The Black Dragon Maiden awoke from her slumber.
The awakened Black Dragon Maiden's body appeared somewhat frail, the thick bones faintly pressed against the dragon scales.
Having not eaten for half a year, the large amount of magic power and energy accumulated in her dragon body was all used to stimulate physical growth and development, naturally causing her body to become thin.
Overcome by hunger, the Black Dragon Maiden didn't even glance at the strange-looking Udi, hurriedly flying out of the lair and disappearing from sight.
Several hours later, the Black Dragon Maiden, with her belly full, returned to the lair and continued to sleep on her treasure without a care.
A few days later, the Black Dragon Maiden woke up.
At this moment, the Black Dragon Maiden's dragon body, which had become thin due to the sleep, had gained back some weight. Although still looking somewhat frail, it was not very obvious.
It was at this time that the Black Dragon Maiden, Leanna, had the mind to pay attention to other matters.
For instance, her three offspring.
In the past six months, Heloise and Brook had grown from a length of nearly three meters to now three-point-two meters.
They had transformed from the size of a horse-dog to the size of a tiger.
The intensity of their aura had also increased by a notch.
But their biological level was still some distance from reaching Level 3.
If one were to classify it carefully, they could be considered Tier Two High.
Regarding this, Leanna nodded with satisfaction.
The faster her offspring grew, the less time she needed to take care of them.
Just then, Udi returned to the nest from hunting.
The moment Leanna saw Udi, her pupils slightly contracted.
Good grief, this dragon body's size, even a teenage Black Dragon isn't as big as you. Are you sure you're just over a year old?
At this moment, Leanna's eyes shifted.
She felt threatened.
Not a threat to herself; with Udi's current strength, even if it were ten times stronger, it wouldn't be her match!
Leanna worried that her treasures might be eyed by Udi.
When a dragon reaches its teenage years, its desire for treasure peaks. If the Dragon Mother keeps it in the nest, then once she leaves, it may extend its dragon claws toward her treasure.
Although it might not necessarily succeed. After all, the treasure in the dragon nest is often protected by the most numerous and strongest protective magic and trap magic.
But, it's still a threat.
A being that stares at your treasure twenty-four hours a day and isn't weak is not something any giant dragon would feel at ease about.
.....
In the depths of the dragon nest, Udi and Leanna stared at each other.
The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive, and Udi keenly perceived the cold and resentful gaze of the Black Dragon Maiden.
After a moment of silence, Leanna spoke,
"Udi, you are strong enough now. It's time to leave your mother's embrace, to soar across the skies outside, to carve out your own territory, to have your own followers, and to acquire your own treasure."
On the four hundred and thirty-seventh day in this world, the Egg Stage Dragonling · Udi Targaryen Diabolos Atoksi Mephisto ·.... Sigmund was driven out of the nest by the Dragon Mother to begin independent survival.
...
The Dark Forest is vast.
Larger than the territory occupied by a prosperous human kingdom.
The territory occupied by the Black Dragon Maiden is located in the Southern Region of the Dark Forest, and the details of the territory she controls are as follows:
A Rotting Swamp of dozens of square kilometers in size (where the dragon nest is located)
And a forest of over six thousand square kilometers. (where the three major tribes of followers are located)
Even combined, the two areas don't amount to one percent of the Southern Region's total land area.
This is not because Leanna is weak, but because she has put very little thought into the strength of her followers, or almost none at all.
Except for the chiefs of the three major tribes who were granted Dragon Veins by Leanna, possessing significant strength beyond their race, the rest of the tribesmen have fairly average strength and not many in number, unable to occupy a large portion of the Dark Forest.
If Leanna were willing to seriously develop the strength of her followers, with her status and power as an Adult Black Dragon, she could easily occupy the entire Southern Region of the Dark Forest.
At this time, location: the Western Region of the Dark Forest.
In a small valley more than one hundred and fifty kilometers in a straight line from the Dragon Nest Territory.
A giant dragon with a fifteen-meter wingspan, colossal muscular density, a short and thick neck, with two pairs of dragon horns on its forehead, one short and one long. The long pair extended towards the front of the forehead, and the short pair extended towards the back of the head. Its whole body was covered in dragon scales as black and deep as to be somewhat shiny; it flew over this place.
If someone sees this dragon, there will definitely be confusion in their minds.
Is this a Black Dragon?
But except for the black scales, it almost has nothing to do with a Black Dragon....
Instead, if the scales were red, it would resemble a Red Dragon quite a lot.
Udi looked around the valley, his expression suddenly tensing, and quickly flew towards the east of the valley.
A moment later, the black dragon body folded its dragon wings behind and landed steadily in front of a humanoid figure two meters tall.
Udi looked down on the strong and lithe figure in front of him, felt the aura emanating from it, and nodded with satisfaction.
"Shiji, you've worked hard. In just over eight months, you've advanced from Level 0 to Level 3."
Shiji looked excitedly at his master who had acknowledged him, knelt on one knee, lowered his head, and spoke with great respect,
"This is all thanks to the master. Without the master's gift of the Dragon Vein, Shiji would still be a weak kobold, perhaps even devoured by beasts and demons."
Udi nodded slightly, saying nothing.
That was indeed the truth.
As for why Heloise and Brook, as giant dragons, hadn't advanced as quickly as Shiji the kobold....
This is quite normal.
After all, no one would think a human who became a mid-level professional in three years is more talented than a dragon.
Take, for example, a three-year-old Black Dragon just out of the Egg Stage, its biological level has barely reached Level 4.
By the age of ten, when entering the teenage years, a Black Dragon under normal circumstances would reach Biological Level 5.
This involves foundational issues.
The foundation of humans is far inferior to that of dragons, hence their power-up speed is faster.
But to defeat a dragon often requires four equally matched humans to succeed.
For humans it is so, and for kobolds with even weaker foundations than humans, it is even more so.
However, as a Dragon Vein Kobold, Shiji's combat power among peers is not weak, at least not weaker than the elite among humans of the same level.
"Is this the territory you've occupied?"
Udi shifted his gaze from Shiji to look around.
Mountains surrounded on three sides, the shortest hill over four hundred meters high, the tallest mountain reaching seven to eight hundred meters.
One side had an opening facing the vast Dark Forest.
The first impression of Udi about this place was that the wind was calm, and the environment was beautiful.
Most importantly, inside this valley lies a water pool with a diameter of two hundred meters. Above the water pool, a silver waterfall cascades down from about a fifty-meter height.
"Yes, master, please follow me. I've established the Black Blood Tribe at the entrance of the valley, where I've gathered some of the tribespeople...."
Initially, when Udi was bored, he would occasionally peek into Shiji's daily life through their contract, but after Shiji left to move to the Western Region, Udi could no longer peek due to the distance being too far.
Thus, Udi hadn't known how Shiji had been developing for a few months now.