Growing Adventure (1)

"Many animal species and races with underdeveloped civilizations mature with random elements on their journey from birth to growth. Of course, they can also make choices to some extent using their accumulated knowledge. But we, the Fatihs, know how to grow in any race and do it with unique mastery. Every figure that emerges from us becomes an example of the race to which the body they have taken belongs!"

An Excerpt from the Basic Books of the Fatihs Academy

Azderos, Northern Tundras.

There was a seven-meter-long white dragonling flying amidst the clouds. It was noticeably larger in both wingspan and size compared to its peers. Sharp intelligence gleamed in its eyes, a trait not commonly found in most white dragons. Below the clouds, on a snowy plateau, its siblings were observed struggling against a pack of winter wolves.

Four dragonlings and a dozen winter wolves were engaged in a deadly skirmish. Winter wolves were a magical creature species renowned in the Northern Tundras for their ability to breathe cold and coordinate hunts. They were larger and more cunning than an average wolf.

The alpha of the wolf pack, about three times larger than an average wolf, watched its surroundings with a cunning expression instead of joining the fray. Normally, such a pack would be very dangerous for dragonlings, especially for those raised without the concept of cooperation.

However, the situation was quite different. Despite being dragonlings, each about four and a half meters and three meters tall, respectively, the four white dragonlings attacked the winter wolves with unexpected coordination. When one was exposed, another provided cover by breathing frost, giving it time to recover. Despite being juveniles, their breaths were much more potent than those of the winter wolves.

One of the winter wolves attempting to pounce on the exposed youngling was hit by a blast of frost breath, causing half of its body to freeze, rendering it paralyzed as it fell to the ground. The plight of their comrades further enraged the winter wolves, prompting them to attack more fiercely.

Among the four dragonlings, one especially exhibiting courage, pushed back the wolf with claw strikes. Exhausted and breathless, she called out to the largest sibling, "Tolp, isn't it time?"

Tolp, who was trying to hold off three winter wolves, had little time to respond. He roared fiercely to signal that he had heard. Sensing Tolp's predicament, Lindy realized that further conversation would be pointless and focused all her attention on the winter wolves in front of her.

Standing by Tolp's side, Folet occasionally glanced at him. Pelet, the quietest of them all who had paralyzed the first winter wolf with his breath, continued to seek opportunities and engage in combat. His slightly slender build compared to his siblings allowed him to compensate for his loss of strength with agility.

The skirmish was intense, but the alpha winter wolf continued to observe its surroundings until a second casualty occurred. The head of the second winter wolf they lost was swallowed by Tolp with a single bite. The two winter wolves who had retreated due to the blows from the dragonlings' tails and wings, upon seeing their comrades' loss, let out a wild howl and launched another attack.

The alpha winter wolf also tensed, preparing to take action. Despite its instincts and developed basic intelligence telling it that there was a danger in the surroundings, it could not tolerate further losses in its pack. It snarled and lunged at Lindy, one of the four dragonling siblings who had formed a formation with a single leap.

Lindy, engaged in a careful struggle to kill one of the winter wolves, noticed the alpha winter wolf's teeth just a meter away from her neck. Determined to inflict damage before dying, she decided to launch a fierce counterattack. After all, white dragons were still dragons. Expecting to be killed like a lamb by a lower species like a winter wolf was not a characteristic found in their temperament. However, Lindy didn't need to go that far.

Because of a colossal silhouette, incredible speed, and absurd silence, it collided with the alpha winter wolf from above. The shockwaves from the collision sent both the young dragons and the winter wolves flying in all directions. However, both groups, having strong bodies, didn't suffer any real damage.

When the snowdrifts scattered by the colossal silhouette cleared, Ülgen's seven-meter colossal body appeared in all its splendor. While the four siblings looked at him with admiration, the winter wolves were in awe. The alphas, who had kept them alive for years and enabled the pack to hunt formidable beasts, were now being gleefully devoured by the dragonling's eyes.

Their momentary astonishment was enough for the alphas to begin their final journey into Ülgen's stomach. The young Fatih who consumed the alpha wolf gave a chilling look to the other winter wolves. "If I see even one of you escape, you won't be eating anything." Ülgen's words, spoken in the chilling language of dragon tongue, had a clear effect on the siblings, who immediately attacked the winter wolves with everything they had, showing their submission to his authority.

