Do you believe me when I say I’m not a dragon?

Mercer stood up, and the rocks covering his body fell off, revealing the black dragon's new posture.

But Mercer had no time to study this. He climbed out of the volcanic cave and felt the hot wind blowing on his cheek.

Saliva dripped from his mouth uncontrollably, he roared, spread his wings, and flew high into the sky.

After a while, he came to the desert, looked down at a group of herbivorous dragons in the desert, and cracked his white fangs.

——The flesh and blood were torn, and a large number of herbivorous dragons fell in a pool of blood. The rest of the same kind fled in all directions, and the vultures in the sky began to circle, trying to get fresh flesh and bones from them.

However, Mercer chewed up the bones and swallowed them all. The blood moistened the dry throat, and the bones and flesh were quickly digested by the stomach acid, becoming nutrients for Mercer to sleep for a year.

After eating and drinking, Mercer began to check his body.

His body size increased dramatically, reaching over 18 meters in length. His wingspan was about three times as long as his body. When he opened his wings, he would reveal a wing membrane covered with hard scales and filled with strong wing muscles. The visual impression was extremely spectacular.

He was very satisfied with his current body. There were large or small spikes all over the joints of his body. They didn't look dense. It made his appearance look more ferocious without taking over the main role. It made Mercer look like a hedgehog. of.These thorns are not only extremely sharp, they even have barb-like serrations, which will bring up large pieces of flesh and blood if scratched.

"I feel such an improvement just after sleeping. I don't know how long I was asleep."

Mercer stretched his body, his bones made a series of loud sounds, and then he raised his head and flew high into the sky.

Chapter 71: Changes

When Mercer landed again, he had already arrived at the entrance of the cave where the wolfdogs lived.

At this time, their number has reached thirteen, and eight of them are old enough to go hunting.

Facing Mercer's arrival, although most of the wolfhounds bared their teeth at him, Lika still remembered Mercer.

——After being infected by the scale powder, its body grew at an alarming rate. While Mercer was sleeping, he had grown to seven meters long, and could even go further.

You know, it is only in its youth now, and its size is comparable to some of its adult counterparts.

At the same time, its teeth and claws have become harder, and its body is filled with scars from a lot of battles.

After experiencing hundreds of battles, its eyes have become sharper. Its bloody hair and black carapace on its limbs make it look like a demon bathed in blood.

It stopped the rest of its kind who were staring closely at Mercer, came to him, and silently lowered its head.

Mercer nodded and touched it lightly with his head, indicating that he was back.

He looked at the stone not far away. The place used to be used to hold food, but judging from the marks on it, it had not been done for a long time.

So Mercer sent a message to Lika to do it again, and Lika agreed.

——Now that Mercer was not hungry, he looked at every wolf dog in the cave and consolidated his position before leaving.

He returned to the crater.Now, I have strengthened myself in all aspects, but the defense of my scales is still not satisfactory.

In other words, "eating soil" still has to go on.

......

Gulu stood in front of the stove in the center of the cave, carrying a box and throwing a large amount of ore into it. Then he pushed the lever to close the stove lid, allowing hot air to spurt out from several holes in the lid.

He gestured downwards, and eight strong forgers turned hand-cranked blowers in four directions around the stove.

Hu-hu-hu-

At high temperatures, the ore is continuously heated, removing impurities and turning into molten iron bit by bit.

After a few hours, Gulu stopped them and pushed the lever again to open the lid.

Seeing this, the rest of the forging people immediately backed away and stayed far away.

Feeling the hot temperature inside, Gulu's nose kept sweating, but he did not stop, but slowly pulled the lever on the side.

The furnace tipped down little by little under the support of the surrounding supports, and the hot molten iron immediately poured down and landed on the mold that had been prepared.

Looking at the results in front of him, Gulu wiped the sweat from his head and felt the happiness after labor.

A year has passed since the black dragon disappeared. Their lives have returned to normal. Next, they only need to refine the crude iron...

