Chapter 77: Bone-Chewer Clan, Re-encounter with the Copper Dragon

The seasons in the Sel Wasteland were unusual and unpredictable; after the scorching sun had baked the earth for three consecutive years, a rare rainy season finally arrived.

At first, only a few muffled thunderclaps rolled across the horizon, then dark clouds swallowed the sky at a speed visible to the naked eye.

When the first raindrop struck the scorched earth, it drew little attention from the wild creatures, but soon thousands of silver threads pierced through the clouds and poured down, tearing the dry air into wet fragments as a thick curtain of rain shrouded the sky and land of the wasteland.

"This damn weather."

Samantha glared at the dense rain curtain, muttered a curse, then turned and dove deeper into the cave.

Red dragons preferred dry, hot, high-temperature weather; this humid, water-laden climate made Samantha feel irritable and depressed.

Garos coiled on an overhanging rock slab with no cover above.

He raised his head, his gradually jagged dragon horns pointing diagonally toward the sky, eyes half-closed, letting raindrops strike his steel-and-iron body and shatter.

The rain falling on his body created a damp, wet sensation.

Garos instinctively felt the same disgust and dislike.

But to improve his affinity and resistance to water, and because the dragon's den in the cave was too crude—cracks let water leak through, forming muddy droplets that soaked the cave floor into a quagmire—it was better to stand outside in the rain directly.

"When will I have my own palace that doesn't leak?"

Garos thought.

Dwellings of different creatures varied in scale and standards due to differences in size.

For dragons, whether hollowing out a mountain or building a palace on flat ground, constructing a dwelling comfortable for dragons required vast resources, immense time, and a host of followers.

Only a tyrant evil dragon lord dominating a region, or a metallic dragon with extensive connections,

could afford a dwelling that felt comfortable to them.

The cave dragon's den where Garos usually lived was merely a set of natural caves.

Naturally, it was far from comfortable; living there was even somewhat uncomfortable.

When he first seized the Conifer Valley, he tried to have the Fierce Bears carve mountains and chop wood to build him a dwelling, but the Fierce Bears themselves were burrow-dwellers living in caves and knew nothing of construction. Though they possessed the talent to command earth and stone, what they built was indescribable, utterly failing to meet the needs of dragons, failing to meet Garos's needs, so he had to abandon the idea.

"If I can integrate and rule all the beast clans around the Scaled Earth Rift, using this route to acquire resources, perhaps only then can my followers build a refined dwelling that feels comfortable to me."

Thinking this, several clan details appeared in Garos's mind.

After about a week of scouting, Garos confirmed the number and approximate scale of the clans around the Scaled Earth Rift; besides the Grey-Mane Werewolves, excluding monster groups like the Earth Fierce Bears, three intelligent beast clans existed in the area.

Red-Eye Clan—Goblin-Kin.

Split-Claw Clan—Lizardfolk.

Bone-Chewer Clan—Ogres.

Among them, the Red-Eye Clan's overall scale was roughly equal to the Howling Moon Clan, the Split-Claw Clan was slightly stronger, and the Bone-Chewer Clan's ogres were supreme in this region.

The Howling Moon Clan and the Bone-Chewer Clan had once clashed over a raiding conflict on the Scaled Earth Rift, sparking friction and discord.

When neither side could fly, marching through the wasteland was extremely dangerous; along the way they would encounter numerous ferocious beasts and monsters attacking them; unless one was tough enough, attacking another clan was nearly impossible.

The Bone-Chewer Clan was tough enough.

They dispatched some ogre warriors to trek long distances across the wasteland and launched an attack on the Howling Moon Clan, inflicting heavy losses on the Howling Moon Clan.

Later, relying on the Cliff-Drakes raised by the werewolves, they repelled the ogre attack at relatively low cost.

Another reason the Grey-Mane Werewolves were willing to submit to Garos was that without the Cliff-Drakes, if they faced another attack from the Bone-Chewer ogres, unless they abandoned their territory and migrated through the treacherous wasteland, they would struggle to resist.

Recently,

the Bone-Chewer Clan, for some unknown reason, had not launched an attack on the Howling Moon Clan.

Moreover, it wasn't just the Howling Moon Clan; this once extremely savage and domineering ogre clan had recently almost retreated into its territory, with no clan members venturing out.

