Chapter 11: First Sign
Day 43.
The bottom of the Lava Lake was Livia's most reassuring sanctuary.
Orange-red magma, like the thickest liquid flame, wrapped around her dark Red Dragon scales with a gentleness that was also savage. Every inch of her skin was steeped in the familiar high temperature, her very soul seeming to be soothed into softness. She lay submerged at the lake's bottom, limbs relaxed, her tail resting lightly on the scorching-hot rock, her mind emptied to a blank slate. All conspiracies, all enemies, all system tasks were shut out beyond the magma.
In the midst of this extreme comfort, a sudden tremor violently shot through her entire body.
It wasn't cold—in this perpetually boiling Lava Lake bottom, not a hint of chill could exist. It was a strange, unfamiliar tingling sensation, like tiny electric currents, frantically racing up from the very base of her spine, straight to the crown of her head, making every scale on her body prickle slightly.
Livia's eyes snapped open.
In her panic, she instinctively opened her mouth to breathe, and a mouthful of scalding magma directly rushed down her throat. A burning pain instantly exploded. She coughed violently, magma spraying from her mouth and nose, erupting into circles of fiery ripples on the lake's surface. She coughed until her chest ached, unable to catch her breath for a long moment.
Almost in the same second, a cold, mechanical voice sounded in her mind, and a translucent blue panel abruptly popped up before her eyes. The text was glaringly large, as if afraid she would ignore it.
[System Notification: Estrus Period Awakened]
[Due to system modification, the Host has entered a special physiological state]
[State Name: Compulsory Estrus Period]
[Duration: Year-round, no breaks]
[Frequency of Occurrence: Three times per month]
[Estimated Duration per Episode: Approximately 5 hours each]
Livia's gaze was fixed dead on the line that read 'Three times per month,' remaining frozen for a full ten seconds.
She even suspected the magma had fried her brain, causing hallucinations. She blinked. The panel remained clear, each word seeming to mock her mercilessly.
She took a deep breath—
She forgot she was still in the magma. This single inhalation drew a torrent of scalding magma directly into her lungs. A searing sensation instantly swept through her body, scalding her so badly her eyes rolled back, and her limbs involuntarily twitched. Summoning all her strength, she kicked her claws. Her massive dragon body broke the surface, leaping violently out of the Lava Lake and crashing heavily onto the charred black rocks of the shore. She lay sprawled, limbs weak, panting in great gasps, her exhaled breath carrying sparks.
Before she could recover, the system's notification tone sounded again, lines of text continuing to refresh on the panel.
[Estrus Period Symptom Description]
· Scales emit a pink glow (Normal phenomenon, no need for alarm)
· Exhaled breath carries a rose fragrance (Can cover a radius of 100 meters)
· Dragon's Aura mixed with aphrodisiac pheromones (Effective on most fire-attribute creatures)
· Body temperature rises by 300 degrees (Red Dragon's base temperature is high; avoid contact with ordinary creatures)
· Occasional lapses in consciousness (Rationality remains, but impulses are enhanced)
[Friendly Reminders]
· View physiological phenomena rationally; this is a normal part of growth
· Actively seek a mate; avoid prolonged solitude
· Avoid irrational behavior when alone
· If truly unbearable, try sinking into the magma for deep sleep
Livia stared at those so-called 'friendly reminders,' the corner of her mouth twitching uncontrollably and violently.
View physiological phenomena rationally?
Actively seek a mate?
Avoid irrational behavior when alone?
She lowered her head, staring blankly at her own body.
Her originally somber, sharp dark red scales had, without her noticing, taken on a faint, soft pink glow. It was like the packaging of that peach-flavored soda she'd drunk in her previous life—cloyingly sweet and discordant, utterly mismatched with her identity as a Red Dragon. She lifted one sharp dragon claw, bringing it close to her nose for a light sniff.
An intense, sweet rose fragrance, without warning, shot straight into her brain, making her sneeze with earth-shaking force.
"Ah-choo—!"
The sneeze unleashed a violent fireball that 'BOOMED' against the opposite rock wall. Debris flew, dust billowed, and the hard volcanic rock was blasted into a deep crater.
Livia fell silent for a moment, then the entire dragon slumped down weakly, burying her scalding-hot cheeks deeply into her claws.
Just let the world end.
Right now.
She had never imagined the first onset of her estrus period would come so suddenly and so violently.
One hour later, that indescribable feeling of restlessness began to spread wildly.
Her body felt as if set ablaze by an invisible fire, three hundred degrees hotter than a Red Dragon's normal base temperature. Her scales were hot enough to easily melt ordinary rock; even the surrounding air warped and distorted from the heat. Thoughts in her mind began to run rampant uncontrollably—one moment, a violent urge to destroy, to tear apart everything in sight; the next, a strange emptiness, a desire to tightly embrace something; then, an uncontrollable urge to charge out of her lair and grab hold of anything...
Each thought was foreign and insane, making her heart pound with fear.
Livia gritted her teeth, forcibly mustering her will to suppress the surging emotions.
Deep breaths—
Result: the rose fragrance became even more intense, billowing out with her breath, spreading a cloying sweetness through the air.
Lie down and don't move—
But her tail behind her moved restlessly out of control, whipping fiercely against the rock with dull 'thwacking' sounds, sending stone chips flying.
Close your eyes—
But uncontrollable hallucinations appeared before her eyes. A powerfully built Red Dragon with shimmering scales was slowly walking towards her. Its golden vertical pupils were as gentle as molten magma, carrying an attraction that made her heart race...
"!"
Livia's eyes snapped open, the illusion instantly shattering.
