Abandoned in the mountains, I was adopted by a lizard ~I mastered magic and surpassed my parents, but I didn't know they were legendary ancient dragons~

Chapter 0 Ancient Dragon Finds Abandoned Baby

Among all dragons, the “Ancient Dragon” boasted an exceptionally high amount of magical power and had claimed the title of the world’s strongest creature for thousands of years.

The moment this ancient dragon remembered the emotion of “fear,” which it had long forgotten, was when it laid eyes on a single abandoned infant at the foot of a mountain.

(Wh-What is this baby!?)

The magical power of this infant, who was likely less than a year old, already reached half of the ancient dragon’s total magical power. This was thirty times the amount of an average mature dragon.

However, this alone would not have made the ancient dragon feel such a significant threat. The larger issue was that this infant was not a dragon, but a human baby.

Dragons and humans are diametrically opposed in their use of magic. While dragons excel in the “quantity” of magic, humans counter this with the “quality” of their magic. Despite having only about one-thousandth of the magical power of a dragon on average, humans have managed to defeat dragons by mastering advanced magic far beyond a dragon’s capability. In ancient times, there was even a wizard who could hijack the technique of “Dragon’s Breath,” a specialty of dragons, and single-handedly reduced the dragon population by nearly half.

Because of such history, humans, unlike other inferior creatures, were respected by dragons.

By now, you should understand what it means for a human infant to possess a magical power surpassing that of an average dragon.

Yes, if this infant were to master human magic in the future… it would become an unfairly powerful being capable of endlessly casting highly advanced human magic with the magical power of a dragon.

Realizing this, the ancient dragon felt an unprecedented sense of awe. If the ancient dragon had sweat glands like humans, it would be breaking out in a cold sweat right now.

(The seed of disaster must be nipped in the bud…)

Driven by an instinctual sense of danger, the ancient dragon raised its forepaw to strike. No matter how extraordinary the potential of this infant was, in its current state, without knowing a single spell, it posed no threat. This was the first and last chance for the ancient dragon to eliminate a future threat. It was only natural for the dragon to seize such an opportunity.

However, just before swinging its claw down, the ancient dragon reconsidered and stopped its movement.

(No… instead, I should raise this one.)

With that thought, the ancient dragon completely changed its perspective.

There were two reasons for this.

The first was that having someone with such immense power as an ally would be incredibly reassuring. If they were a threat and a source of despair as an enemy, conversely, they would provide immense security as an ally.

Humans, among all creatures, have a particularly strong tendency to respect their parents. The ancient dragon thought that if it raised this human infant as its own, there was a possibility of gaining an extraordinarily powerful ally.

The second reason was that the ancient dragon’s own life was nearing its end. By the dragon’s reckoning, it had about 500 years left to live. In human terms, this was less than five years.

Naturally, the ancient dragon had spent a great deal of effort trying to develop magic to extend its lifespan, aiming to live longer. In fact, for the past few hundred years, it had almost exclusively focused on developing such magic.

As a result, it managed to create such magic, but there was a significant flaw: the magic was unusable by anyone.

The magical power required was too great for a human to handle, while the level of magical control demanded was too high for a dragon to manage. In theory, the magic existed, but in practice, neither the ancient dragon nor anyone else could activate it.

Since completing the magic, the ancient dragon had been trying various methods to reduce the required magical power or simplify the spell’s structure. It was during this period of trial and error that it encountered this incredibly powerful infant.

If the dragon raised this child and taught it magic, the dilemma that had been a source of so much trouble would be resolved in an instant. With human-level advanced magical control and dragon-level magical power, this child would easily be able to cast the life-extension spell and prolong the ancient dragon’s life. With this hope, the ancient dragon decided to raise this child with terrifying potential.

Having a limited lifespan meant that even if the child betrayed and killed the dragon, it would lose at most 500 years. In other words, the choice to raise this child was a low-risk, high-reward decision for the ancient dragon.

Having solidified its plan, the ancient dragon decided to first check the infant’s name.

(This child’s name is… Hadar.)

Fortunately, the name was written on the inside of the child’s clothing, so the ancient dragon quickly found it.

(Nice to meet you… Hadar.)

Saying this in its heart, the ancient dragon cast a levitation spell on the infant.

(After extending my lifespan… well, I can just enroll the child in some academy and throw him into human society. Fortunately, I once had a hobby of observing the human world, so I have some knowledge of how to navigate human society.)

As it carried the infant back to its remote mountain home, the ancient dragon was already beginning to consider the child’s future.