"Roar--"

Suddenly, along with a low roar, Gulu and everyone else felt that the sky was getting darker.

They subconsciously raised their heads and saw a black dragon sitting on the vent that had been repaired half a year ago.

He observed everyone through the several holes in the vents and narrowed his eyes.

The pair of playful vertical eyes that stared at the horrified expressions of everyone seemed to be filled with longing for them that they hadn't seen for a long time - but I didn't know whether this longing was good or bad for the people.

Mercer stretched out his hand, dug his claws into the vent, and pulled it up with a little force. A big hole appeared in the re-reinforced vent.

He slid into it from the hole, landed in front of everyone, and stretched out his much larger body.

"That's...the black dragon?"

Gulu stared closely at Mercer's much more ferocious body, his voice trembling.

He didn't know what outrageous changes had happened to this black dragon, but there was no doubt that this was the dragon that swallowed the ore a year ago.

When everyone present was silent, Mercer looked around, at the ore piled up on one side, and then at the molten iron that was still cooling on the other side, and frowned slightly.

As long as higher-quality metals are available, Mercer does not intend to eat too many ores with impurities, but the molten iron in front of him has not yet cooled down, and Mercer's body cannot withstand such damage.

So he glanced at Gulu and simply sat down where he was.

Every move of the black dragon cannot be ignored, not to mention that after sleeping, its body has become larger and its [ferocious aura] has also increased.

Now, even if Mercer is sitting still, people feel a sense of suffocation as he is looking directly at him.

After seeing the black dragon sitting down like this, the blacksmiths present felt a sense of torment in every minute and every second that followed.

The work of refining crude iron needs to be carried out while it is hot. If the black dragon is allowed to stay like this and no one dares to act, the quality of the iron ore will decline, which will be extremely uncomfortable for the forging people.

Gulu clenched his fists and stared at Mercer with a tense heart.

The black dragon did not eat the ore, but sat in front of the molten iron... did he want to eat purer metal?

Creatures that eat ore are not uncommon in this world, so Gulu naturally thought of this aspect.

However, other organisms eat minerals to supplement the nutrients needed for bone growth. The amount required is not much, and eating minerals is enough.But none has such a big appetite like Mercer.

Seeing this, Gulu summoned others and whispered: "Bring out the pile of volcanic iron in the warehouse...all of it."

The man glanced at Gulu in disbelief, then quietly looked at Mercer beside him. He seemed to understand something, nodded and trotted away.

——While Mercer was staring at the pool of molten iron, the behavior of several people attracted his attention.

The bearded humans carried several large boxes, nervously approached Mercer, and then placed them not far from him.

What is placed inside the box is metal of better quality.

Mercer glanced at Gollum in the distance. Although he didn't know the human's language, Mercer understood his thoughts.

Mercer was very satisfied with the behavior of offering sacrifices. Mercer knew that this occasional tacit understanding would be beneficial to his oppression of them.

Therefore, Mercer accepted their actions.

He stepped forward and swallowed all the metal in the boxes.

As soon as he entered his mouth, he felt the extraordinary quality of these metals. They were obviously fine gold that had been beaten repeatedly. Even with his current digestion power, it would take a long time for these metals to be digested.

Feeling the collision of metal in his belly, Mercer let out a satisfied snort. He glanced at Gulu with satisfaction, spread his wings and flew away.

After watching Mercer leave, Gulu and everyone else took a long breath and wiped the cold sweat off their heads.

Chapter 72: Lava

After leaving the cave, Mercer went to the interior of the volcano. In order to digest the metal in his belly, he once again stood in front of the lava.

After experiencing a deep sleep, his body surface seemed to adapt to the temperature of the lava as it grew, allowing him to move safely in the lava.

However, if the skin is peeled off and the wound is in direct contact, it should be impossible to resist.

Mercer raised his hand and glanced at the scales on his hand. After hesitating for a while, he put his palm into the magma and felt the temperature inside.

