The scorching sun hangs high, the venomous sunlight pouring down like molten gold, baking the entire wilderness into a boiling cauldron.
As the surface temperature continues to rise, the air presents twisted ripples, and the distant hills appear faint and obscure in the heatwave, their contours blurred like a mirage.
In such weather, many creatures can't stand the heat and rarely venture outside.
Those living within the ring crater, the Dragon Race, are not among them.
As Fire Dragons, such sizzling days make them more excited and active than usual.
Now, it has been over a month since Galos last negotiated with the Iron Dragon Lady.
Young dragons are in their growth phase, and Galos is diligently training to strengthen himself.
During this month, his body has secretly grown a bit larger, his Dragon Scales resembling steel cast iron, and the muscle fibers hidden below twist like steel wires when his body exerts force, capable of erupting with formidable Power at any moment.
"Rest time is over, go mine for me!"
Near the mountain wall, Galos swung his Dragon Tail, throwing two rocks at the heads of Tie Longdi and Red Dragon Sister.
The two young dragons raised their heads in dissatisfaction and protested sternly, "We've only rested for an hour! Galos, this is abuse; according to the mining time, Mother's dog-headed followers can rest for two hours!"
The Iron Dragon Lady does have Followers.
Among them, a Dog-headed Man Clan specializes in mining for the Iron Dragon Lady.
Upon hearing this, Galos swept his tail across the ground, sending sparks flying, and marched up to the two young dragons.
"Do you know why you can never defeat me, always subdued under me, and constantly humiliated in various ways?"
He asked, lowering his gaze.
The two young dragons exchanged glances, baffled.
"Because you lack ambition!"
Galos leaned in closer to the two young dragons, his shadow cloaking them, and said in a deep voice, "As noble True Dragons, with Dragon Vein flowing through you, you dared to liken yourselves to dog-heads!"
The young dragons shook their heads, showing eyes of pity and disappointment.
"Failing to even surpass dog-heads, truly a disgrace to your True Dragon Blood."
He spoke in an extremely disdainful tone.
"You talk nonsense! Dogheads can't compare to me!"
Red Dragon Sister flared up with rage.
"You talk nonsense! I'm a hundred times stronger than dog-heads!"
Tie Longdi also flared up with rage.
Galos slightly softened his expression and grinned: "Empty words, prove it to me, show me your determination, show me the strength and resilience of your Dragon Race."
"Hmph, don't underestimate us!"
The two young dragons snorted coldly and then, full of vigor, descended into the previously opened mine tunnel, determined to make Galos understand, that they were not comparable to dog-heads, swearing inwardly to make Galos see them in a new light.
Taunting—the treasure for the Dragon Race.
Dragons, proud and self-loving, cannot stand provocation.
Eyes pulled back from the two young dragons entering the mine.
"If only the Iron Dragon Lady were as easy to fool as they are."
Galos sighed.
As Dragons age and gain experience, they more or less control their instincts, like the Iron Dragon Lady, a mature Giant Dragon, whose intellect far surpasses young dragons.
As for the two young dragons, right now they're like fools, easily deceived.
Such dragons, when they grow for another year, turning into young dragons, if following normal development, driven away by the Dragon Lady, living alone outside, their naive and playful nature gives little hope of surviving this perilous world.
Meanwhile.
A gust of wind suddenly swept past.
Galos looked up at the sky, seeing the figure of the Iron Dragon Lady spreading her wings in flight, enormous and mighty, with a wingspan close to forty meters casting a thick shadow on the ground.
The ground whipped up dust, some rocks trembling constantly.
A black mass was suddenly dropped by the Iron Dragon Lady, landing with a deafening crash like an earthquake, creating a deep pit at the landing point, cracks spreading densely around, while a dust circle expands rapidly.
Waving wings to dismiss the dust, Galos took a closer look.
Reflected in his view is a Big-Horned Barbarian Bull, weighing several tens of tons, its whole body rippling with layers of muscle, a pair of massive horns on its head, and dressed in hard armor.
This is a fierce beast with a biological level over ten.
Also, it's the high-quality prey Galos needs.
The Iron Dragon Lady adheres to the deal with Galos, regularly providing him high-quality prey.
This is specifically for him.
As for the two young dragons, they are oppressed by Galos to mine, but not endlessly without respite, they are not true slaves, upon returning to the Dragon's Nest, they have provisions supplied by the Iron Dragon Lady.
The Iron Dragon Lady, cold yet rule-conscious, has always been competent in her duties, never neglecting any young dragon, although neither giving them any special favor.
After dropping the prey, the Iron Dragon Lady didn't stay, returning directly to her own nest.
"Start eating."
Galos withdrew his gaze, took a deep breath, and started tearing into the Big-Horned Barbarian Bull's body.
With its hard armor covering the exterior, even with teeth trained to bite metal ore, Galos couldn't bite through in a single go, requiring some effort to chew it off.
The beef is incredibly fresh, not unlike when pursuing it alive, tough yet chewy.
With each bite down, Galos feels his body warm up, receiving rich nutritional energy replenishment.
When he dealt with half of the Bull's meat, a tingling sensation suddenly grows and forms within and outside Galos's body, flowing like tides repeatedly surging.
"This is the feeling."
Galos's eyes sparked with joy.
Despite his Dragon Race's furnace-like iron stomach, Galos felt a bit overstuffed earlier, but with the tingling sensation birthed inside and out, his fullness sensation subsequently vanished, even generating a strong craving for food again.
The young dragon took a deep breath and opened the Dragon's Kiss wide, revealing a mouthful of dragon teeth.
Awooo!
Ripping off a huge chunk of bull meat, Galos casually chews it two or three times then swallows, instantly the beef inside him turns into the warm breath, tingling with each surge flowing towards Galos's limbs and bones, mainly concentrating on places Galos recently exercised.
The Scale Armor, directly in intimate contact with the earth, the Dragon Horn crashing into mountains, the Dragon Tail striking rocks.
Also including the muscles enduring the shock, internal organs, and so on.
However.
No visually detectable change took place on Galos's body, just the continuous tingling electric sensation.
"Evolution isn't complete in an instant but rather after accumulating sufficient adaptation and energy replenishment, progressing rapidly in the coming time, evolving accordingly based on my recent cumulative adaptation."
Galos pondered silently.
In recent years, he has been continuously exploring his Talent's essence, formulating his ideas.
All creatures have the force of adaptation evolution; however, under normal circumstances, it usually requires millions of years, a lengthy process of evolution.
While Galos can infinitely shorten this time.
The key is, that his Evolution Talent itself grows.
"Perhaps one day in the future, I could complete adaptation evolution in an instant, even directly evolve towards any direction I desire."
He mused.
Subsequently, Galos seized the momentum and astonishingly finished off all the meat of the Big-Horned Barbarian Bull, weighing many times his own bulk.
The tingling sensation on his body grew exceedingly robust.
He seized the opportunity, under the dazzling sunlight, to resume his relentless bouts of crashing against mountains, feeling pain yet joy.