Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 209: Tame

Chapter 209: Tame

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Yao Yuan sat on the ground and opened his palm to reveal the snow-white baby super species that was rolling happily around in it. From time to time, it would use its front paw to pull at Yao Yuan’s fingers, as if begging Yao Yuan to play with it.

The baby super species had opened its eyelids. It had a pair of innocent, emerald-colored eyes. The intensity of the adult super species’ eyes was absent. When it first opened its eyes, it easily tore through its ‘room’ that was made up of reinforced glass. Then, it went on to wreak havoc all over the germ-free room.

The researchers were too afraid to barge recklessly into it without protection. They waited patiently for Yao Yuan and the rest of the Black Star Troopers to arrive. After the door was opened, the first thing the baby creature fixed its eyes on was Yao Yuan and the troopers behind him.

It chirped joyfully when it saw them. Simultaneously, it nodded its head up and down, asking for food. From the looks of things, it had adopted them as its parents.

From then onwards, the little thing had gotten itself attached to Yao Yuan. It had gotten to a stage where it would throw a tantrum when Yao Yuan was not around. Of course, it wouldn’t attack people, but its power of destruction was not to be trifled with. It had even bitten its way through the germ-free room when the researchers weren’t looking. It was crazy... the wall was several inches thick of reinforced alloy!

Because of this little accident, the baby super species had gained contact to the Hope’s air. The scientists had no choice but to give it a shot of the newly created new planet reverse Ultimate Vaccine. However, its durable skin made this task impossible. Finally, the last resort was to inject the shot into its tongue during feeding time. The super species was so spooked that it curled itself into Yao Yuan’s arms and refused to pull its head up.

That day, Yao Yuan had brought the baby super species to the edge of the forest again. By now, the super species had gained a common name. It was six-legged black dragon, Black Dragon in short. This was because it had the appearance of a six-legged crawling lizard. Even though the physical appearance between the lizard-like super species and dragon was different, from its color and image, it was a close enough nickname.

The two adult Black Dragons had been waiting when the shuttle that carried Yao Yuan and the baby dragon arrived. The Black Dragons immediately reared up their heads. They first sniffed Yao Yuan and then turned their heads towards the baby dragon.

Even though the baby dragon was very attached to Yao Yuan, it knew instinctually that the two adult Black Dragons were its actual parents, so it didn’t make a fuss no matter how much they licked it. Then, many boxes of saltwater fish were brought down from the shuttle. As one of the boxes passed by the male Black Dragon, he stuck his head into it, picked a large fish out, and started munching on it.

Yao Yuan stood aside, watching the scene with a smile. Then a frown appeared on his face because he noticed something peculiar. The coloration of the two adult Black Dragons seemed to have faded. Instead of pure black, they had reached a shade of dark brown, or was Yao Yuan imagining it?

No, Yao Yuan was sure it was deep black color before, so why the color change? Could it have to do with the change in their diet? Or was this the way they showed their happy emotions when they saw the boxes of saltwater fish?

Yao Yuan couldn’t figure out the answer, so he decided to ask the Academy to look deeper into this. He had another purpose for being there that day.

Yao Yuan activated his Anima power and spoke, "You guys can understand me, right? How about this: if you do, then please nod your heads up and down. If not... then, well, this is pretty much pointless."

After Yao Yuan’s statement, the two Black Dragons, which had consumed a ginormous fish and pushed out spherical excrements, lifted their heads and stared at Yao Yuan curiously. However, before they could give any response, the baby dragon playing in Yao Yuan’s palms started bobbing its small head. After that, the two adult Black Dragons did the same. Not only did they bob their heads, they waved their tails and front paws up and down too.

Yao Yuan continued joyously, "Today, I’m going to take you guys for a tour of my people’s capital. Of course, there are many humans like me there, so please do not attack them. Unlike me, they can’t withstand your aggression. Do you understand? Same old rules, nod your head if you do."

It was still the baby dragon that nodded first. The adult dragons seemed to be confused by the lengthy statement. After Yao Yuan repeated himself multiple times, they finally nodded knowingly.

