Chapter 638: Deep Space, Moon Dragon 18
The night was like ink, dotted with countless stars.
The red iron dragon pierced through Bernardo's atmosphere, flying higher and higher.
The lights of the ground first gathered into a blurry halo beneath him, then gradually shrank into scattered specks, eventually disappearing completely into the darkness.
Clouds were left far behind him, and the air grew thinner and thinner.
The temperature plummeted sharply.
The biting wind cut across his body like knives.
But none of this affected him in the slightest.
The red iron dragon's scales were more than enough to withstand this level of cold. He didn't even contract his body as he continued climbing upward.
After piercing through the last thin layer of clouds, the view suddenly opened up before him.
It was a sight he had looked up at countless times before but never grown tired of.
The starry sky.
Countless stars were embedded in the profound darkness, cold and bright, densely packed like glowing grains of sand.
The most eye-catching was the blazing sun, like a supergiant fireball. Even from an unknown distance away, it still radiated brilliant light, illuminating the surrounding space.
The red iron dragon stood upright.
Without the atmosphere blocking it, sunlight poured down on him without restraint, coating his scales in a shimmering glow, as if he had directly activated his Shining Form.
Looking down from here.
Bernardo was a deep blue sphere, its surface covered with white cloud bands and vast dark continental outlines.
Atlan looked like a giant leaf floating atop the ocean, its river networks, like veins, faintly visible across the land.
The Red Emperor Capital was now nothing more than an almost invisible dot on the planet's surface. If Garoth hadn't known the capital's location like the back of his hand, he would have struggled to find it quickly from such a distance.
Looking up, there was only the boundless deep space.
"Compared to the infinite universe, how tiny this single life-bearing planet is."
"Halden, Nausil, Kantum... the names of these empires thunder across Bernardo, but on the scale of the cosmos, they're nothing more than a few neighboring factions on the same planet."
Garoth thought silently to himself.
However, he didn't feel insignificant at all.
Life itself was a miracle of creation, incredibly precious. Out of billions of planets, not even one was guaranteed to have it.
The worlds of the Material Plane were countless, but in the vast majority of material realms, there might not even be a single life-bearing planet or continent—only desolate, cold silence.
For such worlds, even the gods refused to cast a single glance.
"Perfect. Only a place this silent and lifeless is suitable for my all-out training intensity."
The red iron dragon slightly adjusted his posture.
He retracted his wings backward, and his entire body visibly transformed into his Rift Form.
Sharp, elongated, agile.
Like a bolt of red lightning, he streaked off toward deep space.
His speed grew faster and faster.
The air had long vanished. There was no resistance to slow his charge. All was silent around him, leaving only the sound of his own blood flowing and the steady pounding of his heart.
One star after another was left behind him.
To be precise, it wasn't that he was surpassing the stars—he was moving away from Bernardo's gravitational pull, entering even emptier interstellar space.
The distance to stars was measured in light-years.
His movement was almost negligible on the cosmic scale, but the feeling of flying toward infinite depth still gave Garoth an indescribable sense of exhilaration.
It was as if he had broken free from some invisible shackle and was truly free.
Moreover.
The red iron dragon's flight posture in space was completely different from within a planet.
Without air as a medium, his wingbeats relied entirely on the surging of Dragon Qi to propel his body and adjust his direction.
In this environment, his speed could far exceed the limits within a planet. Each burst of Dragon Qi was like an explosion, pushing him forward.
"If I were in Super Flash Overlord State, I'd be helpless in this starry sky."
Garoth sensed his own condition, lost in thought.
The Super Flash Overlord State sacrificed all energy-releasing skills and traits in exchange for ultimate physical power. But relying solely on pure flesh, without a medium to carry it, would actually put him in a bind.
No air to push off from, no ground to stand on. He could only rely on inertia, making it hard to maneuver flexibly.
"Staying unchanged is just slow death."
"My thinking was right. Change means good things—it's part of evolution."
In the silent depths of space, the red iron dragon felt smug about his own wisdom and foresight.
He continued flying forward, incredibly fast.
Or rather, it wasn't purely about speed.
In his Rift Form, the red iron dragon's wings and claws carried the trait of cutting through space.
With each wingbeat, space was constantly torn apart. Like a flicker, he teleported to the edge of his vision again and again, using this method to achieve rapid movement across the boundless starry sky.
This method of movement was countless times faster than simple flight.
Bernardo was getting smaller and smaller behind him.
From a deep blue sphere that filled most of his vision, it gradually shrank into a bright blue dot, eventually blending into the sea of stars, impossible to distinguish.
The positions of the stars were quietly shifting.
When he moved away from the star at this speed, the shift in perspective was enough to make nearby stars look like they were slowly receding.
Garoth occasionally glanced back in Bernardo's direction. The small blue dot was still visible, but it had dimmed significantly, like a candle flame about to go out.
Luckily, a dragon's memory was good enough.
Otherwise, he might have already been unable to pick out his homeland from the tens of thousands of stars.
After flying through another series of teleportations, a gray-white banded region appeared before him.
"This doesn't seem like a bad spot."
Garoth stopped.
