Friends who frequently show off know this.
Watching someone else show off is even more uncomfortable than having someone show off to you.
For example,
The pinkish-purple light surrounding Cecilia slowly dissipated... The Little Silver Dragon opened her eyes contentedly, feeling the massive amount of information that had suddenly flooded her mind, each entry marked with the words [Ancient Secret Art].
It made her feel as if she had been reborn; the entire dragon was incredibly excited, her tail wagging happily behind her.
...?
However, when she looked up, she met Caesar's eyes, which looked somewhat off.
At this moment, Lao Zhai hadn't yet realized the gravity of the situation.
She trotted over to Caesar, puffed out her round chest, and held her chin high.
"Hmph... Earth Dragon! See that? This is my true talent! I am a noble (the following 200 words omitted)..."
Caesar didn't say a word.
He just used an extremely strange gaze to look the oblivious Little Silver Dragon up and down, back and forth, very carefully.
In his mind, he had already automatically categorized her newly unlocked skills.
Crowd Control: Sing, Yawn, Swagger, Follow Me.
Support: Lucky Chant, Trick Room, Mirror Coat, Ally Switch.
Recovery: Slack Off, Wish.
Stat-Boosting: Calm Mind, Minimize, Harden, Defense Curl, Amnesia.
And... a bunch of skills with abstract uses that were quite ridiculous:
Happy Hour, Celebrate, Bounce, Tickle, Role Play, Tail Whip, Swift... and two skills that could be called bugs.
[Metronome]!
[Transformation]!
Caesar took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
Seeing Cecilia's smug expression that said, "Hurry up and praise me, why aren't you talking?", Caesar forced an incredibly "kind" smile onto his dragon face.
Dammit!
Exploit!
I must exploit her ruthlessly!
With this cheat falling from the sky, how could he let her stay idle!
Most True Dragons can indeed transform into humanoid creatures once they reach adulthood. In D&D settings, Silver Dragons are particularly famous for their superb shape-shifting abilities, so it was reasonable for her to learn [Transformation].
However, that didn't mean Caesar wasn't green with envy.
His entire dragon face was now written with "kindness"—very kind, so kind that it made the Little Silver Dragon beside him shiver for no apparent reason.
"Wh... why are you looking at me like that?"
Cecilia felt a chill down her spine and instinctively took half a step back.
The way this Earth Dragon was looking at her was more "off" than ever before.
Before, his gaze was like a chef looking at a prime piece of pork belly; although it annoyed her, at least his intentions were clear.
Now, this gaze... was like a capitalist seeing a perfect employee who could work 24/7 without pay.
Oh no... My dragon life is about to be exploited!
Cecilia's heart skipped a beat.
Fortunately, Caesar quickly confirmed something from the System, which allowed him to calm down instantly.
The Secret Art Alice gave Cecilia was more like extracting skill data from her vast Legacy memories, turning what were originally egg Moves into natural growth learning.
And the proficiency of these Moves was currently at the lowest "Entry" Rank.
To use them proficiently, she would still need to spend a lot of time "hibernating" later to digest and comprehend them.
Thinking of this, Caesar's state of mind recovered somewhat.
No rush, take it slow.
In a nurturing game, isn't the most interesting part watching your "pet" grow step by step and then serve you better?
What bad intentions could Caesar have?
He's not some kind of devil.
At most... when he licks the dragon later, he might as well bleed Cecilia a bit to taste some freshly made Dragon Blood Tofu or something.
Once she learns [Shed Tail]... she can even perform tail regeneration, allowing him to taste pan-fried Dragon Tail meat while making her realize who the true protagonist of this book is—
It just so happens this little thing has grown too fat; time to help her lose some weight...!
Just as Caesar was mapping out a future blueprint for a "Cecilia Dragon Feast" in his mind, the newly freed Stellar Energy Doll Alice had already floated out of the entrance to the Mental Dungeon.
[Viola.]
Alice's voice echoed through the vast tomb hall.
[The way you look now is truly quite ugly.]
"Roar—!!!"
