When Crescent Bay was razed to the ground and turned into a sea of fire.
Garros received the message transmitted by the Iron Dragon.
He reminded the Iron Dragon that the Golden Tooth Tribe's subsequent counterattacks would likely target their strongholds on the riverbank, so they needed to prepare defenses, or simply abandon them temporarily and guerrilla-raid the Golden Tooth Tribe's other riverbank strongholds, ceasing trade in the short term.
After that, Garros continued to focus on himself, tempering his Dragon Heart.
He put on the Alchemical Item Horn Ring and used the Blood Burst Technique. Immediately, a series of rumblings like muffled thunder came from his chest, sounding like a powerful engine pumping, as if war hammers were beating drums intensely.
In reality.
This was not thunder, nor was it the sound of an engine or beating drums.
It was the sound of Garros's heartbeat at that moment.
With the roaring of his heart, Garros's blood almost boiled and burned. The scales on his chest became translucent, and the crimson texture was clearly visible through the Frostburn Scales, like flowing lava, shining and glowing.
His aura also climbed steadily, becoming violent and scorching, but unstable.
Haa—Garros breathed deeply and submerged himself in the water. He made no other movements, just carefully sensing the changes in his body, trying his best to control the strength boost brought by the Blood Burst Technique.
Not long after, the duration of the Blood Burst Technique ended.
The Red-Iron Dragon leaped out of the water. His body was hot, evaporating the damp water vapor clinging to his scales, keeping him dry and refreshed.
"The evolution of the Dragon Heart is still lacking by a lot."
"If I want the heart to complete its evolution and obtain the third stage of Blood Burst that fits me better, I'm afraid I'll have to reach the youth stage."
Garros thought to himself.
As he developed his innate talents, Garros's understanding of them gradually deepened.
The more complex and important the part, the longer the accumulation required for evolution; simple parts evolved relatively quickly, such as his Dragon scales, which evolved successfully first and had evolved more than once since then.
The heart, which Garros was quite concerned about now, was evolving very slowly.
But it could be expected that once it successfully evolved, given the importance of the heart as a body part, it would affect the whole body and push Garros to a brand-new height, rather than just gaining a skill similar to Blood Burst.
In immersive training, time passed quickly.
Seven days passed in the blink of an eye.
During this period, the Golden Tooth Tribe and the Molten Iron Tribe officially began a 'trade war'. Small-scale war conflicts that started because of trade continued day and night, and the situation changed every day.
Both sides were not small clans; there were many factors to consider, so they did not go to full-scale war.
For example, at the Abyssal Rift in the Fertile Plains.
The White Dragon, Elvie, and many elites were guarding the rift. Demons appeared from time to time; although they did not pose a major threat and provided quite a few Abyssal Materials, it remained a hidden danger.
It tied up a portion of the Molten Iron Tribe's forces.
The Golden Tooth Tribe had many similar situations. They had more resource points, which required more forces to guard. If they were all withdrawn because of the war with the Molten Iron Tribe, other tribes would definitely take advantage of the weakness.
Battles between tribes were not like those of small clans in the wilderness, where every battle could be considered the strength of the entire clan.
The larger the organization, the more things it had to handle, and the harder it was to put all its eggs in one basket.
When conflicts occurred, they often started with small-scale friction. Only when everything was ready would they consider taking the other side down in one go.
The Golden Tooth Tribe and the Molten Iron Tribe.
Both sides mainly focused on the riverbank, striking at the strongholds built by each other on the edge of the riverbank.
After a few engagements, Iron Dragon Sorog adopted Garros's suggestion and directly ordered his kin to completely abandon the riverbank strongholds, temporarily give up trade, and focus on attacking the Golden Tooth Tribe's riverbank strongholds.
Unlike the creatures of the Molten Iron Tribe, Goblins were relatively weak, and their disadvantage of relying on external objects was obvious.
Goblins needed the facilities inside the strongholds to rest, replenish food and water, and repair Alchemical Items and Mecha Golems. They could not be as carefree as the kin of the Molten Iron Tribe, abandoning territory just like that. If they lost their strongholds, their logistics would have problems.
Facing the guerrilla raids of the monsters that came and went like the wind.
The Golden Tooth Tribe had to consolidate their previously dispersed defenses on the riverbank and began to prioritize defense, while simultaneously planning a counterattack.
Regarding this small-scale 'trade war,' Garros occasionally understood the situation through the reports of the Iron Dragon, but did not pay too much attention.
Focusing on improving himself was the most important thing.
As long as the 'Death Omen Star' was strong enough, it could be like a needle that calms the sea, giving the Molten Iron Tribe strong morale.
Additionally.
