Every time she came to see the cold, lifeless egg, a deeper sense of regret weighed heavily on her heart.

After the Black Dragon who had gone off to war died, she had tried her best to care for the egg. But when even the egg grew cold, the last shred of hope faded with each passing day.

But now, things were different.

The warmth of the child nestled in her arms. The soft sound of his breath.

Christina felt grateful from the bottom of her heart.

‘No matter what happens, I’ll help you grow strong and proud—as a true dragon.’

“I thou■ you’d never be born… Tha■ you for living… for being born, little one.”

Though her voice broken and faint, her sincerity came through—and it stirred something in the hatchling’s heart.

‘She’s thanking me… just for being born?’

The hatchling squirmed slightly, as if about to wriggle free—but then relaxed.

‘How awkward.’

In his entire life, no one had ever thanked him for simply being born.

And yet… he didn’t hate how it felt.

If anything, it was a little ticklish. And nice.

He could feel the boundless warmth and sincerity in Christina.

‘Hard to keep being suspicious after hearing something like that. And she wouldn’t bother lying to a child who can’t even talk properly.’

In a way, he even felt a bit guilty—after all, he wasn’t the original soul meant for this body.

‘The original soul of this body… probably died.’

After some thought, he quietly settled into her soft embrace.

‘Cultivating virtue is part of what it means to be a divine beast.’

He let out a small breath through his tiny nostrils, sat up slightly, and wrapped his short arms gently around Christina’s neck, patting it lightly.

“Kku. Kkuu kyuk.”

‘Ahem. Whatever it is, it’s not your fault—cheer up.’

Christina’s eyes widened slightly at his gesture.

“Are you… comforting m■?”

“Kyut.”

He answered with a blank expression to mask the embarrassment, but Christina burst into a bright laugh.

“Ho■ did such a cute little on■ come about?”

“Kyu? Kyuu!”

‘I’m not trying to be cute! I just didn’t want you to keep beating yourself up about it!”

His intention was simple—she needed to be in good condition to help him, not emotionally broken.

But Christina just chuckled as she hugged the shaking hatchling tighter.

“Thanks to you, I do feel bette■. Let’s take care of each other from now on, little one.”

“Kyu!”

‘Yeah. Let’s do that.’

Christina found his cheerful little answer so adorable that she patted his head affectionately.

The hatchling felt utterly awkward being praised and patted like this.

‘D-damn it. My face is burning up.’

He was so flustered that his nose gave a faint *squeak* as he exhaled.

Despite having lived for nearly a millennium, he had shunned humans and even other divine beasts. He had zero experience with genuine social affection.

Even the neighbor’s dog was probably better at it than him.

Small and childish though his current body was, being patted and hugged while fully conscious stung his adult pride.

‘Stay calm. I only helped her. She doesn’t seem like a bad person anyway. She’s strong too.’

He was trying to rationalize it.

Which, to be fair, was mostly true.

Up close, he could feel it—beneath her softness was real strength.

An aura of carefully refined power.

She held more innate strength than even he had in his prime.

‘Having someone like her on my side would be a major advantage.’

Besides, it seemed she owed something to original owner of this body. Showing goodwill toward her wouldn’t hurt.

He glanced in the direction of the gravestone and made a silent vow to the child who had passed.

‘Thank you for giving me this life. I hope you rest in peace.’

Having silently offered one last prayer, he returned to reality.

He didn’t know how he had been reincarnated with his past memories, but the memory of dying helplessly was crystal clear.

‘I won’t make the same mistake again.’

He winced as if something prodded his heart—even though no spear had pierced it this time.

The pain of his soul being torn apart.

He never wanted to go through that again.

‘In this life…’

He clenched his tiny fists tightly.

‘I won’t die powerless like that again.’

Even thinking about it now, the injustice surged from his tail to the crown of his head.

He had been just one year away from completing his thousand-year cultivation.

When he was murdered—right before becoming a True Dragon.

The one wish he’d carried all his life was crushed in an instant.

That fury, that grief still echoed through him like a wound that would never close.

—

There was a determination in his eyes that no child should have.

‘I have to become strong enough that no one can ever hurt me again. I’ll use anything I can to get there.’

Not with the innocent, sparkling eyes of a child—but with the gaze of someone tempered by cold resolve.

Clenching his fists, he made a vow not to repeat past mistakes.

‘No one will lay a hand on me ever again. I’ll use anything and everything I can.’

Unaware of the grim look on his face, Christina cast a teleportation spell.

She left the place behind—carrying him into the new world that awaited him.

***

It had already been a month since he started living in Christina’s lair.

In that time, the imoogi had gradually accepted that he had become a hatchling of the Black Dragon lineage.

At first, he crawled awkwardly before passing out from sheer drowsiness, only to wake up inside a cradle.

