"Hoo—hoo—!!"
Heavy and scorching, the sound of breathing like a bellows echoed continuously.
With the Red-Iron Dragon's body as the center, the surrounding area had almost completely turned into scorched earth.
Trees that were originally tall and straight were instantly ignited, turning into violently burning torches, before being thoroughly carbonized and collapsing into ash within seconds due to the extreme heat.
The ground, unable to withstand this terrifying heat, melted and collapsed in large swathes, eventually solidifying into a land of glass-like crystals.
Garros was currently in the Crimson Lotus State.
His dragon scales, harder than refined steel, were cracking and shattering inch by inch at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if they would completely disintegrate at any moment.
Garros was attempting to adapt to the burden brought about by the Crimson Lotus State.
His goal was to extend the duration of this explosive state, hoping that one day, he could adapt to it completely just as he had with the Frenzied State, turning it into a permanent state that could be activated anytime, anywhere, at will, without too many side effects on himself.
This was by no means a simple matter.
The essence of the Crimson Lotus State was a strange and dangerous reaction between the thermal energy within his body and the Blood Burst.
When using this state, it could be said that Garros's dragon blood was burning directly within his blood vessels.
Were it not for the fact that he was born with extremely high fire resistance and had refined it to an unimaginable level through countless trials, this state would have been nothing short of suicide for him; its danger and the degree of destruction it wreaked on his body far exceeded that of the Frenzied State and the Blood Burst State.
However, Garros was immensely convinced in his heart: as long as he used it enough times, as long as he continued to challenge and hone himself, with his special talent, he would one day reach his goal; it was only a matter of time.
Moreover, in this process, Garros keenly sensed some deeper changes.
Garros could clearly feel that his blood was showing signs of some kind of Adaptive Evolution between the cycle of extreme burning and calming.
There was often much uncertainty in the specific direction of his Adaptive Evolution, but through his past successful evolutionary experiences, Garros had also summarized some vague experience and intuition, allowing him to roughly perceive which parts of his body were being prioritized for strengthening.
"The previous evolution centered on the heart and dragon jade, but it also simultaneously strengthened my other internal organs, especially the basic vascular network, which became unprecedentedly dense and tough, far exceeding the physiological structure of normal Dragonkin."
"Judging from my current feelings, the focus of my next evolution is highly likely related to this boiling, burning blood."
While enduring the tearing sensation brought about by the Crimson Lotus State, Garros thought calmly and reached this conclusion.
"I wonder what kind of brand-new effects the Dragonblood Evolution will bring."
He could not predict the specific changes, but his heart was filled with burning anticipation for it.
The only thing he felt a little regretful about was that, based on his current instinctual perception, it seemed that only by activating the extreme state of the Crimson Lotus State could he effectively stimulate and promote the evolution of his dragon blood.
The Crimson Lotus State itself could not be maintained for long, and after each such extreme workout, his body required a considerable amount of time to repair damage and recover his Origin Qi.
This meant that the Dragonblood Evolution was destined not to be achieved overnight.
However, this was not an unacceptable problem.
In the face of a long timescale, Garros possessed sufficient patience.
He was willing to wait, and willing to pay the price of countless painful yet pleasurable experiences for it.
A long time later.
With an exceptionally deep and long breath, the Red-Iron Dragon's fierce and wild aura quickly dropped and receded, and the bewitching, Crimson Lotus-like karmic fire patterns on his body quickly dimmed and faded, revealing the dragon scales underneath that were covered in spiderweb-like cracks and seemed ready to shatter at a touch.
"Every time I activate the Crimson Lotus State, it causes my scales to severely collapse, my flesh to tear, and my body to fall into weakness and trauma, but this in itself is a tempering of my Physical Body's limits."
"Now, combined with the blessing from that kind-hearted lich, the effect is surprisingly good."
Feeling the intertwined intense pain and weakness both inside and outside his body, the Red-Iron Dragon did not look pained in the slightest; instead, he grinned, revealing a smile filled with a hint of pleasure and enjoyment.
