Chapter 8: Mother's Eviction Order
On their fifteenth birthday, the body lengths of the three young dragons all broke through twenty meters simultaneously, officially promoting them from "hatchlings" to "young Red Dragons." In the dragon world, this was a level where they could hold their own.
Carlos had grown to twenty-three meters. His muscles bulged across his body, and his scales were as red as if they had just been fished out of magma. His habit of ramming into walls since hatching hadn't changed a bit—before he smashed eggshells, now he could directly smash half a mountain. He was the epitome of 'brawn over brains.'
Sephira was twenty-one meters. Though lean, she was ridiculously agile. The gaps between her scales were always stuffed full of things, and her eyes darted faster than a windmill. One look and you knew she was full of schemes; she wouldn't budge an inch without getting some benefit.
Livia was twenty-two meters, neither burly nor thin. Her various attributes were balanced like an official favorite child. However, her gaze still followed its old habit, unconsciously drifting toward that thick, inseparable darkness in the deepest part of the lair.
In that darkness, the breathing sound that had disappeared for a while had returned.
Over these five years, that sound had been intermittent. Sometimes it was quiet for months; sometimes it rose and fell gently all night, as if something inside were sleeping, panting, and staring out. Every time, the Dragon Mother would open her eyes and gaze into the depths of the darkness for a while, but she never said a single word. No explanation, no expulsion, no warning—she was committed to being mysterious to the end.
Livia had been wondering in her heart: What exactly was that? An ancestor? An ex? Or a secret pet hidden by Dragon Mom?
Until this day, the Dragon Mother finally called the three of them to the center of the lair.
The lava lake bubbled at their feet, the orange-red magma churning as waves of heat drifted upward. The Dragon Mother lay on a giant rock in the center of the lake. With her eighty-meter-long body sprawled there, she was like a silent volcano, her majesty pressing down so hard the three little dragons didn't dare breathe heavily.
Her vertical pupils slowly swept from Carlos to Sephira, then stopped on Livia. She watched for a very, very long time, until the three dragons began to feel restless.
Then, the Dragon Mother spoke, her one sentence delivering an immediate verdict:
"Get out of my territory."
Carlos froze on the spot, his dragon brain crashing instantly: "...Huh?"
The tip of Sephira's tail went bone-straight in an instant, and she even forgot her scheming.
Although Livia had a premonition, hearing such a blunt eviction order still made her sigh silently in her heart: What was bound to come has finally arrived. The days of freeloading at Mom's house are over.
The Dragon Mother's tone was flat, with no room for negotiation: "You are adults. Adult dragons cannot continue to stay in their mother's lair. This is the rule of the Dragon Race."
She paused and added another blow, both heartbreaking and practical: "The weak do not deserve to share the lava."
Carlos opened his mouth, wanting to argue for a chance, but as soon as he met the Dragon Mother's gaze, he immediately shut up, his tail drooping submissively.
"Carlos." The Dragon Mother called his name.
Carlos immediately stood tall and puffed out his chest.
"Don't die at the hands of the weak," the Dragon Mother said with narrowed eyes, her tone full of disappointment. "It's a disgrace to dragons."
The corner of Carlos's mouth twitched, and he nodded solemnly: Understood, I definitely won't go out and embarrass you.
The Dragon Mother turned to Sephira.
The tip of Sephira's tail gave a slight twitch, and she instantly became well-behaved.
"Stop playing those little tricks," the Dragon Mother exposed her mercilessly. "The schemes at the tip of your tail can be smelled across the entire volcano."
Having her thoughts pierced, Sephira lowered her head, not daring to let her eyes dart around anymore.
Finally, the Dragon Mother's gaze fell upon Livia.
This look lingered for an exceptionally long time.
So long that Livia began to panic, subconsciously touching her face, wondering if it was stained with lava ash, dragon blood, or something else that shouldn't be there.
The Dragon Mother's pupils contracted bit by bit, narrowing into a cold, thin slit.
Then, she slowly spat out a sentence that made Livia's soul nearly leave her body:
"...Your eyes look like that old geezer who wanted to dissect me."
Livia's heart stopped.
In that instant, all the memories of her past life rushed into her mind like an avalanche—
Staying up late devouring dragon lore, arguing on forums until the thread reached three thousand posts, the hundreds of dragon research papers stored on her hard drive...