Truth be told, Yao Yuan was still very nervous. After all, these six-legged Black Dragons were too powerful; if they decided to run amok in the human capital, then it would be a real disaster. However, this had to be done if the Black Dragons were to be part of human society. He wanted humans and the dragons to live harmoniously alongside each other. Yao Yuan’s plan was to eventually tame and breed a platoon of Black Dragons. They would be better than the Black Star Troopers at ground combat. Furthermore, with their intelligence, Yao Yuan believed they might even understand human language after prolonged exposure to humanity.

Of course, for the sake of safety, Yao Yuan didn’t lead the two Black Dragons to the residential area but the construction site. The human presence there was weaker since the majority of action came from the construction robots. Yao Yuan could also have a firsthand experience watching the Black Dragons’ reaction towards human cities and creations.

Carrying the baby dragon in his hand, Yao Yuan led the two adult Black Dragons to the outer walls of the human capital. They stayed a few meters behind Yao Yuan, and further behind were about 10 alert troopers. They eventually arrived at the construction site where hundreds of robots bustled about. The two Black Dragons sniffed their surroundings curiously. They seemed to understand Yao Yuan’s intention. They started wandering around, trying to take everything in.

After a while, the two Black Dragons gave Yao Yuan a low growl. Even though Yao Yuan couldn’t really understand what that meant, he led them further ahead. All along the way, there was a series of construction sites. The capital had to be built from the ground up. Eventually, they ran into technicians and engineers that were there to oversee the construction robots since the robots didn’t have the necessary AI to be fully automated yet.

This was the gut-wrenching moment for Yao Yuan and the troopers because men and women without space armor started appearing around them. Even a slight bump from the Black Dragon could claim their lives. If the situation demanded it, Yao Yuan wouldn’t hesitate to kill the dragons. After all, the lives of mankind were still more important than animals.

Thankfully, such a situation didn’t present itself. The Black Dragons were initially guarded around other humans, but once they caught a whiff of these people’s smells that were carried by the wind, they visibly relaxed. From the smell, they seemed to have concluded that these people were the same type as Yao Yuan, so they let their guard down. Yao Yuan and the troopers let out great sighs of relief.

The tour continued until it was dinner time. The technicians and engineers left the construction sites in groups. Before they retired for the night, they input easy commands into the robots to be carried out in the night. These were easy assignments, like laying the road. Yao Yuan was ready to lead the Black Dragons back into the forest. Yao Yuan was more than satisfied with how their first tour went.

Right then, an 8-year-old European girl ran out of the construction site. Chasing her was an Asian teen. They were playing some sort of a hide-and-seek game. The girl was running away with her head turned, pulling faces at the man. She didn’t pay attention to where she was heading and rammed into Yao Yuan’s back. The girl fell to the floor with a heavy thud, and her hands and legs were bleeding with fresh wounds. She started wailing.

Before the anxious Asian boy got near, Yao Yuan had already turned to look at the little girl. However, the two Black Dragons were even faster than he was. They had surrounded the little girl, and the female dragon was licking the girl’s wounds.

Yao Yuan felt his heart chill. The thing that he feared the most was about to happen. Even though the dragons had killed a trooper before, that was done out of self-defense. Yao Yuan felt that they could still be tamed because they had not had human flesh yet. Furthermore, they had a certain respect towards human beings since they were harmed by one before. After several decades of cultivation, the dragons shouldn’t pose much danger to humanity anymore.

However, that would all be useless if the dragons partook in human meat. The two Black Dragons had to be put down for taking a human life. After than that, one couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t get addicted to human flesh, so they couldn’t be left to survive!

This little girl was meat at the tips of their tongues... There was no way this wouldn’t end horribly.

Yao Yuan pulled out his sawblade and the troopers cocked their rifles, but the two Black Dragons didn’t launch any attack. They circled the little girl to lick her wounds. Tickled by their serrated tongue, the little girl started laughing. She even stood up to give the female dragon’s head a hug.

The female dragon licked her small face genially, showing zero aggression...