Work Prophet
Chapter 167 - 15 Dragon Biology Analysis

Chapter 167: Chapter 15 Dragon Biology Analysis

Li Yu found a relatively clear angle of the Black Dragon in the video, took a screenshot, saved it, and then printed it out with a Polaroid.

He had it delivered to Rock Snow City by someone from the Arias family to ask for help.

Meanwhile, he didn’t remain idle either. After finishing work, he ate dinner, completed his daily fitness routine, and then went home and turned on his computer.

This opponent was unlike any he had faced before, and Li Yu knew very little about it; so far, he only had a piece of video footage.

This was obtained through the life-threatening efforts of two Dragon Seeking Teams, who paid a tragic price, almost being completely wiped out.

Given the terrifying strength and cunning intelligence demonstrated by the dragon in the video, Li Yu guessed that it would be difficult to gather any more useful information thereafter.

He didn’t like this feeling.

It was like fighting a skirmish shrouded in the fog of war, not knowing the types or numbers of the enemy troops, which made it hard to make many specific preparations before the battle.

Victory or defeat was all down to luck.

Although he possessed an immortal body and could restart on the opposing side if he lost, the followers and resources he had accumulated might well be lost.

After so much effort to get his religious organization on the right track, Li Yu certainly didn’t want to start from scratch all over again.

So, it was best to resolve this crisis smoothly.

And to find a solution, he first needed a thorough understanding of the problem.

The video brought back by Jude was undoubtedly very precious, but clearly, one video wasn’t enough.

Li Yu typed "dragon" into the Google search bar and then hit enter.

In the search results, he found the Wikipedia page for "Dragon (Western)," clicked on it, and skimmed from top to bottom. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of use.

It must be said that dragons have a rather high rate of appearance in various myths and legends.

For example, in Greek mythology, dragons appear as guardians of the Golden Apple, and in Anglo-Saxon mythology, dragons become Beowulf’s adversaries, perishing together with this great hero.

In Celtic mythology, the Red Dragon represents the Britons, while the White Dragon symbolizes the Saxons. The victory of the Red Dragon over the White Dragon signifies that the Britons will eventually drive away the detested Saxon invaders. Subsequently, the Red Dragon simply becomes a symbol of Wales, appearing on the Welsh national flag.

In Nordic mythology, there are many famous dragons, such as Nidhogg, who gnaws at the World Tree bringing about the twilight of the gods, Jormungand, who encircles the world, and Fanir, who was transformed from a dwarf.

Apart from this, these creatures also appear in Slavic mythology.

As for Chinese mythology, there are even more stories involving dragons, but the dragons in China are clearly not the same species as those in the West.

Although both are called dragons, the differences between them are probably greater than those between the red panda and the giant panda. Li Yu still focused primarily on Western dragons, although Westerners themselves have great discrepancies in how they describe dragons.

For example, in ancient Greece, most dragons were depicted without wings or legs, but could secrete venom. However, in Babylonian mythology, dragons resembled qilins with lion’s feet, eagle’s claws, scaled bodies, and scorpion stings on their tails.

Li Yu browsed some information online and discovered that the creature in the swamp appeared most similar to the dragon described in the epic poem "Beowulf."

Slender in build, capable of flight, and able to breathe fire, the presence of venom in its teeth had yet to be verified by Li Yu and the imaging data brought back by Jude did not reveal anything conclusive either; so for now, it remained an open question.

This description is quite typical of Western dragons in current popular literature and film.

However, in these fictional works or mythologies, dragons often appear alongside magic or are themselves creatures endowed with divine power.

Yet, on Bratis Road, there is no existence of magic, at least according to Hephaestus; all universes selected by the Third Era that could produce and harvest belief do not deviate more than 5% from the universe in which modern humans live.

The various chemical and classical physical rules still apply.

According to Li Yu’s personal experience over the past month, he had not seen any humans or creatures capable of wielding magic.

Although this Black Dragon looked very similar to the dragons in "Game of Thrones," Li Yu still preferred to analyze it from a biological perspective rather than draping it in a cloak of magic.

It would be best if he could find some exploitable weaknesses in its physical structure.

Therefore, Li Yu decided to change his approach, not seeking clues from mythologies, but rather trying to find answers from existing creatures.

He closed his eyes and replayed the video footage he had received during the day once again.

According to Jude’s description, the dragon they encountered had a length of seven meters; on Earth, the only reptiles that come close to this size are saltwater crocodiles.

However, while saltwater crocodiles are long, their physic is far different from that of the Black Dragon,

and more crucially, the dragon they saw was capable of flight; so now the question arises, how does such a massive creature take off from the ground?

Li Yu scoured through all known flying creatures on Earth and couldn’t find a single one within this size range.

The heaviest bird on Earth is the North African ostrich, standing at three meters tall and weighing 300 kilograms, it has completely lost its ability to fly.

But if you look back further in history, all the way back to the Cretaceous period,

from 84 million years ago to 65 million years ago, there was the largest flying creature known to man - the Wind God Pterosaur.

With a wingspan of over eleven meters and an impressive weight of approximately 500 kilograms, it could prey on tyrannosaurus and was the undisputed dominator of the skies.

Li Yu thereafter reviewed the scientific literature on the Wind God Pterosaur, which addressed the ongoing debates among researchers about how it was able to fly.

It’s widely believed in academia that the Wind God Pterosaur might have relied on updrafts, or used ground effect for long-distance flights or altitude gains, and it’s also suggested that the atmospheric density during the Cretaceous period might have been higher than now..."

One particular theory caught Li Yu’s attention, suggesting that when most animals take off, they cannot rely solely on wing flapping but need to push off from the ground with their hind legs, providing upward thrust.

Li Yu recalled the video footage Jude brought back, especially the scene where the Black Dragon was taking off; the creature indeed had a coiled leg thrust action, using its well-developed muscles for that purpose.

In other words, if the dragon’s hind legs were injured, does it mean it would lose its ability to take off?

Li Yu noted this point down.