wavenovel Chapter 23 Winter
Chapter 23 Winter
Snowflakes began to fall gently from the sky, drifting down along the curves of the mountains. The withered grass stems were gradually tinged with white, and the ground looked as if it had been sprinkled with a layer of fine ice shavings.
More than a month has passed since the last time the boarman was tamed.
Thanks to these free laborers—who are not only generally strong and robust but also have good stamina—the cave where the three young dragons live has now expanded by a considerable size.
Saul, who had grown another half foot and was nearly 12 feet long, was lying on a cobblestone platform inside the cave, his breath steaming with hot air more than a foot long from his nostrils.
As a red dragon, he loathed the cold to the core, and the swirling snow outside made him have no desire to go out at all.
But as long as a living organism is alive, it must always draw energy from the outside world.
Even gods need to absorb faith; only when a true dragon reaches a certain level of strength can it rely entirely on absorbing magical elements to survive.
As a fledgling dragon, Thor naturally needs to eat; otherwise, even if he doesn't starve to death after a winter, his growth and development will be severely affected.
What should I do if I want to eat but don't want to move?
Thor's half-closed eyes suddenly snapped open, his gaze falling on his two blood relatives.
Those wild boar people are definitely not to be relied upon. In this season of food scarcity, they can't even feed themselves and rely entirely on the fat they've stored up in the fall to survive.
Instead of relying on them to hunt for sustenance, it would be more convenient to simply eat them.
But Sistana and Kalp are different; they are, after all, true dragons, and even though they are young, they should be able to handle simple hunting.
We must find a way to make them willingly hand over their prey.
If you rely solely on coercion, they will definitely outwardly comply but inwardly defy you, and then lie and say they didn't catch any prey, since you can't keep an eye on them every second.
Thor's eyes darted around, and in a moment, a smug smile appeared on his lips.
He exchanged for a dragon crystal as usual, thought for a moment, then stuffed it into his mouth and took a big bite. Holding up the remaining half, he growled in a low voice.
"My foolish brothers and sisters, your elder brother—the great Thor, the future master of this wilderness, has decided to take pity on you and give you a chance to make a fortune."
Over the next ten days, each of you will bring back prey for me. Whoever brings back the most prey will get the magic crystal!
The two fledgling dragons, who had been lying on the ground taking a nap out of boredom, immediately raised their heads upon hearing this, staring at the dragon crystal on Thor's claws, their eyes gleaming.
But then, as if they had thought of something, they said warily.
"Damn it, you're not going to make us eat this again, are you?!"
"If that's the case, we won't do it no matter what, so just give up on that idea!"
Thor calmly shook his head.
"No! No! No! You have complete control over this magic crystal. Whether you eat it or keep it, it's fine."
The two young dragons looked conflicted. They didn't want to go out in this cold weather either, but the thought of the treasure...
In the end, it was Sistana who made the decision first.
She kicked Kalp aside and flapped her wings, rushing out of the cave.
"No problem, I'll go first today, but you have to keep your word!"
Watching the crimson figure disappear into the wind and snow, Thor swished his tail contentedly, then looked at Kalp, who remained in the cave, and said enticingly.
"If Sistana is lucky enough to catch a large prey today, it will be very difficult for you to surpass her tomorrow."
How about we start working hard today, go catch some prey and store it, and bring it to me together with tomorrow's?
That way, you'll have a much better chance of winning and obtaining this sparkling magic crystal.
As he spoke, he shook the dragon crystal on his claws, causing Karp's gaze to follow. Karp swallowed hard, turned around, and rushed out of the cave.
The entire cave fell silent instantly, with only a single, light-hearted word echoing in the air.
"Two idiots."
…………
The harsh winter in the wilderness didn't last long, at least that's what Thor thought.
After sacrificing a few small pieces of dragon crystal, he slept comfortably until spring, thanks to the care of Sistana and Karp.
As the first warm breeze of early spring blows, the snow that has accumulated throughout the winter begins to melt, water seeps into the ground, and plants sprout tender buds.
Thor crawled out of the cave, stretched comfortably, and the joints and scales on his body collided, making a crisp crackling sound.
The pure life force brought by the pterosaur template and the gas frog template gradually began to show its effects. In addition, with the dragon crystal replenishing energy, his size has increased significantly and he is now 13 feet long.
The wings on its back are exceptionally large, with a wingspan reaching an astonishing 20 feet when spread out.
Even without relying on innate magical abilities, the reaction force generated by flapping wings alone would probably be enough to propel the body into flight.
Feeling restless and yearning for adventure, he decided to embark on a long-awaited hunt. With a flap of his wings, he leaped into the sky and soared away in circles.
As he passed the gentle slope where the boarmen were, Thor took a moment to glance at his retinue.
As winter passed, their numbers dwindled, whether from freezing to death or dying while foraging for food.
This is actually the norm for many creatures in the wilderness—born in spring and dying in winter, like wild grass. Only truly strong individuals and species can calmly endure one harsh winter after another.
This is why, despite having a reproductive capacity comparable to that of a real wild boar, the wild boar people have never had a large population.
This won't do. When we subdued them, we lost too many of our main young and strong male boar-men. If we don't intervene, their numbers will not only fail to recover, but will also decrease drastically.
Thor began to wonder if there was any way to increase the number of these boar-men.
The simplest way is to hunt for them yourself. As long as there is enough food, given their reproductive rate, their numbers will quickly multiply exponentially.
But the arrogance in the red dragon's blood made him forget the thought as soon as it popped into his head.
Perhaps we could teach them some simple breeding or planting techniques?
But with a boarman's intelligence of 7, can he even learn it? And where is he supposed to get suitable livestock and crop seeds?
Unable to think of a solution immediately, Thor decided to stop racking his brains for now and focus on filling his stomach first.
In the past six months, he has thoroughly explored this hilly area.
Since I've never seen any particularly dangerous or ferocious creatures or birds of prey, I plan to expand my hunting range a bit further this time.
As we traversed the hills, the view remained an endless expanse of wilderness.
After the snow melts, the soil is full of moisture, turning a fertile dark brown, and the dense green grass tips are already visible.
A groundhog cautiously poked its head out from underground; not far away, hidden beneath a thicket of thorns, was a rabbit hole.
None of these escaped Thor's sharp eyes, but he had long since looked down on these little things.
What truly attracted him was the moving "hill" in the distance.