"That brings back pleasant memories." Fourth said after the battle.
This is his first time hunting, but this is not his first experience hunting. He has a whole lot of experience with hunting in his memory. These memories helped him become a knowledgeable and seasoned hunter right from his first hunt. If left alone to take care of himself, he is sure that he would be able to survive in this forest on his own.
Even so, he is not unscathed. There are shallow grooves on his scales where the tunda scored some hits. One of his wings is also injured. He folded it against his back most of the time during the battle, but it was still damaged. But all in all, his first battle was a success.
He looked around to make sure there were no enemies nearby. Then he began to drag the tunda toward Mother's position. That's where he is going to eat it. He can eat it here, but it is not safe. Mother will surely be able to save him if he meets with danger to his life here, but it is better to prevent that by sticking close to Mother.
If he is close to Mother, then no enemy will try to ambush him. Plus, he can keep his prey safe with her and return to hunting with peace of mind. He still has the trail of a bushy tailed govon and he doesn't want to lose it. Eating now will slow him down, so it is better to save his bounty for the future.
He made all these considerations very quickly before he decided to drag his prey to mother. The tunda is heavy, so he has to put in a lot of effort to drag it. But he couldn't complain because it was all part of the training.
Training is a good thing for dragons. It is not like the training of the ancient dragons in that dragonlings are not born ignorant. Their bloodline memories make them rather informed of what they are to do and how to do it.
So instead of fighting at the edge of death to acquire predatory instincts and skills, they will be fighting at the edge of death to excavate generations of predatory instincts and skills.
Training is dangerous. But it also means that they get to eat whatever they hunt. They won't be limited to the single meals that Mother gives them every few days. They can eat as much as they can kill.
In a way, training is a buffet for dragonlings. It shouldn't be called training anymore, but dragons are creatures of tradition. They are not going to stop calling something training because of the advantage of ancestral memories.
Fourth had been looking forward to training because, despite Mother's special treatment of him, he is still the smallest of the four of them.
The first three have an advantage of time over him, which is keeping them in the lead. If he can't beat his siblings, then his performance will be abysmal during the naming ceremony. So he is extra dedicated to training.
He dropped the tunda in front of Mother. Then he rushed back into the forest to hunt more. His tiny feet bounded on the forest floor with excitement.
Mother had her eyes closed, but she wasn't sleeping. Her divine sense had enveloped the whole groove and the entire mountain. So she is constantly monitoring the situation and can spring into action to save her dragonlings at any moment.
The mountain doesn't belong to just her, so there are other mothers who have brought their dragonlings out for training. Some of them are accompanied by their fathers, which is a rare sight.
This is usually the case when the fathers are young or first-time fathers. If the fathers are older, then they usually don't care about this stage of growth of the dragonlings. The novelty of having offspring has worn off on them, so they would rather do something else than cater to some dragonlings that don't need them.
She mated with an ancient and powerful dragon. It is not by chance. Male dragons her age were not strong enough to defeat her. So she had to find a more powerful male among the older dragons to defeat her.
The mating ritual of dragons is basically a fight. Males get to mate when they can defeat the females in battle. In this way, the strong females are paired with the strong males. This tradition ensures that the next generation of dragons is stronger than the previous ones.
Hybridization between strong parents always produces stronger offspring. But this situation has made it so that the father of the four doesn't care enough to visit his offspring yet. He might never care enough to visit them in their lives.
The care of the dragonlings falls on her shoulders. She is to protect them during their training. In the meantime, she chats with the other mothers who live on the mountain. They speak about any news they have heard recently.
One of the news stories that has been going around recently was about the attack on a plane under the control of the Supreme Beasts by some dragons. It is said that the attack ended in a massive victory for the dragons even though they couldn't enter the plane to fight.
Another noteworthy story is about a plane that was destroyed in a struggle between an ambitious dragon and an inhabitant of a plane. The ambitious dragon failed in gaining control of the plane and is recruiting dragons to help it defeat the resistance of the plane.
There is also news of two Gemini twins turning on each other and how it has affected their race both in the immortal lands and in the realm tree. There were many other stories which Mother used to while away her time while her dragonlings trained.
This training session continued until all four of them had eaten their fill and fell asleep. Then Mother took them back to their cave, where they would sleep for a few days.