Obviously Cheshire didn’t leave the little dragoness out of her eyes; a floating orb of shadowy displayed the full journey of that girl from above. Getting that information from one of the corvids. She wasn’t remaining slothful either as she had a desk sat in front of her with a series of countless papers.

Using a brush to skillfully draw countless confusing formations as she quickly iterated on them - an advantage of having so many words working on one task. The amount of times she and her fellow hers had laughed were truly uncountable. Watching the oblivious dragoness blunder about was nothing short of adorable to the tricky kitty.

After some time she finally placed her brush down, placing her hands behind the back of her head, as he leaned backwards till eventually falling in the skyward bellow her.

“Chehehe~ she really is fish brained~.” <Cheshire>

| Remember to take your nutrients. |
| Wish we had the resources you had~. |
| Why complain when we will have them in the future? |

“Ah, yes, let me do that right now…” <Cheshire>

A hint of madness appeared in her grin as she looked to the side where her shadow was patiently awaiting her call. Reaching a hand towards it led to a mystical scene which went against common sense nor what even she thought was possible a brief while ago. That shadow flickered with arcane symbols (barely visible due to the colour being as inky as darkness itself) moments before her hand passed through with the shadow rippling in response. 

Reaching into the shadow she silently noted how those without the correct attributes would likely find this experience quite maddening. Maybe to such an extent that they develop the urge to remove the arm they reached in with. At the same time… That wasn’t her problem thus promptly moved on to search around before pulling out an injection syringe with some kind of white fluid inside which she made sure to tap.

“Seems like our test is a success… Though we won’t know about any side effects till I use it!” <Cheshire>

| Makes sense. |
| Can’t argue with that. |
| It would be a waste to use it on someone else. |
| Our abyss may just make them mad anyway nyahaha~! |
| What would happen if we stored someone inside? |
| So much research to do but so many of us to do it chehehe. |
| Progenitor really is wise however that’s to be expected since she’s us muhuhuhahaha~! |
| Now that we’ have gotten this far; should we focus on linking our consciousness’ or trading? |

“Good question No.784 but I still think consciousness would be the best as it will allow for us to efficiently share the mountains of information we have all gathered in our own lives. With all our information centralised we will be able to make great leaps. It wouldn’t surprise me if the rate of progress in any projects greatly increases when I can get this formation to be as efficient as possible…” <Cheshire>

Being who she was, she showed no worry about speaking out louds to herselves, this led to some of the children and even her own little brother giving her strange looks.

Not exactly a strange result as she was seemingly talking to no one and didn’t even say it under her breath nor mumble. Having no intention to hide her discovery yet also not telling anyone. Making it so those watching think she finally was beyond help (although it could be argued she always had been).

Clearly she didn’t care as she just stretched out her left arm so her cubital fossa was visible to her; not hesitating to jab the needle right in. Pressing down on the plunger with her little thumb without any sign of being squeamish. Just coldly looking down as she pushed the fluid into her veins at a very measured pace until, after a minute, every last drop was gone. At which point they promptly pulled the needle out of her arm and reached for a roll of gauze that she used with clean experience.

“Would really be nice to develop something smaller to apply pressure to a wound in addition to protecting it from infection…” <Cheshire>

| Focus |
| Focus |
| Focus |
| Focus |
| Focus |

“Yes, yes, I know chehehe~!” <Cheshire>

After getting her giggles over with - she turned to that floating orb once more - seeing the events unfold she couldn’t help laughing again.

“That stupid salamander sure knows how to keep things interesting nyahaha~!” <Cheshire>

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Hearing the dragons unrelenting confidence in his own strength made the dragoness quite amused as she made sure to understand each inch of him with her senses. Unfortunately she found little of interest as his bloodline was of fairly middling quality - plus everyone knew drakes were the bottom feeders of all the different draconic races. As such she couldn’t help lifting her hand up to her soft smile to “hide” the smirk that developed due to her inexperience compared to her mamma.

“Oh really?” <Alice>

The pair of wood tricks were demonstrably displeased by her clear contempt however that meant nothing as the leader of the group regained his confident smirk.

“Do you really think someone like you could actually overcome the defences of a drake if not for that item you so blatantly wave around?” <Young Master Goldoak>

She merely tilted her head, keeping her hand firmly in front of her plump pink lips, neither confirming nor denying his words. Something that promptly gave the two far more confidence in their assumption. The weaker one looked up to his master as if he was a genius for “figuring out the trick” while said master confidently stepped forward for the first time.

