For example:
[Target: Cecilia (Young Silver Dragon)]
[Status: Poisoned, Confusion, Paralysis, Curse]
[HP: 488/650]
Next turn.
[HP: 366/650]
The turn after that.
[HP: 274/650]
He really wanted to complain about that health bar being longer than his own life... but now was clearly not the time for idle thoughts.
Caesar gave up on investigating the status ailments and hurriedly looked toward Cecilia by the stone wall.
"...!"
The Little Silver Dragon's body was convulsing violently, like a fish out of water, her silver scales having lost their luster.
White saliva hung from her dragons Maw, and her beautiful silver vertical pupils had completely lost focus, rolling aimlessly in their sockets.
She was still intermittently mumbling gibberish that no one could understand.
"Dragon God... so dark..."
"Don't... don't eat me... help..."
"Mother...'Shadow of Zero'..."
This little idiot, what is she muttering about?
"Wake up! Cecilia!"
Caesar patted her face. Seeing no reaction, his round dragon body slammed directly into the stone wall next to Cecilia—
With a loud "thud," the impact shook the entire cave, causing dirt to shower down.
The massive sound seemed to pull Cecilia back slightly from the abyss of her nightmare. She confusedly rolled her unfocused pupils, and the white foam at the corner of her mouth flowed even more freely.
"...?"
No, the combined effect of the toxicity and the Curse was too powerful, even more toxic than a bad plot point; simple physical stimulation was useless.
Save the dragon! He had to save the dragon!
The little Gible was getting anxious, pacing in circles as his mind raced.
Detoxify? Where was he supposed to find an antidote! He was a poison-user himself!
Wait... health points... recovery... That's it! Food!
Before, when she was blasted half to death by the Red Dragon, it was feeding her a few bites of meat that forcibly pulled her health back from the brink. A True Dragon's vitality was extremely tenacious; as long as there was enough energy replenishment, they could recover quickly.
Right now, the [Curse] effect deducted health based on a percentage of current HP. So, as long as his feeding speed exceeded her health loss speed, wouldn't it work...?
Thinking of this, Caesar didn't dare delay any longer. He bolted to the other end of the cave, where he still had the Hard-shelled Earth Lizard meat he had prepared earlier.
First, he stuffed a lump of meat into the Little Silver Dragon's mouth to line her stomach... then he hurriedly started another pot—the one without any added "ingredients," of course—dumped all the meat chunks in at once, and used his claws to frantically fan the flames.
The Red Dragon's fire was very effective, and the water in the pot boiled in just a few moments.
This time, Caesar couldn't even wait for it to be stewed tender. He used a vine to hook out a piece of half-raw meat, still dripping with blood, and rushed in front of Cecilia.
"Open your mouth! It's time to eat! No, take your medicine!"
Caesar shouted, and disregarding any sense of elegance, he roughly pried open Cecilia's mouth and stuffed the scalding hot meat directly inside.
"Wu... gu..."
Cecilia flinched from the heat, but her body's instinct made her subconsciously swallow it down.
[Target HP +25!]
It worked!
Cooked food digests so much faster!
Caesar's spirits lifted as he hooked another piece of meat and stuffed it in.
[HP: 185/650]
[Target HP +25!]
[HP: 210/650]
[HP: 157/650]
[Target HP +25!]
[HP: 182/650]
Caesar stared fixedly at the numbers jumping up and down on the System panel, his heart in his throat.
Since obtaining the "dragon-type" factor, the System panel had started showing more information... but it was like a nurse with terrible skills, using a leaking blood bag to give a transfusion to a patient with a severed artery.
Leaking frantically on one side, while desperately replenishing on the other.
The scene was extremely precarious.
One piece after another.
Caesar stuffed almost an entire Hard-shelled Earth Lizard's worth of meat into Cecilia's belly.
The Little Silver Dragon's belly bulged at a visible rate, and the entire dragon looked a size larger.
Finally, after she let out a burp that smelled strongly of meat, the numbers on the System panel finally stabilized in a relatively safe range.
[HP: 402/650]
Caesar collapsed onto his backside on the ground and let out a long breath.
Damn, he finally saved her.
He looked at Cecilia, still tied to the stone wall with a dazed expression, her belly round and a bit of meat scrap hanging from her mouth, and felt a wave of lingering fear.
Those black eyeball mushrooms were too strong.
They were purely a potent medicine for life-or-death situations, not suitable at all for daily "domestication."
If he failed to control the dosage one day, or came back late from hunting, and this "pokémon" just died, he'd have nowhere to cry.
No, he had to change the recipe.
He needed a "poison milk" with a gentler effect and longer duration, something that could stably keep Cecilia in a weakened state without endangering her life.
He turned his gaze toward the few mushrooms in the corner he had previously looked down upon, the ones emitting eerie purple bubbles.
Those might not have a strong effect, but at least they wouldn't kill a dragon.
Caesar rested for a while. Once the [Curse] and [Confusion] statuses on the Little Silver Dragon finally disappeared, leaving only [Poisoned] and [Paralysis], he restarted his grand "cooking" project.
He carefully broke the purple mushrooms into pieces, threw them into the pot, and brewed a brand-new "Improved poison milk Soup."
The [Paralysis] status on her was still ongoing... Caesar glanced at it and estimated it wouldn't wear off anytime soon.
Therefore, this time, he only put in a very small amount, ensuring the toxicity was just enough to make her whole body weak and listless.
"Hey, wake up."
Caesar patted Cecilia's face.
"...?"
The Little Silver Dragon slowly woke up.
Realizing what had happened, her vertical pupils were filled with Confusion and humiliation.
The terrifying hallucinations from just now were still fresh in her mind, and the feeling of weakness as if her body had been hollowed out left her without even the strength to lift a claw.
"Des... picable..."
