Lead-gray clouds pressed down over the Quenchfire Highlands like shredded cotton. The first torrential rain of the season had lasted for three days and nights, with dense sheets of rain pouring down from the sky as if the heavens themselves were overflowing.
The Young Dragon soared through the curtain of rain.
Raindrops struck his body, which seemed cast from steel. As soon as they landed on those dense dragon scales or spikes, they shattered into watery mist, trickling through the gaps in his scales and finally sliding off his sharp claws and strong, thick tail.
In terms of body length...
Garros's body measured thirteen meters from head to tail.
This was a length usually only seen in adolescent dragons. For a White Dragon, for instance, it would take a young adult dragon of fifty years to reach the same length as Garros.
And body length was only secondary.
His powerful and sturdy physique was far more thickset and ferocious than conventional understanding of Dragonkin. He looked like a Vicious Beast forged from steel and fire. If another thirteen-meter dragon stood beside him, they would look as thin as a hemp stalk; even a Red Dragon, most famous for its physique, would be compared to a'slender dragon' by contrast.
The spikes on his body hadn't become denser.
Instead, some continued to grow thicker, while others shrank and became sharper, making Garros look even more distinct than he did during his hatchling stage.
His life Rank had risen to 10.
This was roughly equivalent to a Young Gold Dragon over twenty years old.
As a long-lived species and giant lifeform, Dragonkin possessed many unique advantages, but they also had one weakness.
—A long growth period.
This seemed to be a common ailment for all long-lived species, not just Dragonkin.
In about three years, without even undergoing a long period of hibernation and relying solely on natural growth to increase by 1 Rank, it was already a quite impressive result.
If he could increase by 1 Rank every three years, Garros would reach Legendary status before even reaching adulthood.
However, such a possibility was low. The higher the life Rank, the more significant the progress and the slower the improvement. Those Advanced ancient dragons might only increase by 1 Rank every century or so.
The Wings of the Heavenly Comet did not surge with Qi; with a simple flap, they easily tore through the veil of wind and rain.
Garros flew in a straight line, charging directly into the heart of the thick clouds.
Silver-white flashes of lightning rolled within the leaden clouds. Those bolts were like trapped beasts, lashing out in all directions within their cloudy cage.
And when the Red-Iron Dragon entered the dark clouds...
As he raised his head in a dragon roar and swept his wings and tail...
The beast-like lightning seemed to find an opening, biting toward him from all directions.
Garros did not dodge or hide. He puffed out his chest, raised his head, and spread his wide wings to welcome the baptism of lightning.
When the first bolt of lightning struck his dragon horns, the entire sky seemed to tremble.
The Young Dragon's silhouette became transparent in the electric light. For a moment, one could see the path of the current rushing through his blood vessels—surging from his spine to the tip of his tail, finally exploding into countless tiny electric sparks on his wing membranes.
He deliberately used his claws to snatch at the brightest lightning snakes, letting the current burst between his talons.
An intense sensation of numbness surged from within his body.
But following that was excitement. The muscles beneath his scales tightened and bulged; fibers tensed and relaxed like steel wires over and over, bursting with power that surpassed his normal state.
Threads of golden lightning lit up from the gaps in Garros's scales.
First, they coiled around his dragon horns, turning the originally black-and-dark-red horns into a dazzling gold. Then, they gradually extended toward his back, neck, and chest. It was dense and shining, like a thick golden mane, with electric arcs dancing and flowing over his limbs and tail wings.
Zzt! Zzt!
Violent, dazzling golden lightning wrapped around his entire body.
Garros's body seemed to expand by a full circle. This golden, excited, and ferocious posture made his previously massive physique pale in comparison.
He stretched his body among the dark clouds, tumbling through the thunderstorm.
Every time lightning pierced his dragon body, the golden lightning on Garros grew a bit brighter. He seemed to have become a giant magnet, attracting the surrounding lightning to strike him again and again.
It was as if it wasn't the dragon enduring the lightning, but the lightning begging for the dragon's favor.
