novelraw Chapter 57
Chapter 57
Aiden looked back. They were still gnawing on the Skyrazor's neck.
Should I bring them?
He decided to ask. If they came along, it would be a good chance to ask Azure a few questions.
“Hey, you two!”
Bianca and Azure stopped eating and looked up.
“Want to go stretch your wings?” Aiden's gaze was fixed on Azure.
“I wanna go!” Bianca chirped.
Azure paused for a beat. “…I will go too.”
Aiden's maw split into a standard draconic smile. “Good. Then remember to bring the viscera. We're going to swing by the river.”
Bianca and Azure looked at each other. The same thought was reflected in both their slitted pupils.
I don't wanna carry it!
“Aww, it's Azure's turn to carry it this time,” Bianca whined. “You tricked me last time.”
Bianca huffed, her snout in the air.
“Last time was last time,” Azure retorted. “Let's just split it again. Half and half. Like last time.”
Azure made her proposal. It was almost certain Bianca wouldn't keep her end of the bargain, but this was a perfect chance to test her newly awakened spell.
Azure's draconic lips curled into a smile. “Alright.”
Bianca's smile mirrored hers. “Okay, but you go first.”
With that, Bianca snatched the Skyrazor's head from the ground, stood up, and ran toward the cave entrance. Hmph! Azure tricked me last time. It's only fair that I trick her back this time!
Aiden continued to chew on his wing, his gaze sweeping over the desolate canyon below.
Crunch, crunch.
Another set of chewing sounds started up next to him. Aiden's right eye swiveled to the side. It was Bianca, gnawing on the Skyrazor's head.
Azure didn't get fooled? What happened this time?
Aiden looked back toward the cave. The young blue dragon had her back to them, facing the rock wall, carving a trough to hold the viscera. While everything looked normal, Aiden was certain Azure was plotting something. He turned his attention back to the happily chewing dragon beside him.
Seeing Aiden still looking at her, Bianca's cheerfully wagging white tail went still. She reluctantly offered him the Skyrazor's head.
“Want some?”
She had clearly misunderstood his stare. He glanced at the offered head. The skull had been cracked open, and most of the blue-colored brain matter had been slurped out. What was left was covered in a glistening, transparent layer of drool. If not for the excessive saliva, the gelatinous-looking brain might have actually piqued his appetite.
“I don't eat that,” he said. “By the way, what abilities did you awaken during your slumber this time?” he asked casually, returning to his wing. It was a known fact that with every advancement and slumber, a dragon would awaken at least one new ability.
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Hearing that Aiden didn't want any, Bianca's smile returned, and her tail resumed its happy wagging. She shoved her snout into the skull. With a loud slurp, the rest of the brain fluid was gone.
“One ability called Lightning Body and a spell, Ice Burst,” she said. “What about you, Aiden?”
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Ability: Lightning Body
Type: Innate Skill (Lightning)
Effect:
Greatly increases the user's resistance to lightning.Growth: Resistance can be improved by continuously absorbing lightning element.
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Spell: Ice Burst
Type: Elemental Spell (Ice)
Effect: Summons a cluster of ice spikes to impale a target.
Synergy: Power is significantly enhanced when cast in extremely cold environments.
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The knowledge instantly appeared in Aiden's mind. The Dragon's Heritage truly was an encyclopedia. Still, the abilities Bianca had gained didn't seem particularly good.
“My new ones are Flame Storage and Flame Pillar,” Aiden replied.
“Oh,” Bianca responded absentmindedly. She had only asked out of politeness and clearly didn't care about the answer. Aiden could tell from her reaction.
He glanced back again. Azure was now loading the viscera into the stone trough she'd made. It's almost time.
He tossed the last bit of his wing into his mouth. With a powerful beat of his wings, Aiden's claws left the ground, and his body soared into the sky. Seeing him take off, Bianca shoved the rest of the head into her mouth, spread her own wings, and gave chase.
Azure carried her trough to the cave entrance. In the sky above, the red and white figures had already shrunk to small specks. She unfurled her own blue wings.
...
A hot wind blew across Aiden's snout. He closed his eyes slightly. It felt good.
RAWR!
A roar echoed through the sky. Aiden angled his flight toward the sound. The white dragon was tumbling freely through the air, twisting into various poses and letting out a triumphant roar every now and then.
Aiden looked away from the frolicking Bianca and glanced behind him. The blue figure was catching up. He extended his wings, gradually slowing his flight. He had a few questions for Azure.
Seeing the red dragon ahead slow down, Azure immediately realized Aiden was waiting for her. She flapped her blue wings faster, picking up speed. Soon, the blue and red wyrmlings were flying side-by-side.
Aiden turned his head, his red eyes meeting her blue ones.
“You… have something you want to ask me?” Azure had sensed it back in the cave.
The Aiden in her vision nodded.
The Dragon's Heritage was a vast repository of knowledge, containing information on every conceivable topic. Records of epochs, hidden secrets, continental maps, catalogues of living creatures… it was all there.
But the intelligent terminal for this database was about as smart as a rock. It would only mechanically feed a dragon information about things it was directly looking at. To learn anything else, a dragon had to manually search the archives. Most true dragons would never bother. Laziness was a trait shared by all of their kind. Diligence and hard work were concepts utterly alien to dragonkind.
Though he wasn't very hopeful, he decided to ask anyway. “Do you know a way to determine if this place we are in is the main plane?”
The irregular feedback from his summoning mark had made him suspicious. The day and night cycle of the continent of Aethelgard was unified under the influence of the First and Second Crown. Such a large time discrepancy shouldn't be possible.
Azure's blue pupils contracted. “You suspect we are not on the main plane?”
Aiden nodded. “Yes. Do you have a method to confirm it?”
“I do.”
“A seven-star attack could forcibly tear the dimensional fabric of a sub-plane.”
While he was surprised she had an answer, her suggestion was outrageously reckless. Aiden silently lifted a claw.
Sensing the gaze from the red eyes beside her turning hostile—he was going to hit her!—Azure quickly continued.
“Also, most sub-planes do not have mystic beasts. We can use that for confirmation.”
Mystic beasts were a ferocious and cunning race that existed only on the continent of Aethelgard. They had no heritage or civilization. Unless another intelligent race intentionally introduced them, mystic beasts would not appear on other sub-planes.
Aiden slowly lowered his claw. “Is that the only other way?”
“Those are the only two methods I know,” Azure said.
Aiden nodded. “I understand.”
He let his claw drop completely. This is going to be a problem. This desert was already sparse with life. Not finding a mystic beast could just be a normal occurrence. The method wasn't very applicable here.
In theory, on Aethelgard, mystic beasts should be as common as weeds in the wild. If they were in a forest, they could just fly over a few mountains. If they didn't find one, they could be almost certain they were in a sub-plane.