Clouds of steam floated in the dark underground chamber, electrical sparks flashing through it. Everything was quiet except for the sound of loud breathing and droplets of condensed water falling from the black stone ceiling, and the crackling of electricity.
Suddenly the clouds whirled, and a loud scraping of stones against stones echoed through the empty underground space.
The giant dragon that could fit at least three vans juts into his heavily armoured torso moved, opening his bright reverse-slitted eyes. The bright yellow, almost white light illuminated the cave, radiating out of the cracks filled with superheated magma in the dragon’s armour. Soon the blue and gold light mixed with the yellow light of magma. Massive electrical arcs surged around the three white glowing horns that glowed in heat like a thin string in lighting bulbs.
The chamber temperature immediately rose, the walls, ceiling and floor turning red from the heat. Loud sizzling filled the room as all of the condensed water instantly evaporated, joining the thick clouds drifting in the room.
The dragon slowly stood up, stretching his limbs that ended with claws covered in runes glowing brightly like stars in the sky. The water was constantly forming on his black volcanic armour, crackling with electricity before sizzling and immediately evaporating, constantly cooling and reheating the armour, forging it to make it tougher like forging.
Ding!
// Evolution completed!
All innate racial abilities levelled up.
Chargable Manareinforced Runic Noble Dragon Scales (LV 10) –> (LV 11)
Noble Dragon Breath (LV 6) –> (LV 7)
Draconic Vitality (LV 6) –> (LV 7)
Draconic Might (LV 4) –> (LV 5)
Draconic Magic (LV 5) –> (LV 6)
Dragon Hoard (LV 4) –> (LV 5)
Fly (LV 4) –> (LV 5)
Dragon Eyes (LV 4) –> (LV 5)
Dragon Voice (LV 1) –> Dragon Voice (LV 2)
Noble Dragon Aura (LV 1) –> Noble Dragon Aura (LV 2)
Racial ability changed:
Charged Volcanic Armour (LV 5) –> Charged Foged Volcanic Armour (LV 6):
(New!): Increased Durability
Charged Volcanic Smoke Glands (LV 3) –> Charged Volcanic Smoke and Steam Glands (LV 4):
(New!) : Produces thick clouds of steam that can efficiently conduct electricity.
Lightning Horns (LV 3) –> Lightning Electro-Field Horns (LV 4):
(New!) : The inner part changed, containing a small and precise crystal structure that makes it possible to precisely control electrical fields. The reach of the created fields increases through the steam clouds.
New racial abilities unlocked:
Liquid Breathing (LV MAX): More advanced version of the underwater breathing ability of aquatic dragons. It adds gills that can easily extract breedable oxygen from any liquids that belong under the dragon’s affinity through advanced bio-magical-chemical transformations.
All stats increased!
//
‘I have gills now?’ Vesuvius couldn’t but immediately open his image in the system. He searched for gills until he found tiny pores in his armour in the crevice where his head connected with his neck.
‘Uhh, now that I think about it, this evolution looks visually very similar except for the glow changing from orange into yellowy closing towards white… Well, I guess that makes sense as I didn’t make some weird, insane evolution going a different path.’
As the dragon thought about his gills, he got an idea, ‘Can I dig so deep under the ground that I will reach the mantle? Maybe I could just hide there forever and be safe… I should be able to ignore the heat and breathing problems now. The pressure is the only problem now… Well, this is a magical world, so there are likely some monsters down there, and if they can survive there, that likely means that they are extremely strong.’
In the end, he shook his head, returning to reality, ‘Well, maybe sometime in the future.’
The dragon’s eyes immediately noticed that the whole room was red from the blazing heat, ‘What the hell? How hot am I now.’. He quietly snickered at how egoistically it could sound out of context.
With worry, he turned his long neck under him, breathing in relief after seeing that his gold was alright, ‘Well, in the worst case, it would still be gold just melted.’
Seeing how the magma in his body changed, Vesuvius felt eager and excited to unleash his breath to see how hot it was and how it looked.
Suddenly rhythmic tapping of boots came from the dark corridor, quickly closing towards him. A figure wearing a black robe with a bronze draconic mask with a weird eyecatching punk haircut poking through the hole in the hood entered the room.
Then Vesuvius realised that he was so impatient to evolve that he just evolved in the hideout of his minions, leaving his gold unprotected while he was unconscious during his evolution. The dragon immediately brought his snout to the gold and sniffed, his pupils growing from the beautiful fragrance.
‘Nothing is missing.’ his trust towards his minions immediately grew, ‘Well, they likely thought of me just sleeping, and there is saying that it is foolish to steal from a sleeping dragon.’
Knowing about the keen and sharp senses of dragons, Vesuvius knew it was likely true, making it impossible to sneak on even a sleeping dragon.
Suddenly a voice brought him out of his thought, “Your Highness, there are some people that are saying that you are expecting them.”
Vesuvius immediately felt irritated as someone had to bother him just as he wanted to test his new powers. Still, he knew that he had to do his duties before having fun, ‘I wonder who it is… well, they are like these new minions or these traitors of the baron.’
“Speak, minion! How do they look like, and how many of them?”
“Just two. They are hiding their faces with scarves.”
‘Did they learn a lesson of not going into my lair but instead went here?’ Vesuvius inwardly nodded his head in approval, ‘There is nothing wrong about making mistakes, but if they are repeating them, that is something different.’
Filled with irritation, the dragon stood up, his large body lifting from the ground. The gold immediately vanished, entering his pouch. The minion immediately ran out into the corridor to make space for the large dragon, who slowly walked towards the tunnel. His superheated claws scratched against the stone ground, leaving behind trails of molten stone glowing in the darkness.