Chapter 33: Ice Damage

Luo Si landed on the wasteland beyond the Iron Fir Hills, pinching the Silver Frost Ring between his talons; the ice core embedded in its face glowed with a faint blue light, its chill seeping through his scales even from afar.

He stared closely.

On the ring’s surface, he saw patterns resembling dragon scales.

And not just the ring—the necklace and wing rings bore the same dragon motifs.

This meant they were most likely crafted by a dragon alchemist, and the similarity in the dragon patterns suggested they were made by the same dragon.

“Did that copper dragon have a parent who was an alchemist?”

“It’s good to have backing—unlike me, all alone, forced to rely on myself.”

Luo Si shook his head, then pressed the ring against his tongue, mimicking the copper dragon’s method.

A stream of silver frost roared from his mouth, instantly freezing a half-meter-thick layer of ice on the rock wall thirty meters away.

He extended his foreclaw, cautiously reaching into the thick, lingering frost mist.

The moment his claw entered, frost patterns spread across its surface, and the cold crept up his limb, forming ice crystals on each scale.

The chill seeped through the gaps between his scales, freezing his skin and flesh like countless ice needles piercing and recoiling, sending sharp pain through him.

It felt as if he’d fallen into an ice hole—painful and numb.

“Just a light touch—and this ice damage is too punishing for me.”

Luo Si frowned.

There are four basic elemental energies.

Earth, water, wind, fire.

Ice, lightning, radiation—these are all variants derived from these fundamentals.

That means ice damage is a subtype of water damage.

Because he’d never had the chance to train specifically against it, Luo Si’s resistance to ice was normal for a fire dragon—ice attacks struck him with double the suppression damage.

“A barrel holds only as much water as its shortest stave allows.”

“This weakness severely limits my growth, leaving me vulnerable to targeted strikes.”

“Ice damage comes in many forms—I need to adapt early.”

Luo Si thought.

His blood, hot and boiling, surged rapidly through his body; the dark red patterns on his young red-iron scales glowed like molten lava, hissing as they vaporized the frost clinging to them.

Then.

Luo Si tested the Flowfire Wing Ring and the Watcher Necklace one by one.

The Flowfire Wing Ring enhanced speed and coated his wings in flame, boosting fire damage; the Watcher Necklace was purely defensive, capable of withstanding Luo Si’s full-force strike.

“The wing ring is good—its effect is similar to the tail ring. Maybe it can help me stimulate my wings toward adaptation and evolution.”

After repeated use of the tail ring, even without activating the lightning boost, Luo Si still felt a tingling numbness in his tail, occasional shocks like static electricity.

He speculated.

The enhancements from alchemical items were gradually being “remembered” by his body, quietly adapting and evolving toward that form.

Yet since no concrete evolutionary results had yet emerged,

Luo Si couldn’t confirm it—but he was certain these alchemical items did stimulate his body’s adaptation and evolution.

“The tail ring is lightning-based, and aside from my electric-fire breath, I have no lightning affinity—poor compatibility.”

“I’m inherently fire-based. If my theory’s right, this wing ring might be the first to trigger adaptation and evolution in my wings.”

After fully understanding the effects and strengths of the three alchemical items, night deepened.

Two moons hung high in the sky, bathing the land in clear moonlight.

Luo Si put away the alchemical items and walked toward the rock wall still coated in thick, unmelting ice; he slammed his claw down hard—ice shards flew in a flurry beneath his talons, leaving deep claw marks, yet the ice didn’t shatter outright.

“Hard enough—I like it.”

Luo Si’s eyes brightened.

The hardness of ordinary rock formations was no longer keeping pace with his training intensity.

The ice summoned by this ring was powerful—frozen as hard as steel, radiating a chilling cold, perfect for Luo Si’s current stage.

As for using the Silver Frost Ring to attack himself directly—

That method would be more efficient, but its power would inflict serious injury, placing Luo Si in danger.

He had no elders to protect him now; every action required forethought.

Next, Luo Si repeatedly slammed and struck the ice coating the rock wall.

He was hardening his scales and strengthening his muscles, while slowly adapting to ice damage.

It was a gradual process, impossible to rush—but as an immortal species, dragons had one thing in abundance: time, and Luo Si had always been patient.

Each time his body was invaded by the cold,

It felt like countless ice needles piercing through his flesh—excruciating pain.

Yet Luo Si was long accustomed to bodily suffering; he felt no distress, instead thinking silently that this pain was proof of his growth and evolution.

With this shift in thought,

The pain itself began to carry a faint thrill—pain and exhilaration intertwined, becoming the key to his relentless persistence.

Beneath the bright moonlight,

The young red-iron dragon trained alone, unseen by any.

Meanwhile,

Beneath the same moonlit sky,

The copper dragon Long Dai wept as she flew north across the Ser Wilds.

The Ser Wilds bordered the Eternal Frozen Tundra, so the further north she flew, the colder the air became.

Slowly,

As dawn broke and the first rays of morning light appeared, Long Dai reached the northern wilds where the air was neither cold nor hot; she circled once in the sky, folded her wings, and dove down into a valley surrounded by several peaks.

The air here was neither chilly nor warm.

Dense canopies of red maple trees stretched into a continuous sea; when the wind blew, the lush branches swayed like flames burning across the ground, a dazzling, beautiful sight.

Deep within the red maple forest, beside a stream, stood a three-story cottage.

Entirely crafted of metal, adorned with scattered flowers and vines, its design was exquisitely beautiful.

Outside, it appeared as a human man and woman, handsome and lovely, holding hands as they strolled along the stream, admiring flowers and playing in the water, smiling, their eyes filled with tender affection, love so thick it seemed ready to drip.

Whoosh!

A gust of wind swept through.

A juvenile copper dragon, nearly ten meters long, circled overhead, his shadow engulfing the couple.

Yet their faces showed no fear—instead, they waved at the copper dragon.

“Dad! Mom! I got robbed! All my alchemical items were stolen by a vile half-breed dragon!”

Long Dai landed before them, let out a wail, and burst into tears.

(End of Chapter)