Chapter Summaries

Garos, a red-iron hybrid dragon with a human soul, trained in the Ser Wilderness while relying on his Adaptive Evolution talent to grow stronger. After his mountain-ramming practice, he drank from a lake and observed the moons and magical satellites overhead.

• A black-feathered hawk spotted Garos repeatedly smashing his body against a cliff in the Ser Wilderness.
• Garos reflected on his six years as a dragon and how his human soul had merged with his dragon nature.
• Garos considered how his Adaptive Evolution talent had gradually made him tougher and stronger.
• Garos continued his daily training by ramming the mountain until nightfall.
• Garos drank from a lake and looked up at the twin moons, including the False Moon, and the magical satellites.

Garos trained his water affinity while considering the dangers his mixed dragon bloodline could bring, then went to the Dragon Lair at his mother's request. He arrived before his Iron Dragon Mother’s throne, where she awaited him.

• Garos trained underwater to strengthen his heart and lungs and adapt to water, an element that could counter his fire affinity.
• Samantha attacked Garos underwater, but he overpowered her and reminded her to respect stronger dragonkin.
• Samantha told Garos that their mother wanted him at the Dragon Lair, and he flew there ahead of her.
• Garos entered the Dragon Lair’s vast metal-lined cavern and looked up at his colossal Iron Dragon Mother seated on her throne.

Garos asked his mother, Laetitia the Iron Dragon Mother, to let him remain in her territory instead of being driven out. He offered to trade precious metal ore for food and protection, and Laetitia agreed to consider the bargain.

• Laetitia told Garos that he had reached the Hatchling Stage and had to leave her territory by dawn.
• Garos asked to stay longer, but Laetitia refused, so he mentioned he could offer treasure in exchange for food and protection.
• Laetitia called Garos back and asked where he had found treasure and how much he would pay.
• Garos offered to supply at least three pieces of precious metal ore weighing over ten pounds each month in return for protection and fresh meat.
• Laetitia offered to provide servants for mining at an additional cost, but Garos said he already had two mining slaves.
• Red Dragon Sister and Iron Dragon Brother (Gordon) were surprised and wondered where Garos had gotten his mining slaves.

Garos forced Samantha and Gordon to mine for him after securing Iron Dragon Mother's approval. He trained by repeatedly free-falling into the earth, while the two Dragonlings secretly hoped he would injure himself and become their servant.

• Iron Dragon Mother agreed to Garos making Samantha and Gordon mine in exchange for an additional ten-pound piece of Precious Metal Ore each month.
• Garos beat Samantha and Gordon into submission, then dragged them to the lake and stopped them from escaping.
• Garos ordered the two Dragonlings to dig for metal ore while he practiced dangerous free-fall training.
• Samantha and Gordon mined faster as they imagined making Garos serve them if he crippled himself.

Garos trained his younger dragon siblings by provoking them into mining harder while continuing to strengthen himself. After Iron Dragon Mother delivered a Great-Horned Savage Bull as promised, Garos devoured it and felt his accumulated Adaptive Evolution begin to respond to his training.

• Garos ordered Iron Dragon Brother and Red Dragon Sister back to mining, provoking them by claiming they lacked ambition and could not surpass Kobolds.
• Iron Dragon Mother flew in and dropped off a Great-Horned Savage Bull for Garos in accordance with their deal.
• Garos tore through the beast's armored hide and ate its flesh, feeling a tingling sensation spread through his body as his recent adaptations responded.
• Garos reasoned that his evolution required accumulated adaptation and sufficient energy, then finished the entire bull.
• Garos resumed ramming his body into the mountains and ground beneath the sun to continue his training.

Garos developed detachable Buffer Scales that absorbed impacts and rebounded force, then tested their strength with the Dragonlings. After adapting to them, he began exploring beyond Iron Dragon Mother's territory while planning to survive independently in the future.

