Bai Shi hadn't expected there to be such a history between the ancient dragons and the wyverns.
That Bayle character in particular sounded terrifyingly strong.
Even if Dragonlord Placidusax was already wounded, for the ancient dragons to use the word "grievously" to describe the damage he inflicted on the Dragonlord, Placidusax's injuries must have been truly severe at the time.
Senessax said that the Dragonlord had lost one head by the time he returned, and Bai Shi remembered that the Dragonlord was missing three heads in total.
In other words, if the Dragonlord hadn't fought any other battles after his return, then the other two heads must have been taken by that dragon named Bayle, right?
This Bayle's strength must be absolutely terrifying.
Bai Shi was very strong now, but he believed he still couldn't take on the Dragonlord without relying on Fengling Yueying.
Within the system of Elden Ring, every king and god was incredibly fearsome on their own, not to mention that those who became kings were often even more terrifying in terms of power.
After all, the kings and gods of each age of law ruled the entire Lands Between through immense strength.
Right now, Bai Shi could only contend with powerful demigods. There was still a gap between him and the absolute powerhouses above them.If Bai Shi were to rank the power levels in the Lands Between, then the absolute top tier, T0, would be beings like the Elden Beast and other deities.
A god-and-king combination would be slightly below them, at T0.5.
A single god or king, Bai Shi would place at T1.
As for where Bai Shi currently stood, he felt he was probably at T2.
That meant he was on par with other powerful demigods who possessed Great Runes, with strength comparable to Radahn, Morgott, and Malenia.
This level of strength was already formidable in the current Lands Between, but against the even stronger monsters, the gap was still considerable.
The Lands Between had a long history, and the number of powerful figures who had appeared throughout it was unimaginable.
It was only because the Lands Between was currently in a period of dynastic change, a time of transition, that peerless powerhouses could be counted on one hand. That was why his current strength was sufficient.
This was also one aspect of an age of decline...
No, this was a direct manifestation of an age of decline.
——
Bai Shi pondered the information in Senessax's words for a moment before speaking again.
Bai Shi asked Senessax:
"So, does that mean the ancient dragons and wyverns are mortal enemies now?"
Senessax pondered for a moment, then nodded, and then shook her head.
"The wyvern population is quite large, and they are numerous."
"Therefore, not all wyverns follow Bayle's command."
"After all, from a species perspective, it's perfectly normal for individuals with different ideas to emerge."
"At the time, there were even wyverns who took the initiative to fight alongside the ancient dragons."
"Of course, there were also ancient dragons who betrayed the Dragonlord and rebelled with the wyverns."
"The wyverns who rebelled with Bayle were, for the most part, executed on the spot."
"The remaining wyverns bore an unforgivable crime and thus had to be punished with the Dragon Communion ritual."
"But in truth, the relationship between ancient dragons and wyverns has not reached a completely hostile level. Otherwise, we would have been slaughtering wyverns all across the Lands Between long ago."
"How should I put it... it's a rather complicated issue."
"Whether there's hatred or not, I suppose it depends on the individual's thoughts."
Senessax paused, taking a moment to re-examine her own feelings toward the wyverns.
"We hate Bayle because he started the rebellion and gravely wounded our king."
"Although the wyverns participated in the betrayal, the moment the Elden Ring was shattered, our era of the ancient dragons had already come to an end. It wasn't because of the wyverns."
"I don't actually harbor that much hatred for the wyverns, and this is a sentiment shared by many ancient dragons."
"For ancient dragons, such deep-seated hatred is a poison that twists the mind."
"Pain and anger, such negative emotions are always easier to recall than happiness and beauty."
"Because of our long lives, you could even say that ancient dragons are quite indifferent to emotions."
"I can understand the behavior of humans and other creatures, knowing what their words and actions represent in terms of emotion."
"But for an ancient dragon, to truly possess emotions like a human is unthinkable."
Senessax suddenly posed a question to Bai Shi:
"My lord, in my human form, do you see any difference between me and a human?"
"This is a question I wish to ask for myself."
Bai Shi recalled his interactions with Senessax up to this point and felt they were quite natural, with nothing strange about them.
"I don't think there's any difference."
"The emotions you show seem no different from those of an ordinary human to me."
But Senessax shook her head.
"I always thought I had truly acquired human emotions, but I was wrong."
"True emotion, true love, I still know nothing of them."
"I only realized this after I emerged from the ice."
"If I truly had emotions, I'm afraid I would have been killed by them long ago during that endless confinement."
