The Bard is Fantasizing Again

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In this world, people could only depict the portrait of a [dragon] that perhaps existed in ancient times through falsely transmitted oral songs, the lizards still living in the world, and the artistic interpretations of fantasy derived from that giant dragon skeleton standing atop Longgold City...

But Tang Qi might have known more.

At least in his knowledge base, dragons in the broad sense were divided into [metallic dragons] and [chromatic dragons].

In stereotypical impressions, the former were mostly benevolent, while the latter appeared more vicious.

There were exceptions among them, of course. But the majority, like 'angels' and 'demons,' carried an innate nature, often possessing a source rooted deep in their consciousness.

[Gem dragons] were even rarer in number, and Tang Qi couldn't recall their origins either.

And when the bright moonlight bathed the creature trying to climb out of its eggshell, its dark purple scales, flowing with wet, sticky fluid, seemed to emanate an even deeper luster, like a shooting star.

This did indeed seem to represent the outward appearance of an [Amethyst Dragon].

Its two tiny claws gripped the edge of the shattered eggshell, trying to raise its elegant head adorned with fine deer-like horns, allowing the rose-like flowing gold pattern on its forehead to be revealed under the night sky.

Golden pupils, more dazzling than amber, radiated brilliance, like clear, transparent glass, attempting to bring newborn curiosity to the world before it as it surveyed its surroundings—

And ultimately settled on the three people before it.

"This counts as a 'dragon'?"

Stonecrusher couldn't help but mutter,

"Then we dwarves are actually giants!"

Tall, short, fat, thin—all were determined through comparison.

And the 'dragon' before them was probably only the size of a kitten, so much so that even the eggshell Kuru could wrap his arms around looked like a towering 'castle.'

This was absolutely not the size a wyrmling should be.

"This is actually a [pseudodragon], right? One of those familiars that mages keep...

Of course, I admit its appearance is more gorgeous. If ordinary pseudodragons are ugly giants, then it's more like those legendarily arrogant elves."

"Must you smuggle private grudges into your metaphors?"

"Haven't you smuggled in plenty yourself?"

Having lived for two hundred years at least, Stonecrusher could at minimum identify some creatures' species.

And the black fog around Dawn, which had been dancing joyfully, gradually sank back into her helmet.

Originally, she thought she was about to witness history.

Wouldn't witnessing a dragon itself count as an achievement worth singing about?

But between [pseudodragon] and [dragon], though there was only one character's difference, the relationship was like kobolds—they couldn't be much closer.

They were actually a type of small flying lizard, rare in number, but occasionally you could see their tree hollow nests in the wilderness, often decorated with gems picked up from riverbanks.

Their intelligent minds and the magical resistance granted by their scales made them excellent animal companions, beloved by spellcasters.

But also weak enough to be insignificant.

Compared to Kuru, it was hard to say whose claws were actually sharper.

"Well, those noble spellcasters in Longgold City should be willing to pay a hefty price for it."

Stonecrusher began considering its monetary value,

"If you want to sell it, I can introduce you to a few merchants in Longgold City. Just charge me a bit of trouble money so I can drink."

"Not selling."

To show sufficient goodwill, Tang Qi didn't rashly disturb the little dragon that was curiously examining the world before it.

Its throat made a "yiwu" sound, somewhat soft and babyish, like the natural comfort that came after stretching lazily.

But it seemed to have enjoyed it too much, causing its claws to lose their grip, and with a "thump" it fell back into the huge 'castle,' knocking loose several eggshell fragments in the process.

"Yiwu!"

It cried out in surprise, and only then did Tang Qi tiptoe toward it, examining the interior of the eggshell by moonlight—

Compared to the rough stone exterior, the inside was smooth enough to reflect a milky white halo.

A small amount of sticky fluid had accumulated at the bottom of the shell, providing some cushioning for the little dragon that had slipped and fallen, so that in its weakened state it wouldn't die on the spot.

It seemed not quite accustomed to its four limbs yet, and in its frantic flailing, the fluid covered its dark purple scales, soaking its membrane wings until they clung to its small arms like purple silk drenched in moonlight.

A cool, refreshing fragrance wafted from its nostrils, like mint leaves, making Tang Qi's mind even clearer.

Seeing the human's shadow block the moonlight, its translucent golden pupils narrowed tightly, and it began growling at Tang Qi overhead:

"Yiwu!"

Adorably fierce.

Dwarves had never understood the concept of 'cute.'

Accustomed to roughness, they only praised dwarvish craftsmanship that was perfectly fitted, exquisite, and orderly.

