novelraw Chapter 366: Silver Dragon: This is a young dragon?!
Chapter 366: Silver Dragon: This is a young dragon?!
Training can slow the accumulation of rage, which was undoubtedly uplifting news for Garoth.
After confirming this, his thoughts turned to another matter that had been nagging at him for some time,
the issue of taking on the Wild path.
The Star Path and the Eternal Death path are, in essence, branches of the Battle path, using pure Dragon Qi as their core energy source.
However, the Wild Dragon path is a completely different transcendence path from the Battle Dragon one. It does not rely on Dragon Qi, but instead uses blazing, boiling rage as its power source.
Among all dragon kinds,
red dragons, who are naturally quick-tempered and fiery, are the species that most commonly follow the Wild path.
Once a dragon becomes a Wild Dragon, anger ceases to be merely an emotion and becomes tangible strength: the more furious they are, the more their combat power skyrockets.
But precisely because of that, Wild Dragons are far more prone to uncontrollable fury and mania. They can detonate at the slightest provocation, struggle to maintain reason, and often act on impulses with dire consequences.
The basic requirement to take the Wild path is not complicated to describe.You must truly and completely experience and immerse yourself in an utter, all-consuming rage that discards every bit of rational restraint.
In the past, Garoth—by nature relatively steady and self-controlled—would have found it hard to reach such a state deliberately.
But times had changed. With the persistent influence of the frenzied flame inside him, if he wanted to, he could trigger the volcano of suppressed emotion at any time and plunge himself into that total rage, thereby meeting the prerequisite for cross-training the Wild path.
Yet problems arose along with that possibility.
That would be extremely dangerous.
Rage, violence, wildness... those states inherently erode rationality to some degree. If combined with the frenzied flame’s chaotic influence, once he used Wild path skills, Garoth feared he might lose control completely and turn into a destruction-obsessed mad beast.
If that happened, even if he could adapt, it would take far longer, and every second during the loss of control would be perilous.
On the other hand,
the fewer transcendence paths one cross-trains, the less comprehensive one’s capabilities will be at the same level, and the weaker one’s immediate combat power may appear. But studying fewer paths also concentrates time and energy, allowing each path’s career level to rise faster.
Should he cross-train a few paths or specialize in one?
That required trade-offs and weighing pros and cons.
Garoth’s current Battle path level had not yet reached a plateau where improvement became difficult; his potential remained huge.
Considering the risk of losing control on the Wild path, after meticulous deliberation, he had already made up his mind.
“Put the Wild path on hold for now. Once you have complete control over the frenzied flame inside you, then consider cross-training the Wild path.”
Before making that decision, Garoth felt his mind grow much clearer.
He resumed his long, continuous training, ordered his followers to bring several living test subjects, and asked White Dragon Trixie to cooperate so he could try out the newly learned life-extraction skill.
The actual test results matched the descriptions in the Dragon Legacy.
That skill could indeed forcibly draw a portion of life essence from living beings around him to restore his own injuries and life force.
It was worth noting that the skill did not lock onto a single target, but instead centered on Garoth himself, covering a circular area and extracting from multiple targets with varying degrees.
Its range and extraction potency would increase synchronously with his career level in the Eternal Death path.
However, when he attempted to draw life force from Trixie, Garoth clearly felt some resistance.
Powerful creatures have a natural resistance to such negative-effect skills.
Overall, though, the weaker or more grievously wounded the target, the more significant the life extraction effect and the less resistance encountered.
“This skill works best when trapped within besieging forces or facing many enemies. It can extract a massive amount of life energy at once, letting me sustain myself through battle,” Garoth summarized the skill’s optimal application in his mind.
Then he reined in his concentration, sank his awareness inward, and lightly tapped the two unique Bloodline Connection links.
“Present?”
“Present!”
Within the unique Ignas clan telepathic network, Garoth spoke directly to red dragon Samantha: “Samantha, I need a custom-made set of special armor.”
Samantha, whose alchemy skills Garoth trusted and entrusted, was delighted.
“No problem! I’ve got this!”
“Which attribute do you want the armor to emphasize? Maximum reinforced defense, or increased strength, speed, or other stats?”
She paused, then added, considering Garoth’s size: “Given your massive, ridiculously bulky physique, crafting a full set of armor will require a lot of rare materials and complex processes. That said, the tribe’s territory is wide and resources are rich, so that’s not an issue.”
Garoth conveyed his need: “No, I don’t want enhancement.”
“On the contrary, I need armor capable of suppressing, restraining, and binding my own power.”
This answer ran counter to the usual dragon demand for power amplification, leaving Samantha momentarily surprised.
