Avid's spiritual body looked very similar to Audrose's, both being completely black in color. Aside from Avid's spiritual body having emerald green eyes and being slightly smaller in size compared to Audrose's, there were basically no discernible differences between them, clearly coming from the same nest.

Although Avid's spiritual body was also a dragon, Audrose refused to acknowledge that the big fellow in front of him who only had size going for it belonged to the same species as his own spiritual body.

Avid's spiritual body perfectly replicated its master's personality, not only being stupid, but also clamorous and boisterous, completely lacking the pride and composure a dragon should possess.

Audrose silently stared at the spiritual body that had placed its head on his feet for two seconds, then decisively withdrew his foot.

With a thud, the spiritual body's big head knocked against the ground, and it just lay there, glancing at Audrose, then at its own master, its emerald eyes filled with a pitiful expression.

Audrose said with an unchanging expression, "No, your dragon smelled wrong."

His younger brother's spiritual body was a clingy creature, always wanting to drag his dragon to play some games that even little kids wouldn't engage in, like "stepping on tails" and "raising scales". When Audrose was young, his vigilance wasn't as strong as it was now. He was tricked by Avid with various excuses to let his dragon out, resulting in his spirit becoming numb from being polluted by those moronic games, leaving an unforgettable psychological shadow.

After being fooled a few times, he learned his lesson.

Hearing his elder brother's resolute denial, an extremely faint gloominess flashed through Avid's jade-green eyes, but it quickly disappeared without a trace. He laughed, like a big boy without any worries, and complained with a grin, "Big brother is not cooperating at all."

Audrose lifted his chin, "What's the matter for coming today? You had to talk face to face, can't it be said in a message?"

He had originally wanted to take his little slave to the mecha training room for the morning, but due to Avid's sudden request, he had no choice but to cancel this plan.

Avid's expression became a bit more serious, "Tomorrow is the day to visit Mother Empress."

Audrose paused for a moment and said, "I know."

It had been nearly three years since Empress Sefir passed away. The tomb was located in the palace, and every year he would go to the palace with Avid to pay respects to their deceased mother.

Avid leaned in a little closer and said softly, "This year we're not going to the palace, but to the Aegeanro planet, one of the planets Mother Empress left to you. Big brother still remembers, right? It's a planet on the edge of the capital star system. We went there to play when we were young. It has a very beautiful ocean."

Audrose frowned slightly, "I remember. Why go there? Isn't Mother's tomb in the palace?"

Avid shook his head innocently, "I'm not sure either. Father Emperor summoned me to the palace yesterday and personally instructed me to notify you. Tomorrow morning at seven o'clock, we'll take a starship from the palace."

Audrose lightly tapped his fingertips on the table, pondered for a few seconds, then nodded, "I understand. I will arrive on time tomorrow. How long is the expected stay?"

He didn't suspect that Avid was lying to him, nor did he ask why the emperor had to convey such a simple change through Avid, because this was the norm for how he interacted with the emperor.

In fact, aside from official matters, he and the emperor hadn't communicated via messages for a long time. The father-son relationship was so thin that it could almost be ignored.

Of course, there were reasons for this situation, which the emperor himself, Audrose, and Avid as a bystander, were all well aware of.

The emperor deeply loved Empress Sefir, and because he cared too much about his wife, he didn't have much affection to spare for his two children. In the beginning, because Empress Sefir spent too much energy on Audrose and Avid, the emperor even sulked for a long time.

Later on, under Empress Sefir's balancing, the situation improved slightly, but not by much. Avid, who inherited Empress Sefir's appearance, was slightly more favored in the emperor's eyes. As for Audrose, whose appearance and temperament were just as cold and hard as the emperor himself, he couldn't be doted on no matter what.

Fortunately, Audrose was born with indifferent emotions and had no particular feelings about this.

Originally, he and his father maintained a neither close nor bad relationship like this, occasionally exchanging a few messages and sending ceremonial greetings during holidays.

But when Empress Sefir fell ill and passed away, Audrose's indifference to his mother's death completely angered the emperor. The two had a big argument—to be precise, the emperor scolded him unilaterally. Unable to stand his eldest son's cold temperament, he sealed his title as prince and directly kicked him out of the palace, out of sight and out of mind.

Since then, apart from military affairs, the two never communicated via messages again.

......

