Chapter 1070: Preparing Early

To be honest, when Highlord saw the dragon egg, he couldn’t help but feel the same confusion that Amber did: these mighty dragons wouldn’t have traveled countless mountains and rivers just to hand over such a… peculiar “gift” without reason. He had to think carefully about what to do next. But the real question was—how exactly was one supposed to handle this thing? Highlord suspected that nothing quite like this had ever happened in human history. Sure, many knightly tales and heroic legends loved to weave dragons into their stories, often featuring the protagonist stumbling upon a dragon egg, hatching it, and forming a bond with the hatchling. But now everyone knew that most of those stories were just flights of fancy—like Melita’s own idle scribbles when she was bored.

So, what to do with this dragon egg? Hatch it? But how?

Melita glanced at Highlord, then at the egg, and after a long pause, gave a somewhat embarrassed smile. “Actually… it’s not impossible for you to try hatching it. Our leader only instructed me to hand over the egg to you, but didn’t specify what to do afterward. I suppose that’s because after the gods fell, no detailed instructions were left behind. From my understanding… it means you’re meant to decide what to do with it yourself.”

Highlord thought it over carefully, then couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity, “Do you know how to hatch it?”

The moment the words left his mouth, he sensed something was off. Heddy and Amber shot him strange looks. He realized that such a blunt question might come off as a bit cheeky, but he couldn’t think of a better way to phrase it. After all, cultural and racial differences were at play here, so he just braced himself and kept his expression steady.

Melita was clearly taken aback by the question. Then a hint of awkwardness crossed her face, but she didn’t seem too bothered and instead chuckled nervously. “Well… I don’t have any practical experience. I’ve only recently learned some of the theory. I can share the method for hatching dragon eggs with you, but I probably won’t have the time to help personally…”

“No, no, I wasn’t expecting you to help directly,” Highlord quickly reassured her. “It would be great just to have some theoretical guidance.”

Melita’s embarrassment deepened. “Well… that’s doable. But I have to warn you, this egg is very special. We’re not even sure if it can truly be hatched. So even if I tell you the method, you might not get anything from it. To be more dramatic… even if the method is correct, this egg might take an extremely long time to break open. You might even have to set up a dedicated, long-term imperial incubation department just for it…”

The conversation was sliding into strange territory. Even Amber, who usually thrived on chaos and drama, felt overwhelmed and coughed twice to break the silence. “Let’s not get bogged down in those details for now. Could you just tell us the general conditions for hatching a normal dragon egg?”

Amber’s sudden interjection eased the awkwardness. Melita’s drifting thoughts snapped back into focus. She cleared her throat, quickly organized her words in her mind, then took a breath and nodded. “Alright, I’ll explain how to hatch a dragon egg. Basically, two conditions must be met simultaneously. First, the right temperature—this is similar to most egg-laying creatures. Second, continuous magical stimulation—which is more unique.

“Temperature is easier to manage. Dragon eggs have a fairly broad incubation temperature range. Even the current room temperature here is suitable. The ideal temperature is roughly…”

Melita gave a general temperature range, then continued, “Compared to temperature, magical stimulation is more critical. Dragons are incredibly powerful magical beings with strong affinity for magic. Even at the egg stage, they can interact with ambient magical energy. The egg needs to grow under pure arcane energy stimulation. I recommend setting up an incubation chamber powered by a stable, uninterrupted magical network, placing the egg inside…”

Melita detailed the hatching method while Highlord took careful mental notes. Heddy, seemingly summoned from nowhere, produced enchanted parchment and a steel pen, her eyes shining as she recorded the entire process, magically reinforcing the text into a scroll. Highlord understood perfectly—this was knowledge about hatching a dragon egg! Who else in the world had ever come into contact with such a secret? If not for the crisis in Tal’Rond, which brought Melita here with the egg, this secret would never have spread to the human world.

