Chapter 124 The Problem of Space!
Most importantly, even if it came to that extreme, the issue with the Dragon Scale Space wouldn't necessarily be resolved. But if it truly did come to that, then one could only say it was meant to be! Just contemplating all this agitated Vetter's heart.
Upon reaching the Lunar Shadow River, his irritation intensified; something was indeed amiss with the Lunar Shadow River! The Moon Shadow River's flow was swift, and according to records, regardless of whether it was amid a cold snap or not, it had never frozen, not even a speck of floating ice.
Yet now, although the Moon Shadow River continued to flow, a vast amount of floating ice drifted atop it. Since the temperature elsewhere wasn't cold enough to freeze the Moon Shadow River, these floating ice chunks could only have originated from the Great Ice Plains.
As Vetter gazed at the floating ice in the Moonshadow River below, his eyes darkened with gravity. Above all else, however, he felt helpless. Ever since he left the Dragon's Nest that day, his journey had been anything but smooth.
After departing the dragon's nest, he lost it, and when he tried to wait in one place, he was targeted by adult dragons. When he attempted to head to Freedom City, he encountered the Great Flood. And now, after about a year of tranquility, he faced the Great Ice Plain Mutiny.
Thinking of this, Vetter couldn't help but sigh. Once Linstar awoke, they would have to leave this place. Since the problem stemmed from the Great Ice Plains, this abnormal climate wasn't a short-term issue.
With such thoughts, Vetter prepared to return. There were still about four months left, and though those herbivorous dragon beasts wouldn't necessarily all migrate south in such a brief period, he needed to make necessary preparations. Hunting, storing food, scouting farther afield, opening up new hunting grounds, and so forth!
However, just as he was about to depart, a piece of floating ice in the river caught his attention. Within that piece of ice was something frozen. As mentioned earlier, the ice floe could only have come from the Great Icefield. This meant that the dragon beast frozen inside hailed from the Great Ice Plains.
Thinking this, Vetter dived towards the ice floe swiftly drifting downstream in the water and fished it out with his tail. But as he did, Vetter froze for a moment, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
After landing on the shore and placing the ice down, Vetter stared at it intently. This was certainly no ordinary ice, as evidenced by Vetter's surprise. This piece of ice wasn't naturally formed; the reason for its creation was all too familiar to Vetter – the Zero Degree Cold Current!
Just as natural spitting wasn't exclusive to green dragons, the zero-degree cold current wasn't exclusive to silver dragons. Many dragons could wield the Zero Degree Cold Current, including Sky Dragons, White Dragons among the five-colored dragons, Frost Dragons resembling Sacred Dragons, and more!
Though Vetter didn't know what kind of dragon employed the Zero Degree Cold Stream, he could discern from the pure water element it contained that the dragon wielding this spit was incredibly powerful!
Upon realizing this, a hint of eccentricity flashed across Vetter's eyes. The last time the Moon Shadow River flooded was likely due to a battle between an adult green dragon and a water elemental affinity adult dragon. Could it be that this sudden cold spell was also a clash between several formidable adult dragons?
As he pondered, Vetter tried to scratch the ice with his claws. It could be broken through! This indicated that the dragon beasts inside were caught in the wave and were casualties of the aftermath.
The Zero Degree Cold Stream was quite distinctive. Those who perished under its spray only had a thin layer of ice on their bodies, but the interior was completely frozen. If it was from the aftermath, the exterior formed an extremely hard layer of ice. Only if it had slightly rippled would it be this kind of ice that could be readily broken through.
"This guy is really unlucky!" Vetter sighed as he shattered the ice layer, revealing the dragon... beast that had perished inside?
"What is this thing?"
Vetter stared in dismay at the creature before him, or perhaps it wasn't even a creature anymore. It wasn't a dragon beast! There were no dragon characteristics on its body, and Vetter couldn't even sense the dragon bloodline present in dragon beasts.
Moreover, its appearance was extremely bizarre. Overall, it resembled the wolves in the memory world, but its back was covered with a layer of bone armor. The fur, flesh, and blood on its body were also not intact, and the exposed black flesh emitted a putrid odor. Its right front paw lacked flesh and blood, and the exposed bone, however, wasn't a natural growth either but had a unique structure akin to a bone dragon. In other words, the other party wasn't truly decaying but had originally grown like this!