That long review she had been proud of for a long time: 'On the Compatibility of Combat Style and Physiological Structure of the Ancient Red Dragon Ignis the Flame-Burner,'
And her incredibly arrogant username back then: PhD Candidate in Dragon Anatomy.
On the surface, Livia remained motionless. Her tail didn't twitch, her wings didn't tremble, and her breathing didn't falter. She was as steady as a stone statue.
Inside, her mind was frantically screaming:
Shit!
Did she see through me?
Did she really see that I'm not the original dragon?
Does she know I spent every day of my last life studying how to dissect dragons?
Silence spread through the lair. One second, two seconds, ten seconds, twenty seconds.
The air felt as if it had frozen solid.
Livia's whole body was tense, ready to take flight and run at any moment. But the Dragon Mother only gave her a deep, deep look. She didn't ask anything more, didn't expose anything else, but simply turned around slowly, her massive body sinking bit by bit into the darkness of the inner lair.
Her tail dragged across the rock, making a low, grinding sound.
Her voice drifted out from the darkness—cold, flat, and brook no opposition:
"Leave before dawn tomorrow. Do not come back again."
The three young dragons were frozen in the center of the lair, looking at each other, none of them daring to speak first.
The lava lake continued to bubble, bursting into tiny sparks. The atmosphere was so awkward they could have dug out an underground palace on the spot.
Carlos was the first who couldn't hold it in, looking innocent and confused: "What did she just say? Dissect? Old geezer? What does that mean?"
Sephira shook her head gently, but her eyes were glued to Livia, her gaze clearly writing out a line: You definitely have a problem; you're hiding something big from us.
Livia remained expressionless and turned back to the spot where she usually lay, her attitude being: Didn't understand, won't explain, don't know, don't ask me.
That night, not a single dragon in the entire lair could sleep.
Carlos paced in circles around the edge of the lair, crushing all the gravel on the ground into powder, venting his frustration at being kicked out of the house.
Sephira crouched in a corner, counting the treasures she had hoarded for over a decade over and over. She counted them three times, three items, and the more she counted, the more unsettled she became.
Livia lay on the rock, staring at the ancient runes on the cave ceiling that flickered in and out of light, replaying the Dragon Mother's words in her head over and over.
Did she really see through me?
Or was it just a random line to scare a dragon?
She had lived for thousands of years and seen so many diverse creatures; could it be she just felt Livia's gaze was too strange, too calm, too much like an outlier studying the dragon race?
She thought all night, getting more panicked and confused the more she thought, and she still hadn't come up with an answer by dawn.
As the sky just began to brighten, the three dragons silently rose and left the lair they had lived in for fifteen years.
Standing at the edge of the crater, the cold wind swirled with volcanic ash, feeling a bit itchy against their faces.
Carlos looked at the sun rising in the east, his tone full of longing: "I'm going to the Scorching Plains. I heard there are so many magical beasts there you can't kill them all. It's perfect for me to practice my skills."
Sephira looked toward the rolling Black Rock Mountains to the west, her eyes shining: "I'm going over there. Lots of mines, lots of treasures. Sooner or later, I'll hoard a mountain of gold."
Both of them looked at Livia at the same time, waiting for her to choose a direction.
Livia looked at the steaming east, then at the west hiding mineral deposits, and finally cast her gaze toward the endless range of extinct volcanoes ahead.
The peaks were grey and barren, without life or fire, like a massive forest of tombstones.
"I'll go that way."
Carlos nodded, quite carefree: "Alright, then we're off. See you again if fate allows."
He spread his massive Red Dragon wings and leapt from the crater. His body traced an arc in the morning light as he glided toward the south, quickly becoming a small red dot and disappearing over the horizon.
Sephira watched the direction Carlos had left, then looked at Livia. Suddenly, she pulled a small trinket from the gaps in her scales—made of bone fragments and small scales tied together, crude and simple, yet carved with three small letters: L·K·N.
She reached out and handed it to Livia.
Livia looked down at it, then up at Sephira.
Sephira gave a soft smile, rare for her to be without schemes, only a hint of sincerity: "Keep it as a souvenir. In case we never see each other again."
Livia was silent for two seconds before reaching out to take the small doll, tucking it deep into her scales and wedging it firmly.
