Heiyang’s POV:

Hmmmmmmmm…this is…shocking.

I am the father of the egg which now lies before me, resting from its consequences. The egg is a male, since me and my wife can tell my child’s gender from smell alone. More than two weeks after coming out into this world…and my son still lives. Usually, the eggs of Imoogis hatches around one or two weeks at most. The longer the child remains in the egg, the stronger he/she will become after hatching, which is because the yolk in the egg helps the unborn infant develop and grow, giving it immense strength and power and it is most crucial stage of its evolution. The mother would usually replenish the fluids in the egg by injecting her mana, since the egg’s crystal shell will reject any other forms of mana and energy besides its parent, unless it is pure and uncorrupted to a certain degree. This applies to true dragons as well, like I, though they take around two to three weeks to hatch after coming out into this world. There are no records of true dragons or Imoogis being born past that range of time…else if the unborn stays in too long, their body will self-destruct from over nourishment and its rapid development and die. No matter the species, too much of a good thing will eventually be bad, no matter the species.

Yet…my son is still alive in the egg past the two week mark, which is usually a sign of a failed unborn. The best any parent could do for the dead child is to…eat it, as the mana rich shell and sacred yolk will help with our development and evolution. Eating the egg while the child is still alive will not work, as the yolk and shell is attuned to the child’s mana, and if the child dies unnaturally in any way, the sudden disconnection will render the mana rich shell and sacred yolk inert, useless as water. The yolk will also be useless if it touches any foreign substances, including air, so it is fortunate that this fact exist, otherwise other races will continue to hunt both our species to extinction.

When Baoai, the Imoogi I’m betrothed to, revealed me her secret that our unborn child was still alive after its two-week mark, I was shocked. When a true dragon and an Imoogi decides to mate, mostly because mating with an Imoogi gives much higher chances of bearing children than mating with other true dragons, no matter what, the child will still be an Imoogi, though it will be stronger than the ones born from two parent Imoogis. We also do this mainly increase the number of true dragons in this world, since we possess methods to help Imoogis ascend to true dragons, without having to devour the heart of one. So a child from an Imoogi and a true dragon living past the two week mark is miraculous indeed.

Our unborn child is unique indeed…for incubating as long a true dragon’s. When I first came to inspect our child, I felt the presence of mana, one from a living creature for an instant. When I turned to see it, it was gone, vanished without a trace…which intrigued me. I quickly scanned my child’s nesting area with my skill, Abysmal Eye, and found no other living creature beside me, my mate, and…my son……

Ha ha ha ha…I can still remember my son’s frightened aura when it sensed my presence and tried to hide himself from me as much as possible *chuckling with warmth*. He was fighting back pretty well, and pretty skilled too, much talent and potential, so I decided to play with him a little. However, I found something pretty interesting in his soul when I used my divine skill…I sensed a foreign soul, a human one as far as I can tell. And I found he really is the mana presence I felt in the cave, and is definitely the same one Baoai encountered before. Baoai caused such a mess for nothing, injuring the servants and demanding the identity of the ‘trespasser’, though I will not tell, for her dignity’s sake until the time is right. I did tell Baoai of our son’s unique predicament, which shocked her and instilled her with curiosity, with some expectations for our son’s growth. Don’t know how he did it, but I will not pursue the matter further, since I like to be surprised for my entertainment *mischievous laugh*.

How the soul got there is beyond me, but it seems to be the result from a very high power with no ill-intent, as reincarnation is rare to the point of nonexistence in this world, around the one digits at most. I know since I also had the privilege to meet and inquire the gods on that matter, despite them and their…conflicts. I also sense…something more, but I decided to find out later after his birth. He seems scared of what we will do after we find out his secret, as he is unaware that his soul is being fused with our unborn child’s even now, slowly but surely. There is nothing we can do about it, even with my level of power and abilities, since souls cannot be divided back into two separate halves once the fusing starts, else the souls will fight each other to the point of death of the souls’ vessel if we even try.

What he was doing inside the egg is very interesting. He was trying to…train with his mana without us noticing, though he fooled Baoai, he cannot fool me. His efforts to even try was very entertaining, so I chose to let him train however he wants. He did not even notice I was feigning ignorance; that I allowed him to do as he wishes, although he did sense some disturbances on the matter.

I have plans for him after he hatches, and will some fun with him as well *evil smile*. I already informed our elder of my child’s unique situation and he seems intrigued as well, so he agreed to let him live amongst us as part of the community, with him enduring trials of course.

Although, what he did now is unexpected and surprising, even to me. I was spying on him secretly this time, with my skill Shroud of Shadow, hiding in the darkness around his nest. My son still have much to learn in detecting presences of others. He was manipulating the mana in the air, in the titan blood crystal, along with trying to absorb Qi…which is supposed to be impossible, especially impossible to move the Qi past his stubborn shell.

Imoogis may be strong, with the potential to have strength comparable to true dragons or deities, however they cannot manipulate mana besides their own unless they mature to a certain extent or evolve into a true dragon. Yet he accomplished it before the age of one…how miraculous…he may be worth raising after all. But what came after that is even more surprising, he is controlling Qi…which cannot be done unless Imoogis are set on the path of Qi and forsake their mana pool, and their bodies can only take one or other, and this concept applies to true dragons, deities, and Gods as well, although there are a few exceptions, however they were not recorded in history or lost in the sands of time. The method to harnessing the power of mana and Qi are unknown, and are extremely hard to accomplish even amongst the Gods. The way he is doing it…is quite primitive. From what I witnesses, he is trying to absorb both mana and Qi from external sources, and after several hilarious mistrials and succeeded, he…I do not think he knows how to cultivate, though is still trying stubbornly. Cultivating with mana is impractical, as it is extremely hard to manipulate and much slower to cultivate than Qi, thus, never cultivated and the possibility of cultivating mana was forgotten, even amongst humans and gods as the result.

To control and cultivate qi, for true dragons and Imoogis, one must form a specific soul core near their mana pool, to connect the Qi to the cultivator’s soul at the expense of their entire mana and their ability to use and produce mana. That way, they can cultivate their power, and ascend to higher levels, eventually evolving out their need for a soul core. The method to form a versatile soul core for both mana and Qi is unknown, as there are no monsters that can control both…is it because my son has a human soul? It makes sense humans can control both mana and Qi if given the chance, though they are very weak and incapable of utilizing them both, else they will most likely be destroyed in the process as the two opposing energies will ravage their bodies, torturing them inside for a long time, and no human can survive such torment and damage for a such a period of time. I once witnessed a human trying this personally, with the help of certain magic tools, and saw the human fail miserably resulting in an explosive gory mess. This is such an astounding revelation…

Back to my son though, he foolishly ate both the pure mana and Qi, and embraced the same fate as that human. I was about to intervene in an attempt to extract the energy, except…except…he was not trying to resist the process…instead he tried to…harmonize with the antagonistic energies…balancing them together by force despite the torment he is receiving. Incredible…the harmonizing took him some time, but it was successful in the end. He somehow balanced the conflicting forces with sheer will power and skill, making the energies cycle each other continuously, and permanently in the place where his soul core should be. He even managed to remain conscious throughout the entire ordeal. I will take note of this to the elder, and use what I saw as reference to improve my own strength.

It seems his training had paid off, resulting in his survival and breakthrough into new unexplored areas of strength…

He is now asleep, as it should be for all infants, unborn or born. I then exited the our son’s nest to happily inform Baoai of my good news, and to be hopeful for the future to come!