Chapter 5: Evolution (Begging for Monthly Votes, Begging for Follows)

The scorching sun hung high, its venomous rays pouring down like molten gold, baking the entire wilderness until it burned hot.

The ground temperature rose continuously, the air shimmering with distorted ripples, while distant mountains loomed in the heat haze, their outlines blurred like a mirage.

In weather like this, many creatures could not withstand the heat and rarely ventured out.

The dragons living inside the ring-shaped sinkhole were no exception to this rule.

As fire-element dragons, such scorching days actually made them more spirited and active than usual.

More than a month had passed since Garos's last negotiation with Iron Dragon Mother.

Young dragons were in the stage of growing their bodies, and Garos had been diligently exercising to strengthen himself.

Over this month, his body had subtly grown a little larger; his dragon scales looked as if cast from steel and iron, and the muscle fibers hidden beneath seemed to twist like steel wires whenever his body exerted force, ready to unleash formidable power at any moment.

"Rest time is over! Go mine for me!"

Near the mountain wall, Garos curled his tail and flung two stones, striking the heads of Iron Dragon Brother and Red Dragon Sister respectively.

The two hatchlings looked up in displeasure and protested solemnly: "We've only rested for an hour! Garos, this is abuse! According to the same mining schedule, Mother's kobold minions get to rest for two hours!"

Iron Dragon Mother did have minions.

Among them was a kobold clan dedicated to mining for Iron Dragon Mother.

Hearing this, Garos's tail whipped the ground, sparking a flash of fire, as he paced forward to stand before the two hatchlings.

"Do you know why you can never beat me, why you are always pinned beneath me, why you can only be trampled and repeatedly insulted by me?"

He asked, lowering his gaze.

The two hatchlings exchanged glances, utterly confused.

"Because you lack ambition!"

Garos leaned down, looming over the two hatchlings, his shadow casting over them as he spoke in a deep voice: "As noble True Dragons, with dragon bloodlines flowing through your veins, you actually compare yourselves to kobolds!"

The young dragon shook his head, revealing an expression of pity and disappointment.

"Trash that can't even compare to kobolds truly disgraces your True Dragon blood."

He said with an extremely disdainful tone.

"That's nonsense! Kobolds have no right to be compared to me!"

Red Dragon Sister flew into a rage.

"That's nonsense! I am a hundred times stronger than a kobold!"

Iron Dragon Brother also flew into a rage.

Garos's expression softened slightly, and he grinned: "Empty words prove nothing. Show me. Let me see your determination, let me see the strength and resilience of your dragon nature."

"Hmph, don't underestimate us!"

The two hatchlings snorted, then energetically descended into the mine tunnel they had previously opened, mustering all their strength, determined to make Garos understand that they were not comparable to kobolds, swearing inwardly to make Garos regard them highly.

The provocation method—a treasure against dragons.

Dragons, with their proud and arrogant natures, could least tolerate provocation and goading.

His gaze withdrew from the two hatchlings who had descended into the mine.

"If only Iron Dragon Mother were as easily fooled as they are."

Garos sighed.

As dragons grow older and gain experience, they can to some extent master and control their instincts; adult great dragons like Iron Dragon Mother possess intelligence far superior to that of hatchlings.

As for the two hatchlings, they were currently like fools, very easy to deceive.

If such dragons grew for another year, becoming young dragons, and were then expelled by a dragon mother according to normal development to live alone, it was hard to imagine how they, with their weak yet playful personalities, could possibly survive in this world full of dangers.

Meanwhile.

A gust of wind suddenly swept past.

Garos looked up, and in his field of vision appeared Iron Dragon Mother, spreading her wings and soaring across the sky; her body was massive and imposing, her rolling dragon pressure palpable, and her nearly forty-meter wingspan cast a thick shadow upon the ground.

Dust on the ground flew chaotically, and some pebbles trembled incessantly.