Sephira said no more, turned, spread her wings, and flew toward the west.
Her figure grew smaller and fainter, finally disappearing behind the mountain range.
On the crater, only Livia remained.
The wind was still blowing, and volcanic ash settled layer by layer on her scales.
She stood for a very long time, until the sun rose high, before she finally spread her wings and leapt down.
The wind suddenly lifted her body, and the ground receded rapidly.
She adjusted her direction and flew straight toward that silent cluster of volcanoes.
She flew over one mountain, then another.
Beneath her were always black rocks and grey ash. No green, no flowing water, no living things—only one dead volcano after another, standing silently upon the earth.
After flying for a full three hours, she finally saw a different mountain.
This mountain was higher than all the surrounding extinct volcanoes. Its peak wasn't flat but recessed into a massive crater. Most importantly—inside the crater, there was a faint smoke drifting.
It wasn't thick black smoke, but almost invisible, warm water vapor.
An active volcano.
I'm saved.
Livia immediately lowered her altitude and approached the crater.
Flying to the edge, she poked her head over to look down, and her eyes instantly lit up.
The crater was nearly two hundred meters in diameter and bottomless. Below, an orange-red light faintly glowed—it was an entire lava lake, not a small stream, but a real lake. Magma slowly churned below, with heat rising in curls.
The inner walls of the crater were steep and smooth, with almost no place to land. Yet, on the eastern wall, a medium-sized platform protruded. It was five or six meters wide, flat and sturdy, just enough for a dragon to lie down comfortably.
It was practically a natural dragon lair.
She landed gently on the platform. Her claws stepped onto a comfortable warmth, not scorching, like stepping on constant-temperature warm stones. The air carried a faint smell of sulfur, not pungent, but rather making the Red Dragon feel at ease.
She peered down. The lava lake was three hundred meters deep, over a hundred meters wide. The surface of the magma was covered in a black crust; when a crack opened, it revealed the blindingly bright magma beneath. The heat waves hit her face, feeling warm and cozy.
Looking around, within a hundred miles, there was no scent of other dragons, no lairs of large magical beasts, no claw marks, no bones, no signs of struggle—a clean, unclaimed territory.
Livia took a deep breath. The lava furnace in her chest began to operate gently, and her throat lit up with an orange-red glow.
She aimed at the center of the lava lake and spat out a fireball.
*Boom—*
Magma shot into the sky, sparks splashing over ten meters high.
She waited quietly for fifteen minutes.
Nothing roared, no monsters rushed out, no ambushes, no danger.
Safe.
Just then, the system panel popped up without warning:
[New environment detected]
[Set this location as your lair?]
[Setting will activate:]
• Lair perception range expanded to 100 km
• Basic Lair Guardian Barrier
• Lair Upgrade System
Livia stared at the panel for three seconds. Without hesitation, she clicked in her mind:
[Yes]
[Lair setup complete]
[Welcome home, Livia Kelsina Novati]
She closed the panel and lay on that small platform, chin resting on her front claws, quietly watching the churning lava lake below.
Magma bubbles burst, sparks flickering, illuminating the entire dark crater.
She thought again of the Dragon Mother's sentence that had nearly scared her to death:
"Your eyes look like that old geezer who wanted to dissect me."
Livia lowered her head, looking at her blurry reflection in the lava lake—red scales, vertical pupils, sharp teeth, the standard appearance of an Ancient Red Dragon.
She opened her mouth slightly, her voice very soft, speaking only to herself:
"I am a young dragon. Twenty-two years old. Just became an adult."
Her voice echoed in the empty crater, drifting away and dissipating without any response.
She lay quietly for a while, then pulled out the little doll Sephira had given her from the gaps in her scales.
At some point, several tiny thorns had been stuck into it, all crooked.
Livia stared at it for a few seconds, then patiently pulled them all out, one by one.
After finishing, she thought for a moment, plucked a fine red hair from her own tail, carefully tied it to the doll's little tail, and then tucked it back deep into her scales.
Just as she finished this, the system tactlessly popped up again:
[High-quality mates detected within a 100 km radius...]
Livia didn't even lift her eyelids. Expressionless, she shut it down with a mental shove.
Get lost.
I don't want to fall in love right now, I don't want to find a mate, and I don't want to lay dragon eggs.
I just want to be a solitary Red Dragon in peace.