Akin to a dam breaking, the haziness clouding the red, black-feathered bird head washed away with a flood of clarity, leaving only the ecstatic feeling of its body and mind becoming ever more strengthened. The avian dragon did not even realize it. Still, even as its wounded and pained body was changing, it was cackling maniacally while its thin limbs ever so faintly filled out with some muscle, and its eyes became more vibrant with the light of intelligence.

[Why are you talkin' like that, my dude?]

"God damn my head", I gobbled and mumbled out of my narration. I felt highly embarrassed for my reckless actions before.

"Squak", A voice echoed in my ear from behind me. What the hell?

What the hell?

I turned and was faced with a bipedal reptilian-avian-like dinosaur monster like me. It has cranial skin; orange scales feathers with lighting colour blue stripes covering its body. It has three clawed fingers on its hands and three clawed toes on its feet, with claws protruding from its heels. It wears a rhinoceros beetle-like skull on its head. Its torso is covered with plumage, whilst the lower part of its body is covered by short, thick hair.

"Hiya!" The monster greeted. Ok, that voice is fire, thou... Face not so much.

"Oh, hey," I said back.

[You created a new skill.]

【 Dragon Provincialism (Wu) Dialect: Lv- 】

[Acquire the provincial dialect of the dragon race in the Wu Providence. When speaking, you'll be understood, even if your target speaks another dialect. But you won't understand the other regions. It also applies to writing and reading. However, you can't understand what they write.]

I was stunned at first that such a skill would appear when I just talk talked with some random female chick.

"Aight, girl." I'm pretty sure it's a girl. I don't know how or why I can tell. But somehow, I do.

She then looked at her own chest, where the same changes were occurring within herself. "Ok new friend!"

"Makin' alot'a of assumptions right now." I lamented and stared straight ahead. Kay show me the stats.

Status Screen

Name: Lianna

Race: Venom Cineres (Wu) Hatchling

Condition: Normal

Evolution Stage: Draconic 1 (10%)

Lv: 5/25

HP: 150/150

MP: 315/315

Attack: 20

Defence: 15

Magic: 21

Agility: 16

Rank : D-

Special Skills

【Special Venom: Lv —】【Poison Reticulation: Lv 6】【Ash Scales: Lv 1】【Komodo Jaw: Lv 2】【Dark Type: Lv —】

Resistance Skills

【Poison Immunity: Lv —】【Paralysis Immunity: Lv —】【Fire Resistance: Lv 3】 【Smog Immunity: Lv —】

Normal Skills

【Venom Fangs: Lv 3】【Venom Claws: Lv 2】【Paralyzing Venom Tongue: Lv 3】【Double Poison: Lv 2】【Great Antler: Lv 3】【Baby Ember: Lv 4】【Cure Poison: Lv 1】【Tail Crash: Lv 2】【Ash Breath: Lv 3】【Flight: Lv 2】

Title Skills

【Bizarre Gastronomist: Lv 1】【Poison Master: Lv 4】【Infighter: Lv 3】【 Street Fighter: Lv 4】

The beast nodded and smiled. "It's nice to meet ya too! I am a female Cineres dragon called Lianna; I saw you touch that shiny rock that killed many of my weak friends, and you did not die!"

I stare in shock at the female. She was level 5! She was at a higher level than me!

Soon another feeling made my heart stop for a moment. Why was this thot soundin' gurl Level 5, and I was only bloody Level 2? That was unfair. I wanted to be Level 5 as well! Fudge that! I don't want to be on the same level as her. I want to be way higher!

Lianna didn't seem bothered about my raging, though. Instead, she continued talking.

"Ya got a bright future, bud. Ya can grow up big and strong and eat all kinds of monsters!"

"Ok, what, just stop right there, Shawty", I shouted and clapped my wings together. "I ain't no follower. No way! And I ain't gonna be like you either. You're nothin' but an animal. So bye."