• Garos discovered that his evolution had given him a layer of detachable Buffer Scales that protected him from impacts.
• Garos asked Gordon and Samantha to ram him, and the rebounding force repeatedly threw Samantha back while Garos remained steady.
• Garos concluded that repetitive impact training had likely caused the new scales and decided to focus more on strength and speed training.
• Gordon and Samantha imitated Garos by throwing themselves to the ground, convinced that this would make them stronger.
• Garos planned to sharpen his combat and survival skills, choose a future territory, and flew beyond Iron Dragon Mother's Sinkhole Territory to explore nearby areas.

Garos searched the Ser Wilderness for combat practice while considering the Fire Marrow Stone veins controlled by the Lothern Federation. A Rock-Crushing Worm devoured three Grey Hyenas and basked in the sun, unaware that Garos had targeted it.

• Garos watched a Lothern Federation outpost guarding a Fire Marrow Stone mine and decided he could not approach it.
• Garos considered the scarce ore in the Iron Dragon Mother's territory and flew around the Sinkhole Territory looking for a combat target.
• A Rock-Crushing Worm sensed three Grey Hyenas near an abandoned mine and burrowed toward them.
• The Rock-Crushing Worm caught and ate two Grey Hyenas, then killed the third with acid.
• The Rock-Crushing Worm climbed onto a rock to bask, unaware that Garos had set his sights on it.

Garos hunted and killed a level-seven Rock-Crushing Worm, then considered making an abandoned mine pit his Dragon Lair. He discovered the pit was home to a Rock-Crushing Worm swarm and a Worm King, so he fled and continued searching for a territory.

• Garos used his Life Level Detection Technique to identify a level-seven Rock-Crushing Worm and killed it with a series of powerful attacks.
• Garos found that the worm's fire damage barely affected him and that his training had improved his resistance to water damage.
• After eating the worm, Garos sensed remaining mineral veins beneath the abandoned mine pit and considered claiming it as his Dragon Lair.
• The ground erupted with a hundred-meter Rock-Crushing Worm and a swarm of others, revealing a Worm King.
• Garos dodged the Worm King's Acid Rain and flew away from the mine pit.

Garos hunted monsters and savage beasts across the Wilderness, gauging his strength and scouting potential territories. He returned to the Sinkhole Territory after finding a desirable habitat occupied by a group of Sting-Tail Lions, while Red Dragon Sister and Iron Dragon Brother had abandoned their training.

• Garos hunted five creatures after the Rock-Crushing Worms and found that his Level 7 strength let him defeat same-level opponents with ease, though the Level 8 Petrified Lizard injured him slightly.
• Garos discovered several suitable habitats, but all were occupied, including his preferred territory, which belonged to roughly thirty unusually large Sting-Tail Lions.
• Garos memorized the locations and planned to grow strong enough to replace the Sting-Tail Lions' rulers before leaving Iron Dragon Mother's protection.
• Garos returned to the Sinkhole Territory and found Red Dragon Sister and Iron Dragon Brother lounging outside the mine instead of training.
• Red Dragon Sister had repeatedly put off training, while Iron Dragon Brother had quit after crashing his face into the ground; both had nevertheless gained some strength from their earlier efforts.

Garos trained his strength and wing speed, relying on adaptive evolution to prepare for flying without magic, while keeping his Dragonling siblings under control. Over the following year, he trained, made them mine, and explored the Wilderness for a future home.

• Garos woke Red Dragon Sister and Iron Dragon Brother and sent them back into the mine to work.
• Garos tore away petrified flesh from his forearm and began new strength exercises as his body adapted to the Petrification Ray.
• Garos restrained his magic and trained his wings to fly through physical strength alone, pushing himself until exhaustion triggered adaptive evolution.
• Red Dragon Sister and Iron Dragon Brother tried to approach Garos while he was exhausted, but they backed down when he threatened them.
• Garos rested, then spent his days training, sending the Dragonlings to mine, and exploring the surrounding area before a year passed.

After evolving, Garos tested his improved strength and flight against a powerful Level 8 Earth Violent Bear. He overwhelmed the bear with his speed and blade-like wings, leaving it severely wounded but still fighting.

