Blue Dragon

Gazing from the lands of humanity towards the territories of monsters, there's a long road to the west. Venturing deep into the north along this road, one finds a wilderness. In this wilderness lies a fortress atop a ruin, home to a brood of blue dragons. This family is comprised of an adult dragon, three young dragons, and about twenty hatchlings.

Yongrong was coming to his senses. As he lifted his head, he realized he had just completed his second deep slumber since birth, growing from the size of a foal to that of an adult horse.

He wiggled his tail, propped up his upper body with his forepaws, and then straightened his hind legs, standing tall.

This blue dragon whelp examined his claws, clenching and unclenching them repeatedly. After a moment, he sighed, "There's no going back now, is there?"

Name: Whelp.

Challenge Rating: 4.

Had he not recognized these details, he might have thought he'd merely crossed into another world. But reality was more bizarre than he imagined. He hadn't just crossed worlds; he was now in "Star Realm," a fantastical game, losing his human form to become a blue dragon, one of the chromatic dragons.

"Star Realm" emerged after a technological revolution in the new century, powered entirely by light brains based on the ninth protocol. It became a worldwide sensation upon release. In the game's lore, blue dragons were unambiguously evil.

Yongrong Akatosh, that was his true draconic name.

"What's the point of someone like me crossing worlds?" he pondered.

Yongrong felt stifled. In his previous life, he was just a casual gamer, without a girlfriend, a fan of ice-cold cola, occasionally staying up late, only logging into the game in his spare time. He enjoyed admiring landscapes, playing chess, and listening to stories. He was utterly ordinary, far from the "highly skilled, technologically adept" profile typical of cross-world travelers.

"How am I supposed to make waves in a different world?" he mused.

Ironically, becoming a blue dragon was somewhat good news. Given his lack of skills and strength, ascending to greatness as a mere mortal was unlikely. After all, human capabilities have limits, but dragons, those noble and powerful magical beings...

Nonsense!

In "Star Realm," players were divine arrivals, favored by the gods and untouchable by the Lord of the Nine Hells. The River Styx didn't claim their souls, making them indestructible.

That was a catastrophe. Mass slaughters, racial extinctions, regardless of good or evil, none could survive that deluge alone. Abyss lords and Hell dukes, if visible and tangible, were fair game for the players' blades.

Dragons, especially chromatic ones, were seen as walking treasures, gifts from the gods not to be missed.

Yongrong could almost foresee his dire future.

...

Fortunately, Yongrong adapted well to his draconic heritage. As a true-blooded pure dragon, the cognition and language of dragons, along with all basic abilities of a blue dragon, became his natural endowments, ready at his disposal.

Blue dragons rank second among chromatic dragons, only weaker than red dragons but stronger than green, black, and far superior to white dragons.

Moreover, when he crossed over, "Star Realm" had been operational for five years, advancing the game's timeline to the year 872 of the Star Calendar, the Shadow Era. At that time, due to the players' disobedience and chaos, the "Great Graveyard" swept through half the continent, forcing the races to huddle behind the "Wall of Sighs" under the leadership of the White Dome Empire, preparing for a counteroffensive.

But now, it was only the year 732 of the Star Calendar. He had gone back in time, with quite a while before the game's opening and the arrival of players.

"Well, compared to the stories I've heard, this start isn't too bad," Yongrong forced a smile, revealing his growing fangs. After a long adjustment, he finally stopped dreaming of returning to the modern world and fully accepted his identity as a dragon.

Looking at his temporary abode, now cramped due to his growth, the young dragon turned and began to dig, expanding the nest deeper with his foreclaws, then firmly packing the soil. Digging burrows was an innate skill of blue dragons, and Yongrong did it with ease. Only when he had enough room to move freely did he contentedly wag his tail and slowly crawl out into the outside world.

A wave of hot, sandy air hit him, accompanied by the low, hoarse cries of other dragonlings.

In the blazing sun, during the day, the energetic young dragons chased and fought each other, biting and clawing, unfazed by the scorching heat.

A large young dragon lay in the shadow of broken walls, lazily licking meat from between its fangs.

Yongrong's eyes, amber and clear with vertical black slits like a cat's, observed everything under the sun from the cave's entrance. He then respectfully bowed to the young dragon in the distance.

"Yongrong, what spells have you awakened?"

Blue dragons were the only chromatic dragons that lived in groups. The younglings knew each other well. As soon as he emerged from the nest, a fellow whelp approached him.

Yongrong turned to examine the other's face and scales, recognizing him as Belron Kwo, another young blue dragon like himself.

The evil dragon family occupying the fortress nurtured over twenty dragonlings, but not all were pure-blooded blue dragons. The group also included many half-bloods, along with a significant number of green and black dragons.

"Sewage."

Yongrong nodded in greeting and politely inquired back, "And you?"

"Same," replied Belron, his face showing a hint of disappointment as he sat down next to Yongrong, bending his hind legs.

He preferred Yongrong's company. Born in the same batch, their hatching was separated by no more than an hour. Yongrong was bigger and stronger, ranking high among the whelps due to his sharp claws and repeated victories in their skirmishes. Plus, he was good-natured, unlike some of the more arrogant and temperamental ones.

"Lord Quis is preparing to take a group of younglings on a hunt. Want to join?"

Belron sat beside him, licking his tender scales, speaking casually.

"A hunt?" Yongrong looked toward the young dragon in the shadows.

"Yes, there've been a few groups already. You woke up late, so you probably don't know," explained Belron. "They say once we reach adolescence, the clan will stop providing us with blood meals. We have to hunt for our food. It's a practice round for now."

His previous dejection stemmed from this. The young dragons, not fully developed, had only awakened basic spells like water purification and sewage, lacking effective offensive capabilities and posing little threat to larger prey, putting themselves at risk.

"How did those who went fare?" asked Yongrong, curious.

"Some caught fierce beasts, others came back empty-handed."

Belron said, glancing up at the larger young dragon beside him. Among dragonlings, failure in hunting was a source of great embarrassment. But Belron himself wasn't very confident, hence his desire to team up with the more formidable Yongrong.

Before Yongrong could respond, the young dragon in the distance had already risen and flapped its wings. Seeing this, Belron quickly ran a few steps forward, then hesitated, turned back, and asked, "Lord Quis is about to leave. Will you join us?"

"Sure, let's go together," Yongrong readily agreed. The clan treated young dragons as private property, strictly controlling their movements within the courtyard. Hunting offered a rare chance to venture out, not to be missed.

Besides, he had his reasons, uncertainties about "Star Realm" that Yongrong wanted to confirm.