Garros's Frostburn Scales had finished recovering a few days ago.
He carefully calculated the time. Although the regeneration speed of the Frostburn Scales could not compare to the spines, it was quite fast. If they all fell off, assuming sufficient energy replenishment, it would take about six days to grow new scales.
Although there was much damage formed from the previous battle with the Chimera, the Frostburn Scales were not completely destroyed, so they could regenerate and recover in about three days.
"I need to stretch my muscles."
The Red-Iron Dragon spread his wings and shot straight into the sky to eliminate the remaining Wild Monster Lords and exercise his body.
Nowadays, ordinary hunting was too simple for Garros and did not meet the standard for tempering combat skills. Only by fighting Lord-level wild monsters could he increase his combat experience.
Southwest, Howling Wind Forest.
The twilight was dense, and the sunset clouds, like burning clouds, covered the sky as if flames were burning.
When Garros's Dragon wings swept over the dense forest, the setting sun was dyeing the jagged beech crowns blood-red. The fierce wind he stirred up caused the dense crowns to press down and sink, and branches and leaves swirled in all directions.
At the same time.
Two points of golden light suddenly lit up in the surging dark green waves of the forest sea.
The Wild Monster Lord was perched on the top of a cliff in the forest. This giant beast, whose body length was not inferior to Garros's, still had half a Owlbear carcass clutched in its front claws, and its blood-stained claws and fangs glinted coldly in the setting sun.
Roar!
It opened its mouth and roared, its fur rising one by one like steel needles, its back slightly arched, issuing a warning to the Red-Iron Dragon that had intruded into its territory.
Garros looked intently.
A ferocious beast appeared in his slightly vertical pupils.
White fur was dense and flying, with black stripes crisscrossing on it, forming a clear 'King' character on its forehead—it was indeed a White Tiger Vicious Beast.
Its body size was extremely huge, belonging to the Dire species, which meant it was a Vicious Beast that had brought its beastly talents to the extreme and broken through its limits.
Extremely powerful individuals of the Dire species had terrifying combat talents not inferior to Dragonkin at the same level, but almost all Dire species lacked intelligence, and their IQs were far from comparable to Dragonkin.
The White Tiger's muscle lines were smooth, and its tail was taut like a steel whip.
Its body pressed down low, its posture somewhat similar to that of Dragonkin when hunting.
Hearing the White Tiger's roaring warning, the Red-Iron Dragon did not retreat; instead, he turned his direction and dove down.
His Dragon wings, like guillotines, tore through the air, whistling as they approached.
The White Tiger threw away its prey, and when the Red-Iron Dragon approached at high speed, it leaped sideways with extremely fast reaction speed.
Although it was still grazed by the Dragon wings, leaving a long, bleeding wound on its side, it did not reach the bone and was of no major consequence.
The tiger claws, caked in mud, plowed deep furrows in the ground, and rotting leaves were lifted up by the air wave.
As the White Tiger landed, it suddenly turned, showing terrifying jumping ability and explosive power. It actually pounced toward the Red-Iron Dragon's back, jumping multiple times, walking on air, with rich wind element energy surrounding its body turning into wings, its gaze locked on the Red-Iron Dragon's cervical spine.
These Wild Monster Lords left by the Molten Iron Tribe were relatively powerful, and basically, all of them could fly.
Otherwise, using cheap Gnolls and Kobolds to exhaust their stamina, and then having powerful leaders attack and surround them, would basically be able to handle them.
Garros flicked his thick, long Dragon tail, muscles taut, and the edges suddenly bulged with blade-like scales, the tip like a spear.
The Dragon tail stood up, the spear-like tail tip fast as lightning, stabbing toward the White Tiger's head.
The White Tiger lowered its head in an almost instinctive reflex. The spear tail grazed its scalp, leaving a blood groove. When it raised its head again, the Red-Iron Dragon had already turned around, and his sharp claws were sweeping toward its face.
With a low roar, the White Tiger was not to be outdone. Controlling the fierce wind, it engaged in close-quarters combat with the Red-Iron Dragon in the air.
Its reaction speed was extremely fast, with an instinctive talent similar to the Martial Dragon's Reflexive Dodge skill, always able to dodge the Red-Iron Dragon's attacks at a small cost. But even so, fighting the Red-Iron Dragon, who was covered in lethal weapons, it was covered in wounds in the blink of an eye, though there were no serious injuries.
As for its attacks.
Those claw strikes that could smash steel and tear metal, when they landed on the Frostburn Scales, caused them to dent and crack, emitting a chilling cold.
With every contact with the Frostburn Scales, the White Tiger felt its whole body go cold due to the heat-absorbing properties and the cold air.
