Sistana woke from her deep slumber, the intense hunger churning in her belly causing a flash of anger and hatred to instantly surge onto her gaunt face.

Because she hadn’t been able to consume enough eggshells, this slumber was far from successful—her body length had only increased from its original four feet to six feet, and her muscles were shriveled and atrophied, leaving her looking like nothing more than skin and bones.

True Dragons were creatures whose necks and tails accounted for more than half of their total length to begin with, and this physique made her appear exceptionally small and thin.

“Despicable Thor, I will! I will definitely make you pay the price!”

After crawling out from her dark corner, Sistana didn’t see their mother’s figure; naturally, there was no food prepared in advance either.

So hungry she could barely stand it, she could only scrape some gravel from the ground and stuff it into her mouth.

A True Dragon’s stomach could digest almost all substances in the world; she could extract a bit of nutrients and energy even from these inorganic materials.

She originally wanted to settle the score with Thor immediately, but on second thought, in her current state, she probably wasn’t his match at all.

Thus, she turned her steps and crawled toward the direction where her younger brother Karp was sleeping… “It seems you haven’t learned your lesson from last time at all, actually daring to show up in front of me again!”

[Essence of mental power fragment +1]

[Essence of mental power fragment +1]

Faint blue, tiny subtitles flashed across the bottom of his vision, and only then did Thor understand where that 0.17 balance came from.

‘So each fragment is a 0.01 unit.’ Thor understood.

He hadn’t expected his cheap siblings to have this use; he would have to “entertain” them properly then.

Dragging his seven-foot-long body as he climbed up from the ground, Thor shook off the dust accumulated during his half-month slumber, his spine arching slightly like a cat’s.

With a sweep of his pale gold pupils, the scales all over the two Hatchling Dragons instantly flared up, yet they didn’t choose to retreat; instead, they rushed forward in unison.

The powerful physical constitution of a True Dragon meant Thor didn’t feel the slightest bit of stiffness after lying down for so long; his limbs gripped the ground tightly as he suddenly spun and whipped his tail.

That tail, which appeared exceptionally long compared to his body, immediately lashed out like a whip, tracing a pale red arc in the air and slamming heavily into the head of Sistana, who was in the lead.

The immense force brought by the whip-crack effect caused a sharp “crack” upon impact; the fine red scales exploded at the sound, and blood immediately seeped out.

The intense pain and dizziness instantly stalled Sistana’s forward momentum.

Seeing this, Karp from behind immediately leaped over his sister, his entire body soaring high as he lunged fiercely at Thor.

Using the impact from his charge and his own weight, he successfully tackled Thor to the ground, but in the next second, a dragon claw firmly gripped his throat—preventing him from biting while Thor flipped over and pinned him underneath.

By then, Sistana had also recovered; she likewise leaped high and pounced onto Thor’s back, those claws that were already beginning to look ferocious, scratching frantically as she opened her mouth to bite his nape.

The intense pain caused Thor to let out a sudden roar; he shook his body violently while the wings on his back abruptly snapped open, flinging Sistana away directly.

He then seized the opportunity, his claws striking in succession, repeatedly falling on Karp’s head, beating him until his skin was torn and flesh was gaping in just a short moment, completely stripping him of his ability to resist.

By the time Sistana regrouped and intended to rush forward again, she saw that Thor had already one foot on Karp’s head, staring at her fiercely.

“It’s your turn, you cowardly reptile who only knows how to ambush!”

…The fight eventually ended in Thor’s complete victory.

This was the benefit of seizing the initiative; as the saying goes, one step ahead means every step ahead. Being able to obtain more food in the early stages allowed one to develop faster and grow stronger.

And a stronger body could win more food in subsequent struggles, thereby forming a virtuous cycle.

If he could, Thor didn’t want to treat his siblings this way, but the competition for survival was just that cruel.

He still remembered when he was human, his grandmother’s house had once kept a mother cat, and one day she gave birth to a litter of kittens.

There were many kittens in that litter, and the mother cat’s milk was clearly insufficient, so they scrambled for it frantically.

Two of them failed to get milk at the first opportunity; when he looked again a few days later, they were visibly smaller than the other kittens, and not long after, they passed away due to malnutrition.

That was just ordinary animals, but among Red Dragons, who were cruel and tyrannical by nature, the competition for survival would only be more intense.

If Thor didn’t suppress the other two Red Dragon hatchlings, he would be suppressed by them instead; there was no second possibility…

Watching the limping and pathetic departing figures of his siblings, Thor grinned with a mocking smile, turned his flexible neck, and began to lick the wounds on his body.

Although all three of them were currently battered and bloody, with the powerful recovery ability of a True Dragon, there was no need to worry about issues like infection; the wounds would heal before long.

Once he had mostly cleaned himself up, he summoned that giant wheel in his mind again—the balance behind the essence of mental power had increased from 0.17 to 0.5, all thanks to the anger of the other two Red Dragon hatchlings during the fight just now.

‘It looks like in another two days, I’ll be able to perform a lowest-tier draw. I hope I can get some good things then.’

With thoughts turning in his mind, Thor rose and left the corner of the cave, beginning to explore the surrounding environment.

The darkvision inherent to dragonkind allowed him to see clearly even in the dim cave.

He could see that this place was modified from a natural limestone cave; the walls were covered with some scorch marks, while the back half was blocked off by a giant boulder—could it be the Dragon Mother’s treasury?

Thinking of this, Thor only felt his heart thump violently as a surge of greed started clouding his mind.

But the rationality belonging to his human soul quickly suppressed the agitation of his bloodline, making him subconsciously stay away from that giant boulder, focusing his attention only on the front half of the cave.

After wandering around for a bit, Thor had a basic judgment of his current situation and couldn’t help but feel a bit of disappointment.

There weren’t many traces of fine craftsmanship in the entire cave.

There were also no so-called subordinates, nor were there any peculiarities produced by a Red Dragon’s long-term residence and the infusion of magic.

All sorts of signs indicated that this was just a cave the Dragon Mother had found at random for the purpose of laying eggs.

But it made sense; according to previous observations, her body length seemed to be only slightly over 17 meters, which was just the average length for a young adult Red Dragon.

And a Red Dragon of this age group had only just gained the strength to establish a fixed territory and recruit a small number of subordinates; how could she possibly possess a vast influence?

This, however, was not good news for Thor, causing his mood to grow a bit heavy.

Chromatic Dragons never put their heart into raising their offspring; if they were powerful, they might have subordinates look after them slightly, but if they didn’t even have subordinates…

For several consecutive days afterward, Thor and the other two Hatchling Dragons never saw the Dragon Mother’s figure.

The intense hunger burned in their bellies like a raging fire, yet they didn’t dare to leave the cave at will, so they could only rely on eating stones to fill their stomachs.

It wasn’t until nearly a week later that the sound of wings flapping came from outside the cave again, as a fiery red figure whistled toward them, bringing with it a thick scent of blood.