Defeating the World with the Power of One Dragon!

Chapter 52: Targeted Training

"Too gentle. Use your magical energy and continue." Garoth encouraged.

Seeing no anger from Garoth and under his constant encouragement, the Rampage Bears gradually let loose, increasing their strength and reinforcing their bodies with magical energy.

At first, they feared hurting Garoth might provoke his wrath.

But soon, they realized their worries were unnecessary.

One Rampage Bear's paw, covered in thick rock and carrying a fierce gust, slammed hard onto Garoth's dragon scales.

Boom!

With some shattered scales flying about, Garoth didn't even flinch. Several black-red scales faintly glimmered beneath his Explosive Scales.

Simultaneously, the Rampage Bear felt a tremendous, explosive recoil hit its body, staggering it back several steps. Several extremely sharp scale fragments had embedded themselves into its bear arm, piercing through the hard stone armor and lodging deep in its flesh.

Rampage Bears were inherently fierce and combative.

Opportunities to attack without restraint with a dragon as their training partner were rare.They saw Garoth's request as his benevolence - special training just for them. Thus, they eagerly rubbed their paws together, brimming with excitement.

Ignoring the pain in its arm, the Rampage Bear took large strides toward Garoth again, raising its paw for another strike.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Dull thuds echoed continuously through Needleleaf Valley.

Beyond the recoil and cuts, the bears noticed Garoth's scales growing increasingly hot. The originally faint red glow along his scales was gradually spreading toward his spine.

Several minutes later.

Boom—CRACK!

When the bear's paw struck Garoth this time, the shattered scales exploded upon contact. With an ear-splitting blast, they transformed into flames and a powerful shockwave that sent the unprepared Rampage Bear flying, its flesh torn open.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

All the Rampage Bears were blasted away, while the layer of Explosive Scales across Garoth's body turned glowing red, radiating heat so intense it distorted the surrounding air.

"Explosions can now occur without fire-based attacks."

"These Explosive Scales can absorb kinetic energy and convert it to heat, reducing impact damage while counterattacking."

Garoth swung his tail in satisfaction.

His gaze swept over the cowering bears, their fur scorched black and falling off in patches. He urged them: "I didn't tell you to stop. Keep attacking me. Don't forget your quasi-spell skills—use those too."

His words enlightened the Rampage Bears.

Circling Garoth, they began employing quasi-spell skills. With mere swipes of their paws, they conjured massive, solid boulders that whistled through the air toward Garoth, only to be shattered into dust by his Explosive Scales.

One bear, remembering Garoth's instruction to injure him by any means necessary, stomped its foot.

Sharp stone spikes erupted from the ground at tricky angles, aiming straight for Garoth's lower abdominal reproductive cavity.

Feeling instinctive danger, Garoth shifted his stance and raised his foot, crushing the spikes inch by inch beneath his weight.

Though his reproductive cavity had a layer of protective scales, they couldn't compare to the sturdiness of his chest and back plates. Moreover, attacks with vibration or penetration effects could still bypass this defense.

"This is a weakness. I've been negligent before."

Garoth contemplated providing targeted training for his little dragon to address this vulnerability.

Time passed slowly until night fell.

The Rampage Bears lay sprawled on the ground like limp rags, their bodies covered in explosive wounds, faces utterly drained of vitality. Initially, they'd thought Garoth letting them attack him was an encouraging training method, filling them with excitement.

Now, that excitement had been completely replaced by exhaustion.

Along with their fatigue came shock and genuine awe.

Despite enduring countless attacks from them, Garoth remained energetic and alert, while they were nearly dead from exhaustion.

Surveying the bears, Garoth nodded approvingly. "Rest well. We'll continue in a few days when you've recovered."

With more Rampage Bears participating, the training proved more effective than before.

Methods like earth pounding for self-training weren't precise enough to cover his entire body.

Unlike other dragons, Garoth didn't gather followers to wage wars for him or satisfy any innate desire to dominate and enslave other creatures. His primary goal was refining his training to strengthen himself further.

Garoth firmly believed:

In this world teeming with extraordinary beings, only personal strength truly mattered.

Wealth, beauty, power.

These were merely byproducts of one's own might.

Garoth's tastes were growing increasingly perverted... Meanwhile, Samantha silently retreated several steps further from Garoth, fearing she might become his next target.

She didn't understand that Garoth's strength stemmed from these very "peculiar habits."

She only thought Garoth was somewhat abnormal for enjoying being beaten—especially since he remained unharmed while his attackers collapsed from exhaustion.

Not asking Samantha to assist with his training further, Garoth took to the skies under cover of night, landing at the edge of Needleleaf Valley where no other creatures resided. He approached a protruding stone pillar.

After contemplating for several seconds, Garoth reared up and rammed his waist forcefully against it.

CRACK!

The stone pillar snapped from the impact, while Garoth felt uncomfortable recoil and a dull ache.

The scales protecting his reproductive cavity weren't Explosive Scales and lacked kinetic energy absorption properties.

The little dragon itself was relatively fragile in that area. Despite the scale protection, impacts still affected it unavoidably.

"Indeed a major weakness. Too vulnerable. I can't neglect this."

Garoth took a deep breath, steeling his resolve.

Since this behavior might seem peculiar, he checked his surroundings to ensure no other creatures were present before commencing his true earth pounding training. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he began slamming into the rocks repeatedly—BAM! BAM! BAM!

This astonishing display of willpower and determination had no audience.

Only the twin moons in the night sky watched silently like a pair of eyes observing everything below.

Meanwhile.

At Balang Black Oil Field—the territory guarded by the Blackrock Duchy's Third Heavy Cavalry Brigade—the dwarf alchemist Groni carried a black-gray scale fragment with faint red edges into his alchemy workshop.

"Use this as material to create a tracker for locating the young dragon," he thought while focusing on the scale fragment.

"Melt into liquid substrate, extract essence, activate properties, then alchemically shape it."

He habitually muttered the basic alchemical procedures.

Before a stone table cluttered with various tools, the dwarf traced runes in the air that transformed into flames upon his crucible. He then placed the scale fragment inside for the initial melting process.

But to his surprise.

Instead of melting under the intense heat, the metallic scale fragment gradually turned glowing red, growing increasingly bright.

"Some special reaction to fire?"

"Could this be due to hybrid characteristics altering the dragon scales' properties?"

Having never witnessed nor heard of such changes before, the dwarf alchemist considered this might represent a groundbreaking discovery—one that could form the basis of an alchemical thesis and elevate his status among alchemists.

Excited, he leaned closer, widening his eyes to observe the scale's transformation while intensifying the flames.