**Chapter 5**

It's been about six months since the wyrmling tournament and our hach day was yesterday making us 1 year old, and my siblings and I have grown quite a bit. I've reached a length of about 260 centimeters, while Zalyndre is around 214 centimeters. She still acts a little like an arrogant red. Zarothan is at about 205 centimeters, and Vaelrath is around 204 centimeters.

Zalyndre woke from her slumber when she was about 210 centimeters, Zarothan at 201, Vaelrath at 200, and myself at 250. All my siblings are of a fairly average size, with Zalyndre being slightly larger than normal. Usually, when dragons wake from their slumber, they are within 5 centimeters of the average size. Another fact is all dragons grow about 8cm a year until reaching adult where their growth slows down unless you are some type of rarer dragon such as a space dragon or a variant, however, I am an anomaly —a giant by our standards, being almost half a meter larger than expected. And growing 10cm in half a month instead of 4cm. From what my memories tell me, I am some sort of variant. Variants come in all shapes and sizes, with both positive and negative effects. Mine seems to be positive, giving me greater magical power and sharper senses. My eyes are also a unique tri-color, and I’ve been growing much faster than the others.

Speaking of growth, most dragons grow gradually over time, but major changes happen during growth periods when we transition from one age stage to another. From hatchling to wyrmling, youngling to juvenile, adolescent to adult, and so on until wyrm, and finally primordial. The length of each growth period increases with age. For example, the transition from hatchling to wyrmling takes at most a week or so, while the transition from wyrm to primordial can take hundreds of years.

Back to variants: positive ones, like mine, are rare but powerful. A white dragon with a good variant could rival a gold dragon. However, most variants are negative, leading to weaknesses such as lack of magical power, physical frailty, or even the inability to fly.

Now, back to what has been happening with me and my siblings. Over the past months, we’ve all gotten better at hunting and have learned about the creatures in the forest. There are horned rabbits, which are twice the size of normal rabbits and can use basic wind magic to run faster. Then there are scaled deer, which have magical resistance and travel in herds of up to fifty. Thunder boars are massive and can use lightning magic up to tier 3, making them both challenging and delicious prey.

Fire-tail squirrels, though small, can use fire spells up to tier 2, and nature pheasants are birds that can manipulate plants with magic up to tier 3. They’re tough to catch. On the predator side, there are shade foxes, small black-furred creatures with shadow magic, and dire wolves, which are twice the size of normal wolves and use basic magic. Lastly, there are dire bears, massive creatures that are masters of basic spells but not very intelligent. These are the notable magical creatures in the forest near us.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Today, we planned a hunt to test ourselves and see how much we’ve developed over the past six months. As we approached the forest, we decided to go our separate ways, just like the first time we hunted.

In terms of magic, my siblings can still only cast spells up to tier 3 in lightning magic, and Zalyndre has yet to master any Zarothan has mastered tier 1 spells and Vaelrath has mastered tiers 1 and 2. That's quite normal for hatchlings, as it usually takes humans years to reach that level of mastery. My siblings have only been around for a year and have already learned to use low-tier spells. Meanwhile, I have mastered all low-tier spells in lightning magic and can cast medium-tier ones as well. I've also started using low-tier spells in ground magic.

Oh, and about our hoards—my siblings and I have been collecting copper scraps from the older dragons, along with little trinkets and shiny rocks. I’m not sure why, but just touching the items in my hoard makes me feel content. Looking at them fills me with satisfaction, and their smell is wonderful. It’s been difficult not to steal from other dragons, but I know that every dragon has a perfect memory when it comes to their hoard. From the tiniest copper coin to the largest diamond, we remember it all. Just thinking about the hoard our mother has makes me drool.

Back to the hunt. After a few hours, I managed to catch several horned rabbits, some scaled deer, and even snuck up on a shadow fox. While walking, I caught the scent of a dire bear. Using my air magic to enhance my speed, I flapped my wings and soon spotted it—a normal-sized dire bear. I cast a tier 3 ground spell to turn the earth beneath it into mud and followed with a tier 5 lightning spell to increase my speed. Then, I cast another ground spell to harden my scales.

I dove down and landed on its back, hearing a couple of cracks—probably some broken bones. Before it could recover, I used my lightning breath on its head. It slipped in the mud, falling down, and I swiftly bit down on its throat, tearing it out. The dire bear was dead.

Over the next few hours, I hunted more creatures, including another dire bear and a lone dire wolf. On my way back to the cave, I saw my sister. I asked her how she did.

“I killed a couple of dire wolves and a shadow fox. Bet you can’t beat that,” she said smugly.

“Well, that’s great,” I replied. “I also killed a shadow fox, a dire wolf, and two dire bears.”

She stared at me, wide-eyed. “No way you did that! You must be lying.”

I proceeded to tell her, in detail, how I hunted each of my kills. She just walked away, clearly frustrated. I chuckled as she left, feeling rather pleased with myself.

When I returned to the cave, my brother Vaelrath exclaimed, “Azuron, there’s going to be a wyrmling tournament tomorrow!”

“Oh, okay. Is the winner of the last tournament going to be there?” I asked.

“Yes, Nimbra is going to be there. Why, you got a crush on her?” Zarothan teased.

“N-no!” I stammered.

“Ooo, I think you do,” Vaelrath added, teasing me further. “Don’t be ashamed—she’s quite beautiful with her curved horns, large hips, perfect tail, and shiny scales.”

I just walked away, ready for the tournament. As I lay down to sleep, I couldn’t help but think, *I hope I get to fight her. She’s strong, and I want to test myself. And yes, she’s beautiful—I have to agree.*

With that thought, I drifted off to sleep, ready for the tournament tomorrow.