Avid smiled again and analyzed in a logical manner, "We'll depart at seven in the morning. Based on the speed of the starship, we should arrive at Aegeanro around ten o'clock. We won't stay there for long. Including the return trip, we'll definitely be back at the capital star before five in the afternoon."

Audrose nodded, "Alright. Did you request leave?"

Unlike him who followed the conventional path, Avid didn't choose a military-related major when he went to university, but instead chose a specialty in spiritual body medicine that no one had anticipated.

The emperor seemed indifferent about it, while Audrose tried to persuade him a few times for the sake of his younger brother's future plans—the imperial power and military power in the empire were tied together. Although the emperor didn't necessarily have to personally go to the battlefield, he at least needed to be well-versed in military affairs. Once Avid chose a medical specialty, the possibility of him inheriting the throne in the future would be very slim.

But Avid seemed to have his own plans, so in the end, he didn't listen to his advice and resolutely studied medicine. After graduating from university, he went to work at a research institute.

Work at the research institute was not much easier than in the military, and it was very troublesome to take time off. Even though Avid was a prince, there were no special accommodations. Last year when they went to the palace, Avid forgot to request leave in advance. As a result, when the time came, he couldn't get the time off and ended up having a month's bonus deducted.

Avid gave a light cough and rubbed his nose, "I requested it, I requested it. This time I applied for three days off and it has already been approved."

Audrose gently pushed away the dragon that had somehow crept up to his feet again, saying, "If there's nothing else, go back. I need to go to the mech training room for practice."

Avid's emerald green eyes rolled around as he squeezed out a pitiful smile, "Brother, it's almost noon. Won't you let me stay for lunch?"

Audrose glanced at his personal terminal and mercilessly exposed him, "It's 10:05 AM. There's still some time before noon."

Avid's expression froze for a moment before collapsing as he wailed like a ghost, "Brother, brother, brother, brother--"

"..." Audrose reflexively felt a headache. He waved his hand, signaling for Avid to stop his mental torment, and compromised, "Fine, but I don't have time to accompany you. Just tell the butler what you want for lunch."

"Okay, okay." Avid actively spoke up, "Can I walk around the house a bit?"

Audrose glanced at his brother's spirit beast still sprawled on the floor. "Whatever. Don't let it destroy anything, and no biting people either."

Avid naturally agreed.

He picked up the dragon and went out. First, he found the butler and listed a bunch of dishes that sounded expensive, very expensive, and extremely expensive. Only then did he leisurely take the dragon to the courtyard.

Some of the smile on Avid's face disappeared, and his originally lively emerald eyes also calmed down, appearing much more steady than he had been in front of Audrose.

He looked at his dragon and asked with a mental power that only the two of them could hear, "Which direction is the scent pointing?"

His dragon wagged its tail and quietly walked in a direction, passing through countless trees and small gardens. It paused for a moment when passing by a small garden full of iris flowers, then wobbled forward again.

Avid followed behind it.

His spirit beast had concealed its physical form, so the slaves in the courtyard could only see him strolling around alone, unable to see his massive spirit beast. But even so, upon seeing this noble prince, they all hurriedly lowered their heads, afraid of offending him.

Avid's spirit beast walked all the way to a separate small house, then plopped down and sat in front of the door, indicating that the scent it smelled was strongest here.

Although it was a separate room, it still looked quite shabby, as if it was a place where slaves lived.

The door was half open. Avid pushed it and went in, only to find the room empty and vacant. The person who had originally lived here seemed to have just moved out.

After looking around the room, he withdrew and beckoned the nearest slave over, asking, "Who was living here before?"

The slave replied, "It was a new slave who had only arrived two days ago and has already been transferred away."

Avid asked, "What did they look like? What was their name?"

The slave answered timidly, "Black hair and black eyes. I don't know the name..."

Black hair and black eyes?

Isn't this a type of slave that many nobles are very obsessed with? Although he didn't understand the appeal of this fragile genetic race, he couldn't deny that black-haired, black-eyed slaves were indeed very popular.

Avid raised his eyebrows and asked, "Where were they transferred to?"

The slave continued timidly, "I- I don't know."

Avid gave him a mental suggestion to "forget" and waved for him to leave.

"A black-haired, black-eyed slave..." Avid muttered, glancing down at his spirit beast resolutely sitting in front of the door, a flash of darkness passing through his eyes.

