The rain poured down like a deluge; the fine silver threads from moments ago had brewed into a waterfall hanging from the heavens, spilling onto the wilderness.
It was high noon, a time when the sky should have been brilliant with light, but due to the shroud of thick dark clouds, the entire world was enveloped in a dark and deep curtain of rain.
A colossal creature was moving through the mud.
It was a Saber-Jawed Beast, about twelve meters long, with scales and claws. At first glance, it looked like a Fusion of a crocodile and a lion, its most prominent feature being the pair of giant bone blades extending from its lower jaw.
They were a full three meters long, their surfaces covered in a steel-hard enamel that glinted coldly in the rain.
This fierce beast was tracking a herd of Iron-Horned Deer.
Its pace was incredibly light; its padded paws allowed it to walk silently through the rain. Whenever it discovered a trace of prey, it would lower its body, the bone blades atop its head trembling slightly.
This was the unique hunting posture of the Saber-Jawed Beast.
Just as the Saber-Jawed Beast prepared to pounce on the deer herd, the sky suddenly lit up as bright as day.
A bolt of lightning, woven of gold and red, split the curtain of rain.
Garros descended like a Heavenly God, his entire body wrapped in violent currents of electricity and flame, instantly evaporating the surrounding rain.
The Saber-Jawed Beast instinctively looked up, its bone blades pointing straight at the sky.
But it was too late.
A dazzling gold-red sphere was spat from Garros's mouth, piercing the rain in a straight line.
At first glance, it looked like ball lightning, with golden arcs jumping and tumbling inside and out, but the whole thing also took on the appearance of burning flames. It was extremely fast, landing on the Saber-Jawed Beast in an instant.
Boom!
Countless bolts of lightning and flames exploded simultaneously.
The Vicious Beast, which was the same Level 10 as Garros, went stiff all over, twitching and convulsing as large patches of charred black appeared on its body. Under this single strike, its body stiffened and it fell dead to the ground.
Garros folded his wings and landed before the fallen corpse of the Saber-Jawed Beast, carefully examining the wounds on its body.
"The Flame-Thunder Breath formed while in the Frenzied State has excellent power; it's superior to both my Flame Dragon Breath and Electric-Fire Dragon Breath."
A satisfied smile appeared on Garros's draconic face.
Through multiple activations and training of the Frenzied State these past few days, he had gradually mastered some deeper applications.
Initially, those golden bolts of lightning could only be used to strengthen and stimulate his body, enhancing his physical attributes. But following a chance attempt, Garros unexpectedly discovered that while in the Frenzied State, he could blend the golden lightning with his Dragon Breath to spit out spheres of Flame-Thunder.
This Flame-Thunder possessed the characteristics of both lightning and flame.
Paralysis, penetration, explosion, incineration. It possessed many effects simultaneously.
As a Red Iron hybrid, Garros essentially only had the fire attribute.
Iron Dragons are also fire-System dragons. Although they have an electric-fire breath, it is limited to the breath itself, and the lightning damage in that regard is disproportionate; it is mainly for speed, while the killing power still relies on the fire System.
Flame-Thunder was different.
It was dual-attribute energy in the true sense.
Just as the Demonic Energy and life energy of Dragonkin can fuse into Dragon Qi,
the Fusion of fire and lightning can form Flame-Thunder.
"Currently, Flame-Thunder can only be used for breath attacks."
"But I feel its development hasn't reached its limit yet."
His golden mane stood high in the rain as Garros extended his right claw, concentrating his mind.
Zzzzt, zzzzt!
High-temperature lightning, woven of gold and red, yet also resembling reddish-gold flames, burst from between his claws, flickering and jumping wildly. Garros tried to make them converge and take shape, but he did not succeed; their combination was unstable and they directly dissipated.
If Flame-Thunder could be condensed and attached to the body,
it would undoubtedly further enhance the damage of Garros's attacks.
Moreover, judging by the characteristics of the Flame-Thunder Breath, if it could be stably condensed, it could be used not only for close combat but also as a Sharp Weapon for long-range attacks.
Garros exhaled softly, and the golden lightning on his body was completely internalized.
Ssss, ssss. His scalding, glowing red Explosive Scales came into contact with the rain, forming thick steam as they gradually cooled.
Garros flapped his dragon wings, dispersing the steam that was obstructing his vision.
"My dragon scales also need to evolve."
The Red-Iron Dragon stared at the gradually cooling Explosive Scales on his body, the rain hissing on the surface of the scalding dragon scales.
This layer of Explosive Scales on his body was now somewhat unsuitable.
Actually, once Garros's wings evolved, this layer of Explosive Scales became a bit ill-adapted.
Whenever he soared at high speeds, the friction between the Explosive Scales and the air would cause the temperature to rise rapidly. If he wasn't careful, they would explode directly due to overload.
