Chapter 674.5: It's Decided: Onyxia!
Matthew dearly wished to focus fully on researching the eighth surgical modification.
But the still-reinforced and upgraded Mount Aso needed him and Yaya to hold the line.
Facing daily attacks from hundreds of thousands of twisted monsters—
Bay Territory's now-fortified forward forces could repel them with relative ease.
Instructor Arnold, training new recruits, used the simplest words to ease their fear:
"No need to be scared. These things are just walking sacks of gold."
"Every piece of their body can be turned into valuable resources for Bay Territory's growth."
Aside from the 10,000 elite garrison troops, the remaining 50,000 to 60,000 personnel were all "recruits" who had just completed their Catachan Jungle combat training and came here for real experience.
In addition to learning how to fight twisted monsters, they also had to undergo the training and feats prepared by Matthew.
Bay Territory had already developed this place into a massive military fortress.
It wasn't just meant to defend against the deadly threats of the Catachan demi-plane, but to serve as the key to Bay Territory's conquest of it.
Thanks to the construction of the fire-element energy pool and the optimization of scorched-earth tactics—
The Aso Volcano Fortress now possessed abundant energy, with various production factories transported from Bay Territory and a self-sustaining ecological system.
It continued stockpiling resources.
Producing and researching more specialized weapons.
Increasing its threat level to the Catachan Jungle.
To accomplish this, regular combat strength wasn't enough.
The roaring wyverns were becoming a growing threat to the Evil Shadow Spirits.
A strong land drake burst out of the lava.
Its entire body radiated a fiery glow, the high heat distorting the surrounding air.
Yet its body showed no damage—instead, it absorbed the heat, quickly returning to normal.
Having successfully mastered its fire-type bloodline, the land drake's eyes sparkled with excitement. It turned and said in a rough voice:
"Thanks for your help, Brother Blackscale."
Blackscale the Dragon Turtle nodded slightly, shifting his gaze away from the magical projection. He glanced at the fire rune markings on the drake and reminded:
"Our next mission is in about half a month—you need to catch up."
Hearing this, the land drake nodded enthusiastically and responded in a gruff tone:
"I'll go train and study hard."
Seeing Blackscale resume studying, the land drake hurried to the training ground.
There, a large group of draconic beasts were undergoing various forms of combat training.
Some practiced combat techniques, others honed their feats, some tempered their bodies, and some were studying the common tongue.
Thanks to their dragonblood transformations—though results varied—all of them saw significant intelligence gains.
Yaya was pleased—she really didn't like stupid subordinates.
"Be a little smarter, more nimble, do more missions—that's how you bring value to the territory."
Yaya glanced at Orianna, who was carefully tuning Yaya-01.
A group of big-eyed baby fire dragons dumbly nodded after hearing her words.
Little Menglan, perched on Yaya's shoulder, chuckled at their silly chirping.
Yaya tapped her head and pouted:
"Don't underestimate these little dummies—they'll grow fast."
"Over 60% of them should gain intelligence quickly."
"As for the rest, well... they'll have to figure it out."
Little Menglan floated over the baby dragons and led them bouncing along while cheerfully shouting:
"Follow me, it's mealtime!"
At the sound of "mealtime," the previously dazed baby dragons immediately perked up and happily chased after Menglan.
Yaya, who still had to oversee the next batch of dragon eggs, helplessly slapped her forehead and muttered:
"Great... now I've raised a whole horde of dumb little gluttons..."
Crack! Crack!
The faint sound of a dragon egg cracking suddenly reached Yaya's ears.
A bright red little head poked out from the broken shell.
It was gnawing on the hard shell with its pearly baby teeth.
To Yaya's surprise, once the little creature fully emerged, it had grown a pair of crimson wings.
Yaya instantly realized—this was a bona fide baby true dragon!
"Roar...!"
After devouring all the eggshell, the hatchling had grown to the size of a calf and let out a young but regal roar.
"My name is—Onyxia!"
A hint of disbelief appeared in Yaya's sapphire eyes. Half of her beloved dried fruit dropped and was instantly gobbled up by the darting Menglan, who shouted with curiosity:
"Oh my gosh! We hatched a true dragon!"
A true dragon?
A TRUE DRAGON!!!
Onyxia, merging with her bloodline memory, proudly raised her head, clearly reveling in the astonishment.
But she quickly noticed—Yaya and Menglan were not in her inherited memory.
Yaya was definitely not human.
Because Onyxia's memory told her—
No human child could grab her head with one hand and render her completely helpless.
That bloodline-deep fear and closeness instinctively made Onyxia think Yaya was her mother.
But her soul's memory denied that.
Menglan was even stranger.
Her inherited memories had no record of a Leviathan!
Yet she could faintly sense the terrifying power inside that tiny body.
At that moment, hunger made her stomach rumble.
Tilting her head to inspect Onyxia, Yaya pulled a very cutesy-covered book titled "Dragon Rearing Guide" from her pocket and read aloud:
"Newborn hatchlings will be extremely hungry."
Tilting her head again, Yaya glanced at the approaching fire dragon babies, recalling how they nearly burst just from eating eggshells, and nodded in realization:
"They've got a long way to go."
