Chapter 42: Four Years

One morning, the breeze was gentle.

Black Fort, Dragon Nest.

Lai Ang stopped his training, and the broad dragon wings on his back, spanning over ten meters, unfurled freely.

Sunlight poured down from above, coating the black, steel-like dragon scales with a thin layer of golden sheen.

Powerful muscles lay hidden beneath the scales, rising and falling rhythmically with each breath.

"It's been a while since I relaxed." Lai Ang thought, then left the nest and strolled leisurely within the Dragon Fort.

Along the way, he happened upon several black dragons basking in the sun; upon seeing Lai Ang, their lazy postures straightened, they slightly lowered their heads, and their dragon eyes showed reverence,

"Chief."

Lai Ang merely nodded casually and continued walking.

As he passed a room, Lai Ang felt a sudden urge, and an invisible Mage's Hand shoved the heavy door open.

The room was spacious, its vaulted ceiling reaching seven or eight zhang high—even a two-zhang giant would not find it cramped.

A black dragon, noticeably larger than Lai Ang, stood upright before a metal table littered with colorful ores, solutions, and tools.

Hearing the door open, the black dragon turned its head with some displeasure, about to snap, "Who's making noise?" but its words cut off upon seeing the newcomer, surprise flickering in its dragon eyes,

"Big brother!"

This oddly behaving black dragon was none other than Lai Ang's younger brother—Ai Di.

Lai Ang stepped closer, examined Ai Di's research, and asked with a curious grin, "Have you successfully researched magic steel?"

"Big brother, I was just about to tell you about this." Ai Di eagerly snatched a metal canister with his dragon claw, handed it to Lai Ang, and said, "Take a look—this is magic steel."

Lai Ang lowered his gaze to the canister and saw it filled with a pitch-black, mercury-like liquid.

"Is magic steel liquid?" Lai Ang felt a flicker of joy; he never expected that, on a whim, handing over the "Steel Enchantment Alchemy Secret Technique" to Ai Di would actually yield magic steel, yet he was also quite curious.

After being questioned about his expertise, Ai Di spoke with confidence, explaining to his elder brother, "This is the initial form in which magic steel is refined; to turn it into solid metal, one merely needs to add a drop of monster blood."

Saying this, Ai Di picked up a sealed stone jar from the table, opened it, and poured a few drops of thick blood into the liquid magic steel.

Upon contact with the blood, the liquid magic steel trembled slightly, as if undergoing violent change within, and Ai Di immediately poured it into a cubic mold.

Sizzle—

Within ten seconds, the black liquid magic steel solidified inside the mold into a neat black cube of metal.

Ai Di took the square metal out of the mold, handed it to his elder brother, and chuckled, "Big brother, try this magic steel's properties—see if it satisfies you."

Lai Ang caught the ten-centimeter cube of magic steel with his dragon claw, then clenched his claw.

Creak— the dragon's strength, powerful enough to easily tear apart a wild ox, pressed upon the magic steel.

Yet what surprised Lai Ang was that, despite such immense force, the magic steel showed not the slightest deformation.

"Hard enough." Lai Ang narrowed his dragon eyes, surging dragon power bursting forth from within, while the Black Water Battle Qi, having reached the Fourth Rank and turned liquid, coated his claw.

Creak-creak— this time, with Lai Ang exerting nearly all his strength, the magic steel finally began to twist and deform significantly.

Soon, the originally cubic magic steel turned into an irregular lump of metal resting on his claw. Witnessing this, Ai Di's heart pounded, his eyes widened, his dragon eyes bulged, and he couldn't help but say,

"A mere Fourth Rank monster, facing such a large piece of Third Rank magic steel, would at most cause only a slight deformation."

Ai Di gazed at his elder brother, his reverence growing deeper.

It had been four years since he first reached the summit and became the strongest in the Dragon Fort; yet who would have thought that in just those four short years, Big Brother Lai Ang's strength would have grown so formidable.

"Indeed, it's hard." Lai Ang looked at the deformed lump of metal in his claw and remarked.

Lai Ang paid no heed to Ai Di's astonishment.

A Fourth Rank monster is a Fourth Rank monster; Lai Ang is Lai Ang.

Although the Dragon Race's biological rank had not yet broken through to the Fourth Rank, the Black Water Battle Qi had already reached the Fourth Rank not long ago.

A dragon's body at the Third Rank peak, combined with the Black Water Battle Qi of the Fourth Rank—far stronger than that of a small creature by an unknown multiple—means even an ordinary Fourth Rank giant dragon might not possess such might, let alone a common monster.

"I recall that besides hardness, magic steel also possesses sharpness and anti-magic properties, right?" Lai Ang inquired.

Ai Di snapped out of his shock at the magic steel's deformation, nodded, and said, "Not bad, but these two traits need to be forged into a weapon to be fully realized."

"Good." Lai Ang, quite pleased, handed the deformed magic steel to Ai Di, offered a word of encouragement to keep pushing, then leisurely left the room.

While pondering, he glanced at his current status panel. —【Black Dragon】: Lai Ang·Xi Er Wa Na Si

【Dragon Race Rank (Biological Rank)】: Third Rank mastered spell types: Dragon Might (Second Rank 2), Acidic Dragon Breath (Second Rank 1)-【Caster Rank】: Third Rank mastered spells:

Three-ring Spells: Frenzy (0), Chain Water Cannon (0); Two-ring Spells: Water Magic Cannon (max level, +1 casting speed, +1 spell damage); One-ring Spells: Water Shield (1), Mage's Eye (2), Qi Shield (1), Mage's Hand (1); Zero-ring Tricks: Small Water Ball Technique (max), Weak Power Augmentation (max).

Black Dragon Contemplation Method: Second Rank 8 (3/50)-【Warrior Rank】: Fourth Rank Black Water Battle Qi: Fourth Rank 0 (2/500)-Over the past four years, the greatest change has been the Black Water Battle Qi rising from Third Rank to Fourth Rank, granting Lai Ang a massive boost in strength.

Next came the Dragon Race Rank; at this very moment, Lai Ang's total length reached seven meters, his wingspan stretching nearly thirteen meters.

He could already be called a giant beast.

His spirit power broke through to the Third Rank, and after spending some scattered time, he learned two potentially useful Three-ring Spells.

"The Fourth Rank Black Water Battle Qi's nourishing effect on the dragon's body is more than double that of the Third Rank; before long, my Dragon Race biological rank should break through to the Fourth Rank." Lai Ang thought to himself.

Most giant dragons' strength can be estimated from their size.

Five to seven meters corresponds to the Third Rank.

Seven to twelve meters corresponds to the Fourth Rank.

But this is only a rough range; specifics depend on the dragon species, with different kinds varying slightly.

"Perhaps today, or perhaps in a month." Lai Ang speculated.

He suppressed his slightly restless mood, flapped his wings, and shot out of the Dragon Fort like a giant arrow, soaring freely across the skies of the Dragon Fort Plains.

When feeling bored, Lai Ang would use this to relax his mind.

After a long while, the black dragon finally descended from the sky and returned once more to the Black Fort's Dragon Nest.

(End of chapter)