Werewolves from the Howling Moon Clan went to scout but found little useful information.

When Garos was preparing to go scout personally, the downpour arrived; the rain curtain would obscure his vision and disrupt his perception, so he decided to wait until the rain lessened before setting out.

"Garos, Garos, why don't you return to the cave to avoid the rain?"

Long Long Weila, the Fairy Dragon, flew over swaying in the wind and rain, hiding in the gap between Garos's dragon wing and body, and asked.

"Because I like the rain, I like the feeling of bathing openly in the rainwater."

Garos said.

"Really? Then stay out in it a bit longer; the rainy season here seems rare."

Long Long Weila said with a grin.

Nonsense, of course it was false; I hate rain; I want to enjoy a peaceful life in a spacious and comfortable palace. Garos glanced at the Fairy Dragon, then, while it wasn't paying attention, shifted his wing slightly, gathering the surface water into a pool that flowed like a winding stream down the wing membrane, precisely drenching the Fairy Dragon.

Given the Fairy Dragon's size, this stream was like a waterfall.

Caught off guard, it was swept straight down, only to flap its wings and fly back up a few seconds later.

"Oh! You're so mean!"

"I'm going to find Samantha to play."

Drenched from head to toe, the Fairy Dragon shook off the water, fearing Garos would continue teasing it, so it hurriedly flew toward the cave where Samantha was.

The heavy rain continued to fall.

Raindrops struck the rocks, plants, and trees, emitting crisp crackling sounds.

After resting for half an hour, Garos lifted his wings, stood up, and simply soared into the air, charging straight toward the dense dark clouds covering the sky, and within those clouds, using the currents leaping and darting through them, he recharged his Lightning Tail Ring.

The recharging was completed quickly; the energy of the Lightning Tail Ring reached its peak.

Garos descended from the dim sky to a barren hill, then used the fully charged Lightning Tail Ring to reinforce his dragon tail, bathing in the wind and rain while repeatedly whipping his own body with his tail.

His body was soaked by the rain.

Due to water's conductivity, every time his dragon tail rose and fell, not only the points of direct contact but other parts of his body also sent waves of tingling numbness through him.

The sensation of electricity coursing through the muscles in his body grew stronger.

Thanks to Garos's accumulated training over time, this electric sensation was spreading from his tail to his entire body; he had a premonition that when it covered his whole body, he would undergo an evolution, but exactly what effects that would bring, Garos was unclear.

In this regard, he placed no high hopes.

Garos's greatest hope was to evolve a jet-propulsion structure into his dragon wings, and he had made many efforts and attempts toward this; now, in the leisure time after training his dragon wings, he was improving his lightning resistance.

Beneath the curtain of rain.

Dense electric charges swirled around the Red Iron Dragon, its tail flashing with blinding lightning.

Suddenly.

Garos felt a sudden heart-flutter and instinctively looked up.

A streak of searing white reflected in his vision, right before his eyes.

Crack!

Silver lightning tore through the night rain, striking Garos's dragon horns first, then racing along his metal-like horns at the speed of light to cover his entire body.

Garos shuddered all over.

He felt a moment of intense numbness, spasms, and pain; wisps of smoke rose from his body, the rain between his scales nearly evaporated, and his tail curled slightly inward.

But that was all.

Hah— Garos exhaled a breath of hot air, patted his dragon wings, and stretched his body; although some numbness still lingered on his person, there was no other discomfort.

"My lightning resistance may not compare to that of a Blue Dragon, but it has improved to a level far beyond that of a normal Red Dragon or Iron Dragon."

This unexpected event instead allowed Garos to verify and confirm the strength of his lightning resistance.

Garos looked up at the sky; amidst the thick dark clouds, countless silver snakes danced, and from time to time lightning struck down, illuminating the heavens.

"The feeling of my whole body tingling with electricity is quite pleasant; let's try again."

He raised his tail high, using the tail ring on it to attract lightning to strike down upon himself.

Immediately, bolt after bolt of lightning struck Garos, the tingling and pain mixing together as they subjected him to 'lightning tempering'.

Until, a familiar copper-red dragon silhouette emerged from the horizon.

(End of this chapter)