Chapter 119: Propagation
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Good heavens... Just how abysmal has the total dragon population become? As the supreme leader, Hyperion, you would be remiss if you failed to encourage reproduction—but you are actually cracking down on excess births?
And you do not even know how to be tactful. At the very least, you could put up a slogan like “Fewer births, better births, happiness for life.” Instead, all you know is throwing your weight around and imposing one-size-fits-all policies. With a leader like that, it would be a miracle if the dragon race ever amounted to anything!
The black dragon could not help feeling indignant. It wondered whether the divine profession allowed for elections. If it did, then it would certainly find a way to bring that fellow Hyperion down and replace him with someone more dependable.
“...Did you used to enjoy hatching dragon eggs?”
The black dragon found Red Dragon’s unwavering gaze somewhat difficult to withstand. Though it could forcibly suppress the ominous power within its body and restrain its physical desires, it was not some machine that had severed itself entirely from emotion and passion. Inevitably, certain thoughts still stirred within its mind. It hurriedly found a topic to shift its attention elsewhere.
“Yes.”
Lady Red lowered her head in embarrassment. “When I was still a young dragon, just after my mother drove me from the nest, I once had a remarkable encounter. A golden egg fell from the sky and landed right in front of me. I was starving at the time, so I could not resist eating it...”
“After that, the egg gradually became a tumor inside my belly. It not only seriously affected my physical structure, but also changed my mind to a considerable extent. It magnified the maternal instinct within me, so I was constantly thinking about hatching something. As a result, I often found myself picking up eggs abandoned by other dragons and bringing them home to hatch myself...”
“Why pick up other dragons’ eggs? Can you not lay any of your own?”
“I cannot...”
Lady Red lowered her head even further and answered faintly, “That tumor blocked my uterus. For all these years, I have been unable to ovulate normally. Whenever I do ovulate, it eats the egg...”
“Hmm... From the way you describe it, your condition really is rather serious.”
The black dragon could not help glancing at Red Dragon’s abdomen. There did seem to be something lodged inside. In fact, beneath the black dragon’s gaze, it even gave several deliberate thumps, as though taunting it:
What are you looking at? If you have the nerve, come and stab me!
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The black dragon was no child, of course, and would not fall for such blatant provocation. It immediately looked away and asked Red Dragon, somewhat puzzled, “If it has tormented you for so many years, have you never considered having surgery to remove it?”
“Mr. Deus, before the Xia Kingdom came to our world, how could we dragons possibly have had any concept of surgery?”
Lady Red gave the black dragon a reproachful glance, then lowered her head and licked her belly.
“Besides, it cannot really be considered a torment... At least the influence it has had on my thoughts and soul has been positive and beneficial. It kept me from becoming like other dragons—living aimlessly, drowning myself in pleasure, filling my mind with nothing but mounting and being mounted, and becoming a slave to lust!”
Immortal Wood Fated Romance
Emm...
The black dragon could not tell whether it was merely imagining things, but it vaguely sensed that this red dragon was pretending to be innocent—hinting that although she enjoyed hatching eggs, it was nothing more than a harmless hobby. In truth, she had always guarded her chastity and kept herself pure. Never mind that she was somewhat advanced in years; deep down, she was still an immaculate young female dragon, waiting for the one destined to break through her maidenhood...
She had seen through my preferences so quickly, then immediately adjusted her strategy, changed her style, and invented a story like this... As expected, Lady Red was operating on an entirely different level!
The black dragon was certainly not swayed by Lady Red’s few words. Instead, it doubled its vigilance. This woman was a master of feigned innocence, changing tactics to pursue a pure and innocent virgin dragon like itself. It absolutely must not fall into her trap!
Thus, the black dragon dropped the subject and turned to business.
“...At what age do female dragons generally begin laying eggs? And what is the maximum number of dragon eggs they can lay in a year?”
“...That is difficult to say.”
Lady Red found it rather strange that the black dragon was so preoccupied with such questions, but she answered honestly. “Generally speaking, female dragons can begin laying eggs once they reach adolescence—that is, after the age of fifty.”
“However, very few female dragons actually do so. For dragons, adolescence is still a period of physical growth, and laying eggs consumes a great deal of the body’s nutrients. Moreover, the maternal instinct within our minds has barely begun to awaken. Therefore, the vast majority of female dragons lay their first egg only when they are approaching adulthood—when they are nearly a hundred years old.”
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“As for the maximum number of eggs they can lay each year... that is even harder to say. Laying eggs is not something we can control at will. It depends on many factors taken together.”
“Normally, producing seven or eight healthy dragon eggs in a single clutch is already considered quite good. And dragons do not lay eggs every year, either. After one clutch, there must be an interval of several years at the very least before the next. Otherwise, we would not only be unable to give birth—we would be unable to raise the hatchlings as well!”
Such a troublesome process?
The black dragon muttered under its breath. It had originally been somewhat worried that the Xia Academy of Sciences might later ask it to capture more female dragons for scientific breeding and cultivation...
At that point, as the only male dragon it could trust—and a dragon of its own species, at that—it would certainly have no excuse to shirk its responsibility. It would inevitably be forced to handle some dirty and exhausting work... something that clearly went against its principles for conducting itself in the world.
In theory, after hearing Lady Red’s explanation, the black dragon ought to have felt considerably relieved. After all, dragons reproduced so inefficiently and had such long breeding cycles that even if they were captured and bred scientifically, the results might not be particularly impressive. The enormous costs of raising and operating such a facility would likely outweigh the benefits.
Thus, the black dragon would have more than enough reasons to persuade the Xia Academy of Sciences to abandon any plan to establish a dragon-breeding farm. Naturally, it would then have no need to personally perform all that dirty and exhausting work.
This should have been something to celebrate. Yet, for some reason, the black dragon felt an inexplicable sense of emptiness. Perhaps it simply thought it a shame that such an excellent project—one capable of substantially increasing the nation’s overall power—could not be brought to fruition.
After all, with the black dragon’s admirable ideological awareness, if only someone offered it enough guidance and thoroughly worked on its convictions, it would certainly put the greater good first and complete all that dirty and exhausting work through its tears!
Besides, dragons had no laws against bigamy. So long as it could keep up nutritionally, it could sleep with as many young female dragons as it pleased without suffering any legal consequences. On the contrary, it would probably even be commended for its service—
A Distinguished Breeding Dragon!
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