Age of Cosmic Exploration Chapter 212

Six-legged Black Dragons.

There are special species found on the new planet. They have unimaginably strong body strength, stronger than a trooper in space armor. If put on old Earth, tanks would be like toys for them. Without weapons of mass destruction, Earth’s original military wouldn’t be able to do anything against them.

17 Black Dragons, the number was awe-inspiring. Even with the whole Black Star Troopers pursuing them, if the combat was done in the forest, at least 50 percent of the troopers would have to lay down their lives to kill them all, that was, if they didn’t escape into another forest first.

That was why Guang Zhen had such a huge reaction. On a separate note, as the Hope’s official second-in-command since Yao Yuan openly announced Guang Zhen was his successor, Guang Zhen also held the post of the Hope’s sub-captain, the Hope’s Defense Unit’s commanding general, Black Star Trooper’s vice-captain, and the Hope government’s vice cabinet minister (Yao Yuan wasn’t crowned the president yet), so Guang Zhen was the go-to person on the Hope if Yao Yuan wasn’t available. Guang Zhen’s traditional mindset that raised a few red flags in the House of Representatives aside, for a man of his position, mobilizing an army troop for defense was easy.

Therefore, when Yao Yuan arrived, other than the Black Star Troopers whom Yao Yuan asked to gather, there was a temporary camp being set up by the Defense Unit. The piece of forest land was right at the fringe of the new capital’s walls. It couldn’t be broken through, because the line of defense represented humanity’s military strength. Not even a bird was allowed through!

The only exception was the Black Dragons because they were the only species not threatened by the Defense Unit’s 4th revolution weaponry. Only the Black Star Troopers could pit themselves against them. Since the Defense Unit couldn’t go with the offense, they opted to set up camp for defense.

Luckily, the 17 Black Dragons weren’t hostile, or at least not openly hostile.

When the 17 Black Dragons appeared from the forest, not only were the Defense Unit and Black Star Troopers affected, the same happened over at the opposite camp as well. Other than the two leading Black Dragons, the other 15 Black Dragons went into attack or defense poses, they gnashed their teeth, and tensed their bodies. It was a fight or flight response spooked by the large presence of humanity.

But after a low hiss from the leading, brown-scaled Black Dragons, the commotion among the Dragons quieted down. However, they continued fidgeting, obviously under unease.

At this moment, Yao Yuan was reminded of the things Ivan and other biologists told him about the six-legged Black Dragons. This super species was most likely a communal animal. This could be observed from how the Black Dragon pair cared for their young. Unlike bears or tigers, who survived in isolation, the Black Dragons were more like wolves or horses, or in other words, could be tamed.

However, due to their high food intake, they had to separate into their own territories. Nevertheless, they must have ways to maintain communication. Like how there is an alpha in a pack of wolves, it must be the same for the Black Dragons as well.

Yao Yuan predicted as much before it was confirmed by Ivan and the other biologists. They were no longer on Earth, but animal behavior seemed to be universal across the universe. Now that 17 of them appeared at once in a group, it indirectly confirmed their assumption. Furthermore, when the Black Dragon couple hissed, the rest showed signs of deference towards them by listening to their commands. It also proved that they could be tamed.

However, the fact that the ‘five-legged’ Black Dragon was the alpha came as a surprise to Yao Yuan. Even for wolves, if the original alpha was injured, it would be dethroned. But the male Black Dragon, despite losing a limb, was still the leader.

Could it be… caused by the color change in its scale?

Now was not the time for theory-crafting. After Yao Yuan saw the Black Dragon couple stop the group of Black Dragons with their growls, he made eye contact with Ying, Ebon, Liu Bai, and the rest of the Black Star Unit, then he made a hand signal at Guang Zhen. Guang Zhen stayed to commandeer the Defense Unit and Black Star Troopers while Yao Yuan approached the Black Dragon couple with the rest of the Black Star Unit.

Commotion among the 15 Black Dragons started instantly. The largest among them prepped its body, unleashed a drumlike war cry and launched itself at Yao Yuan.

