7 Have I Been Praised, or Have I Been Insulted?

Max felt no discomfort from his lesser brother being thrown out.

Although they had similar appearances and were both dragons, the difference between a pure dragon and a drake was like heaven and earth.

They could not be considered the same species at all.

Most drakes that hatched from a dragon's nest were killed on the spot, or they would become food for the pure dragons.

The Red Dragons were the more compassionate dragons among the Chromatic Dragons. Usually, they would chase out the sub-dragons and leave them to fend for themselves.

Upon this thought, Max sighed with relief. Fortunately, he was born as a pure dragon.

The remaining dragon eggs hatched one after another, but they were all drakes. Unsurprisingly, all of them were thrown out by his mother.

The final dragon egg remained stationary for quite some time.

This meant that it had failed to break out of its eggshell.

After all, the time required for drakes and dragons to break out of their eggshells was about the same.

As such, if one had yet to emerge from their egg at this point, it meant that it had already suffocated to death within the egg.

Agatha watched this scene silently from the side.

Dragons were not a friendly race. This was especially true for the Chromatic Dragons that had an evil alignment, even towards their own children.

After all, dragons valued power and treasure, and they had no need for the weak.

Failing to break out of their eggshells would result in them becoming food for their brothers and sisters.

"Eat."

After saying this, Agatha went to play with her hoard of gems.

'Mother seems to adore her treasures more than her children.'

The tone she used earlier was more akin to an order. There was no motherly love to be found from her words.

There was nothing Max could do to alleviate his sibling's condition.

He could not crack open the egg in front of his mother, right?

If he did that, his mother would definitely doubt the purity of Max's bloodline or wonder if there was something wrong with his brain.

After all, a normal dragon would not have such a strong sense of kinship.

"More food, more food."

Max broke open the egg and began eating.

The egg white was very thirst-quenching, and accompanying the sweet egg yolk was also a rare piece of meat.

Max thought to himself, 'The life of a dragon is truly wonderful.'

As Max ate, he spotted his drooling sister out of the corner of his eye.

His sister curled up and swayed back and forth behind him.

She reminded him of a puppy waiting to receive its meal.

In just half a minute, Max had already eaten more than half of the dragon egg's content.

He had deliberately saved some for his sister. He knew that his newborn sister must be craving for this scrumptious meal.

Sure enough, once Max stepped back, his sister rushed over and ate the rest of its contents.

Compared to normal hatchlings, his sister was extremely thin and weak. The periosteum of her wings was as thin as paper, and her forelimbs were protruding. She was also rather petite.

Had Max not helped her, his sister would definitely have failed to break out of the dragon egg.

Should that happen, she would end up as food.

However, there was a reason for his sister's frail constitution. Max was really looking forward to his sister's high aptitude for magic that was mentioned by the system.

"Brother."

Halfway through her meal, she suddenly turned around and asked, "Were you the one who helped me earlier?"

Max nodded.

'My sister actually remembered my act of kindness. Not bad.'

Max was judging her by humans' standard of morality. However, by dragons' standards of morality, that might not be the case.

His sister paused for a moment. She seemed to be thinking of the word for gratitude in the dragon language.

However, how could such a word exist within the language of evil dragons?

After thinking for a long time, his sister finally replied, "You are very kind, brother."

Following this, his sister continued to consume the egg's contents.

Max did not know how he should react to the statement. He was unsure whether he was being praised or insulted.

After all, he was now an evil dragon, the kind that would snatch away princesses of foreign lands on a whim.

...

The life of hatchlings was so simple that two words were enough to describe it.

Eat.

Sleep.

His mother had hunted their food for them. Needless to say, she had no difficulty obtaining food.

As a creature at the top of the food chain, everything that could move outside was her food.

As time went on, Max noticed that Red Dragons were particularly fond of eating camels.

Max did not believe it at first, but he realized that he had no resistance to roasted camel meat!

His mother would bring home raw camel meat, but right before feeding it to the siblings, she would roast the meat with her Lightning Breath.

The camel meat would become crispy and tender, and upon taking a bite, its oil would splash everywhere. It was almost comparable to fried chicken drumsticks!

Whenever the siblings ate this meal, Agatha would proudly raise her head, and her whole body would make a crackling sound of static electricity.

She would lock eyes with the siblings, as if to ask, "Have you learned how to make it?"

'I cant learn it, I can't learn it...'

Max realized that his aptitude for magic and breathing were very poor.

Had he been any other dragon species, he would not be bothered, but he was a Red Dragon, a race that prided themselves on their aptitude for magic!

A Red Dragon with poor magic aptitude was like an NBA superstar who was incapable of dribbling!

However, Max was not too flustered.

He consoled himself, 'If need be, I could just start a Battle of Existence with someone who's adept at magic.'

'Plundering one's magical aptitude should be easier than practicing it, right?'

Max had already fully realized the power of the system.

Previously, he had plundered the abilities of a Black Dragon, and this had resulted in his strong physique. Even as a hatchling, he had already grown sharp claws and hard scales.

In the future, he would undoubtedly be the strongest Red Dragon when it came to physical combat.

There was also a legend among the dragons. It was said that pure dragons did not need to practice and they could become stronger just by sleeping.

In other words, scenarios in light novels like "I Can Become Stronger Just By Sleeping" were a reality for dragons.

Max did not believe it at first either. However, whenever he became full, a wave of sleepiness would besiege him.

In less than two seconds, he would fall asleep, and his sister would use his wings to cushion her sleep.

"Warm."

Max was not used to this at first. After all, how could there be such a brother-sister relationship?

However, Max slowly learned to accept it.

I've become a dragon.

'Sure, my sense of ethics are different now, but so what?'

Agatha was very satisfied with her two sleepy children.

After all, dragons used sleep to improve their strength. The fact that they were constantly sleeping proved that they had plenty of potential.

As such, Agatha made sure to bring back plenty of food every day, and she would even go an extra mile to hunt down Max's favorite camel meat.

One day, however, Agatha no longer roasted the camel meat for the siblings.