Water Affinity

Bernardo was the name of the planet beneath Garos's feet.

Magic culture was highly developed on this planet, and every nation spared no effort in advancing magical technology.

The more advanced nations had even built interstellar spacecraft with magic engines, acquiring resources from the cosmos through exploring outer space and other planets.

"Dragonkin are almost the most powerful creatures, but they can't be considered invincible in this world."

Garos blinked as he looked at the False Moon in the sky.

His inherited memories mentioned an Ancient Blue Dragon known as Hurricane Wing, which had destroyed several cities of the Nausir Elven Empire and was hunted by Nausir for a long time.

In the end, Nausir used a city as bait and trapped Hurricane Wing with a massive magic formation.

The False Moon unleashed a beam that destroyed everything and killed Hurricane Wing.

"Besides, the other races on Bernardo Planet have a terrible impression of Chromatic Dragons and Ferrous Dragons. Once they discover one, they'll immediately prepare a crusade."

The Dragon Race had many classifications.

For example, the most common were Chromatic Dragons, Metal Dragons, Gem Dragons, and then Ferrous Dragons.

Chromatic Dragons were deemed Evil Dragons due to their inherently wicked nature and love of causing trouble and destruction. Ferrous Dragons were regarded as the "mad dogs" of dragonkind, frequently killing even their own kind, let alone other races.

"I'm a hybrid of a Chromatic Dragon and a Ferrous Dragon, and also a hybrid of a Red Dragon and an Iron Dragon. I'll probably be seen as the worst of Evil Dragons, a naturally wicked bad seed among dragonkind—terrifying enough that I absolutely can't be allowed to live."

He plopped down by the lake.

The Hatchling Dragon's tail soaked in the water, swaying back and forth.

Moonlight shone upon Garos. Feeling his tail drift through the water and the occasional little fish clearing away the weeds and dust caught in it, he quietly pondered.

"I should train more and strengthen myself."

"Only by becoming stronger will I have more confidence when facing any dangers that may come later."

This dragon life had only just begun. Garos hoped to live as long as possible. He did not want to be like in his previous life, dying in the prime of youth at eighteen after getting hit by a truck.

"First, I'll set a small goal: live to a hundred."

"No, dragons only reach adulthood at a hundred. I should hope to live for a thousand years."

Garos leaned backward.

The Hatchling Dragon's body shattered the surface of the lake, splashing countless crystal-clear droplets beneath the moonlight. He dove to the deepest part of the lake, enduring the heavy water pressure without breathing.

—Dragonkin could actually breathe underwater.

Garos simply wanted to train his heart and lungs, as well as his affinity with water elements.

Thanks to his day-after-day training, his heart and lungs were much stronger than those of ordinary dragonkin. The power and duration of the Dragon Breath he exhaled both surpassed those of normal Hatchling Dragons.

Furthermore, both Iron Dragons and Red Dragons were fire-element dragons and did not actually like water.

Garos, being a hybrid, was the same. He was unquestionably a fire-element dragon.

Attacks with attributes such as water or ice would deal double damage to him.

The best way to overcome fear was to face it.

To guard against one day encountering an attack that countered his attributes, Garos had begun enduring his hatred of water years ago, soaking in it from time to time to desensitize himself and adapt.

By now, his instinctive aversion to water had completely vanished.

Although he had never truly encountered a water-element attack and could not determine his affinity with water elements, Garos felt that he would at least not take double damage.

Suddenly.

A faint disturbance rippled through the water behind him.

A black shadow rushed toward him at extreme speed and attacked Garos.

Garos keenly caught the change in the current. Before the attack arrived, he turned around, raised his dragon claws, and fiercely slapped forward.

Bang!

Black Dragon Claws collided with fiery red dragon claws, sending a ring of water surging through the lakebed.

The fiery red dragon claws gripped Garos's claws tightly, trying to wrestle with him.

However.

Garos possessed astonishing strength. The powerful muscles beneath his dragon scales bulged and swelled, even lifting his scales slightly. His claws gradually pressed down on the fiery red dragon claws, forcing them back inch by inch.

The wrestling match was lost.

