Author Note: The sketch for the new cover is FREE on P.a.t.r.e.o.n! Well, if you are a future reader, maybe you'll be able to see the finished illustration. To see it, you can either click the Novel Cover tag or, well, scroll down until you see it. My name on P.a.t.r.e.o.n is also "Mortrexo," so it's easy to find~.
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The sound of the eggshell cracking made Yasenia stop her actions and focus on the egg. Her eyes shone with interest as she saw golden cracks slowly spread around it.
The others looked at the dragoness, and their eyes softened.
The image Yasenia portrayed was truly captivating as her body was curled around the hatching egg, and Yasenia's expression became tender and gentle.
The way Yasenia was hatching the egg looked like a mother dragon nesting her egg, so they felt that the scene was enchanting. 'Will she look this way when she looks at our future children?'
Those thoughts flashed in their minds, making them feel anticipation for the future with Yasenia.
Yasenia nuzzled the cracking egg with her snout and softly encouraged it, "You can do it, little one. Push harder."
As if hearing Yasenia's encouraging voice, its struggles became more active, and the cracks on the egg became larger.
The purple-golden egg was now filled with golden cracks all around, but mostly in one spot in the middle where you could see a little bulge appearing from time to time. It was clear that the creature inside the egg was pushing at that point.
Yasenia didn't help the little child. The action of breaking free from their own eggshells was essential for most creatures. It was a feat of strength that could affect the child's development.
If a parent had to help their child to escape their eggshell, it was doubtful whether the child could survive the harsh cultivation world.
After three minutes of struggling, Yasenia and the others suddenly saw a small snout break through the hard eggshell and open a small hole. Yasenia became excited, and Angel exclaimed. "It is going out of the shell!"
The little creature's struggle continued until it could finally part the eggshell enough to allow its little, snake-like head to pop out.
"Squeak~!"
The toothless mouth opened, releasing a sharp, short cry that melted Yasenia's heart.
The little snake-head was slimy and had a mesmerizing violet color with closed eyes. It was moving from side to side, trying to push its body out of the egg behind it.
"Good job! Keep pushing, little one. You are almost there." Yasenia's voice was soothing and gentle while she patiently waited and looked at the small snake-like creature slowly slithering out, carrying the fluids out of the egg.
The tiny creature was similar to a snake but had two small arms at the front. It used those arms and wriggled out of the egg, the rest of its serpentine body finally leaving the egg.
The others observed curiously and attentively since their future children may also greet the World this way. It was a little magical scene.
After some minutes of struggle, the cute purple creature finally left the egg and fell onto the wide couch, squeaking with an adorable and sharp noise.
"Good job, dear." Yasenia laughed happily and lowered her snout to lick its body clean. The small creature let-out cheerful sounds as Yasenia's tongue cleaned it from the fluids of the egg.
The others grabbed their hearts. 'What's this!? It is so cute it hurts the heart!'
The scene was really precious.
Then, they heard Yasenia growl softly and push the tiny creature back toward the egg with her nose.
The little critter tumbled toward the broken eggshell and began nibbling on it.
Angel was confused and asked softly, trying not to startle the fragile life. "W-Why did Yasenia push it toward the egg again?"
Cecile answered quietly. "Dragons eat their eggshells at birth. A dragon's egg is very nutritious, and the child dragon will be able to benefit a lot from it. Not only will it help in arousing the bloodline, but it also helps the dragon develop extremely fast."
They all understood and watched as Yasenia softly encouraged the small dragon to eat the shell. Evelyn lifted an eyebrow and commented. "Look, it has opened its eyes! Such beautiful golden eyes."
Kali asked, confused. "Doesn't its eyes resemble Yasenia?"
Tatyana said. "Well, although little treasure is not its mother, her blood had a part in its birth. Inheriting one or two traits of hers wouldn't be surprising."
They all got thoughtful, and Evelyn asked, unsure. "This... Can it be counted as a half-child for Yasenia?"
Andrea commented with a helpless smile as they saw Yasenia's tender eyes and soft licks to the small beast while some soft and lovely growls left her throat. "Even if it isn't, I bet that Yasenia already considers it hers."
Angel giggled and pointed at Yasenia's tail. "Look."
Their eyes moved and saw a happily wagging tail; even the wings fluttered with happiness.
Tatyana laughed softly and said. "Well, this will certainly help satisfy Yasenia's deepest desire for a short time until we can finally take that final step. It is a good thing, so you should also take this as a training experience for the future."
They nodded thoughtfully and focused on the munching snake-like dragon.
Seeing how cute it was, a single thought appeared in their minds. 'With that level of cuteness, I don't have to try too hard to take it as my child.'
Andrea sat beside Yasenia and caressed her head. Yasenia looked at her and asked, "What name should she have, darling?"
Andrea asked. "Oh? How do you know it is female?"
Yasenia chuckled and said. "She smells like it."
Andrea nodded and didn't question it. A dragon's olfactory sense could even smell treasures; smelling a child's gender was not hard at all. It was probably an innate ability of this magnificent and powerful race.
Andrea had been thinking about the name for a while, so she said. "How about... Kaleina Dravory."
Yasenia's eyes lit up, feeling it was an excellent name. She looked at her and called her. "Dear, your name will be Kaleina. Do you like it?"
The newborn dragon cutely squeaked again. Although it probably didn't have a meaning, Yasenia felt that she was happy with it. She chuckled softly and nuzzled it with her snout. "Good~. I'm glad you like the name darling gave you. I also like it a lot."
