After creating a few more skillbooks from his techniques, Draco send them over to the Guild Shop since Vita City-State was a property of Umbra, he could deposit them directly from here.
After that, he prepared a Master Rank cup of coffee that removed the <sleep deprived> status for 24 hours. He then meditated on his subjective magic and the techniques from the Serpent God Inheritance for the rest of the night.
He had to train up his Cause and Effect Theory in order the strengthen his willpower and concentration. While both could be greatly augmented with external means, he wanted to buff up his base quality.
As such, daily practice was imperative. Even though the gains greatly diminished over time, this was the best stage.
One thing many people didn't want to acknowledge when doing something repeatedly in order to improve was that there would always be diminishing returns.
Unless one constantly rose above their limits and chased after the next level, this would eventually be the case. However, doing things like that was for fictional characters, as trying to break your limits more often than not led to breaking yourself.
When many realized that they weren't getting as much as before, they might lose motivation, believing that their 'golden age' had passed. However, this was not true.
It was like building a tower. In the early stages, it was naturally easy to add floor upon floor because it was so close to the ground. Once it began reaching the clouds though, it became extremely hard to proceed for a multitude of reasons.
Trying to force it would lead to the tower crumbling 9 times out of 10.
So, what was one to do? Well, the answer was exactly what Draco was doing. One would constantly have to go through the fundamentals over and over despite how little it gave in terms of progress.
Nevertheless, such an action fortified the foundation. Using the tower example, the architect would come back to the ground and measure each level carefully again, making many calculations.
Then, he would 'edit' each level from the ground up and make changes where necessary in order to allow the tower to continue growing stably when the chance arose.
The next day, Draco went down to the Anomaly Realm where the Dragon Soul's egg - with its new host - and his two Dragon Eggs were kept. After all, the Anomaly Realm was something special that could suppress the presence of these species.
Although not from the Supreme Pantheon, but definitely from the Rank 7 powers. Since today was the hatching day for the Dragon Soul, Draco thought he'd come around to see what would happen.
He found Hikari already inside, surprisingly in her full dragon form, something he hadn't had the pleasure of seeing in a long time.
She lay on her belly with her pure white scales shining like they were polished by the Gods themselves. Her large blue eyes and long horn made her seem very amiable, even though she was much bigger than Draco like this.
Draco smiled and admired Hikari silently. She was truly beautiful, an existence almost on par with Eva.
Among his four core women, Eva possessed the best facial beauty, Zaine had the best body, Roma had the best general shape, eyes, as well as her luscious hair.
Hikari though, had all of these but was slightly below the others in all aspects. She had the second-best facial beauty, second-best body, and second-best general shape.
Against each one of them, she was better, but when all four were in one room, the difference showed. Still, it didn't mean she was lesser than any of them and some might even argue that she was the best.
Draco would naturally always be biased for Eva, and his intimacy with Roma also marred his judgment. Zaine's supple body that fit him to a T was also a balance breaker…
Alas, why need to compare them anyway? They weren't clones of one another, so differences would naturally exist. Each had strengths and weaknesses across many aspects and that was what made them all perfect… especially Eva.
Well, some things were hard to change.
One thing that struck Draco as weird was how Hikari's body looked to him. For example, a human looking at a human would feel that the person they were gazing at was normal.
However, if such a person looked at a Dragon, it would be hard to think 'this is normal' no matter what. On an instinctive level, deep in one's sub-conscious, there would always be a rejection.
However, there was none of that for him, looking at the White Dragoness was the same as looking at a human, and his brain processed it the same way. As such, there was naturally an attraction towards Hikari in him.
However, he was still human, so she always had to transform down for them to become intimate. Even if he could transform though, he would feel very weird engaging in such acts.
Even if his view of Dragons was normal, going to that level would conflict with his self-identity. After all, he still regarded himself as a human first and foremost.
Draco cast such strange thoughts from his mind and walked over to the egg that should soon hatch after greeting Hikari. She smiled when she saw him and began transforming down, but Draco shook his head.
"You are more beautiful in your true form." Draco said tenderly.
Hikari lowered her head with a light smile on her lips. "Thank you…"
As stated earlier, she looked the same to Draco either way. She was beautiful in her human form to him (and other humans) as well as in her Dragon form to him (and other Dragons), so it made no difference.
Nevertheless, he wanted her to feel confident in her true form. Since she always stayed in a human form, she might start to feel that her true form was unsightly, but this was not true.
If Draco were to enter the Dragon race of old with his human form, they would treat him just how humans treated Dragons in their true form. There would be politeness on the surface, but revulsion deep down.
He certainly didn't want that for Hikari, as there would be a day where he would no longer need to hide her racial affiliation. If she was too shy to transform back in public, wouldn't he have caused her harm?
Draco noticed a commotion as the Dragon Soul's egg began to hatch. Worldly Energy was pulled towards it in significant quantities, coating the eggshell and slowly weathering it.
Soon, a crack appeared on the pristine egg, then another, and another. Eventually, a head poked out of the shell and began chewing on it voraciously.