"Wait, new friend!" Lianna exclaimed. "Don't say that. I meant We are needing of each other to survive this world!'

Great, this girl seems to be so chirpy. "First of of all. How long were yer watchin' me?"

"I've been watching you since you hatched," Lianna answered.

"You mean since I was born!" I retorted.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean," Lianna replied.

FUDGE! Pyro Absorption is not doin' its goddamn job! Or I'm just terrible at the skill of not sensing this girl. I need to get my shit together, or I might die to somethin' that actually hostile. "Ok, that's not creepy at all," I said with much sarcasm as possible.

"No problem, friend!" It seems that sarcasm is lost on this chick.

"Second of all, I'm not a fan of you calling me 'friend.' I mean, I understand that we are both hatchlings and all, but still…."

"Then boyfriend?" Lianna asked, tilting her head sideways.

Yeah Nah.

"No thanks. I'm already taken." I bluntly told her. No way I'm headin' down that road. Doesn't matter; I'm no longer human so not smashin' beast girls is somethin' I ain't doin'.

"Ahh, sorry about that. My name is Lianna, by the way." Lianna introduced herself... Again?

[I believe in your world; you humans have speech of phrase. "Don't pipe down the crazy?"]

"What?" I was entirely caught off guard. "NO talkie system! And you, what da hell do ya want?" I pointed my left-wing at her.

"Oi, new friend." Lianna's tone was just as friendly as before. "Follow me!"

And just like that, the girl just dragged me against my will to follow her.

I wasn't having any of it. Before I could ruin her fragile feelings, her tail wrapped around my neck and pulled me along. I tried to resist, but she was just too strong, and I couldn't even fight her.

"Ugh, why is this happin' to me?" I groaned.

[Maybe you should just give up? It sounds like Lianna is enjoying herself! A girl is touchin' you!]

My brotha, are ya always this much of a prick!?

[My personality is based on my host... So ya! Fix your flaws if you want me to be more sociable.]

I ignored him when he spoke nonsense and all that bullshizz and kept struggling. If I let her pull me along, there was no doubt in my mind that she'd drag me into some trouble.

"Alright, alright, don't struggle," Lianna said. "We are here!"

"Here?" I asked.

"Yep! This is our home! Your home too, friend." Lianna stopped dragging me and released her grip on me.

I turned around and saw what appeared to be a forest area.

Like everything else in this world, it seems to be on fire or has smoke coming out of it. And in the middle of the flames was a giant tree!

Besides the chick next to me and that rat thing I ate. I never other any other creatures before. Then I saw the other hatchlings like me for the first time. Many of them were grouped together and wandering mindlessly through the ashen landscape. They stood out in the black background— their vibrant colours stood out in sharp contrast to the blandness of the landscape, making them almost seem inviting. But I did not approach. I was not havin' this shizz.

"This is your home for now," Lianna explained. "Just rest a little, and you'll be fine."

I was unsure what she meant, but I decided to not take her advice. Why cuz I'm leavin' that's why!

I watched in the near distance to see what they would do. There were all sorts of them— most of them like me. Avian but like reptiles with feathery plumes. A few of them had horns, tails and stuff. Some of them had horns and fur. One of them was even blue! Others had strange-looking patterns across their scales or hide.

One of them had black and yellow spots plates on its back. Another one had only a single eye on its face instead of the two I had, with a pair of long protrusions right above it. And another one had multiple small protrusions at the bottom of its body, wiggling and moving in a way that somehow made it faster than the rest.

I observed them as they wandered around aimlessly. They seemed to be looking for something, but I had no idea what.

But a thought came at like tiger woods wife. We were all the same, only slightly different. So was I then just like a dinosaur-bird with exotic colours?

Just like them. Absolutely no individual characteristics to me? Was I not special in any way? Somehow, the very thought of that terrified me and sickened me.

I wanted to get the heck from them all. But I couldn't. I had nowhere else to go.

