Chương 30: Reborn as the Dragon: — Chapter 30 - Imparting Without Reservation

Three days later. Silvermoon Forest, early morning. Su Nian arrived at the cave with a mouthful of herbs. He'd originally wanted to hand the task to the Kobolds, but they didn't know the first thing about medicinal plants. Their brains were too simple, even if you held up a sample and told them to find the matching herb, they'd still get it wrong. He had no choice but to handle it himself. The lair had been rebuilt by the Kobolds over the past few days.

Spacious, dry, with hidden ventilation shafts worked into the walls at regular intervals to keep the air inside consistently fresh. Fresh air was good for Anna's health. So Su Nian had also issued strict orders: all Kobolds were to go outside and dig their own holes when nature called. No exceptions. In the old days, they wouldn't have dared roam the forest alone. Now it didn't matter.

They could relieve themselves in peace out there without worrying about a Gnoll bursting from the undergrowth to kill and drag them off.

"Anna, time for your medicine~" Su Nian moved to her side, his large mouth working rhythmically as he chewed the herbs. Same blend as before, with one new addition: something for treating festering sores.

"Brother... actually, Anna can take it herself..." She murmured the words shyly, perched on a wide animal-skin mat with her small hands twisted together in her lap. Her pretty face was flushed pink. Behind her, a soft, fluffy fox tail swayed in restless little arcs. She kept her head down, not quite able to look at the Black Dragon. The mat had once belonged to Grey Wolf, former chieftain of the Gnolls.

Su Nian had spotted it, found it admirably soft and comfortable, and, through what he loosely described as persuasion and reason, made it his own. He paid no attention to the elf girl's quiet protest. One dragon claw grabbed the edge of the mat. A firm pull. She slid right along with it, stopping directly in front of him.

"There's a difference between you taking your medicine and me feeding it to you. You know every part of a Dragon is a treasure, herbs we process ourselves work differently~" He wore a thoroughly shameless expression. Not that it mattered. His dragon face looked ferocious regardless, so the expression was basically lost on the audience. Anna didn't argue. She glanced up at him once, then obediently lay back on the mat. Her face tilted slightly upward. Eyes pressed shut, long lashes trembling faintly.

Her still-pale lips parted just a little. Only her hands gave her away, fingers lightly clenched at her sides, betraying the storm underneath. She was absolutely mortified. [Is it really like Brother says? He seems so earnest about it... Anna must be overthinking things... eep...] [But... that would basically be a kiss... so embarrassing...] [But Anna doesn't really mind either... eek~ so shy... even though Brother is a dragon... he should be able to transform into a dragonkin someday, right... so looking forward to that...] The mind-reading ability flickered on, as unreliable as always, and as reliable as clockwork when it came to surfacing the most inconvenient information at the worst possible moment. Not that it mattered. Anna was an adult. She just happened to look impossibly cute, like something carved from porcelain. He was Su Nian, a legendary creature, a proper pure-blooded Dragon.

What exactly was wrong with getting a little close to his precious girl under the perfectly reasonable cover of administering medicine? Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. What did any of this have to do with a three-year sentence? He, Su Nian, was an upstanding dragon.

He kept that thought firmly in mind, right up until his gaze drifted down to his own claw, and the Insight skill helpfully chimed in: [A claw belonging to a degenerate mutant Black Dragon with a filthy mind.] Terrible skill. Deeply non-standard. Su Nian shook his head, retracted the claw, and gently tilted Anna's delicate chin upward. His body had compressed somewhat in size recently, and his snout had changed shape too, once tapered and pointed, now broader and wide.

Feeding her medicine mouth-to-mouth was more awkward than it used to be. Still manageable. As long as he didn't spill too much, it was fine. Anna kept her eyes firmly shut. Her small body trembled slightly, every inch of her visibly bracing. She opened her mouth a fraction, and before she could process what was happening, a rush of bitter liquid and crushed herb residue was pushed inside.

"Mmph — chu — haah..."