Her heart pounded wildly. Propping herself up on her weak limbs, she staggered to her feet and hobbled towards the western side passage of the main hall. Climbing along the narrow passageway, she finally reached the lookout post on the outer rim of the volcano crater.
An icy wind howled, slamming into her scalding-hot scales. The sudden temperature drop brought a sliver of clarity to her muddled mind.
She lay at the edge of the lookout post, silently staring at the distant, continuous range of extinct volcanoes.
Gray peaks stretched one after another, standing silent in the heavy dusk like enormous, cold tombstones, oppressive enough to steal one's breath. The gale wind whipped fine volcanic ash against her face, coarse and icy.
She lay there quietly like this for half an hour.
But the fire raging inside her body once again, without warning, blazed fiercely.
Reason again being eroded by impulse, Livia dared not stay longer. She scrambled back to her lair in a disheveled state, spread her wings, and plunged headfirst into the Lava Lake, sinking straight to the deepest part.
The temperature at the bottom of the Lava Lake was a full twelve hundred degrees. Her current body temperature was fifteen hundred degrees. Soaking in the scalding magma actually provided just enough cooling to barely manage. She lay on the lakebed, closed her eyes, and used all her strength to force herself to sleep.
Sleep.
Just sleep through it, and she could endure.
Three hours later, Livia slowly opened her eyes and crawled ashore from the Lava Lake.
Her body no longer trembled uncontrollably. The strange pink glow on her scales had also faded, restoring them to their steady dark red. Her mind was unnervingly clear, even calm, like a retired old man who had just finished his morning exercises, at peace with the world.
Standing by the Lava Lake, she took a deep breath.
No cloying rose fragrance—only the familiar, pungent smell of sulfur filled her nostrils, now seeming incredibly dear.
The first estrus episode was over.
Livia let out a long sigh of relief. Her tense body finally relaxed, and she turned to fly back to the main hall.
But the next second, her movements abruptly froze.
She stared blankly at the Lava Lake before her.
The lake surface, which should have been rolling with fiery red magma, was now densely covered with floating fish corpses.
Not ordinary freshwater or saltwater fish, but fire-attribute magic fish that lived only in magma—scales fiery red, eyes glowing faintly, swift-moving. They usually hid deep in the magma; even she found them hard to catch.
But now, they were all dead.
Some floated stiffly, bellies up; others bobbed half-submerged, swaying with the magma's flow; some had crashed hard against the rocks, their heads flattened, scales shattered. The entire lake surface was covered with a thick layer. From a distance, it looked as if someone had tossed a pot of scalding dumplings into the boiling magma.
Livia was utterly dumbfounded.
She moved closer to her own scales and gave a light sniff. A faint trace of rose fragrance still lingered.
Looking back at the lake full of corpses, the answer became instantly clear.
The pheromones she emitted during her estrus period had evaporated and diffused through the magma across the entire lake surface.
The male fire-attribute magic fish in the lake, smelling this aphrodisiac-laden fragrance, had instantly gone collectively mad.
Frantically seeking mates, fighting each other, crashing against the rock walls heedlessly...
In the end, total annihilation.
Livia stood by the lake, looking at the dense, shocking mass of fish corpses, and remained silent for a full minute.
The cold system notification tone, inappropriately, sounded again.
[Detected mass death of fire-attribute fish]
[Cause Analysis: Estrus period pheromones caused collective mating behavior to spiral out of control]
[Ecological Impact: Fire-attribute fish population in the volcanic crater Lava Lake reduced by approximately 80%]
[Suggestion: Notify servants to salvage before next estrus period; can harvest large quantities of dried fish]
Livia stared at the words 'can harvest large quantities of dried fish' for a very, very long time.
She expressionlessly closed the panel.
Without a word, she spread her wings and flew back to the main hall.
She lay in the treasure chamber piled high with mountains of gold and silver, motionlessly staring at the massive red ruby resting in the center of the stone platform.
The ruby was still the same ruby, crystal clear, lying alone on the stone platform, quiet and brilliant.
But the more Livia looked at it, the more she felt it was silently mocking her.
The next day, she specifically flew out to circle the volcano crater.
The fire-attribute magic fish in the Lava Lake had indeed decreased by a full eighty percent. The remaining twenty percent were uniformly all female fish, swimming leisurely in the magma. Occasionally, they would stop and look around blankly, as if wondering where all the male fish that had swarmed in schools just yesterday had disappeared overnight. The entire population had directly turned into a singles' party.
Livia crouched by the lake, watching this bizarre and absurd scene, then silently flew back to her lair without a word.
That night, the Kowt-Beetle servant cautiously crawled up to deliver the ore for her body tempering. Its tiny eyes held an unusual look, and its movements were more restrained than usual. It neatly stacked the ore, respectfully knelt and kowtowed. After finishing, it looked up and chattered a string of obscure insect language at her.
Livia frowned. The system instantly auto-translated.
[Great Flame Lord... um... the village at the mountain's base...]
Livia stared at it expressionlessly.
The Kowt-Beetle trembled under her gaze, quickly lowered its head, and continued chattering rapidly.
[The village at the mountain's base... has been spreading a new myth these past two days... They say a Lava Lake siren lives deep in the volcano... her breath carries the fragrance of roses... The male fish in the lake, upon smelling her scent, go collectively mad, willingly offering themselves to transcend tribulation...]
Livia: "..."
She fell completely silent.
The Kowt-Beetle dared not say more. It respectfully kowtowed twice more, then fled as if for its life, scurrying away quickly.
The spacious treasure chamber was left with only Livia, a single dragon.
She slowly lay down, using her massive wings to tightly cover her face, wishing she could bury herself right then and there in the mountain of gold and never come out.
Just let the world end right now.