Ryan finally could not hold on any longer. His legs gave way and he collapsed onto the icy wilderness ground, gasping for breath as his chest heaved violently.

  Trembling, he took a potion glowing with a gentle green light from his storage space and struggled to stuff it into his mouth, slowly beginning to regulate his breathing and vitality.

  "Dad, I am hungry."

  The little Drake was about a meter long. It was currently coiled nimbly around Ryan's right arm, rubbing its head against his cheek and calling out again in a soft and clingy voice.

  "Let me recover a bit first." Ryan lay flat on the ground, his speech broken and halting, each sentence costing him immense effort.

  The little Drake seemed to half understand. It nodded its small head obediently, loosened its coils, and curled up on Ryan's body.

  The next second, a stream of golden light slowly flowed out from the little Drake's body and gently seeped into Ryan.

  As the light continued to drain away, the little Drake's originally lustrous golden scales visibly dimmed.

  Ryan immediately understood. According to the bloodline talents of a Celestial Drake, it should have possessed Mystic Mage level power or even higher at birth.

  Unfortunately, the suppression of the world's laws during hatching had greatly weakened it.

  Even so, it still possessed strength at the Master Mage level. That stream of golden light was clearly its innate ability to share life magic.

  Ryan's eyes widened in shock as he looked at the little Drake. He could clearly feel the depleted magic within his body rapidly filling up.

  His exhausted physical body recovered just as quickly, and even his mental strength became increasingly clear. In only a short moment, he showed signs of returning to peak condition.

  "Dad."

  After a little while, the little Drake called out again in a milky voice, its small head drooping slightly, looking listless and tired.

  Ryan instantly sensed that his body had fully recovered to its peak. He immediately rolled over and sat up, carefully lifting the little Drake off himself.

  He gently wrapped it around his neck like a scarf, then turned around and began digging a tunnel. Underground was the safest place to rest.

  He did not know how long he dug. Only after confirming that he was a thousand meters underground and that there were no magic fluctuations in the surroundings did Ryan stop. He used magic to carve out a spacious underground chamber.

  "Eat up. All of it is yours." Ryan piled all the black crystals he had previously stripped from the outer layer of the egg in front of the little Drake, signaling it to eat.

  The little Drake swallowed all the black crystals in just a few bites, yet it continued to stare at Ryan with its watery eyes, clearly still not full.

  Seeing this, Ryan took out another crystal bottle from his storage space labeled Mana Essence. He twisted open the cap, pried open the little Drake's mouth, and poured the entire bottle of Mana Essence straight in.

  The little Drake's throat bobbed a few times as it swallowed the Mana Essence, instantly becoming lively again.

  It chirped happily, spread its tiny wings, and flew circles around Ryan in the underground space, its golden body tracing graceful arcs through the air.

  "Dad."

  "You only know how to say that one word?" Ryan looked at it with some confusion.

  Back when he was beside the egg, aside from calling himself Dad, he often talked to the little one inside, telling stories about the outside world. He never expected that after hatching, the little Drake seemed to have learned only this single title.

  "Dad, eat." The little Drake seemed to understand Ryan's meaning. It nodded its small head and popped out another word, its voice still soft and sweet.

  "Still not full?" Ryan laughed as he extended a finger and gently pulled it closer.

  Golden scales, tiny dragon horns, and those lively eyes made it irresistibly adorable.

  His heart was filled with novelty and excitement. He had never seen a real Drake with his own eyes before.

  Now he had personally hatched a Celestial Drake, and it kept calling him Dad again and again. The feeling exhilarated him beyond measure.

  The little Drake tilted its head and put on an innocent expression. It first shook its head blankly, then nodded again, as if saying it was a little full but could still eat more.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Ryan's face instantly twisted into an awkward expression. Watching the little Drake shake its head and then nod it again, he could not tell what it was trying to say at all.

  "Fine then. I'll let you drink until you're full today," Ryan said, giving up on figuring it out. He pulled out more than a dozen bottles of Mana Essence from his storage space.

  He pressed down on the little Drake's head, pried open its tiny mouth, and shoved the mouth of a Mana Essence bottle straight in, pouring it down.

  "Full now?" Ryan asked only after the last bottle of Mana Essence had been emptied. He pulled the empty bottle from its mouth and casually stored it away.

  This little fellow could really eat. Ryan smacked his lips in pain. If this feeding were converted into Origin Value, it would cost at least one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand points. It was practically a bottomless money pit.

  He reached out and gently patted the little Drake's head. The Drake lifted its head and looked at him with watery, adorable eyes. Its little face slowly flushed pink, as if it were holding in some kind of ultimate move.

  "You're not about to poop, are you?" Ryan jumped in fright when he saw how red it looked.

  Instinctively, he wanted to toss it away, but he forcibly held himself back. After all, he had just hatched it himself. He could not exactly dislike it.

  At that moment, a drop of blood suddenly appeared at the center of the little Drake's brow, mixed with a faint halo of pink and blue light.

