It's quite normal for the Golden Dragon to have such thoughts. After all, starting from a dragon egg, there hasn't been any creature within a ten-mile radius brave enough to approach him.
From the small dragon to the large dragon, he has never seen any creature, not even a small shrimp. Although the inherited memories record various deep-sea species and the fact that tens of thousands of years ago, his ancestors had not yet died out, leaving only one dragon egg, the personalities of those dragons were vastly different from his own.
He likes staying in and sleeping, while his ancestors liked frolicking in the deep sea.
He eats when he's hungry, never bothering to be selective, while his ancestors would travel great distances to another part of the sea, just to fight with fat birds that could fly in the sky, all for a taste of the giant ice crabs living in the icebergs.
The Golden Dragon's temperament has developed like this, mostly because from the moment he hatched from his egg, the only companion he had was a dragon pearl.
And it was a dragon pearl that couldn't talk, couldn't move, and could only emit light.
In the Golden Dragon's concept of awareness, no living being dared to approach him. It had been this way for tens of thousands of years.
But now, his dragon pearl was gone.
The perfectly fine dragon pearl that was in his mouth, that huge dragon pearl, had disappeared.
And in the place where the dragon pearl should have been, there was a small mermaid sleeping soundly, completely unafraid of him.
This must be his dragon pearl.
Only his dragon pearl wouldn't be afraid of him.
Even though the dragon pearl wasn't a living creature, this didn't affect his deduction.
Thinking this way, the Golden Dragon slowly and confidently coiled his long body around the little mermaid sleeping in the center.
So, this was his dragon pearl.
He began to feel happy and, based on the appearance of the little mermaid, he earnestly recalled how to raise a sea sprite after identifying the mermaid as a species.
As for why his dragon pearl had transformed into a small sea sprite, he conveniently ignored it. From the moment he hatched from his egg, no living creature had dared to approach him. If it weren't for his fast swimming and quick eating, he might have starved to death before.
But every time he encountered a living being before, the Golden Dragon had held his dragon pearl with his claws and opened his mouth to eat, never bothering to pay attention to what he had actually consumed.
In any case, after he had eaten his fill, the whole area would be silent for a hundred or two hundred years.
Therefore, in the Golden Dragon's own memory, he had never seen a sea sprite before.
Fortunately, there were versatile inherited memories.
While carefully holding his small dragon pearl with his dragon body, the Golden Dragon checked the inherited memories. Sea sprites from over ten thousand years ago still existed. However, the living conditions then were quite different. At that time, the Golden Dragon was still part of a large community, the undisputed rulers of the ocean. They always played together in groups.
Their idea of playing was eating other creatures, tearing them apart, and playing with them.
Those creatures, if placed in the present, would be considered prehistoric giants, but in the deep sea over ten thousand years ago, they were just toys for the dragons.
At that time, sea sprites were struggling to survive in the deep sea and had no interest in tormenting humans—oh wait, there were no humans back then. Their appearance was extremely ugly, with large, ugly tails, gray-black scales, claws that couldn't retract, and fangs that stuck out of their mouths.
Even though the Golden Dragon had never taken a close look at what other creatures looked like, when he saw the sea sprites in the inherited memories, he couldn't help but turn his head away in disgust.
He turned his massive dragon head back towards the small mermaid, which he had carefully coiled up and protected in the center. When he saw that the mermaid was comfortably asleep, her silver-white fish tail gleaming beautifully in the pitch-black sea, looking delicate and different from the blue-scaled skin he had seen in the inherited memories, he instantly felt his disgust vanish.
He happily raised his dragon beard and, satisfied, continued reading about sea sprites in his mind. The inherited memories were passed down from generation to generation of dragons. Even though he was the last surviving dragon, it ensured that he could learn various dragon skills through these inherited memories.
Of course, the earlier dragons probably never imagined that the last surviving dragon would turn out to be a homebody.
Growing up, except for instinctively eating his own eggshell when he was born, the Golden Dragon had grown up in a rather haphazard manner.
It was fortunate that it wasn't over ten thousand years ago. Now, he didn't have to do anything except eat and grow, and no creature dared to come close to him.
Returning to the topic at hand, this was roughly the second time the Golden Dragon had consulted the inherited memories. As he read, he made careful mental notes.
Sea sprites were very fragile; they could easily die from a casual touch.
