The last shadow monsters jumped into the lava lake, dissipating into a cloud of black motes. Suddenly the whole white space trembled, black cracks spreading through the space itself. It reminded Vesuvius a little bit of the destruction of dungeons.
Then the golden light flashed once again, and the white space disappeared.
The surroundings changed once again into the plain stone building with tall stone pillars throwing their shadows as a loud thunderbolt struck across the sky.
The golden statue in the middle of the temple flapped its wings, radiating warm golden light. The light swept over the smoke-covered dragon, grinning at his victory.
The light didn't disappear. It instead remained lingering around the dragon, creating a golden halo radiating through the black smoke. A comfortable and warm feeling spread through the dragon. He once again became aware of his soul, but this time there was no pain but warmth and feeling of his soul growing and changing, together with new memories awakening within him. They were instructions on how to continue to become a full dragon lord.
Ding!
//
You gained a title: [Candidate for the Volcano Dragon Lord]
Conditions: Be one of the five strongest Volcano Dragons; Pass the trials for candidacy.
Effects: The strength of your hierarchical suppression will be boosted 1.5 times; +2 points to each stat for each level; Access to noble variants during evolution; +1 to the level of all racial abilities; Increased stat growth from aging; Additional golden visual effects
//
Vesuvius was basking in blissful energy pulsing through his body. He lay on the ground, fully enjoying it while stretching his limbs.
He was also thinking about his trials, 'Both of them required unconventional thinking... at least for a dragon. And that makes sense. If the dragon god just wanted brutes to be dragon lords, he would simply pick the strongest dragon. This way, he will pick the most capable ones and then boost them to become stronger.'
Then he opened his status to check the massive boost of stat he expected from the new title.
Ding!
//
Status:
Name: Vesuvius Dragor Ignatius Cremator
Race: True Dragon (Lightning Volcano Dragon)
Evolution: 3
Growth Stage: Juvenile Dragon
Level 21 (20/9500XP)
Stat point: 46
Ability points: 10
Vitality (VIT): (95 -->137 + 5) x1.9-->2.0
Intelligence (INT): 92 -->134 + 5
Strength (STR): (91 -->133 + 5) x1.7-->1.8
Agility (AGI): 105 -->147 + 5
Defence (DEF): (149 -->191 + 8) x 1.1
Endurance (END): (99-->141 + 5) x1.25
Magic (MAG) : (148-->190 + 10) x1.8-->1.9
Abilities:
Dragon Scales (LV 4 -->5), True Dragon Breath (LV 5-->6), Draconic Vitality (LV 5-->6), Draconic Might (LV 3-->4), Draconic Magic (LV 4-->5), Dragon Hoard (LV 3-->4), Fly (LV 3-->4), Dragon Eyes (LV 3-->4), Bite (LV 2), (Claw LV 4), Charged Volcanic Armour (LV 3-->4), Charged Volcanic Smoke Glands (LV 2-->3), Lightning Horns (LV 1-->2)
Titles: [David], [Last Dragon], [Mountaineer I], [Statue], [A tanky boy], [Mage], [Tank], [Master of Life], [Candidate for the Volcano Dragon Lord]
Blessings: [Greater blessing of the dragon god]
//
His eyes immediately went wide after seeing the effects of his new title, 'This is insane; this is easily the most powerful title I ever had in this game, and I am counting all of the characters I created. Such a massive rise in stats just from one title, and that boost will only keep rising with each of my levels and together with my scaling abilities... That's simply insane. If just being a candidate is such a boost, what will I gain from getting the title of dragon lord... Sadly I can't become a dragon lord currently.'
From his memories, he knew that to become a dragon lord, he needed to pass one last trial, 'That will be likely hard, but it should be possible. The problem is the second condition.' The second condition was him forging his own dragon domain, and to do that, he needed to be at least an adult dragon, and for that, he needed time. Lots of time, likely decades.
'I should have lots of time during time skips between game updates.'
The warm golden light still kept pulsing around the dragon, making him sure that it wasn't over. Then the golden light intensified before bursting into thousands of golden motes. The motes immediately launched towards the dragon, entering his body.
Ding!
//
Forcibly changing current evolution from [Lightning Volcano Dragon] to [Noble Lightning Volcano Dragon]
//
The dragon's eyelids started to feel heavy, making him want to sleep while being embraced by the warm energy, 'My soul changed... now is a turn for my body.'
The dragon fell asleep while his body started to change. Spots of a golden-looking metal started to spread through the dark volcanic stone that formed rough armour around the dragon, creating shiny spots on the otherwise black material. The magma filling the cracks in the black armour started to pulse, gradually changing its colour between blazing hot orange and slightly gold in a slow rhythm.
His three horns grew longer with a web of golden lines spreading through their glowing super hot surface. The lightning crackling between them suddenly changed from pure blue into blue, with a slight golden light pulsing in their centre. The change immediately spread to all lightning surging around the dragon. Changing the tendrils around the armour and the electrical sparks in the dark smoke into slightly gold ones.
More and more golden lines started to spread through his claws, horns and line of spikes on his back, quickly creating shiny webbing.
Finally, his wings quickly grew in size, becoming bigger and bigger with golden colour spreading over the black skeletal structure supporting the membrane littered with fiery veins. Then the hot orange glowing veins on the wings slowly changed their colour, with a portion of them turning gold.
Sometime later:
The dragon opened his reptilian eyes that got a slight golden shade to them. He stood up, noticing that there was no difference in his perspective, meaning that his size remained the same. He quickly opened his system, looking at his 3D model rotating before his eyes.
'This is...' Vesuvius froze before bursting in pride at his noble visage, 'This is a visage worthy of a noble dragon... But how can I, who is just a candidate, be considered noble... Wait, the requirements for this title were very strict, making it a very exclusive group, even between dragons. Also, in human kingdoms, candidates and heirs for provincial lords are also considered nobles even though they are not lords themselves.'