Chapter 12

There’s a problem.

It’s not a minor issue… and it’s more serious than expected.

“Don’t you think there are a bit too many dragons lately?”

“It’s not just a bit.”

To the Ifrit’s grumbling, I added my two cents.

At first, it was just me alone. Then came the seven children born from self-aware nature, and after their scales were taken to birth dozens of dragons—it wasn’t so bad until then. But…

Now, after hundreds of years, dragons have been pairing up and laying eggs, increasing their numbers to nearly thousands.

“Who would’ve thought that the extinction crisis of dinosaurs wouldn’t be due to meteors but because of dragons? Never imagined it.”

The dragons born after me and the seven children seem to still retain biological limitations since they originated from dinosaurs.

In short, they need food to survive.

With such massive bodies, dragons require an enormous amount of food. And with thousands of these dragons roaming the land…

Naturally, the most common large creatures—dinosaurs—are their prey.

At least the smaller dinosaurs, lizardmen, and small mammals aren’t targeted much—that’s somewhat fortunate.

Though, come to think of it, even if dragons tried eating those smaller ones, it wouldn’t fill them up at all.

“I’m worried about the decreasing number of dinosaurs. But I can’t tell the kids to starve either.”

“I heard some dragons are starving, losing out in the food competition. They came to me asking for help, so I used magic to turn big rocks into meat…”

That was the first time I used transformation magic to turn stones into meat.

I did it out of pity for the hungry kids clutching their empty stomachs, but honestly, the meat wasn’t very tasty. It lacked fat and was dry as hell.

Still, the starving ones devoured it quickly.

“We must do something, right? At this rate, all the kids might starve to death…”

I understand we need to act, but what should we do?

Should we introduce new creatures here? No, that would disrupt the already stabilizing ecosystem again.

Well, things are chaotic with dragons running rampant anyway… Hmm… does it really matter?

No, who knows what other problems might arise. Let’s save that as a last resort. Anything more complex than slimes will likely cause issues.

Then… should we modify the dragons instead? Changing already created beings is incredibly tricky though. Not impossible, but I don’t want to go down that road.

If only these kids could photosynthesize like trees, life would be easier.

Wait, photosynthesis?

“Did a good idea just pop into your mind?”

“I’m not sure if it’s good, but an idea has come to me.”

Not sure if it’ll work, but it’s worth trying.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Dragons are creatures.

But they also came from natural phenomena that awakened consciousness and received scales.

Considering their origins, I came up with one solution.

To summarize:

“If there’s no meat, why not eat magic power?”

This conclusion.

Sure, it parodies something said by a queen in another world (though she got framed), but let’s move past that. Besides, it’s not exactly “eating” magic.

Dragons are living beings with divine bodies.

Yet they’re also children of natural phenomena.

Thus, they can be seen as partly natural phenomena.

So, if we use the abundant magic power in the world now…

Could we maintain their bodies through magic, minimizing meals?

If we could use magic as nutrients to sustain their bodies…

“Therefore, teaching your kids a body-altering magic spell would be beneficial.”

I gathered the seven children and explained the situation.

Including how dinosaurs are nearing extinction, and if that happens, most dragons won’t fare well either.

“Is the situation really that dire?”

“Yes. Even my ability to distribute meat has limits. Teaching them magic to replace food with magic power would help in this situation.”

“I had no idea things had worsened this much.”

Tetis spoke, and I nodded slightly. In her and the Blue Dragons’ territory—the sea—there are countless fish swimming around.

The situation on land, where dinosaurs face extinction, is different.

Though occasionally, some starving dragons head to the sea to catch fish, causing friction with the Blue Dragons—but those are cute little squabbles.

“But can our children really maintain their bodies with magic power? Is that possible, Mother?”

“What could possibly stop them?”

To Erebus’ words, I gave a curt reply.

After all, Erebus shares considerable responsibility for this situation. By shedding almost all his scales to create dragons, he contributed to the current overpopulation of Black Dragons.

Had Erebus exercised restraint, things might not have gotten this severe.

“Ahem. Let’s begin the explanation.”

I started explaining the magic I intended to teach the children.

Magic—a boundless force that changes according to willpower. With proper handling, nothing is impossible.

Though the extent of what one can do depends on individual magical capacity, let’s skip that part for now.

“The magic I’ll teach minimizes your biological aspects while amplifying your natural phenomenon traits. Your hearts will also change to gather magic through breathing.”

“Changing hearts? Is that safe?”

“No theoretical issues whatsoever.”

Actually, this magic concept was inspired by dragon hearts from fantasy novels.

Using the vast reservoir of magic dragons inherently possess, plus the magic accumulated in their hearts over time, their bodies will maintain themselves automatically. Hatchlings aside, meals can be minimized.

Hatchlings, well, they’ll just have to eat meat!

“If we don’t act now, it’ll be too late. We must hurry. Understand?”

“Yes. Well, if the kids can survive without eating like trees, they’d probably be happy thinking they’re becoming more like me.”

At Yggdrasil’s words, the rest of us chuckled. Come to think of it, Yggdrasil is the World Tree itself.

“Well, have you all memorized the magic I taught? Now go and apply it thoroughly to your children. This magic alone will ensure your kids never starve.”

And so, my children left to cast the magic I taught onto their own offspring.

If this can delay the extinction of dinosaurs even a little, it’d be great.

I wish dinosaurs could survive far into the future.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Some time passed.

The effects of the magic I taught were outstanding.

Meals transformed from necessities for survival into leisure activities for savoring flavors.

Fights over chunks of meat between two dragons diminished.

Lizardmen no longer had to hide from dragon-hunted dinosaurs.

Especially the Lizardman chieftain, who inherited a translucent window from me—he liked it quite a bit.

A single large dinosaur provided a feast for the entire tribe, but with dragons devouring them en masse, hunting became impossible.

Thanks to this, the Lizardmen flourished, gradually advancing beyond their primitive hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

They began developing rudimentary languages and transitioning toward agrarian societies.

Most astonishingly, they started constructing temple-like buildings.

The deity enshrined in those temples? Naturally, it was me.

Precisely, the Creator Dragon God.

Though the name reeks of middle-school melodrama, it’s stuck now, so what can you do? I’ve embraced it fully.

Ah, by the way. The dragon-modification magic worked almost perfectly, but there was one unexpected side effect.

What is it? With dragons being half-biological, half-natural phenomena now closer to 10-20% biology and 80-90% natural phenomena… somehow…

Dragon egg-laying has become exceedingly rare.

Did heightened natural phenomenon traits diminish sexual desire? Or did the thought of producing offspring fade? Or perhaps with longer lifespans, they stopped reproducing altogether?

Annual dragon birth rates plummeted, and now fewer than ten hatch per year.

This is kinda scary…