Chapter 1: The Fostered Dragonet
The bright sunlight scattered over the dimly colored scales, reflecting a dazzling golden light. The slender and elongated young dragon lay lazily on the corridor bridge, basking in the sun.
Gently, the mountain breeze blew, causing a variety of flowers and lush green leaves to sway. An unknown blue flower was lifted by the wind, with a few purple-blue petals dancing gracefully, the slender flower stem stretched straight.
Suddenly, the flower stem lightened, and the petals flew off the branch, drifting along with a slight sparkle of pollen, passing between the young dragon's horns and falling onto its scales.
The young dragon half-closed its dragon eyes, quietly enjoying the gentle sunlight. At this moment, the world seemed to freeze for him, leaving only him and this moment of tranquility.
Suddenly, the sound of galloping hooves from below the mountain startled Noah from his nap. The young dragon suddenly opened its eyelids, with dragon eyes shimmering with spiritual light, looking beyond the flower garden.
Under the young dragon's gaze, a group of cavalrymen filled with a strong bloody aura appeared outside the flower garden, their arrival instantly breaking the peaceful and tranquil atmosphere.
However, Noah didn't care about them. He watched the knight who jumped off his horse first, watching as he trampled through the waist-deep flower bushes, approaching him alone.
"Noah, I'm leading the patrol again today. I specially took a detour through the river valley to collect some pearl oysters. Here, take a look."
The youthful-looking yet well-built young knight, Ted, took off the pouch at his waist and opened it, showing off his haul from today's patrol. They were pearls of varying sizes, freshly pried from oysters by his own hands, still adorned with droplets of water.
"The quality is really poor!"
Noah, with a critical eye, examined the young knight's spoils. Although there were a hundred or so pearls in the beast skin pouch, only a few were truly round, and none were worthy of catching the eye of a Golden Dragon.