But she quickly realized the deeper intent and purpose behind Garoth’s request and said with dawning comprehension, “I can try, but the Legacy lacks knowledge on this. It’ll likely require extensive trial and error and won’t be completed in the short term.”
Garoth understood.
“That’s fine. I can wait. No rush—work at your pace.”
At the same time, iron dragon Sorog said, “Samantha, the ley pools have recently yielded several rare soul-iron stones. Could you use these soul-iron stones to forge me a helmet that amplifies mental spell effects?”
A teasing sliver appeared in Samantha’s thoughts as she replied: “Sure, but you have to ask me properly.”
He wanted to see the usually stern, cold iron dragon show a submissive side to her.
Iron dragon Sorog responded calmly and plainly: “Okay. I request you—truly request you—from the bottom of my heart, to craft this helmet for me.”
Simple and straightforward, without any embarrassment.
That reaction was not the awkwardness Samantha had expected, and it felt like punching cotton for her.
She snorted lightly out of slight boredom and reluctantly said, “Fine. Since you asked so sincerely, have your followers send the soul-iron stones over.”
At that moment, Garoth remembered the exploration of the legendary item.
He asked, “By the way, how is the Marnes Dungeon exploration progressing? Have you found any concrete clues about that legendary item?”
Hearing his question, Sorog fell briefly silent.
He did not answer immediately, instead cautiously asking, “Garoth, how is the frenzied flame affecting you now? Is it still as intense as before you slept?”
Garoth checked his own state and replied, “After the sleep and adaptation, I can control it better now. The influence remains, but it’s much lighter compared to before.”
Sorog carefully felt Garoth’s mental state.
After a moment’s thought, he said, “During your slumber, the exploration team did find leads on the legendary item and were nearly within reach, but...”
He chose his words carefully and relayed everything that had occurred in the depths of Marnes Dungeon to Garoth without omission.
The red iron dragon listened silently and did not interrupt from start to finish.
However, as Sorog narrated, the anger Garoth had just suppressed began to climb uncontrollably. Veins surfaced visibly, inching up toward his eyes again.
The Luckbringer... after taking the Hall of Heroic Spirits, she could have quietly left; the Molten Iron Tribe might never have known who had taken the item.
But she did not.
She deliberately stayed, appeared in person, expressed what seemed like sincere intent to the Molten Iron Tribe, and emphasized that she had provided so-called compensation.
Perhaps, in her mind, this was a friendly and benevolent gesture?
No!
In Garoth’s view, he only saw an ugly face.
To snatch something others had spent extensive time, effort, and talent to discover, then act as if “I did this for your good; you should understand my pain,” make a hypocritical apology, and offer a paltry compensation—that was brazen hypocrisy and condescending arrogance.
If she had openly used her legendary power to take it and followed a might-makes-right approach, it would have been easier to accept than this pretense.
Garoth inhaled slowly, forcing down the surging fury in his chest.
But that anger did not vanish; it accumulated in the depths of his heart like a dormant volcano, waiting to erupt.
“Luckbringer... hm. She did get lucky picking up a legendary artifact easily from us.”
“But she may not realize that every gift in fate already has a price secretly tagged to it. Temporary luck does not equal eternal luck.”
“Let her bask in her triumph for now.”
The red iron dragon’s voice was icy as he said, “When I step into the legendary realm, I will personally visit the southern temple of the Fortune Church. Then I will make her understand what true misfortune is!”
Afterward, Garoth and Sorog discussed the tribe’s overall development in the northwest wilderness region, resource collection progress, and surrounding power movements.
Once satisfied that things were generally stable, he took the initiative to end the Bloodline Connection conversation.
Edri reopened his eyes; the redness in his eyes had nearly halved, but the dragon’s mood was still annoyingly unsettled because of the Luckbringer incident.
Merely learning of the matter pushed a notch more anger into him. A destructive impulse roared in his chest—he wanted to fly south right now, smash the Fortune Church’s temple to pieces to vent his hatred.
Luckily, his reason firmly held back that reckless impulse.
“Compared to a real legendary weakling, your power is still far off.”
“You must inefficiently consume northwest region resources, train at lower intensity and with stricter discipline... you need to approach the legendary realm as slowly as possible.”
The appearance and actions of that legendary strong figure made Garoth both furious and more clearly aware of his situation.
Below legendary status, he might dominate a region and be honored as a king.
But as long as he was not yet legendary, all of that was like a castle built on quicksand—superficially glorious but fundamentally unstable, liable to collapse at a thought from a true strong one.
The real players and decision-makers in this world all stand above the legendary rank.
Only by becoming legendary does one truly gain a seat at the table.