“Although I will admit that it is very impressive if you indeed managed to make a weapon like that; us true dragons hardly need to rely on such things so know little. Unlike my more ignorant kin I am willing to accept the use in armaments is clearly there since it could greatly help even me. As such I am willing to add you to my harem and have many hatchlings with you!” <Young Master Goldoak>

Soon after saying that he unleashed his aura in challenge to her as Alice couldn’t help hold her cheeks as a little red actually developed on them. Even if she didn’t like them, it was also her first time receiving a duel with her hand on the line, the tradition among dragons. Plus it wasn’t as if he was ugly.

It wasn’t as if the young girl was immune to the romantic idea of being defeated then bred on the very same battlefield.

“Very well… But if I win without using my artefact then you need to tell me what I want to know!” <Alice>

Unable to get her cheeks under control until she felt her head turn slightly to the shadows created from the shrubbery nearby. Somehow not finding that young master quite as cute as she did moments ago - if anything he seemed kind of pathetic. Still he didn’t realise the subtle change and felt like he had this in the bag thus charged forward with a smirk on his face.

That remaining intact wood dragon desperately jumping away with no intention to see his master get it on.

The other stumbled away while clutching his arm.

“I’ll make this quick so I can show you your new home.” <Young Master Goldoak>

Sure enough he threw a simple punch towards him with absolutely no technique to be seen, nevertheless those martial arts techniques from that cat. Watching it coming almost made her yawn. This time she managed to resist as she gracefully stepped forward as that first went sailing past her only to dig her aura covered fist to his stomach.

Unceremoniously he was sent back (only good thing being that “no one” was around to see) flying through the air to roll a couple times across the dirt road. Even after he stopped rolling he didn’t move to push himself up from the dirt; lying on his back to look up towards the sky. Simply unable to come to terms with what had just happened - believing he would overpower the scale-less dragoness easily and be well on his way to forcing his first child on her.

Clearly that wasn’t the case though. Looking towards her revealed that she indeed just used her fist with no gloves that could have a similar effect to the sword. This brought a startling fear to his mind and one that reminded him that there is a chance that a female far stronger may neuter the male for annoying her!

As a result he quickly scrambled up - an act that made him throw up some blood as a fist bruise was clear on his guts - charging towards her again.

This time Alice didn’t even bother dodge but actually moved her face closer to the fist which allowed it to impact her with an  audible explosion. That left him completely flabbergasted for a moment before quickly realising his successful hit. Although his fist certainly stung he couldn’t help ignoring that to let out a bellowing laugh at the discernment that it was surely just luck that she overpowered him!

“Hahaha! I hope that didn’t damage your face because, although you certainly lose a lot due to lacking scales, you are a very suitable mate!” <Young Master Goldoak>

“Oh I am quite fine… Though I’m afraid there is a misunderstanding…” <Alice>

Despite the fist being seemingly planted on her face she tilted her head slightly - revealing there was actually a transparent layer of energy between her face and the fist. Becoming aware of this made the young master step back as now he understood… She wasn’t a mutant; she just had scales made from some kind of energy!

“Is that all?” <Alice>

“N-no since this is just the pre fight - I’ll defeat you in my true form!” <Young Master Goldoak>

Saying so with less vigour than before.

Nonetheless he didn’t lie that he was going to put all his hope into his true form as there was a chance that her scales may not get stronger when she transformed. Of course that was a fairly low chance since it only really happened with red dragons who essentially focused on raw firepower and some other types of coloured dragons. Although it was unknown if that included azure since few dared fight them.

Energy leaked from his body to allow him to rapidly increase in size as scales immediately covered every inch of his body. Being a drake he had no wings or gills thus the entirety of his form focused on obtaining the durability that surpassed even the oldest oaks. Scales shimmering a soft gold hence their family name.

By the time he was done he was towering over her with a 7 metre height from wooden claw to spine letting his burning gold eyes glare down towards her.

“Very well ohohoho~!” <Alice>

She too began by letting her energy out yet that alone was enough to make the sturdy drake back away a few feet as she opened her eyes at last. Turning his head away to avoid all the dirt & debris that was sent flying due to her energy circling around her. By the time he managed to turn back all he could do was look up as a shadow completely engulfed him…

If lizards could sweat he would be.

Basically_God

Give me mone- I mean merry holidays