Chapter 17 | They Called Me the Dumbest Dragon, So I Paused Time and Built an Empire

Gris was already small in stature, with a total length of just over two meters.

In contrast, after three months of binge eating, Jonavili had already broken the four-meter mark.

Even with only a third of the rockclaw magic crocodile remaining, Gris was so stuffed he could barely move, yet he still refused to relax or show any weakness.

"Drop your useless guard; it is of no consequence to me anyway."

Hearing Jonavili's words, Gris bared his teeth on the spot.

"Heh..."

Jonavili could not help but chuckle.

"Impressive. Eating my food and then baring your teeth at me—how very chromatic dragon of you."

Jonavili slowly stood up, and Gris was so startled by her movement that he retreated two steps, crouching his front body even closer to the ground, almost completely pressed against it.

"Remember my exalted name: the white dragon, Jonavili."

After finishing her introduction, Jonavili locked eyes with those dark draconic pupils.

"Tell me, who gave you the courage to trespass into my territory? Otherwise..."

Her crystal blue pupils narrowed slightly, and her white dragon claws pressed hard into the ground, sinking deep into the earth. Gris was visibly startled.

He quickly turned his dragon head, looking first at the sunken ground and then at Jonavili's unfriendly gaze.

"I am the True Dragon Gris. It is my right and my freedom to go anywhere I please."

Gris's eyes darted around, somewhat afraid to look Jonavili directly in the face.

"Hmm?"

Jonavili saw the traces of a lie in his eyes and immediately let out a cold snort.

"Hmph! A great true dragon never deigns to lie. Even if you are a black dragon, that is no excuse for dishonesty. If you dare deceive me again, I do not mind teaching you a harsh lesson, just like I did with those magical beasts."

Looking at Jonavili's healthily developed draconic body, Gris could not help but gulp, but he still spoke stubbornly.

"How dare you threaten me... I... I shall simply leave then."

Using the fiercest tone to say the weakest words, Gris had just turned around when a Frost Breath blasted out, sweeping across the ground in front of him. Instantly, a row of ice pillars condensed, blocking his path.

Gris turned back to Jonavili, only to see her white dragon muzzle part slightly.

"I never said you could leave. You dare to slight me? Are you prepared to endure my draconic majesty?"

"Roar..."

Just as he bared his teeth, Jonavili turned into a blur. Before Gris could react, she flipped him onto the ground and gave him a thorough thrashing.

"Dammit! You actually dare to attack the great Gris!"

...

"Are you not afraid that Auntie Tiamat will strike you down with divine punishment?"

"Oh ho ho~"

...

"Please wait, I think there might be a... small misunderstanding between us."

...

"I was wrong, I was wrong! Truly, I was wrong! Stop hitting me, stop hitting me! I really cannot take any more!"

Seeing Gris finally surrender, Jonavili stopped her movements and patted her claws.

"Wouldn't it have been better to act like this from the start? Why put on an act and suffer so much for it?"

Looking at the bruised and swollen Gris, Jonavili stepped off of him.

Finally free, Gris let out a heavy sigh of relief, followed by a buzzing sound.

"Yes, you are right."

"In that case, speak. If I am not mistaken, you should be living in the Barosal Swamp. Why have you come to the upper reaches of the Sam River?"

Jonavili did not believe that Gris's mother would dare drive him away while he was still a wyrmling. No chromatic dragon would do such a thing, as Tiamat, Mother of Evil Dragons, had issued a strict command that no wyrmling could be driven from the nest until they were self-sufficient.

As for why she herself had left the nest so early to accompany the green wyrmling from the same cave, she did not know. In any case, she had no memory of what her dragon mother even looked like.

Gris's mood visibly plummeted, his expression darkening.

"Because something happened there. The Monster Kingdom wanted to occupy the Barosal Swamp, but my mother, a legendary black dragon, was unwilling to let a foreign race invade her territory, so she attacked them.

When the news reached the Monster Kingdom, the Demon King was infuriated and led his monsters to personally slay my mother. Even my siblings met with disaster."

Gris spoke calmly, but his dragon claws clenched tightly, digging up large clumps of soil.

"The Demon King's strength has reached the Legendary 3rd Circle. My mother could only barely hold her own against him, and the massive horde of monsters made it impossible for her to resist. In the end, the Demon King severed her head. I only survived by chance because I was out playing beyond the swamp."

'Should I say it is expected of a chromatic dragon?' Even with his own mother and siblings killed, he did not show much emotional fluctuation.

While Jonavili was thinking this, a crystal tear fell from Gris's eye socket, leaving her stunned.

Gris's claws sank deep into the dirt.

"I, Gris, swear that once I grow up, I will eat his flesh, flay his skin, and torture his soul in the most cruel way possible!"

'Oh? This little black dragon seems a bit different.'

'As a chromatic dragon, shouldn't he be naturally cold toward family?' Even she, with the soul of a transmigrator, felt no longing or closeness toward the mother and father she had never met.

Jonavili's eyes shifted as she began to calculate.

This black wyrmling before her was a bit special. After all, emotions between chromatic dragons were far too cold—so cold that once a young dragon left the nest, meeting their mother again later might result in them being enemies.

However, this black wyrmling calling himself Gris was unusual and quite headstrong. If she brought him into her faction, she might gain a decent enforcer.

Who would complain about having too many lackeys?

Thinking of this, Jonavili could not help but let out a foolish grin. When Gris finally saw behavior from Jonavili that a white dragon should have, he could not help but sigh in relief.

'Good, good. Her nature is still there; she is definitely a white dragon.'

But this also caused Gris to fall into a memory. In his mind, his black dragon mother had once told them that their father was a powerful white dragon.

However, he did not have much emotion toward that father he had never met.

While he was lost in thought, the white dragon in front of him gently pressed a claw onto his shoulder and suddenly spoke.

"Oh, Gris, you are truly too tragic. I feel nothing but sympathy and pity for your life story."

As she spoke, Jonavili channeled her mana to make her dragon eyes more watery. Combined with those crystal blue pupils, she looked even more pitiable.

Gris was stunned. He had not expected this overbearing white dragon to actually sympathize with his plight, which touched his heart just a tiny, tiny bit.