The cold wind was like a knife, tearing through the curtain of snow dancing across the sky.
Rumble! Rumble!
Dull roars echoed from deep within the earth, causing the entire mountain peak to tremble violently. Snow slid down the steep slopes in rustling sheets, kicking up a white mist in the wind.
The vibrations coming from inside grew increasingly intense.
Terrifying cracks spread rapidly from the mountainside upward, revealing a dark red glow from the depths, as if lava were flowing within.
Just then, the rumbling from inside the mountain came to a momentary halt.
A dead silence fell.
The wind and snow seemed to freeze in that instant; the distant pine forests stopped swaying, and even the howling wind faded to a whisper.
However, in the very next second—
CRACK!!!
The entire mountain peak exploded from the inside out!
Rocks and frozen earth flew in all directions as a soaring plume of dust mixed with snow spray instantly swallowed the mountain's silhouette.
The shockwave from the explosion radiated outward in a ring, sweeping away the surrounding snow to reveal the dark brown permafrost beneath. Countless stones of varying sizes were hurled high into the air, only to splash down in all directions like a black rainstorm, hitting the ground with dull thuds and leaving behind craters of various depths.
At the center of this chaos and destruction, a towering and majestic figure resolutely tore through the rolling curtain of dust.
It charged straight up against the pouring rain of stones. The moment its wings unfurled, they kicked up a hurricane, sweeping away the surrounding dust and fragmented snow.
Rugged spines tore through the wind and snow. Black and red interwoven scales shimmered with a cold, hard metallic luster under the dim sky, every inch of its body brimming with a majestic and primal sense of power.
Its wingspan exceeded a hundred meters, and every beat of its wings created visible sonic shockwaves in the air.
ROAR!!!
A deep, resonant dragon roar radiated down from high altitude, the sound waves so dense they seemed physical as they rippled out layer by layer.
The snow across the sky swirled backward and dispersed, and the continuous mountain ranges sent back dull echoes, seemingly trembling at this roar that announced a return.
The Red Emperor, the indestructible dragon, the crimson flame fiend, the Lord of Aura.
Garos Ignis.
After a long span of over fifty years, this Red Iron Dragon monarch had officially awakened from his slumber, breaking out of his shell of rock and ice to return to the world in a brand-new form.
"A new power is flowing through my body."
The Red Iron Dragon's eyes were slightly closed, his massive head tilted upward, letting the icy wind and snow beat against his faceplate.
His wings and arms stretched out simultaneously as he stood upright in the sky, as if embracing this beautiful, silver-clad world.
He could feel the quiver of every muscle, the resonance of every bone, and the blazing Dragon Qi flowing beneath every scale.
In the distance, the roars of dragons gradually approached.
That was the Dragon Group that followed him, letting out their response upon sensing their monarch's awakening.
The roars came from all directions—some high-pitched and sharp, others deep and heavy—interweaving into a grand symphony. They were celebrating the return of their monarch, expressing their respect and loyalty in the most ancient of ways.
But beyond that, the dragons did not come to disturb him.
They knew well that their King had just awakened from a long slumber and needed time to familiarize himself with his changes and adapt to his post-awakening state.
A minute later, the Red Iron Dragon slowly opened his eyes.
His eyelids lifted slowly, revealing a light within that was as brilliant as a cluster of stars.
In those draconic pupils, it seemed as if galaxies were rotating and nebulae were flowing, with countless points of light flickering and shifting within the deep darkness.
This radiance lasted for several seconds. Afterward, although it gradually became more restrained, his draconic pupils still looked vast and profound, like the starry sky reflected in a deep pool, containing infinite mysteries.
This was the Eye of Truth belonging to Galos.
Penetrating obstacles, seeing through illusions, ultra-long-range vision, identifying traps, perceiving weaknesses... the effects of these eyes were stronger and more varied than the Legendary item that had guided their evolution.
It was no longer a tool that required energy consumption to use; it had become a part of Galos's body, as natural as breathing.
It was perfectly adapted to Galos himself, rather than being an external object.
This meant it had no usage limits, would not produce a backlash, and would grow stronger as he gradually matured.
Galos turned his head, his Eye of Truth scanning the surroundings.
His vision penetrated the dancing snow curtain, clearly seeing a herd of snow deer running on a mountain ridge dozens of kilometers away.
He also saw Burrowing Worms hibernating deep in the permafrost curled up in their burrows, saw ice-crystal moss growing slowly in the crevices of rock layers, saw ice-crystal particles floating in the thin air above the clouds, and could even see into the far reaches of space.
