The bard fantasized again.

Chapter 88 What Dragon? (Seeking first subscriptions of 4,212,000)

[Damn Kuru, you know I've been coveting its 'ancestor' for a long time, don't you? How dare you hide such a huge thing from me?]
If I hadn't seen it kowtowing to the stone egg like a priest on my way back from taking a shower, I would never have imagined that one day this cowardly dog-headed man would be more devout than the drunken Father Lynn!
Have you ever seen a chick pecking at rice? It looks something like that.

It only knelt and worshipped secretly at night, and I almost got fooled.

So I punished it severely—

You enjoy reading and learning, right?
Watch me confiscate your spellbook and kick your reading addiction!

It quickly begged for mercy and shared everything about the egg with me...

"You mean, in fact, this stone had already shown signs of movement five days ago—but you were afraid I would take it away and replace you, so you didn't dare tell me?"

Looking at the kobold kneeling before him, its eyes filled with tears, gazing pitifully at the confiscated hardcover spellbook in his hand, Tang Qi snorted coldly.
"Why would I steal your right to serve your ancestors if I have nothing better to do?"
The reason I'm angry is that you're far too wary of our team and have absolutely no trust in us!

Kulu quickly wiped away his tears and tried to prove himself by shaking his head:

"Kuru, no!"
Trust, teamwork!
Tang Qi is the best!

"As long as you know."

Tang Qi muttered,

"After all, I might be your great-grandfather someday. That is, if it really is a female dragon..."

"Rua?"

"Ahem, in any case, punishment is unavoidable. I've also confiscated Nova's spellbook. Let's see if you dare to do it again."

As Tang Qi spoke, he threw the spellbook into his dimensional bag.

It's not about forcibly weaning Kuru off his reading addiction.

Rather, this kobold was simply too fond of learning; he would even study spell formulas while eating.

However, this is an activity that consumes a great deal of mental energy.

More than twenty days and nights of tireless work left it utterly exhausted; its brownish-red scales had become dull, and even its eyes had lost their luster.

This is by no means a normal learning process, and Tang Qi can only intervene manually.

The dog-headed man reluctantly lowered his ears, and his thin tail dragged helplessly on the ground.

Tang Qi didn't care about any of that; his gaze was fixed on the 'stone' that Kulu had moved into the moonlight to be illuminated.

To be honest, it can be described as simple and unpretentious.

It's not big; it's about the size of a small Kuru, big enough to be completely encircled.

Although it is oval and flat, the texture appears rough.

The irregular patterns look more like depressions formed by the erosion caused by the moisture in the grotto.

If it weren't for the fact that it was indeed trembling under the bright moonlight, Tang Qi would probably have thought that Kulu was too rigid in his studies and had developed some strange, delusional disorder that made him unable to distinguish reality.

"So who knows what we should do after the dragon egg hatches? Welcome, food, or diapers?"

Tang Qi looked at the pebbles and the morning light beside him.

"You've lived long enough, have you ever read similar records? For example, 'The Postpartum Care of the Mother Dragon'?"

"Excuse me for correcting you, my lord."

The plate armor of Chenxi clanged, and as soon as he raised his hand, he met Tang Qi's scrutinizing gaze. He quickly changed his words.
"I—I haven't lived long, I've just been dead for a long time."

She was just a legendary human being in her lifetime, and even her life was so short that she only lived half her life.

Tang Qi asked unwillingly:
"With the Golden Kingdom being so glorious, how could there be no records of dragons?"

"Maybe there are, but I'm sure I've never seen them."

The dawn answered with certainty.

"Otherwise, this would be an unforgettable chapter in my life."

Tang Qi could only sigh and look at the rubble:
"how about you?"

"What are you looking at me doing?"

"Didn't you say that because it 'makes tall people bow their heads,' the cave is more like the work of dwarves?"

"Since it's a dwarf mine, you must know something about it, right?"

Gravel shook his head, hands on his hips:
“I know it’s a dwarf mine.”

"..."

Hey, don't look at me like that!

If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have even been able to tell it was a dragon egg!
The biggest thing I've ever seen in my life was the Northern Giant's—and that was only the size of a bowl.

"So giants are oviparous creatures?"

"viviparous."

"Then what did you see—"

Wait a minute!? I'm more curious about how you saw it than its size!

"Anyway, I've seen it before!"

"It's actually the same size as your head?"

"roll!"

Shattered Stone snorted coldly and stopped answering him.