Honestly, Heddy’s restraint in not calling the entire research department for an immediate symposium was remarkable…

After several minutes, Melita finished her explanation. Heddy, pen flying across the page, finally exhaled deeply, satisfied with her work. Then she furrowed her brow, as if recalling something. “I never expected the real method of hatching dragon eggs to be like this… As far as I know, there’s a book called The Wizard La’Don and the Red Dragon’s Egg that describes dragon incubation. It says the egg needs to be soaked in lava to mature, and when it hatches, it must be repeatedly struck by lightning…”

She shook her head, a complex smile on her face. “That book describes the process so convincingly, and it contains a lot of real-world magical knowledge. Many scholars have believed it to be true. Some dragon enthusiasts even treat The Wizard La’Don and the Red Dragon’s Egg as a professional ‘dragonology’ textbook… I wonder how they’d react if they knew the truth.”

Heddy sighed as she spoke. Highlord glanced at Melita and caught a flicker of awkwardness in her expression. He quickly probed, “Wait, Melita, that book Heddy mentioned… was it written by you?”

“No, no, not me!” Melita immediately waved her hands, clarifying. Then she smiled awkwardly. “It was written by a friend of mine…”

Amber’s eyes flicked, and she instinctively asked, “The friend you mentioned…”

“He really is my friend,” Melita sighed helplessly. “His name is Karador. By age, he’s actually my senior, but we both work at the Mithril Vault, so we’re colleagues. When he traveled in the human world, he took the form of a red-haired wizard. ‘La’Don’ was his most common alias. But after a job transfer, he rarely appears in the human world anymore.”

Highlord and Heddy exchanged looks: “…”

Awkwardness returned. After a moment, Highlord rubbed his forehead and sighed, breaking the silence. “Dragons hide themselves in the mortal world, leaving no trace of their kind—but our books and stories are full of your mischief.”

“That… leaves me speechless,” Melita muttered awkwardly. Amber immediately pulled out a small notebook from her bag and started scribbling furiously. Highlord smacked her on the head. “No writing down that last line!”

Amber jolted, sulking as she closed the notebook. “What a shame. Such a poetic line—and the second half was especially profound.”

“Forget it, that’s all in the past. Times have changed, and dragons will change too. Since you intend to return to the mortal world, I suppose our interactions will become more open and transparent. Let’s just treat all this nonsense as a little prelude before the dragons and other races officially ‘meet,’” Highlord shook his head, trying to steer the conversation back on track. “I’ve recorded the hatching method, but I have one more question. If something goes wrong during incubation—say, a brief interruption—would that kill the egg?”

He felt it was important to ask in advance. Although he hadn’t yet decided to hatch the egg, nor figured out how to approach this so-called “Enya relic,” it never hurt to be prepared.

“No need to worry too much,” Melita nodded. “Dragon eggs are more resilient than you think—at least normal ones are. Even if something goes wrong during incubation, as long as the egg doesn’t crack or get thrown into lava, it won’t die easily. At worst, development will pause for a while, then resume when conditions improve.”

Highlord exhaled in relief. “That’s reassuring.”

Afterward, Melita and Highlord discussed many things about dragon eggs, the current state of Tal’Rond, the future of the dragon race, and Highlord’s grand plans. They sat on the living room sofa, talking freely. Nearby, the dragon egg stood quietly under the light. Heddy prepared tea and snacks herself, while Amber and Rebecca circled the egg again and again, each coming up with wild, imaginative ideas. They were surprisingly enthusiastic about the discussion.

Highlord hadn’t enjoyed such peaceful, harmonious moments in a long time—and neither had Melita.

In this private setting, the Tal’Rond ambassador and the ruler of the Cecile Empire temporarily shed their titles. It was as if they had returned to when they first met, speaking as friends for a long time. As night fell, Melita finally had to take her leave.