Responding to her was a deafening roar and a massive bone claw.
The bone claw, carrying a thick aura of death, slammed down, crushing a dozen Myconid attempting to charge into meat paste.
Bone Dragon Viola's hollow eye sockets turned toward the source of the voice, the two clumps of blue soul fire flickering violently.
"...You're still as talkative as ever."
Its deep voice, sounding like two stones grinding together, resonated throughout the hall.
The tomb hall had once again turned into a battlefield.
During the time Caesar and Cecilia were in the Mental Dungeon, the Myconid army that had previously been scared off by Viola had returned.
Moreover, their numbers were greater this time, and their offensive was more ferocious.
Countless Myconid warriors, wielding spears and carrying venom tanks on their backs, surged from the cave passages in all directions like a tide, charging fearlessly at the Bone Dragon in the center of the hall.
Caesar immediately noticed something was wrong.
The goal of these Myconid seemed to be the massive stone door they had just exited.
"They want to enter the Dungeon?"
Caesar understood instantly.
The target of these Myconid had been the Stellar Energy Doll Alice, who was sealed inside, from the very beginning.
Unfortunately, Alice had already been rescued by him, as he had beaten them to it.
"Jie jie jie..." Viola let out an unpleasant laugh. "It seems these mushroom heads took my old friend for some kind of rare treasure."
Alice hovered beside Viola's skull, her pink glass eyes scanning the chaotic battlefield below.
"They are merely being controlled by a higher being—a bunch of pathetic Puppets."
"Even Puppets must die!"
Viola roared, and her massive bone wings flapped violently, whipping up a grayish-black death storm.
Wherever the storm passed, swaths of Myconid were instantly drained of their vitality, turning into withered husks before shattering into powder.
"Roar—!!!"
Just then, a heavy roar, distinctly different from that of the Myconid, came from deep within a wide passage.
The Ground began to shake violently.
A giant monster, the size of a truck, charged into the hall with heavy steps.
It was a stitched behemoth forcibly cobbled together from countless fungi, slime molds, and rotting flesh.
It stood twenty meters tall, its body resembling a giant mushroom covered in tentacles and pustules, with eight thick, arthropod-like legs underneath that made the Ground tremble with every Move.
[Target: Aberrant Fungus Beast (LV. 50)]
[Attributes: Grass/Poison]
[Status: Berserk]
A Legendary-Rank behemoth!
"Oh? Finally willing to bring out the big guy?"
Viola's soul fire flickered with interest.
The Aberrant Fungus Beast was clearly the trump card of this Myconid army; as soon as it appeared, it locked onto Viola, the strongest presence on the field.
The massive cap atop the Fungus Beast's head suddenly split open, revealing a circular mouth filled with sharp teeth. A stream of dark green acid as thick as a water vat sprayed out like a high-pressure hose, aimed directly at Viola's head!
Viola didn't dodge; she simply opened her massive bone jaws.
A larger, deeper grayish-black energy ball erupted forth!
[Shadow Ball]!
The acid and the Shadow Ball collided in mid-air, erupting in a violent sizzling sound as a vast cloud of pungent poisonous mist instantly spread.
However, the torrent of acid lasted less than two seconds before being completely swallowed and dismantled by the Shadow Ball.
The grayish-black energy ball continued unabated, slamming hard into the Aberrant Fungus Beast.
"Boom—!!!"
The violent explosion kicked up a gale, sending the Fungus Beast's massive body stumbling back, leaving a charred hole emitting black mist on its body.
"Roar!!!"
The intense pain drove the Fungus Beast into a total frenzy. Its eight legs clawed the Ground frantically as it charged toward Viola like an out-of-control heavy tank, despite the large hole in its body!
"Come on then!"
Viola roared and met the charge.
One was an ancient dragon returned from the dead, the other a berserk, aberrant subterranean behemoth.
The two gargantuan creatures collided with a thunderous crash!
Bone claws and arthropod limbs tore at each other, Dragon Tails and tentacles flew, and death energy clashed wildly with Toxic acid within the hall.
