Evolving by devouring from a young dragon

Night fell quietly, and a thick miasma filled the air above the Black Barrier Swamp.

After a day of almost self-destructive eating, Auduin slowly crawled out of the pool of strong acid.

His long and powerful black dragon body was covered in green venom. With each step he took, the highly corrosive liquid dripped onto the dead wood, making a chilling hissing sound before instantly turning into a wisp of smoke.

Arriving at a giant rock with a wide view, Alduin did not rest immediately. Instead, he skillfully shook off the mud from the gaps in his scales, then raised his dragon head and looked up at the night sky above.

The night sky over the continent of Ysera is not peaceful.

Besides the crescent moon shrouded in a scarlet halo, several "constant stars" with a cold, eerie blue light hung scattered across the dark sky.

Their light does not flicker naturally, but rather sweeps across the night sky at an extremely regular frequency.

"That's the 'Eye of the Sky'..."

Alduin's crimson vertical pupils narrowed slightly, his gaze devoid of the arrogance of a dragon, filled only with absolute reason and apprehension.

According to the memories of the dragon's heritage that he awakened, those eerie blue starlight were not stars at all, but "mechanical floating cities" jointly built by humans and the dwarven magic empire—super surveillance fortresses hovering in near-Earth orbit.

In this world called Ysera, magic and magical mechanical technology are highly advanced.

Although dragons remain at the top of the food chain, possessing terrifying physical bodies and magic capable of destroying cities, this does not mean they can do whatever they want.

The inherited memories clearly record that there was once a group of more than ten arrogant blue dragons who, due to their extreme arrogance, openly circled above a large human city and spewed lightning, attempting to extort treasure.

As a result, their arrogance triggered a deadly threat from the heavens.

Six "Eyes of the Sky" simultaneously locked onto their magical fluctuations. The "Orbital Magic Cannon," with its super-long range, only needed three rounds of concentrated fire before this group of more than ten arrogant blue dragons, whose scales were harder than steel, were blasted into dust by beams of light as thick as mountains.

In addition, on the earth, there are dragon-slaying knights piloting mechs that are hundreds of meters tall and equipped with god-killing magic cores, as well as the wide-area forbidden spell arrays set up by the Elven Empire that can seal off space.

"This world is far too hostile towards dragons."

Alduin coldly assessed the current situation in his mind.

Because of their greedy and cruel nature, the five-colored dragons are fond of plundering everywhere and are considered by various races as natural disaster targets that must be eliminated first.

He, as a hybrid of a black dragon and a shadow dragon, is an "extremely evil variant" with both deadly poison and assassination attributes.

"Once my light-absorbing scales and magic-corroding acid are exposed, I'll probably be immediately locked onto by the magical empire's strategic weapons and blasted into dust."

Alduin lay on the cold rock, his barbed tail slapping the ground unconsciously.

"Hold on. As long as I keep absorbing and evolving, one day my scales will be able to withstand an orbital cannon, and my acid will be able to melt through the Eye of the Sky."

In order to achieve this great goal, in addition to eating, he must also overcome the fatal weakness of his own bloodline.

Black dragons dwell year-round in dark, damp swamps, while shadow dragons are born in the shadow realm where the sun never shines.

The hybridity of the two resulted in Alduin having an innate extreme aversion to strong light, especially magical light with holy properties.

The light shining on the scales would cause an intense pain, like being splashed with hot oil.

But Auduin would never allow himself to have such an obvious weakness.

Before nightfall completely enveloped him, he used his claws to pull out several low-grade "Holy Light Magic Stones" that emitted a faint white light from the cracks in the rocks beneath his feet.

He had risked his life to retrieve this from the corpse of a paladin on the edge of the swamp a few days ago.

Taking a deep breath, Alduin's eyes hardened, and he directly stuck one of the Holy Light Stones onto the most tender reverse scale on his chest.

"hiss!!!"

A blinding light burst forth instantly, accompanied by the foul smell of charred flesh and blood. The extreme burning pain caused Alduin's massive body to tense up abruptly, and black blood seeped faintly from the gaps in his dark scales.

But he did not back down, nor did he even let out a scream. He just gritted his teeth and let the holy light scorch his scales, silently enduring this cruel desensitization training.

To be invincible, you must first be ruthless to yourself. This is an absolute truth he has come to understand as a human soul.

Suddenly, a barely perceptible ripple of shadow emanated from the shadows behind the giant rock.

In the swamp, there were no bubbles, no sounds, only a thick mass of darkness rapidly approaching.

This is a typical stealth technique used by the Shadow Dragon. Alduin remained lying on the rock, eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to the pain of the Holy Light Stone's heat. His body trembled slightly, and he appeared extremely weak.

next second!

"Die! You half-blood scum!"

With a violent, hoarse roar, a pureblood shadow dragon, about five meters long and covered in rough, dark green scales, burst out from the shadows.

Its gaping maw opened to its limit, heading straight for Auduin's nape!

This pureblood shadow dragon is none other than Alduin's younger brother, Karl.

In the dragon's value system, there is no brotherhood, only the law of the jungle.

Karl was jealous of Alduin's physique, which far exceeded that of his peers, and coveted the few broken stones he had collected.

It lay in wait for three whole days, finally waiting for Alduin's moment of weakness when he used Holy Light to harm himself, and then decisively launched a deadly sneak attack.

Just as they were about to touch.

"idiot."

A chilling voice exploded in Karl's mind. Alduin didn't even turn around.

boom!

A black afterimage shot out like lightning, and a sonic boom even erupted in the air!

This is Alduin's thick dragon tail, which has been assimilated with hematite countless times and is as hard as a high-grade magic alloy.

The dragon's tail struck Karl's open jaw precisely.

With a chilling cracking sound, the pureblood shadow dragon brother's proud sneak attack and assassination was slammed back into his throat by this tail.

"Awoo!"

Karl let out a piercing scream, his mouth full of sharp dragon teeth splattering with black blood.

Its massive, several-ton body was sent flying more than ten meters away by the terrifying force of the blow, crashing heavily into the mud and splashing water everywhere. Before Karl could even recover from his dizziness...

boom!

A huge shadow fell from the sky.

Alduin had already leaped into the air, and he stomped heavily on Karl's chest, a thick dragon claw covered with a dark red metallic sheen gripping Karl's throat tightly.

Its sharp claws easily pierced through the hard scales, and with just a little force, it could sever its throat.

"I...my esteemed elder brother!"

Karl's vertical pupils were instantly filled with fear.

When Alduin felt the irresistible, terrifying force in his throat and the emotionless killing intent in his eyes, the dragon's instinct to bully the weak and fear the strong immediately took over.

It spread its limbs, gave up all resistance, and wagged its tail desperately to show its submission.

"Stop with your clumsy stealth tricks, Karl. You smell like a man from three mountains away."

Alduin looked down at his brother, his tone devoid of anger, only a suffocating calm, and pressed his claws down another half inch.

"So, what do you want from me? If you're just here to die, I wouldn't mind having an extra meal tonight."

Upon hearing the words "extra meal," Karl trembled violently.

It knew that the monster brother in front of it, a hybrid of different races, really ate everything!

"It's...it's Father and Mother's summons!"

Karl, fighting back a sharp pain in his throat, said, "They want you to go to the main dragon's lair!"

"Okay, get lost."

Auduin coldly withdrew his dragon claw.

As he watched his younger brother scramble and crawl into the darkness like a stray dog, Alduin's deep, vertical pupils narrowed slightly.

Summoning at this time?

It seems that the cruelest tradition in that evil dragon society is finally about to fall upon him.