CHAPTER 513: SEA DRAGON

The baby dragon and Layla are inseparable. Layla’s mother instinct seems to have activated with the birth of the dragon that even when Arthur tried to approach, she would immediately reprimand Arthur.

"Don’t disturb her Arthur, she is still sleeping."

"What? I haven’t even done anything yet!" Arthur complained.

"Shh, your voice is too loud, you know. That is why I don’t want you near her right now. You can check her out once she is awake."

"Urgh, what happened to you, Layla? You seemed weird now!" Arthur seems frustrated that he can’t see the sleeping dragon.

"You are the weird one here, my twin. If you anger a mother like her now, don’t expect to have me help you out. You are on your own. I just saved you right now before your downfall."

"W-what?" Despite his confusion, Arthur decided to follow her sister’s orders and kept his distance from Layla, who was currently rocking the dragon in her arms.

"I never expected her to instantly take the role of a mother despite coming from a different species. And the fact that the dragon has immediately given the imprinting process straight to her without a second thought, I would say even the dragons would be shocked to know about this matter," The Grand Sage scratches his head.

"Is it that unusual?" Princess Margaux asked.

"Of course it is. Babies from other species imprinting themselves to other species they saw the moment they are born are very common, sure, but on dragons? Rarely. And even if a dragon decided to take over the role of a parent for another dragon, a baby dragon won’t immediately give its entire trust and start imprinting. This is why some dragons would grow up to not treat anybody as their parents at all. But this dragon just did all of that without second thoughts. I find that kind of abnormal already."

"Does that mean we have to separate them?" Elaina asked.

"No. Now that the dragon has decided to imprint itself on the kid, we can’t separate them anymore until the dragon decides to leave the guidance of their parents. Until then, it will continue like normal, and nothing will ever change. Forcibly separating them would harm both the baby and the imprinted parent. The baby dragon would go wild and would even go berserk, unleashing fury until their imprinted parent would meet them again. As for the imprinted parent, they would suffer a kind of backlash in their minds which would cause them to get crazy. It will even escalate more the longer they are separated."

"That bad?!" Julia looks at Layla, worried.

"Relax, my disciple. That only happens if we intentionally separate them. If we don’t, then there is nothing to be worried about. They can still be separated, like leaving the baby dragon for a bit while the parent goes out somewhere and stuff. For some reason, the baby dragon knows whether they are being separated forcefully, or if they are only temporarily separated for a bit but would not be a permanent thing. It is how most dragons who have hatched their young would be able to leave their nests to find food for their young. So, yes. Although they cannot be separated forcefully, they are not truly inseparable."

Hearing that, everyone sighed in relief.

"But isn’t this a bad thing? The way Layla got imprinted by a dragon? If there was an egg underwater, that must mean there was also a dragon that laid this egg as well," Elaina frowned as she glanced at the broken eggshell on the table.

The Grand Sage approaches the broken eggshell and picks it up, examines it for a bit, and shakes his head, "You are right, Farmer, but also a bit wrong this time around. Sure, it was indeed a dragon that laid that egg underwater, but I can feel traces of magic being cast on the egg to only hatch in specific conditions."

"Conditions?"

The eggshell on the Grand Sage’s hands glows bright, and a magic circle appears beneath it. "Yes, conditions. And it seems my theory is correct. And the trigger begins with you, Farmer."

Elaina was stunned. "Me? But why?"

"The first requirement for it to hatch...is to have the egg arrive on the surface. This requirement wouldn’t have happened...if you didn’t bring it to the surface."

Hearing the first requirement, Elaina was a bit unsure about what she should do with this information.

"Don’t worry, you are not the ultimate trigger of this, and I have to be getting some blame in this one as well."

"By supplying it with mana earlier?" Yona guessed.

"Correct. But no, it wasn’t the second requirement. What I did just accelerated its process, which is why the final trigger also finalized its hatching process. The second requirement is for it to absorb a certain amount of surface mana all by itself. Naturally, if I didn’t put mana on it, a month or two would be sufficient for the second requirement to be completed by this egg all by itself. But since I did supply mana on it myself, instead of waiting the aforementioned time, the time was bypassed, and the egg is only waiting for the final requirement, which, coincidentally, also triggered as well."

"What is it?" Elaina wondered.

The magic circle disappeared from the eggshell, and he quietly put it back on the table and sighed.

"The final requirement is for it to be in the vicinity of a race that lives underwater."

Elaina and the others were shocked by the revelation. It was so hyper-specific that it was like it was meant to be done that day without exception, and it was like it got calculated so perfectly that even Julia and Yona were speechless. Everyone looked at Layla, who was listening and seems clueless on what are the conversation all about.

"What are the odds...that was so specific. And yet...it was like the one who cast the spell predicted it and ensured that the egg would hatch this time around. A predetermined plan of some sort."

"That’s kind of scary...it was like they had predicted the future for them to set the requirements like that in the first place. Are dragons capable of doing that?" Yona asked.

"Some do. But not everyone, according to my dragon friend. Their abilities vary from dragon to dragon, and like I said before, their birth is influenced by what they would become. The fact that this dragon came out like it has some fins in its body, and the fact that it imprinted itself on a person who lives underwater, only shows one thing in common, and that made us know what kind of dragon this one is. A sea dragon."

Elaina glanced at Layla and the future she saw in the crystal ball. The fact that she is slowly taking the first step to fulfill that future, Elaina is getting worried about the impending future. It seems that there is going to be an ensuing chaos in the future, but considering that she doesn’t have an idea of what will eventually happen, Elaina is a bit scared to think about it.

...

...

...

The whole dragon news ended quickly and everyone returned to their usual routine. Princess Margaux officially returns to the farm after a few days of going back and forth from the farm to the castle due to many things she has to handle. Considering that she has finished all of that, means she can now go back to her usual stuff and perhaps train herself further.

Elaina started to cultivate the ingredients for the Underwater Breathing Potion. Thanks to her testing, the test was a success, and they also confirmed that it works even if the person who drank the potion resurfaces from the water and returns again while the duration is up. The duration is also accurate based on the Grand Sage’s words, meaning, for a whole day, everyone can drink two bottles of potion to last for 24 hours underwater.

Since it will take some time until all the ingredients are ready and the potion is ready for mass production, Elaina returns to her first agenda, and that is to make the Land of the Dead return to its former glory.

With the reason already determined, Elaina has to either seek help from a dragon or seek help from an elf, which both are hard to do. Of course, they did have a dragon now, but considering it was still a newborn, Elaina was not yet going to rely on it just yet. However, there is a chance that the dragon would be helpful on her task to find the main cause of the land’s decay.

Next is to get permission from the Baraza Kingdom and seek for their permission to explore the Land of the Dead. Elaina can’t just start exploring the place while she was a foreigner from another kingdom. Considering that the Baraza Kingdom already gave up on that land, Elaina is quite sure that getting permission to explore the place would be easy, though she also doubt that there is no catch to getting easy pass.

But as long as the catch is reasonable, perhaps Elaina will comply...or in the worst case scenario, illegally trespass the border.