Before him was an asteroid belt.
It was made up of countless asteroids of varying sizes. The largest were hundreds of kilometers in diameter, the smallest no bigger than a fist. They moved along their own orbits, slow and silent.
Starlight shone down, casting bright patches and deep, long shadows across the surfaces of these asteroids.
"Here, I can let loose without any worries. I can go wild however I want."
Garoth felt his claws itch.
Then, his wings suddenly flapped with force, and a massive surge of Dragon Qi erupted.
The great dragon's body shot toward the nearest asteroid like a missile. That asteroid was about a kilometer in diameter, its surface pitted with craters, occasionally showing flashes of metallic luster as it drifted silently in its orbit.
Boom!
A silent collision.
The dragon's entire body crashed into the asteroid's interior, entering from one side and exiting from the other.
Rock crumbled before him like tofu. His body plowed a tunnel of enormous diameter through the hard rock layers. When he burst out the other side of the asteroid, he left behind a circular hole that pierced straight through the entire celestial body.
The asteroid continued drifting forward, but its internal structure had been severely compromised.
Cracks began spreading across its surface, and fragile areas started to peel and shatter.
Garoth glanced back at his handiwork, then looked down at his own scales. He could see some fine cracks on them.
Instead of being alarmed, he was delighted.
The asteroids here contained some metallic minerals not found on Bernardo, extremely hard in texture, perfect for sharpening his scales, claws, and fangs.
On Bernardo, he had long since struggled to find natural substances capable of damaging his scales.
The red iron dragon changed direction and charged toward another asteroid.
The second.
The third.
The fourth.
...The great dragon flew wildly and freely through the starry sky, leaving trails of crimson light behind him.
Wherever he passed, he pierced through one asteroid after another. Some he smashed in half from the middle, some he tore to pieces with his claws, and others he shattered entirely with his massive body, turning them into fields of rubble.
Throughout the whole process, Garoth's eyes grew brighter and brighter, gleaming with spirit.
"It's been too long since I've unleashed my power so unrestrainedly."
Garoth thought with satisfaction.
In fact, even before reaching the Mandate of Heaven level, ever since he became crown-level, he had subconsciously held back during training in his Small World, rarely letting himself go completely.
Garoth felt his body heating up.
Every muscle, every bone, every dragon scale... was being activated, awakened. His scales grew denser, his muscles toughened from the recoil, and even his Dragon Qi surged more smoothly than before.
Deep space was silent, still.
For Garoth, it allowed him to focus more on himself, quickly getting familiar with and mastering his own body.
After some time.
Garoth stopped, still wanting more, his chest heaving slightly.
He looked around and found that he had cleared out an empty area in this asteroid belt, with debris floating slowly all around.
"About a tenth of my total Dragon Qi has been consumed."
He thought.
In deep space, there was a lack of elemental energy found on life-bearing planets.
Garoth's lungs had evolved. Even when breathing, he could still absorb some special stellar energy, enough to maintain normal consumption. But high-intensity actions would leave him in deficit.
"Let me try the Ember-Annihilating Form."
After a brief thought, Garoth held his breath and focused.
As if he were a piece of iron heated through by flames, his scales began to turn red.
Something was burning beneath the scales, and the surrounding temperature suddenly shot up. Even in the vacuum, the high heat radiated outward through thermal radiation.
Nearby debris began to glow red, then bright.
Some even started to melt, turning into flowing magma that twisted into strange shapes in zero gravity.
It was as if a long time was flowing rapidly across the great dragon's body.
After a few breaths, the glowing red scales cooled into a dark black, and the great dragon's body transformed into the Ember-Annihilating Form, specialized in energy.
The dark great dragon faced the distant star.
He stood upright, eyes slightly closed, spreading his wings and dragon arms, bathing himself completely in the star's light. The veins on his scales lit up one by one, like a massive charging network.
Solar energy, radiant energy, and various intangible, high-energy particles that dissipated into space.
They were like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, strongly attracted to Garoth's body, rushing toward him rapidly.
A gradient of colors began to emerge on his body's surface.
Red, blue, purple, gold... various energies interwove, causing his whole body to glow with shifting colors, even more dazzling than his Shining Form.
"This feeling, this wonderful feeling."
"I should have come to explore the starry sky sooner."
The red iron dragon let out a low growl, his face showing surprise and intoxication.
He hadn't expected that the Ember-Annihilating Form would produce such an effect in space. Countless energies he had never experienced before were rapidly being absorbed by his body.
It was worth noting that these energies were not gentle.
They were extremely aggressive.
As they converged toward Garoth, various kinds of radiation and energy currents also eroded and battered his scales and body.
Unconsciously, some fine holes even appeared on his scales, marks left by high-energy particles piercing through. The flesh beneath the scales also felt a burning pain.
If it had been any other life form, they might have stopped immediately upon noticing this.
But Garoth was only more satisfied.
Continuous erosion and damage?
A double blessing!
This meant he could train his body's resistance while absorbing energy, killing two birds with one stone. His body would grow stronger through this constant cycle of damage and repair.
