Four Years and New Traits

Time always slips away unnoticed, and four years have passed in the blink of an eye.

In a wide hunting ground near the center of the Ancient Tree area.

Ya Ji bit down on the Jinouga's foreleg, which was crackling with electricity as it swiped down. With a powerful twist of her head, her strong bite cracked the keratinous shell on the Jinouga's arm, which resembled an armored gauntlet. The exaggerated brute force threw the Jinouga off balance, causing it to fall heavily to the ground.

Immediately after, she whipped her tail to the side. The spines on the tip of her tail pierced the Jinouga's abdominal scales, eliciting a pained howl as its potent venom was injected into its body.

Not far away, Luo Yun, enveloped in flames, executed a dazzling series of aerial maneuvers before diving towards another Jinouga. Before the latter could react, his sharp claws delivered two swift strikes, tearing through its back fur with scorching heat and breaking through its electro-charged shell, leaving two deep wounds and two continuously burning flames.

At this moment, a third Jinouga reacted, leaping up and opening its massive jaws to bite at Luo Yun's wings.

A fiery orange-red fireball with a hint of purple flew from the side, hitting its mark precisely. This Jinouga was sent flying backward.

Luo Yun lowered his head, spitting out a ring of fire to force back the Jinouga beneath him that had recovered, and then ascended again.

Ya Ji's Dragon Charge attack followed, knocking away the Jinouga that was trying to roll and extinguish the flames on its back. She then pressed her attack on another Jinouga that had been hit by her fireball.

Meanwhile, Luo Yun transformed into a ball of fire in the air and dove down again, dodging the pounce of the poisoned Jinouga, firmly grasping it, and slamming it into the ground.

The flames enveloping him instantly exploded. The Jinouga didn't even have time to scream before it was burned into a charred corpse.

Amidst the flames, before Luo Yun could take flight, a figure charged in, letting out a long roar as its thick, lightning-entwined claws slammed down.

At this very moment, Luo Yun was in a state where his old strength had not yet dissipated and his new strength had not yet been generated. This strike could not be fully dodged.

But fortunately, with the early warning from Mind's Eye, Luo Yun judged the landing point and trajectory of the claw. He forcibly twisted his body, turning sideways to prevent the strike from landing fully on him.

He adjusted his angle to ensure his body's tilt could absorb the force, making his hardest scales the point of impact, thereby minimizing the damage he received to the greatest extent possible under the circumstances.

The Jinouga's full-power strike, charged with lightning, was thus largely avoided!

However, even if only the sharp tip of the claw successfully hit, the lightning-charged claw could easily pierce the opponent's scales and tear off a piece of flesh!

But the result was beyond the Jinouga's imagination.

This claw could only barely scratch the smooth scaled part of the Male Fire Dragon's chest, leaving a conspicuous mark.

Coupled with Luo Yun's sideways angle, most of the force was directed into empty space.

Not only did this fail to truly injure the opponent, but the extraordinary hardness of that part of the scales made its own claws ache faintly in return.

The Jinouga looked in disbelief at Luo Yun, whose mouth was beginning to gather flames and whose chest and neck were turning red. The descending claw landed on the ground, creating a small pit emitting faint currents.

Aren't Fire Dragons weak to lightning?

Why were his scales so hard?

Before the Jinouga could figure it out, a stream of fiery orange-red, similar to Ya Ji's but with a hint of purple, erupted from its mouth. The Jinouga's electrified outer shell could not withstand this different kind of flame.

The Thunderbugs on its body fled in all directions, trying to escape the fiery attack, making the already struggling Jinouga's situation even worse.

A wave of heat accompanied by an explosion spread outwards, and another charred corpse of a Jinouga was added to the ground.

[Trait: Scorched Body: Having been bathed in flames for years, the body's scales have completely adapted to the high temperature of the flames and undergone some mutations, granting the ability to absorb flames to significantly enhance hardness.]

Simply put, after absorbing flame damage, its overall defensive capabilities would be improved.

The three traits—Body of Flames, Fire Attraction, and Scorched Body—formed a cycle.

Body of Flames modified Luo Yun's fire sac and venom glands, allowing his body parts to secrete bodily fluids that could burn for a long time. Luo Yun could control these fluids to control the flames that enveloped him.

The Fire Attraction trait could absorb flames to enhance the temperature of his own flames and convert the flames back into fire energy to be stored in the fire sac.

The enhanced temperature flames could further strengthen his scales, thereby greatly increasing his defense.

This bonus was terrifying. Even with the Jinouga itself under the enhancement of super-charge, by simply adjusting its body's tilt, that lightning-charged claw could only scratch the surface of its scales.

Luo Yun had dealt with two Jinougas, and Ya Ji had also successfully killed the other two.

Disdainfully tossing aside the Jinouga whose neck she had broken, the massive body, over 20 meters long, spread its wings with enchanting patterns and roared at the sky. Its scales, shimmering with an orange glow, sparkled in the sunlight.

Ya Ji was freely venting the frustration she had been feeling lately.

Hearing this roar, Luo Yun instinctively flinched.

It wasn't out of fear, but rather because Ya Ji's recent frustration was related to him.

Ya Ji was 14 years old this year, and in over half a year she would be 15, about to become an adult Female Fire Dragon.

As for Luo Yun, despite his extraordinary talent and his size reaching nearly 17 meters in these four years, his dragon age was only 10 years. His abilities in that regard were still in an immature, sealed state.

So, as everyone understood...

Encountering these four Jinougas in the hunting grounds today was entirely intentional.

No one knew what had happened to the Jinouga leader from back then, but these Jinougas had become active again recently. However, they were like a scattered mess, wandering around in small groups without any clear objective, once again initiating conflicts with other monsters.

Luo Yun speculated that the Jinouga leader probably hadn't survived and was completely gone.

Without their leader, and unable to produce a new one in a short time, these Jinougas were scattered by other creatures and could only aimlessly search for new territories.

This situation had once again caused unrest in the Ancient Tree area.

Therefore, when he and Ya Ji were out hunting and discovered these four Jinougas also hunting, Luo Yun didn't hesitate to bring Ya Ji down and intervene in their hunt, thus triggering this overwhelming battle.

The long roar startled the forest, causing a flurry of activity. Flocks of small birds flew out of the forest, fleeing into the distance.

After venting her emotions, Ya Ji felt much better. She came to Luo Yun's side, affectionately nudging his neck with her head, and then trotted over to savor the prey they had snatched.

Luo Yun breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that she had vented; otherwise, with Ya Ji's current clingy nature, this nuzzle would have lasted for a long time, until Ya Ji herself managed to suppress her emotions.

It's not that Ya Ji was in heat and couldn't control herself. Fire Dragons, as intelligent beings, possessed that much control.

It's just that Ya Ji and Luo Yun had a "childhood sweethearts" relationship and had already been living like a Fire Dragon couple. Therefore, Ya Ji, who was approaching adulthood, was finding it a bit difficult to adapt, leading to her becoming somewhat impatient, and she could only alleviate it through some intimate actions.