But even if Stonecrusher didn't understand, he couldn't deny its external value:

"Keep it? That works too. After all, you can cast spells, so keeping a familiar is normal.

Hey, this little thing is so pretty, take it for a walk on the street and you might even attract the favor of those noble ladies."

Tang Qi still said, "I think it should be a dragon."

Stonecrusher scoffed: "If you admit kobolds are dogs, then thinking that way is fine."

"Don't you think burying a pseudodragon egg in ruins built by dwarves is illogical?"

"Don't forget, we couldn't even open that door—we crawled through the kobold nest."

"How do you explain the calling Kuru received?"

"Maybe the textbooks recorded by your Poet's Academy got it wrong—kobolds aren't descendants of dragons, but of pseudodragons."

"Adult pseudodragons aren't even half the size of Kuru, how could they give birth to such descendants?"

"Then it's a hybrid breed of pseudodragons and canines?"

"I need to explain on Kuru's behalf that kobolds are lizards."

"Lizardfolk crossbred with pseudodragons? Makes sense, that way there's no reproductive isolation."

"Can you not seriously distort the facts?"

"Hey, who said only you bards can compile history?

I've heard that your academy falsely claimed that 'dragonborn' were offspring born from the union of bards and dragons—

You can't possibly not know that the entire dragonborn race has put the Poet's Academy on a wanted list, right?"

Tang Qi blinked, feeling like a thick scapegoat had been placed on his back:

"After we reach Longgold City, don't mention to anyone that I'm a poet who came out of [Wandering Song].

I'm cutting ties."

"Yiwu!"

Perhaps the two were too noisy, disturbing the weakened little dragon and making it feel disrespected.

While giving an adorably fierce growl, it immediately began showing them its tender, not fully developed little fangs.

Utterly lacking in ferocity.

Seeing that they weren't scared by it, it could only angrily wave its claws, smashing them against the eggshell beside it.

Since the eggshell's curve had been destroyed, the force from this swing was no longer evenly dispersed across the surface, and it easily shattered half the eggshell, sending several fragments flying.

Then, somewhat sluggishly, it used its two thin, trembling little claws to pick up one of the finer fragments and place it before its fangs, making a "crunch" sound like biting into a cookie.

Each time it chewed, it would glance up at the three of them.

Clearly, it was puzzled why it had to be watched even while eating...

This made it curl up slightly, visibly becoming more cautious.

When the eggshell flowed down its esophagus into its belly, Tang Qi heard Dawn's thoughts:

"Its soul seems to be solidifying, and its aura has also stabilized somewhat."

Tang Qi understood:

"So it's restoring its strength by eating the eggshell?"

He quickly crouched down, searching under the broad ferns for the eggshell fragments that had shattered earlier,

"Find these, feed it, maybe we can earn some goodwill..."

Just as he was thinking this, he turned to see a slender reddish-brown claw reaching first toward a palm-sized stone fragment—

From the perspective of 'playing dead,' Kuru was simply a grandmaster.

Its scales protected it to a certain degree, so much so that Tang Qi's chisel strike hadn't actually knocked it unconscious at all.

And it was very clever.

So it was waiting...

Waiting for the right moment to strike!

Tang Qi realized what it was trying to do and grabbed the lute from his back, about to smash it on Kuru's head:

"Don't eat it!"

He had of course considered that Kuru might cause some accidents.

Like defecting and flying off with its 'ancestor' or something...

Though this guy had played a supportive role in battle, at critical moments, it definitely would drop the ball.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have knocked it out first.

Tang Qi just hadn't expected it to be looking out for itself!

This cunning kobold clearly had been harboring the idea of swallowing the eggshell all along—

Just like how they all gained their first measure of strength by gnawing on their own eggshells at birth.

Eggshells represented the origin of life. And if it could obtain a dragon's 'essence,' even just swallowing a small portion would bring it immeasurable benefits!

"Bang—"

The sound of vibrating strings coincided with the impact on the dog-head.

"Rua!"

Kuru cried out in pain, but the eggshell fragment had already been swallowed down its throat and into its belly.

"Spit it out!"

Tang Qi could only grab Kuru's shoulders and shake it frantically, until its eyes spun with stars and its brain was about to be shaken into mush, but Kuru kept its mouth tightly shut.

Eggshell—delicious!

This commotion clearly frightened the little dragon, and the loss of that essence made it impossible not to direct its fierce gaze toward Kuru's belly...

Tang Qi felt utterly helpless.

