Thanks to the evolution of creatures, the baby dragons entered their first deep sleep, utilizing the energy gathered from consuming eggshell fragments. Their bodies activated and began developing important organs through careful muscle coordination.

This stage didn't last long, only about a day.

When young Caesar woke up and emerged from the water, he found the sun shining brightly, indicating it was probably noon. The light broke through the dense mist and cast sparkling golden hues onto the swamp, creating a warm and pleasant ambiance.

However, the black dragon mother and his siblings despised this weather, leading to a restless atmosphere. They emitted low hissing sounds and retreated into the deeper shadows of the swamp.

"Black dragons prefer gloomy marshes and muddy swamps. The dirtier and filthier, the better."

This was basic knowledge Caesar had gained. Although he didn't inherit this particular trait, he let out a couple of cries, imitating his siblings' behavior, and crawled into the nest constructed by the black dragon mother.

At this stage, the baby dragons could already walk and breathe fire, possessing a certain degree of defensive capability. However, they were still young and weak, not a match for many other large creatures. They still needed the protection of their mother, the black dragon.

The mother dragon laid lazily in the nest, its entire body covered in dark, hard scales. The black dragon had a long, slender head with skin tightly adhering to its skeletal structure. The protruding skull made it look as if it were wearing a helmet.

Compared to adult black dragons, the young dragons didn't appear as emaciated. Their necks were thick and short, and their heads were large and round. Their scales were thin, reflecting a metallic sheen.

However, as time went on, the young dragons would gradually resemble their mother. Their scales would become darker and harder. As they grew, their skulls would become sharper, piercing through the skin.

Although this transformation wouldn't harm black dragons, it would make them appear more terrifying and unapproachable.

Thus, they earned the name "skull dragons."

At this moment, the black dragon mother had prepared food for the babies — a massive and ferocious headfish. The size of the fish was about five times that of the baby dragons. Its mouth was filled with barbed fangs, immersed in the acidic swamp, giving off a strong stench of decay and fishy odor that wafted into the nostrils of each little dragon.

Caesar could even see maggots wriggling on the decaying flesh.

Black dragons seldom consumed red meat. Unless in dire circumstances, they would generally corrode their prey with acid, letting it ferment for several days before consuming it. In the black dragon's eyes, this rotten headfish was undoubtedly a rare delicacy.

The two young dragons that could already move freely rushed forward. They gorged themselves without any regard for other substances, swallowing large mouthfuls with open jaws. The dragon's digestive system functioned like a furnace, capable of breaking down anything consumed. Not only did they devour the maggots on the decaying flesh, but they could also consume metal in the same manner.

"What on earth!"

As an otherworldly black dragon with a human soul, Caesar watched his siblings enjoying the meal, saliva dripping from his mouth, feeling a bitter taste rise in his throat.

However, he had no choice but to comply. The black dragon mother's gaze was already fixated on him, conveying a warning. He followed suit and bit down on a chunk of the decaying flesh, his throat making a grating sound as he forced it down.

The squirming maggots on the fleshy bits, soft as cotton, burst in his mouth, releasing a burst of liquid.

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"Hmm?"

As young Caesar closed his eyes tightly, he suddenly hesitated. The vertical pupils of his eyes brightened. To his surprise, the taste wasn't as repulsive as he had imagined. Overcoming the initial discomfort, his sensory system relayed an entirely different feedback.

It's actually... tasty?

Caesar took another bite of the rotten flesh, confirming that his taste buds weren't deceiving him. Like his other two siblings, he started swallowing large chunks with great satisfaction.

The young dragons had astonishingly huge appetites. After several tens of minutes, the overwhelmingly gigantic headfish was reduced to just a skeleton, with even the brittle bones being chewed up and consumed by the dragonlings.

To sustain their powerful bodies, dragons had an astonishing appetite. Even the tiny dragonlings could consume several times their own weight in food, yet they didn't appear the slightest bit bloated.