After a while of observing them, I noticed that one of the hatchlings, a white-skinned avian-type with plumage covering its entire body, approached the group.

【Dragon (Status)】

The creature's appearance seemed to be quite similar to mine, except that it was bigger and had longer limbs and more powerful muscles. And it seemed to be even more aggressive than me.

[Wu Hatchling - Lvl. 1]

I found my entire body sagging, feeling the tension that once held me disappear. This sensation, it was… relief? I wasn't entirely sure exactly what it was, but I liked the feeling. It was nice. Nut, why is he bigger?

Geez, I don't know why but I feel better knowing I'm better than him.

That white hatchling— [Wu hatchling]?— or whatever it was, was evidently the same Species and Subspecies as me. Or what I used to be. I'm a wyrmling now... No idea what that means, and Liana here is also different. And yet, we were higher level than him. Yet he'd differed from the other hatchlings who all produced the same results. So there was a distinction between myself and the others. I was not the same manner but superior to them— just like I thought I was. And somehow, that thought calmed me down.

Wait that means…

I carefully approached the group of Hatchlings that had noticed me and were now just staring at me; some of them had a curious look on their face, almost as if they were waiting to see what I would do.

I got closer to them and began using【Dragon (Status)】 on each and every single one of them. Gotta see how I stack up.

[Wu Hatchling - Lvl. 1] That word seems to be going forever.

As I expected, none of them matched up to my current stats. The white one was clearly more robust than the rest of them, but his strength did not match up to mine. His defence was higher than the rest, but his attack and speed were lower.

I was just about to stop using my Skill, deciding that these fodder were all the same, when I saw the Hatchling that ACTUALLY looks like a fucking dragon take a step closer to me. I met her eyes and used【Dragon (Status)】1 on it.

【White Wyrmling: Lv 4】

Holy shit! She's way better than me!

"Hey, new friend!" The white dragon greeted me with open arms. She extended her wing towards me and took a deep breath, raising herself into the air.

Why are all the damn girls in this world so damn friendly to me?!

However, she seemed to pay no mind to my displeasure face and was instead taking by my tail in her maw, gesturing between herself and me.

She... wanted me to go with them? Also Lianna? What the fuck?

Black force energy is a go! But before I could even start my way of hurting feelings. I hear a roar from behind us.

"Stop right there!"

We both turned around and saw an incredibly large white wyrmling. He stood at roughly twice the size of the most prominent white Wyrmling that I had just checked out.

[Yeah, you did]

NOT LIKE THAT, MY DUDE!

He was much larger than any other creature I had encountered so far in this world. And even though he looked like a wyrmling too, he was far more muscular than any other wyrmling I ever saw.

And what did I say about talkin' system!

It was a random thought, but I wondered why it was alone? Also, why is it so big?

These thoughts made me a moment slower to notice the male white hatchling going towards the big male. He stopped right in front of it as it loomed over him. He tilted his head slowly and proffered one of his four limbs out—

And it crushed him...

I watched in awe as the white Wyrmling crushed the smaller Wyrmling in one blow! He was literally crushing him! With his goddamn limb!

Oh. My. God.

I stared in shock for a moment, still tryin' to process what da hell just happened. And I wasn't the only one. The others were as taken aback as I was.

The only thing that saved us from being immediately killed as well. Was the white-feathered bastard was changing right in front of us.

The large Wyrmling wriggled as it began to morph and grow bigger in size. That brief reprieve was what allowed us to finally react to this unexpected development.

At that moment, four others rushed to attack the white Wyrmling.

Now THAT'S some goddamn teamwork! Be the fodder that shields us.

The white Wyrmling was outnumbered three to one, but they didn't seem to care. I watched as the white Wyrmling swept aside the attacks with ease and then tore apart each of the attackers with a single swipe of his massive claws.