His brother's spirit beast had actually stayed in front of a slave's door for so long?

If there was a chance, he definitely had to meet that slave.

Avid thought this way, but didn't expect this idea to be realized so quickly.

After finishing lunch with Audrose, before his brother could say anything to send him away, he quickly proposed, "Brother, I want to go to the mech training room to train with you!"

"Mech?" Audrose cast an undisguised look of doubt at his brother. "Are you sure?"

Avid's talent in mechs was actually quite good, not much worse than him. But mechs required long-term practice to improve. Later, Avid studied medicine and naturally didn't have much time to spend in the training room. Last year, Audrose had a match with him. Although Avid's foundation was still there, there was an insurmountable gap between them after Audrose had been on the battlefield.

Avid said, "Sure! We rarely both have time off. We should find something to play with!"

Audrose: "..."

Perhaps haunted by the childhood shadows of his spirit beast being dragged by his brother's spirit beast to play those idiotic games, Audrose didn't hesitate for long before agreeing.

No matter what - playing with mechs sounded much more high-end than having his tail stepped on.

Although Avid was a noob, he was very enthusiastic and urged Audrose impatiently, "I still have my mech on me. Let's go."

Audrose closed his eyes in slight agony, then took this brother he couldn't shake off to the mech training room.

As soon as he opened the door to the training room, he saw the little slave's figure.

The little slave was pressed against the wall, standing on tiptoe with his arms stretched out, reaching for something unknown. His little butt was slightly sticking out, looking very perky.

Audrose raised his eyebrows. When he left the training room in the morning, he had taken the little slave with him to eat. How did he return so quickly?

Originally, with Avid here, he didn't plan to let the little slave come over this afternoon.

The little slave seemed to sense the movement of someone entering and turned around to look back, blinking his bright black eyes at him.

Audrose was about to ask him what he was doing here when, in a matter of seconds, something unexpected happened.

"This training room still hasn't changed much - who?!"

"Smack!"

Upon seeing an unfamiliar figure in his brother's usually tightly secured mech training room as soon as he entered, Avid reflexively became alert and pressed the convenient button to control intruders at the fastest speed.

After detecting the "intruder's" location, two semi-circular cold mechanical arms extended from the wall and clamped down on Su Duan's waist like lightning, firmly fixing him to the wall. Then, more slender arms extended out, respectively securing his wrists, ankles, knees and elbows.

Thus, Su Duan's entire body was "nailed" to the wall by the cold mechanical arms like a pickled fish.

The cleaning cloth in his hand also fell to the ground with a smack.

Audrose: "..."

Su Duan: "..."

Avid: "..." Hm? The atmosphere seems a bit off?

When he was suddenly restrained by the mechanical arms, Su Duan was completely dumbfounded.

He had just suddenly remembered that there was one spot he hadn't wiped clean, and wanted to secretly eliminate the evidence before Audrose discovered it, but ended up getting caught red-handed.

And - he was even grabbed and lifted up?

Was this the punishment for being lazy?

The mechanical arms were cold and hard, firmly locked around his waist without even a sliver of a gap, not only pressing painfully against his bones but also affecting his breathing. Su Duan quickly started having difficulty breathing.

Before Su Duan could react from his daze, Audrose had already taken three steps in two strides to reach him.

He was so anxious that he felt a bit lightheaded. Instead of using his psychic power to remove the control, he reached out wanting to directly pry open the mechanical arms. Only after he had deformed the mechanical arms a bit did he remember that these things could be directly controlled with psychic power.

But before he could release his psychic power, with another "click" sound, the switch at the training room door was pressed by someone, and the mechanical arms retracted one by one.

The deformed mechanical arms experienced some minor jamming while retracting, clanging noisily several times before barely withdrawing back into the wall.

Audrose felt the scared stiff little slave up and down. Only after confirming his bones were fine did he let out a slight sigh of relief.

There were some bruises pressed into his wrists. He wasn't sure if there were any on his waist. Avid was still here. He would send him away in a bit and then apply medicine for the little slave.

Audrose held the person's shoulders and asked him with his head lowered: "Why did you come here alone?"

Although the mecha training room's system was very secure and he had activated the human body protection program, even if the little slave accidentally triggered some switch it wouldn't pose a major danger. However, everything here was made of extremely hard high-grade alloy. With how fragile the little slave's body was, if he bumped into anything he could easily get injured. That's why Audrose had taken him along when leaving.