After freeing itself, the Hatchling shook the slimy goo off its body and looked around lazily. It was clear that there had been no complications while hatching, seeing as it was giving off an aura that lacked any dignity.
The Worldly Energy in the Anomaly Realm began to dance and quiver with excitement, celebrating the birth of one of the pinnacle species of the world.
It coalesced into the shape of the hatchling, but with a greenish-blue outline. It looked no different from a typical energy lifeform, and it dove towards the baby Dragon.
The fellow scoffed and gabbed this energy lifeform, throwing it into his mouth as he chomped down with a bored expression on his face.
Hikari had a horrified expression on her face as she saw this, and Draco clutched his chest in pain. Wasn't that supposed to be the soul of the hatchling?
The fellow had captured it and tossed it into his mouth…
To understand how Hikari and Draco felt, it was like picturing something eating a newly born baby alive.
"VILE BEAST!!"
Draco roared as he took out Fragarach and Dragorugio, intending to cut this fellow into pieces! How dare he perform such evil in front of him? Draco may be an amoral bastard, but he still had some bottom line there.
Seeing that Draco was about to carve him into pieces, the Dragon Soul seemed unbothered. In fact, he even had the time to open his inventory and take out some red robes that were tailormade for his tiny body.
These robes had extremely puffy sleeves, making him look like some wizened old sect master who had trained many young heroes in his time. Not only that, the fellow managed to sprout hair which he tied into a grey topknot.
After all of these bizarre happenings, the Dragon Soul finally flung its sleeves furiously and harrumphed.
"IMPUDENT!"
"ARROGANT!"
"IGNORANT!"
After firing those three lines, the fellow folded his arms behind his back and spoke in a lofty tone, like a sensei berating his disciple.
"What did I tell you last time?! A hatchling only gains a soul AFTER birth! When the eggshell is consumed and the celebration of Worldly Energy occurs, this energy would be absorbed to form a soul, it itself ISN'T a soul."
"That thing was just a dragon-shaped mass of Worldly Energy! And yet, you insult me for it! You dare to try and harm me for it?!"
"This…" Draco and Hikari shared a look. They did feel a bit ashamed about jumping to conclusions, but who wouldn't have thought such a thing upon seeing that kind of scenario?
"We're sorry…" Hikari apologized on their behalf, despite Draco being the one who had acted rashly.
The Dragon Soul snorted with disdain. "If sorry was good enough, why would we need city guards?"
Draco frowned. "So then what do you want?"
"I won't make things too difficult for you. As we have a fate together, we can be considered as buddies." The fellow stated with a neutral expression.
The Dragon Soul pointed at Draco with a claw in a very demeaning manner. "Acknowledge me as your master, and I shall let this matter go. Otherwise, don't blame me for what happens next!"
Hikari blushed with shame on behalf of the Dragon Soul since the fellow clearly didn��t have enough for himself. Draco though, smirked playfully.
Playing with him in terms of shamelessness? The Dragon Soul was courting death. Even the almighty Qiong Qi had to look up to Draco's thick skin.
"You are right, only such a thing is worthwhile to appease your pains." Draco replied calmly.
"I knew you would refuse, as such is… eh?" The Dragon Soul was about to fling its sleeves grandly again, but Draco's line had stunned him into silence.
He actually… agreed? But… ah? Wasn't Draco aware that it was his Combat Pet? Their relationship was already set in stone by the contract, so how was he supposed to get acknowledged as his master?
With an awkward smile, the Dragon Soul spoke. "Haha…aha… right. Acknowledge me… as your master…"
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"That's right, O wise one. I shall acknowledge you as my master truly." Draco chirped with a cheerful smile.
The Dragon Soul wanted to beat up Draco, but calmed itself down and found a new angle of attack. As such, it also wore a sharp smile as it replied.
"Oh? Fine then. Please show me how you will go about acknowledging me as your master."
Draco's eyes narrowed as he realized that this fellow was quite smart, but how could he lose to a mere Dragon Soul in the Dao of Shamelessness?
"Actually… there is a way…" Draco said with a difficult expression.
The Dragon Soul wanted to see what excuse the fellow would come up with in order to weasel his way out of it.
"Go on, we don't have all day! We only have 1000 words left to wrap up our comedy skit!" The Dragon Soul said impatiently.
"Well, it's like this. In order for me to acknowledge you as my master, you must first acknowledge me as you master. While that ceremony is occurring, the Gods would detect the loyalty in my heart and switch the targets around!" Draco answered with an honest expression.
Hikari blushed and hid her face, as her self-respect as well as her dignity couldn't handle it anymore. These two were simply too shameless!
The Dragon Soul itself was stunned into speechlessness. Its lips couldn't help but twitch as it processed what Draco just said through its mind.
Dammit, how could the fellow spout such bullshit with such an honest face, like he actually believed it?
If a bull had taken a dump, and was asked to discern which one was true bullshit, it would point at Draco's words over its own freshly released crap.
