Chapter 23: Culling and Birth of Junior Sister Karu

Genasa hurriedly covered his mouth with his paw to keep from laughing.

Batek opened his eyes and saw his own color.

It really wasn’t shiny anymore, but it was pink.

“This color…”

His face visibly darkened, scaring Genasa into stopping his suppressed laughter at once.

“Hey, hey, hey, as we agreed beforehand, we can’t control the color. If you don’t like it, you can’t get mad at us, okay?”

He spoke as he scooted backward, ready to run and find Geli at any moment.

But…

“This color… I didn’t expect it, but it actually looks pretty good on me.”

“Ah… huh?” Are my ears malfunctioning again?

Genasa was a little taken aback, tilting his head in confusion, but soon broke into a smile.

Looks like he’s not resisting at all—heh, this is going to be fun.

However, Batek still seemed a bit worried.

“This color really isn’t bad, but are you sure it’ll work on your master?”

“Absolutely.”

Genasa raised his paw and made an OK gesture, then continued,

“Wait here, I’ll go call Master to take a look.”

With that, he ran off. When he returned, Geli followed behind him, face as dark as thunder.

She froze completely when she saw Batek.

Batek scratched his head shyly, looking nothing like the dignified and imposing dragon he had been when they first met.

He looked as innocent and clear as a naive college student.

Just as he was about to speak, the door slammed shut with a bang, leaving him outside.

Staring at the tightly closed door, Batek was full of question marks:

“Is it… not good-looking?”

Inside, within the freshly set Soundproof Barrier, Geli and Genasa burst into deafening laughter.

“Hahaha~ How did you trick him into drinking that potion? You’re a genius, hahaha~”

Geli was laughing so hard her stomach hurt, clutching her belly and slapping her thigh.

“I told him maybe you liked him, so he drank it, hahaha~”

Genasa doubled over, slapping his own belly as he laughed.

Off to the side, Aixi said, “Was it really that funny.” (ᗜ△ᗜ)

“Aixi, you really have to see this, come on, let’s take another look.”

The three of them opened the door for another peek, then quickly closed it again.

“Hahahaha~ isn’t it hilarious?”

Aixi: “Uh… hahaha.” A very perfunctory laugh.

“All right, I won’t force you.”

“So isn’t this just bullying an honest dragon?”

“Nonsense, if he weren’t honest, how would I dare bully him?”

“……”

Beside them, Geli, who was laughing so hard she had to hold on to the door, wiped away tears of laughter and called them over.

“All right, enough laughing. Time to get down to business. Go let him in, his daughter is about to hatch.”

The pink Batek was finally not blinding anymore, and as for him, it seemed he genuinely liked this color…

When he entered the incubation room, he looked at the Dragon Egg atop the Golden Platform with some emotion.

“Is it really hatching so soon? It’s much earlier than I expected.”

He asked Geli, but she didn’t look at him. Her cold back made Batek feel a little melancholic.

She still has no intention of looking at me. Sigh… What can I do to warm her heart?

Facing forward, Geli bit her trembling lips tightly, struggling not to burst out laughing.

She definitely didn’t dare look, because one more glance and she would explode.

Noticing that Genasa, who was also suppressing laughter, was watching her, she glared at him irritably, knowing he was mocking her.

Seriously, this brat, pulling a stunt like this—what if my cool image is ruined? Wouldn’t everyone outside just die laughing at me?

Fortunately, the noise coming from the Dragon Egg caught Geli’s attention, allowing her to stop holding back her laughter.

Several dragons, big and small, fixed their eyes on the gently wobbling Dragon Egg, all eagerly awaiting the birth of this new life.

“Hey, there shouldn’t be any problems, right, this Curse…”

Genasa asked worriedly, but Geli reassured him,

“It’s fine, it’s already been temporarily suppressed.”

To maintain her image, she didn’t say much, but her tightly knit brows showed she wasn’t completely confident.

The Dragon Egg, under several pairs of watchful eyes, wobbled gently as faint cracking sounds emerged.

Fine cracks appeared at the top of the egg, and it seemed ready to hatch, but then—suddenly—it stopped moving?

“Eh? Is she going to die?”

Genasa had barely finished speaking before Geli smacked him on the head.

She said nothing, her expression solemn as she stared fixedly at the egg.

Off to the side, Batek’s lips trembled, but in the end he just shook his head in resignation.

“It’s all destiny.”

He let out a long sigh, then turned to leave.

But behind him, Genasa’s voice rang out again:

“Wait, I think she’s not dead yet.”

“Hm?”

He turned back, paused in surprise, and hope appeared in his eyes.

The Dragon Egg began to wobble again, the cracks in its shell growing.

They all breathed a sigh of relief, and Batek patted his own chest in comfort.

Then—the egg stopped moving again.

“Uh… Looks like she’s dead, but not completely.”

Silence fell again. Genasa muttered discontentedly,

“Looks like it’s a difficult birth. Why don’t we just cut the egg open?”

As he spoke, he moved forward, intent on breaking the shell, but Geli stepped on his tail, stopping him.

“What are you doing?”

“If I could do that, I would’ve done it already.”

After saying that, she lost interest in explaining.

Batek offered a simple explanation:

“It’s a dragon tradition—hatching must be done by oneself. If you don’t even have the strength to break out of the egg, how can you survive in this world? If the birth fails, at least it means less suffering.”

Since the Ancient Times, this Survival of the Fittest tradition had been preserved, but normally there was no need to worry—under careful care, the hatching rate of a Golden Dragon Egg could reach ninety-nine percent.

But the egg before them was clearly not a normal case.

“What? Just because of that? What a dumb tradition. You Golden Dragons aren’t like us Red Dragons—no parents to love us, don’t tell me you can’t afford to raise one.”

The Survival of the Fittest argument made sense for the parentless, irresponsible Chromatic Dragons, but when applied to the kin-oriented, self-styled righteous and good Metallic Dragons, it just felt hypocritical to Genasa.

So, he grumbled at them in frustration, but Batek was unmoved.

Watching the aura on the Dragon Egg grow dimmer and dimmer, Genasa became more and more anxious.

Just because of some stupid tradition, a child has to suffer? What era is this! It’s not like you can’t afford it.

“Or is it because of the Curse that you don’t even want her to hatch?”

Faced with this accusation, Batek shook his head.

“There’s no need for that. If we really didn’t want her, we could’ve handled it as soon as we found out and just told everyone it was a dead egg. Of course we hope she hatches safely, or we wouldn’t have brought her here…”

“In that case, then I’m not holding back. Worst case, I’ll raise her myself!”

In a burst of impulsiveness, Genasa rushed forward, ready to cut the egg open. Batek reacted lightning fast, reaching out to stop him.

But he missed.

Genasa darted to the Dragon Egg and sliced a thin slit into the shell with his claw tip.

Air and magic poured in, and the egg came alive once more.

After a few silent seconds, a crisp crack sounded as the top of the egg split along Genasa’s cut, forming a ring.

A golden hatchling poked her head out, an eggshell perched atop it.

“Rawr~”

A tender, energetic roar burst from her mouth.

Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was Genasa’s enormous dragon head.

Her clear golden eyes sparkled as she gazed curiously at him, then, as if she saw something delightful, she let out another happy cry.

She looked very healthy. Genasa smiled in relief.

“Karulait, a good name.”

That cry just now was the True Name Roar she had been holding back inside the egg.

Of course, her full name was much longer—Genasa was just using the common part.

Little Golden Dragon Karulai was born safely, and the three dragons behind gathered around to take a look.

“Mm, very healthy. Then why did she almost fail to hatch just now?”