While his younger siblings set out to hunt down the terrified wolves, he pulled out the corpses of two winter wolves, one headless and the other paralyzed due to the frost breath, from the snow where they had fallen and placed them in front of him. He didn't give the corpses a second glance. The energy in the bodies of creatures weaker than winter wolf alphas was no longer making a significant contribution to his growth. Therefore, it was more efficient for his siblings, his first subordinates, to feed on them.

As he observed the movements of his four siblings, he began to contemplate his own development. Fifteen years had passed in the blink of an eye. In that time, a human could achieve remarkable power, found a new civilization, or cause the downfall of an existing one. In this regard, he admired humans, but as a white dragon hatchling, he did not underestimate his own development.

On average, a white dragon hatchling would reach about four and a half meters in height by the age of fifteen, just like Tolp. However, he had developed a strength that could rival white dragons ten years older than him. If a human possessed this kind of power, they could confidently declare their dominion and gather thousands of people under their banner. Of course, if they couldn't use their brains, they would be swallowed up by greater powers in an instant, but that part didn't concern Ülgen. Azderos, where humans lived, wasn't in the central region of the plane.

The Northern Tundra was filled with creatures that could easily cause chaos in the central region of the plane. According to his inherited memories, even the alpha winter wolf he had just consumed could wreak havoc on a town-sized scale before being hunted down by a team of skilled warriors and mages. However, there were races hundreds of times more dangerous than winter wolves, like ice titans, who lived there and had hostile relations with dragons. One of the reasons Ülgen chose to wait calmly under the protection of his mother, Albiria, instead of getting involved was because of this.

There were many other reasons like this, but the main reason was his mother being an adult dragon. In the past fifteen years, based on the calculations he made secretly and the increase in her power that he noticed, his mother was now at least a hundred and six years old, an adult white dragon. Another noticeable factor with her adulthood was that her personality had become even more arrogant, and with her dragon aura, she could now subdue and hunt down stronger creatures as guardians in her territory.

Thankfully, even after reaching adulthood, her intelligence couldn't match Ülgen's. Despite her increased perception, it was almost impossible for her to discover the true reason for the abnormality in Ülgen's power increase. According to the young Fatihs estimation, he could safely stay with his mother until he was forty-five years old. This time was thirty years earlier than it took for an ordinary white dragon hatchling to emerge. However, he was not an ordinary hatchling, and he had plans to increase the power of his lineage and make preparations so that he wouldn't waste time when he left the nest. If things went even better than planned, he could engage in much more audacious actions. But those were things to worry about in the future. What he needed to do now was to roam the outskirts of his mother's territory and explore and gather information about potential dangers in the vicinity.

"Big brother, big brother!" excited voices echoed in dragon tongue, interrupting his contemplation.

He raised his head and surveyed his younger siblings who proudly presented the ten winter wolf corpses in front of him. The pressure of the dragon aura was intense enough to make his siblings feel tense, despite being the same age. Among the four, Tolp was the first to alleviate the tension with his aura.

Without losing his excitement, Tolp said, "Big brother, as you wished, we also managed to hunt down the remaining ten winter wolves. Do you have any other orders?" The other three also nodded in agreement.

Seeing his siblings' excitement, Ülgen withdrew his dragon aura and chuckled. "Well done, none of you have disappointed me. Now, each of you will eat three winter wolves. Then return to the ice cave; our mother will also soon return from a hunt. Remember, no one will covet anyone else's share, and you will consume them equally," his words contained an attention to detail that a white dragon would not show to others. However, because his siblings had been raised under his supervision, they could not be compared to ordinary white dragon hatchlings.

All four nodded. Then Lindy stepped forward with curious eyes, "Okay, big brother, what will you do?"

Ülgen turned his head to the east and narrowed his eyes for a moment. His siblings' curiosity had peaked. "I will face dangers that your current strength cannot handle. I won't be gone for more than a few weeks; tell our mother I went hunting if she wonders. Such a simple answer will suffice for her," the condescending and arrogant tone in his last sentence greatly excited the four. Their big brother wasn't afraid of their mother's authority!

Confident that his siblings had absorbed his words, the young Fatihs spread his wide wings and began to fly skyward in a single flap, ascending meters into the sky. He had already surveyed the area; the only magical creature in the vicinity that could pose a danger to his siblings was the alpha winter wolf. So, he didn't need to accompany them on their way to the cave.

Now, he was going to check the progress of one of the plans he had started five years ago. According to his estimations, it was time to move on to the second phase of the plan.