His body felt warm from the inside out under the heat of the magma, making Mercer feel as comfortable as sunbathing.

"..."

For a moment, he wanted to soak himself in the magma and stretch his body in it without shame.

Shaking his head and throwing away this thought, Mercer continued to delve deeper into it.

......

Boom, boom, boom...

Accompanied by several vibrations, a huge creature came from around the corner and almost collided head-on with Mercer.

Its whole body is black after the cooling of lava, and it has strong and powerful hind limbs and a thick carapace. Its forelimbs seem to be the shape of vestigial wings, and there are small wing membranes on the outside of its arms.

The most conspicuous part of its body is the carapace crown on its head. The huge crown has a sharp, shovel-like shape.

After it saw Mercer, it immediately became alert and roared threateningly at him.

But on the way to open its mouth, Mercer saw the flat teeth in its mouth.

Combined with its shovel-shaped crown, Mercer understood that this guy was not very carnivorous and was even a complete vegetarian. He usually used his crown to dig out rocks and eat ores and vines in them.

Faced with its threat, Mercer did not show any hostility. Instead, he closed his mouth and raised his head high to look down at it.

He is not hungry at all now and has no appetite for this guy.

His current actions were to issue a warning, raising his head was to show his strong strength, and not showing his fangs was to show that he was not hostile.

After a brief stalemate, this guy took the initiative to move aside and let Mercer pass.

As he walked past its body with a calm expression, Mercer suddenly saw the scars on its body from the corner of his eye, which were burn marks.

The steps paused slightly, and then Mercer continued to go deeper.

The carapace of this creature obviously has extremely high heat resistance, and this burn mark means that something in this volcano has a higher temperature.

A curiosity arose in Mercer's heart, and he wanted to use this place to test his body's heat resistance.

——Thanks to the huge size of the creature, its body would always leave specific traces as it moved forward. Mercer followed similar scratch marks and went deeper into the volcano.

After becoming a dragon, Mercer's sense of direction became very good. He could probably feel where he was in the volcano. He knew that he was getting closer to the center of the volcano.

Soon, Mercer felt uncomfortable.

It wasn't because his body couldn't stand the increasingly scorching heat, but because the oxygen in the air was getting lower and lower, which made Mercer feel a little uncomfortable.

Fortunately, with the black dragon's strong physical fitness, he can survive in such an environment, but Mercer has not yet adapted to the area here.

He took a deep breath, and when the pressure in his chest gradually eased, he continued to penetrate deeper.

The lava got deeper and deeper, gradually covering his chest.

He looked around, only to find that there was no way forward after arriving in this area.

But judging from the flow of magma, it is obvious that there is a tunnel leading to somewhere else, but it is hidden under the magma.

He hesitated for a while, but decided to take a deep breath and dive into the lava.

——His face was wrapped in heat, Mercer closed his mouth and nose tightly, and his ear holes were blocked by thorns similar to fish fins.

His eyes suddenly felt the hot touch, and Mercer immediately raised his head from the lava and shook off the lava on his head.

He looked at the lava on his chest in distress and sighed.

How about digging up the stone?

While Mercer was thinking about this method, he suddenly felt that the flow direction of the lava changed, and something seemed to begin to surge inside.

Mercer shrunk his pupils and turned sideways.

Then, a huge loach broke through the lava, revealing a mouth full of fangs.

Its body is covered with hot lava, its eyes are narrow, and its fins are filled with powerful muscles, allowing it to swim in magma with stronger resistance.

It glanced at Mercer fiercely, but ignored him and continued swimming away from here quickly.

When passing by Mercer, Mercer keenly discovered that there were also traces of burns on its body.

Mercer frowned and watched it leave.

He hesitated for a while and then touched the direction where the loach had just come out.There he stepped deeper.

Mercer closed his eyes and continued to dive into the magma. This time he blocked his eyes with one arm and groped in front.