To him, this superimposed pain was the best catalyst for honing his will and accelerating his evolution.
After ending this workout, he flapped his wings and returned to his lair located in the Coniferous Valley.
Ever since the Molten Iron Tribe made a comeback and returned to the Serel Wilderness, because the Coniferous Valley had a moderate geographical location and was surrounded by plenty of open spaces suitable for his various extreme workouts, Garros still chose this place as his daily resting place.
He was stationed here, and once a major crisis occurred at any of the outposts or strongholds in the territory, he could rush to provide support in a very short time.
He rarely personally interfered with or handled the tedious affairs of the territory, devoting the vast majority of his time and energy to training and strengthening himself, but all major crises concerning the survival of the tribe and enemies too strong to resist were ultimately resolved by his own hands.
To the Molten Iron Tribe, he was the irreplaceable highest pillar, and to The Dragon Flight, he was also an existence like a stabilizing needle in the sea.
Just thinking about having such a powerful Lord of the Crimson Wings standing behind them, the thousands of kin and dragons under his command would feel immense peace of mind and confidence.
As for his other kin.
Setting aside Gorton, who was currently in the Kingdom of Lothern and in a special situation, for now.
The Iron Dragon Sorog was mainly stationed at the pass of the Scale-Earth Rift Road, guarding a strategic passage of the territory.
Ever since the Molten Iron Tribe absorbed several other Young Dragons, the burden on Solrog had lightened quite a bit.
The focus of his daily tasks had gradually shifted from doing everything himself to coordinating the overall situation.
He would issue clear instructions and mission objectives to the other Young Dragons, leaving them to execute the specifics; this allowed Solrog himself to have more precious time for in-depth thinking and analysis, enabling him to grasp the development direction of the territory and the dynamics of the kin more macroscopically and accurately.
The Red Dragon Samantha was also demonstrating her talents.
She had taken a fancy to the territory previously occupied by the Ogres, a steep and dangerous place known as the Bone-Crushing Hills.
Afterwards, she led a group of Alchemists and golems to carry out drastic reforms on the Bone-Crushing Hills, with the goal of building this land, which was originally full of barbaric atmosphere, into a small but fully functional alchemy industrial zone.
Although the current scale was still far from being comparable to the Black Iron Plain, which had a deeper Foundation, some basic alchemy products could already be produced on-site, without needing to spend time and manpower transporting them from the distant Black Iron Plain.
After circling over the Coniferous Valley a few times, Garros slowly reduced his speed, folded his wings, and landed inside the valley.
"Puji~ Puji~"
As soon as he landed, a group of colorful, diverse, and giant jelly-like monsters immediately hopped over.
These were Slimes.
They were one of the most common monsters in the adventurer's introductory guide, usually located at the very bottom of the food chain.
When Garros previously returned to the Coniferous Valley, he discovered that it had already been occupied by dense swarms of Slimes of various attributes.
Then, he simply released a bit of his dragon might, and without any effort, he gained the fanatical support of this group of Slimes.
Low-level monsters could simply not resist the natural pressure of a True Dragon.
Puji... Puji... A group of Slimes began to try and slowly climb onto Garros's massive body, which was covered in cracks and ash.
They possessed highly elastic, soft, and moist bodies, and were unexpectedly effective at cleaning up shed broken scales and scraping away the dust and solidified blood stains accumulated in the gaps of his scale armor.
Garros simply treated these little things as free scale armor cleaners.
As for the reward, it was naturally the large amount of broken scales that fell off his body after each high-intensity workout, as well as the dragon blood that seeped out from the cracks, which contained powerful energy for low-level monsters.
But Garros's rewards were not that easy to take.
As time passed.
Those Slimes that were diligently squirming on his scale armor performing cleaning work gradually had thin, blood-like textures appear on their bodies.
From time to time, one would be unable to withstand the energy contained in the dragon blood, suddenly tremble violently, and then with a muffled bang, explode into a puddle of colorful, broken jelly-like substance, only to be immediately swarmed by the surrounding impatient peers and devoured completely.