Highlord could have arranged a guest room for the blue dragon lady within the palace, but now he had to consider her status as Tal’Rond’s ambassador. Leaving an ambassador overnight without prior notice wasn’t exactly proper protocol, and Melita herself wished to return to her kin as soon as possible.

Just as Melita reached the living room exit, Highlord suddenly remembered something and called out, “Wait a moment.”

She stopped and turned, curious. “Yes?”

Highlord hesitated, then asked, “The Mithril Vault… does it still exist?”

“…No, it doesn’t,” Melita’s eyes flickered with a trace of sadness, but she quickly composed herself. “But I have a plan that might seem naive now… I want to rebuild it, even if it takes many years.”

Then she smiled and looked at Highlord. “And don’t worry—the things you entrusted to us are still safe—right here.”

She said this while tapping her head.

“The original manuscript was destroyed by the elemental storm, but I remember its contents clearly. I’ll keep it safe. Consider it the first commission when the Mithril Vault is rebuilt—I will faithfully honor our contract. The Mithril Vault remains trustworthy to its clients.”

“That’s good to hear,” Highlord smiled. “I look forward to news of the vault’s reconstruction.”

Melita bowed gracefully, flawless in her posture. Then she stepped back half a pace, sighed, “It’s so nice to speak freely,” and turned to leave.

After Melita left, Rebecca finally stepped away from the dragon egg. She came over to Highlord, tiptoed, and stared toward the door for a long moment before murmuring, “She’s gone.”

“The situation in Talrond really doesn’t look promising,” Heddy said thoughtfully as she sat down beside Gawain. “Although Melita didn’t spell out all the details, from what she revealed, it’s not hard to guess… food, medicine, living space, social order… the dragons are facing far greater challenges than we ever did.”

“True, their power is immense, but Talrond’s environment is even harsher,” Gawain replied gravely. “I’m actually relieved that, despite everything, Talrond chose to send ambassadors to establish direct contact with the human world. That’s a stroke of luck for all of us—humans and dragons alike.”

Rebecca mulled over Gawain’s words for a long moment, clearly puzzled. “Wait, why do you say that?”

“…Even though Talrond suffered a catastrophic disaster, the surviving dragons—just one percent of them—still number in the tens of thousands, maybe more. And these powerful creatures can easily cross the icy seas on their wings to reach the human world,” Gawain said patiently but seriously, looking at Rebecca. “They’re starving—just imagine if Melita and her kin hadn’t immediately worked to maintain social order and chosen to engage openly with humans. If the survivors had let their society collapse completely, what do you think would happen if tens or hundreds of thousands of desperate, hungry dragons swept across the human kingdoms?”

Rebecca pictured the scene Gawain described, and her face quickly turned pale with horror. “…Oh my god…”

“It’s tragic when a civilization faces such devastation. But when it’s the dragons, it’s more than just tragic,” Gawain said with unusual solemnity. He wasn’t trying to scare Rebecca—when he first received the news from the Northern Port, he’d broken out in a cold sweat himself. Tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of dragons suddenly became refugees, their society collapsing, their moral boundaries crumbling, and no one knew where they would turn next for survival. That alone would keep every ruler in the world awake at night. “We don’t yet know how many survivors Melita and her allies have managed to unite, or how many dragons are under the control of the Agondor provisional government. But at least we can be sure that the dragon society as a whole hasn’t completely fallen apart. Some regions are still barely holding on. That’s a huge relief.”

“So… what do we do after we breathe a sigh of relief?” Rebecca asked, curious. “What’s our next move?”

“Start preparing supplies. Help Talrond survive, and do it as soon as possible,” Gawain said after a brief pause. “The dragon civilization may be shattered, but it’s the result of millions of years of accumulation. Even in ruins, it’s an astonishing treasure trove—something the dragons themselves might not fully realize yet. Our biggest advantage right now is that we learned about this before any other nation. So we need to be ready before they are.

“This might just be the boldest—and most rewarding—investment we’ve ever made.”

(End of chapter)