Chapter 6: Buffer Scales (Requesting Monthly Votes, Requesting Follows)

In the open space before a cliff face within the ring-shaped sinkhole, there were pits of various sizes and depths, their structure suggesting they were made by heavy objects crashing down.

It was just unknown where so many things had come from to smash the ground.

Bang!

As a shower of gravel flew up, the six-meter-long juvenile dragon folded its wings, free-falling from the sky to smash hard onto the ground, kicking up a spreading ring of dust.

"Phew!"

Garos spat out the gravel in his mouth and climbed out of the depression, shaking his head.

On his body, the black iron scales that had originally shone with a silver matte finish, like poured steel, now had many areas turned into a layer of black-gray dragon scales; moreover, the texture was not like steel metal, and the lava-like dark red patterns on the scale surface were gone.

Inside the depression from the fall just now, there were also some fallen black-gray dragon scales.

Garos's scales seemed a bit more fragile compared to before.

And from a distance at first glance.

The current Garos was neither black nor gray, and his appearance had also declined slightly.

However.

Garos wore no expression of dissatisfaction; after turning to look at the crater he had smashed out, his gaze fell on the fallen dragon scales, and he even nodded happily.

He turned to look at his own scales.

Beneath the spots where the black-gray dragon scales had fallen was not skin, but rather a layer of black scales with dark red patterns, shining with a silver matte finish.

That's right, the black-gray dragon scales on Garos's body were a newly grown extra layer, concentrated mainly on his back, chest, and the joints of his limbs.

—They were all detachable buffer scales!

When this layer of dragon scales suffered a violent impact, they could actively peel off to absorb the shock, and the moment of peeling would also create a rebound force.

Given the height from which Garos had just fallen, the previous him would have been dizzy for a while and injured himself, but this time, apart from a slight tremor, he felt no discomfort or pain within his body.

The changes were not limited to this layer of buffer scales.

On top of Garos's head, that pair of swept-back dragon horns had become thicker and larger, and the metallic exoskeleton covering the horn roots had expanded greatly, making them more stable.

The blade-like scales on his dragon tail had become denser.

The muscles, bones, organs, and so on, hidden beneath the armor and invisible to the naked eye, had become stronger and better able to withstand impact forces.

"I didn't expect this evolution to grow me a layer of buffer scales, instead of continuing to strengthen the dragon scales like before."

Regarding the layer of buffer scales that had grown on his body, Garos was actually somewhat surprised as well.

The durability of the dragon scales beneath had also grown, but the degree was not large; this evolution in terms of armor mainly manifested in a layer of buffer scales.

"Gordon, Samantha, you two come over and hit me."

Garos called out toward the distance.

Two hatchling dragons flew out of the mine tunnel with an eager posture, arriving before Garos.

Garos has finally fallen so hard he's become an idiot! Even the luster of his dragon scales has been knocked out.

Both thought this, both looking eager to try.

"Come on, use your maximum strength to crash into me."

Garos stood firmly on all fours, signaling the two hatchling dragons to crash into him.

"I'll go first!"

The red dragon sister, with the more fiery temper, could not wait; she flapped her wings to accelerate, her heavy steps stamping the ground to form footprints as she charged toward Garos.

Impact—this was a common tactic used by hatchling dragons, capable of unleashing their full strength with considerable power.

According to past experience, although Garos was strong and larger in size, he would also be unable to hold his ground and get knocked back when hit head-on.

In the blink of an eye.

The excited red dragon sister rushed to Garos's front and crashed into him directly with her body.

The moment of contact and impact on Garos's strong chest.

As the black-gray dragon scales one by one crumbled and fell off, a huge rebound force landed on the unprepared red dragon sister, flipping her over onto the ground, while Garos did not retreat a single step, his body only swaying slightly.

"The impact kinetic energy was almost entirely absorbed by the buffer scales; the amount landing on me through the buffer scales was negligible."

Garos pondered.

On the other side, the Iron Dragon brother had originally been eager to try, but after seeing the scene where the red dragon sister knocked out one of her own teeth while Garos remained motionless, it was like being splashed with a basin of ice water on a hot day; his fiery heart instantly cooled down.

"Damn Garos!"

The red dragon sister shook her head and, in annoyance, charged at him again; the red dragon's irritability far exceeded that of the Iron Dragon, and the failure only made the red dragon sister even more frantic.

She did not use any other moves, just charging at Garos again and again.

Garos's dragon scales flew everywhere, looking fragile and unbearable, but every time it was the red dragon sister who was knocked flying, while he stood stable like a reef in the sea enduring the waves.

Until the buffer scales on Garos's chest had almost completely fallen off, revealing the dragon scales beneath that were like poured steel and cast iron.

The red dragon sister was already exhausted and collapsed on the ground, and her body was covered with injury marks caused by the rebound of her own impacts.

"Before the buffer scales fall off, I can basically ignore this kind of damage."

Garos weighed in his mind.

He preferred to directly evolve to increase the hardness of his scales, but unfortunately, the results of adaptive evolution were not something he could perfectly control at present; every evolution was essentially like opening a blind box, bringing unknown changes. Although his evolution was definitely heading in a good direction, the changes brought to his body and form often exceeded Garos's expectations.

"Although the appearance is average, the effect is very good."

Garos inherited the Iron Dragon's pragmatic personality.

The black-gray buffer scales were unremarkable in appearance, but the effect was indeed good, and Garos was quite satisfied.

Moreover, he would continue to evolve and change; perhaps one day he would evolve into a posture that was exceptionally mighty and handsome in the aesthetic of dragons.

At the same time, Garos was also thinking about this adaptive evolution.

"This time evolving directly into buffer scales was most likely because my recent training methods were too singular, with too many frequent and intense collisions against mountains and the ground."

"Next, I will try to reduce the frequency of such training and attempt other training methods more often."

He thought thus.

Garos's evolution talent is still in its exploratory phase; he is not sparing of various experiments and comparisons. He plans to reduce the frequency of crashing into mountains and the ground, shifting his style to focus primarily on strength and speed training.

Suddenly.

He heard a thud.

Turning his head, he saw it was Iron Dragon Brother. It had flown into the air only to crash down, landing on its back, then shook its head and wobbled as it climbed up.

"What are you doing?"

Garos asked in confusion.

"Garos, I have discovered the secret to your strength. It must be that falling on oneself makes one stronger."

Iron Dragon Brother's eyes gleamed with wisdom, and he spoke to Garos with a tone of self-satisfaction and pride.

Hearing its words, Red Dragon Sister pondered thoughtfully, feeling her intelligence was about to seize the high ground.

"Yes, it must be so."

It nodded in agreement and said to Garos, "Just wait, Garos. I will surpass you sooner or later!"

In the days that followed, the two young dragons believed they had discovered the secret to Garos's strength, so during their mining breaks, they began to imitate him, attempting to "learn from the barbarians to control the barbarians," studying Garos to surpass Garos.

The surface of this clearing had been smashed into a collapsed, sunken layer.

Another week passed.

Having fully adapted to the buffer scales on his body, Garos flew to the peak of the cliff, feeling the wind slice across his scales, while his eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed toward the distant wilderness.

"I will leave the Iron Dragon Mother's territory to survive on my own sooner or later."

"Relying solely on protection is ultimately no long-term solution."

"While I still have a way back, I had best hone my combat techniques and survival skills. If possible, I should select a suitable territory in advance to serve as my future habitat."

The young dragon thought silently, planning for the future.

A few seconds later, Garos spread his wings and shot straight into the sky, leaving the Iron Dragon Mother's crater territory. He did not fly very far, operating instead in the immediate surroundings.

(End of this chapter)