At the same time that the group of humans finished recovering and began to explore the mountain range in search of different slimes and other monsters that happened to interest the group of slime enthusiasts, Scaly slowly woke up feeling like her entire body had been rolling down a mountain filled with sharp stones.
However, outside of the pain that was still present and hadn’t disappeared like it would after she woke up after one of her evolutions, Scaly also noticed that the mana inside her body seemed to have changed compared to the past.
Now, instead of moving through her body without any rhyme or reason, she could clearly sense that her mana had now gathered together in a single location... And upon closer inspection, she realized that the mana had formed a circle of some kind around her heart.
This... Did I perhaps succeed?!
Not knowing what else could cause something that strange to happen inside her body, Scaly could not help feeling a bit excited as she believed that she had succeeded in changing her heart into a dragon heart.
Although, it would all be worth it if she had managed to successfully break through the bottleneck and transform her heart into a dragon heart.
So, with that in mind, Scaly turned her attention towards her status filled with anticipation...
Name: Scaly
Race: Young Tempest Dragon
Dragon blood: 18% (Common)
Level: 18/30, 6% (700/10000)
Mana Heart: First Circle
STR: 487 |VIT: 787 | DEX: 459 | M: 1062
Magic: [Dragon Water Magic, lvl 5], [Ice Magic lvl 1], [Wind Magic, lvl 1], [Lightning Magic, lvl 1],
Skills: [Dragon Bloodline, lvl 4], [Dragon Flight, lvl 3], [Poison Resistance, lvl 3], [Dragon Claw Strike, lvl 6], [Dragon Breath (Water), lvl 3], [Corrosion Resistance, lvl 2], [Pain Resistance, lvl 3], [Swimming, lvl 2]
However, as she looked at her status, she was only left even more confused than before she had looked at it, as something new had appeared once again. Even causing her to ignore the fact that her pain resistance had managed to level up, as she directly attempted to inspect this new thing in her status to figure out what it was.
[Mana Heart]
[Description: The mana heart is the manifestation of a powerful mana infused directly into the heart. Not much different from a mana core that can be found in powerful mages among humans, elves or other sentient beings, the mana heart is the gathering of a being’s mana and allows the continued growth of the magic.
The main difference between a mana heart and a mana core is the fact that the requirements for a mana heart is much higher than that of a mana core and is generally only found among powerful monsters like dragons. In turn, because of this, monsters who condense a mana heart will generally start at the first circle, while those condensing a mana core will have to work hard and condense this first circle later.]
Reading through the rather long description that had appeared in front of her, Scaly could not help tilting her head in a somewhat confused manner.
To be honest, she didn’t really understand much of what was in the description of the mana heart, but she felt that she had grasped the most important parts of it... And that was the case that this should have been the bottleneck that had been blocking her earlier and it seemed like she had broken through it smoothly, something that was confirmed by the fact that her magic had now managed to break through to a thousand.
More importantly than that, Scaly also clearly noted down the fact that the mana heart was something only found in powerful monsters like dragons. Making her almost certain that this mana heart should be the dragon heart that she had wanted to try and evolve her own into.
Even if it was named something different, Scaly didn’t really care much about that, as dragons had already been directly mentioned in the description of the dragon heart and that was more than enough for her.
After coming to terms with this and calming down a bit following the revelation that her heart had become a mana heart, Scaly focused on the circle thing that seemed to encircle her heart. Even though she couldn’t see it, she could clearly feel it inside of her body.
Feeling like it might be a good idea to try and figure out what had changed compared to before, Scaly decided to try and use some of her simpler spells like her water blade or water ball-
Bang!
Swish-!
And in the end, it didn’t take her long to discover that the strength of her magic had increased along with the speed required to use magic reducing significantly compared to before.
Not only that, but as the circle around her heart spun endlessly, she could also feel that the recovery speed of her mana significantly increased compared to before.
Different from the transformation that had taken place when her magic had broken through a hundred, the change this time around was far greater.
In terms of strength alone, she felt that she might even be able to fight the mountain gnoll lord and win in her current state!
The main reason for this confidence being that fact that she now saw a possibility of being able to use her lightning magic faster and more accurately than before. Giving her confidence in hitting the mountain gnoll lord even if it tried to dodge her attack.
Hehe! With this, I don’t have to fear the humans or the mountain gnolls any longer!
Filled with excitement at her sudden boost in strength, Scaly’s confidence was once again awakening the confidence in facing anything she encountered that she had back on the first and second floor of the dungeon, something that had been thoroughly hidden ever since she had come to realize that there were so many monsters more powerful than her.
This had been especially so when she had been forced into hiding inside the human town and afterwards forced to run with her tail between her legs while escaping said town.
Back then, she had been silently praying to not get attacked by any of the more powerful humans or the ancient dire wolves at the battle that had taken place outside the human town.
However, with her current strength, Scaly was now fully confident in not only being far bolder when it came to killing the mountain gnolls, but also felt confident that she would be able to exact her revenge on the human town when she returned to the third floor of the dungeon in the future.
Of course, that was only if the human town hadn’t already been destroyed by the ancient dire wolves by the time that she returned, something that she felt was likely given that she had already encountered the second and stronger ancient dire wolf a little before she had ventured into the desert and then entered the mountain that led her to the fourth floor of the dungeon.
The main thing that made her think that the ancient dire wolves might not have succeed in destroying the human town was the fact that the crimson flame knight human might have been from that specific human town. In which case, those ancient dire wolves would already be dead...
Shaking her head as she thought about this, Scaly soon rolled over and glanced over in the direction where her water blades had cut through a few low hanging branches.
Squeak~!?
[Forest Squirrel, lvl 3]
[Description: A normal squirrel that can be found everywhere. Generally, lives in forests, but can also be found inside elven cities or more rural human cities. Known for their fur that is used in different clothes. Taste... Not bad.]
Barely hanging on with the help of its small feet, a normal forest squirrel was filled with fear as it looked towards her.
Well... I did need something to eat...
Swish-!
Ptsh!
[Gained 2 Exp]
Sending out another water blade that easily cut down the fearful forest squirrel, Scaly didn’t hesitate as she approached the dead squirrel and bit down-
Chomp!
Hm!?
However, instead of it being something delicious like she had become used to during her time inside the dungeon, she was instead met with a disgusting taste that caused her to almost instantly throw up everything she had swallowed in that single bite.
Only now looking closer at the description of the taste.
Not bad... Indeed, it was not bad, it was horrible!
Feeling like crying as she thought about this to herself while trying to clean her mouth with water, Scaly decided that she would never try to eat any forest squirrels again in the future... And if she saw a similar description of taste when it came to another monster, she would do her best to never eat it without first making sure that it wasn’t something horrible like the forest squirrel!