Praying not to see another lizard evolution immediately after the grand lizard queen evolution, Scaly ultimately found her prayers had been left unanswered.
[Elder Water Lizard (Final Evolution)]
[Requirement: Having once been a member of the lizard race, Water Magic lvl 7, Vitality 2000 or above, Magic 1000 or above]
[Description: The Elder Water Lizard is a feared S Rank Monster that is commonly found in large rivers, lakes or water rich environments. Generally known for their strong vitality and water magic, they are considered difficult to kill even for experienced S Rank Adventurers if they are in a large body of water.]
[Warning: The final evolution of a water lizard, further evolution impossible.]
However, different from any evolution she had encountered so far, there was an extra bit of text she had never seen before added next to the elder water lizard. Namely the two simple words "final evolution" next to the name and the warning at the end.
Although she had no idea if the final evolution meant that she would reach a limit in strength and be unable to become stronger at some point or like the adventurers she had seen so far, kept increasing in level without evolving, there was no way she would ever go with a final evolution that turned her back into a lizard.
Not just because it would essentially erase all the progress she had made so far in finally becoming a dragon, but also because it would make it impossible for her to ever become a dragon again... And she wasn’t exactly counting on getting another chance at life where she would be able to similarly become a dragon.
Filled with a sense of dread at the thought of becoming a lizard and staying that way forever without ever being able to become a dragon again, Scaly wasted no time in shifting her attention downwards towards the evolution located below the elder water lizard evolution. Praying like she had never prayed before to whatever almighty dragon god blessed little dragons like her.
[Lesser Faith Dragon]
[Requirement: Witness the divine, Receive the sincere prayer of at least 100 mortals, Magic 3000 or above]
[Description: The lesser faith dragon is a unique kind of dragon that has rarely ever emerged outside of the Holy Light Church. Requiring not only sincere prayers of mortals and powerful magic, but also an opportunity to witness divinity directly. Able to live through faith alone.
The growth and strength of a faith dragon depend on the faith of mortals under it, but there exists no weak faith dragon, as they are ultimately still beings touched by divinity.]
But... Faced with the lesser faith dragon evolution, she didn’t really know how to react, it was a dragon evolution, and she was happy about that. However, the requirement for growing stronger relied on prayers. Making her almost instantly cut it out at the same speed as the two earlier lizard evolutions, as she had absolutely no plan of relying on the faith of others to continue increasing her strength.
Outside of that, another thing that did make her feel somewhat interested in this evolution was when she had managed to fulfill the requirement of witnessing the divine. Her first guess being before she reincarnated and encounter the winged man who had guided her through the process before her reincarnation, while the other was the encounter she just had a few minutes earlier with the devourer of dreams.
After all, even though it wasn’t a god so to speak, it was considered a demigod of the dreamscape.
As for her receiving the sincere prayer of at least one hundred mortals? She didn’t find anything wrong with her completing this part of the requirement given how she hadn’t bothered with those weaker humans when Howling Cave City had been overrun by monsters.
If they didn’t sincerely pray to her after she had so graciously spared them, wouldn’t they just be showing their disrespect towards her as a majestic and powerful dragon willing to spare their pitiful lives?
Although... The confirmation that these feeble adventurers didn’t forget her act of kindness in sparing their pitiful lives did make her happy at the thought of how her reputation as a fearful and mighty dragon had already begun spreading among the adventurers.
Wait... Could those adventurers that have been chasing me perhaps have been doing so because they heard about how awesome I was and wanted to hunt me down to show off how strong they were!? Is that why so many powerful adventurers teamed up!?
Suddenly " understanding" why she had found herself being chased so relentlessly by so many adventurers, Scaly could not help feeling somewhat troubled. Not knowing whether she should feel happy about her strength, being acknowledged or annoyed at how her fearsome reputation had already caught the attention of the more powerful adventurers who were now working together to hunt her down to show off their own strength.
In the end, she could only lament that she was still too weak. If she became strong enough to even deal with that devourer of dreams from earlier, she was certain that those adventurers wouldn’t dare to recklessly hunt her down like they had been doing so far.
With that in mind, Scaly turned her attention towards the next evolution on the list. Hoping that there would at least be one potential evolution for her to choose outside of the dreamscale dragon evolution that seemed like her only choice so far.
[Mist Dragon]
[Requirement: Dragon Bloodline, lvl 4, Dragon Blood Purity 30%, Dragon Water Magic lvl 5, Wind Magic lvl 5, Poison/Venom Resistance lvl 5, Magic 2500 or above]
[Description: The mist dragon is a large dragon more than twenty meters long and a wingspan close to thirty meters. Making it difficult to mistake it for anything but an adult dragon, though the mist constantly clinging to the mist dragon does make it hard to discern its true size from a distance.
But size alone isn’t what makes the mist dragon a terrifying opponent to encounter, and a being feared even by hardened S Rank Adventurers. Instead, it is the terrifyingly powerful poison magic of the mist dragon. Powerful enough that even those who exceeded the S Rank designation by the Adventurers Guild fear it.
However, what earns the mist dragon its name isn’t its poison magic nor the mist that constantly clings to its large body, but instead its ability to create a dense mist to cover an area several hundred meters around itself. Making it difficult for those who find themselves trapped in the mist to fight back against it in the first place, while also allowing the mist dragon to easily retreat if needed.
Has the unique ability to preserve itself through mana alone, a crucial aspect for most adult dragons to stay alive, as their growing size makes it increasingly difficult to sustain themselves normally. A trait shared by other similarly large living beings.]
Reading the description of the mist dragon evolution, Scaly, whose eyes had somewhat started to dim after the two lizard evolutions followed by the lesser faith dragon evolution started shining again.
This was exactly what she had been looking for, a powerful dragon evolution that would allow her to become a large and intimidating dragon. Not to mention, this evolution description had even directly gone ahead and mentioned poison powerful enough to harm those even stronger than those S Rank Adventurers. Showing just how powerful this mist dragon evolution truly was.
Not to mention, part of her was feeling a bit unsatisfied with her current size... Even though she was far larger than she had been before her fifth evolution. Ultimately, she wasn’t that much larger than a human when standing upright on both back legs. Not exactly the image she had in mind of an intimidating dragon standing at the pinnacle.
Although the second stage evolution as a dreamscale dragon would double her size, it wasn’t much considering how small she was in comparison to something like a mist dragon.
Not to mention the ability to sustain herself entirely through mana was also present, causing her to lean heavily towards the mist dragon evolution as her sixth evolution.
Of course, before deciding on anything, she had to look through the rest of the list to see if there was anything better. After all, she was still hoping that the two potential evolutions she felt were suitable so far, weren’t the strongest possible evolution for her.
A hope that she felt wasn’t entirely unfounded given how high the level of her dragon water magic was alongside her dragon claw strike and newly acquired dream magic.
In a way, she was hoping that all these abilities would work hand in hand and give birth to a single all-powerful evolution that would leave her with no question as to what her sixth evolution would become.
Not just powerful, but also good looking like her current evolution that made her feel overjoyed whenever she looked down at her beautiful scales.