CH 8

The dragon egg was small in size, just enough to be encircled by one hand, but it wasn’t light. The eggshell was dark green in color, with several circles of different color patterns on it, lying quietly on Ning Chu’s palm.

Ning Chu was very familiar with the look of this dragon egg, from which he had once hatched Fifth Cub with his own hands.

Ning Chu sat up, and the sleeping Third Cub on the pillow stirred, leaping up and lowering his back, looking around vigilantly. The next moment, he saw the dragon egg in Ning Chu’s arms.

A familiar dragon egg with plenty of life and a familiar scent!

Yesterday’s resurrection was so slow that Ning Chu thought it would take all day, so he slept at night but woke up to such a big surprise. He opened the game, and indeed, the system message read:【Character reconstruction is complete, ‘Fifth Cub’ Rosette Leaf Dragon has been placed to the exact location of the host.】

Only Ning Chu didn’t expect that the resurrected Fifth Cub became a dragon egg.

When she hatched, would she still be the same Fifth Cub as before? As if the system knew what was in Ning Chu’s mind, it popped up a message on its own initiative for the first time.

【Fifth Cub, Rosette Leaf Dragon, archive data has been successfully uploaded.】

Archive data… that meant the memories of the past, right?

Ning Chu was relieved. If the resurrected one wasn’t the former Fifth Cub, then why would they call it resurrection? 

The alarm clock rang, and there was movement on the opposite bunk, as Bowen pressed the alarm clock, yawned and pulled back the curtain of the bed.

Ning Chu scrambled to pull the covers over the dragon egg and Third Cub, who was sniffing it, “…Good morning.”

Bowen took out his glasses and put them on, and looked at Ning Chu a few more times, “Good morning… What’s wrong with you? Your face doesn’t look right, you don’t feel well?”

Ning Chu didn’t blame him for guessing so, Hugh used to be like this all the time, taking time off from practice class every now and then.

“Mn… A little bit,” Ning Chu responded to Bowen’s words, raising his hand to press his temple, “I have a headache. I want to lie down for a while, can you ask for leave from my morning class?”

Bowen was used to it and nodded while washing up, “Okay, then remember to go to the cafeteria and eat breakfast by yourself.”

When Bowen left the dormitory to go to class and his footsteps faded away in the corridor, Ning Chu got up from the bed and locked the door behind him first. When he lifted the covers, Third Cub rushed out and jumped into his arms. Third Cub was so excited that he jumped up and down in the room, almost knocking over the cups on the table, and then he came back in a mad circle and circled around the dragon egg on the bed.

It’s Little Five! The living Little Five!

Unlike Ning Chu, Third Cub was almost immediately certain that this was the resurrected Little Five. Even if he was the same species, the scent of each dragon was unique, and Third Cub knew Little Five well after spending so many years with her.

Ning Chu soothed Third Cub, worried that someone else might hear the commotion, “Okay, okay, we have to keep it down.”

Third Cub restrained himself a little and tried not to make any noise, rolling over and rubbing his back against the bed sheet, exposing his soft belly.

Ning Chu picked up the egg, stroked the pattern and sighed, “My good cub, daddy will protect you from now on, I won’t let you suffer anymore.”

Third Cub squeezed into his arms together, he looked at the dragon egg, and then looked up at Ning Chu.

Ning Chu looked at him for two seconds and miraculously read the meaning in his eyes, “…I didn’t give birth to this.”

He couldn’t explain the game to Third Cub and pinched the tip of his horn, “I’m not a dragon… I can only be considered your adoptive father.”

Third Cub seemed to understand, twisting his head and spreading his limbs to lie on the dragon egg, his tail wagging a little.

Dragon eggs took time to hatch, and Ning Chu was worried that it wouldn’t be safe in the dormitory, but he couldn’t possibly carry it with him all the time. The storage bag sent by the commission was low grade, and the dragon egg couldn’t breathe in it.

There were people in the Crow Market who sold high-grade storage bags that could hold living things for a short time, but Ning Chu only had two purple gold coins on him now, so he couldn’t afford to buy them. The credits that had been charged into the game were also impossible to withdraw.

Thinking about the game, Ning Chu looked at the dragon egg. He originally thought that Fifth Cub would be put on Dragon Island after resurrection, but it seems she was sent directly to him. Then, could he also take out the supplies he had purchased from the game mall?

Ning Chu opened the mall and bought a lockable chest from the Tools section.