The white Wyrmling seemed to be getting bigger and bigger until it was easily twice the size of the other wyrms. Then, it continued to grow bigger and bigger and bigger until it reached a height of around the size of a dog.

I'm out. Grabbing the stupid Lianna and the other white chick, I dragged those ladies out there fast as my wings could carry us. We ain't sticking around for no reason.

I craned my head around as I did, just in time to see it catch and crush even more hatchlings in the air, no less.

It was faster than me too! For some reason, even with such a large body, it moved quicker than I was. Man, that is so so damn heinous. Why was

it so fast? Why was it so strong? I didn't know. I don't know—

Then, as if by instinct or by deduction, I realized why it was faster than me. It had a higher [Agility] than me. That had to be it.

Stupid stats system.

The bastard is using his points had to raise its [Agility]. And that was probably why it was its size too. One of its Stat points— either [DEF] or [ATT]— was also raised to make it bigger. Must be a species trait as well. The large Hatchling was about to catch up to me when I hurriedly recalled my Stats.

All 20 points into AGI! And instantly felt an odd sensation wash over my body.

My wings didn't grow larger, but they felt lighter, and my muscles didn't feel like they were straining anymore.

I was so surprised by the feeling of lightness that I almost fell from the sky cuz of the sudden speed increase. However, I wasted no time trying to accustom myself to my body and sped ahead. I flew past the other Hatchlings ahead of me, feeling relief knowing that I would escape with my life and with two girls on my back. That was until I heard the crunch that came from another Level 1 Hatchling being crushed by the large Wyrmling.

I stopped in my tracks and turned around. The big white dude is catchin' them like flies to roadkill. It was going to kill them all— none of them, except for the Level 3's, were going to escape. They were all goin' to die.

That didn't bother me so much. As long as I lived, why did it matter if they died? So I was okay with that.

If only everyone worked together, they might actually take down that monster.

In fact, one of the Level 2's, a green one this time, realized this. He realized they could not escape, and their only chance was if they banded together. So he tried to rouse the others to turn around and fight. But, nope... Green boy got killed real quick while the other just fled for lives.

Was I really like these other Hatchlings and Wyrmlings, runnin' like a coward from something I could beat? The mere thought of me runnin' from anything for like him makes me sick! And if I really wanted to be a boss— if I wanted to hit higher Level 2… no, Level 6 like it— I shouldn't be running away from a fight like this, should I?

So I stopped flyin' away from this large bastard and charged back at it. It was about to crush another Hatchling— the one with the colourful plates on his back— when I used【Rhino Rampage】 it, striking it across the face. The impact sent it flying through the air before landing against a tree.

It flailed about, and I knew it was stunned for a moment.

But it recovered quickly and charged towards me, ready to tear me apart. I dodged it and used【Rhino Rampage】 again, sending it crashing into a tree.

I lowered my altitude a bit and fired five feather daggers at him.

I tried to aim at the spots where I couldn't see any scales on his feathered body, but I still wasn't sure if it would pierce his hide. Surprisingly, three of my feathers did just that. You learn something new every day, I guess.

The rest of my daggers missed completely, but I didn't mind too much since I already knew this tactic wouldn't work. All I needed to do was

distract him for a bit, long enough for the other wyrms to get close enough to attack.

[Good strategy! It's always wise to have a backup plan!]

So I can be a nice guy once in a while.

While I was busy distracting the giant white wyrm, the hatchling with the plates decided to take advantage of my distraction and snuck up behind him. He closed the distance between them in no time and clamped his massive jaws onto the white wyrm's neck.

Seeing my chance, I threw five【Feather Daggers】for its check. This time my feather daggers are bigger than before. It must have levelled when I first used it.

I wasn't expecting any of my daggers to penetrate its skin, but one of them did just that. The dragon let out a loud screech as it suddenly released its hold on the green wyrm, stumbling backwards.

[Defeated [White Wymling- Lvl. 8]

[Abundant experience is awarded for defeating an enemy three times your level!]