• Garos surveyed his stronger body and evolved wings, then chose the Earth Violent Bear as a test of his abilities.
• Garos announced himself with Dragon Might and broke the bear’s first rock attacks before weaving through the rest.
• Garos dived through the wooded hillside, cut down trees with his wings, and smashed the bear’s earth spikes and stone slab.
• Garos tore into the bear’s shoulder and hurled it through seven oak trees, then scattered its barrage of wooden spikes.
• The Earth Violent Bear covered itself in Heavy Rock Armor and struck at Garos, but Garos’s wing cut through its armor and severed half of its forearm.

Garos tested his dragon wings against an Earth Violent Bear, subdued it, and killed a Red Scale Python before returning to Sinkhole Territory. There, Red Dragon Sister and Iron Dragon Brother told him that Iron Dragon Mother had summoned all three Hatchling Dragons to her Dragon Lair.

• Garos charged the Earth Violent Bear with his dragon wings, but it surrendered after he severed one of its arms.
• Garos spared the Earth Violent Bear and accepted its submission, learning that its name was Mobel.
• Mobel led Garos to the Red Scale Python, which Garos killed with a single attack from his dragon wing.
• Garos left Mobel in the Wilderness and returned alone to Sinkhole Territory, deciding not to use Dragon Vein Conversion on him.
• Red Dragon Sister and Iron Dragon Brother told Garos that Iron Dragon Mother wanted them all at her Dragon Lair, and the three Hatchling Dragons flew there together.

Garos learned that the Iron Dragon Mother had decided to drive him and the other two hatchlings from Sinkhole Territory. Before Garos left, she gave him a dark gold Tail Ring whose runes might hold a surprise.

• Garos thanked the Iron Dragon Mother for protecting him, and she remained resolved to make him leave.
• The Iron Dragon Mother ordered Samantha and Gordon to leave as well, and the two hatchlings eagerly imagined their adventures beyond the territory.
• Garos said he would leave before dawn, but the Iron Dragon Mother stopped him and praised his potential.
• The Iron Dragon Mother gave Garos a dark gold Tail Ring and told him to study its runes.
• Samantha and Gordon asked for gifts, but the Iron Dragon Mother swept them toward the lair entrance with her wings.

Garos left Sinkhole Territory after Samantha and Gordon rejected his offer to travel with him, then settled in Iron Fir Hills to train by enduring attacks from Mobel, the Earth Violent Bear. Mobel suggested that Garos could gain more followers by killing Mobel’s father and taking over his bear pack.

• Garos offered Samantha and Gordon his protection, but Samantha refused and Gordon said he planned to travel south for wealth.
• Garos told them where they could find him if they changed their minds, then flew toward Iron Fir Hills.
• Two weeks later, Garos trained in Iron Fir Hills by having Mobel strike him and use Spell-like Abilities against him.
• Mobel explained that his father led a small Dire Bear pack and proposed that Garos kill him to make the pack submit.

Garos agreed to make Mobel the bear pack’s leader after warning him that he would be held responsible for their loyalty. When Garos found the level 10 Dire Bear Chief guarding the pack, he judged the fight too risky and left, planning to return after growing stronger.

• Garos accepted Mobel’s proposal to lead the bear pack but warned that he would punish Mobel if the bears resisted or betrayed him.
• Mobel overcame his fear and accepted Garos’s decision to put him in charge of the pack.
• Garos flew to the bears’ mountain den at night and spotted the enormous Dire Bear Chief among the pack.
• Garos used Life Level Detection Technique and discovered that the Dire Bear Chief was level 10.
• Garos decided he was not ready to fight the Dire Bear Chief and flew away, while the Chief relaxed after mistaking him for a harmless Hatchling Dragon.

Garos charged the Dark Gold Tail Ring with natural lightning and used its Lightning Enchantment to train his resistance by striking himself. Meanwhile, Samantha struggled through the Wilderness injured and starving after fleeing hostile Goblins and soldiers, and the chapter left her collapsing in the mud.