The aura emanating from its body conveyed a sense of madness and chaos. Clearly, this thing wouldn't have been good if it were alive. But the question remained, what exactly was this thing?
As Vetter examined the bizarre creature's body, contemplating its nature, the form began to shift.
A frantic, chaotic aura erupted from the corpse, transforming it into a pool of dense, black liquid under its influence.
This thick liquid promptly began to erode the snow beneath it and then the ground itself, with the intention of spreading omnipresently.
Vetter's pupils dilated in shock.
How perilous, how domineering a force!
Fortunately, these forces were confined and didn't propagate far before halting.
After a moment's thought, Vetter retrieved a crystal vial, scooped up a clump of corroded earth, and inspected it. The vial remained unscathed by corrosion before he stored it away.
His gaze then shifted to the corroded patch of ground, and he exhaled a frigid, zero-degree stream.
Initially, the chaotic forces resisted Vetter's spit but were swiftly washed away.
Once the power was dissipated, the eroded ground somewhat reverted to its original state, albeit not entirely.
After being thoroughly doused by Vetter's spit, no weeds would dare sprout there for years to come.
Just as Vetter was contemplating the creature's identity, a wind blade suddenly sliced through the air behind him.
Caught off guard in his reverie, Vetter had no time to dodge and was struck by the blade!
Fortunately, the attacker's strength wasn't formidable, not even piercing Vetter's dragon scales.
Vetter swiftly turned to confront his assailant, his face contorting in disgust upon seeing the dragon beast that had attacked him.
"An Asgea Dragon Beast!"
Its slender, curved neck was topped with a head strikingly similar to an Elgin Dragon Beast's, adorned with a razor-sharp layer of dragon scales on its bare neck.
Its body and vast wings were shrouded in a thick layer of feathers, enhancing its aerial sensitivity to wind power and providing exceptional elemental resistance, particularly against the wind element.
Its tail was short and feathered.
In appearance alone, it resembled a bird from another realm more than a dragon beast, indistinguishable from a bird except for its neck scales, golden dragon beast pupils, and claws.
Well, the distinction was still quite pronounced.
Additionally, its adult body measured roughly ten meters, on par with the current size of Vetter.
Incidentally, Vetter's size had steadily increased over the past year or so, surpassing the limitations of a young dragon, reaching ten meters!
However, his reverse scales hadn't yet begun to grow.
Vetter speculated that this might be linked to his mother, albeit this was likely the typical growth pattern of a Starry Sky Dragon.
The Asgea Dragon Beast was comparable in size to Vetter, with a minimal strength disparity, possessing only the might of a Bronze Upper.
For Vetter, capable of hunting silver-level dragon beasts solo, this was akin to a feast laid out for him!
Such was the norm!
Yet, Vetter's mood was darker than spotting ice floes in the Moon Shadow River.
This creature was swarming!
It was also scavenging!
Traits shared by scavenging dragon beasts: carriers of dragon plague, patient, and persistent!
Hence, Vetter, targeted by this beast, couldn't return to Fallen Dragon Valley now. Furthermore, he had to deal with the Asgea Dragon Beasts that were eyeing him.
Otherwise, these creatures would chase him to the ends of the earth!
Ka-ching!
With a crisp clang, Vetter left an Asgea Dragon Beast with a snapped neck at his feet.
Despite the dragon beast's robust vitality, it struggled fiercely even after its neck was broken by Vetter.
But soon, a sharp dragon tail pierced it through the chest!
Seeing the last Asgea Dragon Beast chasing him lose all movement, Vetter couldn't suppress a sigh of relief.
Scanning the surroundings, the nearby snowy ground was tainted red with blood, littered with over twenty Asgea Dragon Beast corpses sprawled haphazardly across the valley.
The adult Asgea Dragon Beasts were similar in size to Vetter but were vastly inferior in strength, making this a one-sided massacre!
After removing the 'Sharp' magic from his tail, Vetter cast it on his right paw.
He then neatly sliced open the corpses' chests and extracted the dragon beast cores within.
Although mere bronze-level cores, they were of no use to him anymore, given his focus on third-order magic formations and spirit magic.