Its movements became sluggish; no matter how fast its instinctive reactions were, they gradually could not keep up with Garros's attacks.
Bang!
Garros's Dragon claw fell, hitting the White Tiger square on the head, knocking it toward the ground like a cannonball.
The physique of the Dire species was exceptionally strong. The White Tiger's head was broken and bleeding, its skull dented, but it could still flip its body in mid-air, landing on all fours on top of a fallen giant cedar.
Its sharp claws pierced into the tree trunk, it raised its head, and let out a long howl to the sky.
Amidst the flying wood chips, the White Tiger's roar turned into a materialized sound wave cannon, tearing the blocking tree crowns and leaves into powder.
Boom—dark red flames surged behind his Dragon wings, and Garros suddenly accelerated and turned, dodging past the tiger roar sound waves.
Because of the existence of the Frostburn Scales, Garros did not need to dodge attacks that were of no major consequence; he could just tank them. But do not forget, he had extremely strong mobility.
The White Tiger's howling continued, the terrifying sound waves chasing the Red-Iron Dragon, and everything blocking the way was basically pulverized; the power was quite strong.
However, Garros flapped his wings, moving with the agility of a swimming Dragon.
He charged left and right, circling and dodging the tiger roar sound waves, gradually closing in on the Dire Tiger.
He flew past at high speed, his wings cutting off the tree trunks on the ground, and his Dragon claw accurately gripped the White Tiger's head.
Garros pressed the White Tiger with a single claw. As Level 3 Dragon Qi rotated inside and outside his Dragon arm, the overwhelming power allowed no resistance, pressing it deep into the ground.
Bang, bang, bang!
Along with the dense collision sounds, a deep, long trench was plowed into the ground, giant trees were uprooted, or crashed into breaking and shattering.
Finally, the Dragon claw pressed the White Tiger against a cliff wall, barely stopping.
At this moment, the White Tiger had lost its previous ferocity, its aura became listless, and its whole body was lacerated and bloody.
It exposed its belly, with a hint of pleading in its eyes.
The intelligence of the Dire species was not as good as the Earth Rampage Bear, but it was higher than ordinary wild beasts. It did not have the evil and chaotic heart of the Chimera; at the moment of life and death, it instinctively begged the Red-Iron Dragon for mercy.
Seeing this, Garros also withdrew his killing intent.
He used the mind induction skill derived from the Iron Dragon Bloodline to communicate with the ignorant White Tiger, letting it choose between submission and death, and it made the right choice.
"Venturing your anger on an ignorant beast, hmph, Red-Iron Dragon, you are indeed born evil."
The Red-Silver Dragon's light and agile voice rang out from the sky. She dispelled the invisibility Spell and appeared in the air.
Garros was not surprised by her appearance. Since leaving the Dragon Valley, because of his increasingly improving perception, he had faintly felt that someone was tracking him.
"Deborah, you've finally returned."
Regarding the Red-Silver Dragon's slightly provocative words, Garros did not get angry, but said: "The last incident was a misunderstanding. I woke up from a ten-year slumber and was briefly influenced by the desires of an Evil Dragon."
Looking at Garros's rugged and majestic body, and thinking of his previous bold and direct courtship.
The tip of the Red-Silver Dragon's tail was still trembling slightly.
She feigned calmness and said: "Answer my riddle, and I will forgive your presumption."
"Alright."
Garros nodded.
The Red-Silver Dragon blinked and said:
"I am gentler than time, more enduring than stone, and can turn an angry volcano into a gentle stream."
"The rich often cast me aside like worn-out shoes, but the poor regard me as a treasure."
"The wise use me as a shield, while the foolish cast me aside easily."
"If you hold me tight, I will quietly slip away."
"If you call upon me while waiting, I will stay with you long-term."
She paused, looked at the Red-Iron Dragon, and said: "Tell me, Hybrid Dragon—who am I?"
The Red-Silver Dragon's tone was the same as always, but it was faintly trembling, as if it contained different thoughts and emotions.
Garros concentrated on thinking about the riddle, but found no suitable answer. Moreover, solving riddles for people was a great hobby of the Red-Silver Dragon; occasionally not being able to answer her riddle could even increase her favorability.
"I can't think of it, Deborah, tell me the answer."
The Red-Iron Dragon shook his head.
The Red-Silver Dragon blinked, whispered softly, and said: "Patience, the answer is patience."
×=×
15PS = 1 Extra Chapter. ✓
30PS = 2 Extra Chapters. ✓
50Ps= 3 Extra Chapters.
75PS = 4 Extra Chapters.
100Ps = 5 Extra Chapters.