As for its bombardment and scale-shrapnel damage,
it was very useful against fodder, but against targets like the Diamond Giant or the Frost Behemoth, it was difficult for the Explosive Scales to cause effective damage. For units like fodder, Garros didn't need Explosive Scales; he could just spread his wings and charge at high speed to clear and kill them in large numbers.
Then there was the buffering defense of the Explosive Scales.
When Garros moved quickly or dived from the sky, they would already become scalding hot.
Unless Garros gave up his advantage in speed, by the time he engaged in close combat, the Explosive Scales would already be near overload. For instance, in the battle with the Frost Behemoth, a single hard collision with the giant beast exploded the Explosive Scales across his entire body.
To the current Garros,
the buffering of the Explosive Scales was good, but the high-temperature explosion was a failed evolution.
Of course, failure and success must be judged with a dialectical eye at different stages.
When Garros first evolved the Explosive Scales, their large-scale bombardment and shrapnel damage were very suitable for him. It was a successful evolution that gave him a wide-range attack method in the early stages.
It was just that as he grew, they were now somewhat lagging behind and incompatible with his stronger traits.
"I need a brand new scale armor System."
"One that can retain the Explosive Scales' characteristic of absorbing kinetic energy without exploding from overload due to high-speed movement. Ideally, it should be able to store the absorbed kinetic energy and instead replenish my physical energy, making me more enduring."
Garros pondered in his heart.
He had a direction and ideas for evolution, but unfortunately, adaptive evolution wouldn't proceed in a set direction just because of Garros's thoughts; he couldn't precisely control the results of adaptive evolution.
The successful evolution of the Celestial Comet Wings was due to the effort he put in, but there was also a certain element of luck.
In any case, having a goal was certainly good.
Garros took a dose of the Scale Powder he carried with him. The world in his eyes turned into warm tones; the colors were no longer dim, and even though it was still shrouded in a rainstorm, everything seemed positive and uplifting.
"Flame-Thunder is a special energy form."
"By using it more while in the Frenzied State and letting it take shape for longer periods, I can gradually adapt the evolution and make it stable."
"The Explosive Scales are a bit troublesome."
"The process of absorbing kinetic energy to replenish oneself must be very complex and will require a long time. First, I must find a way to stop them from exploding so easily. For example, every time the Explosive Scales overload and are about to burst, I should use 'edging' to stop, letting them cool down, and try to do this every time."
Garros's mind worked rapidly, simultaneously thinking of methods to condense Flame-Thunder and evolve the Explosive Scales, gaining some initial clues.
As time passed, the effects of the Scale Powder gradually faded.
Perhaps because Garros's mind was also growing, the effect of the Scale Powder on him was gradually weakening. If he wanted to further enhance his mental activity, the required dosage each time had increased significantly.
There was only one Faerie Dragon, and the Scale Powder production was limited.
Now, unless it was necessary, Garros rarely used the Scale Powder, saving it for critical moments. The extravagant behavior of using Scale Powder just to pursue mental pleasure, like he did at the beginning, could no longer be done.
The black oil was similar to the Scale Powder.
As Garros's physical body grew, he needed a much larger amount of black oil to achieve the same initial effect. However, black oil was not an expensive resource; because there was a stable source through the trade route channels, his supply of black oil was so abundant that using it for a bath would be no problem.
Zzzzt!
Golden lightning burst forth as Garros entered the Frenzied State once again.
The Explosive Scales, which had just cooled down from the wash of the cold rain, quickly began to glow red and heat up.
Garros tried to condense Flame-Thunder while allowing the Explosive Scales to heat up. Just as he felt the Explosive Scales were about to overload and explode, he immediately deactivated the Frenzied State and let them cool down slowly, repeating this process.
Flame-Thunder, Explosive Scales, Dragon Heart, Thorns.
Garros's life was very fulfilling, with his daily training schedule packed to the brim. He also enjoyed this peaceful and productive life, and all this daily accumulation was also preparation for potential risks and accidents.
However, his training of the Explosive Scales and Flame-Thunder hadn't lasted long
when a piece of neck scale armor suddenly vibrated gently.
Garros stopped his movements and took out the Communication Stone. He received a message from the Iron Dragon, and his pupils instantly constricted into cold, predator-like slits before returning to normal a second later.
"Viscount Ironthorn, the Tax Collector."
"What was bound to come has finally arrived."
Garros had anticipated this day. He knew well that occupying and controlling a trade route, whether openly or in secret, would surely attract attention; it was just that controlling it from the shadows had the smallest impact.
"As they wish, I'll talk to them first."
Garros's eyes flickered as he transmitted his thoughts to Sorog.
He was not a tyrannical or crude beast.
The Scale-Earth Rift Road was a trade route opened by the other party. Since he occupied it to profit, they indeed had a reason to collect taxes. Garros didn't mind a win-win cooperation to maintain the current situation.
But the prerequisite was that the other party's demands were reasonable.
If they tried to take an exorbitant share, Garros would not simply back down.
He honed his claws and teeth and survived cautiously so that he would have the power to resist and the confidence to flip the table when facing danger, not to yield at every turn.