Dragon Cliff Dungeon.
Though called a “dungeon,” it was more like a vast alternate space, and dragons were its sole masters.
Unlike dungeons that extended downward, Dragon Cliff was built layer upon layer upward, piercing the clouds.
At the lowest level lived all manner of dragonbeasts, mostly stable-breeding subspecies with thin bloodlines.
At the very top, tens of thousands of meters up, was the domain of pureblood great dragons.
Of course, the space wasn’t dragons only.
Kobolds, for example, served their respective dragon lords and were granted permission to live in designated areas.
Gugu was one such kobold born to serve a great dragon.
Today was another sacred duty: cleaning his master’s lair.
After the tribe’s shaman cast corrosion-resistance spells on the cleaning crew, they dared grip their tools and cautiously enter the cavern perpetually shrouded in faint black mist.
Gugu tiptoed, carefully avoiding the gold coins and gems scattered across the floor, terrified of making any noise that might disturb his sleeping master, a mighty black dragon in his prime.
But before cleaning could begin, something unexpected happened.
For no apparent reason, furious dragon roars suddenly came from outside. The sound waves reverberated through all of Dragon Cliff.
Unrestrained draconic pressure pressed down like a physical force, freezing every kobold in place, trembling uncontrollably.
One kobold, overwhelmed by the combined might, wet himself. Foul yellow urine splashed onto the sacred lair floor…
In the darkness, two massive golden slit pupils snapped open!
The next instant, a jet-black dragon breath swept through.
The incontinent kobold and another unlucky one nearby didn’t even have time to scream. They turned into two decayed skeletons that clattered to the ground.
Then a massive claw covered in black scales rose. Its tips scraped across the treasure pile, sending gold and gems flying, before slamming into the rock wall.
BOOM!
The entire cavern shook violently. Web-like cracks spread crazily from the impact point. Stones rained from the ceiling.
A rock struck Gugu’s head, but he stayed prostrated on the ground, not daring to move.
“Master, supreme master, please calm your wrath! This is your noble lair!” The hastily arrived elder shaman prostrated and pleaded in trembling draconic.
Gugu could clearly feel his master’s scorching breath sweep across his trembling back, so hot he dared not breathe.
After a brief silence, the dragon’s fury seemed to subside slightly.
The ferocious dragon head slowly withdrew into the deepest shadows. Only a string of incomprehensible draconic words echoed in the cavern:
“A mere Svelgis… dares covet…”
…
“Shh… shh… it’s okay now.”
Louisa’s pale, slender fingers gently stroked the bristling dragon scales of Little Black, who had curled into a ball inside her wings, carefully soothing her.
Careless strokes would end like the few Puchis that had approached earlier, shredded.
Only after a long while did Little Black slowly uncurl.
One claw tightly hugged her large tail. The other scooped up an unlucky dead Puchi nearby, sobbing as she gnawed.
Around her was devastation. The mushroom house was reduced to broken foundations. The ground was littered with charred mycelial fragments from dragon breath. The air still carried a faint acidic tang; Puchis without resistance couldn’t approach.
Good thing Little Black had regained control quickly, or half of Garden No. 3 might have been gone.
A few Puchis approached. One extended a mycelial tentacle and squeezed honey onto the Puchi in Little Black’s arms for sweetness.
Sure enough, as sweetness spread, Little Black ate more focusedly, sobs gradually stopping.
Only then did Lin Jun ask, “What happened? You blasted the mushroom house away the moment you woke.”
“Big dragons… many dragons… tail… angry…”
Still the usual fragmented sentences.
But after long acquaintance, Lin Jun had mastered translating “Little Black speak.”
In short: Little Black had felt a bunch of dragons chasing and biting her tail, woke up in a stress reaction.
Lin Jun figured it was probably growing pains; after all… she really had grown a lot…
Her already large dragon wings were now a third wider. And that wasn’t the only change…
It took great effort from the Puchis and Little Pig to finally get Little Black to release her tail and stand properly. No idea where she learned the habit of hugging her tail from between her legs.
Two Puchis stacked together stood in front of Little Black.
She naturally picked up the top one, flipped it, and started eating from the feet.
One bite and she realized it wasn’t a delicious Puchi. She looked puzzled at the other Puchis but still ate bite by bite, not wasting their kindness.
This wasn’t meant for her anyway; now it didn’t matter.
The comparison showed Little Black was now as tall as two stacked Puchis; about 1.6 meters, a full ten centimeters taller.
On the panel, she had jumped two levels to 63. All attributes except intelligence had mushroom-envying growth.
And this was just from LV2 [Bloodline Enhancement].
So why was there no ancient mushroom bloodline?
As a Hero, unable to awaken bloodline power; too strange!
Even stranger.
【Status: Ancient Dragon Path 1%】
Bloodline unlock progress?
Unlikely. Little Black’s bloodline couldn’t possibly be only 1% unlocked?
[Bloodline Enhancement] hadn’t seemed special on the pigfolk or ex-half-demon chief; just a strengthening skill. How did it produce so many fancy effects on Little Black?
Ancient dragons were still too mysterious to Lin Jun. Even human records were scarce. He’d have to visit the elven library later.
…
After soothing Little Black and moving her to Norris’s mushroom house, Lin Jun turned his attention back to his far-north experimental base.
There was a special plump recluse Puchi.
[Behemoth LV2]
This plump recluse was nearly half again taller than normal, its round body like a small hill.
But what truly delighted Lin Jun was a stat that broke convention: its Constitution had exceeded the Puchi limit.
Puchi attributes had always been capped by Lin Jun’s level; currently max 64.
In comparison, humans reaching diamond-tier usually had one or two core stats over 100.
Thus even knight Puchis were at an absolute base-stat disadvantage, relying on numerous ridiculous high-level skills to surpass.
Yet this giant plump recluse had broken through in stats!
Only Constitution, but still exciting.
The only issue: the skill seemed directly tied to size.
Puchis with [Behemoth] would grow to the current stat’s physical limit, unable to maintain the light, agile combat form of knight Puchis.
Seemed a tank and mega-bomb exclusive skill…
Lin Jun planned to level it more; curious how big a LV10 could get.
(End of Chapter)
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