"...it actually does make a bit of sense."
Since he was a senior, Fries paid close attention to the Black Mage's words.
Otherwise, where should it be placed? Should an ice dragon be hatched inside an ice block?
But an ice block was a solid entity; there was no way to force an egg inside it.
While Fries was thinking, Headmaster Quill's expression turned strange.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Fries was a bit bewildered under Headmaster Quill's gaze.
"I say, have you stayed in the Block World too long? Has your brain been infected by the people in there?"
Sighing, Headmaster Quill pointed at the water bucket.
"Is it possible that an ice dragon simply needs to be in ice to hatch? As for how to get it inside the ice..."
"Water can turn into ice, so can't ice turn into water?"
Those words woke Fries from his daze, and a realization struck him.
"It seems like that could actually work? But..."
Looking at the two mages who had been forcibly silenced, Fries hesitated.
Knowing exactly what he wanted to say, Headmaster Quill sighed again.
"I know what you're thinking. You think because those two mages are seniors and know so much, there must be a reason for what they said."
"But the creatures of the Block World are creatures of the Block World after all. Even if they aren't like ordinary villagers who have developed their own thoughts and intelligence..."
"...they aren't actually that smart, are they?"
Previously, because of their vast knowledge, the two mages were revered as seniors.
Being seniors, one subconsciously assumed they knew everything and were wise, intelligent people.
But one forgot that sometimes even smart people fail; intelligence can't solve every problem.
Besides, they just knew a bit more; they weren't necessarily all that brilliant.
"Even the Wandering Mage said there have been very few experiments regarding dragon eggs, so their knowledge in this area is lacking."
"In this regard, I trust our contestant more."
He pointed at the screen. As expected...
As Galen Yu poured a bucket of water into the dug-out block and placed the dragon egg inside...
...the next moment, the dragon egg began to tremble slightly, and a progress bar representing the start of the hatching process appeared.
"It worked!"
"Didn't they say hatching a dragon egg was hard? It looks pretty simple."
"I didn't think it would be that hard either. Ice dragons clearly lean towards the cold, so putting it in water is perfectly logical!"
"That Black Mage was talking pure nonsense, yet someone actually believed him?"
"No way, does someone really think iron blocks can hatch a dragon egg?"
"What does iron have to do with dragons? That sounds like total rubbish!"
"Some of those foreign bullet chats really need to get their heads checked!"
The Blonde Elder, who was in the middle of editing and reposting an article, froze.
He deleted everything he was currently editing and clicked on the comment he had just liked.
The comment claimed that Galen Yu was arrogant and should have used iron blocks to hatch the dragon egg; the Blonde Elder had intended to post his agreement.
Now, he immediately reversed his stance.
"[I really didn't expect this, but I thought of it the moment I saw it—you can easily hatch an ice dragon egg with water!]"
"[My god, are there actually idiots who thought it was iron blocks? You should learn more from the wisdom of our Freedom Nation!]"
After sending that, the Blonde Elder let out a sigh of relief.
At least the public persona of the Freedom Nation being far ahead hadn't collapsed!
As for what to do later, he fell silent for a moment.
"Whatever, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!"
Staring at the hatching ice dragon egg, the Black Mage froze in place, his mind going blank.
To uncover the secrets of the dragon race, he hadn't hesitated to risk his life, yet in the end, he hadn't obtained any useful information.
"So, hatching an ice dragon really only takes a bucket of water?"
"Not exactly. You also need a block space large enough to contain it, otherwise, the water will spill everywhere and wash away the rails."
Galen Yu answered the Black Mage quite seriously.
Knowing full well that flowing water would wash away rails, torches, and other items, the Black Mage rubbed his head and let out a deep sigh.
"So that's how it is. Sigh, even knowing this doesn't change much."
"We don't have the chance to hatch dragon eggs. The most important thing is entering the Dragon Chunk, not knowing the method for hatching the eggs."
From a mage's perspective, his words made sense.
As long as there were enough dragon eggs, they could eventually figure it out through experimentation, but unfortunately, they lacked the opportunity.
Beside him, the Wandering Mage didn't even ask a question this time.
He felt such a question was redundant; once you saw it, you knew the reason.
But that's just how it goes sometimes—even the simplest things remain unknown until you've seen them for yourself.
"Perhaps it's simply because I lack your astounding wisdom."
After praising Galen Yu, the Wandering Mage expressed a bit of regret.
"But even if you know how to hatch a dragon, following the habits of creatures, once the dragon hatches, it will recognize you as its master."
"However, these creatures have long lifespans and lengthy growth cycles. I'm afraid it won't be able to provide much help to you in the short term."
This was one of the difficulties the mages had encountered.
Even if they researched how to hatch the eggs, raising a dragon took time. It was impossible for a hatchling to become an adult dragon immediately.
Usually, they would end up being killed by other dragons in various ways, a fate no different from suffering through a Dragon Hunt.
Hatching alone would take many days before seeing any results.
"It's fine."
In fact, Galen Yu had long been prepared.
"It's fine."
Galen Yu was already prepared for this.
Regarding hatching, the Dragon Palace had long since provided a buff.
[DRAGON'S PROTECTION]
[WITHIN THE CHUNK, THE GROWTH SPEED OF ALL CREATURES IS ACCELERATED!]
Previously, only baby villagers benefited by growing up faster, but now with a dragon, the dragon egg hatching would also become extremely rapid.
If the normal speed was seven days, during which the egg had to be protected from interference and the surroundings kept safe...
...now it could be completed in just seven hours. After half a day passed...
*Crack!*
A faint sound of a shell cracking echoed as a tiny, silver-white dragon hatchling broke out from the ice.
"Goo..."
Being quite small since it had just been born, the ice dragon couldn't fly and could only let out a weak cry.
"It hatched that quickly?"
Marvelling at the speed, the Wandering Mage looked at the Architect and came to an understanding.
"So, can buildings also make it grow faster?"
A dragon's growth cycle is very long. Growth Stage One: Day 0 to Day 48.
Growth Stage Two: Day 48 to Day 100.
Growth Stage Three: Day 100 to Day 150.
Growth Stage Four: Day 150 to Day 200.
Growth Stage Five: Day 200 to Day 250.
This was equivalent to double speed in the game.
Waiting for a dragon to mature took over two hundred days—nearly a year—which was indeed a very long time.
The acceleration from Dragon's Protection could at most turn a hundred days into twenty, or fifty days into ten. That speed was already quite fast.
But Galen Yu couldn't wait to become a dragon knight, so...
"That brings us to another mysterious item that accelerates a dragon's growth."
With just five bones and four pieces of any meat, it could be synthesized at a crafting table.
Dragon Meal!
Used to feed dragons, every feeding would increase its size and health, accelerating its growth stages.
He crafted a whole stack and brought it over to feed the ice dragon.
Under Galen Yu's feeding, the tiny ice dragon grew larger and larger at a speed visible to the naked eye.