Su Duan was dejected: "I just remembered there was a spot I didn't wipe and wanted to wipe it clean. I'm sorry."

Audrose rubbed his head: "It's fine, it's not a big issue. Just don't secretly come here alone again in the future."

Su Duan nodded. His slender fingers lightly hooked onto his wrist as his moist black eyes obediently looked at him. He compliantly said: "I know - ah!" Halfway through speaking, his eyes suddenly widened as if seeing something strange.

Audrose turned his head to look. Avid's spirit beast had come out again at some unknown time and was sneakily standing behind him. Its emerald green eyes were narrowed slyly as it extended its big head over, its target clearly moving towards his little slave.

Audrose: "..."

"A-vid!"

A dragon with a physique even more gigantic than Avid's spirit beast suddenly appeared in the training room. It used its cold blue eyes to stare unkindly at the spirit beast in front of it that had come from the same nest as itself. Then it mercilessly slapped the fellow trying to touch its possession on the head with its wing that had bony spikes.

......

Half a minute later, Prince Avid who had been clearly thrown out by his furious older brother and his own spirit beast were staring at each other with wide eyes at the training room entrance. The two pairs of identically translucent emerald green eyes faced each other, like magnified mirror images.

Avid solemnly reprimanded his spirit beast: "It's all your fault."

The spirit beast snorted at him disdainfully, as if saying: "Stupid thing, aren't I just you?"

Avid: "..." Unable to refute.

A few seconds later, the playful expression on his face faded slightly, replaced by a hint of deep thought in his eyes.

His spirit beast had sensed an extremely obvious scent of his older brother's spirit beast on that black-haired slave, which is why it subconsciously wanted to sniff him.

That scent was really too strong. Perhaps his older brother whose spirit beast had some issues wasn't aware of this point. But from his perspective as a bystander, what he sensed was completely an animal's instinctive marking behavior. That black-haired slave's entire body was almost completely covered by the scent of Audrose's spirit beast.

And... it had been a long time since he had seen Audrose's emotions fluctuate this intensely.

This might be a breakthrough point, Avid thought as he rubbed his faintly aching head.

Injuries sustained by the spirit beast would be reflected on the person. Just now his spirit beast had been pressed down and beaten by his older brother's, which was about equivalent to him getting pummeled by Audrose...

......

Inside the training room, after chasing away the annoying nestmate dragon, the massive spirit beast was still not done being angry. Its scales were slightly flared up as it anxiously paced back and forth in the training grounds.

Audrose half squatted down and silently lifted up Su Duan's top, carefully spraying his waist with repair fluid until those red marks and blue bruises all turned fair and unblemished again before putting his clothes back down. He then went to roll up his sleeves and pant legs, treating the injuries on his joints as well.

Su Duan hugged his neck, curiously looking at that dragon pacing around the training grounds.

That night, up until the very end, he had only seen a pair of icy blue eyes and hadn't seen what its whole body looked like.

Although the system told him it was a Western dragon, the feeling of imagining it and seeing it with his own eyes was completely different.

This dragon was over a dozen times his height by estimate. Its form was slender and streamlined yet not lacking in a sense of power. Its coiled muscles could be seen as it moved. Its entire body was black. Its thick tail dragged behind it, covered in daunting bony spikes. The wings on its two sides were slightly spread open, the joints protruding with sharp bony spikes.

It was really huge, so huge that Su Duan wondered how it had managed to squeeze such a big head into his room last night.

The dragon circled the training grounds twice before the flared scales on its body slightly subsided. It paced to behind Audrose and lowered its gigantic head, lightly sniffing near Su Duan's head. The exhaled airflow brushed against Su Duan's cheeks, carrying a familiar scent.

After treating all the marks on Su Duan, Audrose stood up. Su Duan also naturally let go.

His spirit beast took the chance to shove him aside with its butt.

It used its cold muzzle to prod Su Duan's back, making him walk in its direction. Then it lay down on the spot, all the bony spikes on its body retracted. Its tail circled to the front, completely enveloping the tiny black-haired slave within its territory.

The dragon carefully extended its head, its beautiful icy blue eyes reflecting Su Duan's somewhat frail figure. It gently touched him with its cool nose.