The Dragon Soul looked like it had aged 3,000 years as it gave up. There was a reason why Draco was the master and it was now his Combat Pet. The fellow was just too powerful!
Draco smiled lightly and inspected the Dragon Soul.
｢Name: Unnamed - Rank 0 Hatchling
MON Str: 10
MON Dex: 10
MON End: 10
MON Int: 10
MON Spr: 10
MON Cha: 10
MON Lck: 10
Abilities: Fireball, Flamepillar
Traits: Divine Origin, Fire Immunity.｣
｢Fireball – Active Skill
Effect: Shoot a ball of fire at a target within 50 yards. This deals 15% fire damage.
Cooldown: 7 seconds｣
｢Flamepillar – Ability
Effect: Cause an eruption of fire at a certain location that engulfs an area of 1 yard. This deals 45% fire damage per second.
Duration: 5 seconds
Cooldown: 5 minutes.｣
｢Divine Origin – Trait
Effect: Possessing true Divine Aura, this combat pet will face no growth issues until at the Divine Rank.｣
｢Fire Immunity – Trait
Effect: Total Immunity to all fire damage.｣
The Dragon Soul was weaker than Luxia, but that was a given as it was freshly hatched. Not only was it Rank 0, it was only about the size of Draco's foot.
The fellow looked the same as his soul form, so there was no conflict of identity. However, Draco realized a certain issue.
He had no idea what the fellow's actual name was!
Draco squatted as he gazed down at the Dragon Soul with a thin smile. "What's your name?"
The Dragon Soul felt uncomfortable being looked down on like this by Draco, but could only answer unless it wanted to be given some random name.
"Clarent. My name is Clarent Kaen-ou." The Dragon Soul responded.
"Alright then." Draco said as he rose to his feet and inputted the name into the tab.
He then turned to Hikari to inquire whether she knew the fellow like she had suggested last time, only to see her pupils narrow sharply and her body trembling.
Clarent also gazed at Hikari with incomprehension at first, but his eyes also narrowed. Now that he thought about it, this lass did look familiar. Had he seen her somewhere before?
"Did you say your name was Clarent Kaen-ou?" Hikari asked with a shaky voice.
"Yes, I did. Who are you, lass?" Clarent asked with a solemn tone, as he realized something was up.
"Hikari… Hikari Ryushiki…" The White Dragoness replied with tears forming in her eyes.
When Clarent heard this, his body froze and it looked as if a mini-explosion had occurred in his mind. While Draco was lost as to what was happening, he quietly retreated to the side so as not to ruin this seemingly important meeting.
Even a braindead fool could tell that Hikari and Clarent - The Dragon Soul - had a very important connection.
"Hikari… Ryushiki you say? That means you're the only daughter of Mara Ryushiki…?" Clarent asked, his voice also shaky.
"Yes…" Hikari replied as she lowered her snout and brought it close to the tiny Clarent who was still a hatchling in terms of size. It was a bit comical to see, but the heaviness of the mood removed all the comedy from it.
Clarent looked at her deeply for a long while and then broke into a loud laughter. "Hahaha! Good! Good! You have survived so perfectly, Hikari! This is good! So good!"
Clarent's happiness was infectious, and Hikari found herself smiling even though she was still crying. "Yes it is… Big Brother."
HOLY SHIT!
Now it was Draco's turn for his mind to explode. He had made many assumptions and even considered that they were family, but only distant at best. What were the chances that out of all the Dragons left alive, he would have met with two related ones?
After all, Hikari herself said that her whole family had been slaughtered in front of her eyes, so Draco had assumed that even if there were some other Dragons hidden in the world, they would be from other families.
Clarent smiled widely. "My darling little sister, I'm sorry for not recognizing you. I only heard stories about you since you were born the last, and I had been away from the family all that time."
"I know. Step-Mother Faer Kaen-ou always talked about you doing important work, Big Brother." Hikari said gently.
"Ah…" Upon hearing that name, Clarent's eyes became red and his breathing became ragged. It seemed as if that name triggered a certain memory within him and he became very pained.
Draco decidedly left the Anomaly Realm. It was clear that these two needed time to go over their circ.u.mstances and old traumas together, and he - as a third party - did not need to be there.
He returned to his room and sat on one of his sofas, gazing at the ceiling of the chamber. His mind couldn't help but go through all his own experiences in this life and the last, leaving him melancholic.
"Everyone has their own story, huh…" Draco murmured.
No matter the person, everyone had a story to tell. Even those who felt they were average and had nothing about them that stood out were also a novel storybook to a reader somewhere.
To think that the haughty Dragon Soul who always played the fool had such an origin…
Among all of those Draco was intimate, Zaine had the most 'normal' origin, while Hikari had the worst. Roma was situated in the middle, and as for Eva…
Well, that was a whole different ballgame.
For Clarent to be a part of Hikari's nuclear family, his own fate was intertwined with hers, meaning the suffering she went through was also something he had to bear.
Then again, Hikari had been hidden away and got to keep her life, despite how lonely it was.
Clarent though, had somehow been reduced into a tiny soul that could only exist with the help of another.