She opened her mouth, wanting to Curse, but found she couldn't even utter a complete sentence.
"Alright, alright, enough with the 'despicable,' have some soup."
Caesar interrupted her impatiently, using a vine to bring a pot of fragrant meat soup to her lips.
That familiar aroma of meat, which made her very Soul tremble, once again wafted into her nose.
Cecilia's body was more honest than her will.
Her stomach seemed to growl again, betraying her.
"...!"
She turned her head away, using all her strength to express her final bit of stubbornness.
But when Caesar made a move to take the soup away, she couldn't help it, and a faint whimper escaped her throat.
"Heh."
The Little Earth Dragon gave a wicked grin and offered the vine-held soup ladle to her lips again.
Cecilia closed her eyes in humiliation.
The warm broth slid down her throat, its extreme deliciousness instantly soothing her body's weakness and her Soul's trauma.
She swallowed instinctively and greedily.
Humiliation.
Endless humiliation.
She, a noble Silver Dragon, was actually being fed by an inferior species like livestock.
But... but this soup was really so fragrant... her body's instincts made it impossible to resist.
Every mouthful of soup sliding down her throat felt like a lash against her Soul, yet that damned deliciousness was repairing her body's trauma.
It's good... it's really so good... this contradictory feeling was almost driving her crazy.
—Your mouth says no, but your body is quite honest... Caesar couldn't help but chuckle inwardly as he watched her look of love-hate and irresistible craving.
Very good, Domestication Plan 2.0 is on the right track.
After feeding Cecilia and seeing her knocked out by the improved poison milk, sinking into a deep sleep, Caesar finally felt at ease.
He checked the vines binding the Little Silver Dragon once more, tugging hard with his claws to ensure everything was secure.
Having done all this, the Gible turned his gaze outside the cave—
The mushrooms in this cave were either too potent or too weak; neither was a long-term solution... He needed to find more suitable "Materials"... In Caesar's mind, an area he had glimpsed from afar while scouting the terrain surfaced.
The swamp area beneath the Dragons Nest Mountain Range.
It was dark, damp, and filled with the scent of decay, completely incompatible with his [Ground-type] dragon nature.
But precisely because of that, such a place was most likely to grow all sorts of strange poisonous things.
Fortune favors the bold. For the sake of power and a more stable "experience ATM," it was worth taking the risk.
Caesar took a deep breath and walked out of his warm, dry nest on his short little legs.
As soon as he reached the vicinity of the swamp, a wave of damp, heavy air hit him, making his whole body feel uncomfortable.
As a Ground-type Gible, he naturally preferred warm caves and dry sand; this slimy environment made him feel miserable all over, and even his movements became a bit sluggish.
But he didn't stop.
His thirst for power overrode all discomfort.
Caesar followed the direction in his memory, heading toward the depths of the swamp zone.
The further in he went, the murkier the air became.
A strange smell, a mix of rotting plants and some kind of chemical, assaulted his nose.
The ground beneath his feet also changed from solid rock to muddy sludge; a single step could sink him up to his ankles.
The surroundings were eerily quiet; he could only hear his own "squelch, squelch" footsteps and a "rustling" sound coming from somewhere, sounding like many people whispering.
Caesar slowed his pace, alertly scanning his surroundings.
His [Sand Veil] ability was naturally useless in this environment.
There was no Sandstorm here, only a thick fog with extremely low visibility.
"Rustle... rustle..."
That eerie sound was getting closer.
It didn't sound like wind or water; it sounded more like... countless small feet crawling on the ground.
Caesar stopped, lowered his body, and hid behind a waist-high rock covered in moss.
He held his breath and poked his head out just a bit, looking toward the source of the sound.
Within the thick fog, something was moving.
Not just one, but a huge swarm.
As they drew closer, that strange whispering sound became clear.
That wasn't whispering at all!
It was the sound of countless insect wings vibrating and mouthparts rubbing together!
In the next second, a swarm of strange insects—jet black all over, with pale white compound eyes and scorpion-like tails tipped with flickering ghostly purple light—surged out of the fog!
Each one was as large as Caesar's head, densely packed in the hundreds and thousands, like a black tide sweeping over everything in its path.
[Ding! New species discovered: Swamp Rot-Poison Scorpion!]
[Rank: LV.8]
[Attribute: Bug/Poison]
[Danger Level: Medium (Individual), Extremely High (Swarm)]
Caesar's dragon heart sank.
LV.8, the Rank wasn't high, but this number... it was like he'd poked a hornet's nest!
He immediately pulled his head back, wishing he could stuff himself into a crack in the rock, praying for this group to just pass by.
However, what he feared most happened.
A lone Rot-Poison Scorpion seemed to have caught the scent of this "new face," broke away from the main swarm, and wobbled its way toward the rock where he was hiding.
Caesar's dragon heart was in his throat.
He remained motionless, even his breathing coming to a halt.
Don't come over, don't come over... The Rot-Poison Scorpion reached the rock and stopped. The two long pincers on its head swayed like radar, seemingly confirming a position.
Caesar could even see his own round blue silhouette reflected in its pale white compound eyes... Had he been discovered?!
Just as Caesar was preparing to strike first and take out this scout—
The Rot-Poison Scorpion suddenly turned around and crawled quickly in another direction.
"...?"
Caesar was stunned.
He looked in the direction the Rot-Poison Scorpion was crawling, only to see a plant emitting an eerie purple light flickering in the thick fog deep within the swamp.
It was a massive flower, pulsating like a heart.
All the Rot-Poison Scorpions, as if summoned, were surging toward that giant flower like a tide.
And in the center of that giant flower's stamen lay a massive, half-rotted skeletal remains of a creature.
Looking at the outline of the skeleton... it was clearly the corpse of an adult Earth Dragon!