In the Circular Sinkhole, on a clearing in front of a certain mountain wall, the ground was covered in pits of various sizes and depths, looking like marks left by heavy objects falling.
One just didn't know where so many things came from to smash the ground.
Boom!
With a splash of crushed stones, the young dragon, about six meters long, folded its wings and fell freely from the sky, smashing heavily onto the ground and kicking up a circle of spreading dust.
"Pah!"
Garros spat out the gravel in his mouth and climbed out of the hollow, shaking his head.
On his body, the Dark Iron Scales that originally shimmered with a silver matte finish, like cast iron, had turned into a layer of dark gray dragon scales in many places, and the texture was no longer like steel or metal; even the lava-like dark red patterns on the surface of the scales were gone.
In the impact crater from just now, there were also some fallen dark gray dragon scales.
Garros's scales seemed to have become a bit more fragile compared to before.
And at first glance from a distance.
Garros now looked neither black nor gray, and his appearance had declined slightly.
However.
Garros showed no expression of dissatisfaction; he turned to look at the crater he had smashed out, his gaze falling on the fallen dragon scales, and he even nodded with pleasure.
He turned to check his own scales.
Beneath the spots where the dark gray dragon scales had fallen was not skin, but rather a layer of black scales with dark red patterns and a silver matte finish.
That's right, the dark gray dragon scales on Garros's body were a new, extra layer, mainly concentrated on his back, chest, and limb joints.
—They were all shed-able Buffer Scales!
This layer of dragon scales could actively peel off to absorb impact when subjected to a violent collision, and the moment of peeling would even create a counter-shock.
At the height Garros had fallen from just now, he would have been dizzy for a while and injured himself before, but this time, aside from a slight tremor, he felt no discomfort or pain within his body.
The changes were more than just this layer of Buffer Scales.
On top of Garros's head, the pair of swept-back dragon horns had become thicker and more massive, and the metallic exoskeleton covering the base of the horns had expanded significantly, making them more stable.
The blade-like scales on his dragon tail became denser.
The muscles, bones, and organs hidden beneath the scales and invisible to the naked eye became stronger and better able to withstand impact forces.
"I didn't expect this evolution to grow a layer of Buffer Scales instead of continuing to enhance the strength of the dragon scales as before."
Garros was actually a bit surprised by the layer of Buffer Scales that had grown on his body.
The sturdiness of his underlying dragon scales had also grown, but not by much; this evolution in terms of scales was mainly manifested in the layer of Buffer Scales.
"Gordon, Samantha, you two come over and hit me."
Garros called out toward the distance.
The two Hatchlings flew out of the mine in an impatient manner and arrived before Garros.
Garros has finally fallen and become an idiot! Even his dragon scales have lost their luster from the fall.
The two of them thought, both looking eager to try.
"Come on, ram into me with all your strength."
Garros stood firmly on all fours and gestured for the two Hatchlings to ram him.
"Me first!"
The more hot-tempered Red Dragon Sister couldn't wait; her wings flapped to accelerate, her heavy steps trampling the ground into footprints as she charged toward Garros.
Ramming—this was a common method for Hatchlings, capable of exerting full-body strength with impressive power.
According to past experience, although Garros was strong and larger, he wouldn't be able to hold his ground and would be knocked aside when hit head-on.
In the blink of an eye.
The excited Red Dragon Sister rushed in front of Garros and rammed him directly with her body.
The moment the impact hit Garros's strong chest.
As the dark gray dragon scales crumbled and fell one by one, a massive counter-shock force landed on the caught-off-guard Red Dragon Sister, flipping her over onto the ground, while Garros didn't even take a step back, his body only swaying slightly.
"The kinetic energy of the impact was almost entirely absorbed by the Buffer Scales; what reached my body through the Buffer Scales was negligible."
Garros mused.
On the other side, Iron Dragon Brother was also eager to try, but after seeing the scene where Red Dragon Sister even knocked out one of her teeth while Garros remained motionless, it was like having a bucket of ice water poured over him on a hot day; his fervent heart cooled down instantly.
"Damnable Garros!"
Red Dragon Sister shook her head and angrily charged at him again; the irritability of a Red Dragon far exceeded that of an Iron Dragon, and the failure only made Red Dragon Sister more frantic.
She didn't use any other Moves, just rammed into Garros again and again.
Dragon scales flew everywhere from Garros's body, looking fragile, but every time it was Red Dragon Sister who was sent flying back; he was as steady as a reef in the sea enduring the pounding of waves.
Until the Buffer Scales on Garros's chest had almost completely fallen off, revealing the iron-cast dragon scales beneath.
Red Dragon Sister was already slumped on the ground in exhaustion, her body covered in injuries from the counter-shocks of her own impacts.
"Before the Buffer Scales fall off, I can basically ignore this type of damage."
Garros weighed it in his mind.
He would have preferred to directly evolve and increase the hardness of his scales, but unfortunately, the results of Adaptive Evolution were not something he could perfectly control yet; each evolution was essentially like opening a mystery box, bringing unpredictable changes. Although his evolution definitely trended in a positive direction, the changes in body form often exceeded Garros's expectations.
"Though it doesn't look like much, the effect is very good."
Garros had inherited the pragmatic nature of the Iron Dragons.
The dark gray Buffer Scales were unremarkable in appearance, but their effect was indeed good; Garros was quite satisfied.
Besides, he would continue to evolve and change; perhaps one of these times he would evolve into a form that was exceptionally powerful and handsome by Dragonkin aesthetic standards.
At the same time, Garros was also reflecting on this Adaptive Evolution.
"This time, growing Buffer Scales directly is likely because my recent training methods have been too singular, with too many frequent and intense impacts against mountains and the ground."
"Next, I'll try to reduce the frequency of such exercises and try other training methods more."
He thought to himself.
Garros was still in the exploration stage regarding his evolution talent and didn't shy away from various experimental comparisons; he planned to reduce the frequency of crashing into mountains and the ground, shifting his style to focus on strength and speed training.
Suddenly.
He heard a thud.
Turning his head to look, it was actually Iron Dragon Brother; he had flown into the air and fallen back down, landing sprawled on his back, then climbed up while shaking his head.
"What are you doing?"
Garros asked in confusion.
"Garros, I've discovered the secret to your strength; it must be that throwing oneself down makes one stronger."
Iron Dragon Brother's eyes shone with a look of wisdom as he spoke to Garros in a self-satisfied and proud tone.
Hearing his words, Red Dragon Sister looked thoughtful, feeling as though her intelligence was about to seize the high ground.
"Yes, it must be so."
She nodded in agreement and said to Garros, "Just you wait, Garros, I'll surpass you sooner or later!"
In the following days, the two Hatchlings felt they had discovered the secret to Garros's strength, so they began to imitate him during their mining breaks, attempting to 'learn from the foreigner to overcome the foreigner'—learning from Garros to surpass Garros.
The surface of this clearing was smashed down by a whole layer.
After another week had passed.
Having fully adapted to the Buffer Scales on his body, Garros flew to the top of the cliff, feeling the wind brush against his scales while narrowing his eyes to gaze into the distant wilderness.
"Sooner or later, I will have to leave Iron Dragon Mother's territory to survive on my own."
"Blindly seeking protection is not a long-term solution after all."
"While there's still a way back, I'd better hone my combat skills and survival techniques more. If possible, I should choose a suitable territory in advance for my future habitation."
The young dragon thought silently, planning for the future.
A few seconds later, Garros spread his wings and soared into the sky, leaving the range of Iron Dragon Mother's Sinkhole Territory; he didn't fly too far, just moving about in the immediate vicinity.