CHAPTER 512: DRAGON EGG

Everyone gathered around the mysterious egg, including the Grand Sage, who had seen his fair share of dragon eggs in his prime time.

"My, it has been too long since I have seen a dragon egg. And based on the size of this one, it’s almost ready to hatch," the Grand Sage said as he studied the intricacies of the egg.

"Does that mean it will hatch a big dragon from the get-go?" the Harvest Goddess asked.

"You have not known this, Harvest Goddess?" Elaina asked.

"Nope. By the time I was born and able to make my own decisions, the dragons had already started to hide themselves away. Considering I am here in Darcero Kingdom and have had guards on this farm my whole life, I barely have any experience regarding those ancient beasts. As for the Grand Sage, considering how old he is right now and the first time he has seen a dragon, it would be a long time already."

"She is correct. Back then, I was just lucky enough to come across a dragon egg hatching, and that was due to one of my dragon friends that has not left to hide just yet. Without her, I wouldn’t even see the actual hatching process."

"Where is she now?" Elaina asked.

"She has returned with her family. She remained for quite some time since she was exhausted from laying the egg and rested for quite a while. She only decided to leave and hide when her offspring had finally hatched, and right now, I no longer have contact or news from her. And at that time, I was still 16 years old. Imagine how long it was when I say "A long time", right? It wasn’t just something that happened recently. It is decades and perhaps a century already, I stopped counting," the Grand Sage said while feeling nostalgic.

"So...about my question..." the Harvest Goddess returned to her question, which the Grand Sage answered.

"It’s big, but it isn’t that much bigger inside. A baby dragon is still quite small. It might be around the same size as a medium-sized dog, but it has wings and can fly. This egg might also hatch the same way."

"But what kind of dragon would it be? And why the heck would it be underwater in the first place? Isn’t it supposed to be somewhere warm where it can hatch?" Yona frowned.

"That’s a misconception, Yona. Dragon Eggs do not hatch via heat. They don’t even get affected by the cold either. They can hatch by absorbing the mana in the air. There is a reason why the legends related to dragons being hatched by humans have to be them injecting their mana into the eggs. It is how the eggs take "heat" that would hatch them in the process," the Grand Sage said as he put his hands to the egg and injected a small amount of mana on it.

The moment a small mana entered the egg, the egg seemed to shake and react to it.

"Looks like it is still alive. A feisty one at that," the Grand Sage grinned.

"Master?! Isn’t that dangerous to do?!" Julia was alarmed the moment it began to move.

"Our ultimate goal in this one is to hatch it, no? Aren’t we eager to know what it was in the first place?" The Grand Sage looked confused at Julia’s behavior.

"Didn’t we say before that we wanted to know what kind of egg it is before it hatches? We didn’t want to have it hatch just yet without knowing what would come out of it!" Julia is ready to blast magic to it but before she can do that, Princess Margaux who just returned to the farm, and the kids, who have also returned from their mines expedition quickly went to shield the dragon egg.

"Wait a minute, Miss Julia! Shouldn’t you avoid doing that?!" Princess Margaux panicked.

The Grand Sage shook his head. "My disciple. Dragons might be scary and all due to their destructive power and their ability to cause chaos with their power, but that doesn’t mean I will justify attacking a defenseless dragon. And attacking them is a wrong move. If one dragon heard about this nowadays, we would be in more serious trouble than a regular dragon hatching normally. Halt your magic spells."

Elaina scratches her head. "Seriously, Julia. Show some restraint. I know you are a bit afraid of what a dragon will do, considering how destructive they are in books and records, but like all newborns, not all of them have memories nor are they immediately aware of their surroundings."

After a bit of talks, Julia sighed and apologized. "Sorry about that. I just don’t want something that would cause more trouble to the farm as a result of a little variable that we didn’t expect and could have been dealt with before it becomes a big problem. It’s just the fear of the unknown...you know?"

As Julia apologizes, the dragon egg starts moving, and the kids who are blocking the egg notice it moving.

"Mom! Look, it is moving!" Raye points to the egg that seems to be shaking and the egg shell cracking.

"Oops! Everyone, get far from the egg. If you don’t want to be imprinted as its Mom, then be sure to stay far from it. Just because a a baby dragon seems like a dog, doesn’t mean it is just the same as taking care of a dog. It isn’t that simple!" the Grand Sage warned.

Hearing that, everyone went away from it...except for Layla who stayed behind and looked at the egg with curiosity.

"Layla?!" Adelaide frowned seeing Layla remain like she didn’t hear the Grand Sage’s words.

"I did hear it...but for some reason, I can hear its voice. It is now ready to get out. I am drawn on this dragon for some unknown reason..."

While the others are already trying to stop Layla and drag her out, Elaina remembered the future she saw during the crystal ball stuff where the kids checked on their futures. Layla is one of the kids who got their future told and on that future, a baby dragon flies next to her. It was still a bit small, and Elaina is not sure if that was indeed a dragon but since it was not in focus when the future of Layla was revealed, it was not part of how majestic Layla turned out in the future.

Now Elaina has an idea where that baby dragon flying next to her came from; it seems that the destiny that was seen on that crystal ball is progressing normally.

"Ade, don’t stop her. If Layla wanted the dragon to be imprinted on her, then let her. We shouldn’t stop her from doing so," Elaina said.

The Grand Sage exchanges his glances between Elaina and Layla who is still fixated on the cracking egg. Layla seems to have been curious on the process and starts to connect her hands to the egg and hold it. Like it was being absorbed, the mana of Layla is being sucked by the egg and the cracks of the egg’s shell start to grow bigger and bigger. The others strayed far from the egg, and only Layla remained with her hand still on the egg.

"Layla!" Julia is worried about what is happening.

However, it is already late, and before Julia can even go and drag Julia off, the egg opens and produces a bright light inside, causing everyone to squint their eyes as they get flashbanged by it. Only Layla and the Grand Sage seem to be unaffected by the shine.

"What is going on?!" Arthur tried to come close but the Grand Sage stopped him.

"Don’t interrupt. This is the imprinting process. Interrupting it would cause bad things would drive the little dragon insane, and might cause big danger in the future. Let them do the thing."

The bright light continued for quite some time until the bright light disappeared, and the group could finally see things properly again. Everyone turned to look at Layla, who is now currently holding a small dragon in her hand. Elaina recognizes the small dragon indeed and can tell that the dragon in Layla’s hands right now is none other than the same dragon she had in the future revelation.

"Looks like the dragon has successfully imprinted itself to her. She will now be treated as the dragon’s mother now," the Grand Sage said.

"Isn’t that a bit troublesome? Layla is a kid after all, and they are different species."

"True. But I don’t think it would be that troublesome. Sure, it would become a challenge, but I don’t think she will have a problem with it."

Elaina looked at Layla, who was smiling as the newly hatched dragon curled up in her arms, drifting to sleep.

"So, what will you call this little child, Layla?" the Grand Sage asked.

Layla thought for a few seconds before she answered with a smile. "I would like to call him Ryujin...the same dragon god that the mermaids praised in the past."