Before that, it’s all small-time skirmishes.
To a true legendary, the wrestling between wilderness regional kings is probably like two rookies pecking each other—utterly insignificant.
“At my current strength, could I possibly fight those newly ascended level-21, entry-level new-legendaries and survive?”
Garoth mused silently, evaluating the gap between himself and a legendary.
He had already experienced the power and danger of Domains at the lich’s hands.
That was only a dead legendary; even a weakened Domain required him to enter Crimson Lotus Form to forcefully break it, and it was far from easy.
After his battle with the Mad King, he had improved.
But against a fully intact true legendary, breaking their complete Domain would still be extremely difficult, with slim chances of victory.
However, given his monstrously robust physique and life force,
if he did not stubbornly fight to the death, an ordinary entry-level legendary would find it extremely hard to kill him.
And once he himself reached level 20’s peak, the situation might be very different.
The Dragon Legacy records show that some exceptionally gifted and well-rooted great dragons have reversed fate to defeat new-legendaries of other races. These cases are not common but not extremely rare either.
Differences in species and individual variations can bridge some of the gap between mundane beings and legendaries.
Garoth thought that if other dragons could do it, so could he someday.
Of course, he would not rashly attempt it unless necessary. He fundamentally preferred stepping down to fight weaker foes rather than daringly challenging those above.
At this time, though his stored anger was high, it had not yet reached the safe release threshold Garoth set for himself.
He inhaled deeply again, calming his stirred emotions as best as he could, adapting to the frenzied flame’s effects, and prepared to begin a new, higher-intensity training cycle. He resolved to use his sweat, talent, and the tribe’s steady resources to reach the legendary realm—the threshold of life transformation—as quickly as possible.
Woooo—!
Outside Dragon Valley, the gale howled mournfully. The already gloomy sky fell into night and deepened into blackness.
Garoth’s new round of training had only just started when he suddenly froze, lifting his head sharply to look at the sky.
At the same time,
two dragon silhouettes tore through the heavy blizzard curtain, closing on Dragon Valley with a clear, unmistakable trajectory and impressive speed—far faster than ordinary young or adult dragons.
Their forms emerged more distinctly through the wind and snow, and their scale colors revealed their identities.
They were the silver dragon and the brass dragon couple Deborah had spoken of—Silver Dragon Edri and Brass Dragon Serena.
At the same moment, as Silver Dragon Edri flew above the forest near Dragon Valley, he habitually circled once in the sky, his majestic gaze sweeping down over the valley scene.
When that massive, muscular, granite-like red iron dragon form—radiating terrifying power—came into his sight,
the typically elegant and aloof silver dragon could not keep his expression composed.
He widened his dragon eyes unconsciously, mouth slightly ajar, staring in shock as if he had been dumbstruck,
This... this is truly a young dragon?!
What a joke!
Some ordinary red dragons who had only just reached prime phase weren’t guaranteed to possess such exaggerated, hulking size!
Compared to this red iron dragon at that moment, the mature silver dragon looked thin and weak.
The last time he visited Dragon Valley to see Deborah, she had not told him Garoth’s recent developments in detail.
Edri had not expected that after a few years apart, this red iron dragon would have grown to such an astonishing degree.
He had overestimated the red iron dragon’s talent before, and yet, in the end, he had still underestimated him.
Maybe... that idea of a duel I had before should be dropped? Striving for a momentary victory isn’t really worth it. As an elder, I should be more magnanimous and not fuss over every point.
In Edri’s heart, doubts crept in.
“My dear, look at Garoth. He seems to have grown a lot since we last saw him,” Brass Dragon Serena murmured with a smile.
She paused and continued, “You’re not thinking of backing out because of that, are you? Of course, if you change your mind now, as your understanding partner, I will be very, very understanding.”
Hearing that, Silver Dragon Edri bristled as if someone had stepped on his tail, emitting a displeased snort.
He suppressed the stir inside, returned to his proud, indifferent demeanor, and said, “Backing out because a young dragon is strong? No.”
“I will prove by action that there is a huge difference between a young dragon and an experienced, mature dragon.”
In his eyes, this young red iron dragon might only be abnormally gifted, developing physically very quickly.
However, size has never been the sole determinant of a great dragon’s strength.
Age, accumulated years, abundant combat experience, and having reached respectable levels in three cross-trained career paths... these were the sources of his confidence.
As for losing the first duel, that had been carelessness on his part.
He had no reason to show weakness in front of his companion.
Next time, he would simply be more serious in the challenge and hold back the water. Besides, Garoth might not even accept his duel request. Last time, he had to coax the red iron dragon into agreeing.
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