Full health is the kill threshold, no matter if you're a god or a demon!

With the "Guild Pet Giveaway Event" coming to a close, the once-excited Longyuan Guild channel gradually returned to calm after the festivities.

Everyone should go back to their own homes and find their own mothers... to make the final preparations for the upcoming big battle.

Liu Nian quietly withdrew from the fire lizard's nest, which was filled with the smell of sulfur and intense heat.

The subsequent mission of "destroying the fire salamander eggs," which was led by Yun Xiangrong, was no longer of much concern to him.

However, he still described the situation inside the fire lizard's nest to Yun Xiangrong in as much detail as possible.

With Yun Xiangrong's current strength, she could easily complete this mission even if she were alone.

Liu Nian found a relatively quiet corner and took out an item from his storage space.

It lay quietly in his palm, radiating a restrained yet undeniably intense glow.

It was a gemstone about the size of a pigeon egg, with a deep dark red color throughout, and inside it seemed as if liquid flames were slowly flowing and rotating.

The Perfect Hellfire Gem

This was obtained when he completed the quest for the Mother of Salamanders. Its effect is: after feeding it to a pet, it can guide the potential within the pet's body to undergo targeted evolution, which will definitely grant a powerful legendary talent or skill related to fire, and significantly improve the pet's fire resistance and fire attribute.

With a slight thought, Liu Nian issued a summons through the soul contract.

A faint red light gathered beside him. When the light dissipated, a small red lizard, no more than half a meter long and looking somewhat immature and naive, appeared on the scorching ground.

[Juvenile salamander (unnamed)]

Its entire body is covered with fine orange-red scales, which reflect a warm luster under the geothermal light.

A small, not yet fully ossified bump on its head foreshadows the possible future formation of keratin. Most striking is the tip of its tail, where a warm, bright yellow flame, about the size of a fist, burns steadily, swaying slightly with its breath.

The little fire lizard seemed quite comfortable with the high temperature. It turned its lively amber vertical pupils, first curiously looking around, and then immediately locked its gaze on Liu Nian—its master, and the dark red gem in its master's hand that exuded a deadly attraction.

"Woo..." It let out a soft whimper, full of affection and dependence, and moved its short limbs to rub against Liu Nian's legs, gently nuzzling his palm with its still round head.

But its reaction to the perfect Hellfire Gem was much more complex—its vertical pupils flashed with an instinctive, almost greedy, desire, a resonance and call from the deepest part of its bloodline; but at the same time, its beastly intuition made it feel a slight pressure emanating from the gem, causing its scales to stand up slightly, and involuntarily a sense of awe and hesitation.

Liu Nian could clearly sense the contradictory emotions coming from the other end of the soul connection.

He reached out his other hand and gently stroked the little salamander's warm head, soothing its subtle unease.

"Eat it," Liu Nian commanded calmly.

In response to Liu Nian's command, the little fire lizard raised its head, opened its still immature mouth, revealing fine but sharp milk teeth, aimed at the Hellfire Gem that Liu Nian had handed to its mouth, and swallowed it in one gulp!

The gemstone did not slide directly down the throat the moment it entered the mouth.

It seemed to have a life of its own, melting the instant it touched the inside of the little fire lizard's mouth!

It wasn't melting in the physical sense, but rather transforming into a pure, explosive torrent of intense heat that ignored the physical structure of the esophagus, penetrating directly through the tissues and instantly surging into the deepest part of the little fire lizard's blood vessels, muscles, bones, and even every cell!

At first, the little fire lizard didn't seem to react much, just standing there blankly, as if it didn't understand.

But the silence lasted for less than three seconds.

"roar--!!!!"

A cry, brimming with primal wildness and majesty, that should never have come from such a small body, suddenly exploded from deep within the little fire lizard's throat!

boom!!!

A dark red, almost tangible, intense light burst forth from every crevic of its scales, every pore, and even its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth!

In an instant, its small figure was enveloped in a ball of crimson-gold energy that was more than three meters in diameter and was burning violently!

The surrounding temperature soared to a terrifying level in a very short time!

The air was completely ionized, crackling and popping, and twisting into visible, scorching turbulence.

The hard rock beneath them, which had remained unchanged despite being baked by geothermal heat for years, rapidly turned red, softened, and even began to melt into viscous magma, which slowly flowed outwards from the center of the fireball!

The scorching heatwave, carrying the smells of sulfur and ozone, hits you in the face and is enough to instantly turn ordinary living things into charcoal.

