The bright sunlight scattered over the dimly colored scales, reflecting a dazzling golden light. The slender and elongated young dragon lay lazily on the corridor bridge, basking in the sun.
Gently, the mountain breeze blew, causing a variety of flowers and lush green leaves to sway. An unknown blue flower was lifted by the wind, with a few purple-blue petals dancing gracefully, the slender flower stem stretched straight.
Suddenly, the flower stem lightened, and the petals flew off the branch, drifting along with a slight sparkle of pollen, passing between the young dragon's horns and falling onto its scales.
The young dragon half-closed its dragon eyes, quietly enjoying the gentle sunlight. At this moment, the world seemed to freeze for him, leaving only him and this moment of tranquility.
Suddenly, the sound of galloping hooves from below the mountain startled Noah from his nap. The young dragon suddenly opened its eyelids, with dragon eyes shimmering with spiritual light, looking beyond the flower garden.
Under the young dragon's gaze, a group of cavalrymen filled with a strong bloody aura appeared outside the flower garden, their arrival instantly breaking the peaceful and tranquil atmosphere.
However, Noah didn't care about them. He watched the knight who jumped off his horse first, watching as he trampled through the waist-deep flower bushes, approaching him alone.
"Noah, I'm leading the patrol again today. I specially took a detour through the river valley to collect some pearl oysters. Here, take a look."
The youthful-looking yet well-built young knight, Ted, took off the pouch at his waist and opened it, showing off his haul from today's patrol. They were pearls of varying sizes, freshly pried from oysters by his own hands, still adorned with droplets of water.
"The quality is really poor!"
Noah, with a critical eye, examined the young knight's spoils. Although there were a hundred or so pearls in the beast skin pouch, only a few were truly round, and none were worthy of catching the eye of a Golden Dragon.
"I can't help it. I still have to complete the patrol tasks my father assigned to me. I don't have enough time to gather more oysters. Next time, if I get the chance, I'll definitely find more and better-looking pearls for you."
Hearing Noah's evaluation, the young knight Ted showed a bitter expression, revealing a helpless look. Although still a young man, he couldn't be too capricious.
"Forget it, as food, the quality doesn't really matter."
Seeing the black-haired youngster's expression, Noah slightly restrained himself. No matter what, the young knight before him was also the eldest son of his foster parents, a feudal noble heir diligently training to meet the requirements of inheritance.
Though his foster father was merely an Earl, Noah's dissatisfaction lay only in the low rank of his foster father's title. As for his foster parents themselves, he had no particular complaints.
As the noble offspring of a Golden Dragon, Noah had harbored some resentment since birth.
For after tearing through his dragon egg, he'd only met his parents a few times before being entrusted to be raised by human nobility.
This was actually not a big issue. The unabashedly shameless Golden Dragons, who boasted of carefully nurturing and raising their offspring, had a long-standing tradition of shirking responsibility. They preferred to entrust their children to recognized beings.
These beings could be fellow Golden Dragons or other branches of the Metallic Dragon Race, but they could also be short-lived species who had earned the Golden Dragons' recognition through their character and abilities.
After all, Golden Dragons were a race that pursued freedom. If they had grand ambitions or tasks to combat evil to complete, they could unhesitatingly follow their traditions.
But according to records in his inherited memory, under normal circumstances, the short-lived species chosen by the Golden Dragons were mostly monarchs of their respective groups or nobles with power comparable to monarchs.
Yet his parents chose mere Earls as his foster parents, leaving Noah baffled. He couldn't understand, and no matter how he searched his inherited memory, he found no similar examples.
This left Noah with quite some resentment, but as a young dragon, he had no choice. At his most fragile and weakest stage, Noah couldn't afford to run around recklessly with so many beings and forces eyeing him.
Moreover, as a young dragon under the protection of foster parents, he was better off than many others. He was certainly better off than those Colorful Dragons who could be abandoned at birth and forced to gnaw on bark and eat dirt. The superiority of his living environment was enough to make any Colorful Evil Dragons look up to him in envy.
Noah could only comfort himself by comparing his situation to the Colorful Dragons. Not to mention comparing himself to his fellow Golden Dragons, he couldn't even compare to the Bronze Dragons of the same Metallic Dragon Race. Bronze Dragons were known to fight to the death for their offspring.
Such child-loving Bronze Dragons stood in stark contrast to the Golden Dragons who could abandon their offspring for their own pleasure. How could such dragons shamelessly claim to care for their offspring?
Noah, who became a left-behind dragon at age one, thought to himself.
"But for you, this is indeed too little."
Hearing Noah's words, Ted looked at his winding, elongated body with a look of remorse.
Though only three years old, Noah now measured nearly six meters in length. His graceful form and dark-golden scales with a shining metallic luster exuded a noble and extraordinary aura.
His head was slightly pointed, with two dragon horns slightly protruding from the sides of his forehead, presenting a delicate and ancient shape. His winding, elongated tail swayed gently, tracing a beautiful arc in the air, showcasing his bodily agility and sense of power.
The pearls in the beast skin pouch were just a mouthful for a young dragon like him, indeed too few.
Watching the young knight's demeanor, Noah's dark-golden dragon eyes showed a slight ripple, though his tone remained rather cold,
"Then gather more when you get the chance."
It's no secret that Golden Dragons enjoy consuming pearls and gemstones; anyone with a bit of knowledge knows this, which is why some seek to deliberately curry favor with Golden Dragons through such means.
However, Golden Dragons often accept these pearls and gemstones presented with ulterior motives unceremoniously while sneering at their petitions.
The young knight before him, his service and ingratiation could be categorized as such. He had ulterior motives but was fundamentally different from those in Noah's inherited memories who tried to bribe Golden Dragons with pearls and gemstones for their own ends.
For his purpose was so pure, so pure that as a Golden Dragon, Noah found him particularly disagreeable and infuriating.
Because this guy dared to pretend to be his brother, simply because he and his parents watched Noah hatch from his eggshell, and his parents gained the qualification to raise a Golden Dragon a year later.
Those with ulterior motives sought help from Golden Dragons, which was the plea of lower species to this supreme upper race.
But when Ted offered pearls to him, in his mind, it was an elder brother pampering a younger brother, a matter of course.
However, he also had a request, which was to have Noah acknowledge his status and identity as an older brother. Just this one intention made it impossible for Noah to have a good attitude toward him.
What qualifications does a mere short-lived species have to become his brother?