Chapter 16: The Sinister Flame Sac, Dragon Gem
Flames, toxins, paralysis.
One elemental power and two abnormal states had taken over the body of the Savage Jaw Dragon.
Jié Jié wasn’t sure if this guy was dead or not; its body was still convulsing. He couldn’t tell if it was due to paralysis or residual nerve reactions after death.
He didn’t even need to confirm whether it was dead or not—it was already on his dinner table anyway.
The Black Wolf Bird pecked at the Savage Jaw Dragon’s throat, shattering its throat bones and piercing through its neck.
Jié Jié’s beak moved down along its neck. After several pecks, he found the organ he wanted and tore it out from the Savage Jaw Dragon’s chest cavity.
The Savage Jaw Dragon’s flame sac was still scorching hot, drenched in blood, but he swallowed it without hesitation.
But soon, the flame sac was vomited back up, then re-swallowed, striving hard to push the flame sac into the usual place where flames surged.
When spitting fire normally, the flames always surged out of the throat in an instant, fleeting yet exhilarating pain. But swallowing the flame sac into the right position was a whole different ordeal—a rather prolonged torture.
Jié Jié pressed his throat against the Savage Jaw Dragon’s body tightly, easing himself while constantly adjusting. Even his own flame sac would release some flames and retreat, just to guide the Savage Jaw Dragon’s flame sac being swallowed to find the correct position.
Finally, when the flame sac touched the high temperature in his throat, it became even hotter. Jié Jié tilted his head back and swallowed it completely.
The Savage Jaw Dragon’s flame sac collided with his own, bursting with intense heat, melting away the mutual rejection between them.
“Roar!”
Jié Jié raised his head, opened his beak, and the unbearable heat transformed into explosive flames shooting towards the sky.
As the flames gradually dissipated, the Savage Jaw Dragon’s flame sac fused with the Black Wolf Bird’s under the high temperature.
Jié Jié dragged his extremely tired body to the lakeside for a big drink of water before returning to the Savage Jaw Dragon’s side to continue feeding.
While eating, he buried his head in the Savage Jaw Dragon’s body and fell asleep.
He slept soundly, as if wrapped in a cozy blanket.
Jié Jié didn’t sleep too long. Just two hours later, he pulled his head out, dragging the Savage Jaw Dragon’s corpse to the muddy bank of the lake and leaving it there.
After washing his face with lake water to clean off the dragon blood, he flew to the root of a big tree to continue sleeping.
In the dream space, the Fire Dragon’s totem lit up slightly, while the Savage Jaw Dragon’s totem illuminated more than half. A few more bites tomorrow, and it would be about done…
Jié Jié drifted off into a deep slumber.
The noise from his earlier battle with the Savage Jaw Dragon had scared away nearby small creatures, and the subsequent fusion of the flame sacs had left the surroundings eerily silent. When Jie woke up the next day, the Savage Jaw Dragon’s corpse was relatively intact.
A few fish that had come to nibble on the remains stranded in the lake were treated as appetizers by Jié Jié—delicious.
The part of the Savage Jaw Dragon’s corpse facing the lake had been nibbled on a bit, but it was no big deal.
Jié Jié began his main meal of the day.
A glowing crystal was pecked out by Jié Jié and dropped onto the sand.
Compared to the previous gemstone-like crystals, this one was a bit more regular in shape, shimmering with a fluttering pink light.
This should be the Savage Jaw Dragon’s Dragon Gem.
Bird dragons have an instant liking for shiny things, wanting to hide them in their nests to attract mates during breeding season.
“I have so many sparkling gems! My gems can do backflips!” Something like that.
Another image of the black female bird flashed through Jié Jié’s thoughts—
“Caw! A mother dragon would only slow down my growth rate, you know!”
He directly pecked and swallowed the Dragon Gem.
There was no feeling, but…
Jié Jié’s mind sank inward, and a block with the Savage Jaw Dragon’s totem emerged from the wall, flying to his front and opening.
The Dragon Gem was firmly embedded within.
“Roar!”
He came back to his senses and let out a long roar, feeling his body grow larger, the emaciated body of the Black Wolf Bird becoming stronger and more powerful.
He judged the distance from the ground and confirmed that he had indeed grown a bit, with endless strength surging through him.
The fire he could spit out was no longer limited to fireballs and fire waves; a straight column of fire roasted large amounts of steam from the lake surface.
But something seemed off?
Jié Jié flapped his wings, feeling unusually heavy.
When his wings grew back, he would have to re-adapt to the wind, and the wind would have to re-adapt to him.
He had only learned to fly yesterday! This is unacceptable!
Tears streamed down from the side of Jié Jié’s beak. Transforming his sorrow into hunger, he viciously retaliated against the Savage Jaw Dragon that made him stronger.
Eat eat eat eat eat!
After a full meal, Jié Jié’s body swelled and transformed into the towering and mighty Savage Jaw Dragon.
Using his stronger body, he dragged the Savage Jaw Dragon’s corpse to the junction of the tree roots and land in the middle of the lake.
This act gave him a subtle sense of discomfort. It was normal; the presence of a fellow creature’s corpse often indicated that there were dangers nearby capable of killing oneself.
But that danger was the Black Wolf Bird he transformed into!
Jié Jié turned back into the Black Wolf Bird, using the better balance of the bird dragon to place the dragon corpse on the tree trunk in the middle of the lake. Then he spat out some sparks to burn the tree roots as a mark.
This would avoid most scavengers from stealing food.
Next, Jié Jié planned to patrol his territory and see who his neighbors were when he lived under the Ancient Tree.
Of course, fighting was out of the question now, since there was still so much of the Savage Jaw Dragon left uneaten.
He transformed from the Black Wolf Bird into the Savage Jaw Dragon and retraced the route the Savage Jaw Dragon took to get here.
However, the enhancements provided by collecting Dragon Gems should also apply to other forms, right?
With this thought, Jié Jié walked along while lowering his body, transforming from the Savage Jaw Dragon into the Thief Dragon.
“Hack hack, ROAR!”
A little flame sputtered out from the Thief Dragon’s throat, but the Thief Dragon’s throat wasn’t specialized to handle high temperatures, causing Jié Jié to roll on the ground in pain.
After rolling around, he transformed back into the Savage Jaw Dragon from the Thief Dragon.
The Thief Dragon’s form was indeed enhanced, and the ability to spit fire was unexpected, but how could the Thief Dragon spit fire without a flame sac?
He couldn’t dissect himself, so this question would remain unanswered.
Rather, in the future, if new abilities lacked compatibility, they might injure himself, which was something to keep in mind.
Getting poisoned by himself would definitely be amusing.
Jié Jié marched proudly, sniffing the smell of the former lord occasionally with his nose.
There were always some fallen trees along the way, which were knocked down by the Savage Jaw Dragon’s actions previously.
It was this habit of recklessly breaking trees to provide convenience for hunting that earned the Savage Jaw Dragon the title of “the brute of the forest.”
