Chương 78: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 78 - Advanced Devour

My little treasure wants a hug. What do I do? Asking for help online. Very urgent. The problem was that it was too tempting. Su Nian was genuinely afraid he'd punch a few more craters into the bedrock platform, and then where would they sleep? He stared at Anna, soft little hands raised, standing on tiptoe, pretty face flushed, eyes barely shut, and every last trace of the Diamond Sutra and the Heart-Cleansing Mantra evaporated from his mind. No emptiness of the four elements. No emptiness at all. Blushing.

Heart pounding. At a loss. Can't look directly. Likes her. Hug. The thought arrived and he acted on it. Su Nian extended his dragon claw and carefully, carefully pressed Anna against his chest, except he was just a little too enormous for that to qualify as a proper hug. What it actually looked like was Su Nian plastering a sticker onto his own chest. Anna didn't seem to mind. She spread her little arms as wide as they would go, doing her absolute best to embrace her giant dragon brother.

When Su Nian's chest armor and dragon claw had wrapped around her completely, a full three hundred and sixty degrees, she let out a soft, satisfied sound, and a sweet smile bloomed across her face.

"More, brother. Want brother to hold me closer~" Anna tilted her face up toward him, eyes squinting, lashes fluttering, red lips already puckered. BOOM! Anna's eyes snapped open. She blinked. Then she saw the Black Dragon's face, a study in pure embarrassment and helplessness.

"Anna, this..." Su Nian opened his mouth to explain, but Anna got there first.

"Hehe. Brother, Anna knows. You're testing the Kobolds' construction skills. Seeing if the rock platform is sturdy enough. Right?"

"Ah — yes, yes, exactly that. Alas... this platform really isn't solid at all. Very troublesome." Anna watched him deliver this nonsense with a completely straight face and couldn't hold it. A laugh burst out of her. Two shallow dimples appeared at the corners of her glossy pink lips. Her round, slightly baby-fat cheeks glowed with soft color. There was something charming about it, naive and unguarded, with just the faintest edge of unconscious allure underneath. Her bright peach-blossom eyes curved into crescents.

The smile reached her brow and stayed there, slow to leave. Su Nian stared. Dragon Saliva dripped onto the ground.

"Brother? Is Anna pretty?"

"Pretty. Very pretty."

"Do you like her?"

"Like her. Very much." If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Then why won't you kiss Anna. Hmph~" She pulled herself up against his neck as she spoke, standing on the broad surface of his dragon claw, rising onto her toes. She was the one who'd been coyly asking him to kiss her. She was also the one who puckered her lips first and pressed them to his cheek.

"It feels a little strange," she said.

"But Anna is very happy." She looked at his dumbstruck, slightly stupid expression and lowered her eyes with a soft smile. She pressed her forehead to the bridge of his nose.

"When you grow up, brother — bigger and bigger — Anna won't be able to reach you anymore. So while you're still not as tall as a mountain, we have to make the most of the time we have now..." Also the time that life keeps taking away. Su Nian said nothing. He answered Anna's attachment the only way he could right now.

"Prprprprprprpr!" > [Anna Hathaway, Favorability +3. Current Favorability: 81 (Desires to Possess)] > > [Congratulations, Host. Favorability Stage Three reached. Advanced Devour obtained. Special skill upgraded directly and permanently solidified.] > > [Congratulations, Host. 5, 000 System Points obtained.] > > [Advanced Devour: Devouring prey accelerates physical growth with no age limitation. Additionally, devouring different substances yields different enhancements. (Example: devouring iron ore increases iron element concentration within the host's scales.)] The system notifications were popping one after another in his mind. Su Nian had no attention to spare for them. He was very busy.

"Prprprprprprpr..." Half an hour later. Anna had finally had enough of washing her face. She was still weak. Still drowsy. Now she lay sprawled across Su Nian's belly, deeply, soundly asleep. Her expression was peaceful, her brow smooth, a sweet smile still resting at the corner of her mouth. Midnight. The insects hummed faintly around them. Occasionally a cool breeze drifted into the lair and lifted the hair at Anna's temples.

Su Nian lay flat on his back on the rock platform, all four limbs spread out, his broad dragon wings draped gently over her like a blanket. The Silvermoon Forest got cold in the second half of the night, so he'd added a layer of bear hide on top as well. Honestly, aside from those dim-witted White Dragons, almost no self-respecting dragon would sleep like this. A dragon's belly was one of its more vulnerable points.

And sleep was when a dragon's guard was lowest, most of them curled up with their dorsal armor facing out, belly flat against the ground, a posture designed for maximum security. Su Nian had stopped caring about that. His treasure liked it. That was enough. Besides, he still had half a human soul. Sleeping on his back was perfectly natural. More comfortable than coiling, if anything. He just wasn't sleepy yet. He had inventory to take.

Setting aside the five hundred-odd cheap laborers now in his possession and the large haul of standard-issue human equipment, in the battle just fought, he and his forces had killed over a thousand soldiers combined. Most were below the first tier. Each one had yielded a modest two to five system points. Factor in the handful of soldiers above first tier, Grand Knight Vimons, Grand Mage Memagougouzi, and the tally came out to just over seven thousand system points from kills alone.

Add the five thousand he'd just earned from Anna's favorability jump, and his current total sat comfortably above ten thousand. Ten thousand points. Enough to complete both Stage Two, Advanced Scale Density, and Stage Three, Advanced Scale Strength, right now. And his Devour skill had already been upgraded to Advanced on top of that. Devouring substances to strengthen myself. That does sound pretty powerful... Su Nian scratched his chin thoughtfully.

Then he reached his claw to the edge of the rock step, pressed down, and snapped off a chunk of hard stone with a clean CRACK. If iron ore works, stone ought to work too. Right? He tossed it into his mouth and started chewing, CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH. Dragons eating earth wasn't unusual. Many metallic dragons ate dirt and metal deliberately, specifically to reinforce their scales.

Chromatic dragons could technically manage it too, but the effect was poor, the digestion worse, and the taste, according to all accounts, genuinely awful. Their habits leaned organic. They didn't eat dirt unless there was absolutely no other option. Disgusting. Completely flavorless. Su Nian spat the rock out. He reached for the MSG, dusted a generous pinch over the chunk, and threw it back in his mouth. Much better, actually. He chewed. No fullness. No resistance.

It was like his stomach contained a black hole that simply absorbed whatever went in. > [Ding! Devoured 537g of bedrock. Petrified Scale Strength +0. 0001%. Body Stiffness +0. 0002%. Speed -0. 0005%.]"... Huh. Maybe I can't just eat anything?" Su Nian blinked. He spat the remaining chunk out immediately. ➤ Next: Transformation Complete