An Odd Group

After hearing Sofia's shout, Ace became serious. Before, because he wanted to save his mana, he didn't fight seriously.

A newly arrived ant strode to the group angrily. After seeing so many of its kind killed, it was impossible for it to be calm.

Facing the ant, he didn't waste time. He threw his cards continuously.

-88

-148

-268

-210

-58

-238

It died in a few seconds. After finishing the ant, Ace helped the others to finish their opponents. 

Jumpy's body shone brightly. However, unlike when leveling up, that the process was short, evolution took a pretty long time. 

His physical features were the first ones that looked to change. His eight limbs became longer. However, his hind legs became much longer than before. His front legs became tighter and their tips turned sharp like a knife.

As for his torso, besides it became bigger, it was no longer covered by soft hair. It became like a knight's heavy armor, thick and shiny. The only part that didn't change was his face. A pair of adorable big black eyes were still there besides the other three pairs that couldn't move.

After his transformation was finished, everyone was mesmerized by its new golden color. 

Ace then inspected Jumpy's new species.

[Jumpy]

Race: Spider (Golden Assault Spider) (Elite) (Ancestor)

Level: 10

"It's a new species. Jumpy became the first of its kind," Sofia exclaimed.

"What does that mean?" Cloud asked. 

Sofia looked at her mother happily, "Mom, do you see the word ancestor on its information? It means if he mates with another spider, their offspring will have 100% probability to become golden assault spiders."

"That is awesome. However, we must leave to another spot, as I heard many ants' footsteps. It seems they have noticed our activities here. But, firstly, let's pick our harvest quickly."

***

Gon watched Mars eating so many delicious-looking foods on the table with two other dragons and an angel. Few dragonlings served other warm foods to the table, and the others took empty baskets.

Dragons, although had an appearance of a monster, actually were not. They didn't wear armor because of their belief that there was nothing stronger than their scaled hides. As for weapons, they also believed that their claws, bite, and breath were the strongest. The conclusion was, they were a very conceited race.

However, although they were conceited, they had the capital to be conceited. Because there were few races that could contend with them in one on one fights if they were at the same level with the dragon.

They also proclaimed themselves as the wisest creature. But they have also had a reason for their claims. They had a very long life. Most of them could live for more than 1,000 years. A few of them even could reach the age of 2,000 years old. 

With their long life, it was not strange for them to study some disciplines or even accomplish a remarkable achievement. 

One thing that most other races misunderstood was their poor fertility. Many people thought that their numbers were not too many because they rarely successfully lay eggs. That was not true, at least not entirely true.

Dragon, because of their long life, was rarely aroused to mate. Maybe it was a natural justice. If despite their superiority, they were like rabbits or dolphins or humans who like to breed, the world would be theirs.

However, the eggs that they laid mostly would produce dragonlings, not dragons. In every 1,000 eggs that the dragons had laid, only an egg produced a dragon infant.

Dragonlings were different from dragons. They were humanoid like lizardmen. However, They had not too tall stature and they had short but strong limbs. Not like lizardmen who had pretty tall stature and thin limbs. They were similar to dwarves, but with dragon-like heads, scales covered skins and short tails.

In theory, they were also a dragon, just not the complete ones. When they leveled up between level 10 to 25, they had a possibility to evolve to be a dragon. However, the possibility was pretty low. And if they leveled up to level 26 without evolving to be a dragon, they would be dragonlings forever. 

Dragonlings had their own roles in the dragon clan. Usually, they were placed in production duties and some part of them were trained to be clan soldiers. Because of their strong body they often put on a set of heavy armor with spear and shield. They were often called the small fortress. with some crossbowmen at the back, they were a pretty tough army in the new world just like dwarves.

***

There were always oddballs in each family, not an exception with the Dragma Valley Clan. In the Dragma Valley, Mars was used to be the most hated and despised oddball. In this case, Gon was taking pleasure in his former prison companion's bad reputation. He was glad someone was more hated than him who was despised because of his 'cowardice'.

Mars like another dragon had an innate ability. His innate ability was to change his appearance into anyone. It was definitely a unique ability, at least in Dragma Valley. He was famous for being a prankster. He liked to change himself to be someone else and perform bad things. Of course, bad things here were never an evil thing. 

As an example, he sometimes stole another dragon's possession, and then put it in another dragon's house. He then watched the two dragons fight because of it happily. Almost everyone had suffered from his pranks. So, it could be said he was pretty hated.

Until one day, when Dragna, the dragon king of the valley went out to do something, Mars thought an unthinkable prank. He wanted to turn himself into Dragna and then pranked others with the king's identity. 

No dragon ever imagined that Mars would do it, even Dragna's wife, Queen Scarlet was deceived by him. However, it became complicated when Scarlet was in heat and wanted to mate with Dragna that day. Mars who hesitated to make a choice was 'forced' to do it with Scarlet. 

The next day, Scarlet and Dragna knew the truth. Mars, who didn't dare to leave the clan, was beaten to a pulp by Dragna and was sentenced 100 years of prison.

Mars was pretty happy with his punishment, he thought, he was pretty lucky hadn't been chased away from the clan. He then spent his days with meditation. His dedication was paid off 20 years later. he became a dragon elite and then 50 years later became a dragon lord. However, he didn't want to tell anyone about his achievement and chose to finish his remaining punishment.

This morning Dragna's announcement made all dragons and dragonlings surprised. However, because of envy and past hatred, many dragons tried to degrade his achievement by spreading his past deeds. 

As a result, although no one dared to protest to Dragna for his decision to give an important mission to Mars, they didn't want to help him to do his mission. 

Dragna was pretty helpless with the other dragons' attitudes. He promised Mars, he would find solutions to solve this problem. Because this mission could only be done by a lord, Mars who was the only lord that was available was the only choice.

Some dragon guardians were interested in helping Mars, but the other dragon NPCs threatened them, if someone dared to help him, he would be boycotted by the other dragon NPCs. It made them shuddered. 

In front of clear disadvantages, they chose to abandon unsure benefit. However, they would regret their decision later on.

However, an oddball surely would attract other oddballs. Eric and Erica were brother and sister dragons. They were pretty special, as they were dragons since hatched. Because of their specialness, they were always treated specially among other dragons. Even Dragna put importance on them. 

However, always being treated as specials made them think that they were different from other dragons. It made them become rebellious young dragons.

After knowing that another dragon lord appeared in their clan and his controversy, they came forward telling Mars that they would support him. 

Their decision made a small ripple in the clan, as other dragons didn't want to offend them. They could only curse them in their hearts.

A while later, an angel also came to the house that was prepared for Mars. She said that she was a researcher that would brief and help him to do the mission. 

On that day, the tale of an odd group was begun. Its initial members were the perverted dragon himself, two troublemaker dragons, a self-proclaimed genius angel plus a 'cowardice' dragon.

***