Chapter 37: The Temptation of the Dragon

The setting sun in the west has not yet extinguished, while the gray-blue sky in the east has already lowered its stars.

In the gap where light and dark tear at each other, Garos's wings burned with a layer of crimson flame as he soared across the sky, finally circling once before diving toward the foot of a certain desolate mountain.

The ground was covered with craters of varying depths.

The mountain body was riddled with traces of collapse and fragmentation.

Cracks resembling spiderwebs or lightning were densely packed, crisscrossing everywhere, almost omnipresent.

—This place is the training ground Garos newly chose for this period.

Because the location was relatively remote and surrounded entirely by barren mountains and wastelands lacking various resources, no powerful creatures roamed there.

As for the place he often visited before, where he encountered the Copper Dragon, he abandoned it just in case—for instance, if the aggrieved Copper Dragon brought its parents to seek revenge.

His wings folded, and the flame dissipated as the runes on the wing rings dimmed.

Having drunk the black oil, Garos shook his head and swayed, feeling his body filled with inexhaustible strength; thus, he took a deep breath, exhaled cold air from the Silver Frost Ring to freeze and harden the mountain body, and, as usual, crashed into it directly with his body.

It had been more than a week since the Earth Spider first brought back oil-soaked soil.

More than a week had passed.

During this period, because tunnels had already been excavated underground, the Earth Spiders returned faster than the first time, occasionally bringing back some oil-soaked soil, which Samantha's alchemy refined into the black oil that made Garos feel dizzy and exhilarated when he drank it; although the quantity was scarce and limited, it greatly improved Garos's training efficiency.

This week was equivalent to the previous month.

Combined with previous accumulation, the effort yielded returns.

He felt he was about to evolve; inside and outside his body, besides a tingling sensation, it seemed a ball of flame was burning; the most obvious change was that the edges of his originally gray-black buffer scales showed some gradient-like branding-iron red, not sharp but carrying high temperature, and they had become very fragile.

"It seems stimulated by the energy of the black oil, this set of buffer scales is evolving toward some unknown direction."

"Although it can still buffer recoil, it has become more brittle and easier to shatter."

"I don't know whether the upcoming evolution will be good or bad."

Garos thought silently in his heart.

He found it difficult to specifically control the direction of evolution, but so far, there had been no negative evolutions; feeling the gradually fragile buffer scales, Garos was not too worried; once the evolution was complete after some time, he would know its specific effects.

The Red Iron Young Dragon collided with the mountain body covered in solid ice, producing a dull sound like thunder.

Some of the outermost buffer scales on his body surface exploded and shattered; the flying fragments sliced through the solid ice, leaving deep marks.

The cold air radiating from the solid ice fell upon Garos and was rapidly evaporated by his high-temperature scale armor.

Accompanied by hissing sounds like water and fire clashing, cold and heat pressing against each other, a cloud of mist formed around him, enveloping the Red Iron Young Dragon inside, so only a scale or a claw could be glimpsed, appearing and disappearing.

Previously, every time he collided with the solid ice mountain body and ice chips or cold air touched his body, Garos always felt severe discomfort, a piercing cold pain like needle pricks.

But with this period of training.

The cold piercing pain still existed, but its impact had weakened somewhat.

He estimated that his ice resistance should have improved to some extent.

The last glow of the setting sun gradually faded, and the sky was completely covered by night; taking advantage of the fact that the black oil energy had not yet been exhausted, Garos continued to bury himself in training; dull collision sounds rose and fell, never ceasing in the ears, echoing in the night.

At the same time.

In the wilderness about ten kilometers from the Iron Fir Hills, on some nameless low hills, five adventurers stepped on the cracked ground, pushing forward into the depths of the wilderness.

Under the bright light of the twin moons, time slowly passed.

Soon, when the adventure party climbed over the last rock ridge, they all noticed the relatively tall hills covered with dense iron firs.

"The water in the storage ring is almost finished."

"The hills ahead can grow lush vegetation, so there should be a water source."

The blonde warrior licked his somewhat dry lips and said.

Exploring the wilderness is not an easy task; the group had encountered no fewer than ten battles, big and small, during this period; fortunately, they did not encounter too powerful fierce beasts or demons, so apart from adding some scratches or claw marks to their bodies and acquiring more dust-covered traces, they suffered no life-threatening injuries.

"Wait."

The spellcaster suddenly spoke, then took out a white crystal from his chest that was heating up and glowing red.

He spoke in an uncertain, somewhat fearful yet greedy tone: "In the hills ahead, there seems, seems to be a dragon-class aura."

Upon hearing this.

The other members of the adventure party's eyes all sharpened.

"Havon, are you sure?"

The blonde warrior lowered his voice and asked.

"My crystal has a magic to sense dragon-class auras; it is a magical artifact that emits a corresponding light warning when approaching a place where dragon-class auras remain."

The spellcaster Havon said: "Red light means it is a fire-element dragon."

Thinking of the power and various reputations of dragons, the white-robed priest whispered: "Then let's bypass this hill; if we encounter a powerful dragon, it would be terrible."

The spellcaster pondered: "Judging by the intensity of the crystal's flashing light, the dragon living here should not be too strong."

He did not hide his desire and greed, saying: "If it is a young dragon, or a weaker adolescent dragon, we all have a chance to hunt it down, even capture it alive."

"Whether to take a detour or go ahead to investigate, what are your thoughts?"

The rogue played with his dagger and said:

"You should have all heard that not long ago, an iron young dragon was offered to the little princess of the Lothren Federation, and the reward received is enough for an ordinary person to spend for ten lifetimes."

This matter spread widely outside.

The necromancer chuckled twice: "That iron young dragon was caught on the Cael Wilderness; there are many evil dragons nesting in this wilderness, so there are many young dragons surviving alone. I really want to catch a young dragon to turn into a flesh puppet; I will definitely hold it to sleep every day and arm and strengthen it with the best materials."

Every dragon means a vast amount of wealth.

After some discussion, the group could not resist the temptation of 'wealth' and decided to approach carefully first to investigate the Iron Fir Hills; if they confirmed the target was not powerful, they would attempt a sneak attack and capture.

If the opponent was not there, that would be even better; they could set some traps in advance.

Under the night sky, the group slowly approached the Iron Fir Hills.

When they reached a certain distance, they stopped; the rogue took out an alchemical artifact similar to a telescope and used it to gaze intently at the Iron Fir Hills, observing carefully.

More than ten minutes later.

The Wanderer's body suddenly jolted, and her breathing grew heavy.

In her field of vision, the unmistakable reflection of a red juvenile dragon appeared — its little rear end stuck up in the air, its claws scraping at the ground over who-knew-what, its dragon scales vivid as flames against the night, like glittering gems.

"Misair, what do you see?"

Noticing the anomaly, the blond warrior urged her on.

Tucking the alchemy tool at her waist, the Wanderer couldn't help but laugh, flashing a row of white teeth: "I see a fortune falling from the sky."

The legendary alchemical relics from the abandoned mine?

As long as she caught this red juvenile dragon, she wouldn't even need those — this wilderness trip alone would fill her coffers to bursting.

(End of chapter)