He can't very well say that when Ironforge clashed with the giants, he looked up at their crotches, can he?

Who knows how much more ridicule I'll get from that foul-mouthed person!

"According to the original schedule, we should have arrived in Longjin City before the day after tomorrow."

But allowing a potential dragon offspring to be born in such a crowded and intrusive place is probably not a wise choice..."

Before me lies a strange, unhatched species, and considering that the dragons of this world have long since vanished...

The unexpected turn of events forced Tang Qi to change his plans.

"Why don't we just sell it?"

The suggestion was made by the gravel.

“‘A treasure that can’t be kept is a menace.’ If someone sets their sights on it, even if you manage to keep it, you’ll end up with a lot of filth!”

“You’re right, if it weren’t a dragon.”

"Is the dragon that important to you?"

"You do not understand."

Tang Qi shook his head.
"If I could bring a dragon back to the academy, those bards might just lift my feet just to catch a glimpse of it."

"Then how can you guarantee that once it hatches, it won't beat us up and make us fawn over it?"

"The fledgling dragon needn't be afraid, right?"

"Damn it, where do you get such confidence—that's a legendary creature!"

"We also have legendary paladins, legendary poets, and legendary warriors, don't we?"

The gravel blinked, coughed twice, and straightened its back:
"That doesn't seem to be a problem."

Chenxi gripped the broken sword at her waist tightly, seemingly looking forward to the challenge that was about to begin.

Only Kulu looked miserable, feeling that he was not respected.

"But we can't just stay in the forest and wait for it to hatch, can we?"
What if it takes another year or two before it's born?

"Wait a minute, there's no rush."

Tang Qi stroked his chin, analyzing the information available to him.
"Kuru heard its call long ago. This means that most of the incubation period has actually been spent in the kobold cave."

Five days ago, it had already shown signs of unusual activity, and now the tremors are becoming increasingly intense...

Maybe it'll hatch soon?

"Click——"

As Tang Qi muttered to himself, a crisp, delicate sound simultaneously rang in their ears.

The group quickly looked in the direction of the sound and saw that a small crack had appeared on the surface of the 'stone' that was bathed in moonlight.

The gravel slammed hard against Tang Qi's buttocks:
"Get lost! That rotten mouth of yours, could it really have been plucked from a crow?!"

"Let me reiterate—please don't mistake reasonable analysis for jinxing!"

Tang Qi quickly held the lute on his back in his hands so that he could immediately start singing a song in case of any unexpected situation.

At dawn and amidst the rubble, they simultaneously drew their weapons and prepared for battle.

Only Kuru suddenly knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly like a pecking grain of rice. Tang Qi pondered for a moment, then slammed the lute in his hand hard against the back of its head.

"boom!"

"Rua!?"

The kobold stared wide-eyed.

Tang Qi, cunning!
Team, should, trust!
Why? First come, first served! How despicable...

After a cry of pain, the kobold collapsed to the ground.

"Don't blame me, Kuru."

Given the historical ties between kobolds and dragons, if a conflict were to arise, it might even switch sides.

Tang Qi could only minimize the risks first:
"I did this because I trusted you."

At the same time, he held his breath and observed the crack, quietly waiting for the 'stone's' next move.

"Buzz, buzz—"

The stone suddenly began to tremble.

Surprisingly, it seemed to be nothing more than a tremor.

Life residing within a stone must be extremely weak, which caused it to lose the strength to break free after creating a tiny crack.

Now it can only swing back and forth inside the eggshell, making the 'stone' appear to be swaying left and right.

After wobbling back and forth a few times like a roly-poly toy, it returned to calm.

Tang Qi guessed that the life inside was trying to rest and regroup.

Sure enough, it started shaking again not long afterward.

Then it stopped again.

After several attempts, the 'stone' began to vibrate rhythmically.

Upon closer inspection, however, it was discovered that the crack remained unchanged, and not even a single fragment had fallen off.

"How about...we help him?"

The gravel was getting impatient.
"If we let the little thing inside keep causing trouble, it could take a month or two!"

He was about to step forward and smash the eggs when Chenxi grabbed the iron bull horn on his helmet:
Please don't do that.

Shattered Stone straightened his helmet, turned around to look at the dawn, and felt extremely annoyed.

He definitely still prefers Kuru a little more.

That way, I could only grab his shoulders.

