Can you hear my voice?

I let out a happy sigh. Finally, I don't need to grunt and growl all the time while using physical gestures to make myself understood like an animal. It felt a little demeaning, to say the least. Nevertheless, I have more important matters to attend to.

I look into her eyes and activate my new ability. "Can you hear my voice?"

She jumps back with a yelp. "Ah! I can! You sound very masculine, My Lord!" Scarlet nods to herself as if she just confirmed something she had been pondering for some time.

"Thanks. I'm really glad to have received this ability. Though I must admit, I expected you to be more surprised."

She looks at me with a puzzled expression, debating what I meant. Then, her confusion clears. "I understand now. My Lord must not know that [Telepathy] is a universal ability all true dragons unlock by the time they reach the Young Adult age stage at the latest. You don't have the necessary organs required to speak like us humanoids do. Of course, that doesn't make you 'lesser,' rather it's quite the contrary. While we weak creatures evolved to have the ability to speak with each other so that we can form communities and protect each other by combining the strength of the masses, dragons chose a wildly different path to evolution. Your entire being is sculpted to perfection, a single organism that can easily overpower entire societies made of us humanoids, and there is no space or need left in your magnificent bodies for unnecessary organs. Long story short, you represent quality, while we humanoids represent quantity. There are always outliers however, some humanoids grow so strong that they easily stand above the rest and some dragon species that are inherently weaker than average decide to form their own communities."

She pauses briefly, taking a deep breath before continuing, "however, that would leave you without the ability to communicate on a deeper level than growls and roars. So, naturally, your evolution path unlocked an ability to circumvent the issue without ruining your perfect body. There's a reason us dragonewts believe that true dragons are closer to nature than even wood elves and dryads. Throughout history, whenever dragons had a biological deficiency that threatened their supremacy over the rest, the World itself seemed to step in to correct the mistake, as if it wanted your species to remain on top of the pyramid."

Damn. That explains why she wasn't as perplexed about my new ability as I expected; it's just a general one. And I was so proud of it… The part about being closest to nature feels strange, but who am I to say otherwise? I need to hear more experienced opinions on the matter. Though hearing that the World favors dragons is a bit… intimidating. I'm supposed to hunt and consume dragons, after all. Will I get struck by lightning or something if I eat too much?

Thinking of which, now that I've evolved, I am very confident in squashing any wyrmling I come across. Now I just need to find them somehow. I haven't smelled a single scent belonging to dragons, so I will probably have to go far from home to have a chance to hunt them.

Anyhow, before she collapses from hunger, I decide to move on. "You haven't eaten anything in days, right? It was my mistake to leave you without any sustenance, so I will make up for it. Stay here and I will come back with a fresh meal." As for why I didn't want to summon food from my separate magical dimension, the answer is simple: I wanted to have a more meaningful talk with her before I reveal my nature as a Devouring Dragon. It is supposed to be a secret I hold very dearly, and there's something I need to clarify with Scarlet before I divulge it.

She gasps and raises her hand with a motion that wants to stop me by reaching towards my limb, but she pauses her movement before contact is made. "There's no need for that, Lord Valdrakar! I'm supposed to be your servant, not the other way around."

"Naturally. However, you are a Healer and a malnourished, exhausted one at that. If I send you out to hunt now, I would be a bad master, and I wouldn't remain one for long, as you would quickly become nourishment for some opportunistic monster. You can't serve if you are dead, or am I wrong? I don't know much about the World, so feel free to correct me. I also want to get out and test my evolved self."

Her expression contorts into a pained one when I mention the word 'healer' for whatever reason. Is it a bad class? It seems pretty useful to me, although I would hate to be someone that always depends on others' protection. I don't know why I don't have a class, by the way. One more item added to my growing list of 'research later.'

I take a glance at her status window:

[Name: Scarlet] 

[Race: Dragonewt] 

[Class: Healer] 

[Soul Core Stage: 3rd Tier Initial] 

[Vitality: 600] 

[Mana: 1400] 

[Strength: 40] 

[Dexterity: 60] 

[Magic: 160]

Naturally, I've already seen these numbers as I inspected her when we first met, alongside her original squad mates. The two melee fighters were very strong.

Her magic and mana played a big role in accepting her request and letting her become my follower. Sadly, I can't tell how many spells she has in her repertoire just by looking at this window, but she can probably keep me alive for quite a long time if we are ever in danger and fight with her supporting me. That is, of course, as long as an overwhelming enemy doesn't chop my neck off. I'm pretty confident she can't heal that.

She seems plenty capable to me, which is why I took her in. That Druid girl had both Strength and Dexterity in single digits; she would probably die if the wind blew her way a bit too energetically. I'm curious how she is faring, I might track her down a bit later. She was the first humanoid I had met in my life and also my first contact with an intelligent species capable of speech.

Anyhow, Scarlet's silence to my question confirms my suspicions that she can't be useful to me dead, so I decide to send her back into the cave to recuperate while I take off to gather a hearty meal she can enjoy to the fullest as a reward for a job well done.

(Author: There was a minor change in yesterday's chapter, the green dragon that almost got the MC without him even knowing about it was changed from Adult to Young Adult age stage. The reason is world building related.)