Until, with a 'crack,' cracks appeared on the Young Dragon's scales and they began to fracture, as if reaching a certain limit.
"Just a little bit more, and the evolution will be complete."
Garros carefully felt the sensation of electricity passing through the muscles in his body.
The clear electric sensation was like a tight web inside him, only a few threads away from being completely interwoven and formed.
When that time came, he would no longer need to rely on thunderstorms.
Garros did not rush for success and stopped. He left the dark clouds, still enveloped in lightning, tucked his wings for a dive, slowed down as his altitude dropped, and landed steadily.
"This evolution isn't obvious in appearance; it's mainly located in the deep muscle tissues. It can burst golden lightning from within the body to further stimulate the physique, granting an all-around boost to attributes."
"For now, let's call this state the Supercharged Excited State."
"The only downside is that the lightning from the Frenzied State will quickly overload my Explosive Scales. It's not ideal for both to exist simultaneously, but that's not a major issue. The Supercharged Excited State can be activated at more critical moments."
He stretched his wings in the rain and thought silently.
Based on his physical state, he estimated that after his body had adapted and rested, one more session of this tempering would fully complete this evolution.
By then, he would have one more trump card.
If adventurers came to crusade against Garros...
After they painstakingly broke through his buffer of Explosive Scales and thought they were about to win, a sharp, excited electric sound would ring out. His entire body would light up with dense, dazzling lightning, making him stronger than before as he began a majestic second phase.
If they were lucky enough to withstand Garros's second phase...
When the engine-like roar of his heart resounded through the clouds, he still had the third phase of the Blood Burst Technique.
Without perfect preparation and powerful experts, it would be very difficult to kill Garros. He possessed a collection of talents that, if placed on any other dragon, even a single one would be a massive advantage.
The only slight flaw was that the Blood Burst Technique was the effect of an Alchemical Item.
As Garros grew, the boost from the Blood Burst Technique became limited, though the side effects also decreased accordingly, lowering the burden on his body.
Garros estimated that if he used the Blood Burst Technique more for training, he might have a chance to complete a corresponding adaptive evolution, just as using the lightning tail ring at the start had acted like a key to unlock this Frenzied State evolution.
"Praise the Dragon Lord!"
"Loyalty!"
The warband armies stationed at the Quenchfire Highlands knelt one after another, praising Garros's greatness.
Garros gestured for them to rise and continue their business.
His gaze swept over the monster leaders, noting that most of their equipment carried a faint, diamond-like brilliance. They were quite extraordinary.
A year ago.
On a whim, Garros had placed the Diamond Giant's diamond core into the Symbiotic Pool.
This extremely high-quality core absorbed the essence of other Ores in the Symbiotic Pool, continuously producing high-quality diamonds. The weapons and armor forged from them were of superb quality and were used as rewards.
He raised his head slightly and looked around.
Garros could clearly see that the number of warband units stationed at the Quenchfire Highlands had nearly doubled.
And it wasn't just the Quenchfire Highlands.
In all the pastures, mines, outposts, and other locations within the Molten Iron Clan's territory, the number of guards had increased.
Over the past three years, the Molten Iron Clan had developed rapidly. Through various means of absorption and conquest, they had unified almost all the scattered monster clans around the Scale-Earth Rift Road.
And this was only the beginning.
Except for the Ogres, whose growth period was slightly longer...
Those Gnolls, Kobolds, and Lizardfolk generally reached adulthood at nine or ten years old. Moreover, they had five or six offspring per litter, sometimes even more than ten.
Because they had established trade channels with merchant caravans...
Demand for various Ores and biological resources exceeded supply.
The Molten Iron Clan did not lack food.
In these three years, the number of newborn subjects had seen explosive growth. Furthermore, through influences from all sides, they greatly worshipped and admired Garros.
If nothing unexpected happened...
In a few more years, once this batch of subjects grew up, the scale of the Molten Iron Clan would expand even further.
PS: Asking for power stones.