Chapter 12: Age of Dragons (7)
There’s a problem.
Not a trivial one… but a serious one.
“Doesn’t it feel like there are more dragons around lately?”
“More than just a few.”
I chime in on Ifrit’s grumbling.
It started with just me, then came the seven self-aware kids born from nature, and from their scales, we ended up with dozens of dragons…
But now, after hundreds of years, dragons have been pairing up and laying eggs, and before we knew it, their numbers have shot up almost to the thousands.
“I never imagined that the dinosaurs would face extinction not from a meteor but because of dragons…”
The dragons born after me and the seven were originally transformed from dinosaurs, so they couldn’t escape the limits of being creatures.
Simply put, they had to eat to live.
Dragons, needing to gulp down vast amounts of food to support their massive bodies. Thousands of those dragons are now roaming this land.
Of course, their favorite meals are the large dinosaurs that are the most abundant here.
At least it’s a relief that they mostly avoid the smaller dinosaurs, lizardmen, or even the not-so-numerous little mammals.
Not that dragons would even feel full after munching on those tiny snacks.
“I’m worried about the dwindling dinosaur population. But telling the kids to go hungry isn’t an option.”
“I’ve heard that some dragons are starving because they’re being squeezed out of the food competition. They come to me begging for help, so I turned a huge rock into meat with magic…”
That was the first time I used transformation magic to turn stone into meat.
I felt sorry for the kids clutching their hungry tummies and did it… Honestly, the meat wasn’t anything to write home about. It was lean and tough.
But hungry kids dug in anyway.
“We need to do something, right? At this rate, all the kids might starve to death…”
I get it—we really need to do something, but what exactly should we do?
Should I introduce new creatures here? No, we’ve finally got a stable ecosystem; I don’t want to throw that into chaos.
Well, sure, the dragons running wild already make it chaotic… Hmm… Does it really matter?
But there could be unforeseen problems. Let’s save that for last. If it’s anything more complex than a slime, there’s bound to be issues.
So… would transforming the dragons be a better option? But changing creatures that already exist is a tricky business. It’s not impossible… but honestly, I’m not keen on it.
If only these kids could photosynthesize like trees—it would make things so much easier!
Wait, photosynthesis?
“Did you come up with a brilliant idea?”
“I’m not sure if it’s brilliant, but… a little idea has popped into my head.”
Will it work? Who knows, but it’s worth a shot.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Dragons are living creatures.
But at the same time, they are beings that received scales from self-aware natural phenomena.
With that background, I thought of one solution.
To put it simply.
“If there’s no meat, why not eat magical power?”
That’s my conclusion.
Dragons are physical beings.
And they are also the offspring of natural phenomena.
Therefore, they can be considered half natural phenomena.
So, what if we take advantage of the abundant magical power in this world?
What if they could maintain their bodies using magical power instead of needing to eat so much?
If they could treat magical power as nutrients to keep their bodies going?
“So, I think you should teach your children the magic to transform their physical forms.”
I gathered all seven kids and brought up the idea.
I explained that the situation was dire enough to lead to dinosaur extinction, and should that happen, most dragons wouldn’t be safe either.
“Was it that serious?”
“Yeah. There’s only so much meat I can hand out. Teaching them magic to substitute their bodies with magical power seems like the best option under the current circumstances.”
“I had no idea it had gotten that bad…”
I nodded to Thetis’s words. After all, the sea where Thetis and the blue dragons live is swarming with countless fish.
Things on land are much different, where dinosaurs face extinction.
Sure, some dragons hungry enough have ventured to the sea for fish, clashing with blue dragons… But that’s more of a cute spat than anything.
“But for the kids to maintain their bodies with magical power… Is that really possible, Mother?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
I replied shortly to Erebus.
Truth be told, a lot of this mess is Erebus’s fault.
Thanks to him creating dragons until his neck scales were almost all gone, we ended up with a boatload of black dragons.
If he had just held back a bit, maybe this situation wouldn’t be so severe.
“Ahem. Let’s get started with the explanation.”
I began telling the kids about the magic I wanted to teach.
Magical power is a force of infinite possibilities that changes with your will. If you handle it well, nothing is impossible.
Well, what they can do with magic depends on their own magical power levels, but let’s overlook that part for now.
“The magic I’ll be teaching will minimize the biological aspects that dragons have and increase the aspect of natural phenomena. It will transform their heart to collect magical power while breathing.”
“Transforming the heart, is that really okay?”
“Theoretically, there should be no problem.”
In fact, this was inspired by the dragon heart concept I read in a fantasy novel.
With the massive amounts of magical power dragons inherently have, plus the magical power that accumulates in their hearts over time, their bodies will maintain themselves automatically. So unless they’re newly hatched, they should be fine eating the bare minimum.
As for newly hatched hatchlings, well, they’ve just gotta eat meat, no two ways about it!
“If we don’t act fast, it’ll be too late, so we need to hurry. Got it?”
“Yeah! So the kids can live like trees and not have to eat! They’ll be thrilled to be just like me!”
At Yggdrasil’s words, the others and I burst into laughter. After all, Yggdrasil is literally the World Tree.
“Okay, you’ve all memorized the magic I told you, right? Now use it on your kids without missing a single one. By using this magic, your kids shouldn’t have to worry about hunger anymore.”
And with that, my kids went off to use the magic I taught them on their offspring.
Hopefully… this helps delay the extinction of the dinosaurs a bit.
I’d love for dinosaurs to hang around far into the future.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Some time later.
The effects of the magic I taught them were remarkably good.
Dragons, who no longer needed to stuff their faces with food, began to treat eating as a leisure activity rather than a necessity.
The brawls between two dragons for a chunk of meat decreased.
Lizardmen also found less need to skulk around to avoid dragons hunting dinosaurs.
Especially the lizardman… or rather, the Lizardman Chieftain who inherited the enchanted spear I’d given them. He was quite pleased indeed.
Just one hunt of a large dinosaur could feed an entire tribe, but the dragons devouring dinosaurs had made it impossible to dare hunt.
Thanks to that, the lizardmen were thriving increasingly, moving away from their purely hunting lifestyle.
They began crafting a primitive language and were even starting to show signs of developing a bit of agriculture.
And the most surprising thing? They started erecting structures that looked like temples.
The deity they worshipped in that temple was… well, naturally, it was me.
To be precise, they were worshipping the name Creator Dragon God.
However, it’s a name that feels rife with the flavor of a teenage fantasy… But what could I do? It’s now an inseparable part of me!
And just like that, I’ve entered enjoyer mode.
Oh, wait. The magic that transformed the dragons worked almost perfectly… but I ran into one unexpected side effect.
Now that the dragons are half creatures and half natural phenomena, nearing roughly 1-2 parts biological and 8-9 parts natural phenomena… for some reason…
The dragons have become exceedingly rare when it comes to laying eggs.
Is it because their natural phenomena ratio has gone up? Or do they no longer feel the urge to reproduce? Or has their lifespan increased, leading them to procrastinate having kids?
The annual birthrate for dragons has plummeted, and now we’re looking at situations where less than ten dragons are born each year.
What is going on here? This is terrifying…
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