Deep inside a cave outside Osterburg, which Caesar had forcibly excavated with his Dragon Claw.
It was dark and damp here, with the only source of light being the radiance emitted by Cecilia during her advancement.
Caesar looked at the light cocoon suspended in mid-air, his Adam's apple bobbing uncontrollably.
Inside the cocoon, Cecilia had reverted to her Silver Dragon hatchling form, curled into a ball. She emitted an astonishing amount of heat, with white steam constantly rising from the gaps between her scales.
An indescribably sweet fragrance filled the air.
"Gulp."
Caesar swallowed hard.
The System panel clearly stated: [Status: Sleeping Evolution (bloodline Purity Refining)].
This was the most critical stage in the growth of the True Dragon race. Through deep sleep, they digest the inheritance memories in their bloodline while reshaping their bodies, allowing their life level to leap forward.
Reasonably speaking, he should find an absolutely safe place at this time for her to complete her evolution in peace.
But the first thought that popped into Caesar's head was... isn't this just a living, walking, warm experience gift pack?!
"A beast, I'm such a beast."
Caesar cursed himself, yet his body honestly leaned closer.
"Intercepting her bloodline factors at such a critical moment is simply not something a dragon should do."
While condemning himself, he stuck out his long tongue.
"But she's my ally. As her ally, it's only reasonable for me to check her physical condition and confirm the progress of her evolution, right?"
"Just one lick, definitely not more."
Caesar widened his dragons maw and carefully licked the brightest part of the light cocoon.
The moment his tongue touched the cocoon, a scalding and pure torrent of energy surged through his taste buds and into his body!
[Ding! Ultra-high concentration 'dragon-type' factors detected. Absorbing...]
[Experience +1500!]
Caesar's eyes instantly bugged out.
Holy crap!
One thousand five hundred from just one lick?!
This was more experience than he got from painstakingly killing a Gold Rank Magical Beast!
Then why hold back!
"Cecilia, oh Cecilia, you can't blame me for this. You're just too fragrant!"
Caesar didn't care about being a beast anymore. He hugged the light cocoon and started licking frantically, his tongue moving like a propeller—
And so, at this sacred and solemn advancement site, a ferocious Gabite began to sprawl over the light cocoon, his tongue spinning like a propeller.
"Slurp—"
A scalding heat flow rushed through his tongue straight to his head. Caesar felt every cell cheering and every scale vibrating.
[Ding! High concentration free 'dragon-type' factors detected. Absorbing...]
[Experience +2500.]
Caesar changed positions, pressing his face against the warm shell of the cocoon and taking a deep breath.
[Ding! High concentration free'steel-type' factors detected. Absorbing...]
[Experience +2500.]
This feeling was like drinking an ice-cold cola in the middle of summer, or like the relief of finally going after three days of constipation.
Total clarity!
The experience bar that had been stuck at LV.33 shot up like a rocket.
LV.34... LV.35... it wasn't over yet!
Caesar felt something shatter inside him.
A warm current washed through his entire body. On the surface of his tough shark skin, the layer of fine barbs became even sharper, and the color gradually shifted from deep blue to an even deeper phantom blue.
[Ding! Rank Up!]
[Current Rank: LV.36!]
Three levels in a row!
Caesar suddenly let go, took two steps back, and let out a burp that tasted of rust.
He glanced at the light cocoon. The cocoon, which had been blindingly bright, now looked like a flickering lightbulb with a bad connection. The light membrane on the surface had even thinned, faintly revealing the outline of the small dragon curled inside.
"Cough, looks like I sucked a bit too hard."
Caesar wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, feeling a bit guilty.
However, this sense of guilt only lasted for half a second before being dispersed by the surge of power within him.
Caesar raised his dragon body and stretched his muscles.
Yeah, he was bursting with power!
He walked to the rock wall of the cave, his gaze intensifying.
Time to test his newly learned moves.
On the System panel, several newly lit skill icons were glowing.
[Scale Shot (Dragon/Physical/Power 25)]: Continuously fire scales to attack the opponent. Although it lowers your own defense, it significantly increases attack speed.
Caesar took a deep breath, and the muscles on his dorsal fin suddenly contracted.
It was a strange feeling, as natural as controlling his own fingers.
