublesome part. In the end, he came up with half a solution.

After cooking it, the skin still on, he used several Ice bolts to cut a third of it into small chunks. Given that each Ice bolt used around 8% of his MP, it was around eight casts which he felt light-headed and sat down for some recovery.

On occasion, he used a fire spell to keep the body warm and soft, eventually cutting the whole thing into small edible chunks. Unfortunately there was no method for cutting the snake and his next major spell became obvious.

Telekinesis, an amazing general-use spell that all species loved. At his level of spellcasting, the best he could utilise was a seven word incantation requiring constant mental focus and mana. It was also known for being rather imprecise, but no matter.

A thought quickly came to him, which while unlikely was still worth confirming. He asked, “Nexus, would my bloodline stop spells related to body enhancements from working?” There was little expectation for a response, the question seemed too far unrelated to the Nexus to warrant one.

[Area of possible research. Magic power is too weak for current examination]

Did that mean it was the answer? Or was he simply overreacting? The lines between mistakes and quirks started to dull again. “Alright, have you created a mission for my title then?”

He didn’t know why it appealed to him, but just having some goal given by the Nexus felt like a good starting point. It also made every single level he earned so much more valuable.

He already considered throwing several points into Mutation Rate straight away, preparing for his next evolution was important enough. But what about using the points for magic? His very backbone of survival in this place, every bit of magical power equated to a higher chance of survival. Finally, the Nexus sent a reply regarding his missions.

[Missions are still being selected, however one is available for viewing]

“May I see that one then?” He rolled his eyes, wondering why it even bothered asking.

[Title Evolution Mission 1: Collect 20 bloodlines, no limitations]

It was a rather vague mission, but he also found it extremely lenient. If he killed a few creatures every day, then a bloodline a day was entirely possible! Overall, one month to complete a mission felt rather short.

Dragons have ridiculous lifespans after all, he was prepared to spend years on each individual part!

Maybe the adjoining missions would prove a bit tougher. Overall, he saw this as the Nexus throwing him a bone, but in his state any help proved immense. Now he saw no reason to head outside besides occasional hunting and testing magic.

The Thermal vision spell still proved impossible to use as well, and until the Nexus discerned the problem he knew no better. Perhaps someone well-versed in magic could figure out the problem, but where would he find someone like that! Thinking of the city not too far away from his mountain he giggled to himself.

“Would they use me as a self-growing food source?” By this point he couldn’t help but be cynical about the situation, even if left disgusted by such a thought. He would rather die than let anything treat him like a snack.

If self-improvement magic failed, then he would go headfirst into offence! Some humans loved saying ‘The best defence is a strong offence’, and he would gladly listen to it. Humans did control a sizable landmass after all, how could they not know some strategy?

His first goal was to learn Telekinesis, a spell useful enough so that cutting apart his prey wasn’t a complete chore. Not to mention it made picking up things in general far easier. Dragging corpses around in the snow was hard for his weak body. But first came this delicious meal! The entire thought process, he repeatedly created flames to roast the snake in its skin, and now the individual bits all showed a clear browning. Waiting until they all cooled off, he went over to a small piece and picked it up.

Almost immediately a bloody taste filled his mouth, not to mention being rather… Earthy? He couldn’t pick out on the taste but having this snake wasn’t the most pleasant thing, still it beat the insects in taste any day. When chewing his mouth only compressed the meat slightly, but juices seeping through his mouth were more than enough.

Before long the small chunk of meat travelled down his throat and vanished soon after hitting his stomach. The expected notification arrived.

[Consumed Chill-bite snake! Assimilation Progress 33%]

Just a small bit of flesh already gave 3%! It was so much nicer than that tree! Without restraint the little dragon began gorging on meat, eating until completely filling up and immediately going to sleep right after.

And right after waking he continued to eat some meat, defrosting it first. By the end of this second helping he found another notification from the Nexus which pleased him.

[Consumed Chill-bite snake! Assimilation progress 100%]

Once more the warm sensation and weakness appeared, in fact so routine that he just lied down and waited things through. If he were to compare the strengths…

Obviously the snow gibbon reigned supreme, its bloodline the strongest thus far. Then for all the other bloodlines, he admitted that the crystal ice flower was somewhat strong, but far below the gibbon. None of the others stood out though, and he wondered just how powerful the winter’s hope tree was.

[Assimilated Chill-bite snake! 2 new bloodline directions potentially available]

The morning meal settled him for now though, and a small quarter still remained for later! But now came some other priorities, namely learning the Telekinesis spell!

Fortunately, two of the words of Telekinesis were from Push, which he already knew. It was intentionally made this way to ease hatchlings into, and before long he already chained together three of the words. The two words he already knew might have diminished this achievement, but he already saw the progress as a major stepping stone.

As the next four words were all new, he went back to the drawing board and practised them individually.

* * *

The world is a big and varied place, and that fosters vibrant, diverse cultures and species ruling the land aboveground… Below, there was a dense and infinitely branching, sprawling, set of deep tunnels which formed networks so vast they were not any less impressive than the ‘Above world’ as the inhabitants below called it.

