Chapter 264 Adaptive Niche
The wind and snow fell softly and gently.
The enormous white beast landed among the small dragons, adopting a superior posture, its disdainful gaze looking down upon its surroundings.
The young Blue Dragon remained calm.
"white"
The green and black dragons instinctively wanted to express their dissatisfaction.
But when they looked up and saw Therese's enormous body, which was over sixteen meters tall, and felt the chilling aura of winter, all their words caught in their throats.
The two little dragons took a half step back in unison, and at the same time turned their gazes toward the red dragon Cahill.
This was the most unruly companion all along.
"White Scales?!"
As expected, Cahill's scales burst open.
Deeply ingrained prejudices based on blood ties led her to blurt out without thinking, "A mere white scale animal is not worthy of being our nurseryman?"
She deliberately emphasized the pronunciation of the word "white scales".
The dragon's mouth parted to reveal its gleaming white fangs, and sparks spewed from its nostrils, instantly vaporizing the snowflakes that landed on its scales.
Dissatisfaction, contempt.
Such emotions were evident in his words and made no attempt to conceal them.
Hiss. Cahill is as brave as ever.
The green dragon's pupils contracted slightly, and it quietly moved backward, its claws scratching the ground to protect the red dragon Cahill in front of it. At the same time, it subtly nudged the black dragon with its tail.
As the race most adept at assessing situations among the five-colored dragons, he had already foreseen the tragedy that was about to unfold.
As for the little tricks the black dragon makes, it's because the green dragon is naturally inclined to influence and control other creatures.
The black dragon reacted a little slower, but after being reminded by the green dragon, it reacted quickly and quietly retreated, joining the green dragon in protecting the red dragon in front of it.
At this moment, White Dragon Therese did not immediately fly into a rage.
She first turned to the red iron dragon Garus, who was standing quietly to the side, and in the process completed a series of exquisite posture changes: her folded wings were perfectly pressed against her sides, her raised head was lowered at a 15-degree angle, and even the tip of her tail was gently curled up.
Like snow under the scorching sun, the process of adjusting to a lower ecological niche was completed naturally and smoothly.
Silky smooth, made in one go.
Bai Long believes.
When facing a powerful entity with a high ecological niche.
It's always better to voluntarily lower your ecological niche than to be insulted and attacked by the other party before you have to lower it.
Dynamic Niche Theory
[Second key point: When facing an absolute superior, voluntarily demeaning oneself has a greater survival advantage than being forced to submit]
This is an idea derived by Therese from the theory of dynamic niches.
She is preparing to gradually refine this theory, then organize and integrate it, and eventually include it in her own lineage, or first use the surrounding small dragons as teaching subjects, so that they can understand the true meaning of ecological niche.
Under the watchful gaze of the white dragon Therese, Garus remained silent, maintaining a tacitly acquiescing attitude.
When his younger sister Samantha was young and overconfident, she challenged the Great Dragon and was brutally beaten by the White Dragon Therese, but he did not stop her from doing so.
Now that the red dragon Cahill has provoked him so much, he is even less likely to stop the white dragon's next move.
If White Dragon Therese wants to manage these little dragons, she first needs to establish her authority.
Moreover, this young dragon, who speaks rudely without understanding the difference in strength, definitely needs to be taught a lesson.
Galus's tacit approval was like a silent decree.
The white dragon turned back and looked at Cahill again.
As she turned her head, she raised her head and straightened her chest again, and the dragon's aura rose steadily like a thawing glacier.
“You little brat, say what you just called me again.”
The white dragon, with a cold and dangerous demeanor, showed no anger and instead spoke to Cahill with a sneer.
"White scales! White-skinned monster! White dragon beast!"
With each insulting word Cahill uttered, the muscles beneath his scales tensed further.
Her pride, that belonged to the Red Dragon, made her completely ignorant of the concept of assessing the situation.
The contempt for the white dragon inherited from his past memories has now transformed into fighting spirit.
"Even the lowest of dragon species dares to do that."
Whoosh! Thud!
A gust of cold wind blew in, followed by the white dragon's enormous claws slamming into Cahill's body.
Before Cahill could even raise his defensive forelimbs, his entire dragon body was sent flying like a rag doll, carving a furrow more than thirty meters long into the snow.
The wounds that the young red dragon had barely managed to scab over all burst open, and the scalding dragon blood scalded the snow, producing hissing white smoke.
"You lowly white dragon!"
The young red dragon roared as he got up.
Ignoring her injuries, she kicked the ground with her claws, flapped her dragon wings, and rammed into the white dragon like a cannonball. The white dragon just smiled coldly and stood quietly in place.
The moment Cahill got close.
She extended her enormous claws, striking the red young dragon on the back of its neck before she could react, instantly interrupting its charge and pinning it to the ground.
The Red Dragon is indeed known for its power.
However, one of them was just a young dragon, while the other was a half-grown dragon who was nearly two hundred years old. The age difference was huge, and the red dragon's power was not enough to bridge the age gap, not to mention that she was currently seriously injured.
"You lowly white dragon, let me go!"
Cassirer, who was pinned down and barely able to move by the white dragon, cursed angrily: "If we were the same age, you would definitely not be my match."
Upon hearing these words, Bai Long merely sneered.
"Huh, same age? I'll always be two hundred years older than you."
She looked down at the struggling Cahill and said coldly, "Listen up, little redhead, this world will never give you a fair chance to fight."
"When you are trampled underfoot by a true enemy, your wings broken, your skin peeled off and your bones torn apart, and you are subjected to the ultimate humiliation—"
White Dragon Therese tightened her claws slightly, and frost seeped into Cahill's wounds through the gaps in her scales, bringing excruciating pain. She lowered her head, and her dragon breath condensed into tiny ice crystals near the red dragon's ear, the sound colder than the wind of the icy plains.
"—You'll then understand that the first lesson a dragon learns is always 'recognizing its ecological niche'!"
It seems they've been suppressing their feelings for too long.
Now that he finally had the opportunity to educate Xiaolong from a superior position, Bailong couldn't hold back any longer and said in a deep voice:
"Red dragon? Blue dragon? White dragon? In the moment of broken wings and snapped horns, color is nothing more than the cheapest epitaph! Your proud bloodline, can it shield you from the frost giant's ice axe? Can it give you even a second breath when you're dying?!"
"Learn to measure the difference between claws and teeth!"
White Dragon released Cahill, who had stopped struggling, and said to her, "You can continue to shout 'White Scales are lowly,' but next time you say that, you'd better make sure you're stronger than me first."
Broken bones are the best education.
Faced with the White Dragon's condescending reprimand, Cahill finally recognized reality and stopped baring his teeth in provocation.
At this moment, the white dragon's gaze swept over all the little dragons present.
"When the enemy is stronger than you, it is wise to lower your body; when you are stronger than the enemy, it is your duty to crush their head. The true meaning of survival is to adapt to change between 'coiling' and 'tearing'—not to spew ridiculous sparks at the mountains like a foolish red scale!"
She said seriously.
Silence, deathly stillness, utter silence.
It's not just the little dragons.
Galos, Sorog, Samantha.
The three Ignas brothers, along with the Crimson Silver Dragon watching the gathering of evil dragons atop Burning Steel Fortress and the Fairy Dragon observing the spectacle among the flowers, were all astonished by the White Dragon's words.
It seems she has truly grasped some profound truth about life?
"Foolish Redscale?"
Samantha's low growl broke the silence as she stared at the white dragon Therese and said in an unfriendly tone, "Whitey, you seem to be getting a little too cocky."
(End of this chapter)
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