"There's a saying that you are what you eat, and eating stones can indeed make you hard. But this kind of hardness is all-encompassing, to the point where you can't even move. That's not what Su Nian wanted.
So, to figure out the rules of the Advanced Devour skill, early the next morning, there was a dragon in the Silvermoon Forest that took a bite out of anything it saw.
Ding! Devoured 36g of gold, scale armor strength increased by 0.00008%, fire element resistance increased by 0.00012%.
Ding! Devoured a mountain wolf, all attributes increase by 0.0002% when hungry.
Ding! Devoured a Fireflame Rabbit, fire element affinity increased by 0.0001%.
...
Ding! Devoured 500g of black dragon meat, the purity of the dragon genes related to 'Conai Naioride Wotru Stupak...' was enhanced.
"What the heck is Conai? Is it some big shot in the dragon clan?" Su Nian pondered as he held his bleeding tail in thought.
He searched through his Inherited Memories and found that there was no ancient dragon living on the Material Plane with a true name of Conai xxx.
This usually means one of two things.
The first possibility is that this dragon big shot is not under the jurisdiction of Dragon Island. Neither does it worship the Five Chromatic Dragons' mother Tiamat nor the god of Metallic Dragons Bahamut, hence it is not recorded in the Inherited Memories.
The second possibility is that this dragon big shot has hidden its existence and is no longer on the Material Plane.
In any case, this big shot has some blood relation with me. If it's a male dragon, then it might be my great-great-great-grandfather. If it's a female dragon, then it's my great-great-great-grandmother. And perhaps the reason why my dragon wings and forepaws were connected at birth is related to this?
Su Nian shook his head. Bloodline is just a credential; it doesn't mean much to him now. Becoming stronger is the most important thing. After all, he couldn't possibly devour himself just for bloodline purification, could he?
After some testing, he found that only devouring gold and silver ores did not produce side effects. Both could increase scale armor strength, with gold increasing fire resistance and silver increasing poison resistance.
He suddenly understood why gold dragons could press red dragons into magma. After all, they are not afraid of fire.
Conveniently, there was a silver mine near his dragon lair being mined by kobolds. Although the daily output was limited, it had accumulated a significant amount over the days.
So, he spent some time devouring all the extracted silver ore, ultimately increasing his scale armor strength by 5% and poison resistance by 12%.
This was reflected in his dragon body as a slight dark silver hue on his scales.
Su Nian boldly speculated that once he devoured enough silver ore, he would become a new dragon species—a Silver Black Dragon.
However, there wasn't much gold. Even after a previous battle, he hadn't gathered enough gold coins to cover a quarter of his sleeping platform.
He was reluctant to devour all those gold coins; there weren't many, and devouring them wouldn't improve much. It would be better to visit the human kingdom's treasury in the future, devour in front of them if he could win, or devour and run if he couldn't. Wouldn't that be delightful?
Su Nian daydreamed happily for a while, then summoned the system.
"System, initiate the second and third stages of modification."
Ding! System points sufficient, second stage 'Advanced Scale Density' and third stage 'Advanced Scale Strength' modifications initiated. This modification involves mild pain; please prepare yourself.
Although the system said to prepare, the modification began as soon as the system finished speaking.
High-temperature liquid metal appeared out of nowhere under the system's control, starting to cover Su Nian's body bit by bit.
Su Nian had never experienced the pain of branding iron on skin, but now he did.
Accompanied by a sizzling sound, a piercing pain came, as if trying to tear his flesh apart, with a faint aroma of roasted meat.
This distracted Su Nian a bit, and he swallowed a mouthful of Dragon Saliva.
Perhaps, when he bit his own tail earlier, he should have roasted it first?
With the help of Insight, Su Nian discovered that the liquid metal was called Adamantite, a strong steel ore and the main material for Deathwing's first set of armor.
No wonder it didn't cost many system points. If it were Elementium, the primordial ore, the system points consumed would increase tenfold.
But for now, Adamantite was enough. He could upgrade further if needed later.
After all, he wasn't really Deathwing. Regular maintenance of the armor was necessary, or there would be a risk of his dragon body being torn apart.
With the system's help, once the modification was successful, these armors would be like a part of his body, and future upgrades could be built on the existing foundation.
As time passed, the dragon's strong adaptability allowed him to gradually get used to the pain. Moreover, with Anna nearby, he enjoyed watching her sleep while undergoing modification, and the pain seemed to vanish completely.
Second stage 'Advanced Scale Density' modification completed.
Third stage 'Advanced Scale Strength' modification completed.
10,000 system points deducted.
Please inspect, host.
The system's prompt disappeared, and a light screen appeared in front of Su Nian, visible only to him.
On the screen was his current 3D image, which he could freely rotate and zoom in, seeing every corner of his dragon body, even the fine hair on the barbs.
Looking at himself on the screen, Su Nian couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.
His entire body was covered with dark adamantite scales, with sharp horns at some joints, and even the outline of his wings was covered with a layer of adamantite.
A row of V-shaped adamantite plates adorned his thick neck, neatly arranged, gradually expanding towards the chest, completely enveloping the entire thoracic cavity, and continuing to extend down to the tail.
Except for lacking an iron jaw, a molten heart core, and having an extra pair of forward-curving demon horns, his overall appearance was quite similar to Deathwing Neltharion.
"I am Su Nian Wotru Stupak, the destined world destroyer, the end of all things, unstoppable and irresistible. I am the Cataclysm."
Su Nian proudly raised his dragon head, reciting Deathwing's lines in a deep, evil, hoarse voice, and attempted to crawl a few steps with his mighty dragon body.
His weight had clearly multiplied several times at this moment.
Even crawling on the ground left noticeable footprints, yet it surprisingly didn't affect his body's agility, nor did he feel any burden.
However, the system thoughtfully resolved Su Nian's doubts soon:
Advanced Scale Density: Scale density increased by 100%, weight increased by 100%, speed reduced by 20%.
Advanced Scale Strength: Scale metalization, strength increased by 200%, weight increased by 300%, speed reduced by 20%.
Warning: Due to reduced speed affecting agility, only 50% of the modification effects are temporarily enabled. Full effects will be unlocked once muscle strength increases.
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