And by far the strongest owners of this world were a species usually called ‘Eternals’ in the human languages, named as such due to their incredible lifespan at least four times greater than that of a human. Of the world’s major races, they naturally lived the longest, although some beast races possessed lifespans several times that of the eternals, but accompanied by other problems that impeded them from owning significant territories of the world.

In one of the many Eternal kingdoms, a group of the species stood in complete darkness, watching over a room behind them. Their leader’s room.

Where they stood was technically a corridor, albeit one made to be lit, instead being in its current state. It was decorated with fine works of art and sculptures used to break up the expensive, delicate stone tiles coating the floor and walls. This was a palace, a place where even the most ordinary-seeming object held covetable wealth to the masses. But here, it only deserved to be a decoration at most.

And as the leader’s doors slowly opened, they ground against the stone room’s tiles, deepening the white marks worn into them. A single eternal walked from the room and released his mana, instantly sending all those guarding to a kneel as they shouted out a variety of congratulations.

But one specific set of words resonated from all of them. “Glory to Signeum! Glory to Asharvad!” As the eternal’s mana finally died down, the guards were finally able to stand back up and stopped panting, this was merely a fraction of the power their leader could release… He was kind to them instead of truly showing his might.

“Who knows of my ascension to Great sage?” He spoke in a tongue weird to human ears, formed of many harsh sounds which grated on one’s ears, but this was not strange as any guards who replied also sounded strangely unpleasant.

“None, lord. We are the only ones who know of your sudden breakthrough.”

“Then, I suppose we should keep this matter hidden until an agreement is made.” He smiled in the darkness, more than capable of seeing his loyal guards. But eyeing one of them in particular. He said with a chuckle, “A bit of clean-up is also in order then.”

In the darkness, two pairs of eyes appeared above his head, the whites of both glowed slightly, whilst the piercing black pupils specifically focused one of the other eternals. A guard who previously appeared pleased by their leader’s growth froze in place, terror on his face only grew by the moment. And just a second later, his legs shattered into dust as a literal mountain of pressure crushed him.

He tried to raise his head up, now barely able to resist lying face down on the floor, and looked up to his leader. But there was no chance for him to talk as no sound came out regardless of what he screamed or shouted… Or begged.

“Did you think we didn’t know who betrayed us? Foolish boy, Ashavard’s punishment will put you in your place.” There was no resentment on his face, simply regret and shock. Not once had he obviously stepped out of line or helped the humans in any way, yet still they found out.

Darkness coalesced around him, forming into a blade which somehow emanated a darkness deeper than the surroundings, an impossibility made possible, and then it slashed out. Cutting right through his body and leaving it to fall to the ground as all resistance in his arms vanished.

But inside his body, a ball of light the size of his fist split into two before quickly dissolving into orbs of darkness, consumed entirely by the powerful magic.

None of the other guards spared a single shred of respect for the traitorous fellow, and bowed to their leader instead.

* * *

There was little else for the hatchling to do besides learning spells, and by day’s end he felt comfortable speaking all the words on their own. However, he knew that saying individual words is always the easy part, actually speaking is what made problems.

For example, while the Nexus knew precisely what he meant, half the words were distorted tones that no dragon would be capable of deciphering. The books said that it takes most hatchlings a year, which included their first growth phase, to reach a point of speaking most normal draconic words. Some nicher spells still required training.

This first year was known as a very specific term by dragons, the elimination phase.

Large numbers of hatchlings died in this time period, not due to overconfidence but primarily because their enemies were stronger and they didn’t grow fast enough. Or on occasion they were horribly unlucky.

Humans called the first half year of a dragon’s life the hunting period, its reasoning should be more than obvious. But this is not just limited to humans, many intelligent species loved to hunt newborn dragons for a chance of absorbing a draconic bloodline.

Therefore, dragons were unyielding about avoiding any intelligent species for at least one year, just enough to protect themselves. But how many dangerous humans actually come to such weak mountains? He felt rather secure here, for now at least.

* * *

Besides, by the next day he already successfully linked five words and triggered a mana reaction. His pronunciation was correct and only a little bit remained, yet there was so much to do. He absolutely had to focus on other priorities after this.

Prepared to spend a few more hours before sleeping, he heard some noises from outside the cave. Something large shifting the snow around wantonly, eager to be heard by him as well. A bit hesitant, he walked outside and prepared to create a flame at the first sight of danger.

Before long a sizable growling appeared. Not so much that it threatened him, but enough to ensure its aggressiveness made its way. Whatever lurked outside was in no way friendly, and he wanted to kill it before more trouble arrived.

Moving out faster, ready to cast a spell, he was surprised to see a large ferret. With a thick white and brown coat, somewhat blended in with the snow, he couldn’t believe that this ferret made that growl.

While not comparable to a wolf, it was still close to equalling him in size. Needless to say he didn’t place the creature in his eyes at all, and chances were that its bloodline merely contained a fragment of ice elements.

As it growled, its beady eyes looked behind at his cave. With intentions revealed he knew what it wanted, and instantly refused with aggression as well. As much as an ice-cream dragon could give off.

In his almost cute voice, he roared to the large ferret and said, “Take a step forward and I’ll kill you!”

Never! He would never give it up! This cave represented his greatest safety and hope! Only a fool would give up such a thing, and no way did an oversized ferret deserve this place!

And as it took a step forward… He held nothing back.