"I just learned how to appear like a normal living being."
"I only know what words can express what feelings, and what emotions should be displayed at certain times."
"For an ancient dragon, such feelings are a sweet poison, yearned for yet incredibly dangerous."
"Ever since being unsealed by you, I've grown even more desperate for those real emotions, desperate to the point of madness."
"But, with the inner nature of an ancient dragon, I suppose I still cannot touch them..."
Bai Shi didn't quite understand Senessax's sudden melancholy.
From Bai Shi's perspective, Senessax was nothing like she described herself.
On the contrary, her emotional expressions were quite intense.
Looking at the final result, if one understands emotions and knows what emotions to express, isn't that considered having real emotions?
Even if it's an act, if one can keep it up for a lifetime, is it not, in a way, a genuine feeling?
However, such things were too abstract, too subjective.
Since Senessax herself felt she didn't have them, he would just have to take her word for it.
For a long-lived species, understanding human emotions and not understanding them were two different kinds of sorrow.
Bai Shi suddenly recalled Senessax's earlier interest in Dragon Communion and couldn't help but ask again:
"If you don't harbor such deep hatred for the wyverns, then why did you suddenly ask me about performing Dragon Communion earlier?"
Senessax replied:
"I indeed don't hate the wyverns that much, but that doesn't affect things."
"For me, if there's an opportunity to promote the Dragon Communion ritual, I would still take the initiative to do so."
"Not because of hatred, but because it is also one of my duties."
Bai Shi nodded.
"I see."
"So, are you hoping to promote the Dragon Communion ritual within the Dragonblood Legion?"
Senessax smiled.
"What do you think, my lord?"
"This way, the strength of your army would also increase rapidly."
Bai Shi was now hesitant.
He hadn't yet decided how to treat the wyverns.
However, in the end, Bai Shi still refused Senessax.
"I don't plan to implement large-scale Dragon Communion in the army yet."
"I have no quarrel with the wyverns, and I haven't reached a point where I'd resort to any means for power."
If Bai Shi wanted to, he could very well declare war on the wyverns under the pretext of supporting the ancient dragons and slaughter them all.
By doing so, he could obtain a massive amount of runes, and the combat power of his subordinates would rapidly increase.
But Bai Shi still couldn't bring himself to do such a thing.
To put it bluntly, Bai Shi himself had no real hatred for the wyverns.
To Bai Shi, the wyverns were just another ordinary species in the Lands Between.
Conflict between individuals was normal, and he had killed wyverns before.
But for one power to commit genocide against an entire race was a completely different concept.
Furthermore, Bai Shi didn't want his soldiers to continuously undergo Dragon Communion.
Dragon Communion was, after all, a dangerous ritual. At the end of that path, they would be consumed by desire and transform into magma wyrms.
And once they transformed into magma wyrms, Bai Shi would have no choice but to dispose of them.
Even if they chose this path themselves, Bai Shi couldn't just sit by and watch them all become like that.
Having thought things through, Bai Shi was no longer conflicted.
In any case, he could have the Dragonblood Knights learn the incantations of the Dragon Cult and study lightning.
Their strength would still rise that way, and they wouldn't be weak.
Since Bai Shi had made his decision, Senessax didn't say anything more.
"By the way, is this mark that appeared on the back of my hand after we made the pact also a sacred seal?"
Bai Shi raised his right hand. This spot had previously been the location of the Dragon Communion Seal.
But after making the pact with Senessax, the sacred seal had transformed into the sigil of the Ancient Dragon Cult.
Bai Shi hadn't tried using an incantation yet, but he could feel the power it contained.
Senessax nodded.
"Yes, that is the mark representing our Ancient Dragon Cult."
"It will enhance the power of the ancient dragons' lightning when you use it."
"In fact, you can already use some lightning powers now."
Bai Shi looked at the emblem on his hand and tried to channel the power within it, but unfortunately, he was unsuccessful.
Senessax reached out and covered the Ancient Dragon Seal on the back of Bai Shi's hand.
"Please remember the sensation that follows."
Soon, a bolt of red lightning was unleashed from the sacred seal under Senessax's guidance.
This red lightning coiled around Bai Shi's body, covering him completely.
Bai Shi felt it for a moment. The general effect seemed to be adding lightning damage and slightly increasing his attack power.
Afterward, Bai Shi and Senessax agreed that he would start learning the ancient dragon incantations from her the next day.
Bai Shi placed the wolf egg in a corner, then lay down to rest.