The world became clearer to his eyes than ever before.
Every detail was magnified and analyzed; information flooded into his mind like a tide, yet it was efficiently categorized and processed without causing a burden.
Soon after, Galos turned his attention to his own changes.
Compared to before his slumber, his body length had officially reached forty-six meters, up from around forty.
This six-meter growth seemed small, but for a dragon—especially under the restrictions of the Material Plane's rules—every bit of size increase signified a massive increase in power.
If he utilized his Giant Beast Stance, his size could now break through the seventy-meter mark.
This was already an extremely rare behemoth in the Material Plane.
If he were in the Outer Planes, such as the Astral Plane, biological sizes could easily exceed a thousand meters or even ten thousand meters.
The rules there were loose, and there was almost no upper limit to a creature's size; any power could be exerted more easily.
But in the Material Plane, due to the restrictions of its rules, once a creature's size reached a certain point, it became extremely difficult to grow further. This was the world's own balancing mechanism to prevent overly massive existences from damaging the structure of the Material Plane.
Even an Ancient Red Dragon, in its daily state in the Material Plane, only had a body size of around fifty meters.
Even when activating certain special combat stances, it was hard to exceed a hundred meters in the Material Plane.
"My Giant Beast Stance... if I were in the Outer Planes, I might be able to directly transform into a behemoth of the thousand-meter or ten-thousand-meter class."
Galos thought to himself.
Legendary lives were actually suppressed in the Material Plane.
He knew that in the Astral Plane, a Legendary Dragon could display a form that truly blotted out the sun, able to crush an asteroid with a single claw.
But that was the Outer Planes, after all.
The rules of the Material Plane were like a tight suit, imposing suppression and limits on the strong.
This was why some Legendary or even stronger immortal existences chose to go to the Outer Planes instead of remaining in the Material Plane forever.
According to some Legends who had been to the Outer Planes...
Once one experienced the pleasure of releasing their power to their heart's content in the Outer Planes, it was difficult to endure the invisible suppression of the Material Plane again.
"The Outer Planes... I will eventually experience their sights for myself, but not just yet."
Galos focused his mind and looked down at his claws.
During this slumber, his evolution had mainly focused on his eyes and claws. Aside from his size, his appearance didn't seem to have changed much.
His scales were still interwoven black and red, and his spines were still rugged and sharp.
Aside from his eyes, the main changes were in the position of his claws.
First, there was a ring of silver markings around his wrists. At first glance, they looked like some kind of accessory, but they were actually natural patterns that had evolved and grown from his scales.
Each of his hooked digits, specifically the sharpest first claw segment, had taken on a crystal-like texture.
From the base upward, they transitioned from a deep black to a dark red, becoming almost transparent at the tips, yet glinting with an indestructible cold light.
When he flexed his claws, a feeling that he could grasp all things within them spontaneously arose.
The surrounding space would immediately become solidified.
Like the Eye of Truth, Galos's pair of sharp claws had also evolved into his own Claw of Extinguishing Law.
He could feel the subtle sensation from his claw tips; it was contact with space itself.
After observing and sizing up his claws for a moment, he turned to examine his own state.
Having just awakened from a long slumber, the Red Iron Dragon's aura was strong, yet it also carried a hint of weakness. This was a manifestation of bodily functions not yet fully recovered after a long period of stasis; the circulation of Dragon Qi in his Meridians was still a bit sluggish, and his muscle strength needed time to re-adapt.
But even so, his life Rank had solidly reached Rank 25, placing him at the Advanced Legendary level.
Advanced, Crown Rank, Destiny...
The reason they were distinct thresholds was that upon reaching the corresponding level, a Legendary life's characteristics would change again based on their past experiences, combat styles, beliefs, and paths, rather than being a simple accumulation of power.
During this long slumber, Galos had forged several brand-new characteristics.
These characteristics were not bestowed out of thin air; they were the condensation of his past experiences, the crystallization of his countless battles, near-death encounters, struggles, and evolutions.
Time and again, he had been on the brink of death, yet because of the dragon jade, he had always survived.
This experience of repeatedly hovering between life and death had forged—Undying Life!
[No matter what injury you sustain, no matter what restrictions exist, even if your body is torn to pieces, even if there are skill effects inhibiting resurrection, you can still resurrect through the dragon jade at least once.]
Obtaining this characteristic meant he had patched another weakness.
Previously, although his dragon jade was powerful, he wasn't truly immortal.
Methods like decapitation could still kill him, preventing him from triggering the dragon jade.