• Garos drew seven lightning bolts into the Dark Gold Tail Ring, fully charging the alchemical item gifted by the Iron Dragon Mother.
• Garos activated Lightning Enchantment and repeatedly struck his own back with his electrified tail to build resistance, while Mobel watched in alarm.
• Samantha remembered demanding the Goblin Tribe’s submission, then fleeing when its chief attacked her in a steel construct.
• Samantha flew near The Mines, where soldiers shot a rune-covered crossbow bolt through her wing and forced her to flee.
• Samantha struggled to hunt with her injured wing, ate dirt and tree bark to survive, and collapsed in the rain from hunger.

Samantha, weakened by hunger and failed hunts, decided to seek Garos’s protection but was pursued by Goblin Wolf Cavalry before she could reach him. Garos sensed her familiar scent from the Iron Fir Hills as Samantha’s strength faded from a poisoned arrow.

• Samantha struggled with hunger and pride, then resolved to find Garos and accept becoming his follower.
• Garos rested after training through a week of rain, having shed his Buffer Scales as signs of Adaptive Evolution appeared.
• Samantha ran toward the Iron Fir Hills while dozens of Goblin Wolf Cavalry chased her, hoping Garos would forgive her.
• Goblin archers shot poisoned arrows at Samantha, and one pierced her hind leg as she tried to escape.
• Garos caught Samantha’s familiar scent and looked toward her, while the poison weakened her and the hills remained out of reach.

Garos rescued Samantha by destroying the Goblin Wolf Cavalry, then accepted her pledge to follow his commands. After hearing how she had been injured near the Lothern Federation’s mines, he noticed something glinting in a goblin corpse’s hand.

• Garos dove into the Goblin Wolf Cavalry and killed them, leaving the surviving gray wolves alive as potential food.
• Mobel arrived with a Wild Bull and presented it to Garos, revealing that he was Garos’s follower.
• Samantha apologized to Garos and pledged to obey and follow him.
• Samantha told Garos how her wings had been torn after she ventured near the mines, and he rebuked her recklessness.
• Garos spotted something glinting in the hand of a goblin corpse.

Garos investigated the message sent by the dying Goblin and weighed the danger posed by the Gnawrock Tribe, deciding to learn more before choosing whether to defend or abandon the Iron Fir Hills. After feeding Samantha and ordering Mobel to pen the surviving wolves, the story shifted to the Gnawrock Tribe’s settlement and its crude but functioning ironworks.

• Garos found a Communication Stone and realized the dying Goblin had sent a message to its tribe, potentially exposing his territory.
• Garos questioned Samantha about the Goblin Tribe and learned that its strongest Goblin was Level 6 and that it possessed alchemical items and an Alchemy Golem.
• Garos judged that the Goblin Tribe was probably not powerful enough to threaten him directly and became less concerned.
• Samantha begged Garos for food, and he gave her a hind leg of the Wild Bull.
• Garos ordered Mobel to drive the surviving gray wolves into the hills and keep them as reserve food.
• The scene moved to the Gnawrock Tribe’s settlement, where Goblins sorted iron ore and forged weapons for the tribe.

Broken-Tooth Goruk ruled the Gnawrock Tribe through brutality and the Giant-Arm Miner, while Pustule Groz learned that a black-and-red Hatchling Dragon was slaughtering the Wolf Cavalry. Fearing the tribe could threaten him or contact others, Garos attacked the settlement, leaving Groz to face the dragon.

• Broken-Tooth Goruk executed a Goblin challenger and imagined hunting dragons with a better Alchemy Golem.
• Pustule Groz received a message that a powerful black-and-red Hatchling Dragon was destroying the Wolf Cavalry and decided to send scouts before selling the news to a merchant caravan.
• Garos reconsidered his confidence in the Goblins, feared their Alchemy Golem and outside connections, and chose to eliminate the threat.
• Garos crashed into the Gnawrock Tribe, killed several Goblins with his landing and wings, and appeared before Groz.