Such voracious eating would be a heavy burden for newborn dragons without parental care.

Fortunately, it was unlikely for dragons to part ways with their offspring until they reached one to six years of age. So, at this stage, the dragonlings didn't need to worry about their food source. After finishing their meal, the two dragonlings floated on the surface of the swamp, rolling around in the mud, delighting in the moist and briny air.

Unlike true dragons, which do not possess concepts of learning or meditation, after inheriting dragon knowledge, even if the dragonlings spent their time playing and sleeping, they would still gradually awaken their magical abilities and ascend to the pinnacle of the food chain.

Caesar, however, was different. Apart from a basic understanding of dragons, his mind held no innate knowledge of their talents or magic. Strictly speaking, he was no different from creatures regressing into dragon beasts and being rejected by nature.

In this situation, to grow faster, he needed to consume more than the other dragonlings. Even after finishing a regular meal, Caesar would have to find his "extra snack."

Suppressing the desire to relax and take a nap, young Caesar left the small swamp where the dragonlings rested and approached the riverbank, stepping onto firm soil.

Yes, Caesar was preparing to eat dirt.

Dragons' digestive systems allowed them to consume anything they could swallow, including dead wood, rocks, and other inorganic substances.

However, most true dragons despised such things and found them shameful. Notably, proud red dragons and gold dragons would rather starve than touch these inorganic substances, even in dire situations.

But Caesar had learned from his basic dragon knowledge that eating inorganic substances helped accelerate the hardening of his scales. The scales of newborn dragonlings were nearly useless at this stage, as they were tender and thin, easily torn apart. Only with age did they slowly develop into a hardened and thickened form.

Devouring metals and stones wouldn't make a dragon's scales stronger, but it would expedite the maturation of their scales.

Caesar wasn't blindly ingesting them, though. He first used his newly sharpened claws to dig through the mud and sift through the damp soil, selecting inorganic minerals from the lower layers.

"Mmm, cough cough..."

He struggled to swallow the various stones, hacking out a stifled cough. It wasn't easy to eat them, and even with his human-dragon hybrid taste buds, he found them difficult to endure.

Makes me want to vomit...

But there's no alternative. This is the pain of growth. Caesar comforted himself.

Even though true dragons were considered the apex predators, their offspring still had a high mortality rate. Some formidable creatures, unaffected by the dragons' presence, would hunt their young when their mother went off in search of food.

Furthermore, even adult black dragons weren't invincible.

In this terrifying world, many creatures possessed the ability to fight against true dragons, and some even hunted them for food. Not to mention the even greater dangers in the dark regions. The creatures that lived here were constantly shrouded in fear from a mysterious, nameless being called "adventurer."

Who knows what kind of recipes the upright apes of this world have developed.

The black dragon mother saw Caesar's actions but paid little attention to the peculiar behavior of her offspring. She held a nonchalant attitude toward the strange actions of the dragonling. Her responsibility as the Mother of Black Dragons, instructed by the ancient evil dragon Tiamat, was to fulfill her nurturing duties. As for the rest, the apathetic five-color dragons cared little.

In fact, the infamous black dragon rarely invested too much energy into their progeny. They could be described as being indifferent, viewing nurturing as a mere obligation. Once the dragonlings grew to a certain stage, they would often drive away their parents in order to claim their own territory and treasures.

Black dragons were like that.

"What an oddity."

The two small dragonlings, soaked in mud, started conversing in their language. With their sensitive senses, they understood the peculiar actions of their "brother." They found Caesar's behavior disdainful, believing he was squandering his true dragon identity. Their attitude towards their nominal brother was one of disdain.

However, the soul from another world didn't care about the opinions of dragons. With the questioning gazes of his siblings, Caesar spent a considerable amount of time laboriously swallowing the difficult-to-ingest inorganic minerals, feeling content after taking a long, satisfying breath.