The cautious Golden Dragon glanced at the little mermaid, who was carefully coiled up underwater, and moved his body even closer to her to prevent any deep-sea creatures from bumping into her.
Even though it seemed empty and desolate in this vast, deserted sea, he remained cautious.
The Golden Dragon continued reading. According to the inherited memories, sea sprites loved to sing, but the creatures around them didn't like to listen to their songs. They would even beat up sea sprites if their singing bothered them, leading to the deaths of many sea sprites.
It seemed that sea sprites had fragile and sensitive hearts.
Moreover, sea sprites were the weakest creatures in the sea, vulnerable to bullying by any other creature. So, sea sprites were always cautious in the deep sea. There were even dragons who used to keep sea sprites as pets.
Unfortunately, sea sprites were too fragile. A simple tail flick could kill them, and once they were dead, their flesh wasn't tasty, making it a time-consuming and troublesome task. So, dragons had stopped trying to keep sea sprites as pets.
It seemed that dragons had a habit of raising sea sprites over ten thousand years ago.
The Golden Dragon shook his long tail and pondered. Did his dragon pearl transform into a small sea sprite because such events had occurred over ten thousand years ago?
The Golden Dragon carefully reviewed the inherited memories about sea sprites and firmly stored details about their fragility, their love for shiny objects, and other similar information in his mind.
The inherited memories stated that sea sprites had always been bullied in the sea and were at the bottom of the food chain.
He was confident that he could protect the sea sprite, after all, whether it was over ten thousand years ago or now, the dragon race had always been the rulers of the sea.
Thinking this way, he completely ignored the possibility that over ten thousand years had passed, the deep-sea ecosystem had changed, and the once pitiable sea sprites might have risen to become the new rulers of the ocean.
The Golden Dragon just pitied the sea sprite, feeling that it was weak, pitiable, and lovable.
What a pitiful little thing! She was so small that if she hadn't been sleeping obediently in his mouth, she might have been bullied by other sea creatures.
Over the past tens of thousands of years, he had always kept his dragon pearl by his side, so the little mermaid could be considered as having been hatched by him.
Thinking this way, he tried to widen his dragon eyes and carefully examined the small mermaid, who could roll around in his dragon claws.
Her little face, little arms, and little tail.
Looking at the scales on her tail, they were so round and beautiful, just like the scales on his dragon tail.
With a bit of smugness, the Golden Dragon thought, "So, I must be the mermaid's father."
The Golden Dragon recalled how dragons raised their children from the inherited memories.
Oh, wait, dragons didn't raise their children.
They all haphazardly threw their dragon eggs into the sea, and when the little dragons were born, they would find their community based on inherited memories. The Golden Dragon looked at the small, soft mermaid and felt that he shouldn't treat the little mermaid this way. She was so young, and she was also his Dragon Pearl. But why hadn't his little Dragon Pearl awakened after all this time?
The Golden Dragon cautiously extended his dragon claw, trying to retract his sharp nails, and he didn't dare to touch the "fragile" mermaid directly. Instead, he chose to gently touch Shi Qing's hair. The soft hair drifted between the dragon's claws, and the Golden Dragon felt like something fluffy and soft had suddenly filled his heart.
The orphaned dragon excitedly wagged his tail, feeling invigorated. So, this was what it felt like to be a father. The Golden Dragon, thrilled to be a father, continued to wag his tail, like when he was a child, and he wanted to act cute when he was happy, but there was no one to witness it. Each wag expressed his joy.
Taking a break, he continued to wag a few more times. Hundreds of meters beneath the sea, in the abyss, numerous deep-sea creatures were sent flying by the sudden whirlpool, spinning uncontrollably. Just when they finally stopped, it happened again. If they could speak, they would definitely roar in condemnation at the dragon who could create whirlpools just by wagging its tail.
"Being big isn't that great!! Your tail is even longer than the ocean trench! Creating a deep-sea vortex with just a casual move isn't that great!!"
Meanwhile, in the peaceful waters above, Shi Qing yawned, comfortably rolled in the water, and stretched out her long tail. She opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was the massive head of the Golden Dragon, along with those two bright, sun-like dragon eyes.
The Golden Dragon's whiskers floated happily as he gently brushed them against the little mermaid in front of him. "[Baby, I'm your daddy.]"
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