The price of seizing essence would inevitably incur the other party's hostility.

He had originally been wondering if he could domesticate it!

Now, because of Kuru's greed, there was no need to consider how to please this little dragon—first calm its present fury—

Damn it, once this matter passed, he'd definitely have to severely suppress this guy's reading addiction!

"Yiwu!"

The little dragon gave an adorably fierce growl, its tiny body taking to the air.

Its wings didn't flap; it didn't seem to rely on those translucent thin membranes to hover, but rather appeared to be supported by some kind of gravitational force, looking elegant and composed.

Swallowing most of the eggshell had allowed its stamina to recover rapidly. Now, using that force field to pull itself along, it opened its tender jaws and, like an agile and ghostly wild cat, transformed into a dark purple streak and lunged at Kuru—

Though Kuru had caused the trouble, Tang Qi couldn't really just ignore it.

As always, disregarding Kuru's wishes, he used it as a meat shield in front of him, then immediately sang:

"[Silvery Barbs]!"

As an instantaneous spell, [Silvery Barbs] had a brief incantation, requiring only specific singing to vocalize the spell and shake the Weave to take effect, without needing to compose catchy verses on his own—

Otherwise, by the time he finished singing even one line, the little dragon would have already bitten off Kuru's head.

And as the chant ended, almost instantaneously, a faint silver light suddenly covered its golden pupils.

It felt itself uncontrollably glancing toward that silver light, causing its originally swift pounce to veer off course, "whoosh"—passing over Kuru and Tang Qi's shoulders as it pursued that silver gleam.

Yet in missing its target, it simultaneously lost track of that silver flash.

Only Tang Qi saw that silver light flow through the air like water, sliding toward the target he had designated—

"Dawn, knock it out!"

The paladin, already prepared, drew her two-handed greatsword from her waist:

"As you command."

Her figure was nearly perfect, with well-proportioned muscles and long, powerful legs, yet ultimately leaning toward the slenderness of human aesthetics.

But driven by her divine soul, the plate armor on her body that resembled a tin can was no different from lightweight silk to her.

Almost with a single step, in that swift movement she had already crossed past Tang Qi and positioned herself beside the little dragon—

Tang Qi only felt a gust of wind blow past him.

By the time he came to his senses, the broken blade in Dawn's hand was already gleaming with bright cold light under the falling moonlight.

Now it looked more like a strange short sword about a foot long that had lost its edge.

But the blade was wide enough, with water-like silver light clinging to its outline, allowing her to swing it like wielding a club, using the flat blade to trace a silver half-moon and strike heavily on the little dragon's spine!

"Bang!"

"Yiwu!"

The repulsive force hit the newly born little dragon, slamming it hard into the ferns at their feet.

But its resilient constitution that transcended ordinary creatures, combined with deliberately holding back when using the flat blade, meant this swing didn't achieve the desired result—

When Dawn pressed her advantage and swung down at the ground again, she clearly sensed a persistent repulsive force, preceding her broken sword and blocking between them like an invisible wall.

The second strike was forcibly deflected by that force field, giving the little dragon a chance to use gravity to return to the sky:

"Yiwu!"

It floated beneath the moonlight, attempting to roar to display as much dragon-like威严 as possible.

Unfortunately, its young appearance wasn't frightening, making it hard to achieve the expected effect, always giving the sense of a kitten imitating a lion...

But what could demonstrate intimidation wasn't necessarily appearance alone.

It opened its jaws wide, and between its tender white fangs, a point of pitch black suddenly appeared.

That black point was impenetrably dark, as if it had obscured all colors, with only a thin halo of light presenting its outline, making people realize it was about to swallow the light.

Like an extremely tiny singularity—

Tremendous suction pulled at Tang Qi's body, the howling wind swept past his ears, the direction of the gusts clearly sweeping toward that singularity!

Only at this moment did Tang Qi truly confirm the identity of the little dragon before him.

The long-absent tingling sensation brought by [Alertness] instantly swept through his entire body:

"It's [Breath]—Stonecrusher!"

"Got it!"

Stonecrusher shouted, about to raise his tower shield in front of Tang Qi,

"I can take it, shut your mouth—don't curse at me!"

Though he said this, cold sweat continuously seeped from his forehead.

Who could have thought that such a harmless-looking little thing could actually use [Breath] like the legendary [dragons]!?

They faced it as if confronting a great enemy.

And that pitch-black singularity was about to engulf the entire forest.

Suddenly!

It let out a muffled sound:

"Pffft—"

Then it dispersed.

"Huh?"