But now, Galos was different.
In the future, even if an enemy cut off his head, they wouldn't be able to kill him in one go.
His resurrection had changed from being triggered when near death to being able to resurrect even after true death; he would inevitably return from the grave.
Furthermore, Spells or other effects attempting to restrict his resurrection would find it difficult to take effect on him.
"This characteristic is similar to Living Towards Death; both are born based on the dragon jade."
"All along, my true capital for strength has always been the traits I've evolved, my evolutionary talent, rather than Domains or characteristics—those are just embellishments."
Galos thought silently to himself.
He had always been very clear about why he was strong.
Domains and characteristics were certainly important, but they were things most Legendary powerhouses could obtain.
Only his innate evolutionary talent was his true trump card.
"Of course, besides talent, my own hard work is also crucial."
He added another line in his mind.
Talent was just the starting point; his current achievements were the result of both talent and hard work.
Soon, Galos continued to sense his other characteristics.
He had suffered countless injuries of all kinds, yet always managed to recover.
This experience of constant self-repair amidst pain had condensed into—Rapid Regeneration!
[Your injuries can heal and regenerate at a visible speed by consuming Dragon Qi. You can choose whether or not to regenerate.]
In his earlier years, Galos had performed targeted training regarding the speed of his injury recovery, hoping to obtain a regeneration-type trait.
For example, he would intentionally take damage to observe the wound-healing process, or try to use Dragon Qi to stimulate the wound and accelerate healing.
But perhaps because his direction was slightly off, although his body grew stronger and his toughness and strike-resistance continued to improve, in terms of recovery speed—aside from those counter-damage spines—other parts of his body never reached the level of regenerating during combat.
And now, he had obtained a regeneration-type characteristic.
For a dragon whose body was already tough and powerful, this was a very rare characteristic.
Given a dragon's body, the difficulty of regeneration was far higher than that of ordinary creatures. Thus, the vast majority of dragons did not have regeneration abilities; they relied on powerful defense and vitality to tank damage, and on slumber to heal and recover.
On Galos, this was also a decent characteristic.
Although he could perform blood-qi conversion and also had the Endless Regeneration ability for continuous energy recovery, those were recoveries in terms of energy, not physical regeneration.
When sustaining too many injuries, he could obtain stronger destructive power through Unyielding Stand, but he would also inevitably become somewhat fragile.
Wounds wouldn't disappear, and broken bones wouldn't knit back together.
However, the reason it was called 'decent' rather than 'very strong' was that its regeneration speed was limited.
Galos extended a sharp claw and dragged it heavily across the scales of his left arm, leaving a long, torn gash.
Under his control, the muscles at the edges of the wound began to writhe, and granulation tissue grew and interlaced at a speed visible to the naked eye, gradually closing the gash.
The entire process lasted about ten seconds, and the wound, including the scales, was completely healed.
However, the newly grown scales were slightly lighter in color.
"This speed... in an intense Legendary battle, its usefulness is limited."
Garos evaluated.
Ten seconds was enough for many things to happen in a Legendary-level battle.
Regenerating severed limbs would take even longer; if it were a fatal injury, the regeneration speed probably wouldn't keep up with the speed of death.
But in any case, it was better than nothing.
Moreover, in a non-combat state, it could greatly shorten recovery time.
"More importantly, through this regeneration, I might be able to stimulate my talent to produce Adaptive Evolution, which could then form super-speed regeneration. If I can reach the level of regenerating severed limbs in the blink of an eye in the future... it would be equivalent to having the dragon jade active at all times."
Garos pondered.
Rapid Regeneration possessed decent potential and awaited further development.
And the final trait was the one Garos valued most.
Multiple battles, multiple instances of adaptation and evolution.
The experiences of breaking through his own limits on the brink of life and death were constructed into—Eternal Battle, Eternal Progress!
[Battle never stops, evolution never ends]
[You can quickly adapt to various states during intense combat, gaining temporary power of adaptation, and after the battle ends, you gain a small portion of permanent improvement]
This was, in a literal sense, 'what doesn't kill me makes me stronger.'
Garos could feel the essence of this trait.
It wasn't just a passive effect; it was more like a description of a state of life.
His body remembered every battle, every injury, and every sensation of breaking past his limits.
When facing a similar situation again, his body would instinctively react with optimizations—temporarily strengthening muscle structure, energy flow, neural responses, and so on—to better handle the current situation.
After the battle, a small portion of these temporary adjustments would be solidified, becoming permanent improvements.