Andrea smiled, her heart feeling warm and cozy.
The others approached and looked at little Kaleina eating the eggshell. Kaleina's golden eyes moved around curiously, observing the people surrounding her "mother."
However, when her mama dragon pushed her to eat the eggshell again, she stopped observing the smiling faces and returned to her feast. Moreover, feeling that these people may steal the delicious eggshell, it began eating faster.
Angel giggled. "So cute~. Don't worry, little Kaleina, we won't steal anything."
Yasenia lowered her snout again and poked her to relax her. The small caresses from what the dragon took as her mother made Kaleina squint and feel relaxed.
Kali smiled gently. "Look at the shiny purple scales. They are gaining a beautiful glow as she eats the egg."
Evelyn nodded with a proud smile. "They have a similar color to my eyes~. A beautiful violet color."
Sierra was also looking from the outside and was curious. "I didn't expect newborn dragons to be so fragile. Our wolf race cubs can already walk and run after so much time has passed."
Tatyana explained. "Dragons are fragile at birth. In fact, they are one of the most vulnerable newborn creatures. Only human children can compare in fragility."
Tatyana continued. "However, don't get confused. Although they are weak, they gain strength extremely fast. If a dragon can survive its first hours and eat the whole eggshell, it will gain enough strength to protect itself. Of course, as always, it depends on the dragon species. By the way, which dragon species is Kaleina?"
Cecile was looking at a thick book, searching for something. After hearing Tatyana's question, she frowned and said. "I can't find Kaleina's species. This book should have all bloodlines and species recorded in the Sky Continent. However, I can't find one that shares similarities with her. My love, can you tell me which level her bloodline is?"
Yasenia nodded and said. "High-level Divine Beast bloodline. However, she may break into the peak level after eating the egg completely."
They all blinked repeatedly. Kali laughed aloud. "She has already surpassed my current bloodline level."
Sierra's lips twitched. "Oy, Evelyn. When will you help me increase my bloodline? I'm lagging behind."
Evelyn rolled her eyes. "As if it is so easy to increase your peak-level Mystical ranked bloodline. Before entering the Divine beast level, you must cross the legendary and mythical bloodline levels. We'll need some treasures to increase it that far."
Sierra sighed. "Even little Ebirah is a peak-level Mythical beast."
Valeria thought about it and said. "The colors and aura remind me of one family of dragons but… It's not possible, right?"
Mirrory held her chin and commented. "Are you talking about [Endless Void Dragons]? However, if Kaleina is of that race, it would explain most things about her, right? It would also explain why a backward place like the Sky Continent wouldn't have any register about her."
Yasenia and the others twitched. 'Backward place... It seems we are frogs at the bottom of a well knowledge-wise.'
Valeria frowned. "But how did a Void Dragon egg appear in the Sky Continent? Most Void Dragon families are from God Continents. Between them, the purple [Endless Void Dragon] clan is one of the strongest."
Mirrory suggested. "Maybe a fight occurred, and the spatial distortions sent the egg flying to lower dimensions. It could have been sent there on purpose. Although high-level experts can't travel easily to lower dimensions, sending an egg is not hard at all. Moreover, although the Sky Continent is currently a middle-level World, the energy quality there is not inferior to higher-level worlds."
Tatyana raised her eyebrow. "That's not right. The energy in the Sky Continent is even worse than in this Continent."
Mirrory rolled her eyes. "That's because the [Sky Piercing Tower] is absorbing most of the World's energy to keep its functions. That greedy thing isn't even letting one percent of the World's energy go to its inhabitants. Do you think that with lower-level quality energy, people in the Sky Continent would have higher cultivation bases than here? That's nonsense. "
Tatyana's expression changed. Then, she got thoughtful. "I see... I have to close access to that tower slowly. I can always claim that its resources are almost disappearing if they keep pillaging it, and I don't want to lose it. Nobody in the Continent knows where that tower came from, after all. Thankfully, I refused to allow any demon to enter it."
Tatyana looked at Mirrory, but she didn't ask in the end. 'Well, once they enter the tower, she will probably reveal its secrets slowly.'
Angel asked, curious. "God Continent? What's that? How does it compare with a Medium world like the Sky Continent?"
Mirrory explained. "Continents and worlds are separated in various levels. Various conditions give the levels. The energy quality of the place, the strongest cultivators, the number of cultivators at that highest level, and more. The Sky Continent could be qualified as a peak-level Transcendence Continent or a middle-level world. The Worlds levels are still far away from being useful to juniors like you, so explaining it now has no meaning."
The girls nodded in understanding. They knew that rushing to know everything was not the correct way. Slowly learning about everything will make it so that they have a broader view and can integrate knowledge slowly.
Evelyn asked. "I can understand that, but Tatyana is above Transcendence, right? It should be classified higher."
Tatyana chuckled. "Well, I was the only cultivator above that level. So it doesn't count. You need a solid foundation."
Yasenia was paying attention to Kaleina, but something in that sentence sounded wrong. Her eyebrows knitted, and she asked. "Was? What do you mean?"
Tatyana chuckled. "I'm not in danger, don't worry."
Yasenia didn't believe it, so she looked at Tatyana with an unwavering gaze.
Under that expression, Tatyana could only sigh and briefly explain the Sky Continent's current situation and a little more in-depth.