"Only a life-and-death battle can stimulate the Awakening of Dragon Qi."
"This means I need to engage in a fierce battle with a powerful existence of at least life rank 15, or even 16, to have a chance at Awakening. It's too dangerous; I should just let nature take its course."
Garros was not in a hurry.
He had always been very patient; as a Dragonkin, time was on his side.
Looking toward the deep pit he had crashed into and the remains of the Behemoth inside, Garros flapped his wings and descended toward the bottom of the pit.
When the Iron Dragon Sorog landed on the edge of the rocky pit, he saw Garros picking up half a Behemoth tusk with the tip of his claw.
The crystal-like material shimmered with threads of golden halo in the residual heat of the lightning strike, forming a bizarrely beautiful contrast with the scorched blue beast blood covering the ground.
At the same time, a brilliant white flash of lightning pierced through the clouds, illuminating the world and etching the silhouettes of the Red-Iron Dragon and the giant beast's remains onto the ground. The torrential rain washed over the battlefield incessantly, with steam rising like pale banners.
"Golden lightning."
It stared at Garros, its gaze seemingly trying to pierce through the black and red scales to see clearly the lightning-flame light that had just pierced through heaven and earth.
"When did you master this kind of power?"
Sorog's voice was somewhat dry as he asked.
He had watched the entire battle between Garros and the Frost Behemoth. After seeing Garros's Explosive Scales shatter, Sorog's heart had lept into his throat, and he could hardly suppress the urge to intervene. However, just as he was about to provide support, he saw Garros shine with an excited electric light, which then abruptly reversed the situation.
Garros caught the falling raindrops with the back of his claw, watching the water droplets vaporize in the residual high temperature of his body's surface.
"Every time there's a thunderstorm, I practice in the clouds."
"It's only today that I truly and completely released it."
He spoke unhurriedly.
The Iron Dragon fell silent, remembering that over the past three years, whenever there was a heavy rain, Garros would indeed disappear for several hours.
But who would have thought he was actually in the high-altitude clouds, letting the thunder carve his muscles and bones? Unless they were Blue Dragons, other Dragonkin would be more or less injured when struck by lightning.
"Should I... also try it?"
"Follow Garros's lead and go into the clouds to attract lightning strikes."
"Maybe I can also awaken a skill similar to his."
Iron Dragon Sorog looked up at the dark clouds covering the sky, his gaze sweeping over the lightning flashing within them, and such a thought sprouted in his heart.
Although he was keen on managing his territory and subordinates, he also worshipped power and craved strength.
Garros saw through the Iron Dragon's thoughts.
"You'd better not act recklessly."
He warned, "The golden lightning I triggered does not belong to the Iron Dragon Bloodline; I was only able to master it by chance."
Hearing Garros's words, the Iron Dragon nodded.
But seeing its half-hearted expression, it likely hadn't taken the advice to heart.
Garros didn't try to persuade him further.
After being struck by lightning a few times and ending up injured with nothing to show for it, he would probably sober up; some things, after all, need to be experienced personally.
"There are still quite a few remains of the Behemoth."
Garros said, "Its bones, claws, and teeth—these hard materials can be used to manufacture weapons and armor. Its meat also contains extremely high energy. Have the subordinates come over to clean up and recycle the Behemoth's remains by category."
This Frost Behemoth.
Its overall level was not much different from a Diamond Giant.
Three years ago, Garros defeated the Diamond Giant by formulating a strategy in advance, and he himself had suffered significant injuries in an attack that surpassed his limits, leaving him only one step away from being heavily wounded.
Now, three years later.
His battle with the Frost Behemoth was almost entirely head-on, focusing on direct combat without using schemes. After dealing with the Frost Behemoth, Garros himself was virtually unharmed, having only consumed some physical energy.
It was somewhat of a pity.
The remains of the Frost Behemoth were not of very high value, incomparable to the Diamond Giant.
Thinking carefully, it made sense; its original purpose for being created was for combat. If the remains were of high value, there would be a risk of aiding the enemy.
Iron Dragon Sorog's claw felt around his neck and pried out a Communication Stone from under a dragon scale.
