Making her way through the tall grass that covered most of her body, Scaly realized that it might not be as dangerous to stay in the grass as she had first thought.
Although it might not be a great place for her to hide and recover her strength or go through her third evolution, she would at least be able to remain hidden inside the tall grass with her relatively small body.
Without revealing herself, it would be hard for any monster to find her even with her beautiful blue scales sticking out like a sore thumb in the sea of green she now found herself inside of.
At the very least, it seemed like her initial worry of encountering powerful monsters during her journey towards the mountain range that she had seen in the distance wouldn’t come to fruition as long as she made use of the tall grass to keep herself hidden.
Rustle~
As she thought about this, Scaly wasted no time as she began moving through the grass in the direction of the mountain range that she had seen from the top of the tree.
Even if she couldn’t really see anything moving through the tall grass, it would be fine as long as she kept moving in the general direction of the mountain range, as missing it would be quite hard given that large area it covered.
Not to mention, she planned to climb up any trees she happened to encounter along the way to make sure that she was moving in the right direction, though doing so would pose some risk, it shouldn’t be that much considering she would only leave the tall grass for a few seconds before diving back into it and continuing on her journey towards the mountain range.
As for training her dragon breath ability and trying to increase the level of her dragon bloodline... That had been put on a pause until she found somewhere that she could recover her strength.
Outside of that, there was also the fact that she still needed to find out just how strong the monsters on the fourth floor of the dungeon were.
Even at this point in time, she had yet to encounter a single one of them. Making her feel increasingly worried that something might be wrong with the fourth floor of the dungeon. After all, she had encountered monsters almost immediately after she reached a new floor so far and hadn’t encountered a situation like the one, she was in at the moment where not a single monster from the fourth floor had appeared.
I hope they aren’t too strong...
Shaking her head at these cowardly thoughts, Scaly focused her attention back on the goal at hand and increased her speed ever so slightly. Wanting to reach the mountain range as fast as possible so she could both recover her strength and at the same time get a better idea of the situation on the fourth floor of the dungeon.
Even if the monsters tried hiding, she should be able to spot some of them from the top of one of the mountains in the mountain range.
Not just monsters, but also humans who should have built a town similar to the one she had encountered somewhere inside the dungeon.
Finding the humans, she should also be able to find out the general strength of the monsters present on the fourth floor of the dungeon, as the humans themselves seemed to be around the same level as the monsters present.
The only exception being the powerful ancient dire wolves, but even then, there were a few powerful humans present to deal with it and protect the human town.
Humans or monsters... No matter which of the two I end up finding first, I should be able to find out the normal strength of the monsters and humans by finding one of the two.
Narrowing both of her eyes as she thought about this, Scaly soon arrived at the base of a tall tree that she wasted no time climbing up to see if she was heading in the correct direction-
Rooooar-!
However, a loud roar coming from behind her forced her to turn around after climbing up the tree. Allowing her to see something she had never expected to see inside the dungeon, a large scaly monster flying gracefully through the air in the direction of the mountain range, it was-
A dragon!?
At least that was what Scaly thought until she inspected the monster flying above her.
[Drake, lvl 31]
[Description: A drake. Known by many as one of the closest beings to the mythical dragons. Drakes can take on different forms, from a wingless four-legged drake to their more famous winged version that closely resembles that of a true dragon when one doesn’t consider their small size. They are also known as lesser dragons. Even the weakest drake is comparable to a B Rank Adventurer, with the stronger ones standing a chance of evolving into a true dragon. Extreme cation is recommended.]
Reading through the description, Scaly felt like both of her eyes started to shine as she looked in the direction of the drake gracefully flying through the air, that was it, she wanted to be able to fly just like the drake just now!
No, she didn’t just want to become a drake like that but wanted to become a true dragon!
At least, it seemed like if the evolution of a drake ended up appearing during her third evolution, it wouldn’t be anything bad, as it would indeed be a step in the right direction. Especially considering that even continuing on as a drake would allow her to become a dragon according to the description of the drake.
If she managed to become a drake, she wouldn’t have to worry about her evolution that much, as she would know that it would inevitably end up leading to her becoming a dragon!
Hm? But... If there is such a powerful monster present on the fourth floor of the dungeon, just how strong are the other monsters? Will I really be able to hunt any monsters with my current strength without first going through the third evolution...
However, as her excitement followed down after the drake disappeared behind one of the mountains of the mountain range, Scaly realized that if a powerful monster like a drake was present on the fourth floor of the dungeon, there was no way that the rest of the monster would be weak.
Maybe, she wouldn’t get a chance to hunt any monsters before she went through her third evolution.
At least for now, she could not help hoping that the drake she had just seen was similar to the ancient dire wolf she had encountered at the third floor of the dungeon, a powerful monster far exceeding the average strength of the rest of the monsters present on their floor of the dungeon.
Even then, she couldn’t be the slightest bit careless because of this, as she decided to slow down her speed and remain more cautious of her surroundings.
Not just to watch out for any possible ambushes from other monsters in the tall grass, but also because she wanted to see if she might spot any other monsters that could give her an idea of whether or not the drake was similar to the ancient dire wolf or just an ordinary monster on the fourth floor of the dungeon.
If it really ended up being the latter, she had a feeling she would have a hard time surviving even if she went through her third evolution.
After all, the strength she had felt when the drake flew above her was far beyond anything she had ever felt before.
Even the ancient dire wolves and the powerful humans combined together was nowhere close to the strength of the drake, as it should have the strength to easily kill all of them with a single sweep of its claws.
But considering that this drake was considered the closest existence to a true dragon, Scaly only felt it was natural for it to be that strong.
At the same time, it also made her look forward to one day becoming a dragon herself, as the strength of a dragon should be far beyond that of a mere drake that wasn’t even a true dragon, but just a lesser version of one that happened to carry a bit of dragon blood inside its body.
Rustle~
Thinking about this, Scaly felt even more motivated to try and increase the level of her dragon bloodline.
Even if becoming a drake for now wasn’t that bad of an option, it would still be preferable if she could become a real dragon after her third evolution.
In the back of her mind, Scaly had already silently decided that the drake evolution would appear for her during her third evolution after learning that it was an evolution related to becoming a dragon. Not a single part of her thought that the drake evolution wouldn’t end up appearing, as she felt confident in herself becoming a dragon and it was only right for such an evolution to appear.