Among all of Garos's traits, the value of this one ranked at the very top.
It was directly linked to his evolution talent; one could say it was the manifestation of that talent.
With this trait, every one of his battles would result in tangible growth.
However, it required intense combat, and the attributes gained during battle were temporary, with only a small portion becoming permanent afterward, which itself was a significant limitation.
If the battle wasn't intense enough, adaptation wouldn't trigger; if the enemy was too weak, a crushing victory would yield no effect; and the ratio of permanent improvement wasn't high.
But regardless, it didn't change the fact that it was powerful.
Anything involving evolution and permanence would never be weak.
"Most importantly, the evolution trait and my evolution talent can stimulate each other, making both stronger and stronger."
"Moreover, according to the Legacy descriptions, after a Legendary lifeform reaches the Crown Rank and Destiny, besides gaining new traits, their original traits will be integrated or further enhanced."
Traits stimulate talent, talent produces new characteristics, and new characteristics may give birth to new traits...
It was a positive cycle, like stepping on your left foot with your right to ascend to the heavens step by step.
Garos had a strong premonition.
For other creatures, the predicament where improvement becomes harder the further one goes might not exist for him.
Through the mutual enhancement of traits and talent, his growth speed would remain extremely fast. Although it might not match the rapid leaps of his lower Ranks, it would certainly far surpass his peers.
Unfortunately, compared to those top-tier Geniuses of short-lived species, he was still a bit behind.
During his slumber, Garos still had a sliver of subconsciousness observing the changes in the world through Below the Dragon Throne, which was how he knew of Reinhardt Norlin's existence.
A human body, with a lifespan not even a fraction of a Dragon's, had reached a level that many of the Dragon struggled to attain even after hundreds of years.
An eighteen-year-old Legendary... this was completely impossible for the Dragon.
However, Garos wasn't envious.
A life that was too young hadn't been tested by time and lacked experience; having too strong a talent wasn't necessarily a good thing.
A Genius like Reinhardt was like a meteor streaking across the night sky, brilliant but potentially fleeting.
History had too many such examples: short-lived species with extraordinary talent who Advanced rapidly in their youth, only to fall because they lacked accumulation and made mistakes at critical junctures.
As a Dragon, a long life was also a vital asset.
Years accumulated not just power, but wisdom, experience, and an understanding of the world.
A Legendary who was too young, no matter how good their talent, often condensed traits that weren't comprehensive or profound enough. At the same Rank, it was difficult for them to compete with a Dragon who had experienced vast ages.
"Now I have a total of fifteen traits."
"There are eight basic traits like super-speed, Herculean strength, and physical and magic resistance. Other Legendary Dragons also possess similar ones, just with different intensities and focuses. But the other seven mechanism-type traits all fall into the category of rare and powerful traits."
Garos calculated in his mind.
Giant Beast Stance, Endless Regeneration, Living Towards Death, Unyielding Stand, Undying Life, Rapid Regeneration, and Eternal Battle, Eternal Progress.
Any one of these traits taken individually was enough to give a Legendary powerhouse an advantage among those of the same Rank, and Garos had seven of them!
However, compared to traits, Garos actually cared more about the characteristics he had evolved.
Those were his own evolutions—more fundamental, more essential changes. On the basis of these characteristics, his Domain, traits, and inherent path skills could be better utilized.
Thus, he looked toward the top of a mountain peak, concentrating his attention and focusing his gaze.
From top to bottom, the heavy mountain became transparent in his eyes.
The texture of the rocks, the distribution of mineral veins, and even the flow of underground rivers... the entire internal structure was clearly visible, like looking at a transparent model. Moreover, this process placed almost no load on him, as natural as a normal person taking a serious look at something.
Suddenly, a burning sensation came from his eyes.
"This is the aftereffect that used to occur only after using a Legendary item for a while. Could the evolution have failed?"
Garos was slightly startled, but he immediately dismissed the thought.
His evolution results sometimes exceeded his expectations or differed from his original intent, but so far, there had never been an instance of negative evolution.
Every one of his evolutions was positive, an enhancement of his own abilities.
Although the direction might deviate, it would never fail or be harmful to himself.
"Could it be... let's give it a try."
An idea popped into Garos's mind, and he continued to focus his gaze, allowing the burning sensation to fill his eyes.
His eyeballs grew hotter and hotter, as if two clusters of flames were burning in his sockets.
His vision began to distort, and the surrounding world seemed covered by a filter of shimmering heat waves, but Garos did not look away. He stared intently at that mountain peak, concentrating all his attention in his eyes.
