Five months passed in the blink of an eye.
In the extreme north ice plain, the sky remained dominated by the midnight sun, with white snow swirling about as biting cold winds howled through the sunlight.
The Black Sun statue, sought across the continent by the priests and paladins of the Church of Light, still quietly rested in a deep crevasse where Garon had abandoned it.
Meanwhile, as time slipped by, in the dragon's nest within the territory of the ice cliffs, a massive being slowly awakened from its slumber, opening its platinum dragon eyes.
Brilliant light shot from its pupils, and Garon's consciousness cleared from the chaos.
He moved his body slightly, shaking off the dust from his dragon scales, forming a gray ring on the ground beside him.
"This time, the growth from my slumber lasted five months."
Garon shook his head, dispelling the last vestiges of grogginess from his mind.
Feeling as though he might rust from the long sleep, there was a slight sourness between his muscles and bones, prompting Garon to instinctively stretch his dragon wings to loosen up.
However, as soon as his body followed his thoughts, Garon felt a resistance.
He paused and looked around.
His wings, broad and sturdy as ship sails, touched the icy crystal walls before they were fully extended.
He stood up, his massive, winding horns hitting the ceiling.
"This—"
Garon shivered and quickly became fully alert.
Just like the last time he awoke in the riverbed dragon's nest, the space in the ice cliff dragon's nest now seemed cramped in his eyes.
Yet, the situation was different.
The riverbed dragon's nest had been tailored to Garon's size at the time, and it was normal to feel confined after growing. But the ice cliff dragon's nest was matched to the size of the White Dragoness, spacious in Garon's view.
Now, however, he felt cramped.
The growth from his slumber, enhanced by the Dragon Soul Stone, exceeded Garon's expectations.
He slightly lowered his head to avoid hitting the ceiling and looked down at his gemstone bed.
The bed, which used to just fit him curled up, now appeared in Garon's eyes as tiny as a child's cradle.
"My size has grown so much this time!"
Excitement colored Garon's face as he turned to look at the ice crystal walls, observing his current appearance through their reflective surface.
Two pairs of serpentine horns extended back from his facial armor, becoming thicker and sharper. Small spines adorned his claws, back, and tail; his scales shone brightly, his claws were sharp and formidable, and his wings nearly obscured the entire nest.
With a wingspan of twenty-four meters and a body length of twenty meters, even standing on all fours, his shoulder height was four meters—like a towering building.
In size, Garon had completely surpassed the White Dragoness and even mature white dragons, reaching the stature of a robust adult dragon.
Mature white dragons are large; only those over two hundred years old, in their robust stage, become super large dragons.
"Sss—"
Garon sucked in the cold air of the northern ice plain as he regarded his new form.
From a twelve-meter-long large dragon, he had transformed into a twenty-meter-long super large dragon, just slightly smaller than the silver dragon Luna. Due to Garon's bulky and tall physique, he seemed no smaller than Luna's true form.
"Normally, when the time dragons hatch, they are already super large."
"Does this mean I have officially become a time dragon?"
"At least in terms of size, I'm definitely bigger than a hatchling."
Dragons between eighteen and thirty meters in length are considered super large.
Time dragon hatchlings are super large dragons, ranking alongside adult gold, silver, red, and iron dragons. Garon had indeed reached this level.
Yet in terms of age, he was still a hatchling, a three-year-old young dragon.
But this hatchling was unusually large.
Aside from his size nearly doubling, two other significant changes occurred in Garon.
First, another black scale ring appeared on his body.
This new black scale ring wasn't located around the neck but started at the shoulders on either side, forming an irregular diamond-shaped black scale ring.
Garon had anticipated the emergence of a new black scale ring, having seen more on the future time dragon.
The second change took Garon by surprise.
His scales, previously similar to those of a white dragon hatchling, shiny as mirrors, had changed color!
The change wasn't drastic, but it was enough to make Garon look completely different from a white dragon.
Garon's scales turned into a gleaming silver-white, making him look like a being sculpted from pure silver metal.
Silver-white. If some frills were to grow from the top of his head to his tail, one might first mistake him for
a silver dragon, which would be the most likely scenario.
Even now, Garon appeared more like an unusual variety of silver dragon.
The difference between silver-white and pure white was not slight.
"If Luna or the White Dragoness saw me now, I wonder what their expressions would be."
If they saw Garon, they would surely be shocked beyond measure.
Even doubting their own judgments.
Dragons identify kin mainly through dragon might and the true essence of a dragon. Even from afar, without seeing the face, they can identify each other. Although Garon's essence had greatly strengthened, it was fundamentally still him.
Unless he deliberately concealed his essence, dragons who knew him could recognize him without needing to see him.
Garon moved his body, admiring the aesthetic appeal of his own dragon form.
After some battles, his original white scales had acquired some rough traces, not all areas were as shiny as mirrors anymore, but this slumber had renewed Garon, and time had washed away the rough traces he had left before.
Within the space around Garon, elemental energy vibrated with life, as if celebrating his rebirth.
Garon could feel his ability to command and control elemental energy had elevated to a new level, making casting spells simpler and quicker, and learning new spells much easier.
He felt he wasn't just akin to an elemental's father anymore, but rather had ascended to the level of a grandfather.
Although he didn't know the control legendary casters had over elemental energy, Garon thought it couldn't be much better than his own capabilities.
For someone who had just encountered magical knowledge and could improve spells with his own ideas, Garon had authority in this area.
Ordinary human casters, dreaming of modifying spells before reaching legendary status?
It was nothing short of a fool's dream.
The aloof elemental energies wouldn't look kindly on them.