"As for you, little Onyxia, welcome to Bay Territory."
"Let me get you some delicious food."
Food?
"Aren't those lesser dragons supposed to be food?"
Onyxia opened her mouth, showing off her baby teeth, and blurted out.
Smack!
A soft white hand bonked her on the head.
Onyxia yelped and collapsed, instinctively curling up.
She looked up to see Yaya baring her teeth and slowly shaking her head, speaking with overwhelming authority:
"You must never eat intelligent creatures—not even think about it!"
"Otherwise, what awaits you will be worse than death!"
Hearing that, Onyxia didn't even dare glance at the swarm of clumsy baby dragons running past her. She instantly nodded:
"Never eat intelligent creatures!"
The white hand that had smacked her gently rubbed her sore spot, and Yaya's cooing voice followed:
"Hehe! You're such a smart little one! Be good from now on, okay?"
Fighting back fear, Onyxia's survival instincts made her nod rapidly.
After all, she had just been born!
"Fire dragons love BBQ. Hmm... Let's do whole roast lambs!"
Yaya's "scary" voice made Onyxia shrink further.
Roast lamb?
Is that food?
Am I going to be eaten?
Before she could panic, the delicious, spicy aroma reached her nose.
Just when she thought she'd starve, Onyxia stared blankly at the whole roast lamb before her. Yaya curiously asked:
"Don't want it? If you don't eat, you won't grow fast—and that's not being a good girl."
Onyxia didn't understand what "good girl" meant, but she instinctively obeyed.
Survival came first!
And so, the future Lawful Good Onyxia had her first delicious dragon meal.
Buuurp~~
After burping happily, Menglan nudged the reading Yaya and asked:
"She's got a big appetite. What do we do next?"
"Should we call Matthew? Ask how he raised you?"
Yaya rolled her eyes, closed the "Dragon Rearing Guide", and smacked her lips with a frown:
"Onyxia is wild and has great potential. We must raise her right. Can't let her stray."
Menglan had seen her first reaction clearly.
As someone who'd grown up on the streets of the ocean, she was all too familiar with this. Laughing, she said:
"That's easy. Just teach little Onyxia some rules."
Yaya nodded thoughtfully, glanced at her pale fists, then at the now much bigger Onyxia, and said:
"Yeah. We do need to teach her."
"What you just said gave me an idea."
"Matthew used to pack my schedule with lessons!"
Her eyes lit up as the memory returned.
Menglan, sensing what was coming, instinctively spit a shiny droplet of water and zipped away.
She knew—Onyxia was in for it.
Half full, Onyxia savored her meal and the power flooding her body—then suddenly shivered.
She looked up—and met Yaya's grinning face.
Yaya pulled out another roast lamb sprinkled with ruby shards and whispered temptingly:
"You can't overeat. Otherwise, you'll fall asleep."
"Before your first sleep, you have to learn more."
"Study first, eat well later, and you'll grow stronger."
Study?
Food?
Get stronger?
Onyxia, still too young to understand, nodded naively.
While scarfing down her fourth roast lamb and absorbing elemental energy from the ruby shards, she vaguely heard unfamiliar words:
"Spell models..."
"Math knowledge..."
What's that?
Can you eat it?
Licking her claws after the fourth lamb, Onyxia felt a strange satisfaction she'd never known.
Sleepiness crept up from within.
Her bloodline memory urged her to close her eyes.
Whap!
Sharp pain snapped her awake.
"Class time! No napping!"
Staring at the now-smaller Yaya, sensing that same terrifying aura, she widened her eyes.
Class?
What class?
I have to study before sleeping?
Yaya grinned mischievously, pulled out a thick "Math Manual", and said in a coddling tone:
"Today we're learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division~"
In the next few hours, Onyxia fought her drowsiness and used her excellent talent to master arithmetic.
Delighted, Yaya fed her three more roast lambs and gave her two rubies as snacks.
Suddenly treated to such luxury, Onyxia fell asleep in bliss, her mind flashing with odd thoughts:
"This life... it's not so bad..."
It felt like she had slept forever—or maybe just a moment.
"Wake up!"
"Time for class!"
Yaya's sweet, clear voice jolted Onyxia awake.
As she opened her eyes, she saw Yaya holding an even thicker "Hua Luogeng Elementary Math Olympiad Workbook" and smiling:
"Come on, homework time."
"Finish it, and today you get roast whole beef!"
Roast whole beef?
That sizzling, juicy thing over there?
It looked so delicious!
Naive little Onyxia nodded excitedly, full of confidence in her first "exam."
But the moment she saw the first question, she froze.
"There are 10 bags of salt, each with 10 packets. One bag has underweight packets. With one use of a scale, how do you find it?"
Onyxia understood every word.
But together, they made her head spin.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I doing?
Poor Onyxia didn't yet know—she had been chosen by Yaya to become the smartest true dragon of all.
"Mhm, once this little one shows enough talent and intelligence—"
"Matthew will never worry about my studies again!"
Staring at the dumbfounded Onyxia, Yaya couldn't help but grin "evilly."
How could kind and wise Yaya possibly be up to anything "bad"?