The owner of the fiery red dragon claws withdrew them, staring at Garos with a pair of red dragon eyes. In a clear yet displeased voice, she said, "Garos, you hateful hybrid! Sooner or later, I'll defeat you!"

The Dragonling Samantha, Garos's biological younger sister, was a pure-blooded Red Dragon.

Among the Dragon Race, hybrids were rare because dragon bloodlines were overbearing and difficult to merge with one another.

For example, when a Red Dragon and an Iron Dragon produced offspring, there was an extremely high chance that they would give birth to either a pure-blooded Red Dragon or a pure-blooded Iron Dragon. Their offspring would inherit one parent's bloodline. Hybrid Dragons like Garos, capable of combining red and iron dragon blood, were few in number.

Smack!

Garos slapped the Red Dragonling's head with one claw.

"When dealing with dragonkin stronger than you, watch your tone and your words."

That slap knocked the Red Dragonling's head heavily to one side. She nearly got knocked entirely off course, and he had not held back at all.

Between dragons, especially Evil Dragons, strength often did the talking. Only strength could earn the respect of other Evil Dragons, and Garos had grown accustomed to this style of communication.

Red Dragon Sister had hatched a year after Garos.

At the time, Garos saw that his little sister was plump and round, looking cute, simple-minded, and lovable. So he tore off a piece of meat from the food he was eating and gave it to her.

As a result.

She took Garos for weak, pushed her luck, and let her Evil Dragon nature take over. She ordered Garos to hand over all his food. Iron Dragon Brother (Gordon), who had hatched at the same time as Red Dragon Sister, also thought Garos was weak. He joined forces with Red Dragon Sister to extort Garos's food.

After Garos refused, the two of them actually attacked with their claws, intending to seize all of Garos's food.

Afterward, Garos pinned them to the ground and beat them viciously. Only after he knocked several of their teeth loose did they finally behave.

As a Hybrid Dragon, Garos was naturally stronger than ordinary Red Dragons or Iron Dragons, not to mention that he was a year older.

Meanwhile.

Red Dragon Sister bared her teeth after taking that claw strike and wanted to retaliate. But when she saw the fierce gleam in Garos's eyes, she wisely restrained herself.

Red Dragons revered violence and liked solving problems with violence.

But when their violence was weaker than their opponent's, they would temporarily endure it and wait until they surpassed them before viciously taking revenge.

Besides, she had taken plenty of beatings from Garos over the years and knew that this dragon brother of hers would not show mercy.

"My dear brother."

Red Dragon Sister gave in and said, "Mother wants you to go to the Dragon Lair."

After stating why she had come to find Garos, she muttered under her breath, "You spend all day soaking in water. You're really strange. You even made me get in the water too."

Red Dragon Sister was uncomfortable all over in the water, her dragon face full of disgust.

She twisted her tail and waist, rapidly floating upward. She left the lake before Garos did.

Garos was in no hurry. He spread his wings underwater, then burst from the surface and soared through the air. Though he started later, he overtook Red Dragon Sister and flew toward the Dragon Lair.

The Dragon Lair—it was located in the cliffside mountain on the eastern side of the sinkhole.

From the outside, it was merely a crude, rugged cave.

Moonlight could not reach inside the Dragon Lair, but the stone walls within were coated in a strange metal. Some areas emitted bright light, so the interior was not dark.

Garos folded his wings and walked on all fours across the metal-covered floor, heading deeper inside.

The deeper he went, the more metal surrounded him.

Clusters of metal bloomed from the stone walls like flowers, while angular metal pillars protruded from the ground.

Finally, when Garos reached the deepest part of the cave, his view suddenly opened up as he entered a vast "hollow."

The core of this Dragon Lair was not a rough cavern in the traditional sense.

The surrounding ground and stone walls were covered in a layer of soft yet tough metal. Its texture resembled mercury, though rusty ripples shimmered across its surface.

To the north stood a thirty-meter-high stepped metal platform. At its summit was Iron Dragon Mother's exclusive throne.

—It had been forged from countless melted swords and halberds. The weapons of those she had defeated had now solidified into steps, each one engraved with Dragon Language runes.

Garos looked up.

Upon the throne sat a colossal creature twenty meters long. Even the air currents stirred by her breathing sounded like howling gales—a true giant dragon.

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