It was absurd to him.

‘I didn’t even sense someone moving me while I slept?’

He was horrified at his own defenselessness.

For someone trained in energy and inner strength cultivation, it was unthinkable.

He kicked his legs into the air in regret for several days—but eventually came to accept it.

‘It’s not me—it’s this body. This body is just… young. That’s all.’

…Admittedly, that was closer to denial than acceptance.

Still, believing the mind could rule the body, the hatchling focused on absorbing the pure surrounding energy and cultivating inner strength.

In the process, he discovered something strange—where energy used to gather in his lower dantian, now it pooled in his heart just from breathing.

‘At first I thought something was wrong with my body.’

But after watching Christina cast magic a few times, he realized this was natural here.

He even tried sneaking in some practice while she was away.

Cleaning spells, object manipulation, water conjuring…

Simple, but useful magic.

Since then, he had focused on channeling magic into his heart while also gathering energy into his lower dantian manually.

‘It’s a shame I lost my original inner pearl, but this isn’t bad either.’

As he trained both the middle dantian (heart) and lower dantian, his strength grew naturally.

It was only a matter of time, he already begun creating a new wish-fulfilling pearl (cintamani)

And this place—

It held purer mana than any he had ever encountered.

Even as he absorbed energy through his cultivation method, he found himself awed again.

‘To be able to store such pure energy in a newly born, untainted body…’

His lips curved into a grin.

Normally, selecting and refining such energy for the dantian would take days.

But not here.

As a result, he was stronger than any other hatchling his age—both in magic and physical strength.

Still, despite all these gains, one recent issue bothered him more than anything.

‘Some weird observer showed up.’

Feigning sleep, he through one eye at a floating orb of white light.

It looked like nothing more than a simple glowing sphere.

[ㅇㅅㅇ]

From time to time, it would use light to draw strange emoticons in mid-air.

‘Does that thing ever sleep?’

Christina had summoned this “spirit familiar” out of concern for leaving him alone.

It looked harmless, but he could feel its gaze.

‘What a nuisance.’

Being stuck inside wasn’t so bad. He had plenty of time, and considered it a form of training.

His underdeveloped mouth still made speaking awkward—but he was slowly adjusting.

But that uninvited guest Christina had left behind…

Thanks to that thing, I can’t even do proper physical training.’

Even to himself, he looked like a chubby baby with soft, squishy scales.

To build muscle, he needed to move—walk, swing his limbs—but if he crawled too much, that annoying firefly would zip over like a nervous dog, flitting anxiously around him.

If he ignored it and kept pushing himself to the point of sweating, it would vanish—only to return with Christina.

Then she’d scoop him up, scolding him for hurting himself, and plop him back in the cradle.

Tch. A little scraped skin is nothing in training.’

But showing off his self-training in front of Christina would definitely raise questions.

‘Even though my body’s growing day by day, and I’m stuck lounging because of that glowing puffball.’

His frustration mounted with each wasted hour.

Eventually, he began to plot.

I need a countermeasure. I can’t live the rest of my life tiptoeing around that glowing thing.’

For a divine beast who once roamed the world at will, pretending to sleep to avoid the gaze of a floating glowing puffball was ridiculous.

He would’ve preferred a proper enemy to fight—at least you could fight those.

I’d rather deal with a sword-wielding foe. At least that would make sense.’

Sigh…

He lay sprawled in his roomy cradle, letting out a long breath.

Still, at least my inner strength is building steadily.’

He smirked and patted his round belly with a stubby hand.

Despite everything, he never slacked in his efforts to gather mana and build inner power.

Just forming a new cintamani is an achievement.’

The seed of that pearl.

The pure mana encompassing his heart.

He had essentially constructed a new control core for both internal energy and external mana.

At this point, I think I’m ready to try it.’

For the past month, he had focused on analyzing Christina’s teleportation spells every time they traveled together.

As a divine beast who once mastered all forms of natural phenomena, he had a natural affinity for sensing magical flow.

This power is stronger and richer than what existed in my old world—I must make it mine.’

The dream of transcending even his limits as an imoogi made his heart race.

“Kkyuuuuk!”

…Damn it.’

He got too excited and accidentally let out a shout—only for an immature cry to escape.

I blamed it on my vocal structure, but… maybe practice will help?’

With nothing better to do, he decided to work on pronunciation.

“Kkyu! Kya! Kkiyuk—!”

He swore the glowing orb was giggling at him.

But he ignored it and kept going.

“Kkyuuk. Pya pya. Pyupyappuppu.”

His face was starting to flush, but he gave it his all.

“Kkyuaaaa—!”

*Thud.*

It wasn’t physical exhaustion—it was mental collapse from pure embarrassment.

‘Ughhh! Why am I even doing this?!’