——
Bai Shi felt a strange sensation on his face and immediately woke from his sleep.
On his face, there seemed to be some sort of moist liquid?
And it was a little warm, a little sticky...
Is this drool? Or something else...
Bai Shi didn't open his eyes. Instead, he panicked a little internally, wondering if he should continue to feign sleep.
It was just... how to put it... Bai Shi suddenly thought of some strange scenes in video games.
So Bai Shi was now a little afraid of what he might see when he opened his eyes.
If he really saw something strange, how should he react?
Another drop of warm, viscous liquid fell on Bai Shi's face.
Bai Shi thought for a moment and decided to open his eyes to investigate.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a small, fluffy ball in front of him.
A tongue stuck out of its mouth, lolling to the side. The warm and viscous liquid was dripping from its mouth.
Seeing Bai Shi awake, the strange little creature let out an excited yip:
"Rua!"
Startled, why that sound?
Bai Shi sat up and looked at the little creature beside him.
Once he saw its full form, he realized it was a small wolf cub. The cub was covered in fluffy fur the color of blueberries.
Having just been born, its initial downy fur had not yet shed, making it look round and chubby.
It was quite adorable, making one want to give it a good rub.
It would probably take a few sheds before this fluffy down grew into sleek fur.
Bai Shi's gaze moved past the wolf cub to Melina, who was beside him.
Melina was squatting next to Bai Shi, looking at the newly hatched wolf cub with a doting expression.
Indeed, girls have no resistance to fluffy creatures.
Bai Shi snatched up the little ball of fur.
It looked at Bai Shi, its tongue lolling out, panting.
Bai Shi held it up and looked, carefully observing its appearance.
He saw that it had blue fur similar to the giant wolf's, though slightly lighter in color. He wasn't sure if the color would change later or if it would stay this way.
Pushing aside the fur, he saw some small scales underneath. But perhaps because it had just been born, these scales had not yet fully hardened.
He could also see several spiral horns on its body.
These spiral horns were concentrated on its back and shoulders, perhaps for defense.
Bai Shi recalled the giant wolf that had given birth to it; the positions of their horns seemed to be different.
It seemed the position of the horns was not inherited, but rather grew independently on each individual.
Bai Shi looked at the spot where the egg had been before.
He saw that only an empty, thick eggshell remained.
Bai Shi looked at Melina again.
"When did it hatch?"
Melina thought for a moment.
"Probably just a few minutes ago. As soon as it came out, it came looking for you."
"And then you woke up."
Bai Shi scratched his slightly messy hair.
"That's strange. I didn't actively try to incubate it, so why did it suddenly hatch?"
Melina thought for a bit and offered her speculation:
"If it's really as Senessax said, that once this creature is born, the old one will die."
"Then hatching quickly from the egg should be a necessary ability."
"After all, in the wild, there's no one to take care of the newborn."
"If that's the case, perhaps this creature's infancy will also be very short to ensure its survival."
Bai Shi patted the little wolf's head and poked its nose.
It immediately stuck out its long tongue and licked its own nose.
"Remember, from now on, your name is Shivr."
Shivr yipped happily twice, seeming to be quite pleased with the name.
Afterward, Shivr looked at Bai Shi with expectant eyes.
Bai Shi didn't know what it wanted, so he could only stare back at it.
And so, the man and the wolf stared at each other for a while.
It wasn't until Melina seemed to understand Shivr's thoughts that she spoke to Bai Shi:
"Do you think he might be hungry?"
Bai Shi thought about it, and it seemed quite possible.
Shivr also let out two yips at the right moment.
Huh? Wait a second, can it see Melina?
Bai Shi suddenly realized this.
Just as Melina finished speaking, Shivr had responded.
Bai Shi turned to Melina to share his discovery:
"Melina, I think it can see you."
Melina was a bit surprised and looked toward Shivr.
Sure enough, Shivr's little head had already turned with Bai Shi's gaze.
Melina waved at it to see if it would react.
Seeing Melina wave, Shivr started yipping happily, its head swaying along with Melina's hand.
"It really can!"
In Melina's memory, besides Torrent, this seemed to be the first animal that could see her.
Bai Shi recalled what Senessax had said before, that this species was very similar to the Ancestor Spirits, and a thought formed in his mind.
The Ancestor Spirits were a strange species related to the cycle of life and death.
Perhaps that's why Shivr also possessed this ability to communicate with souls.
Moreover, horns also seemed to have some connection to souls.
