"Just hang in there. It’ll be over soon."
With a *POP*, Chen Yu reverted to his bouncy Slime form. He hopped over to Xiaoka’s side and gently patted it with a small gel hand, comforting it.
Xiaoka lowered its head and whimpered, feeling the endless power surging from within. An instinct, originating from the depths of its bloodline, compelled it to act. It couldn’t help but raise its neck toward the vast autumn sky and unleash a roar, announcing its rebirth.
"AWOOO!!!"
The sound, though clear and juvenile, already carried the faint stirrings of a dragon’s might. It echoed endlessly above the swamp, its resonance reaching as far as Mudu.
The Slimes had already been notified through the gel network, so they merely paused their work and play, their curiosity piqued as they glanced toward the source of the sound outside the city.
Oldes, however, who was chatting with Turk near the Knight training grounds, was startled by the sudden roar.
At first, he thought some reckless wild dragon had decided to attack the Royal Capital of the Slime Kingdom. But he soon learned from Turk that the dragon was the Slime King’s mount.
A dragon mount?
And its master was a Slime.
’A perpetually proud and powerful dragon submitting to a Slime... It’s strange no matter how you look at it.’
This news shattered Oldes’s perception of the Slime Kingdom, a place he thought he understood. He suddenly realized this Demon Kingdom was far more mysterious than he had ever imagined.
On the outskirts of Mudu, Xiaoka completed its final transformation.
The flames engulfing its body gradually died down. Its scales, once red-hot as if on the verge of melting, cooled to the deep, dark luster of obsidian.
On closer inspection, however, its new scales looked like a freshly donned suit of armor, coated in a glossy sheen.
Xiaoka had become a Black Dragon.
But unlike the typical Black Dragons of legend—tyrannical, greedy, cunning, and obsessed with destruction and hoarding treasure—this little one, who had been raised under the influence of Chen Yu’s Daoist Skill, had eyes so clear they were almost... adorably dopey.
It spun in an excited circle, looking down to admire its renewed body. It tentatively flapped the now much larger dragon wings on its back, generating a considerable downdraft.
"King..."
Then it affectionately nuzzled Chen Yu’s round, jiggly gel body, letting out a contented purr.
’Well... so much for the swamp puppy. Now it’s a Black Dragon puppy,’ Chen Yu thought to himself, patting its head with a sense of pride.
As it was still a young dragon fresh from its transformation, Xiaoka’s body wasn’t as monstrously large as Chen Yu had imagined. It was about seven or eight meters long with a wingspan of nearly fifteen meters.
Though far larger than any ordinary beast, it still seemed petite compared to adult dragons, which could easily be tens of meters long. It even retained clear juvenile features: a slightly oversized head, glistening, wide eyes, and newly sprouted horns that were still short and rounded.
Consequently, its power was still one last step of accumulation and opportunity away from reaching the Gold rank.
With a *SPLAT*, Chen Yu landed on Xiaoka’s back. "Take flight. Let’s test your new wings."
"Kaka!" Xiaoka let out a joyful cry in response.
It crouched slightly, the muscles in its powerful hind legs tensing as its sharp claws dug deep into the ground. Then, with a sudden burst of power, its wings snapped open with a *SWOOSH* and gave a mighty flap.
"BOOM!!!"
A fierce wind erupted, flinging dust and dry grass into the air. Xiaoka’s body launched from the ground, soaring toward the vast Swamp Forest.
It was moving faster than it ever had before. The wind howled in its ears, the ground shrank rapidly below, and an unprecedented sense of freedom and power filled Xiaoka’s very being.
Suddenly, it felt an irrepressible heat and itch deep in its throat, as if something was about to erupt. Acting on instinct, it lowered its head and opened its mouth.
"BOOM!!!"
A torrent of fiery Dragon Breath erupted, instantly engulfing the trees, bushes, and dry moss within a radius of more than ten meters below.
It was autumn, and the swamp climate had grown quite dry. In the blink of an eye, the flames connected, forming a sea of fire that continued to spread.
Realizing it had made a mess, Xiaoka frantically flapped its wings, intending to land and stamp out the flames with its claws.
"That won’t be necessary."
Chen Yu, standing on Xiaoka’s back, simply gave a light wave with his small gel hand, as if grasping an invisible Natural Staff.
In an instant, vast, dark-gray rain clouds rapidly converged in the clear sky above the swamp.
The clouds hung low, lightning flickering faintly within. Moments later, rain began to fall, extinguishing the sea of flames and leaving behind nothing but a stretch of charred earth and debris.
This was the domain blessing of a Forest Sage. Within his territory, Chen Yu could regulate the natural balance on a small scale, affecting the weather and the growth of vegetation.
A Forest Sage’s power is often inextricably linked to the forest, nature, and the communities they protect. The bulk of their strength is manifested in their control over their domain and the Tree-man Army they cultivate.
This also explained why, during the battle at Storm Fortress, Chen Yu’s identity as a Sage had gone largely unnoticed, being far less conspicuous than his "Magic Suction" ability.
After some more testing, Chen Yu was quite satisfied with Xiaoka’s performance.
The power of its Dragon Breath was self-evident, more than enough to deal devastating blows to enemies below the Gold rank. The Magic Resistance and physical defense of its new black scales were also astonishing. Furthermore, its claws were sharper than many masterfully forged Enchanted Weapons, capable of effortlessly tearing through thick steel plates and solid rock.