Unsurprisingly, he already knew some words in this Jump spell.

One from the Push spell, and two more from Telekinesis appeared in this one. Overall speeding up the casting process a ton.

He only needed a day of attempts to finally get it correct, forming a small seal and sticking it to the base of his foot. He also felt a very lightweight mental link connected to him, describing it remained a challenge for the young dragon.

It was very similar to something literally pulling him, like a string attached to one leg. At the other end, a weight constantly wormed its way into his mind.

The weight in question was close to a small pebble, but he still struggled to ignore such a thing. It only took a few attempts for him to figure out how the activation worked, a mental command which required a strong intent.

On activation, a large force suddenly pushed him upwards… focused on that foot in particular. Spinning around as the force distributed itself unevenly, there was nothing to do but wait it out. He learnt his lesson quickly after hitting the cave’s roof and falling back down.

[Self-inflicted damage: 2%]

Groaning on the ground for a few minutes, the pain eventually cleared up and his health ticked back up to 100%. That was enough to remind him of fully reading the passage. The spell recommended hatchlings to place the seal on their underbelly, using extras in case they needed even greater height for whatever reason.

In the end, he formed four such seals and stuck them as prescribed. Each of them glowed for a few seconds upon application but quickly faded, he tried using one and found himself slamming into the cave’s roof again…

[Self-inflicted damage: 2%]

In a heap on the floor, he couldn’t help but question himself, “Why wasn’t I doing this outside again?”

The spell equally pushed his whole body up this time, making for an exceptional jump. Too bad a nagging object like ceilings existed to bring him back down. He also realised that by placing them on different parts of his belly, the angle propelled him in various directions.

At the fifth seal the weight of so many links became a problem, going from a minor nuisance to an actual headache. It was far from the weight of Telekinesis, if that comparison even made sense at his level. He stopped there until his mental strength improved a bit.

Beyond that he wanted to go out and find more bloodlines, preferably in plants. He didn’t have to fight against them, and they tasted nicer. What about that wasn’t great?

As he ran out of ferret meat, and felt rather stuffed after eating it, he knew hunger was just around the corner ready with a big motivating stick. Telekinesis helped make cutting apart the ferret easy, leaving no reason to stay indoors. Right now, he thought he had adequate ways to fight off weaker hunters, and even a method to escape from wassats.

In his opinion, things capable of killing him were all stuck around the winter's hope tree. Which he did actually try to find in some books, eventually striking rich on one titled ‘Magical Arbour and their ecosystems’.

Sometimes it felt a bit insulting how simplistic they made the books for hatchlings. It absolutely made finding information a breeze… but that didn’t stop those feelings. In alphabetical order, he found winter's hope trees near the book’s end. It read,

‘The winter's hope tree is a core staple in many chilly regions, capable of surviving the frigid atmosphere yet generating mana at a largely sustainable rate. Just like many other trees of its class, it releases a portion of mana in a fine mist around itself, drawing magical creatures far and wide. Some mana is kept for sustenance, while the rest is transferred to some sort of Node tree. Winter's hope is named after the fact that it has saved many magical creatures on the brink of exhaustion in frozen wastelands, including dragons on several occasions.’

The passage went on for a few more paragraphs, detailing facts about their leaves, bark, root systems, and sap. The root system being a mana transferral system he saw, but what drew him in was a sentence about its sap.

‘Contains the tree’s life essence. An excellent potion-making material or mana restorative, however consuming this substance directly weakens the tree.’

He would make the choice in due time, but the method for consuming this tree’s bloodline was clear. For now it was time to head outside and hunt something new, anything would do. Stockpiling food for his growth phase also made sense.

On the way out, he took a few moments to look down the cliff near his cave, in the distance seeing the city resplendent as ever. If he could ever obtain a strong enough body, perhaps he too could have a look at the place. Dragons looked highly on the civilisations of other species, primarily since they did not practise such a thing.

There was nothing else to say and he turned around to look for food, one day he would be the ruler of this mountain. And then all the peaks nearby! That or he died…

Whichever came first.

Once outside, finding the tree root only took a few minutes. He felt tempted to just use the Jump seals on him to move faster, but their use as a life-saving tool was far too great. Crawling wasn’t too bad as well, he always enjoyed the soft snow shifting around his squishy claws.

Besides that, he opted to avoid moving to the tree in search of more magical plants. And with the Node tree, whatever that was, sounding exceptionally dangerous, he opted to move past the root and search in the snow. His minor sense of mana absolutely critical.

Creatures of a few forms happened to reveal themselves today. He found a strange glassy frog quietly hopping around the place at one point, tempted to kill and eat it but holding off when unsure how edible its body may be. That glassy body might also be more than it appeared.

Some bodies could outright absorb specific elements, or held unique abilities. Regardless, the frog hopped away quietly, just as it arrived, and he left calmly too. Not to mention he didn’t want to eat outside and so far from his cave.

Wandering around carefully did have its perks though, in that he found two different plants. One was a sort of hairy root with thin stems extended above ground for sunlight. The root itself felt like ice, and without hesitation he cut it apart to eat. With the help of a few Ice bolts, the small thing was turned into a few chunks and swallowed one at a time.

Each released a sticky juice which coated his mouth and throat, as well as a somewhat cold feeling they tickled immensely. Only by eating some snow did he quell the tickling, although the juice inevitably disappeared like everything else he ate. How it vanished like that was beyond his understanding.

The books only mentioned dragons having extremely fast digestive processes, not instant ones. And also… “Nexus, is my bloodline assimilation causing food to vanish like that?”