A dark, blurry shadow was dropped by Iron Dragon Mother, crashing to the ground with a deafening boom like an earthquake; the impact point was smashed into a deep pit, with countless cracks extending outward continuously, while a ring of dust rapidly expanded.

Flapping her wings to scatter the dust, Garos focused his gaze.

Reflected in Garos's vision was a Great-Horned Wild Ox, weighing dozens of tons, its body covered in layered muscles, topped with a pair of massive battering horns, and clad in hard armor.

This was a ferocious beast with a biological level above 10.

It was also the high-quality blood food Garos needed.

Iron Dragon Mother was adhering to the terms of her deal with Garos, regularly providing him with high-quality blood food.

This was specifically for him.

As for the two hatchlings, although Garos oppressed them into mining, they were not working day and night without rest; they were not true slaves. Upon returning to the dragon nest, they received food provided by Iron Dragon Mother.

Iron Dragon Mother's personality was cold yet she valued rules; she was always competent in what she ought to do, never mistreating any hatchling, but neither did she offer them special favor.

After dropping the prey, Iron Dragon Mother did not linger, returning directly to her own nest.

"Start eating."

Garos withdrew his gaze, took a deep breath, and began tearing at the body of the Great-Horned Wild Ox.

The layer of hard armor covering its body was so tough that even Garos's teeth, honed by gnawing on metal ores, could not pierce it in a single bite; he still had to tear and bite hard several times.

The beef was extremely fresh, no different from gnawing on it while it was still alive; it was tough yet chewy.

With every mouthful swallowed, Garos felt his body grow warm, receiving a rich replenishment of nutritional energy.

When he had consumed a quarter of the Great-Horned Wild Ox's flesh and blood, a tingling sensation suddenly sprang forth from within and around Garos's body, surging and flowing back and forth like waves.

"This is the feeling."

Garos's eyes lit up with joy.

Having eaten a large amount of beef, even with a dragon's iron stomach like a furnace, Garos had felt somewhat full and bloated just moments ago, but as the tingling sensation arose from within and around his body, his feeling of fullness vanished, replaced by an intense craving for food once again.

The young dragon took a deep breath, opened its maw wide, and revealed a mouth full of dragon fangs.

Awooo!

Tearing off a large bite of beef, Garos chewed it just a few times before swallowing it into his belly. Once inside, the beef almost instantly transformed into a warm, cozy breath of energy that, accompanied by waves of tingling numbness, flowed through every vein and meridian of Garos's body, concentrating mainly in the areas he had recently been training.

The scales in direct contact with the earth, the dragon horns that struck the mountainside again and again, and the dragon tail that lashed against the rock.

That also included the muscles that had absorbed the recoil shock, the five viscera and six bowels, and so on.

However.

No change visible to the naked eye occurred on Garos's body; only the tingling, electric sensation never ceased.

"Evolution isn't completed in an instant. Instead, once I've accumulated enough adaptation and have ample energy to supplement it, I'll leap forward over the following stretch of time, evolving in accordance with my recent accumulated adaptation."

Garos thought silently to himself.

Over these past few years, he had also been constantly pondering and probing the essence of his own talent, and he had his own conjectures and ideas.

Any living being actually possesses the power of adaptive evolution; it's just that, under normal circumstances, it usually takes millions upon millions of years, requiring an immensely long span of time to unfold.

And Garos could shorten this time infinitely.

The key was that his evolution talent itself was also growing.

"Perhaps one day in the future, I'll be able to complete adaptive evolution in a single instant, or even evolve directly in the direction I want."

He thought to himself.

Then, in one sustained burst of effort, Garos actually finished eating all of the Great-Horn Savage beef, which weighed many times his own body weight.

The tingling, numb sensation all over his body grew especially vigorous and dense.

Taking advantage of the momentum, under the dazzling, blinding sunlight, he continued to ram himself against the mountain and the ground again and again, suffering and delighting in it at the same time.

(End of chapter)