I Became the Mother of Dragons

     Dany, standing in front of the obsidian candle, muttered, "Looking at the candle? Why not give me a magic crystal ball and let me touch it!"

With a hesitant step, she slowly approached the two-meter-high obsidian candle. Her fingers met the cold surface, which felt like glass, but nothing appeared to happen.

As she opened her eyes and looked up from the base of the candle, she saw that the flame twisted and wavered like the branches of an old plum tree. Suddenly, the room was filled with a brilliant white light, resembling falling snow.

"Do they expect me to watch this all night?" Dany thought for a moment. But in the next instant, the flames swirled before her eyes, mirroring the positive spiral vortex pattern on the door. Dany felt herself elongating and becoming a slender line, entering a pure white world where snowflakes floated gently, and her consciousness ventured into the mysterious.

Outside the door, Barristan stood in astonishment. As soon as the door closed, a white glow, resembling a sharp sword, seeped through the crack beneath the door, as though the gates of heaven had opened right before it.

"Could it be Your Majesty? So fast?" Barristan marveled. The black aura surrounding him seemed to writhe and recoil, yielding to the pressure of the white light.

But what left Barristan perplexed was the absence of his own shadow despite the white radiance around him.

"Your Majesty, are you alright?" he whispered through the door.

In response, there was a swift transition from the bright white light, akin to fresh snow, to a brilliant yellow glow that shone like pure gold.

And then, in the blink of an eye, the room was bathed in a fiery red light, resembling burning embers. To an observer, it would seem like the house was engulfed in flames.

The void blackness even seemed to absorb the black glow in the hall, momentarily blurring Barristan's vision as he stood outside the door.

Then, a deep blue hue, reminiscent of seawater, followed by gentle green like the shade of pine needles, hibiscus purple, apple green, and more passed through in sequence. Alongside black and white, the spectrum of colors encompassed red, orange, yellow, green, azure, blue, and purple.

Just as the rays of light dimmed, the sound of quick footsteps echoed from the stairs opposite.

"Why so fast?" the old priest asked eagerly.

"I... I don't know," Barristan replied suspiciously, his left hand resting on the hilt of the sword at his left hip.

"How do you know?" the priest inquired.

"A bright beam of light shot into the sky, extending for several kilometers. As long as you look to the south, everyone can see it," Jaen said solemnly.

Barristan realized that not even the slightest crack in the door could contain the light radiating from the room, and the skylight within must have projected the light obliquely towards the sea.

"Several kilometers? That sounds like an exaggeration," Barristan mused.

"What a terrifying magic!" The silver-haired old man couldn't conceal his shock and bewilderment. "But she's just a novice; how is this possible?"

"Perhaps since Her Majesty is the Mother of Dragons..." Barristan suggested, spreading his legs and blocking the wooden door with his tall frame.

The High Priest shook his head and remarked, "No, not even a Dreki would cause this, and even if there is such in this world, it couldn't inspire this sort of phenomenon."

"Dreki? What is that?" Barristan inquired curiously.

Jaen's eyes flickered as she stared at the old knight, asking loudly, "The inheritance room is specially prepared for the Peak Lord of the Fourteen Peaks. Only the descendants of the highest bloodline can inspire the nine candles. What method did she use?"

"Didn't you say that it depends on the purity of bloodline?" the old knight said angrily.

"I lied to her. According to a Targaryen's status in Valyria, they can only gain the three-color candles at most. And with her speed, it must be..."

"Squeak…"

The wooden door opened, and within five minutes, Dany emerged.

"You…" Several priests pointed at Dany with trembling fingers, their faces changing wildly. "It turned out to be a perfect inheritance!"

Dany remained the same, her silver long hair, and her small heart-shaped face, but her purple pupils shone brightly. Nine trails of different colors spread from the center of her pupils, forming a positive spiral vortex.

"Sorry, I'm a little uncomfortable," Dany said, patting her head. She opened her eyes again, and the unusual shape of her pupils had disappeared.

"Why did you get the perfect candles?" Jaen demanded with a livid face.

"I don't know, maybe my talent is too high?"

"This has nothing to do with talent! Only the Houses of the Fourteen Flames had the opportunity to unlock the 9 candled colors."

Dany was grateful that she had brought the status token with her. Feeling the Dragonlord status token on her chest, she realized just how lucky she was. She hadn't expected the Valyrian system to be so rigid.

During the process of absorbing the inheritance, Dany had been in a daze, unconsciously constructing the framework of the Glyph in her Mind.

After completing the inheritance, a message suddenly came from the candle: "Your Highness, First Peak Lord, congratulations on your qualification for being a Grand Sorcerer candidate."

Upon waking up, Dany immediately noticed that her chest was warm. She pulled out the silver chain and saw that the volcano pattern on the dark iron plate seemed to come alive. The volcanic crater slowly spewed out golden and red plumes of lava.