He didn’t open the map at this time, and the system really prompted:【Take item off of Dragon Island?】

Ning Chu chose yes, and the next moment a wooden box appeared out of nowhere next to his bed.

Third Cub was taken aback and guarded the dragon egg tightly, and only relaxed after seeing what it was. The box came with a lock, so Ning Chu tried it out and found no fault with it. Then he bought some hay and cushions and laid them in the box layer by layer.

When everything was ready, Ning Chu put the dragon egg inside.

The hay was mixed with Fifth Cub’s favorite oat grass, and the inside of the box was covered with a layer of soft cotton, so that the dragon’s egg would lie safely inside and wouldn’t be bumped even if it was slightly shaken.

In addition to these, Ning Chu also bought a piece of dragon crystal and put it next to the dragon egg.

The product details described that the dragon crystal stone was made of many rare magical substances condensed, emitting an aura that could make the young dragon cubs grow strong.

If used on dragon eggs that haven’t hatched yet, the effect made them hatch faster. This stuff was quite expensive, needing one hundred and fifty credits, and one could only last about ten days.

Ning Chu only dwelled on it for a second, before buying it without hesitation.

Since it wasn’t convenient, he hid the dragon egg in the dormitory for the time being. He and Bowen had few friends other than each other, and usually no other students would come to their room. He and Third Cub would go to the forest in the morning to earn money.

Ning Chu put the dragon egg in place and locked the box, Third Cub circled around the box, worried that it wasn’t secure enough, and exhaled a breath of dragon breath which covered the lock.

The case was hidden under the bed, and the sheet was pulled down just enough to cover it, so Ning Chu picked up Third Cub, “Come on, let’s go earn some money.”

By noon, Ning Chu returned before the cafeteria opened and gave the supplies he had found to the commission. When he was ready to go back to the Academy, Ning Chu stopped in his tracks and reversed his direction towards the animal farm.

The wounded common dragon was still in its original position, and there was no one near the cage, which meant that no one had successfully tamed it. Ning Chu approached the cage, the blood in the cage was cleaned up, the dragon’s wounds no longer bled, but its state looked significantly worse.

When it heard someone coming, it lifted its eyelids for a glance, and then closed them weakly.

Ning Chu had looked up the catalog that day and found that this dragon was called a Cloud-Winged Dragon, whose most distinctive feature was the white feathers at the end of its wings, but now the sides of its wings were bare, the feathers having already fallen out when Ning Chu first saw it.

There was no one else around and Third Cub peeked out of Ning Chu’s jacket. He was surprised and angry at the sight of the imprisoned Cloud-Winged Dragon, and whimpered lowly.

The Cloud-Winged Dragon’s eyes snapped open and looked at Third Cub incredulously, struggling to hold up its weak body and trying to move closer to Third Cub. The cage was covered with defensive magic, so Third Cub didn’t dare to approach, and turned his head to Ning Chu behind him.

Ning Chu looked around and covered Third Cub with his jacket, leaving only one of his eyes out. He explained in a whisper, “It’s badly injured, and I can’t bond with it, so I can’t take it away.”

Ning Chu wanted to try to heal it first, so he opened the game to rummage through the mall’s medicine section and spent fifty credits to buy a cure-all. He didn’t know the health condition of the Cloud-Winged Dragon, but the universal medicine could cure all diseases and came with tonic effects.

Ning Chu quietly put the medicine on the edge of the cage and pushed it in with his hand.

Faced with Ning Chu, a human with the Scarlet Flame Dragon, the Cloud-Winged Dragon remained wary, lying motionless until Third Cub anxiously urged him to move. He looked down and sniffed the herb-scented orb on the ground, and finally obediently ate it.

Ning Chu sighed with relief and whispered, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He hid Third Cub and left as quietly as he had come.

The morning’s earnings were about 60 purple gold coins, and when Ning Chu checked his game balance after returning to his dorm, he only had 130 credits left. The rest was spent on buying dragon crystals, medicine for the Cloud-Winged Dragon, and other miscellaneous things for Dragon Island.

The time for the dragon egg to hatch was still uncertain, but until then, Ning Chu wanted to ensure the supply of dragon crystals.

Fifth Cub’s body wasn’t in very good shape before, and he didn’t know if it was because she was herbivorous and unlike other small dragon cubs, but she was really skinny. On rainy days, she was often cold and kept sneezing. Ning Chu had given her a lot of health drugs that didn’t have much effect.

