Leaning against the tree trunk behind her as she relaxed her wings, Scaly soon found herself curiously observing the terrain around her.
Different from the second and third floor of the dungeon that seemed unique in their own way, with the second floor being entirely made up of a massive underground tunnel network that seemed endless when she had been moving through it in the past and the third floor that was made up of countless smaller islands each unique in their own way, the environment of the fifth floor didn’t seem that unique and reminded her of the first floor where she had first found herself after being reincarnated.
The main difference was that the forest that covered the first floor of the dungeon was open and was filled to the brim with humans, while the forest that spread out all around her on the fifth floor of the dungeon seemed more primordial without any troublesome humans running around.
In a sense, she preferred this kind of environment, as her past experiences with humans were far from enjoyable. Even attacking a single human would soon result in countless other humans swarming over... And even if she might be stronger than the average human, they also had extremely powerful humans that even made her feel a shiver run down her spine.
But... A primordial forest like this that seems to spread endlessly in all directions does seem like a perfect place to increase my strength. After all, in such a large forest, there are bound to be countless powerful monsters around for me to hunt down! Hehe~ It won’t be long before I reach level 30 and get to go through another evolution!
Thinking this to herself as she looked down towards the branch eaters below her, Scaly couldn’t help imagining how she would rapidly increase her own level by taking advantage of the countless monsters like those below her hidden in the primordial forest.
As for getting back up to the fourth floor of the dungeon again? Scaly didn’t even think about this, as she had already realized that it would be far better for her to remain on the fifth floor of the dungeon.
The reason for this was not just that it would be far easier for her to hunt monsters, but also the fact that she didn’t have to worry about being hunted down by humans on the fifth floor of the dungeon, as the farthest the humans had gone in the Howling Caverns Dungeon was the fourth floor.
Of course, she still wanted to consume the lesser dragon or drake she had seen on the fourth floor of the dungeon, but given the strength displayed by the drake, she understood that it would be impossible for her to win against it with her current strength. Only after going through her fifth evolution did, she feel confident in challenging the drake.
Speaking of the drakes, she wondered if there were similar monsters on the fifth floor of the dungeon. After all, from what she had learnt about the dungeon so far, the further down she went, the stronger the monsters became. Encountering another monster with a potent dragon bloodline shouldn’t be impossible and if she had the opportunity, she might even be able to further improve the quality of her dragon blood beyond the current common quality that it was listed as...
Name: Scaly
Race: Young Tempest Dragon
Dragon blood: 21% (Common)
Level: 27/30, 53%
Mana Heart: First Circle
STR: 587 |VIT: 1047 | DEX: 559 | M: 1252
Magic: [Dragon Water Magic, lvl 6], [Ice Magic lvl 1], [Wind Magic, lvl 5], [Lightning Magic, lvl 2],
Skills: [Dragon Bloodline, lvl 4], [Dragon Flight, lvl 4], [Poison Resistance, lvl 3], [Dragon Claw Strike, lvl 7], [Dragon Breath (Water), lvl 3], [Corrosion Resistance, lvl 2], [Pain Resistance, lvl 4], [Swimming, lvl 4], [Dragon Heart, lvl 1], [Endless Vitality, lvl 1]
Looking through her status as she thought about when her dragon blood would evolve from just being common, she suddenly noticed something different about her status- or more accurately speaking, she noticed a brand-new skill had appeared at some point in time unknown to her.
That vitality- Ah! Did I perhaps get a new skill because my vitality broke through 1000!?
Almost instantly realizing where the new skill should have come from, Scaly could not help focusing her full attention on the brand-new skill that had appeared, curious about what it did.
[Endless Vitality, lvl 1]: Bursting from overflowing vitality, your body has transformed and evolved. Taking the first step in ascending towards a higher plane of existence. Lifespan has been increased by 100 years.
Lifespan...? The skill increases my lifespan?
Inspecting her new skill, Scaly could not help tilting her head slightly at the description of the skill. Not having expected that it increased her lifespan... And not just by a few years, but by an entire century.
Although the skill didn’t directly increase her strength, Scaly didn’t find herself dissatisfied with this skill, as it would provide her with more time to accomplish her goal of becoming a powerful dragon.
In a sense, she viewed the skill as a way to increase the time she had to become stronger, something that she was more than happy about. Especially considering she was already expecting it to start taking longer to increase her level and strength when she herself became stronger.
After all, the dungeon couldn’t go on endlessly with increasingly powerful monsters even if she wished for it to do so. At some point in time, she would likely have to leave the dungeon in search of other places that would be able to help her further increase her strength.
With that in mind, that was still something for the future and not something she had to worry about for now, the Endless Vitality skill could be seen as a good future investment. Especially considering she had essentially gotten it for free without doing anything other than increasing her level like she did normally.
If anything, she had a feeling that this skill would become even stronger if she continued increasing her strength. Offering something other than just an increased lifespan.
Speaking of which. Although a hundred years might not be that much to a young dragon like herself, for other weaker races like the gnolls or humans, an additional hundred years would be a tremendous improvement, essentially doubling their lifespan.
Thinking about the humans she had encountered so far. Although most of them had learnt a bit of magic, it did seem like most of them were warrior types that focused on physical strength. Maybe this skill gained after one’s vitality reached one thousand was the reason why?
Rustle~
Feeling her own thoughts starting to wander as she realized just how important and precious this skill would be to those weaker races who could only live between a few decades to a single century, Scaly was completely oblivious to the fact that the branch eaters that had been roaming around beneath her picking up smaller branches that had fallen on the forest floor, had begun climbing up the tree she was relaxing in-
Thump~!
Huh?! Aaaaah!?
And before she had time to react, she suddenly felt something soft yet firm hitting her in the back, causing her to fall off the tall tree and plummet directly towards the ground below.
Looking back up in the brief second when she unfurled her wings to prevent herself from crashing into the ground, she saw the branch eaters that should have been on the ground below her, now gathered at the branch she had been relaxing on top of second earlier.
Not just that, but the branch eater that should be the one that knocked off the branch, was waving its worm like body in a taunting manner as it claimed her resting spot for itself.
This...! This worm dares to challenge me!? And how did it and the rest even sneak up on me in the first place!?
Feeling her anger growing as she landed on branch closer to the ground belonging to another tree, Scaly could not help feeling both angered and confused at the sudden strange situation.
Angered that the small worm had dared to challenge her and confused about how it had managed to sneak up on her without her noticing anything- No, not just the one that had knocked her off, but the rest of the branch eaters as well, she hadn’t sensed a single one of them as they approached her from below.
Although she had been focused on something different, it still didn’t make sense to her that she had been completely unable to notice these monsters she perceived as weak and easy to kill in case she set her mind to it.
As for them being secretly powerful? She had already determined that wasn’t the case when she had been knocked off the branch, as the power of the hit from the branch eater didn’t have any strength to do any real damage to her.