The Rock Jagras Monster Template

The land lay under a gloomy sky. Brilliant starlight and moonlight spilled over the desolate Gobi, cloaking it in what looked like a thin layer of silver frost.

A red dragon wyrmling nearly sixteen feet long lay quietly in a cave dug into the Gobi. His eyes were shut, and his chest rose and fell steadily, as if he were fast asleep.

But at that moment, Sol's attention was focused entirely on the enormous wheel in his mind.

Today was a crucial day for him-he was about to draw the first proper monster template of his dragon life.

A hundred points of mental power essence was no small sum. He could only hope that old hag Tiamat would bless him with a suitable monster.

Once he had made up his mind, a full hundred specks of starlight instantly became a glittering miniature river and slammed into the third wheel.

Neon light flickered across it as Sol watched nervously. At last, it stopped on a square bearing a simple drawing of a big-jawed lizard.

"Congratulations, you have obtained the [Dodogama Creature Template]. Withdraw it now? Yes/No."

The moment the message appeared, information about the monster came back to Sol.

It was a lizard-like fanged wyvern about ten meters long, covered in blue scales with bright yellow stripes.

It had a sturdy build, a fat belly, and an exaggerated underbite. It normally fed on Dragonvein Crystals and various minerals, and could turn the leftovers into terrifying rock-explosive projectiles and spit them out.

Sol glanced instinctively at the compatibility rating below and found it was an unprecedented 81 percent.

If he loaded this fellow's template, would he inherit its fatness too?

A faint trace of worry crossed his mind, but Sol still selected "Withdraw" with his consciousness without hesitation.

A ball of white light appeared in the air. Inside it, a phantom resembling a Rock Jagras's spirit stared with vacant eyes, then slammed into Sol's body.

The next instant, he felt a tremendous surge of heat erupt from within him. Even with a Red Dragon's tolerance for high temperatures, his whole body felt scorching hot.

[Dodogama Template fused successfully. Tough scales, molten-rock stomach, heat-dissipating skin, massive lower jaw... and other traits were too low in level compared to the host and have been converted into pure vitality.]

[High-temperature reactive saliva retained]

[Rock-explosive projectile spit ability retained]

[Part of robust physique retained]

First came the heat, followed by an uncontrollable hunger.

Sol, lying on the ground, snapped his eyes open. Tangible flames flickered in his pale golden pupils.

What met his eyes was no longer the familiar stone wall of his cave, but densely packed fire and earth elements floating in the air.

After fusing with the Rock Jagras Creature Template, his sensitivity to these two elements had grown stronger yet again.

Even without actively meditating to absorb them, sparse elemental particles flowed into his body at every moment. Some circulated throughout his body with his blood, while the rest gathered where his lower jaw met his throat.

His already thick neck visibly swelled a little, and a sac-like organ resembling the Draconis Fundamentum appeared beneath his jaw, continuously absorbing the mana in his body as it grew.

The strange sensation made his throat itch. He couldn't help coughing twice, immediately spraying several pieces of burning flint from his mouth.

Red Dragons were not purely fire-attribute magical creatures to begin with. Their domains could encompass fire, earth, metal, and destruction.

The newly formed sac-like organ was like a fusion device. Not only could it store some mana, but it could also perfectly combine the fire and earth elements within his body.

Now, besides the Red Dragon's signature cone-shaped fire breath, Sol could also spit flame-explosion projectiles that combined fire and rock, like cannonballs.

He looked again at his basic information above the wheel and found that his Challenge Rating had risen directly from 5+ to 6+.

"Hell yeah! I've really taken off this time. The next time those idiots of the other four colors see me, they'll only be fit to tuck their tails between their legs!"

Sol's eyes sparkled with excitement. He hadn't expected a simple low-level monster template to be so effective.

Not only could he gain those monsters' unique abilities, but they could also combine with and complement his own body, producing a chain reaction.

But that was only natural. After all, biological evolution wasn't a simple math problem; one plus one would never equal only two.

If he had enough mental power essence in the future and loaded every monster template, would he become a truly perfect life-form?

When that time came, whether it was Tiamat, Bahamut, or those legendary dragon species, none of their bloodlines would be fit to carry his shoes.

The mere thought was enough to fill a dragon with excitement.

Unable to contain himself, Sol bounded out of the cave, spread his enormous wings, which spanned over thirty-five feet, and soared freely across the sky.

A great deal of warmth still surged through his body. Clearly, the Rock Jagras Template had yet to finish transforming it.

But his body hadn't grown much larger. Perhaps he lacked the basic materials needed to build it, or perhaps he had already reached the limit for his age.

A normal Red Dragon wyrmling could grow to at most around twelve feet, but he had already reached sixteen, so the other young dragons had always assumed he was a young dragon.

The Dragonvein Crystals he had eaten so far and those few low-level creature templates weren't enough for Sol to push much further beyond his limits.

A cool night breeze blew against him, slightly cooling his excitement.

His sharp gaze swept over the oasis below as he searched for prey. By chance, he spotted several Green Dragons and Black Dragons lurking beneath the shallow water.

How did these treacherous, despicable reptiles end up together? Could they be hatching some wicked scheme?

The thought had barely surfaced before he cast it aside.

Red Dragons never cared about such things. Before absolute strength, everything else was an illusion.

With a ringing roar, Sol's whole body became like a blazing sunset cloud as he began following the current downstream, searching for his prey.

Green Dragons and Black Dragons were probably the chromatic dragons with the most similar habits. Both favored the shadows of dense forests and were drawn to water and marshes.

Even their breath weapons, one acid and the other poisonous mist, were very similar in nature.

At that moment, several young Green Dragons and Black Dragons in the oasis had gathered together with a mysterious understanding and were discussing what they believed to be an ingenious scheme.

"That Red Dragon must still have treasure on him. We just need to catch him..."

"But that fellow might be a little stupid, but he's still a Red Dragon. He's too strong, and he has two little brats helping him. I'm afraid our chances aren't good."

"Then let's lure those two brats away first and call a few Blue Dragons over. We'll send those fellows in as the vanguard to wear that Red Dragon out first."