"Using this starry sky as my training ground, the time I need to break through to Immortal might not be much worse than from crown-level to Mandate of Heaven. I can still maintain a rapid, surging growth rate."
Garoth thought.
Just then, his gaze suddenly sharpened. A feeling of being watched rose within him.
It wasn't an illusion.
Someone was watching him.
Garoth didn't act hastily.
His gaze remained calmly fixed on the distance, as if he hadn't noticed anything.
At the same time, his dark black scales began to fade. The energy light gradually dimmed and went out, replaced by the sharp, agile crimson outline of his Rift Form.
Garoth's body reshaped itself in the starry sky. Then he flapped his wings.
Dragon Qi surged, and he shot forward like a bolt of red lightning, continuing his previous training among the asteroid belt, acting as if nothing had happened.
It wasn't until half an hour later.
The red iron dragon locked onto a certain asteroid, charging straight at it, but at the last moment, he slightly adjusted his angle. His wings spread to their limit, and his entire body shot forward like an arrow released from a fully drawn bow.
Sharp, straight, unstoppable.
Rip!
Space shattered.
The red iron dragon vanished mysteriously, his huge, imposing body disappearing instantly.
At the same time.
Behind a massive asteroid several hundred kilometers in diameter, space tore open, and the red iron dragon burst out in an instant.
His entire body pounced in a certain direction, his dragon claws spread wide, sharp fingers like iron clamps, grabbing at a spot that looked completely normal.
A figure was forced out.
Its reaction was a bit slow.
By the time it realized it had been exposed, its long, slender neck was already firmly clamped by the red iron dragon's claw.
But just as the fiery claw sealed off the surrounding energy and space, its body still became blurry, like the reflection of the moon in water disturbed by ripples.
Garoth's claws grabbed empty air.
His fingers closed around nothing but void.
He stopped his body, slowly turned around, and looked at the watcher.
The figure reformed a few kilometers away. Its black-and-white scales showed a blurry outline under the starlight, like a ghost, flickering in and out of visibility, surrounded by drifting black frost flowers.
"A Moon Dragon?"
Garoth was slightly startled, then his gaze sharpened.
The Moon Dragon, also known as the Lunar Dragon, belonged to the space dragon category.
This was an extremely rare type of dragon, usually living in the starry skies of the material world, disliking interaction with other races.
Garoth carefully examined the Moon Dragon before him.
Male. Silver eyes with vertical pupils. Black-and-white scales. And what was particularly special was that its two-colored scales were distinctly separated, divided down the midline of its body. The left and right halves were completely white and completely black.
At the same time, a flood of information about Moon Dragons surfaced from his inherited memories.
Moon Dragons were solitary by nature, often holding themselves in high regard.
Unlike common dragons like the Five-Colored Dragons, Gemstone Dragons, or Metal Dragons, a Moon Dragon's personality and alignment were always changing.
Initially, a Moon Dragon was completely white.
At this stage, the Moon Dragon was even more obsessed with justice and order than Gold Dragons.
But over time, black would appear on one side of its body, then slowly spread. When it was black and white mixed, the Moon Dragon stood in the neutral camp, neither actively doing good nor actively doing evil.
When the color turned completely black, it became purely chaotic evil, one of the most dangerous life forms in the starry sky.
The black Moon Dragon was the strongest, the white Moon Dragon the weakest.
However, even the white Moon Dragon was, on average, stronger than a White Dragon.
"The one before me is a neutral Moon Dragon, black and white."
Garoth thought.
On the other side, the Moon Dragon was also sizing up the red iron dragon.
He had been secretly observing the red iron dragon for a while now. Even with the aloofness of a Moon Dragon, he couldn't help but be shocked by the other's overwhelmingly powerful body.
In fact, this wasn't the first time he had seen the red iron dragon.
But before, he had never faced him directly. In such close contact, even as a fellow Mandate of Heaven level, the red iron dragon's oppressive presence still came crashing down on him.
"Greetings, Lord of the Sacred Aola Empire, Red Emperor of Atlan. I mean no harm."
The Moon Dragon broke the silence.
He used some kind of telepathy, and his voice sounded directly in Garoth's mind.
Garoth asked, "You know me?"
The Moon Dragon nodded and said, "My name is Lionel. I reside on the moon of Bernardo. One of my greatest hobbies is to look down and observe the changing times and the development of nations on Bernardo."
"You, the most outstanding life form of the past few centuries, have appeared in my sight many times."
"You left a deep impression on me."
Moon Dragons' combat skills might not necessarily be stronger than Red Dragons at the same level, but their methods were stranger and more bizarre.
They could see through the radiance of starlight to discern what was happening on distant continents. And the recent phase shift was also a special skill of Moon Dragons.
"So, Lionel, why were you following me?"
The red iron dragon asked in a flat tone.
The Moon Dragon backed off a short distance and said, "I sensed a powerful being arriving outside the planet, so I followed the trail. But I meant no harm, only curiosity."
His voice paused slightly, and the Moon Dragon said in admiration:
"I saw your training here."
"Life forms dwelling within a planet are always in awe of the vast, boundless starry sky. Yet you use it as a tool to hone yourself. That kind of mindset is rare."