Plopped down on top of the warm stones clearing out the venom inside her body by essentially just relaxing and allowing her body to do the work on its own, Scaly found herself lazily gazing off across the sand dunes all around her. Trying to see if there were any other stone formations or adventurers around. Not taking too long to spot another few stone formations not too dissimilar from the one she was on top of.
In the distance, she could even see the outline of what looked like a massive stone slab that looked to be the size of a small mountain on its own but could very well be much larger depending on just how large it was.
By far, it was the most interesting thing she had seen inside the desert floor of the dungeon so far and almost immediately became the next location she decided to explore within the desert instead of the other stone formations or endless sand dunes, as she felt only a unique location like that might have a staircase leading down to the next floor of the dungeon.
Even if part of her was a bit interested in exploring the desert, she also realized during her short time flying through the desert that the place was difficult for her to stay if she wanted to continue growing stronger, as outside of the venomous scorpions behind her current state gave her a decent amount of experience, the rest of the monsters she had seen might be a bit stronger than the oversized rats from the Howling Caverns Dungeon, but overall didn’t give her much experience at all.
Along with that, it was also far harder for her to find monsters within the desert. Not to mention, the adventures she had found so far were abysmal compared to the ones she had run into earlier. Likely providing even less experience than the desert foxes and other desert monsters she had seen so far.
Still... If I can find the staircase to the lower floors, the strength of both the monsters and adventurers I encounter should increase...
Silently thinking this to herself as she slowly narrowed her eyes comfortably at the warm rays from the sun above, Scaly felt that the venom had already been cleared out of her body.
But... Her current situation was extremely comfortable, and she felt reluctant to get up after only a few minutes, thus, to justify lazing around for another few minutes, she decided to take the opportunity to look through her status to see how much it had improved after she rose an entire three levels...
Name: Scaly
Race: Dreamscale Dragon (2nd Stage)
Dragon blood: 41% (Rare)
Level: 13/50, 7%
Mana Heart: Third Circle
STR: 1677 |VIT: 3217| DEX: 1979| M: 5872
Magic: [Dragon Water Magic, lvl 9], [Ice Magic lvl 3], [Wind Magic, lvl 8], [Lightning Magic, lvl 4], [Dream Magic lvl 5]
Skills: [Dragon Bloodline, lvl 4], [Dragon Flight, lvl 8], [Poison/Venom Resistance, lvl 7], [Dragon Claw Strike, lvl 9], [Dragon Breath (Water), lvl 6], [Corrosion Resistance, lvl 4], [Pain Resistance, lvl 6], [Swimming, lvl 6], [Dragon Heart, lvl 1], [Endless Vitality, lvl 2], [Agility, lvl 1], [Brute Force, lvl 1], [Fear Resistance, lvl 1], [Mana Consumption, lvl 2]
Overall, the improvements were within expectations, as her [Poison/Venom Resistance] had even managed to jump all the way from level 5 to level 7. Showing just how deadly the venom she had ended up being injected with had been.
Unfortunately for the now dead scorpion, she not only possessed powerful venom resistance, but also had a terrifying vitality befitting of a dragon. Turning the deadly venom into a potent tonic for boosting her venom and poison resistance even further.
Outside of that, there was also a somewhat unexpected level up for her mana consumption skill, but on second thought, she quickly realized that she hadn’t eaten much of anything since going through her sixth evolution. Essentially meaning she had been practicing her mana consumption skill ever since she completed her sixth evolution. Making a sudden level up somewhat understandable, even though she still didn’t know what a stronger mana consumption skill did for her.
Would it make the mana taste more delicious?
If that was the case, she was starting to look forward to leveling the mana consumption skill up even more in the future, as it would be wonderful to make mana taste delicious...
"We are almost there! Just a little more and we will be able to get to the dragon!"
But just as she was lost in her own thoughts wondering if her mana consumption skill could be used to flavor mana in the future, the sound of a young man echoed out below her, causing her to roll over so she could peek over the edge of the stone formation.
[Human, Sword Apprentice, lvl 11]
[Human, Spell Enthusiast, lvl 9]
[Human, Sword Cleaner, lvl 7]
[Human, Aspiring Hunter, lvl 10]
Soon enough seeing the group of weaker adventurers she had seen earlier when she had picked this stone formation to land on top of.
However, different from before, they had now managed to climb around halfway up the stone formation and found themselves on a small ledge around the halfway point and from the exclamation she had just heard coming from the sword apprentice, it was clear that they intended to climb the rest of the way to the top to reach her.
For what reason, she had no clue. After all, with their strength, there was no way they stood a chance again her. Even if she laid motionless on the ground, there was nothing they could do to even scratch her scales with their measly strength.
Because of this, she didn’t really feel much interest in killing these adventurers, as they were simply far too weak.
It had nothing to do with the fact that she was feeling a bit lazy for once thanks to the comfortable warm rocks beneath her and warm rays from the sun above...
Fully convincing herself that she hadn’t turned into some lazy dragon just because she had found a good resting spot, Scaly found another reason to stay as she observed the group of weak adventurers below starting to climb up the side of the rock formation. Only to slip and fall down the next second. Returning to the ledge of falling straight down to the bottom where some kind of wind magic seemed to catch them and prevent any deadly injuries, as they soon enough got back up and continued attempting to climb the stone formation again.
This is... Fun...
Watching as these weaker adventurers continued falling as they struggled to climb the stone formation, Scaly could not help unconsciously smiling with amusement. Enjoying the foolish weaklings who couldn’t climb. The entire situation causing her interest in adventurers that she had only ever encountered as enemies, outside of a certain dwarf, to grow beyond just viewing them as prey for her to kill to grow stronger.
Now, she also began to see them as a source of entertainment. An upgrade that the weaker adventurers would undoubtedly be grateful for, as without this increased status in the eyes of Scaly, they would have long since died to a water blade- no, a water ball.
After all, with the strength of those four adventurers, they weren’t worth, her using something like a water blade, a water ball would be more than enough to do the job...
"I... I don’t think I can continue climbing any longer. My legs and arms are already giving in!"
"No, we are getting close to the top! Just a little more and we will be there!"
"But I don’t think the senior bracing our fall has much mana left... And without anyone to catch us... I think our fate will be clear..."
Unaware of the fact that they had turned into a source of entertainment for a certain dragon up above with their rather comical attempt to reach the top of the stone formation, the group of four faced a crisis in their continued climbing adventure.
Not because any of them had been injured so far, but instead because the will to continue was running low and so was the mana of the senior adventurer down below who had been kind enough to help catch them whenever they fell while he was taking refuge underneath the stone formation to hide away from the sun above alongside the other senior adventurers.
"That... I understand..."
In the end, the little leader of the group could only reluctantly agree with his barely standing companions who silently celebrated amongst themselves after hearing that they didn’t have to continue climbing any longer.
After all, it had been over half an hour by this point and any of the initial excitement of facing off against a dragon had already died down as they were faced with the reality of how difficult climbing a stone formation was for a group of inexperienced youths.