novelraw Chapter 262: Adaptive Niche
Chapter 262: Adaptive Niche
Snow and wind scattered as they fell.
The massive white beast landed among the pile of little dragons, striking a superior posture as her arrogant gaze looked down upon her surroundings from above.
The young blue dragon maintained his composure.
"Self—"
The green wyrmling and black wyrmling instinctively wanted to express dissatisfaction.
But when they looked up and clearly saw Trixie's enormous body exceeding sixteen meters, feeling the bone-chilling winter aura rushing toward them, all words got stuck in their throats.
The two little dragons simultaneously retreated half a step, then both turned their gazes toward the red dragon Kahir.
This companion who had always displayed the most unruly behavior.
"White Scales?!"
Kahir indeed lived up to expectations as her scales bristled with anger.The discriminatory concepts rooted in her bloodline inheritance made her blurt out without thinking: "Mere White Scales, how dare you qualify as our nurturer?"
She deliberately emphasized the pronunciation of "White Scales."
Her draconic muzzle parted to reveal gleaming white fangs, sparks spraying from her nostrils that instantly vaporized the snowflakes falling on her scales.
Dissatisfaction, contempt.
Such emotions overflowed without any attempt to conceal them.
Hiss... Kahir remains as brave as ever.
The green dragon's pupils slightly contracted, his claws quietly scraping the ground as he shifted backward, placing the red dragon Kahir in front of him while subtly using his tail to nudge the black dragon.
As the race most skilled at assessing situations among the Five-colored Dragons, he had already foreseen the tragedy about to unfold.
As for the little gesture of nudging the black dragon, it was because green dragons naturally enjoyed influencing and controlling other creatures.
The black dragon reacted slightly slower, but with the green dragon's reminder, he also caught on, quietly retreating and joining the green dragon in placing the red dragon at the forefront.
At this moment, the white dragon Trixie did not immediately fly into a rage.
She first turned toward the red iron dragon Garoth standing quietly to the side, during which she completed a series of exquisite posture transformations: her folded wings perfectly flush against her sides, her raised head lowered by fifteen degrees, even her tail tip curled up meekly.
As naturally and smoothly as snow melting under the blazing sun, she completed her ecological niche adjustment.
Smooth, accomplished in one go.
The white dragon believed.
When facing a high ecological niche powerhouse.
Voluntarily lowering one's own ecological niche was always better than suffering the opponent's insults and blows before being forced to lower it.
[Dynamic Ecological Niche Theory]
[Second Key Point: When facing an absolute superior, proactive niche-lowering offers greater survival advantage than forced submission]
This was Trixie's thinking derived from the Dynamic Ecological Niche Theory.
She had already prepared to gradually refine this theory, then organize and integrate it to include in her future inheritance, or perhaps first use the surrounding little dragons as teaching subjects to help them comprehend the true essence of ecological niches.
Under the white dragon Trixie's gaze, Garoth didn't say much, maintaining an attitude of silent consent.
When his own younger sister Samantha had overestimated her capabilities while weak and provoked the large dragon, getting brutally beaten by the white dragon Trixie, he hadn't intervened in that process.
Now, with the red dragon Kahir being so provocative, he certainly wouldn't stop the white dragon's subsequent actions.
If the white dragon Trixie wanted to properly manage these little dragons, she first needed to establish authority.
Moreover, young dragons who couldn't recognize power disparities and spoke disrespectfully indeed needed some discipline.
Garoth's silent consent was like an unspoken decree.
The white dragon turned her head back, looking toward Kahir again.
During the turning motion, she raised her head and chest once more, her entire draconic presence rising steadily like a thawing glacier.
"Little whelp, say that title again."
The white dragon maintained an aloof and dangerous appearance, not angered but speaking to Kahir with a cold laugh.
"White Scales! White-skinned freak! White dragon beast!"
With each insulting word Kahir spat out, the muscles beneath her scales tightened further.
