Everyone ended up going exp farming on the flame drakelings for the remaining of the day. They separated into several smaller teams. Arlcard left since his service was no longer required. Bowler, The Man, and a few of his roughnecks followed Jack. Jack didn’t mind people tagging along.
With more people, the pace by which he collected the draconic essences would increase. Because no one in his party had a draconic bloodline, so the essence of the draconic monsters they killed would go to him. His exp gain would decrease, but he thought that was okay.
They farmed until late at night. Jack’s team was the last one to return to the cave. Most were resting already. Jack looked at the time. It was almost that time, he thought.
He walked towards where the sentry was guarding the depth of the cave. He was curious about that mysterious watcher.
The sentries were different from yesterday. Jeanny rotated the sentries not only hourly, but also daily. They had enough people for that, so some had the luxury for a full night’s rest. These sentries also saluted Jack when he arrived.
Jack told them not to mind him. He then sat next to where they were standing. These sentries were also confused by Jack’s action but they didn’t question him.
Jack closed his eyes and allowed his senses to go free. He focused his attention on where the glowing red eyes appeared. Two days those eyes appeared around this time of the night, he hoped tonight was no different. Otherwise, this curiosity would eat at him.
After waiting for some time, the two red orbs finally appeared. Jack immediately had his senses glided over to that place. When he arrived, he finally had a good look at the mysterious watcher. It gave him quite a surprise.
‘This…’ He observed the creature in detail, making sure he didn’t recognize it wrong.
The creature was watching the sentries intently, not aware that someone else was watching it the entire time. After some time, it moved away. Jack followed after him.
It went to the huge cavern before disappearing into one of the hidden caves at the far side of the cavern. Jack couldn’t follow after him too far unless he had his body going over there.
Jack opened his eyes. He turned to Peniel who was lazying around. She was always bored when Jack was doing his training.
“Peniel! I think I just saw a dragon,” Jack said.
“What?” She flew over when Jack called. “Are you saying you have a dream and you saw a dragon?”
Jack rolled his eyes. “No, I’m serious. I use my mana sense and saw a dragon watching us not far away, from over there,” Jack said as he pointed his finger to the depth of the cave.
“Then something must be wrong with your mana sense. If a dragon came so close, we would have felt its aura already. Do you forget already the feeling when you are near Syndrillis? Not to mention, a dragon won’t do such a trivial thing like watching us. It would have come over and chomped us to smithereens for appearing near its territory.”
“I think it is because it is still a youngling. It is very small for a dragon. It is barely the size of a grown horse.”
“A grown horse. Even a baby dragon is bigger than that size,” Peniel ridiculed.
“Are you calling me a liar? I know what I saw,” Jack felt offended.
Peniel saw Jack’s serious expression. She said, “described what you saw to me.”
“What for? It’s the classic depiction of a dragon. It had a long neck, a horned head with a long maw, four large limbs from a large body, a long thick tail, and a pair of large bat-like wings. It is generally similar to Syndrillis except much smaller and its body was covered by dark red scales instead of gold ones.”
Peniel thought about Jack’s words. She asked, “Are you sure its size is only the size of an adult horse.”
“I might not look at it directly with my eyes, but with the degree of my mana sense now, I’m pretty sure I’m not wrong when gauging its size.”
“Then it is not a dragon. It is a dragonet,” Peniel said.
“A Dragonet?”
“Yes. It is basically a smaller imitation of a dragon.”
“So… A young dragon?”
“No! It’s not a dragon, it’s a dragonet!” Peniel yelled. The sentries were looking over. What were they quarreling about? Their expressions said.
“It’s a different species!” Peniel continued. “A dragonet is not a true dragon, but they are the closest to one. The one you see should be a very young dragonet. The adult had a size almost as big as an adult drake. Yet, they are more powerful than a drake.”
“I thought you said Draconic younglings always stayed inside their nest? What is this one roaming around here?”
“Several possibilities, but I think most likely is that its nest is nearby and this young dragonet is an adventurer-sort that likes to wander around when its parents are not watching.”
“Oh? There can be such a naughty baby monster?” Jack remarked amusingly.
“You said its scales are dark red?”
Jack nodded.
Peniel then said, “Then it is probably a young lava dragonet. Fire dragonet didn’t live underground. Their scales are also of a brighter red.”
Jack thought for a bit and said, “Then we should capture that dragonet instead. You mentioned a dragonet is more powerful than a drake, right? Also, taming a young monster is easier, isn’t it? We only have one chance left. I say we use this last chance on that young dragonet.”
“You do remember I say its nest might be close, right? A draconic offspring had a mental link with its parents. If the parents sensed their young one in danger, they will come with full force. You need to be ready for that.”
“Let’s discuss this with Jeanny,” Jack said. He walked back to their camp.
Unfortunately, Jeanny was already asleep. Jack then postponed sharing his finding to tomorrow morning.
*
The next morning, Jack looked for Jeanny once he woke up. She had been awake even earlier, she was organizing today’s plan with the others. Bowler, Domon, and The Man were also there with her. Jack came over and informed them about the dragonet.
Peniel joined in the explanation, telling them about the danger of enraging a group of dragonets. There is surely more than one adult dragonet inside a nest with a youngling.
“I think it is too risky,” Bowler said after hearing it.
“Chicken!” The Man mocked.
“Screw you!” Bowler retorted. “Not everyone enjoys extreme situations like you lunatic!”
Jack reminded that a lava dragonet is stronger than the flame drake they were currently targeting. It would be in their best interest to get the best guardian pet for their guild. Not to mention they only had one cage left. Between gambling it on a young dragonet against an adult flame drake, the young one provided a better success chance. Going for the flame drake also had the risk of having the Grim Flame Drake targeting them, it might still watch out for them after yesterday’s event.
From what she heard, Jeanny surmised Jack was more inclined toward trying the dragonet. Jeanny asked Peniel if they captured a young dragonet, how long would it need to mature before the dragonet could be called to assist in their wars?
Peniel answered that it depended on the food and the home they provided. The Sky Garden Peak could be considered a top-notch environment for the pet, so that point was covered. For the food, they could have their guild cooks craft them. The food had different grades, the highest grade required better ingredients and better-skilled cooks. This highest-grade food would provide the pet with the fastest development speed.
With Dylan’s vast supply connections, they should have no problem getting the ingredients. For the cooks’ part, Jack could call Ellie or Bill to help if needed. Their cooking skill was at Advanced Expert already.
Peniel said if they could provide the highest grade food, this young dragonet would require around one month to mature, two months at most.
“Two months is a short time. We are preparing this for the future country war, ain’t we? Then we should be aiming for the best possible!” Jack said. “A dragonet is the closest to a true dragon. Since a true dragon is not available, then I said we should go for this dragonet. Fortunately, we find a young one here.”
“I seconded that. This is obviously a heaven-sent!” The Man uttered.
“I also think that we shouldn’t go for the second-best just because it is safer,” Domon chimed in.
“Isn’t old people usually told their youngs to put safety as the priority?” Bowler said to Domon.
“Do you see me as a usual old person?” Domon asked back.
Bowler decided to not answer.
