Chapter 40: True Dragon Armor: Preparing to Return

After Turs was reduced to ash, a field of gray light particles remained.

These particles, under the pull of cosmic law, merged into Fang Shi’s body.

“You have won the Equal Duel Arena.”

“You have received the reward of the Equal Duel Arena.”

“Drawing reward….”

“Reward draw complete.”

“You have obtained the special ability: [True Dragon Armor II].”

“[True Dragon Armor II]: Your innate armor equals your Life Level +1.”

The data stream of the Equal Duel Arena ended here.

Fang Shi’s pupils dilated—he actually drew this ability.

“Turs, you really are a good guy, no, a good dragon.”

“I thought you’d be erased by cosmic law, and using Full Revival later would be a waste.”

“I never expected you’d gift me such a powerful ability.”

True Dragon Armor is a unique ability of the dragon race.

It is also the source of their immense defensive power.

They do not need to wear armor like humanoid beings; as their biological level rises, their defense naturally strengthens.

After reaching second rank, aside from armor crafted from special materials,

no armor surpasses the natural armor of a dragon.

Yet Fang Shi harbored a doubt: dragons possess scales.

Combined with increased body size and thickened scales, their armor can infinitely improve.

But he was a pure-blooded human, with no exotic bloodlines—how would this ability manifest in him?

But this was not the end; another stream of data flashed across his attribute panel.

“Detected similar ability: [Innate Armor I].”

“Ability fusing….”

“You have obtained [True Dragon Armor III].”

“[True Dragon Armor III]: Your innate armor equals your Life Level +2.”

Immediately, a startling transformation began.

“Ahh!”

Fang Shi couldn’t help but cry out—he had intended to stay silent.

But this transformation was excruciating, exceeding his pain threshold.

At the microscopic level, layers of dense hexagonal cells began forming on his skin’s surface.

Like a honeycomb, stacking into hexagonal columns.

Gradually, the change spread to the dermis and subcutaneous tissue.

They fused with the epidermis, forming a powerful defensive layer covering his entire body.

This microscopic transformation was undeniably excruciating.

Cells died within moments, then regenerated just as quickly.

More agonizing and itchy than ant torture.

Yet externally, Fang Shi merely appeared with skin blazing red as fire, sweat pouring like rain.

Like he had just endured a sauna.

“I—”

Before Fang Shi could curse, his mouth began to ache—he couldn’t close it, only gape silently.

True Dragon Armor’s transformation spared no part of him.

For a man, the mouth was merely an appetizer; the lower body was the true trial.

Fang Shi collapsed with a thud, lying motionless as a corpse, too pained to move.

Only occasionally did his muscles twitch involuntarily during the great transformation, proving he still lived.

He simply closed his eyes and endured in silence.

After an unknown length of time, the pain lessened slightly, and Fang Shi finally opened his eyes.

The scene before him had already shifted—he was back in the dim underground palace.

“Crack! Pop!”

Fang Shi stood up, stretched his limbs, and his joints and muscles crackled loudly.

The transformation wasn’t fully complete, but the pain was now bearable enough to move.

Even so, Fang Shi had already sensed the potential of this body.

For during the Equal Duel Arena,

under the influence of cosmic law, he had briefly possessed a True Dragon body.

In that form, he had used Double Force without damage.

Though True Dragon Armor was not a True Dragon body, it at least carried partial power.

And Fang Shi’s True Dragon Armor was Level 3—stronger than Turs’s—perhaps he could now use Double Force without damage.

Not to mention the innate armor provided by True Dragon Armor itself.

This greatly enhanced Fang Shi’s defensive power.

In a world teeming with peril, this was especially vital.

Armor was good, but it severely reduced mobility.

Reduced mobility meant reduced burst power.

Yet without armor, he could only dodge when facing monsters.

His margin for error was too low—if he slipped and got hurt, his combat power plummeted.

Now that his defense had increased, his combat power surged accordingly.

This meant he could employ riskier tactics, even trade blows when necessary to kill enemies.

“Thankfully, this transformation didn’t grow dragon scales or anything—I still look the same.”

Though Fang Shi didn’t mind if it boosted combat power.

After all, before his rebirth, humans desperate to survive underwent far stranger modifications—he was numb to it.

But maintaining a human appearance was still preferable.

Even if beneath it, he was now utterly different.

Yet it remained proof he had once been human.

…

“Hurry up, are you even useful? Why are you so slow?”

Xiao Xi’s eyes welled with tears as she gazed at the bald giant before her.

But the bald giant was unmoved.

He spat: “Crying won’t help. Finish today’s work before you eat.”

As a gym coach, he had no shortage of women throwing themselves at him.

Xiao Xi’s modest looks, combined with her neglected appearance after being exploited by Fang Shi, meant nothing to him.

“Brother Zhao, we’re lucky—we actually found this treasure.”

