Lo Quen, the golden dragon, stood beside the charred corpse of the monstrous bird, his chest rising and falling with each breath.
Golden scales across his body were scorched black in many places, some cracked and seeping faint traces of golden blood.
Though badly wounded, his heart surged with the exhilaration of victory.
Just then, an unimaginably vast surge of life force erupted from the purple-feathered beast's corpse and poured straight into his body.
A flood of power swept through Lo Quen's limbs and bones, and deep within his bloodline came a thunderous roar of joy.
His consciousness sank into the panel:
Dragon Bloodline Purity: 2.03%
Magic: 254/20340
The terrifying purple-feathered beast had yielded 10,000 Dragon's Soul directly, granting him a full 1% increase in bloodline purity—equivalent to slaying a hundred Scaled Claw Monsters.
At the same time, his maximum Magic surged by 10,000 points, soaring to a staggering 20,340.
And then came an even more shocking change.
Lo Quen's body, as if injected with growth hormones, began to swell and stretch at a pace visible to the eye.
His bones cracked and popped, muscles bulged, and the golden scales covering him thickened and broadened, their edges flashing with razor-sharp brilliance.
In just a few breaths, the "young dragon" that had once been barely three meters long doubled to six.
Still "small" compared to an adult dragon, yet now radiating an aura of emerging majesty.
His sleek, powerful frame embodied beauty in strength, and under the faint light of the sky, his golden scales slowly regained their luster.
"Six meters at just 2% purity! If I reach the legendary 33%... could I rival 'Black Dread' Balerion? And at 100%? A three-hundred-meter dragon that could end the world?!"
Endless visions surged through his mind.
But they were cut short by a sudden wave of weakness.
Maintaining dragon form drained Magic without pause.
The fight, though short and fierce, had already cost him 1000 points to transform. Staying in form consumed 1 point per second, not to mention the cost of Dragonflame and passive skills.
He checked his Magic in a panic: 9/20340.
And the number was still dropping, point by point. In seconds, he would no longer be able to sustain his form.
Lo Quen didn't dare hesitate. With a thought, he dissolved [True Dragon's Descent].
The radiant golden light collapsed inward, his massive frame shrinking and twisting like a fading illusion.
In the blink of an eye, a human figure stood where the dragon had been—Lo Quen, back in his own body.
But a breeze, still carrying the tang of sulfur, swept over him, and he shivered.
Glancing down, his eyes widened in shock.
"Transforming burns clothes?!"
He stood completely bare, exposed to the cool air of the ruins.
His face flushed red. Hastily, he tore strips of tendon and wing from the purple-feathered beast and fashioned a crude feather skirt, just enough to cover himself.
If he ever transformed in front of thousands on the battlefield, only to revert afterward—wouldn't that make him a walking sideshow?
He had to find a solution.
Suppressing his frustration, he did not follow Jaelena and Janice's path of escape but instead turned back toward the Ghost Grass Sea.
His Magic was spent, his reserves dry as a riverbed. He needed to replenish before chasing the sisters.
The journey back was uneventful.
He stepped into the rolling green tide of the Ghost Grass Sea, his palms greedily plucking at the swaying stalks.
The blades leaned toward him like iron drawn to a magnet, pouring their energy into his hands. Only when his Magic surged back to its full 20,000 points did he turn and resume the pursuit.
At the battlefield where he had slain the purple-feathered beast, the ground was littered with Scaled Claw Monster corpses—proof of a fierce struggle.
Jaelena was the most likely one behind it.
But even with her great bow that could fire arrows of flame, there was no way she had killed hundreds of them alone.
She had to have allies nearby.
With that thought, Lo Quen pressed on, not daring to pause, scanning the withered forest for any sign of the sisters.
Soon, the clash of steel rang through the fog ahead.
Peering through the mist, he saw Jaelena leading a group of Copper Armor Soldiers. They had formed a circular shield wall around dozens of wooden carts laden with ghost grass, fighting desperately against a tide of Scaled Claw Monsters swarming down the mountainside.
The screech of steel, the roars of beasts, and the shouts of men all blended into a storm of chaos.
Blood and grass fragments flew through the air. Corpses of men and monsters alike lay scattered across the ground.
Lo Quen no longer hid. He strode openly from the fog.
The Dragon's Soul within the slain Scaled Claw Monsters surged of their own accord into his body.
Not all, of course—some yielded nothing.
But his sudden appearance drew every eye, both man and beast.
Lo Quen stood there, clad only in an ugly purple-feather skirt, his muscles bared. Among the armored soldiers and scaled monsters, he looked utterly out of place.
A monster caught sight of Lo Quen's exposed chest, drool dripping from its gaping jaws as it leapt at him with a violent kick.
Lo Quen raised his steel sword, knocking it back. Then he opened his mouth wide, and a blast of searing flame erupted from his throat, engulfing the creature. The monster shrieked in agony, its screams cut short within seconds as its body blackened and crumbled into charred remains.
The others froze for a heartbeat, then their venomous eyes locked on him.
Several abandoned their current foes, breaking from the melee to rush him instead.
In an instant, more than a dozen monsters closed in.
They exchanged glances, then lunged together, jaws gaping.
Lo Quen did not panic. He triggered the skill [Blazing Inferno]!
The air around him thickened, heavy as if pressed under crushing weight. The temperature spiked, and molten golden flames burst from the void, condensing into a meter-thick layer of armor that clung to his body.
The monsters halted, fear flashing in their eyes, unwilling to come near that flesh-searing fire.
But Lo Quen wasn't about to stop.
He locked onto the horde and exhaled a torrent of blazing flame, sweeping it across them in a wide arc.
Before they could react, the flames consumed them whole, reducing them to smoldering husks.
The battlefield fell silent.
Both soldiers and beasts stared at the figure wreathed in fire, stunned that he had slain more than a dozen monsters with a single strike.
Seeing Lo Quen unleash his flame sorcery, the soldiers' morale surged. They roared and charged with renewed fury, tipping the balance of the battle at once.
Jaelena bore the heaviest assault, surrounded by the largest cluster of monsters.
Yet her violet eyes stayed calm. With one arm she shielded Janice, while the other gripped a silver-white greatsword etched with dull, swirling runes, meeting the monsters head-on.
The broad blade was like a bronze wall, keeping the savage creatures at bay. Each swing tore through the air with a piercing screech.
Her swordlight was cold as ice, sharp enough to slice through steel. The monsters' iron-hard scales crumbled like paper under her strikes. With each arc of her blade, a headless corpse fell, the ground at her feet already piled into a grisly mound.
"This woman's swordsmanship deserves the title 'Divine Sword of the Maiden'!"
Lo Quen marveled inwardly. Jaelena's slender frame hid terrifying precision—each strike perfectly aimed at joints and weaknesses.
Her strength might not match his, but her mastery of the blade, the artistry and cunning of her technique, outshone the brute force of his Dragonflame.
With that thought, Lo Quen flung himself back into the fray, fire blazing around him.
Empowered by [Blazing Inferno], his body seemed clad in invisible armor. The monsters dared not touch him, only to be struck down instead—eyes pierced by his blade, skulls crushed, or bodies burned alive in his fire.
Though he didn't need to kill them himself to gain Dragon's Soul, hastening their slaughter only worked to his advantage.
At last, when the final monster fell, Lo Quen released [Blazing Inferno] and drew in the Dragon's Souls surging from the battlefield.
...
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