However, before it could get far enough, a brown shadow knocked it down from its side. In the blink of an eye, the larger 5-legged male Black Dragon had its entire body on top of it, pinning it down, while the female had her teeth on its throat. She could claim its life at any moment.

The downed Black Dragon chirped for mercy while wagging its tail and six appendages. It reminded Yao Yuan of how the baby super species asked for food. Gradually, the male Black Dragon disengaged himself. He didn’t pay the down dragon much attention but refocused all his energy at Yao Yuan’s group, which was approaching.

Yao Yuan spoke into the internal communicator, "Don’t worry, but be on guard. Unless we’re actively threatened, we can’t be the party that shows aggression first."

"Yes, Sir," the Black Star unit replied in unison.

When Yao Yuan was 10 meters away from the male Black Dragon, he disengaged himself from the group and stopped before Yao Yuan. He allowed Yao Yuan to pat all over himself. Yao Yuan sighed in relief because for a creature like the Black Dragon, allowing someone else to pat its body represented a sign of friendliness.

At the same time, the female Black Dragon also sidled to Yao Yuan’s side. She circled and sniffed the air around Yao Yuan. Then she nodded her head at Yao Yuan and wagged her tail. Yao Yuan immediately called Guang Zhen to send over the fish and the baby Black Dragon.

The wait lasted for about 10 minutes, but the 15 Black Dragons started getting raucous. Especially when they saw Yao Yuan inch closer to their group, their guard heightened. If not for the Black Dragon couple’s presence, there would have been a bloodbath.

Finally, a few shuttles arrived at the scene. After the first batch of saltwater fish was laid on the floor, all the Black Dragons seemed to submerge into a state of frenzy. Under the guidance of the Black Dragon couple, each of them picked up a large fish and went to town on it. After a while, all of them tossed up their heads and roared at the floor. The floor rocked with their drum-like calls. It was a display of excitement.

Suddenly, the female Black Dragon bit Yao Yuan on his feet. The Black Star Unit behind Yao Yuan quickly drew their weapons, but Yao Yuan waved for them to stand down, telling them he wasn’t being attacked. He followed the female Black Dragon and they stopped before the largest Black Dragon among the group. He was larger than the five-legged male Black Dragon; it was obvious he was the heavy hitter among the group.

It dropped the fish it was eating, straightened itself, and assumed a fighting stance. Simultaneously, it gave out a war cry. The female Black Dragon extricated herself from the confrontation and left Yao Yuan there.

"…I see. Even though a possible truce could be formed on our offering of saltwater fish, you’re unwilling to bow down to a weaker race?" Yao Yuan understood immediately. After all, if humanity proved to be too weak of an opponent, the Black Dragons could raid the capital for fish whenever they wanted.

Since that was the case…

Yao Yuan pulled out his sawblade and rushed towards the largest Black Dragon like a ball of flame. There was no mercy in the animal world. The iron rule was the survival of the fittest!

Several minutes later, a wounded Yao Yuan stepped on the broken body of the Black Dragon. After all, this wasn’t the jungle, so the Black Dragon had no geological advantage. In close combat, the Black Dragon's scales still weren’t tough enough for Yao Yuan’s sawblade. Plus, Yao Yuan was a level 2 All-Rounder.

Lying supine on the floor, the Black Dragon chirped weakly and did the gesture that it did when it was begging for food. The rest of the Black Dragon did the same. The gesture made it look as if they were genuflecting before humanity.

"With the saltwater fish as bait and food, as well as our combat prowess, the Black Dragons will heed our commands at least until I’m old or I die. This means that we have at least 100 years to tame them."

Yao Yuan said satisfactorily. The 17 Black Dragons could be trained immediately, supplementing the capital’s defense. In the future, the amount of Black Dragons under humanity’s command would only increase. Eventually, they would live side by side with humanity, like dogs and cats…

A new human companion, the six-legged Black Dragon!

Chapter end