Actually, when the last Black Dragon asked her for this egg, Christina didn’t know that both the Black Dragon and the egg would leave her hands for good. Whenever she came to see the dead egg, she felt deep regret.
She tried to take care of the egg, even after the death of the Black Dragon on the battlefield, but those days were filled with the disappearance of any hope, as the egg itself also withered away. But now, it was different.
The warmth of the baby’s body felt in her arms. The sound of a small breath. Christina felt a deep sense of gratitude in her heart.
“No matter what happens, I will help you become a strong and noble dragon.”
“I never thought I would be born… Thank you for giving me life. Baby.”
Her sincere words, although sporadic, filled the heart of Imugi with a strange sense of warmth and affection.
“Just being born and yet being thankful… Is that what she said?”
Imugi twitched and tried to wriggle out, but then gave up.
“How awkward…”
He had never heard anyone thank him for being born in his life. It didn’t feel unpleasant, to say the least. It was rather tingling and pleasant.
Imugi also felt a deep and gentle affection from Christina.
“It’s hard to keep doubting even after hearing words like that. And I have no reason to lie to a child who doesn’t even understand the words.”
In a sense, he felt a slight burden from the fact that he wasn’t the true owner of the body.
“It’s highly likely that the original owner is dead.”
As he pondered, he finally settled and nestled comfortably in her arms.
“Building up favors is a necessary quality as a divine being.”
With his tiny nostrils, he exhaled and gently patted Christina’s neck with his short arms.
“Kku. Kkuu, ngeup.”
“Ahem. I don’t know what it means, but it’s not your fault, so cheer up.”
Christina’s eyes widened slightly as she watched the baby’s actions.
“Could it be that you’re comforting me?”
“Ngueut.”
To reduce the awkwardness, she replied with a poker face, but she burst into a clear laughter.
“How did such a cute baby come out?”
“Ngueu? Ngueu!”
“I didn’t do it to be cute. I just wanted to let you know that there’s no need to suffer inside.”
It was a calculation based on the fact that the state of the person who should help Imugi was good, rather than being exhausted or bad.
However, Christina smiled and embraced the blushing Hatchling in her arms.
“Thanks to you, I feel better. I’ll rely on you from now on, my baby.”
“Ngueu!”
“Yes, I’ll rely on you.”
Christina found the sound of the baby Hatchling’s firm response cute and gently stroked its head.
Imugi felt quite embarrassed about someone patting his head and was even more awkward about sharing intimacy with others.
“D-damn it. My face is getting hot.”
Due to the overwhelming embarrassment that surged from within, a sound of “snort” came out when he breathed.
Despite being small and young, he felt a pang of conscience as he was being comforted by a divine being, even in his right mind.
“Let’s stay calm. She only helped me. There’s no need to think of her as a bad person. She’s strong too.”
It was an effort to rationalize.
Of course, most of it was true.
In the softness felt clearly within her embrace, there was hidden strength.
An overwhelming aura that had been polished and stored.
He felt a stronger presence than his original self.
“If someone like this is on my side, it will be very useful for survival.”
Moreover, since he seemed to owe a debt to the original owner, it was not bad to show kindness to such a person.
Suddenly, he looked in the direction of the inscription and made a vow in his own way, carrying the sense of justice for the deceased child.
“I’m grateful to you for giving me this life. May you rest in peace.”
As he held that thought in his heart, he contemplated practical issues.
Even though he didn’t know how he managed to be reborn with memories of his past life, he vividly remembered the moment he died.
“I must not die again due to the same mistake.”
Kook. Even though it was now his heart that wasn’t pierced by a spear, a painful feeling surged.
Imugi involuntarily curled his front paws tightly.
The pain of his soul being torn apart.
It was a shock he never wanted to experience again.
“At least not in this life.”
He tightened his fist, putting strength into it.
“I won’t helplessly die like that again.”
Thinking about it again, a sense of injustice rose from the tip of his tail to the top of his head.
It had only been a year since he had lived for a thousand years.
When he was able to ascend and become a Divine Dragon, he was killed.
The anger and injustice he felt when he lost everything, holding onto the only hope, pulsed throughout his body.
Episode 4: The most unexpected Hatchling I’ve seen.
The resoluteness that didn’t seem childlike shone in his eyes.
“I will become so strong that no one can hurt me.”
Instead of innocent and sparkling eyes, a gaze with a touch of coldness fell upon him.
He made a vow, promising not to repeat the same mistake, and tightly clenched his fist.
“I will become so strong that no one can touch me. If I can use anything to my advantage, I will.”
Christina, who didn’t see his cold expression, cast a teleportation spell.
Leaving the spot where she had been alone, it was the first step toward the world the child would experience.
A month had passed since Christina’s Lair. During that time, Imugi had adapted to the fact that he had become a Hatchling, the infancy of a Black Dragon. At first, he crawled clumsily and then fell asleep as if he were crazy tired, only to wake up in a crib.
In fact, it was mind-boggling to him.