Then, above her spiral-shaped Soul, strands of golden-red lava rolled down, forming one strange glyph after another, merging with the vortex below.

Finally, the airy vortex condensed into reality.

Dany had a clear comprehension inexplicably at that moment. The previous path was incomplete. Now, combined with the First Peak Lord status token, the glyph was completed.

With a smile and a flattering tone, Dany pushed Barristan aside, "High Priest, I've only obtained the basics of meditation. Do you have any sorcery to teach me?"

"You..." High Priest Jaen's expression froze, her bright blue eyes suddenly turned black, and the whites of her eyes were no longer visible.

Then, a dark red firestar ignited in the center of the black crystalline pupil. An ancient and majestic aura emanated from her.

A strong wind began blowing in the hall, and the black flame on the central candle surged, rising three feet. The flames danced like a ferocious Dragon, silently roaring at Dany. The High Priest exuded an aura of both decay and holiness, creating a frenzied atmosphere.

"She…" Barristan looked horrified, but when he looked at "Jaen," he was struck with fear as if he were caught in a nightmarish terror. His limbs felt paralyzed and unable to move.

"It's... a descent!!!" Dany exclaimed.

"Ah!" The silver-haired old priest was startled at first, then his face turned frantic. "Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

The other three elders immediately knelt down and shouted, "Welcome, Lord Balerion!"

"Jaen" was initially indifferent, but when his dark eyes fell on Dany, her eyes roved and shifted wildly as she cried out, "You...impossible!"

The merging of an old, raspy male voice with the sweet, melodious voice of a maiden sent shivers down Dany and Barristan's spines.

"Impossible, in thine hands of a lowly slave—"

However, Dany had no intention of engaging in conversation. She entered the Dreki state, and the vortex in her Soul spun at a tremendous speed. Her soul attack began: "Go————"

Like the roar of a Dragon, a substantial shockwave emanated from Dany's open mouth. Barristan quivered as if he had been awoken from a trance, snapping out of his stupor.

On the other side, the people were knocked back as if they had been pushed over. The two old priests floated backward three steps in mid-air, their eyes rolling back into their heads before they hit the ground.

The other two priests, though not rendered unconscious, were pushed back two steps by the force of the shockwave. They clutched their heads, wailing, "Ahhhh, Dragon, Dragon, Dragon, ah…!"

"Dong!" Balerion, who had descended upon Jaen, stepped back half a step and spoke in a strange voice formed by the 2nd layer of overlapping voices: "Bold, to do such in front of me young Dragon is the height thy foolishness!"

"Gudonggudong…" Jaen's flat belly suddenly swelled like that of a pregnant woman in her tenth month. It appeared as if the top-end front-loading washing machine had been turned on, making a strange whirling sound of water.

"You go first, Your Majesty, I'll hold him off!" Barristan unsheathed his sword in a swift motion, poised to engage.

The old knight's readiness was impressive. Though he was facing an utterly magical scene for the first time, he reacted promptly, while the other party seemed to be holding back something big.

"You fool, there are two Dragons out there!" Dany hurriedly pulled him back.

"But—"

Before he could continue, Dany dragged him swiftly toward the gray-white door.

"Don't worry, I'm used to scenes like this; it's no big deal." She offered words of comfort as they hurried away.

Barristan...

By the Seven, Your Majesty, what have you experienced!?

"Vag—"

"Jaen" suddenly bent over, and from her mouth gushed forth a dark red, foul-smelling liquid. It hit the ground with a splattering sound. Within the viscous vomit, long earthworm-like creatures with bodies the size of pinky fingers wriggled, and though they clearly had no wings, they floated upwards and gathered into a weird symbol. They resembled a drone formation, spelling out the figure of a roaring black dragon.

"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!…" The noise they made was reminiscent of a swarm of bees beating their wings.

Dany and Barristan had already reached the door, but the swarm moved with extraordinary speed, nearly as fast as a speeding arrow. In the next moment, it was upon them—

Dany shoved the White Cloak to the left suddenly, and as she did, Dreki cried out, "Big Black, save your Mother!"

"BOOM!"

The sawdust flew, and Big Black was like a plane crashing. Most of his body remained outside the door, and his long head had thrust into the hall. Almost simultaneously, there was a loud "bang!" as the old priest was instantaneously engulfed in flames. The face of "Jaen" twisted and melted in the inferno.

"Jeep ji ji ji…" A creature that had already flown to Dany's side, an "earthworm," was violently thrown back, losing its ability to fly and falling to the ground. However, it didn't die. Instead, it absorbed the magic within the Dragonflame and grew rapidly.

"Damn, what is this?" Dany took a step back, her face covered with her hands. The lead boot, over which a 10cm-long "earthworm" had crawled, had begun to melt, and the creature seemed to be trying to burrow in.

Did it want to gnaw on her foot?