Cannon Fodder To Villainess

🏮80. Appetite

Amber looked at the egg and cringed, while pulling out her one of three remaining jugs of refined mana water. She hated doing this, but there was no helping it. She didn't think she'd have enough mana right now to satisfy a baby dragon without it. She tilted the bottle up and guzzled it until she felt like her skin was tight from her mana level being too high. It felt like water under her skin was swelling her out. She looked at her swollen fingers. They were dimly lit from within, with pulsing, and colorless light.

She took a deep breath, in and out to steady her nerves. This was it. This was the moment she'd been waiting for since coming to this world. This was a huge step towards changing her fate.

Amber held onto the handle of the jug with her right hand and held out her left hand towards the egg. She had initially intended to push out a small steady stream of mana towards the egg, but once it was released, her mana acted like a large inflated ball that had been held under the surface of a pond. A thick explosion of colorless light shot out from Amber's palm. It was like a broken fire hydrant, knocking her backwards, and off of her feet. Her head bounced off the floor, but still her mana continued to pour out.

Amber looked back up at the dragon egg in the pod. She saw that the pod had not only broken, but the egg had also stopped leaking green puffs of smoke. The dragon egg had not only accepted her mana, but was in the process of trying to forcefully suck it out of Amber faster. The curved stream of mana coming from Amber's hand slowly straightened, until there was no curve at all. Amber felt a painful ache in her arm and a strong tugging sensation, causing the already gushing mana to come out even faster. Her whole body started dragging across the floor while her mana was tugged from her arm. She could no longer bend her arm into any other angle or slow down her mana in any way. At this rate she would pass out and die from mana exhaustion.

While she slid across the floor, she felt a tickling sensation come from the center of her right palm. She glanced at her right hand, holding the jug, and saw a thin wisp of mana pulled out from that palm too. The greedy little baby dragon had sensed that her other palm was another source of her mana. So it had started to forcefully suck her mana up from that hand too.

Amber's eyes widened and she quickly set down the jug. She reached into her space bag and pulled out an acupuncture needle. Placing the needle between her teeth, she stabbed herself in the right arm. The wisp of mana coming from that hand immediately disappeared once she blocked her right hand's mana path. If the baby dragon had managed to get her other palm to gush out mana too, she wouldn't have been able to use either of her arms anymore.

The white swirls on the dragon egg shell pulsed and then increased the pull on Amber's left arm again. The joints in Amber's left arm started to separate. Then she reached out and grabbed the jug with her right arm again. She started to chug the refined mana water again. Once she felt like her body would pop from mana, she stopped drinking. She took a deep breath and coughed. The flow of mana coming out from her hand had increased enough so that the baby dragon stopped tugging at her mana and she stopped sliding across the floor.

This continued back and forth for hours. She guzzled refined mana water until she felt like she would pop and then had her mana sucked out. Any time her mana flow started to slow down, she'd be pulled across the floor.

By the time she was done, Amber was worn out. She stood up with shaking legs and brushed herself off. She cautiously touched the shell of the dragon egg with just her right hand at first, just in case it decided to start sucking out mana again. Amber's hand touched the dragon egg. It felt like a large rock that had been sitting in the sunlight on a hot summer's day. The feel of the egg reminded Amber of going to the beach and sitting on rocks near the shore. She was reminded that she hadn't gone on a vacation since she'd entered this world, not even once. She decided then and there that as soon as she was able to get some free time, she'd set up a nice little vacation. She rubbed the shell, feeling a sense of peace and calm wash over her. In return she could hear a quiet sound like purring coming from the inside of the egg. Then she heard a cute little burp.

"I can already tell that you're going to be quite a handful," Amber said while petting the egg.

While Amber was petting the egg, she felt a sharp prick on the tip of her finger. Then a swirling black and white light traveled under her skin and up to her earlobe. It rested on her right earlobe in the form of a yin-yang symbol. Then the dragon egg floated up into the air and settled into Amber's arms. Amber's eyes widened when she realized that the baby dragon was capable of levitation while still inside its shell. Amber looked down at the egg and wrapped her arms around it. She could hear the strange purring noise become louder. It was kind of cute in a way.

"How did you get in here and what are you doing with my egg?" said a male voice with a slurred undertone.

Amber looked up and saw bright red hair above emerald green eyes. It was Duke Dreyfus, except that one side of his face looked like it was a wax figure that had been melted.