This time, before she hatched, he hoped to increase her health from the eggshell and maybe her body would have some improvement. The dragon crystal was one 150 a piece, but it would gradually lose its effect after ten days. Before saving enough supplies of 100 purple gold coins, Ning Chu couldn’t go to the commissioning house to ask for an advance again.

The most important thing now was to earn money.

Bowen was taking a nap, so Ning Chu turned his back to his bunk and whispered to Third Cub in his arms, “Will you go out with me again this afternoon? Thank you for your hard work.”

Third Cub nodded his head and rubbed his horn against his palm.

In the afternoon, Ning Chu arrived at Enigma Forest by cart, but from far away, he saw some thick black smoke floating over the middle of the trees, it was like the forest was on fire.

Ning Chu was stunned, “What’s going on?”

Ning Chu hurriedly ran towards the direction of the black smoke after the beast cart dropped him off. On the way, Third Cub wanted to get out of his arms and return to his adult form to fly with him, which would be faster.

Ning Chu reached out and held him down, “Wait a minute.”

He had a hunch that something wasn’t right, so he went over to see what was going on. The direction of the black smoke was on the outskirts of the forest, and Ning Chu had just entered the forest when he saw a fire spreading in the distance.

He didn’t have time to react when the sound of people came from not far away. Ning Chu quickly hid behind a dense bush and looked around in the dark. These people’s outfits looked familiar, they the same group that had come last time.

The leader seemed to be a new one, with an unfamiliar voice, “Keep setting it off until it burns out.”

He said he left in a hurry, leaving a group of subordinates in the same place.

One of the subordinates couldn’t help but ask, “We are so blatantly setting fire, what if someone sees us?”

“What are you afraid of? The goons from the nearby mercenary corps don’t dare to come over when they hear that the fire dragon is here,” Another man answered carelessly, “Besides, the fire dragon is still here, isn’t it normal for it to accidentally set fire to the forest?”

Ning Chu hid behind a bush and listened, his eyes gradually turning cold. These people set the mountain on fire and tried to put it all on Third Cub. The vegetation in the forest was dense, and in just a moment, the fire in the distance spread rapidly, and many magical beasts, large and small, fled in all directions.

Enigma Forest wasn’t only filled with magical beasts, but also with dragons. Ning Chu’s heart sank. The dragons should be able to escape from the fire, but with so many dragons, if they were forced to leave Enigma Forest, where would they go to settle down?

The men were still talking, mouthing words like “red flame” and “force it to show itself”.

They were also aiming at the dragons in the forest, which would have nowhere to go and the magic dragon would probably appear, as it had done several times before.

Third Cub was getting mad, his paws clutching a few leaves, resisting the urge to go straight up and tear these people apart.

Ning Chu stroked him soothingly, noted the characteristics of the group’s attire, and lowered his voice, “Why don’t you go help them out?”

The current situation, at least half of the forest had already burned, it wouldn’t take long to spread to their side.

Do you want to burn it all? Since the pot has already been carried, it would be a loss not to do something about it. A few people with magic wands in their hands were throwing fireballs into the forest when they suddenly heard a loud bang nearby.

Everyone’s eyes were drawn, but they saw nothing.

The woods were ablaze, and the already hot air became even more scorching at this point. Smoke filled outward, and huge black shadows appeared along with the sound of tree trunks being trampled.

Someone looked back and fell to the ground in shock, “…A dragon, a fire dragon!”

They had searched the entire forest before setting fire to it, and the Scarlet Flame Dragon, which couldn’t be found at all, appeared at that moment, with the sky-rushing fire behind it, as if it had risen from hell as the god of Shura.

The Scarlet Flame Dragon raised its neck, and a furious dragon roar tore through the sky, as fire burst out from its mouth, aimed at the crowd.

Ning Chu sat at the top of Third Cub’s head holding the dragon’s horn, listening to the screams coming from below. These people were obviously coming for Third Cub, and he was reluctant to let them go, but when it really came down to it, Ning Chu closed his eyes and dared not look down.

He leaned down and touched the dragon scales on Third Cub’s forehead, “Let’s go.”

The entire forest was on fire, and there was little hope of these people surviving.

In a few moments, someone else would notice the anomaly, and they had to leave as soon as possible. Looking behind them at the Enigma Forest, Ning Chu sighed silently.

With the forest burned down, where would he go to earn money?