Chapter 11

Having two bulls and several tons of meat stored is more than enough for Lai Ang and the two bulls to eat for a month.

Here, a month naturally means eating to one's fill, because being hungry only limits bodily development.

After returning to the dragon's nest, Lai Ang dispelled the Mage's Eye, prioritized eating, and after eating and drinking his fill, he returned to his dwelling and slept deeply.

Fighting with all his strength, constantly controlling the Mage's Eye to observe the surroundings, the mental power consumption was indeed not small, and Lai Ang was utterly exhausted.

After a sleep, upon waking, Lai Ang glanced at the panel.

【Black Water Battle Qi】 (First Rank) 【Level: 9 (10/20)】

"Black Water Battle Qi is already level nine; I don't know what changes will come after reaching level ten." Looking at the panel, Lai Ang thought to himself.

The zero-ring tricks he had learned earlier all max out at level ten and cannot be improved further.

But Black Water Battle Qi is different; it is a complete system, and can be cultivated up to the peak of the ninth rank.

"Once Black Water Battle Qi reaches level ten, will it continue to increase in level, reaching eleven, twelve, or will it be a rank breakthrough?" Lai Ang silently wondered.

Lai Ang felt it was the latter.

Level upgrades, such as the zero-ring tricks "Water Ball Technique" and "Weak Power Enhancement", mainly involve optimization and strengthening, because the trick itself contains limited arcane knowledge, with a set ceiling.

But Black Water Battle Qi is different; it is a battle qi art with an upper limit of the ninth rank.

"It's coming soon, just ten days away; wait." Lai Ang steadied his emotions.

He began studying another first-ring spell he had not yet learned, the "Aura Barrier".

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye nine days went by.

In the early hours before dawn on the ninth day, Lai Ang looked at the panel.

【Black Water Battle Qi】 (First Rank) 【Level: 9 (19/20)】

At dawn.

Experience +1.

The panel changed.

【Black Water Battle Qi】 (First Rank) 【Level: 10】

When Black Water Battle Qi reached level ten, Lai Ang felt the Black Water Battle Qi within his body begin to boil.

Like a vortex, the Black Water Battle Qi inside his body began to spin and coalesce.

With each rotation, the battle qi vortex grew smaller and its color became deeper.

The quality of the Black Water Battle Qi was improving.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, the restless battle qi within gradually calmed, though the vortex originally the size of a fist had shrunk by half.

Lai Ang knew this was a breakthrough.

He looked at the panel again.

【Black Water Battle Qi】 (Second Rank)

【Level: 0 (0/50)】

After reaching level ten, Black Water Battle Qi did not continue to level eleven but instead broke through the rank, reaching the second rank.

This matched Lai Ang's guess.

"Now my warrior class has entered the second rank, one step ahead of the mage class and the dragon race's level." A hint of joy flashed in Lai Ang's dragon eyes.

Now, according to rank classification, it is considered second rank.

The biological rank of dragons rises very slowly; Sai Jia, larger than Lai Ang, has still not reached second rank, and Lai Ang, being smaller, naturally has an even greater gap.

The mage's rank is limited by mental power; even with an auto-training slot that can hone mental power, it still requires sufficient time to improve. When Lai Ang eventually qualifies to learn second-ring spells, his mage rank will likely also be around second rank.

"Upgrading the second-rank Black Water Battle Qi by one level via auto-training takes fifty days." Lai Ang thought, then removed the black rune representing Black Water Battle Qi from the auto-training slot and replaced it with the first-ring spell Mage's Eye. Zero-ring tricks need only ten days of auto-training to gain a level, while first-ring spells take twenty days per level.

First, let's raise it a level or two, after all, the zero-level Mage's Eye has casting speed that's far too slow, control range too short, and its magical fluctuations are too obvious, making it easy to detect.

After arranging the auto-training slot's upgrade runes for the coming period, Lai Ang continued studying the first-ring spell he had not yet learned, the Aura Barrier.

Meanwhile, on the northern side of the Dark Marsh Forest, about several hundred kilometers from the dragon's nest.

Lai Ang and the three young dragons' longed-for dragon mother, Xi Er Wa Na Si, was facing off against three humans.

The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive and solemn.

That was Xi Er Wa Na Si's dragon majesty domain released to its limit.

Beings below third rank would find it difficult even to speak near the dragon majesty domain.

If it were an ordinary beast unnourished by magic or an ordinary human who had not cultivated extraordinary power, their spirit would likely collapse on the spot and they would die suddenly.

Xi Er Wa Na Si's orange-yellow dragon eyes coldly regarded the three humans.

One was a warrior clad in white armor, strong-built, emanating a powerful aura, vaguely opposing Xi Er Wa Na Si.

In his hand he held a white greatsword as wide as a door panel, dragon blood continuously dripping from the blade.

The deep sword scar on Xi Er Wa Na Si's dragon body was inflicted by this greatsword warrior.

The other two humans were one male and one female.

The male was bear-like, over two meters tall, holding only a large shield in his hand, with no weapon.

Or rather, the large shield is his weapon.

Finally, the female wore a yellow mage robe, obviously a spellcaster.

"Black dragon, today is your day of death."

From beneath the visor of the warrior wielding the white greatsword and wearing full white armor came a cold voice.

The next moment, the great battle erupted again.

A faint white light rose from the white-armored warrior's greatsword; the next moment, a white blade aura several meters long shot toward the black dragon perched in the distance.

Xi Er Wa Na Si flapped her wings and rose high into the sky, barely dodging the sweeping blade aura.

A earth-yellow boulder one meter in diameter suddenly plummeted from the sky toward Xi Er Wa Na Si.

Having expended more than half of its stamina, Xi Er Wa Na Si, covered head to toe in wounds, failed to dodge in time and was struck by the yellow earth boulder; the dragon scales on its back, already half shattered, broke further, and some torn flesh fell downward.

Though the yellow earth boulder appears small, it is actually a domineering sixth‑ring spell; under extreme magical condensation, the terrifying power it contains is enough to pierce a hill.

Of course, if Xi Er Wa Na Si were at its peak, the sixth‑ring spell could not hit it at all, could not cause such damage, and at most would barely breach its defenses.

But there are no 'ifs'.

After over twenty days of relentless pursuit and fighting, Xi Er Wa Na Si's strength had dwindled to less than half, and the dragon scales protecting its body were shattered even more.

Constantly bombarded by sword qi from swordsmen and locked onto from afar by mages, Xi Er Wa Na Si had no choice but to keep climbing higher.

A piercing cry of a raptor rang out from high above, and a blue giant eagle with a ten‑meter wingspan flew over, harassing Xi Er Wa Na Si.

This blue giant eagle is the magic beast contracted by a female spellcaster.

The blue giant eagle clearly knows it cannot match Xi Er Wa Na Si in strength, so it merely relies on speed, constantly dancing around it without closing in, using wind blades to drain its power.

The coordination of the three people and their magic beast is practically flawless.

The black dragon is like a lamb awaiting slaughter.

(End of chapter)