The vast majority of Slimes simply could not withstand the erosion of the True Dragon's blood.
However, there were also a few gifted or extremely lucky individuals whose bodies kept trembling, and while the blood vessels on their skin became increasingly dense, they stubbornly refused to burst.
During this process, their auras gradually changed, slowly gaining a trace of an extremely faint Dragonkin aura.
Not long after.
Garros's scales were cleaned until they shone brightly by these little fellows, and the entire dragon seemed to have been completely renovated.
The surrounding Slimes also left, satisfied, looking for quiet corners to digest and absorb the precious scale fragments and dragon blood energy.
In time, a decent subordinate leader might emerge from this group of Slimes.
Meanwhile.
A black shadow circled over the valley for half a turn, then folded its wings, dove down, and landed on the open ground in front of Garros.
"Good day, Leader Garros."
Black Dragon Serafina lowered her head, which was covered in craggy bone armor, and slightly crouched her body, expressing her respect to the Red-Iron Dragon, who was far more robust and massive than she was.
Her voice was low and slightly hoarse, carrying the uniquely chilling texture characteristic of a Black Dragon.
Garros carefully examined the kin before him.
His gaze first fell upon her heavy, keratinous head, which was covered in a layer of outward-protruding, terrifying skull-mask-like structures, and then swept over her bony, sharp-scaled, and exceptionally lean-looking body.
Beyond their vastly different personalities, the Chromatic Dragons also gave people completely different intuitive impressions in terms of appearance.
Red Dragons are domineering, Blue Dragons are dignified and solemn, Green Dragons are elegant and cunning, White Dragons are as foolish as beasts... while Black Dragons often give one an instinctive sense of gloom and terror. Furthermore, Black Dragons are naturally close to negative energy and are keen on dealing with death and the Undead.
"Serafina, there is a mission I need you to handle."
Garros concisely described the situation of the Lich's nest, then said, "Go to that underground cave, subdue the out-of-control remnant Undead, and take full charge of managing and modifying that Undead nest."
"If you encounter any trouble that you cannot solve yourself during the process, you may directly ask Lord of Flowers Charles for assistance."
Upon hearing the leader's command.
The Black Dragon was visibly stunned for a moment, seemingly unable to digest this sudden good news, and immediately afterward, she began to wag the tip of her tail rapidly with a very small amplitude.
"Understood! Serafina guarantees to you that I will complete the mission perfectly!"
She tried hard to restrain her excitement, but her usually low and hoarse voice involuntarily became much clearer and louder, exposing her inner excitement and joy.
For a Black Dragon, being able to take charge of a ready-made, high-level Undead nest operated by a powerful Lich was no less significant than Garros discovering a new Black Oil Field.
Her happiness was understandable.
Garros nodded slightly and continued to ask, "How is the recent research progress on the Dragon-Forged Transformation Ritual?"
The Black Dragon reined in her excitement and then cautiously replied:
"After repeated research, deduction, and calculation, Ludwig and I agree that breaking down the complete Dragonblood Transformation process into twenty progressive, independent modification rituals is the most prudent and safe approach."
"Currently, the technology for the [Dragon Scale Modification Ritual], which serves as the foundational first step, is gradually maturing."
"The main effect of the Dragon Scale Modification Ritual is to grant the subject a trace of pure Dragonkin Bloodline characteristics, as well as obtaining stronger external scale armor defensive capabilities."
Garros pondered for a moment and followed up:
"How much effect does this ritual have in terms of extending the subject's lifespan?"
The Black Dragon clearly had already researched this and answered fluently, "Using an ordinary human as a reference subject, successfully completing the Dragon Scale Modification Ritual can increase their maximum lifespan by about twenty years."
"Different modification rituals have different focuses and effects regarding life extension."
"Theoretically, if the subsequent [Heart Modification Ritual] can be successfully developed and implemented, the strengthening of the Life Origin it brings will at the very least increase the subject's maximum lifespan by over a hundred years."
