Ten-odd minutes later, Mother Dragon returned, bringing back her prey...
A swamp crocodile.
This crocodile was a full nine meters long, its body covered in a thick layer of scales.
The scales were covered in sharp, thorn-like spikes.
At this moment, however, most of the spikes had already been corroded by acid.
Even a portion of the scales had been eaten away, exposing the crimson flesh and some of the internal organs beneath.
As the acid corroded the swamp crocodile's flesh, bubbles continuously welled up.
As the bubbles popped, a foul stench washed over them.
Obviously, this was the result of Mother Dragon's acid breath.
Seeing food, Daviel couldn't wait and rushed forward, tearing vigorously at the crocodile's flesh with his mouth.
As a fellow black dragon, he was naturally immune to acid corrosion.
Even if he accidentally swallowed acid, he wouldn't suffer any indigestion.
Watching Daviel gorge himself, Irene had absolutely no appetite.
If it were just eating raw meat, she could barely accept it.
But raw meat drizzled with a secret acid sauce was a bit too extreme...
“Gag...”
Irene, who had not yet fully adapted to the life of a black dragon, began to dry heave.
But after heaving for a long time, she couldn't throw up anything.
The eggshell she had eaten earlier had already been completely digested.
Irene looked pleadingly at Mother Dragon, who had already curled back up on the treasure pile to sleep.
Mother Dragon had clearly noticed her gaze,
but she still pretended not to see, turning over to continue sleeping.
As if fearing another blast of Irene's demonic voice, she spread her dragon wings to cover her head.
And she cast a bunch of noise-canceling spells on herself.
Rays of multicolored magical light swirled around her body.
This series of actions left Irene utterly dumbfounded.
She turned her head to look at the swamp crocodile's carcass.
“Tch... No choice then.”
Since things had come to this, she had to eat.
Otherwise, she would probably have to resort to eating dirt.
With a sigh of resignation, Irene crawled toward the swamp crocodile's carcass and found an area on the tail that hadn't been corroded by acid.
Then, she began using her claws to peel away the scales on the tail.
Compared to Daviel, who was gorging himself nearby, stuffing everything—scales, organs, and acid alike—into his stomach,
Irene ate with utmost elegance.
As the scales peeled off, the tender pink crocodile meat was revealed beneath.
Gulp...
Irene swallowed hard.
The uncorroded crocodile meat actually looked somewhat acceptable.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and took a big bite.
Rip—
A large chunk of raw meat was torn away.
Irene tossed the chunk of meat into her mouth and chewed vigorously with her eyes closed.
“Mmh!”
The little dragon girl's eyes instantly lit up.
Like she had two lightbulbs installed!
Although this raw meat didn't look like much, it actually tasted... surprisingly delicious!
Probably because a dragon's taste buds were different from a human's, the raw meat mixed with blood, which should have been gamey and unpalatable,
tasted just like chicken to Irene, with a hint of a sweet aftertaste.
Swallowing the meat, Irene took another bite, and from then on, there was no stopping her.
At first, she would still peel off the scales before eating,
but later, she didn't even bother peeling them, stuffing meat, bones, and all directly into her mouth.
Irene didn't have to worry about indigestion in the slightest.
A dragon's stomach was like a miniature furnace; it could digest almost anything.
Forget bones, they could even digest dirt or metal.
When pushed to extreme hunger, some dragons would even choose to eat dirt.
However, that was far too embarrassing for a dragon, so very few actually did so.
Of course, the idiots of the dragon world—the white dragons—were not included in this.
That rather dim-witted dragon breed, if not raised by a mother dragon, would most likely try to use their tails to fish.
And if they couldn't catch anything, they would eat dirt.
Chomp... Crunch!
A hatchling's appetite was already enormous. In less than ten minutes, Irene had swallowed the entire tail of the crocodile.
The weight of this food already exceeded twice her own body weight.
Yet from the outside, her figure showed absolutely no change.
Compared to Irene, Daviel ate slightly less.
After all, the size difference was there, but he still ate food far exceeding his own weight.
Right now, he was lying on the ground, having fallen into a deep sleep once again.
Irene scoffed at Daviel's pig-like lifestyle of eating and immediately falling asleep on the spot.
This little dragon girl, who possessed the soul of a 21st-century human, resisted the urge to crash on the spot and crawled over to Daviel's side.
Using her dragon brother's soft belly as a pillow, she rested her head on it,
only then yielding to her body's desires and slowly closing her eyes.
“I really am a civilized dragon,” the little dragon girl thought to herself.
As her breathing gradually leveled out, she too drifted off to sleep.
As a true dragon, a creature standing at the very top of the food chain, she didn't need to study and meditate every day like humans.
After receiving the Draconic Inheritance, even if a hatchling did nothing but eat and sleep all day,
they would still slowly awaken spellcasting abilities and improve their physical constitution as they grew.
Ultimately, upon reaching adulthood, they would naturally become powerful creatures of the Gold Rank.
With a bit of effort, if they successfully condensed a Law Domain, they could even become Legendary powerhouses.
...
By the fifth day, the swamp crocodile Mother Dragon had caught was finally finished.
In fact, under the dual effects of the damp swamp environment and Mother Dragon's saliva, the crocodile's carcass had already corroded beyond recognition by the third day.
But Irene had still forced herself to eat it, enduring the disgust.
After all, food is life; miss a meal and you'll starve.
Actually, the taste wasn't that bad.
The acid tasted a bit like traditional yogurt—sweet and sour.
And after the swamp crocodile was finished, Mother Dragon clearly had no intention of hunting anytime soon.
Dragons could go a long time without eating after a single big meal.
It was obvious that Mother Dragon's parenting strategy was: as long as they don't starve to death, it's a success.
But not starving to death didn't mean she wouldn't feel hungry. Irene felt so starved she wanted to eat dirt.
Literally eat dirt.
Her claws had already scooped up a handful of damp soil from the ground.
But since her dragon brother Daviel was sleeping right next to her, she was too embarrassed to stuff it into her mouth.
Irene was afraid this foolish younger brother of hers would suddenly wake up and find his overbearing sister actually eating dirt.
That image was just too beautiful to contemplate!
If that happened, she would never be able to hold her head up high in front of her silly brother again.
“Sigh...”
Life isn't easy, a dragon can only sigh...
Irene glanced at Mother Dragon, who was sleeping on the pile of treasure.
The magical glow on Mother Dragon had long since vanished; after all, maintaining spells was tiring.
With a sudden thought, another idea came to Irene's mind.
She kicked the sleeping Daviel right in the butt.
“Ouch!”
Daviel yelped and leaped up from the ground, glaring fiercely at Irene.
He didn't even need to guess; it had to be his savage sister looking for trouble again.
“You foolish, savage brute! What do you want?!”
Well, he didn't even call her sister this time.
Under Daviel's wary gaze, Irene leaned in close to his ear and whispered,
“Do you want to eat some meat?”
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