Chapter 52: Little Dragon

"Too light. Use your demonic energy and continue."

Garos encouraged.

Seeing no anger from Garos, and under his constant encouragement, the Fierce Bears gradually loosened their restraints, steadily increasing their strength and using demonic energy to strengthen their bodies.

At first, they feared injuring Garos and provoking his wrath.

But very quickly, they realized they had worried in vain.

A Fierce Bear's Xiong Zhao, covered in thick rock and carrying a vicious wind, slammed hard against Garos's dragon scales.

Boom!

As some shattered scales flew, Garos didn't even sway; several black-red dragon scales flickered into view beneath the burst scales.

The Fierce Bear simultaneously felt a thick, explosive recoil land on itself, staggering it back several steps; several extremely sharp scale shards tore through its hard rock armor and lodged in its flesh on the bear arm.

Fierce Bears are naturally fierce and warlike.

The chance to attack without holding back and spar with a dragon was too rare.

They took Garos's request as a gift, a training session for them, and one by one they rubbed their fists together, utterly excited.

Ignoring the pain in their arms, the Fierce Bears strode forward again toward Garos, raised their Xiong Zhang, and struck.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The dull sounds never ceased, echoing above the conifer valley.

Besides the recoil and cuts, the Fierce Bears also felt Garos's dragon scales growing hotter; the reddish-branded color already present on them was gradually extending toward his spine.

A few more minutes passed.

Boom—Crack!

The Xiong Zhao struck Garos's body; this time, the exploding scale shards landed on the Fierce Bear, and with a deafening boom, transformed into a ball of flame and a powerful shockwave that sent the unprepared Fierce Bear flying, tearing its skin and flesh.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Several Fierce Bears were all blown away, while a layer of burst scales on Garos's body turned brick-red, steaming with high temperatures that distorted the surrounding air.

"They can explode without fire-attribute attacks anymore."

"This layer of burst scales can now absorb kinetic energy and convert it into heat, reducing the impact damage I receive while inflicting counter-damage."

Garos swished his tail in satisfaction.

His gaze swept over the few cowering Fierce Bears, their fur scorched black and falling out from the explosions, and he urged, "I didn't tell you to stop. Continue attacking me. Don't forget your quasi-spell skills; use your quasi-spell skills too."

His words woke the Fierce Bears.

Surrounding Garos, the Fierce Bears began using quasi-spell skills; with a casual swipe of a claw, they condensed thick, hard boulders that whistled down toward Garos, only to be shattered into dust by the burst scales on his body.

Some Fierce Bears remembered Garos's instruction to try to injure him by any means necessary, so they stomped their feet on the ground.

Sharp earth spikes burst from the soil and, at a tricky angle, stabbed toward Garos's lower abdomen reproductive cavity.

Garos instinctively sensed danger, so he shifted his steps, raised a foot, and stomped down, grinding the earth spikes to dust inch by inch.

Although a layer of scale armor covered the outside of the reproductive cavity, that armor's hardness could not compare to the chest scales or back scales, and if the attack carried effects like vibration or penetration, it could not completely block the damage.

"This is a weakness. I neglected it somewhat before."

Garos thought to himself that he needed to conduct targeted training on his little dragon to be prepared for any eventuality.

Time slowly passed, gradually reaching night.

One by one, the Fierce Bears collapsed on the ground like mud, their bodies covered in burn marks from explosions, their faces wearing expressions of utter despair; at first, they thought letting them attack him was a form of training encouragement from Garos, and their hearts were filled with excitement.

But now, excitement had been completely replaced by exhaustion.

Along with the exhaustion, they also felt some shock and a reverence from the bottom of their hearts.

Garos let them attack, withstood an unknown amount of damage, yet remained full of spirit, while they were almost dead from fatigue.

His gaze swept over the Fierce Bears; Garos nodded in satisfaction and said, "Rest well. Continue in a few days once you have recovered."

The number of Fierce Bears has increased, and the training effect is better than in previous days.

Self-training methods like Rishan and Ridi are not refined enough to cover the entire body.

Unlike other dragons, Garos did not take retainers to wage war for him or to satisfy his innate desire to rule and enslave other beings; his main purpose was to refine and strengthen himself more precisely, making himself even more formidable.

Garos always believed.

In this world filled with many transcendent lives, only one's own strength represents everything.

Wealth, beauty, power.

These are all byproducts brought by one's own strength.

Garos's fetishes are becoming more and more perverted; on the other side, Samantha silently thought, quietly stepping back a few paces to get further from Garos, afraid of being targeted.

She did not know that Garos's strength stemmed from this 'fetish'.

She only felt that Garos was somewhat perverted, enjoying being beaten, yet Garos was too strong; she remained unharmed, while those who hit him were exhausted to the point of death.

He did not let Samantha continue to assist him in his training.

Garos took flight in the night, landed on the edge of the conifer valley, chose a spot with no other creatures, and then walked toward a protruding rock pillar.

He stepped closer.

After pondering for a few seconds, Garos stood upright, thrust his hips, and slammed hard into it; with a boom, the rock pillar was forcibly broken, and he felt a recoil discomfort, a faint soreness.

The outer scale armor of the reproductive cavity is not burst scales and does not possess the effect of absorbing kinetic energy.

The little dragon itself is relatively fragile; this area, when struck, was inevitably affected despite the scale armor protection.

"Indeed a huge weakness; it is too fragile. I cannot leave it unattended."

Garos took a deep breath and hardened his heart.

Because this behavior seemed somewhat strange, he did not want to be noticed or misunderstood, so he looked around to confirm no other creatures were present, then began the true Rishan, Ridi, and Rishan, gritting his teeth against the pain and slamming repeatedly with booms.

This astonishing perseverance and determination had no audience.

Only the twin moons in the night sky, like a pair of eyes, silently watched everything happening below.

At the same time.

In the Baronghei Oilfield, the territory guarded by the Third Heavy Cavalry Regiment of the Black Rock Duchy.

The dwarf alchemist Groni picked up a fragment of scale, overall black-gray with a hint of dark red along the edges, and went to his alchemy workshop.

"Use it as material to forge a Tracker to trace the young dragon's whereabouts."

He thought this, then focused his spirit on the scale fragment.

"Melt it into a liquid matrix, then extract the essence, activate its vitality, and shape it through alchemy."

He habitually murmured these words, reciting the basic process of alchemy.

Before a stone table filled with various tools, the dwarf wizard carved runes in mid-air; they fell onto the crucible and turned into fierce flames. He then placed the scale fragment inside to begin the first step of melting.

But to his surprise,

this metal-textured scale fragment did not melt under the burning flames. Instead, it gradually turned a searing red and grew ever brighter.

"Does it have some special reaction with fire?"

"Could it be that the dragon scale's properties changed due to the mixed bloodline?"

Having neither seen nor heard of such a change before, the dwarf wizard thought this might be a brand-new discovery capable of supporting an alchemical thesis and elevating his status among alchemists.

Excited, he leaned closer, eyes wide as he observed the changes in the scale fragment, while intensifying the flames.

(End of this chapter)