"Brother, the medicine... there's so much... it's so bitter..." Su Nian blinked. He'd forgotten, the new herb for treating festering sores really was extraordinarily bitter. Anna's brows were pinched tight with the effort of enduring it. He quickly exchanged for a portion of cane sugar from his stores and fed it to her.

"Still bitter?"

"N-no... not anymore..." After the medicine was done, Anna lay back on the mat, cheeks still red, a vaguely bewildered look in her eyes. She pulled the little blanket Su Nian had given her over herself and hugged it to her chest, with a nagging sense that something about the situation wasn't quite right.... Su Nian strode out of the dragon's lair looking extremely pleased with himself, head high, chest out. He drew in a long breath. His entire being was still saturated with the sweet taste of Anna's lips.

He was thriving. Over the past three days, he'd subjugated another Black Water Python colony. Their leader, following tradition, had been named Pipi Snake. Beyond that, he'd eliminated three separate groups of adventurers who'd wandered into his territory, plus a mercenary company that had accepted a contract to retrieve Blood Grass Mushrooms. He was sitting on just over a thousand System Points with no clear destination for them.

Ordinary upgrades didn't interest him, and the advanced versions of his existing modifications were still out of reach on points alone. He let them sit. He stood on a rise of high ground with a full view of the Kobold settlement below. Under his rule, the various magical beasts had settled into something approaching peaceful coexistence, the natural food chain suspended, predators no longer hunting each other. The carnivores, Gnolls and Black Water Pythons among them, still needed meat.

They got it by hunting ordinary wild animals. Toward weaker monsters like Flame Rabbits and Spear Pigs, they were, relatively speaking, civilized about it. Since semi-digitization, every creature under his banner could improve their abilities through regular training cycles. Not even three days in, and the results were already visible. The Flame Rabbits, once soft and round, had learned to walk upright. They'd gotten taller. They were currently practicing boxing under Grey Wolf's instruction.

The Kobolds were grinding through push-ups, gasping and panting. Bolikri already had the faint shadow of abdominal muscles forming on his belly. A cluster of Snake-Chicken Beasts hung upside down from the branches, hammering through pull-ups at a pace that looked genuinely dangerous for the trees involved. Over in another clearing, Gnolls were doing squats while holding Spear Pigs overhead. Others had a Black Water Python stretched between two of them and were jumping rope with it.

A third group was swinging a python like a lasso, trying to catch the Spear Pigs that were busy running headfirst into trees for impact training. Everything was lively, vigorous, and brimming with potential. Su Nian cleared his throat and unleashed a thunderous roar. One long, cracking cry, and every monster in the clearing froze and turned.

"Your progress hasn't gone unnoticed," he announced.

"But physical training alone isn't enough. To be a capable magical beast, you need cultural knowledge as well. Only with that foundation can you truly understand what we're fighting for." He paused. His ferocious dragon mouth split into an easy, wicked grin. What followed, he delivered with a completely straight face:"In our Dragon lineage, there exists a supremely powerful Ancient Dragon. His name is Baki Hanma the Dinosaur."

"This great pioneer of our race, in order to strengthen the unity of all Dragonkind, founded a profound and sacred discipline called 'The Analects of Violence.' Now that you stand under my command, I will pass down this secret teaching in full."

"Before we begin, however, we must first understand the meaning of benevolence and righteousness. To be a benevolent and righteous monster, that is the ultimate purpose of studying The Analects of Violence. Engrave this in your hearts."

"Now listen carefully. Benevolence is the art of splitting a man cleanly in two. Righteousness is the art of driving a man's skull down into his chest cavity."

"ROAR, —!" The monsters understood immediately. Heads thrown back. A wave of roaring that shook the trees. Red light flickered through their eyes, sharp and hungry with killing intent. They were teachable. Su Nian watched their reaction and gave a slow, satisfied nod.

"Good. The first maxim I teach you today comes from the Master himself." He let the silence hold for a moment." If you hear the Way in the morning, you may die content by evening." ➤ Next: Players Descend