Inside the energy fireball, a revolutionary reconstruction of life is taking place!

Through the violently fluctuating light, one could vaguely see that the little fire lizard's half-meter-long body was being pulled and rapidly expanded as if being inflated by an invisible giant hand!

The bones emitted a dense, popping sound, yet also a heavy, muffled thunderclap, as they grew, deformed, and strengthened wildly!

Muscle fibers tore and reformed, becoming thicker and denser. Under the terrifying infusion of energy, the skin and soft orange-red scales cracked and peeled away inch by inch, revealing the bright red flesh and blood tissue underneath. But immediately, new dragon scales, thicker, harder, and shining with a metallic dark red luster, "grew" out of the flesh and blood piece by piece, like the finest armor, quickly covering the entire body.

Its back bulged with a cracking sound, and its shoulder blades suddenly tore open, revealing a pair of enormous wings covered in dark red dragon skin with thorns along the edges. The wingspan exceeded three meters, and molten light pulsed between the wing membranes, creating scorching winds when it flapped.

The bulge on its head burst open, and red and black dragon horns curved and grew out. Its snout extended forward to form a dragon jaw, sprouting sharp, white teeth, and fiery whiskers floated on its lower jaw…

The entire evolutionary process is like compressing a natural evolution that lasts for tens of thousands of years into a mere minute.

When the last wisp of overflowing crimson-gold energy was completely absorbed and contained by the newborn body like rivers flowing into the sea, and when the surrounding air, distorted by the high temperature, slowly returned to normal, what appeared before Liu Nian was a completely different scene.

A young salamander... no, that name no longer applies.

Standing in the center of the lava pool was a dark red dragon with a body length of over 2.5 meters, a shoulder height of nearly 1 meter, and a wingspan of nearly 4 meters when fully extended!

Its entire body was covered in deep, dark red dragon scales. In the dim light of the dark region and its own radiance, it resembled a work of art forged from cooled lava and the finest metals, yet it exuded the immense vitality and awe-inspiring presence unique to living creatures. A pair of rugged dragon horns curved backward, their runes faintly visible, and its enormous wings were folded at its sides, the bone spikes at their tips gleaming coldly.

Its thick limbs stood firmly, its claws deeply embedded in the cooled, solidified lava. Its long, powerful tail trailed behind it, the crimson-gold sun hovering at its tip illuminating the surroundings.

It lowered its head slightly, its dragon eyes, like swirling lava vortexes, looking at Liu Nian.

With a thought, a brand new pet attribute panel with a shimmering dark gold border unfolded before Liu Nian's eyes:

【Name: Firescale Dragon (Can be named)】

[Type: Sub-dragon]

[Quality: Myth]

[Level: 1]

【property:

Health: 2350

Energy: 500

Attack: 195

Armor: 79

Magic Resistance: 210

……

talent:

1. [Heart of Lava]: As a darling of fire, all fire-type skills are enhanced by 300%, and attacks inflict the 'Melting Through' effect (ignoring a portion of the target's fire resistance). The user can continuously restore health and energy by absorbing free fire elements in the environment or directly devouring fire.

2. [Dragon's Might]: Exudes the pressure of dragonkin, causing a continuous 'fear' and 'suppression' effect on most monsters, beasts, and low-level elements, greatly reducing their aggression and all attributes.

3. [Fiery Dragon Breath]: Consumes energy to unleash a cone-shaped, continuously burning lava breath of extremely high temperature from the dragon's throat. The breath inflicts both physical impact and fiery burn damage, melting most metals and rocks, and causing additional damage to buildings and barriers.

[Skills]: Flaming Claw Strike, Lava Breath, Blazing Charge, Flaming Wing Storm, Sunfire Tail Strike

[Special Evolution Boost (derived from the 'Perfect Hellfire Gem'):]

Fire Affinity: This individual possesses an unbelievable affinity for the laws of fire. Completely immune to any fire damage, when attacked by fire-attribute attacks, not only is the individual unharmed, but also absorbs 30% of the fire energy from the attack, converting it into their own health and energy.

[Description: A powerful sub-dragon creature evolved from a juvenile salamander through the catalysis of a 'Perfect Hellfire Gem,' successfully awakening and purifying the diluted dragon blood factors dormant within its body, thus transcending the level of life. Though not a true dragon, it already possesses some of the majesty and power of a dragon, especially in the realm of fire, where it can be considered a child of fire, possessing high growth potential.]