He could feel the scales on his body loosening and charging with energy.
"Go!"
Caesar gave a low shout and whipped his body.
Swish swish swish—!
A dozen scales flashing with cold light flew out, accompanied by sharp whistling sounds, bombarding the rock wall like a rain of needles.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Stone fragments flew, and dust rose everywhere.
On the originally hard granite wall, a dozen bottomless black holes instantly appeared.
The edges of each hole were as smooth as a mirror, marks left by the high-speed rotating scales cutting through the rock.
Caesar walked over to take a look and nodded in satisfaction.
This power had more penetration than a simple Dragon Breath.
Although his back felt a bit chilly after firing and his defense had indeed dropped, this long-range physical attack method perfectly compensated for his weakness of only being able to fight in close-quarters melee.
In the future, if he encountered those birdmen flying in the sky, he could just use Scale Shot to turn them into sieves.
Next was the next one.
[Metal Claw (Steel/Physical/Power 50)].
Caesar raised his right claw.
The steel-type factors in his body began to converge toward his claws.
The originally pale bone claws were instantly coated with a cold metallic luster, looking like they were painted with mercury or had turned into some kind of high-strength alloy.
Clang—
Caesar gave a casual swipe.
There was no resistance.
A half-person-high boulder in front of him was cleanly sliced into four pieces.
The cuts were so smooth they could even reflect a dragon's shadow.
"This hardness, tsk tsk."
Caesar tapped his right claw with his left, producing a crisp metallic clinking sound.
This move not only increased attack power but also had a chance to raise his own attack Rank.
And most importantly, it was a claw-based skill.
A flashy combo idea instantly flashed through Caesar's mind.
If he covered the Metal Claw with Dragon Claw energy and then combined it with the ghost attribute of Shadow Claw... a triple claw fusion?
The thought was beautiful; an ordinary shield would likely be no different from paper.
Finally, there was the unexpected surprise from this level-up—
[Slash (Normal/Physical/Power 70)].
This was a seemingly ordinary skill with a power of only 70.
But its special effect was: high critical hit ratio.
Caesar swung twice at the air, feeling that the path of force was somewhat unique. It wasn't a simple strike, but more like an intuitive guidance for finding weak points.
This move itself might not be strong.
But Caesar knew very well that based on his previous guesses, Slash was very likely a precursor to another special skill.
That was Brick Break.
A Fighting-type skill!
That was specifically used to break shields, hit steel-types, and hit rock-types.
If he could learn Brick Break, the next time he encountered those turtles hiding in their shells, he could just smash the shell with one palm.
Floating Steel or Grass-Steel, go talk to my Brick Break!
"I can never repay it! Cecilia's kindness can never be repaid in this lifetime!"
While sighing with emotion, Caesar turned his gaze back to the light cocoon, his mouth widening into a grin again.
The harvest this time was so bountiful that he had almost forgotten the Ghost z-crystal and life orb he had snatched from Andorn earlier.
He pulled those two spoils of war out of his Storage Ring.
[elemental crystal (Ghost)]: A crystal containing massive ghost-type energy. It allows the holder to release the ultimate move Never-Ending Nightmare, after which the user will enter a state of exhaustion.
It was just like the fire z-crystal—a one-time ultimate move that left you weak after use.
Caesar then looked at the life orb.
[life orb]: An ancient treasure that can store blood within it. When the holder uses a skill, they can consume the stored life blood energy to increase the skill's power by 30%.
Good stuff!
This thing was equivalent to a permanent damage buff. Although it consumed vitality, Caesar could completely store it in advance.
He felt that he was terrifyingly strong now. Within the Gold Rank, he probably couldn't find an opponent anymore.
Just as Caesar was feeling satisfied and preparing to "check" Cecilia's evolution progress again, the sharp claw hanging on his chest suddenly vibrated.
A cold wave of Soul Power emanated from it, stopping his movements.
Following that, the white bone claw actually floated up on its own, suspended in mid-air.
Faint soul fire emerged from the fingertips, frantically scratching at the adjacent rock wall.
Screech screech screech.
Rock powder fell in flurries.
Caesar looked closely.
A set of crooked words appeared on the wall:
[Be a decent dragon!]
Well, even the Old Geezer couldn't stand it anymore.