“To not even notice the slightest movement while sleeping?”
He trembled at his own vulnerability.
As someone who dealt with energy and trained his power, it was absurd.
Regretting for a few days, he eventually accepted his instinct.
“It’s natural when considering that I’m young. It’s not me who is like that. It’s this body.”
…Well, it was closer to denying reality.
Nevertheless, Imugi, who believed that the mind controlled the body, focused on absorbing the pure energy around him and building up his strength every day.
In the process, he discovered something strange. If in the past, energy gathered in his lower body, now even when he breathed, magic power gathered in his heart.
“At first, I thought something was wrong with my body.”
After seeing Christina use magic a few times, he realized that it was natural.
He even secretly practiced a few things when Christina wasn’t around.
Magic that cleansed the surroundings, moved objects, and created cool water, among other things.
It was small but useful power.
Since then, Imugi had been focusing on gathering magic power in his heart and artificially collecting energy in his lower body.
“It’s a shame that the hard-earned energy bead is gone, but this is not bad either.”
Through training his heart and lower body, he naturally accumulated strength.
He started creating a new energy bead, knowing that it would take time.
Furthermore, this place was unlike any other place Imugi knew, with the purest mana.
Through Simbae, he absorbed the power and once again marveled.
“To be able to accumulate this energy, completely pure, in a body without impurities.”
His mouth and tail naturally curved upwards.
The process of selecting and gathering the purest energy used to take several days.
But here, it was unnecessary.
Thanks to that, Imugi, a one-year-old Hatchling, acquired both magic and physical strength faster than other Hatchlings.
Although everything was satisfying, there was one thing that recently bothered him.
“Some strange watcher-like creature has appeared.”
Imugi pretended to be asleep, but he would sneakily open one eye and look at the side where the white light floated.
At first glance, it seemed like an ordinary light.
[ㅇㅅㅇ]
Sometimes, it would form strange symbols or expressions with the light, a being summoned and stuck by Christina due to her concerns.
It looked harmless, but he could clearly feel its gaze.
“It’s becoming a nuisance.”
It was fine to have a bit of frustration since he couldn’t go outside yet. Time was sufficient, and he considered it part of his training.
There were limits to expressing himself in language, using terms like “underdeveloped oral structure”?
It was a bit frustrating, but he was gradually getting used to it.
The effect of that unwanted guest created by Christina’s concerns.
“Because of that guy, I can’t have noticeable physical training.”
Even though he saw himself, his body was that of a chubby Hatchling with smooth scales and chubby flesh.
To develop muscles, he had to keep moving his arms and legs, but that pesky creature would flit around and playfully circle around him like an annoying puppy if he tried to lift him while keeping his belly on the ground.
Whether he liked it or not, even if he sweated and trained his muscles, he would disappear and come back with Christina, who said she was hurt, to put him back in the crib.
“Damn it. It’s not like losing a bit of flesh will matter if I’m training.”
But if he showed himself training autonomously in front of Christina, it would seem strange.
“Having a body that grows every day should be a good thing, but it’s ridiculous to be teased for such a reason.”
As the time for growth approached, his idle time increased, and he sighed with regret.
Eventually, as the time for proper training decreased, his complaints piled up.
“I need to come up with a countermeasure. I can’t keep living while being wary of that pesky creature.”
The situation where a Divine Dragon who had lived under the heavens was pretending to sleep while a mere flickering firefly watched him was absurd.
It would be much better to have a proper opponent to fight. This situation was unbearable and frustrating.
“I guess it would be easier to fight against an enemy wielding a weapon.”
Sigh.
He lay comfortably in the spacious crib and sighed.
“But at least my inner strength is steadily increasing.”
He raised one corner of his mouth and gently stroked his chubby belly with his short hands.
Although he said that, he didn’t neglect the training of building up his inner strength and gathering magic power as well.
“Where is the seed ofmy Energy Core that I created properly?”
The seed of an Energy Core, which was used to create a Energy Core.
Pure mana that encompasses the heart.
The process of creating the driving key that allows the manipulation of mana in the world.
“With this, I can begin to use this power, stronger and richer than the original world, to my advantage.”
Imugi’s ambition to become a being that surpasses his limits as an Imugi resurfaced, making his heart beat faster.
“Kyuwook!”
“…Damn it.”
Caught up in excitement, he unintentionally shouted his battle cry, and an immature sound came out.
“I thought it was due to underdeveloped oral structure… Maybe practicing will solve it faster?”
Since he had nothing else to do anyway, he attempted to practice his pronunciation.
“Kyu! Gya! Ggwiuk-!”
Somehow, it seemed like that flickering light creature was snickering at him, and he earnestly made sounds.
“Kyuwook. Pyuppyu. Pyyuppaebbuppoo.”
His face turned red, but he did his best to cry out.
“Kyuahh!”
Thud.
Rather than putting in effort, he collapsed in place due to mental exhaustion from embarrassment.
“Argh! Why do I have to do this?”
