"I wiped out an old score, old friend!"
The young boy had crossed his muscular arms, jutting out of his cut-out dress. He was gasping while leaning his back against the tree, which had a trunk as thick as his body.
On this side of the calmly running water, there was only one tree with green and red leaves. It was like swords were dangling from its branches. The thin flat leaves had jagged edges and pointy tips.
Without letting the large head of the red creature he was holding in one hand go off, dead bodies began to burst out of the ring which was on his other hand. While one side of the stream was decorated with a variety of flowers like a garden of paradise, the other side was home to a mountain made of corpses, a tree, and a keen-eyed young man.
"As I heal, you can absorb their life energies. When it's done, I will try to step into the deep legacy!"
When Mel took off his clothes and entered the water, the water that was coming to his waist before was now only reaching his knee. Step by step, he moved to a deeper place. Since the struggle in the valley was the end of the blood feud between the creature horde and him, there were dozens of cuts and wounds on him.
Interestingly, some of these soon disappeared as if they had never existed, and Mel's body began to emit that strange and attractive light again.
The boy was in the water with only his head out, as his short hair was getting wet from the splashing water and his face was lacking any facial gestures. His facial features had undergone sharp changes in the past two and a half years, and although he was not considered handsome, his face would appeal attention now.
The resting period had to be extended as the struggle with the creatures had turned into a pitched battle. It took three hours for the young boy to come out of the water and step on the ground.
"Let's finish this before my war fever goes out!"
Speaking to the red-green leafed tree, Mel was walking comfortably on the earth which was covered with corpses three hours ago. Now, there was no blood, no dead body, and no trace of them being here before.
Sitting cross-legged across the tree, Mel closed his eyes and began to take deep breaths. The red veins were visible under the tree as the water from his muscular body was dribbling down to the ground.
Two seconds later, thousands of streams of energy, trembling like whips, reached Mel. His eyes were tightly closed when the young boy's body began to tremble. At the same time, the veins in his arms began to swell. Green snakes were fighting tooth and nail with each other.
The branches of the tree were also shaking violently and the fallen leaves were heading towards Mel as if they were in a vortex. First, they began to accumulate at his feet, and then they multiplied so much that after a period of few tens of breaths, a small hill had formed.
"Where am I? I cannot breathe!"
Mel was yelling wildly but his voice was not coming out. It was very difficult to move around in the liquid surrounding him.
"This can't be real. I was just trying to pass on to the deep legacy. This must be a place like the Energy Palace. Have I come to somewhere in my mind?"
Hundreds of questions were passing through his mind. He panicked because he really couldn't breathe.
"I have to do something! I have to get out of here!"
Mel began to spin around himself. Although he could move in this heavy and viscous liquid in slow motion, he kept struggling by keeping his eyes wide open.
Time was going by, but since his eyes could not get used to the environment, he had no choice but to make blind moves. He began to move towards in one direction by writhing. He was waving his hands so quickly that he eventually managed to open small channels where he could slip off the dense liquid in front of him and flow through.
"I've found it! This place has an end! If I break this hard wall, I can escape!"
When Mel's hand hit a hard object, his movements stopped. After he checked it with his hands for a while, he began to hit the obstacle in front of him. As the air he could hold was exhausting faster than normal in each paw, Mel was hitting this obstacle again and again.
After a minute passed like this, the young boy lost his strength and began to stand ineffectually in front of the wall he was hitting.
"It won't work this way! I have to make one strong hit!"
After being busy with so many thoughts in his mind, Mel calmed down for the first time since he opened his eyes in this strange place and began to focus all his attention on gathering his strength. His goal was to regain his sensations he felt when he sat across the tree. After a few seconds, he began to feel the red energies rushing into him.
He watched these energies seep through his skin, reach his veins, pass through his body, and reach his hands. His hand was already in the form of a three-toed dragon's claw, but this time its appearance was different.
There were large scales on his skin and long, sharp-looking bumps appeared on the tips of his three fingers. His arm was covered with scales up to his elbow, but there were no expressions on his face while he was in this situation.
He was looking calm as if that was what it should have been. His breathing changed from short puffs to long puffs.
"A little more. I need a little more energy in my paws!"
The green glow in his paws was glowing brighter with every moment. His two hands were beside his body. Like a dragon waiting for the right moment, he put his body into offensive form.
"Now!"
When the last stream of red energy entered his body, he attacked with a scream. Two streams of energy emerging from his waving paws hit the wall, which was his hope for escape.
This time it worked. A cross-shaped mark appeared on the wall, which had been unaffected by his previous attacks, then small cracks began to spread around it.
A tiny hole opened, and Mel, finally finding hope for escape, smiled with delight. Then a beam of light entered through that little hole, which was bright enough to blind the eyes of the young boy.
"Ahhhhhh!"
The red-green leaves flew into the air and did not fall to the ground until the scream moved away from the walls of the cave.
When Mel opened his eyes inside the cave where his grandfather left him, he looked around in panic. He barely calmed down when he noticed that he was not in that thick and sticky liquid anymore.
"I did it! I can feel it! My claws have evolved. I feel the power running through me!"
The young boy ran and hugged the trunk of the tree. He shared his joy with the creature that was his only confidant for two and a half years.
His eyes caught on his arms winding around the tree. He remembered seeing them truly transformed into dragon claws while he was in the thick liquid. The strength he had at that time remained the same. But in appearance, his limbs were no different from the arms of a normal person.
"Crystal puppets! Wait for me! Let's see if you can resist me now."
Ignoring the few leaves sticking on his body, he rushed. His destination was the hall that was made for fighting practice.
After passing through the arched door, he did not stop. He waved his clawed hand towards the crystal puppet. The energy wave consisted of three channels, moved forward by disrupting the air. As it exploded on the puppet two seconds later, the high-ceilinged hall resounded with the sound of the blow.
The result was magnificent. The upper body of the shiny crystal puppet was shattered. Moreover, one of the arms of another target behind the crystal puppet was missing.
"This is it! Now I can tear you apart without hitting you!"
Sending the energy, accumulated in the claws, to the target without touching it was the purpose of the second part of the Dragon's Claw. But obviously, Mel was not able to break the crystal puppets this way before.
"Since I have moved from the Shallow Heritage to Deep Heritage, I must be able to see the places in the book that I couldn't read before!"
He immediately took out the book he inherited. The book, which used to be difficult to carry with both hands, was now being carried in his hands more easily than before.