Son of Red Iron

Atlant Continent, Ser Wilderness.

A black-feathered, red-beaked hawk flapped through the sky, passing over lush mountain forests, clear emerald lakes, and endless wilderness. It gradually slowed before finally landing on a jagged cliff, preening its feathers as it looked down below.

This place was a massive Ring-Shaped Sinkhole, as though it had been struck by a meteor.

The central area contained forests and rivers, surrounded on all sides by steep, towering cliffs.

The Black-Feathered Hawk tilted its head in confusion. Reflected in its eyes was a creature at the bottom of the sinkhole, repeatedly throwing its full strength and flesh-and-blood body against the mountain rocks.

It was around six meters long from head to tail, scaled and horned, with both wings and a long tail. It was unmistakably a Hatchling Dragon, though it looked rather unusual—not like any common breed.

Its head resembled that of a Red Dragon, complete with the Red Dragon's swept-back horns. The difference was that the bases of its horns were wrapped in shovel-shaped metallic bones, forming an angular structure like a knight's helmet.

Its dragon scales overlapped in layer upon layer. Their base color was black with a silvery sheen, their surfaces marked by faint patterns and carrying the dark red luster of lava flowing across iron plates. The edges of its scales were sharp as blades, and as they rose and fell with its breathing, they reflected an obsidian-like chill. Its entire body exuded a powerful metallic texture.

Though it was only a Hatchling Dragon, it already possessed a ferocity and strength far beyond that of ordinary beasts. Its limbs, tail, and wings were all exceptionally powerful.

Bang!

Garos's wings, far broader and thicker than those of an ordinary Hatchling Dragon, beat hard as he accelerated and slammed headfirst into the base of the cliff before him. Shattered stones sprayed everywhere, and dust billowed into the air.

Shaking his head, Garos pulled his head and upper body out of the rock.

Garos shook his scales, scattering the pebbles caught in their gaps and the dust clinging to their surface. Then he stopped the mountain-humping behavior that so bewildered the Black-Feathered Hawk and rested beside the large hole he had smashed into the cliff.

"It has been six years since I became a dragon without even realizing it."

Garos sighed silently to himself, lowering his gaze to his dragon claws as he repeatedly opened and clenched them.

He—or rather, he was not an ordinary dragon.

First of all, he was a Red Dragon-Iron Dragon hybrid, as was obvious from his unusual appearance.

Red Iron Dragon hybrids were rare, but still within the bounds of normality.

Both Red Dragons and Iron Dragons were exemplary Evil Dragons, and both revered power and strength.

One was the foremost of the Chromatic Dragons, while the other was the foremost of the Ferrous Dragons.

Under normal circumstances, these two kinds of dragons competed fiercely and often could not stand the sight of one another. Whenever they met, a battle would break out. But since both were Evil Dragons who respected strength above all else, it was not impossible for them to suddenly catch each other's eye while fighting, for battle to turn into flirting, and for the dry tinder to ignite beyond restraint.

The more crucial reason he was abnormal was that this Red Iron Dragonet's body contained a human soul that had crossed over from another world.

That was right. Garos was a transmigrator.

He could not understand why he had transmigrated, nor could he be bothered to think too much about it, because there was no point. Besides, a dragon's body was vastly more powerful than a human's. Having gained a new life, Garos had long accepted the reality of becoming a dragon.

After being influenced by Dragon Inheritance and living as a dragon for six years,

his human soul and dragon nature had now fused completely, inseparable from one another. This had formed a personality led by dragon nature—one that pursued power and strength while retaining human logic and wisdom. He possessed a dragon's resilience and strength, yet lacked such flaws as excessive arrogance, blind self-confidence, and a pathological obsession with treasure.

In short,

he kept the essence and discarded the dross.

Garos raised a dragon claw and carefully stroked the head he had been ramming against the mountain for so long.

The fine scales on his faceplate and the dragon horns atop his head seemed sturdier to the touch.

"Though it isn't very obvious, my body has definitely grown a little stronger again."

The Hatchling Dragon nodded in satisfaction. His blade-scaled tail swayed from side to side, carving dense scratches into the ground.

Over the past six years, Garos had constantly studied his dragon body.

Beyond the various wonders naturally possessed by a dragon's body, he had delightedly discovered that perhaps the Red-Iron Hybrid bloodline and his human soul had mixed together in some unknowable, wondrous reaction, granting him an additional innate talent beyond that of other dragons.

—Adaptive Evolution.

This talent was not obvious. Its initial effects had been minuscule, almost imperceptible, and Garos had not realized he possessed such a talent until after he turned two.

Even now, it was limited. It required day after day of training, tempering, and adaptation accumulated over countless repetitions before it could produce an effective evolution. The degree of evolution was not great, either, and it required corresponding food intake to replenish energy.

After several years, it had only made Garos's physique far stronger and tougher than that of an ordinary Hatchling Dragon, giving his scales a metallic texture even now.

However,

as Garos continued using it and grew older, the talent itself was also growing and evolving. Its effects improved every year over the last, and its upper limit remained unknown.

As everyone knew, any evolution-type talent was incredibly overpowered. Garos was full of anticipation for his future.

"With a dragon's long life and its trait of growing stronger with age, combined with my Adaptive Evolution talent, one day I will evolve and strengthen myself to an unimaginable degree."

Garos thought happily.

He glanced at the thick mountain wall, then the powerful Hatchling Dragon spread his limbs, backed away, and charged into it again and again, sending dust flying and shattered rocks scattering.

That bright future was only a fantasy for now.

As for the present... he should keep humping the mountain.

This was one of Garos's daily training methods.

His other methods included, but were not limited to, flying high into the sky and then dropping freely, jumping into bonfires to burn himself, having the Iron Dragon Mother whip him with her tail, holding his breath completely underwater and trying his hardest to suffocate himself, and so on.

Time passed slowly.

The sun gradually sank westward before finally setting into the embrace of the distant mountains.

Night descended, hung with countless stars. One round moon and one crescent moon cast their bright moonlight together, keeping the world from seeming too dark.

After finishing his mountain-humping training,

Garos left the entrance of the cave, which had visibly collapsed and caved inward.

There were many such openings in the surrounding area, all of them Garos's handiwork.

At the edge of a clear, mirror-like lake, Garos's arrival startled a large number of birds and beasts away.

He paid them no mind, drinking deeply and heartily before raising his head to look at the twin moons.

Of these two moons, one waxed and waned, changing with the sky. The other, however, was an unchanging "False Moon," always resembling a perfectly round jade disk.

The False Moon was actually an extraterrestrial magical fortress built by the Elven Empire, Nausir.

Besides this False Moon,

many twinkling stars also hung in the sky. Though they appeared no different from the other stars, they were in fact various "Satellites" created through magical means by the various Empires.