[Yes]

Well he now had an answer to that. Which bred the follow-up, “If I consume the body of something I’ve assimilated then surely it shouldn’t vanish as fast?”

[Inconclusive data. However, it is unreasonable to assume your body can analyse a bloodline prior to it being broken down]

So his body would just instantly break down all food? That felt a bit too useful, especially since he could eat without end. But that also might be why he felt that strange sensation of bursting on the first day, in which case another bite spelt his death.

Remembering that fact, he swallowed the last of the root and received a pittance of 5% experience. Unfortunately it held no bloodline. He didn’t understand why this worked though, and to check he asked, “Why does my body break down things without bloodlines?”

[Inconclusive data. Likeliest explanation is that the ability is universal and simply consumes anything nutritious]

An interesting conclusion, and he hoped to see if it were true or false in the future.

As for the second plant, it was a small bush growing berries. Each was a lightly glow red bulb, mystifying and yet so dangerous. Unsure if they were toxic or not, he cut off the branch with an Ice bolt and found a tiny squirrel. Gently rolling a berry towards them, he watched them eat it and be on their way.

If one berry didn’t kill it instantly, then it should be safe for him as well. With that in mind he ate a berry to find out its name.

[Consumed Red Glowberry! Obtained <1% EXP]

A disappointment once more. While clearly magical, it strangely did not contain a bloodline and he left after consuming all the berries. He hoped the Nexus had an answer to this, but the search for more continued! With a few hours until sunset, he dedicated the time to finding something at the least.

During this, he quietly wandered around and nothing actually confronted him. While a few critters ran away and scrounged for food, they were barely a threat. The few who appeared aggressive ran off when seeing a simple flame appear, and allowed him to continue along.

By pure chance, his foot happened to sink through the snow once more. Without even waiting he activated a seal on his side, launching him up and to the left. Turning his head towards the pit, just as expected a slightly thicker but primarily long snow wassat charged out with jaw open. Snapping shut around air, when it touched ground once more the thing stood no chance as an Ice bolt pierced through its body.

But it hardly ended there, turning to face the young dragon with that horrible snout and beady, black eyes. And it roared, spit covering his face as another spell finished casting. He did not falter today. No mistakes were allowed.

A flame appeared in the mouth of the idiotically roaring beast, and charred its head in moments. The significantly stronger flame utterly ruined the snow wassat. It bet everything on those single strikes and the instant one failed it opened itself up to attacks.

[Killed Level 6 Adolescent snow wassat! Obtained 33% EXP]

Licking the blood confirmed that the snow wassat shared a bloodline with the other one, but he probably should have guessed it. Being such a low level and similarly adolescent, there was no reason for it to possibly be different.

A bit disappointed by it overall, he rested for a bit while thinking about pulling this corpse back home. With telekinesis he expected to get it back in twenty minutes, although predators would come soon. While not necessarily wolves, several scavengers and thieves did exist in this place. More than happy to take someone else’s kill at the drop of the hat.

On that thought, his mind felt a strange sensation coming from the wassat’s corpse. A thin but retrospectively obvious source of mana within its body. How he missed it was beyond him…

No, it absolutely wasn’t there before! And it quickly grew stronger by the second!

Out of fear he quickly activated a seal on his front chest to jump backwards, making great distance and hoping it was fast enough. At every moment he watched as well, prepared to cast Fire or an Ice bolt, and every moment the strange mana grew stronger and stronger.

How could such powerful mana come from a level 6 creature! Not even hatchlings can match it at their maximum!

But it only grew and grew, the power now exceeding what he felt from the winter's hope’s root!

After five minutes or so, the mana level stopped rising, calming him in the slightest way possible. If the wassat ate something magical then its mana should have never disappeared. There was no reason for it to reappear on the creature’s death, unless some really strange things grew on this mountain.

But that simply shouldn’t be possible. This place lacked that level of mana.

Still he went forward after confirming this mana stabilised. First firing another Ice bolt, he prepared to activate Telekinesis, controlling the sharp ice blade. With a single movement he cut through its belly, its guts spilling out and revealing the source of mana completely.

Within a pouch connected to its throat, what he presumed to be the stomach, was this strangely powerful source. Without hesitation the Ice cut through and emptied its rancid contents in front of him.

Besides some stomach acid and partially dissolved remnants of old victims, three triangular bone shards were the sole cause of all that mana. Just the three things, each no bigger than his eyes. Telekinesis still active, he quickly removed the three bone shards to clean off in the snow.

The smell of gastric juices remained, but there was no mistake. Each of the shards not only contained a frightening quantity of mana, but slowly released small amounts. With these properties it was just a matter of time until something found it, just like this snow wassat.

Or perhaps the hunter just chanced upon what truly found them? Either way it ended in his hands. “Can I absorb bloodlines from bone pieces?” he said.

[Bones do contain portions of a bloodline. However, for most creatures it is far less than their flesh and blood]

That alone was enough, he used a flame to melt some snow and washed the fragments a bit more thoroughly. While that repulsive stench remained, he did not taste it. Only the sensation of bone rubbing along his tongue stayed.

Before consumption, he moved away from the corpse with all three shards in his mouth. Its value was miniscule compared to these bone shards.

Just a little distance away, behind a small mound of snow, he took the smallest fragment and swallowed. It retained a rough texture, but at least its edges had worn away to a smooth curve. In the end, the one he selected travelled down to his stomach… And then stayed there.

[Consumed Glacial Wyrm King bloodline! Assimilation progress 0%]