GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

Their father said to their mother, "You are only prolonging their suffering, Rajin."

She said stubbornly, "They deserve time and a chance to show their full potential."

He allowed her to continue interrupting. But he warned her sternly, "Don't just get in my way."

Beneath them, the dragonlings were suffering, unaware of their conversation. Even though they had cool mana to replenish their cocoon with, they were still struggling.

Father said to them with a stern voice full of rebuke. "I am disappointed in you lot. None of you passed my ancestral trial. I will teach you all a lesson today. The weak do not have a right to survive."

They are truly struggling. This is because the rate at which they are replenishing their mana cocoon can't keep up with the heat bombarding them. Father is increasing the heat intensity, so they have to do something other than passively defend themselves. Unfortunately, they can't move, so they can't run away. They have to look inward for a solution.

Fourth was the first to make a different move. He began making mana shields with mana. These shields were different from the cocoon in that they were thinner and denser. This makes them more difficult to make than the cocoon. He faced more difficulty since he was using more than one shield.

He substituted the cocoon for the shields and was pilling them on top of each other and replacing them as they were destroyed. They were like fragile bubbles in the face of the heat bearing down on them.

Second also made his move. He made barriers made out of Earth around himself and froze the earth with ice to make the barriers colder. This granted his defense durability and heat resistance.

He used the earth beneath them to replenish his shield easily instead of relying on cool mana. He was also able to expel the heat into the ground faster. But this was for more difficult to set up and operate than the cocoon of mana.

Third was surprised at the ease with which her two brothers cast the spells. She didn't know that they were so proficient with the dragon tongue. She, on the other hand, is struggling with maintaining the pure mana cocoons.

She said to console herself. "At least I am not the weakest."

She is not the weakest. That title goes to First, who is struggling and failing to maintain the cocoon around herself. She had made a mistake that disrupted her cycle of mana replenishment. This increased the heat in the cocoon, while the increasing intensity of the heat bombardment made it increasingly difficult to expel this heat.

The disruption caused her to lag behind in her defense, so she is struggling to keep up, but it is clearly a losing battle. The cocoon could collapse at any moment now.

First may not know this, but third is sure of it. It filled third with pity. The two of them are the females in their litter, but they are also the ones with the strongest bodies. Their weakness is that they have poorer control over dragon force. That weakness is working against them when they need it the most.

The heat was rising, so the difficulty of their defense was also rising. First was falling behind as the test went on. Her cocoon unraveled faster than she could keep up with the heat. Soon, her body was made to bear the heat.

The steam rising from her body is a telling sign that her body is not doing a good enough job of it. Her scales charred, and she began to smoke.

First was being burned alive. Her blue scale blackened and turned to ashes, but she didn't scream. The pain of her flesh being cooked seared her mind, but she still didn't whimper or show any other sign of pain.

Father seemed to have smelled weakness, so he increased his aura on them. It caused the rate at which her body was destroyed to increase.

His voice boomed in their minds like a thunderclap, "Discard the pain of the body. Let go of the shackles of mortality and let your mind be liberated. Where does your supremacy lie?"

First had been charred to the bone by now. But she still replied. "Supremacy comes from within."

Dragon force blossomed from within her with that declaration. Her output of the formless power seemed to have increased now that she didn't have the burden of her powerful body.

It was as if the heat had removed the blindness caused by her body on her sensation of dragon force. In the absence of her body, the only thing she can rely on is his dragon force. She managed to create her domain and set up large layers of barriers to protect herself, despite the increase in difficulty.

Father laughed. His voice became louder. "Good. Show me the extent of your resolve."

He sounded as if he was egging them on, but he was the one getting carried away. The intensity of the heat spiked again and continued to increase with his good mood.

The dragonlings did everything to survive, but one of them had to fall. It was third who couldn't hold on anymore. Her cocoon collapsed abruptly, and her flesh was exposed to the heat without protection.

The effect was immediate because she was exposed to more heat than before. She didn't lose layers of flesh gradually, like First. Her blood evaporated instantly, while her flesh lost its structural integrity. It burned and cracked.

She pleaded for mercy. "Please, Father."

Her voice was faint and strained. She was clearly on the edge of death. But Father didn't stop. All she received was his cold glare through the all-consuming heat.

He demanded without mercy. "Show me your resolve to live."

She has resolve, but she doesn't have the power to live. Her flesh left her existence faster than she could bear it. She turned into ashes and died. Her ashes were scattered into the wind.

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