Garros nodded in understanding, grasping the Black Dragon's meaning.
The life-extending effect of the Dragon-Forged Modification is cumulative and gradually increases.
Immediately after, the Black Dragon added another piece of information: "Additionally, regarding the success rate of the Dragon Scale Modification Ritual... it still remains at about three-tenths, as we previously reported."
"But if the ritual site can be moved to an Undead cave with extremely dense negative energy, by utilizing the special environmental energy field there, the success rate is expected to increase to five-tenths."
"If other suitable auxiliary Materials can also be found, or if both the subject and the one leading the ritual are in their best state, there is still room for the success rate to rise further."
The first Dragon Scale Modification mainly acts on the body surface and outer defenses and does not involve important organs such as the heart or brain, so the technical difficulty is relatively the lowest, and the risk is relatively controllable.
Subsequent modification rituals will gradually increase in difficulty, but individuals who have successfully survived the early Dragon-Forged Modification will have already had their Physique significantly enhanced.
Under this progressive approach, the possibility of successfully surviving subsequent modification rituals will also correspondingly increase.
This is also the core advantage of splitting the complete Dragonblood Transformation into twenty independent rituals.
In time, if this technology can fully mature and stabilize, building a powerful Dragon-Forged Legion for the Molten Iron Tribe is secondary.
Its immense value in elevating the essence of life and breaking through the limits of species lifespan is its most immeasurably precious aspect.
There is never a lack of various secret methods and means for life extension, or even the pursuit of immortality, in this world.
Converting into a Lich is one such extreme and costly path.
However, those known life-extension methods are either extremely limited in effect, restricted to certain specific professions or races, or, like the Lich conversion, accompanied by significant, unavoidable flaws that almost completely alter the life form and mentality.
The twenty Dragon-Forged Modification rituals may not be perfect, but the advantages they demonstrate are real, tangible, and visible, and their drawbacks and risks are already very low compared to other means.
It can be foreseen.
As long as the slightest wind of this is leaked, one can only imagine how many powerful beings, desperate because their lifespans are nearing their end, would be attracted to come and pledge their loyalty.
Of course, all of this has one major prerequisite.
By then, the Molten Iron Tribe must already possess the strong confidence and strength to protect this Heaven-Defying technology without it being snatched away by various forces joining hands.
"Leader, regarding the modification of the Undead nest."
The Black Dragon hesitated slightly, then requested in a low voice, "I hope Ludwig can participate with me."
"Transforming an Undead nest into a special site suitable for conducting Dragon-Forged rituals involves a lot of knowledge in the field of life, which cannot be separated from Ludwig's assistance."
"Moreover, although an environment rich in negative energy will make Ludwig feel uncomfortable, this itself is also an excellent form of tempering and exercise. The extreme aura of death can instead help boost his insights into the essence of life and be of great benefit to his growth."
Garros nodded in satisfaction upon hearing this, expressing his approval of the Black Dragon's idea.
"Very well."
The dragons under his command should possess this kind of awareness—to never forget to seize every opportunity to sharpen their claws and strengthen themselves, whether in favorable or adverse circumstances.
"Before long, an elderly human will come to receive the first Dragon-Forged Modification."
The Red-Iron Dragon's expression returned to calm as he said calmly, "You and Ludwig need to do your utmost to ensure he survives."
Continuing to have old Nick, who is well-known and understands the nuances of advancing and retreating, sit in the key position of the Gem Merchant Guild leader is the best choice for now.
On the other hand.
If the modification ritual is completed, he can also serve as an example, quietly winning over more forces within the Lothern Federation for the Molten Iron Tribe—those who occupy certain positions but are anxious and wavering because their lifespans are coming to an end.
"I understand your meaning."
Feeling the importance implied beneath the Red-Iron Dragon's calm words, Black Dragon Serafina nodded solemnly, "I will do everything in my power to ensure the success of the ritual."