Chen Xi calmly explained:

"When I first embarked on my glorious journey, hunting a man-eating griffin atop a valley, I paid special attention to their survival habits—"

Its offspring, just as we are witnessing, were unable to hatch for a long time due to their weak bodies.

Out of pity, I tried to help it break free of the eggshell so that it could breathe more easily.

But the result was that, just half an hour later, it lost its life.

The process of hatching is a natural survival instinct. They struggle and work hard to adapt to the environment, thereby promoting blood circulation and the development of organ functions.

Unauthorized interference with the birth of life will only result in irreversible damage.

"Damn, that old guy Markwin seems to have said something similar..."

Shattered Stone scratched his head, but his mind was hardly capable of holding knowledge beyond fine wine and construction.

"By the way, I finally succeeded in defeating the griffin, bringing peace to the village below the valley."

"..."

Shattered Stone looked up at the faint black mist emanating from her helmet, which seemed to signify a hint of pride.

only--

"I didn't ask you that?"

Shattered Stone blinked and couldn't help but say.

The surging black mist exploded with a "bang," sending her helmet soaring into the sky.

Chenxi was furious.

Tang Qi quickly caught her helmet and put it back on her empty 'head', comforting her:

"To think you could single-handedly defeat a griffin at the very beginning of your adventure, Dawn, you're not to be underestimated."

The black fog visibly subsided.

Tang Qi couldn't help but kick the dwarf—

Fortunately, she can be appeased with just a few compliments.

Otherwise, he didn't want to see team conflicts erupt before he even stepped through the gates of Longjin City, creating such a chaotic scene.

Shattered Stone yawned and was about to walk back to the camp:
"Then you can stay here and wait for it to be born. I'll escort Catherine into the city tomorrow if necessary. I'm so sleepy!"

"Wait, I have an idea."

Tang Qi grabbed the rubble and, watching the rhythmically swaying 'stone egg,' suddenly said,
"Since we can't interfere with it, why can't we try to let it gather its strength on its own?"

"how do you want to do it?"

The gravel quickly realized that he had asked the wrong question.

As Tang Qi swept down a chord, it reminded him of the infuriating curses he had hurled at the time, and he began to pray for the little life inside the shell.

But unexpectedly, the piano music suddenly became rapid, and Tang Qi's singing also became passionate and stirring:
"Stand up! Stand up!"

I understand you feel exhausted and helpless.
Believe in the power that flows in your veins.

Damn! This foul-mouthed bastard was definitely trying to insult me ​​on purpose, wasn't he?
How do you change your target and then your words become less harsh?

The intense music and songs, seemingly penetrating through that narrow crack, intensified the shaking of the 'stone'—

[Poet's Inspiration] is not about amplifying the target's power with magic.

Instead, it is through the inspiration of music that his original potential is unleashed.

Since it's all from its own power, it should be able to help it better perceive these 'survival instincts'...

"It seems to be working?"

The stone rippled out in surprise.
"But it's not enough!"

Without hesitation, Tang Qi continued singing:
"Stand up! Stand up!"

Leave behind the cramped and narrow space before you.
You will soon have your own stage to shine!

"Ouch——"

A clear, low murmur, echoing like a trembling sound from within a canyon, resounded in the ears of the three.

The 'stone' in front of them cracked even more, and the originally delicate cracks grew wildly like roots digging into the soil due to the violent tremors.

A faint, purplish light shone through the crack...

"Be prepared!"

Tang Qi immediately gave the order, but in his heart he was pondering the significance of this light—

Given Kuru's reddish-brown skin, Tang Qi initially thought that the dragon egg would house a red dragon that loved lava and flames.

Considering the cold and gloomy atmosphere of the cave where it exists, it could also be a more sacred silver dragon, or a frigid white dragon...

After all, the bloodline of the kobolds has been diluted, and their skin color cannot represent the ancestral scales.

But all of this was shattered by the eerie purple halo.

He couldn't sense any specific aura, only that this purple hue was eerie and mysterious, like a deep vortex that threatened to draw his eyes and soul into it...

"Damn, this is so weird. It can't be some kind of [monster], can it?"

I've never heard of any "monster" that can mimic a dragon's might, especially an oviparous creature..."

"Click——"

The light seemed to strike the cracks, causing the eggshell to shatter suddenly amidst a low growl and shaking!
From the broken crevice at the tip, a magnificent purple lizard raised its noble and elegant forehead.

Tang Qi exclaimed in surprise:
"Is it an Amethyst Dragon?"

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(End of this chapter)