I, Valon, am frantically searching for my mother.

Throughout the 36000-year recorded history of the dragon race, the birth rate of dragons has remained consistently high, thanks in no small part to Tiamat, the five-colored dragon mother.

Because she invented the White Dragon that year.

Inventor: Tiamat, the Mother of Dragons

Invention Project: White Dragon

We still don't know what Daenerys Targaryen was thinking when she invented the white dragon.

How did you research this thing?

Eat when you're hungry, drink when you're thirsty, sleep when you're tired, and start having babies when you're bored.

This racial designation, which is naturally suited to mass production of troops, undoubtedly greatly increases the overall birth rate of the five-colored dragons.

If this terrifying birth rate were in Wayne's previous life in China, it would probably have already caused the neighboring country of Great America to have its ashes excreted.

However, the reality is that despite such an excellent birth rate, the total number of five-colored dragons... is actually just so-so, far from reaching the point of a dragon's mouth exploding.

One important reason for this is:

The white dragons only care about having children and never raise their young.

It's unclear whether the white dragons were collectively bewitched by some external dragon force or secretly received a "laid-off fund" sponsored by the dragon god Bahamut, but the white dragons' investment in raising their children makes them the ultimate "laid-off kings" among the five-colored dragons.

For dragons like red dragons and black dragons, although the parenting period is short, at least the cubs can see their parents when they hatch.

But the White Dragon is much more powerful.

This is no longer a question of "Where did Dad go?", but rather a situation where neither parent has seen the child since birth.

After completing the rituals of "great harmony of life" and "laying an egg," the White Dragon's parents often go their separate ways and forget each other in the vast world.

That nest of dragon eggs, bearing the "fruits of love," was randomly laid in some ice hole, snowdrift, or a slightly hidden rock crevice.

And then... that was it.

This extraordinary parenting setup, where the biological parents are practically strangers, naturally led the white dragon cub into a situation where it was born but not raised by a mother.

Therefore, for the white dragon cubs, wandering is not an option, but a harsh reality of survival that they must face from the moment they hatch.

In addition, the white dragons possess the innate intelligence of Fan Xiaoqin...

This means that the survival rate of white dragon cubs is destined to be less than ideal.

The white dragons that managed to survive and struggle to reach adulthood were almost entirely due to their terrifyingly high birth rate, which created them by sheer numbers.

Of course, even the white dragons that manage to reach adulthood mostly still follow that set of survival logic ingrained in their instincts, a logic so simple it's almost appalling:

Eat, drink, sleep, CCB, lay eggs, and then the cycle repeats.

Daphne, however, is an outlier among them.

Her "abnormality" can perhaps be traced back to her parents.

Daphne's parents were not the kind of ordinary white dragons who "had a one-night stand and then went their separate ways".

They came from the same nest of dragon eggs and are blood-related siblings.

From a human ethical perspective, Daphne's family background would probably be a suitable location for filming scenes from Yosuga no Sora.

But for the White Dragon, this is actually... a kind of normal situation.

After all, when a nest of white dragon eggs hatch in the same cold and desolate place, with no adult dragons around to protect them, what can these newly arrived, ignorant and hungry cubs do besides instinctively huddle together for warmth and lean on each other?

Facing wind and snow together, avoiding predators together, learning to hunt together (if they could)... the bond forged in their struggle for survival in such extreme conditions naturally developed into a close relationship as adults.

Perhaps it was because of the special relationship between the parents that she appeared different from the other white dragon cubs from the moment she hatched.

Her eyes no longer held the typical blank, bewildered look of Bai Long, but instead held a hint of observation and curiosity.

While Daphne's speed in learning hunting and survival skills still couldn't compare to that of the "child prodigies" like the red and blue dragons, it was already considered incredibly fast among the white dragons.

If we had to quantify it, Daphne's intelligence level would be roughly equivalent to that of a human child aged 8 to 12.

For a white dragon that would only reach the level of normal human intelligence when it is close to the age of an ancient dragon, this is practically the Einstein of white dragons, a super genius who finds calculus as easy as drinking water.

But precisely because of this, this innate intelligence, far surpassing that of her kind, brought newborn Daphne not blessings, but rather an unprecedented, cold helplessness and loneliness.

She was born in a snowy wasteland where snow never melts, in a simple ice cave abandoned by her parents.

All around was a vast, silent world that swallowed all sound and color. There was no warm embrace or guidance from parents, no ready-made food to fill one's stomach, and no safe environment to rest in.

The biting wind scraped across her delicate scales like a knife, and in the distance, the deep, thunderous roar and heavy footsteps of the frost giant could be faintly heard.

Little Daphne was cold, hungry, and terrified.

Daphne was born with 15 brothers.

However, they each have their own problems:

Nine brothers were intellectually disabled but physically strong like wild beasts; three brothers were of average intelligence but were quite thin and died shortly after birth; and three other brothers were practically useless.

If Daphne didn't have to worry about survival, then over time, with her intelligence, she would likely discover some patterns and truths about the world.

Tragically, little Daphne, who was only a few days old, had to face the cruelest reality.

She had to find food as soon as possible.

Unlike her other bewildered and clueless white dragon brothers, little Daphne understood her situation and, more clearly than her fellow creatures, grasped the despair of being abandoned by the world and utterly helpless.

From the moment she was born, little Daphne began to think about how to survive, but her frail body and scarce resources made those thoughts seem so pale and powerless.

She tried to climb out of the ice cave and search under the thick snow for lemmings or snow hares that might be frozen, but was almost dragged away by lurking snow worms.

Little Daphne tried to imitate the blurry figure in the legend to peck at the moss under the ice, but ended up with a mouthful of ice shards, her throat freezing and sore.

She could hear the threats from other predators carried by the wind, and she could see the dangerous footprints on the snow, so she could avoid or fight against those unknown enemies.

However, while that intelligence helped her fight against the cruelty of nature, it also amplified little Daphne's fear, anxiety, and loneliness.

Looking at her other newborn brothers and sisters, who seemed carefree and acted recklessly on instinct, little Daphne felt for the first time a chilling sense of alienation.

Why... am I different from them?

Why... can I think of so many things, yet be unable to do anything about them?

Why... is there no dragon to help me?

Mom... Dad... Where are you?