Finally, the moment the heat reached its peak.
Boom!
Without warning, a cluster of extremely violent Dragon Qi flames erupted where Garos's vision was focused.
It didn't fly in from the outside, nor was it breathed out from his mouth.
It appeared out of thin air, instantly enveloping the entire mountaintop before exploding violently.
The mountaintop was blown to pieces; the shattered rocks were melted into a magma-like state by the high temperature before they could even scatter, then cooled in the air into black vitreous fragments.
Garos blinked, his eyes showing a look of surprise.
He turned his head to look elsewhere.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Cluster after cluster of Dragon Qi flames bloomed out of thin air, like fireworks blooming on a snowy day.
"So, I can kill people directly with my gaze now? Interesting."
"Wait, it seems I can also do this."
The Red Iron Dragon's eyes flickered with light as he focused his gaze into the interior of a mountain peak rather than its surface.
He wanted to see where the explosion would occur if the focal point was inside an object.
Boom!
The entire mountain peak suddenly shuddered violently, and a large number of cracks appeared on the surface as rubble tumbled down. Inside, at the center of the mountain, a huge cavity had been blasted out.
Rumble! Rumble!
The sky, the earth, the mountains... violent disturbances kept occurring, one after another.
Garos was like a child who had received a new toy, full of interest, testing the limits of this skill to his heart's content. He tried different focusing methods, different Dragon Qi output intensities, and different target distances and materials.
After a long time, the commotion finally ceased for a moment.
The Red Iron Dragon had roughly figured out the situation of this skill.
In short, this was a gaze-based skill that transformed his own Dragon Qi into explosive flames by looking and focusing his vision; it was one of the effects of his Eye of Truth.
As long as he could see it, he could attack it.
Anywhere within his sight, he could attack across space, including the interior of objects seen through the Eye of Truth.
Furthermore, it didn't trigger elemental reactions or Magical Power fluctuations. It could be said to be without warning, capable of bypassing the vast majority of perceptions unless the target had divination-type skills or an extremely keen danger intuition to sense the threat the moment Garos focused his gaze.
In terms of distance, it was theoretically infinite.
Wherever Garos could gaze, he could make Dragon Qi erupt out of thin air.
As far as the visual range of the Eye of Truth extended, that was the range of this skill.
Garos could now clearly see the outlines of mountain peaks hundreds of kilometers away. If he spent some time continuously focusing his gaze, he could even see into the high reaches of space.
However, the further the distance of the attack, the higher the consumption of his Dragon Qi.
Dragon Qi needed to be projected across space to the target location; the further the distance, the consumption grew exponentially.
He tried focusing his gaze, staring into space, and then performing a remote gaze attack.
The result was that even with Garos's vast Dragon Qi reserves, a large amount was evaporated in an instant, while the attack's effect was negligible.
Moreover, even at close range, its maximum power could not compare to a serious strike from Garos.
The biggest drawback was that, based on Garos's understanding of Domains, it likely couldn't directly penetrate a Domain. But if the target's Domain had gaps, cracks, or weak points, there was a chance to attack the interior directly.
"In a frontal confrontation, this skill can only catch someone off guard; it can't pose too much danger to a Legendary lifeform who has mastered a Domain. I would need to open a gap in the Domain first."
"However, a Legendary's Domain isn't always active."
Activating a Domain required continuous consumption of energy and spirit; no Legendary powerhouse would keep a Domain active 24/7.
Most of the time, they only deployed their Domain during combat, in a state of alert, or in special environments.
"If I know the target's location in advance, I can lock on from an ultra-long distance and then attack across space."
"As long as the target hasn't activated their Domain, or the Domain doesn't completely cover their body, there will always be times when they let their guard down—such as while resting, meditating, or engaging in certain undefended activities."
"Without a Domain for protection, 'glass cannon' Legendaries like rangers, mages, or assassins... as long as they appear in my field of vision... if they don't die, they'll be severely crippled."
Garos showed a satisfied smile.
For a long time, he had lacked reliable long-range attack methods.
Now, a long-range attack method had arrived, and its range was beyond imagination, making it almost impossible to guard against.
"If I continue to evolve, one day, perhaps I really can reach the level of blowing up space satellites with a single glance."
Garos wagged his tail, thinking happily.
He knew that was still very far off, but it wasn't impossible. The characteristics he evolved would grow as he grew, and the various effects of the Eye of Truth would gradually be optimized.
In the future, the exaggerated legends about him, the Red Emperor, would no longer be exaggerations, but reality.