The pride of a red dragon made her completely fail to understand the meaning of assessing the situation.
The contempt for white dragons in her inherited memories now completely transformed into combat intent.
"The lowest dragon breed dares to—"
Whoosh!!
A blast of cold wind rushed forward, followed immediately by the white dragon's massive sharp claws slamming hard against Kahir's body.
Kahir didn't even have time to raise her defensive forelimbs before her entire dragon body was sent flying like a ragdoll, plowing a thirty-meter-long furrow in the snow.
All the wounds the young red dragon had barely healed completely ruptured, her scorching dragon blood sizzling and creating white steam on the snow.
"Lowly white dragon!"
The young red dragon roared as she struggled to rise.
Ignoring her injuries, her claws shattered the ground as she pushed off, her dragon wings flapping as her body shot toward the large white dragon like a cannonball. The white dragon merely stood still with a cold laugh.
As Kahir approached.
She extended her massive sharp claws, arriving later but striking first as she pressed against the young red dragon's neck, instantly interrupting her charge and pinning her to the ground.
Red dragons were indeed renowned for their strength.
However, one party was merely a young dragon while the other was a nearly two-hundred-year-old half-step adult dragon. The age difference was enormous, and the red dragon's strength simply couldn't bridge this age gap, especially since she was currently in severely wounded condition.
"Lowly white dragon, release me!"
Pinned down and restrained by the white dragon, almost completely immobilized, Kahir angrily shouted: "If we were the same age, you definitely wouldn't be my match."
Hearing these words, the white dragon only sneered.
"Heh... same age? I'll always be two hundred years older than you."
She looked down at the struggling Kahir, speaking with cold words: "Listen well, little red-skin, this world never gives you opportunities for fair duels."
"When you're eventually trampled beneath true enemies, when your wings are broken, when you're skinned and dismembered, when you suffer the ultimate humiliation—"
The white dragon Trixie's sharp claws slightly tightened, frost seeping through the scale gaps into Kahir's wounds, bringing piercing pain. She lowered her head, her dragon breath condensing into fine ice crystals near the red dragon's ear, her voice colder than the icy plains' bitter wind.
"—you'll understand that the first lesson of dragon life is always 'recognizing your ecological niche'!"
As if suppressed for too long.
Now finally having the opportunity to stand in a high ecological niche position to educate little dragons, the white dragon had to speak her mind, saying solemnly:
"Red dragon? Blue dragon? White dragon? In moments of broken wings and snapped horns, color is nothing but the cheapest epitaph! That bloodline inheritance you're so proud of—can it block a frost giant's ice axe for you? Can it let you take half an extra breath when dying?!"
"Learn to measure the gap between claws and fangs!"
The white dragon released the no-longer struggling Kahir, saying to her: "You can continue shouting 'White Scales are lowly,' but next time you say this, better make sure you're stronger than me first."
Broken bones make the best education.
Facing the white dragon's condescending reprimand, Kahir finally recognized reality and didn't continue her verbal provocation.
At this moment, the white dragon's gaze swept over all the little dragons present.
"When enemies are stronger than you, lowering your body is wisdom; when you're stronger than enemies, crushing skulls is obligation. The true essence of survival lies in adapting and changing between 'curling up' and 'tearing apart'—not like stupid red-scales, spraying laughable sparks at mountains!"
She said solemnly.
Silence, dead stillness, complete quiet.
Not just among the little dragons.
Garoth, Sorog, Samantha.
The Ignas three brothers, including the brass-silver dragon watching the evil dragon gathering from Scorchsteel Fortress, the faerie dragon watching the drama among flowers... all were shocked by the white dragon's words.
It seems... she really did comprehend some kind of life truth?
"Stupid red-scales?"
Samantha's low growl broke the silence, staring at the white dragon Trixie with an unfriendly tone: "White-skin, you seem to be getting carried away with yourself."