A young man with glasses beside Brother Zhao said.

“Hah! If it weren’t for Xiao Qian’s cleverness in extracting their secrets, I wouldn’t have dared this.”

Brother Zhao grabbed a beer from beside him and gulped it down.

Though not chilled, in the fourth day of the apocalypse, it was a rare luxury.

Their group came from the same gym—either coaches or trainees.

After the apocalypse, they naturally banded together.

And because Brother Zhao’s group had relatively high base stats,

they thrived from the start, unlike other survivors who had to fight desperately to kill zombies.

Thus, they cautiously survived until the fourth day.

But on the fourth day, heaven and earth changed—danger had become incomparably worse.

Their situation deteriorated rapidly.

Fortunately, last night, Fang Shi caused a huge commotion.

The traps they had carefully laid drew no Firewing Birds.

Having grown tired of hunting zombies, Brother Zhao’s group noticed this change.

They realized something extraordinary had occurred near Fang Shi.

In the silent, pitch-black night, bird cries and crimson light were unmistakable.

Someone in the group speculated that all the Firewing Birds had flown there, and the sky’s glow kept drawing more.

That place must harbor immense power.

Driven by the desire to band together for safety,

they began cautiously traveling through the night.

As expected, there were no Firewing Birds.

Just a few corpses were no match for them.

Yet, just one building away, dawn arrived.

The first assault came; Zhao Ge and his group sensed something was wrong.

They quickly slipped into the adjacent building.

Otherwise, if they had only started traveling today, they would have been wiped out within a hundred meters.

But even so, to reach this building, they had lost five companions.

Then they met Xiao Xi and Zhai Yan.

Through communication, they learned what had happened yesterday.

And they understood that Fang Shi had left.

Even though Xiao Xi and his group had kept their guard, not revealing the purpose of the Firewing Bird corpses.

But Zhao Ge’s group weren’t fools—they couldn’t help but touch the Firewing Bird corpses.

And so, this happened.

Xiao Xi and Zhai Yan got new superiors on the top floor and began their new day’s labor: cooking.

Zhao Ge’s reasoning was simple: since you two are too afraid to fight outside, how can you avoid working?

After the Firewing Birds finish eating, won’t they still have to go hunting?

That’s right—Zhao Ge’s group were going to hunt Firewing Birds.

Because they had long realized: in this apocalypse, only self-rescue matters.

First came the corpses, then Firewing Birds—what enemies would come after?

If there were no stronger enemies, what use would the attribute panel be?

If you don’t kill monsters and level up quickly, death is inevitable.

Of course, they wouldn’t charge blindly.

Humanity’s greatest strength is wisdom—you must prepare traps before beginning a hunt.

Otherwise, it’s suicide.

…

“Piercing Attack activated.”

“You dealt 3 damage to the target.”

“Piercing Attack activated.”

“You dealt 20 damage to the target’s energy core.”

“Target received fatal damage.”

“Target died.”

“Extracting target’s soul energy—you gained 210 experience points and 21 survival points.”

With this stream of data, the last Earth Elemental finally fell before Fang Shi’s hands.

After obtaining True Dragon Armor III, Fang Shi’s combat power rose another level.

He had already been able to face four Earth Elementals at once; now it was no issue at all.

Fang Shi had confirmed that this body could now bear 80% of Double Force without damage.

This was a qualitative leap.

So eliminating the remaining Earth Elementals was effortless.

“Experience: 5352”

It was a pity—Turs was killed by cosmic force, so the kill wasn’t credited to Fang Shi.

But it didn’t matter—the dungeon’s completion reward was still coming.

And the reward was practical: experience points.

“Exploration Rate: 110%”

Especially since Fang Shi’s exploration rate had already exceeded the maximum cap.

When he encountered the Giant Scorpion Bandits, his exploration rate had already reached 100%.

It seemed the system judged the dungeon’s final trial to be the battle against the Bandits.

As for Turs, he belonged to a hidden map—very few could face him.

Of course, after other Blue Star survivors entered as teams.

Their first encounter was with the Dogmen.

Though Dogmen weren’t powerful, their traps were deadly.

Inexperienced teams easily fell victim to accidents.

Eventually, more and more Dogmen gathered.

Even if one could avoid triggering Dogmen traps and sneak into their ritual hall.

Conflict with the Bandits was still unavoidable.

The exchange between both sides was never one-sided domination like Fang Shi’s.

Thus, Fang Shi’s exploration rate was impossible to replicate.

“Wait. Rest until time runs out and complete the quest.”

Fang Shi found a spot and lay down.

As for Turs’s treasure—that useless junk wasn’t worth the effort.

The most precious Summoning Ring was already in his hand.

The only regret was the vanished twenty-sided die.

That artifact, capable of reshaping heaven and earth and creating at will, was truly a divine relic.