"Anyway, we once ruled the entire world, leaving countless descendants in this world. In that era, there were no humans or any other tiny creatures."
The dragon repeated firmly, emphasizing its point once more.
Ian was slightly taken aback.
The next moment, he suddenly understood.
"I get it now! I understand! You're dinosaurs!" He seemed to connect all the information together, finding the most fitting explanation for the so-called Dragon Age.
"?????"
The dragon still looked utterly confused.
It cast a pleading look at the little Witch beside it.
"You're about half right." The Witch sighed softly and said, "From what I know, the dragon era it mentioned can indeed be traced back to what you call the dinosaur era. Nobody knows how they came to be, but they were definitely among the first batch of advanced magic lifeforms."
Clearly.
The Witch also knew about the Dragon Age.
In fact, she understood it even more thoroughly than the soul of the dragon beside her.
"Yes, that's right, exactly." The dragon looked completely clueless, yet insisted on pretending it knew everything and responded as if it were well informed.
"You actually know about dinosaurs!" Ian was well aware that the concept of dinosaurs came from the early 19th century, and Witch Morgan probably couldn't have lived to such a modern era.
"Just because I became a soul doesn't mean I stopped learning." Morgan's expression was full of exasperation. She rolled her eyes at Ian before continuing.
"The dinosaurs you mentioned were known in our era too—a certain discovery of them at least. They were both a food source for the prehistoric giant dragons and, at times, their companions."
This was knowledge passed down from the teacher.
Ian immediately became thoughtful.
After pondering for a moment, he curiously asked, "So, the dragons of our era, do they really have a bloodline connection to those pure-blooded giant dragons?"
"They seem much weaker than the pure-blooded giant dragons." In fact, the Little Wizard already had his suspicions, but he needed the scholarly teacher to confirm it.
"Mixed blood dilutes the power in the bloodline. This isn't some mistaken belief among wizards; it's a conclusion drawn from observing the evolution of these fantastic beasts."
Morgan the Witch answered Ian's question from the side.
"I know this one!"
The dragon raised its paw, as large as a giant truck. "As the world's last pure-blooded giant dragon, by the time I was born, the human world was already full of those weak-blooded mixed bloods."
"The glorious age of dragons—I hadn't even seen it before it was already long gone."
The sounds from its nostrils even changed tone, filled with a kind of nostalgia and melancholy, and its words left Ian staring in shock with wide eyes.
[The last of the dragon race will sleep here. The era of the dragon race ends completely with this.]
The message inscribed in the Hogwarts Underground Palace resurfaced in the Little Wizard's mind. He truly hadn't expected the world to be so vast, and to encounter a coincidence only found in the Great Cold Nether Country.
"You're the dragon from Hogwarts's school motto—Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus! I saw your skeleton!"
Ian suddenly connected the dragon bones in the Underground Palace with the giant dragon before him—he hadn't realized it earlier, especially since the dragon here was so much more massive than the bones in the Underground Palace.
Maybe it was the fullness of the soul's flesh.
"I was Hogwarts's first student! Also the only pure-blooded giant dragon ever to attend school!" The crouched dragon retorted with immense pride to Ian's choice of words.
"I don't like causing trouble! But I'm also not afraid of it! If human wizards disturb my sleep, of course I'll teach them a lesson!" Its reply left Ian at a loss for words, mouth agape, unsure how to respond.
All along—
Perhaps not only Ian, but even Dumbledore and all the outstanding graduates had considered the school motto, [Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus], as a philosophical maxim full of deep meaning.
Who could have thought it really meant just what it says… Ian could imagine, in the era a thousand years ago, someone provoking a sleeping giant dragon and getting seriously injured, so the four founders put up the warning sign where the dragon slept. Over time, it gradually became a cultural symbol used to educate students.
Nowadays—
Everyone sees the motto as imparting wisdom and a cautious attitude, warning people to remain vigilant when facing the unknown or potential danger, and to never recklessly provoke or disturb things that seem peaceful but may be threatening. Even Snape quoted it to warn Ian not to be too cheeky.
"Everyone's doing way too much literary interpretation!"
The more Ian pondered, the more he felt he'd uncovered the truth.
You know—
[Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus], the school motto's original Latin, literally means "never tickle a sleeping dragon"!
Looking at it as a warning makes total sense!
Surely plenty of wizards overestimated themselves, challenged the dragon, and earned missing limbs from its morning rage! Ian recalled those dragon bones and silently mourned for past senior wizards and witches lost to magic resistance.
"If it were me… well, I probably wouldn't win either, but who wouldn't want to give it a try?" Ian could understand perfectly the mindset of those wizards who'd challenged a dragon.