  Ryan grew even more confused. Had it not already completed the bloodline recognition ritual? Why was blood appearing again?

  A dragon roar that was not loud but carried overwhelming authority echoed through the narrow tunnel. That drop of blood shot forward like a fired bullet, striking Ryan squarely in the chest.

  Ryan was startled by the sudden change and hurriedly reached for his clothes.

  When he pulled them open, he froze on the spot. On his chest had appeared a domineering dragon head totem, red tinged with blue, set against a golden base. The dragon patterns on the totem seemed alive, slowly flowing with faint light.

  Before Ryan could ask what was going on, another soft and adorable dragon roar rang out.

  The little Drake suddenly charged toward the totem on his chest. Its body turned into a streak of light and plunged straight into Ryan's chest, merging into the dragon head totem.

  Ryan was completely stunned. He stood there blankly, staring down at the dragon head totem on his chest, unable to process what had just happened.

  【Congratulations, Host. You have successfully formed a life binding contract with a Celestial Drake hatchling and obtained a recognition totem.】

  【From this moment on, the life of the Celestial Drake is fully bound to the Host.】

  【Completion of the full Celestial Drake recognition ritual detected. Pet cultivation feedback effect triggered. Host's magic rank has been directly promoted to Ninth tier Senior Mage.】

  As the Grimoire's notifications faded, Ryan's magic power surged violently. His aura skyrocketed at a terrifying pace.

  In just a few minutes, his realm stabilized firmly at Ninth tier Senior Mage.

  Ryan could clearly feel endless magic filling his body. Even his physical strength had increased by a huge margin, making him feel as though he had been reborn.

  Ryan was stunned yet again. He clenched and swung his fist, feeling the explosive power coursing through him, his heart filled with disbelief.

  He had advanced to Ninth tier Senior Mage just like that? The benefits of recognition were way too outrageous.

  "Dad, I'm hungry."

  At that moment, a soft, sweet voice echoed directly inside Ryan's mind.

  Only then did he realize that after completing the life binding contract, the little Drake was now able to communicate with him freely on a spiritual level.

  "Hungry again?" Ryan fell into a daze once more, staring at the totem on his chest that was faintly warm. For the first time, he began to seriously doubt whether he could actually afford to raise this Celestial Drake.

  He had just fed her so much Mana Essence. How long had it even been before she was hungry again?

  "I am hungry."

  The baby Drake's soft and adorable voice echoed once more in his mind.

  The next second, a streak of golden light burst out from the dragon head totem on Ryan's chest. It unfurled rapidly in midair, expanding little by little as it transformed from the small Drake form.

  Just as it was about to touch the ground, dazzling golden radiance erupted from its body, so bright that Ryan instinctively shut his eyes.

  Ryan slowly lowered the hand shielding his face. His eyes widened instantly, his face filled with disbelief.

  The little Drake had transformed.

  According to what was recorded in books, even high level magical beasts needed to reach the Mystic Mage tier before they could master transformation.

  Yet this little one, clearly reduced to only Master Mage level due to suppression by world laws, had managed to transform ahead of time.

  Then again, it was a Celestial Drake. As a legendary apex dragon species, it was only natural for it to possess talents that defied common sense.

  And this transformed appearance was actually a girl?

  When she was still in Drake form, her voice had been soft and childlike. Ryan had not been able to tell her gender at all, assuming it was just the common voice of a hatchling. Now that he saw her, being a girl seemed perfectly reasonable.

  From Ryan's perspective, the little Drake had become a girl of about five years old.

  Her large watery eyes were exactly the same as in her dragon form, filled with innocence and reliance, so cute it was almost criminal.

  She wore a long dress formed from dragon scales, with pink and blue magical patterns woven along the hem.

  They flowed gently with her movements, making her both gorgeous and adorable.

  "Dad, I am hungry."

  The transformed girl toddled over to Ryan on her short legs.

  She tugged lightly at his pant leg, tilting her small head up and gazing at him with those watery eyes, pitiful and pleading.

  Ryan looked down at her delicate, moving expression, and the helplessness in his heart instantly melted away.

  This little one was dangerously good at making people dote on her, whether she was in Drake form or human form.

  After a brief moment of being charmed, Ryan felt a bit speechless. She was basically a pure eating machine.

  "Alright, I will feed you." Ryan hurriedly cut off her chanting, pulling out several bottles of Mana Essence from his storage space and handing them to her.

  The little Drake immediately stretched out her chubby hands to take them, obediently holding them in her arms. She twisted open the stopper and began drinking in small sips.

  Ryan bent down and picked her up, unable to resist reaching out and gently squishing her soft, sweet smelling little cheeks a few times.

  The little Drake let out an unhappy hum, stopping her drinking. She frowned with her watery eyes and looked at Ryan with an aggrieved expression.

  Amused by her reaction, Ryan laughed out loud. He awkwardly withdrew his hand, held her in his arms, and turned to walk back toward the tunnel they had come from.