Five months passed in the blink of an eye.
In the extreme north ice plain, the sky remained dominated by the midnight sun, with white snow swirling about as biting cold winds howled through the sunlight.
The Black Sun statue, sought across the continent by the priests and paladins of the Church of Light, still quietly rested in a deep crevasse where Garon had abandoned it.
Meanwhile, as time slipped by, in the dragon's nest within the territory of the ice cliffs, a massive being slowly awakened from its slumber, opening its platinum dragon eyes.
Brilliant light shot from its pupils, and Garon's consciousness cleared from the chaos.
He moved his body slightly, shaking off the dust from his dragon scales, forming a gray ring on the ground beside him.
"This time, the growth from my slumber lasted five months."
Garon shook his head, dispelling the last vestiges of grogginess from his mind.
Feeling as though he might rust from the long sleep, there was a slight sourness between his muscles and bones, prompting Garon to instinctively stretch his dragon wings to loosen up.
However, as soon as his body followed his thoughts, Garon felt a resistance.
He paused and looked around.
His wings, broad and sturdy as ship sails, touched the icy crystal walls before they were fully extended.
He stood up, his massive, winding horns hitting the ceiling.
"This—"
Garon shivered and quickly became fully alert.
Just like the last time he awoke in the riverbed dragon's nest, the space in the ice cliff dragon's nest now seemed cramped in his eyes.
Yet, the situation was different.
The riverbed dragon's nest had been tailored to Garon's size at the time, and it was normal to feel confined after growing. But the ice cliff dragon's nest was matched to the size of the White Dragoness, spacious in Garon's view.
Now, however, he felt cramped.
The growth from his slumber, enhanced by the Dragon Soul Stone, exceeded Garon's expectations.
He slightly lowered his head to avoid hitting the ceiling and looked down at his gemstone bed.
The bed, which used to just fit him curled up, now appeared in Garon's eyes as tiny as a child's cradle.
"My size has grown so much this time!"
Excitement colored Garon's face as he turned to look at the ice crystal walls, observing his current appearance through their reflective surface.
Two pairs of serpentine horns extended back from his facial armor, becoming thicker and sharper. Small spines adorned his claws, back, and tail; his scales shone brightly, his claws were sharp and formidable, and his wings nearly obscured the entire nest.
With a wingspan of twenty-four meters and a body length of twenty meters, even standing on all fours, his shoulder height was four meters—like a towering building.
In size, Garon had completely surpassed the White Dragoness and even mature white dragons, reaching the stature of a robust adult dragon.
Mature white dragons are large; only those over two hundred years old, in their robust stage, become super large dragons.
"Sss—"
Garon sucked in the cold air of the northern ice plain as he regarded his new form.
From a twelve-meter-long large dragon, he had transformed into a twenty-meter-long super large dragon, just slightly smaller than the silver dragon Luna. Due to Garon's bulky and tall physique, he seemed no smaller than Luna's true form.
"Normally, when the time dragons hatch, they are already super large."
"Does this mean I have officially become a time dragon?"
"At least in terms of size, I'm definitely bigger than a hatchling."
Dragons between eighteen and thirty meters in length are considered super large.
Time dragon hatchlings are super large dragons, ranking alongside adult gold, silver, red, and iron dragons. Garon had indeed reached this level.
Yet in terms of age, he was still a hatchling, a three-year-old young dragon.
But this hatchling was unusually large.
Aside from his size nearly doubling, two other significant changes occurred in Garon.
First, another black scale ring appeared on his body.
This new black scale ring wasn't located around the neck but started at the shoulders on either side, forming an irregular diamond-shaped black scale ring.
Garon had anticipated the emergence of a new black scale ring, having seen more on the future time dragon.
The second change took Garon by surprise.
His scales, previously similar to those of a white dragon hatchling, shiny as mirrors, had changed color!
The change wasn't drastic, but it was enough to make Garon look completely different from a white dragon.
Garon's scales turned into a gleaming silver-white, making him look like a being sculpted from pure silver metal.
Silver-white. If some frills were to grow from the top of his head to his tail, one might first mistake him for
a silver dragon, which would be the most likely scenario.
Even now, Garon appeared more like an unusual variety of silver dragon.
The difference between silver-white and pure white was not slight.
"If Luna or the White Dragoness saw me now, I wonder what their expressions would be."
If they saw Garon, they would surely be shocked beyond measure.
Even doubting their own judgments.
Dragons identify kin mainly through dragon might and the true essence of a dragon. Even from afar, without seeing the face, they can identify each other. Although Garon's essence had greatly strengthened, it was fundamentally still him.
Unless he deliberately concealed his essence, dragons who knew him could recognize him without needing to see him.
Garon moved his body, admiring the aesthetic appeal of his own dragon form.
After some battles, his original white scales had acquired some rough traces, not all areas were as shiny as mirrors anymore, but this slumber had renewed Garon, and time had washed away the rough traces he had left before.
Within the space around Garon, elemental energy vibrated with life, as if celebrating his rebirth.
Garon could feel his ability to command and control elemental energy had elevated to a new level, making casting spells simpler and quicker, and learning new spells much easier.
He felt he wasn't just akin to an elemental's father anymore, but rather had ascended to the level of a grandfather.
Although he didn't know the control legendary casters had over elemental energy, Garon thought it couldn't be much better than his own capabilities.
For someone who had just encountered magical knowledge and could improve spells with his own ideas, Garon had authority in this area.
Ordinary human casters, dreaming of modifying spells before reaching legendary status?
It was nothing short of a fool's dream.
The aloof elemental energies wouldn't look kindly on them.