Torrent also appeared, nudging Shivr on the ground with his nose, seemingly fond of it as well.
But the key problem now was: Shivr was hungry. What should he feed it?
For a newborn wolf cub, it should probably be drinking milk.
But where could he get milk for it?
The Dragonblood Legion hadn't brought any livestock down here, so there was no animal he could get milk from.
Bai Shi sneaked a couple of glances at Melina, who was having a friendly interaction with Shivr.
No, no, no matter how you look at it, Melina is a spirit now.
Even if she weren't a spirit, it wouldn't be possible, would it?
Besides, he hadn't even had a taste himself.
Bai Shi then thought of Senessax next door.
Well, although she was quite buxom in her human form, her essence was still that of an ancient dragon.
That human form was just an illusion.
Could an ancient dragon's stone body really produce milk?
Forget it, it's better not to think about such things.
After some thought, Bai Shi picked up a dish from the nearby table.
He then took out a Flask of Crimson Tears and poured the tears into it.
Bai Shi brought the tears to Shivr's mouth, but it only took a couple of licks and didn't drink any more.
It seemed it wasn't very satisfied with the tears and continued to stare at Bai Shi expectantly.
Bai Shi was a little troubled.
What should he feed this little guy?
Shivr waited for a long time, and seeing that Bai Shi didn't seem to have any food, it started looking around.
After a moment, Shivr found its target and turned to look at the eggshell it was born from.
It trotted over and began to eat the eggshell.
With an endless stream of crunching sounds, the eggshell was soon chewed up and eaten completely.
But it seemed that this still couldn't fill its stomach. It turned back to find Melina and Torrent.
Seeing Shivr's sharp teeth as it chewed on the eggshell, Bai Shi suddenly felt that maybe he could try feeding it some meat.
So Bai Shi began to search through the items in his dimensional disc. Before long, he pulled out a piece of Brave's Flesh Chunk.
This meat was still a thank-you gift from Alexander for saving him from the hole, and he hadn't eaten it yet.
The moment Bai Shi took the Brave's Flesh Chunk out of the dimensional disc, Shivr's gaze immediately snapped over.
Shivr quickly ran over from beside Torrent and Melina.
Its mouth was open, tongue hanging out, staring intently at the huge piece of meat.
Bai Shi tore off a shred of meat from the chunk and held it in front of Shivr.
Shivr immediately bit onto the meat, chewed it, and quickly swallowed it down.
Seeing Shivr eat so smoothly, Bai Shi nodded.
"Hmm, it seems it can indeed eat meat."
"This is probably another powerful ability this species developed to survive its youth."
After a while, Senessax also entered Bai Shi's tent.
She wanted to ask Bai Shi when he planned to start learning the incantations.
Seeing that the little wolf had already hatched from the egg, Senessax also looked very surprised.
"Oh my, has it hatched so quickly?"
"It's quite cute."
Senessax walked over to Shivr, gathered her skirt and knelt down, reaching out to stroke its little head.
While eating the meat strip in its mouth, Shivr actively nuzzled its head against Senessax's palm.
Perhaps showing affection is an instinct for all young creatures.
Senessax looked at Bai Shi.
"It was just born and it's already eating meat, is that okay?"
Bai Shi wasn't sure either and looked at the piece of meat in his hand.
"I don't know, it should be fine..."
"It already has a full set of teeth right after birth. It even chewed up its own eggshell just now."
"And it seems to be eating very happily."
Senessax tapped her chin with her finger and shook her head.
"Hmm, but I thought wolves usually need to be nursed... no, it's oviparous..."
"Indeed, I still don't understand this creature."
Bai Shi tore off another strip of meat and tossed it into Shivr's mouth.
Bai Shi looked at Senessax again.
"So, what do you ancient dragons eat when you're born?"
Senessax blinked, trying hard to recall her distant childhood.
"Uhh, well..."
"I think we didn't need to eat. We might chew on rocks for fun."
Bai Shi was a bit speechless.
"What? You ancient dragons are the more unreasonable creatures. You shouldn't talk about other species."
Senessax let out a couple of light laughs.
"That's true."
"I suppose one sometimes fails to notice their own strangeness."
Bai Shi tore the Brave's Flesh Chunk into small pieces bit by bit and tossed them into Shivr's mouth.
It wasn't until a large portion of the Brave's Flesh Chunk was gone that Shivr finally felt full, its belly becoming round and swollen.
Shivr yawned at the sky, then lay down on its