Around the Celestial Pit, the open space before a certain mountain wall was filled with various pits of different sizes and depths, as if created by the impact of heavy objects.
It was unclear where so many things had fallen from.
Crash!
Amidst flying debris, a young dragon about six meters long folded its wings and fell from the sky in free fall, smashing hard into the ground, raising a circle of dust.
"Phew!"
Galos spat out the gravel from his mouth, shaking his head and climbing out from the pit.
On his body, the originally silvery matte Black Iron Scale, like a steely crust, now had many parts replaced by a layer of Black Gray Dragon Scale, which lacked the metallic texture of steel and no longer had the dark red lava-like patterns on the surface of the Scale Armor.
There were also some falling Black Gray Dragon Scales in the pit from a moment ago.
Galos' Scale Armor seemed to become somewhat weaker compared to before.
And at a distant glance.
Now Galos appeared neither black nor gray, with even his appearance slightly diminished.
However.
Galos showed no dissatisfaction; he turned to look at the pit he had created and fixed his gaze on the fallen dragon scales, even nodding in satisfaction.
He then looked at his own Scale Armor.
Underneath the fallen Black Gray Dragon Scale was not skin, but a layer of Black Scale with dark red patterns, giving off a silvery sheen.
Indeed, the Black Gray Dragon Scale on Galos was an additional new layer, mainly concentrated on the back, chest, and limb joints.
—— They were detaching buffer scales!
This layer of dragon scale could actively shed and absorb impact under intense collision, shifting an immediate countershock.
From the height of Galos' fall just now, in the past, he would have been dizzy for a while and injured himself, but this time, apart from a slight tremble, he felt no discomfort or pain internally.
The change was not just in the buffer scale layer.
The backward-swept dragon horns atop Galos' head became thicker and larger, and the metal exoskeleton covering the horn roots expanded considerably, making them more stable.
His Dragon Tail's blade-like scales became denser.
Muscles, bones, organs, and others covered under the Scale Armor and invisible to the naked eye, grew stronger and better at absorbing impact forces.
"Didn't expected this evolution made me grow a layer of buffer scales, rather than further enhancing the dragon scale strength as before."
Galos was somewhat surprised for the buffer layer scales that grew on him.
The firmness level of his underlying dragon scales also progressed, but not by much, mainly reflected in the layer of buffer scales in this Scale Armor evolution.
"Gordon, Samantha, both of you come over and hit me."
Galos called out into the distance.
The two young dragons, in an eager manner, flew out from the mine and arrived before Galos.
Galos finally got stupid from the crash! His dragon scales even lost luster from the fall.
They thought, both showing a look of impatience.
"Come on, hit me with all your might."
Galos stood firm on all fours, signaling the two young dragons to collide with him.
"I'll go first!"
The more hot-tempered Red Dragon Sister couldn't wait, flapping her wings to accelerate, her heavy footsteps leaving footprints as she charged at Galos.
Collision——a common technique used by young dragons, it could unleash their full body power and had good potency.
Based on past experiences, although Galos was strong and larger in size, he would be unable to withstand a frontal hit and get knocked aside.
In the blink of an eye.
The enthusiastic Red Dragon Sister rushed up to Galos, using her body to directly crash into him.
At the moment of impact upon Galos' sturdy chest.
As each Black Gray Dragon Scale shattered and fell off, a huge countershock befell the surprised Red Dragon Sister, flipping her onto the ground, while Galos did not even take a step back, only swaying slightly.
"The kinetic energy from the collision is almost entirely absorbed by the buffer scale, what's left on me is negligible."
Galos pondered.
On the other side, Tie Longdi was also eager to try, but seeing Red Dragon Sister knocking a tooth out and Galos standing firm, it was like being doused with a bucket of cold water on a hot day, instantly cooling down their fiery enthusiasm.
"Damn Galos!"
Red Dragon Sister shook her head and, furious, charged at him again, far more irascible than Iron Dragon, failure made her even more frantic.
She did not use other techniques, just kept ramming Galos.
Dragon scales from Galos flew around, seemingly fragile, but it was Red Dragon Sister who got sent flying every time, while Galos stood as stable as a rock amidst tides.
Until almost all of the buffer scale layer on Galos' chest had detached, revealing the steel-cast dragon scales beneath.
Red Dragon Sister was worn out and collapsed on the ground, and her body was covered with marks from the countershocks caused by her own collisions.
"Before the buffer scales fall off, I can basically ignore such damage."
Galos measured in his heart.
He liked directly strengthening his Scale Armor's durability through evolution, but unfortunately, the results of adaptive evolution were not something he could perfectly control right now, each evolution was like opening a blind box, bringing unforeseen changes, even if his evolution was assuredly inclined toward benefits, bodily changes often exceeded his expectations.
"Though not very impressive in looks, the effect is quite good."
Galos inherited the practical character of Iron Dragon.
The unimpressive Black Gray buffer scales turned out surprisingly well, satisfying Galos.
Besides, he would continue to evolve and change; perhaps someday he would evolve into a figure exceptionally mighty and handsome in Dragon Race aesthetics.
Meanwhile, Galos was also contemplating this adaptive evolution.
"Evolving with buffer scales this time is probably because my recent training methods were too singular, frequently and vigorously crashing into landscapes and objects."
"Going forward, try reducing the frequency of such training, and experiment with other methods."
He pondered this.
Galos, exploring his Evolution Talent, was unreserved in various experiments and comparisons, planning to reduce his mountain and ground collision frequency, shifting his style to focus more on strength and speed training.
Suddenly.
He heard a bang.
Looking back, it was Tie Longdi, who flew up in the air and then fell, sprawling all limbs, then shaking his head and standing up.
"What are you doing?"
Galos asked in confusion.
"Galos, I have discovered your secret to strength, it must be crashing oneself to get stronger."
Tie Longdi's eyes glowed with a wise gleam, speaking to Galos in a tone of proud satisfaction.
Hearing this, Red Dragon Sister pondered, sensing her intellect was taking the high ground.
"Yes, it must be like that."
She nodded in agreement, telling Galos: "Just wait, Galos, I'm bound to surpass you someday!"
In the days that followed, the two young dragons believed they uncovered Galos' secret to power and began imitating him during their mining break, attempting to 'learn their skills to defeat them,' studying Galos, aiming to surpass him.
The surface of this open space had been battered into a collapsed crater layer.
After a week passed.
Having fully adapted to the buffer scales on his body, Galos flew to the peak of the cliff, feeling the wind brushing over the Scale Armor, with narrowed eyes, gazing afar across the wilderness.
"Eventually, I will leave the Iron Dragon Lady's territory to survive on my own."
"Merely seeking refuge is never a long-term solution."
"While there's still a fallback, I should hone combat and survival skills, if possible, scout for a suitable territory to settle for my future."
The young dragon thought silently, planning his future.
After a few seconds, Galos spread his wings and soared into the sky, departing the bounds of the Iron Dragon Lady's Celestial Pit Territory, not too far, and began to roam nearby.