Every collision erupted with a sound like a mountain collapsing, making the entire tomb tremble.
"Time to eat, time to eat!"
Cecilia's eyes lit up as she watched the chaotic battlefield below.
So many Myconid—enough to last her several meals!
Caesar also licked the corners of his mouth.
Although the Aberrant Fungus Beast's level was too high for him to intervene, those ordinary Myconid soldiers and Myconid Warlords were prime ingredients!
"Let's go!"
Caesar growled lowly, and the two little dragons moved in sync to the left and right, slipping silently into the edges of the battlefield like two ghostly shadows.
They specifically targeted Myconid who were blown away by the shockwaves of the battle or those who were isolated.
Caesar swung a [Shadow Claw], the ghost energy easily tearing through the Myconid's crude vine armor and precisely knocking it unconscious.
Before the Myconid could even hit the Ground, Cecilia had already lunged and taken a bite.
Squelch!
A clear sound.
A perfectly good mushroom head was swallowed whole into the Little Silver Dragon's belly just like that.
Burp~
Cecilia let out a satisfied burp, muttering, "The taste is just average; it's a bit earthy. It really needs to be roasted to taste good..."
The two Young Dragons coordinated perfectly—one in charge of knocking them out, the other of butchering—with extremely high efficiency.
(Wait, someone's slacking off!)
Just then, Caesar's gaze locked onto a Myconid Warlord commanding a squad.
That fellow was a size larger than the ordinary Myconid, and the spear in its hand had been replaced by a bone spear shimmering with a metallic luster.
[Myconid Warlord (LV. 35)]
An experience feast!
Caesar was just about to make a Move when the Myconid Warlord, being extremely alert, seemed to sense danger and turned to dive into the densest part of the Myconid crowd.
"Trying to run?"
Caesar sneered. Just as he was about to give chase, he saw Cecilia beside him open her mouth.
A dazzling silver breath erupted from her mouth, precisely hitting the fleeing Myconid Warlord.
[Paralysis Breath]!
The Myconid Warlord's body suddenly stiffened, instantly enveloped by a layer of silver airflow, and it collapsed to the Ground, twitching all over.
"Nicely done!"
Caesar praised her and immediately rushed forward to deliver the finishing blow.
However, at that moment, the battle in the center of the hall took a turn.
The Aberrant Fungus Beast that had been grappling with Viola suddenly let out a shriek of pain.
On its massive body, those pustules that had originally been mere decorations now began to squirm violently like living things, then burst one after another!
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
What emerged from the burst pustules was not pus, but small fungus beasts that were smaller in size but more agile in movement!
In the blink of an eye, dozens of small fungus beasts around LV. 20 joined the battlefield, lunging at Viola like mad.
"Swarm tactics?" Viola let out a disdainful snort. "Boring!"
She slammed the Fungus Beast aside, her massive bone wings fully unfurling. A visible gray storm, mixed with the wails of countless vengeful spirits, swept through the entire hall with her as the center!
[Wraith Storm]!
These newly born small fungus beasts didn't even have time to let out a scream before being torn to shreds in the storm.
And the Aberrant Fungus Beast, also at the center of the storm, was entangled and bitten by countless wraiths, its massive body being decomposed and devoured at a visible rate.
It let out a desperate roar, but to no avail.
In less than ten seconds, this LV. 50 Legendary behemoth had completely vanished within the storm, without even a speck of dross remaining.
A perfect opportunity!
Caesar's eyes lit up instantly.
The moment the Aberrant Fungus Beast was torn apart by the [Wraith Storm]—without the slightest hesitation—he opened his mouth and fired a [Dragon Breath] at the beast's still-wailing torso!
The crimson Dragon Breath precisely hit the Fungus Beast's massive wound.
[Ding! You participated in killing the Aberrant Fungus Beast (LV. 50). Gained 8,000 EXP!]
[Gained 5,000 EXP!] (Alice's Gift)
[Level Up! LV. 28 -> LV. 29!]
A warm current surged through his entire body.
Caesar shook his head comfortably.
The feeling of leeching experience was just so simple and joyful.