Almost all the leaders of the Molten Iron Clan had this thing now.
In the past, due to the lack of corresponding magical means, they would have had to run back to the territory to notify their subordinates in person. Now, it was no longer necessary; the trade routes with the south had brought many convenient Alchemical Items to the Molten Iron Clan.
The Iron Dragon used the Communication Stone to issue orders to the subordinates at the Gravel Camp.
They would soon arrive to dismember and categorize the Frost Behemoth's remains.
"While you were fighting the Frost Behemoth, I was constantly on guard against the surroundings to prevent any Frost Giant ambushes," the Iron Dragon said.
"But until the Behemoth died, I didn't find any traces of Frost Giants or other giants."
He was somewhat puzzled and looked toward the north.
"How exactly did this Behemoth end up alone and wandering over here?"
Garros flapped his wings and flew back into the high sky.
He looked north, his gaze passing through the thick curtain of rain. He could see the vast and surging Estonia Great River, and beyond the Estonia Great River, after crossing a stretch of Serel Wilderness and passing the border, one would gradually reach the Permafrost Tundra.
"Set up a few more outposts between the Stony Beach and the Estonia Great River," Garros said.
The specific origin of the Frost Behemoth was unknown.
This was a potential risk.
However, due to the lack of information and the impossibility of going to the Permafrost Tundra to investigate just for this matter, Garros did not intend to look into it deeply. Setting up more outposts in this area to prevent any accidents would be enough.
If anything else happened later.
They could only deal with it as it came.
The Iron Dragon's thoughts were similar to Garros's. He nodded and said, "Most of the time, creatures from the Permafrost Tundra don't make it here. The appearance of the Frost Behemoth might just be an accident, but in any case, we indeed need more outposts here."
Garros said thoughtfully, "The Permafrost Tundra. The Nicks Caravan is coming soon; we can ask them for news about the Permafrost Tundra. These people are very well-informed and are always very sensitive to all kinds of unusual news."
The Permafrost Tundra was even more barren than the Serel Wilderness, but it also had resources unique to that territory.
Things like Ice Marrow and Thousand-Year Permafrost were not found in the Serel Wilderness. To pursue high returns, there were also merchants in the Permafrost Tundra.
Leaving these trivial matters to Sorog.
Garros flapped his wings, soaring in the sky. Instead of returning directly to the Coniferous Valley, he found a piece of barren wasteland to land on and once again activated his Supercharged Excited State.
In this state, he began high-intensity 'anaerobic' exercise.
The severe load of the Frenzied State was a drawback, but for Garros, looking at it from another perspective, it allowed him to have better training results.
Since he couldn't count on Dragon Qi Awakening for now.
Then, by increasing his physical energy stats as much as possible, he could more or less increase the duration of the Frenzied State.
Wrapped in brilliant golden lightning, Garros seemed to have transformed into a 'Golden Dragon,' moving nimbly and wreaking havoc in this area.
Garros stopped when the lightning on his body began to flicker and his breathing became as heavy as a bellows.
The heavy rain washed over his body as he coiled on the ground, with golden electric arcs flickering between the gaps in his scales.
He looked down at his slightly trembling claws and arms.
Those tiny golden electric sparks were moving between the muscle fibers, like countless hammers striking every muscle bundle, trying to squeeze out more potential and strength.
Garros in his Frenzied State.
Radiant, wild, magnificent, and dazzling.
But beneath this appearance, every breath seemed to carry the stinging pain of electric arcs, and this was also proof of muscle fibers being torn and reorganized.
Over the past few years, as the sun rose and the moon set and time passed.
Many things had changed.
The only thing that remained unchanged was that Garros had never slackened.
Talent would not directly grant him a strong body.
black oil and Scale Powder were only supplements. Those bit-by-bit accumulations day and night were the true reason for his strength.
His true power was never a gift from talent, but the product of crushing talent and remolding it with his flesh and blood.
After turning off the Frenzied State and resting for a moment, Garros's breathing became steady.
He took a deep breath, inhaling a massive amount of air mixed with wind and rain into his lungs. Then, threads of golden lightning once again shot out from the gaps in his scales as he began another round of training.