Awakening (Part 2)

"I've finally woken up."

Keosius slowly opened his eyes, wisps of smoke rising from his mouth. He felt an unprecedented power surging through his body and couldn't help but gently spread his wings.

"Damn it, what time is it now?"

The Red Dragon was unsure of the current time, for it seemed as if he had experienced hundreds or thousands of years in a dream, going through countless fierce battles and witnessing the dragons' rise and fall.

But those vivid memories, as if they were firsthand experiences, became blurred the moment he opened his eyes, veiled by a mysterious mist.

This even made him feel a little dizzy.

"It would have been terrible if it were decades ago."

Keosius looked around. The cave had become a place of lava everywhere, with magma flowing everywhere. The Gold Coin had even been melted and cast into the shape of flowing water, and there was no trace of time to be seen.

He let out a soft whistle, summoning the Calamity Dragon Eye to carefully examine his current state and observe the situation within the Kingdom Domain.

Fortunately, in his vast field of vision, North Wind Fortress was thriving, people were busy in the streets and squares, and the kingdom had changed considerably, but clearly not to the extent of what had happened in the past few decades or even centuries. The changes in the dragon's body itself surprised Keosius even more.

"This is."

The Red Dragon's form had undergone a dramatic change compared to before it went into slumber, to the point that even it felt somewhat unfamiliar to itself.

His dragon body swelled to nearly thirty meters in length, a size that only elderly or even extremely old Red Dragon could reach. They had lived for at least five hundred years, while Keosius only took ten.

His scales turned a deeper red, the glossy texture replaced by a smooth, matte finish, with only dark gold stripes showing at the edges, like gilded armor growing from his body.

His wings became wider, and the trailing edge of the Wing Membrane was coated with a bluish-black color, like metal burning in fire.

His tail grew thicker and thicker, with sharp bone spurs growing from its tip, like a battering ram.

But these are merely trivial details.

The changes to the Red Dragon's head and chest are the most significant and thorough.

His golden pupils faded, and his eyes resembled burning lava balls, emitting intense flames.

And on that ferocious head, there were not only two large horns that swept backward, but also new spiraling, demonic horns that grew from the tips of those horns.

At the center of the Red Dragon's chest, where countless Base Blood Vessels converge, a red crystal formed from ultra-high purity Fire Elemental is deeply embedded in its body, its surface rippling like flowing magma. Radial cracks appear on the surrounding scales, gleaming with firelight.

The energy contained within was so immense and concentrated that it constantly heated the surrounding body, to the point that two rows of pore-like organs grew on its chest, neck, and tail to continuously expel sulfurous waste gas and release excess heat.

If Keosius before his slumber was like a pure Red Dragon, then after awakening he was a complete mutant, clearly no longer belonging to the category of normal Five-Colored Dragon —if a Dragon Scholar were present, he would certainly be amazed by his form.

"This appearance makes him seem like a true embodiment of natural disaster."

Keosius shook his still somewhat unfamiliar body, slowly spread his wings, and felt the surging power within him like a tidal wave. His eyes, like molten lava balls, revealed anticipation.

"Then let me take a closer look at this power."

[After a period of slumber, you have absorbed the [diluted Progenitor Dragon Bloodline], and your body has evolved.][Dragons are powerful magical creatures, naturally proficient in many supernatural phenomena, and this is especially true of Io's most beloved offspring. As a descendant of the Progenitor Dragon, you have gained supernatural abilities from ancient times.][You gain an additional spellcasting level: 3→5][Your racial spellcasting level and Sorcerer spellcasting level are combined, and your current spellcasting level is: 17.] This level of spellcasting ability is already enough to barely reach the Ninth Layer of the Weave, almost touching the surface of the source, and beyond that are those forbidden realms.

Keosius deeply felt this extraordinary improvement.

The Eighth Circle Spell [Magical Atrophy], which he once treated with utmost care, is now completely mastered under the influence of this powerful spellcasting ability, and can even be used as an extension of his own limb. Ordinary mid-to-low-circle spells can no longer pose any threat to him.

"With this level of spellcasting ability, he should be able to roam freely in Anzeta."

The Red Dragon merely stared at the thick stone pillar in the distance, and with a slight change in his will, the middle of the stone pillar was instantly melted and pierced, gushing out flowing liquid lava. It was an ordinary spell cast by Sorcerer, as easy as blinking an eye, without even needing to think.

However, the information on the panel was still updating.

[Due to your Progenitor Dragon Bloodline, you gain an additional dragon feat - [Primal Breath Weapon]] [Primal Breath Weapon]: Once per day, the dragon uses the power of its ancestral bloodline to gather all its energy into the dragon crystal, where a fission reaction occurs, releasing unimaginable and immense energy. After each Primordial Breath, some waste Lieutenant General form in the dragon crystal, which may cause a certain degree of irreversible pollution to the body.

It requires a charging time of 125-375 seconds. The dragon must not have used its breath attack within the previous three hours, and the energy consumed in this attack will prevent the dragon from using its breath attack for at least three days afterward.

"What a powerful breath."

"It would be more appropriate to call it an 'atomic bomb' spit rather than a ' Primal Breath,' but the aftereffects are quite severe."

Keosius did not attempt the potentially harmful "Primal Breath" but instead performed ordinary breathing.

As he slowly opened his jaw, his complex, machine-like body suddenly began to operate. All the energy in his body was transported through dense Base Blood Vessels to the "Dragon Crystal" embedded in his chest, where it gradually gathered. The translucent crystal emitted a bright firelight.

The two exhaust vents suddenly opened, emitting brilliant trails of flame and puffs of white smoke.

Finally, the extremely dense energy was transported to the Red Dragon's throat, and it spewed out an extremely hot, blazing white flame that instantly melted the rocks in front of it.

If the Red Dragon hadn't closed its mouth in time, the flames would have even pierced through the rock strata and destroyed the entire cave's structure.

"Tsk tsk, it's almost as powerful as the Maximized Breath before falling into slumber."

"If even a tiny bit of bloodline can achieve this level, what must the dragons of the past have been like?"

Keosius couldn't help but sigh.

He clearly felt that the beating dragon heart was like a high-speed, scorching engine, and his Life Force was more vigorous than ever before, already several orders of magnitude different from that of ordinary beings.

Simply put, this Red Dragon has crossed that incredibly difficult threshold for mortals, reaching the level of "legendary" in terms of life.

"The security work is done quite well."

With a gentle flap of its wings, an invisible wave easily obliterated the dozens of spells placed around the cave entrance.

He slowly walked out of the cave and into the Iron Dragon Wing Palace.

Due to the disaster unintentionally caused by Keosius while he was asleep, the place was in a mess, with melted and then solidified steel everywhere, which had a kind of chaotic beauty. However, for the now much larger Red Dragon, even this steel palace seemed a bit narrow and cramped.

The metal gate had long been destroyed, leaving only an irregular, disjointed entrance.

The Red Dragon lowered its head slightly, crouched down, and folded its wings before barely managing to pass through the doorway and emerge from the once magnificent main hall.

Keosius shook his body, stretched his neck, stood upright, and let out a series of joyful whistles. Finally, he was able to fully spread his broad wings and was no longer restricted by the space.

He looked up at the clear sky, his eyes slightly narrowed, flames dancing in his lava-like pupils.

"I think I smell a familiar scent."

It's strange, the character card I posted in the public chapter was changed to VIP by the system for some reason.