[You gained four levels. In addition, you have been awarded 2 EP for never losing your pride.]

I did it! I levelled up four blood times! I...

Wait, why am I only Level 6? It was Level 8, right? I beat it! It was Level 8! Man, this is some bullshizz.

[Maybe you should save your disbelief and look at your evolution screen instead?]

I looked at my evolution screen, and it said:

[Your evolution meter is full. You have gained access to the Evolution menu. You can evolve now or wait and gather more evolution points.]

'Evolution menu'

[Welcome to the Evolution menu. Here, you can find any evolution available to you in the current stage. Don't worry; you can prolong your evolution as long as you want. But beware that when you decide to evolve to the next stage, it is recommended to find a safe place. This is because the evolution can take up to ten hours, and it will be easier to harm you during this time.]

Your EP: 8

Current Stage: Draconic 1 (100%)

Evolutions available to you:

-Dragonology | Cost: 1 EP

Take your first step towards becoming the strongest of the Dragons and unlock your full potential.

Passively increases all stats by 5%

Additional 10% to Max HP

Unlock the rest of the evolutions

- Armor (Weak) | Cost: 1 EP

Upgrade your skin, hide, or scales to withstand attacks from low-quality melee weapons and weak guns. Don't get your hopes up; you are still paper for anyone with a brain. This evolution can be upgraded further.

- Dragonskin | Cost: 1 EP

Exchange your current skin for that of a dragon.

10% less damage taken from all sources

- Predator's Eyes | Cost: 1 EP

Grants better vision and the ability to see in the dark. This Evolution can be upgraded further.

- Scales and Spikes | Cost: 1 EP

Exchange your feathers for scales and spikes. Really, why do you still have them?

5% less damage taken from all sources

New skills available

- Faster growth | Cost: 1 EP

You grow a bit faster. This evolution can be upgraded further.

10% faster growth speed

- Second pair of limbs | Cost: 2 EP

Gain your second pair of limbs (not including wings) and become a true Western Dragon.

Alright, colour me impressed. Even for the first stage, there was a lot to choose from. But I was curious about how my current evolutions compared to the others. So I chose the most expensive yet cheapest evolution, the armour.

[Faster growth], [Second pair of limbs], [Predator's Eyes], [Dragonskin], [Armor (Weak)], [Dragonology], [Scales and Spikes]

Total = 8 EP

Y/N?

I didn't even hesitate. I clicked on the 'Buy Now!' When I'm near land.

In the Volcanic mountain, the Dragon King, and the fire god of Wu province, smiled as he felt the hatchling that turned into a wyrmling.

Never before in his long life has he happened upon something so interesting. His sense and eyes can tell that his hatchling is something powerful. Born with that much mana, how could he not? Watching was amusing.

Much to his growing bewilderment, he also discovered that he couldn't see through its eyes or even attempt to control it. Maybe this was due to its possession of a demonic? Drung wasn't sure, but that would be remedied with time.

The King was tempted to take the new hatchling to his castle and see how it would act. But through the eyes of his fodders, he saw how the two-eyed hatchling acted like an intelligent being. Like a human...

Even more interesting was the scene in which it killed a young wyrmling. More than its level, no less.

After that little event, Drung definitely wanted to discover more about this little soul. He felt it grow stronger during the five days it lived in the Ashen Ironbark Forest. It would be easy to snatch it from the sky and cage it within his castle.

In the end, though, Drung decided against it, mainly because the hatchling seemed to sense his castle unknowingly and went; he did notice his castle from afar; it escaped as far as it could. He would admit that it was the first time in many years that he was left surprised.

The hatchling somehow knew what lurked inside the castle, and it feared him. That was good; if it feared him, then it would be easier to control. Moreover, any weapon would be helpful in his future plans.

Or at least give him a good fight.

He simply needed to wait.

"Mating with that Queen wasn't a bad idea after all."