"I've hunted many magical creatures, but I've never tried hunting a ferocious type before," Garon thought as he conjured the image of a snow-white large cat in his mind.
It was the same ferocious tiger he had encountered before, which appeared to be a challenging foe.
Ordinary creatures no longer interested him for hunting; at least, creatures like the Northern Savage Bears or Winter Wolves were needed to arouse Garon's hunting desires.
And he had never tasted the meat of a ferocious type before.
Although it didn't contain elemental energy, the mere brute strength of these ferocious types, capable of overpowering most magical creatures, intrigued him for its likely delicious flavor.
Many feline hunters lived in the Northern Ice Plains, most of which were ordinary beasts, with only a few being magical creatures.
From the appearance of that ferocious type, Garon could tell it was originally an ordinary beast, specifically a creature known as the Frost Tiger.
Unlike tigers on Earth, which are apex predators, Frost Tigers are lower in the food chain of the Northern Ice Plains due to their lack of spell-like abilities and relatively small size; most creatures there can kill them.
However, after becoming ferocious, it had transformed into an apex predator, rivaling even the Northern Savage Bears in stature.
"The source of power for ferocious beasts is also elemental energy, but the process of becoming ferocious is not documented in the Dragon Heritage."
The difference in power between an ordinary beast and its ferocious counterpart was like night and day.
Being at the ecological pinnacle as a true dragon, what kind of dramatic increase in power would result if he could also become a ferocious type?
With this question in mind, Garon found ferocious types particularly fascinating.
He lifted off the ground, his dragon wings flapping, quickly leaving the dragon nest and the icy cliff territory under the pale golden sunlight, heading towards the location of the ferocious Frost Tiger from his memory.
In the Northern Ice Plains, powerful creatures typically have a fixed territory.
As long as the ferocious Frost Tiger hadn't died, Garon could quickly find it by heading to where he had last encountered it.
The midnight sun of the Northern Ice Plains bathed the entire world in a soft glow due to the reflection of the snow, making it look beautifully ethereal, like a scene from a dream. Without the hindrance of blizzards, the visibility became immensely clear.
Garon soared high above, flapping his wings while surveying the Northern Ice Plains below.
His heightened vision allowed him to clearly see the ground from thousands of meters in the air.
After enduring a prolonged blizzard, many creatures, hungry and desperate, had emerged from their dens to roam the icy lands.
Garon witnessed numerous bloody hunts along the way.
Weaker creatures were killed, their flesh and bones devoured completely by stronger beings. Such scenes of the cycle of life and death unfolded continuously in this white world, unavoidable even by true dragons.
Soaring freely in the sky, Garon felt his breathing grow easier.
He encountered several flying magical creatures, some quite large.
However, these magical creatures, upon noticing Garon from afar, became very cautious and kept their distance, including a White Feather Ice Wind Eagle that Garon had once killed.
Since growing to the size of a young dragon, he no longer faced situations where he was underestimated and attacked like when he first left the White Dragon Mother's territory.
It didn't take long for Garon to reach the location where he had encountered the ferocious Frost Tiger.
He lowered his head, his gaze sweeping the surrounding area like a radar, with streams of light flickering through his platinum dragon pupils.
Garon cast a spell to detect auras.
The snowy world suddenly burst into colorful vibrancy before his eyes.
Fire, wind, water—different elemental auras displayed different colors.
In the Northern Ice Plains, the proportions of water and wind elements were higher, filling Garon's vision with shades of green and blue, while the red of fire elements made up only a tenth.
Only when looking up at the sun hanging in the sky could he see a rich, eye-piercing red elemental aura.
These elemental auras scattered throughout space appeared in a kind of ethereal transparency and did not affect Garon's vision. However, the non-transparent elemental auras carried by magical creatures or magical items were very clear to him.
Ferocious types, while not possessing spell-like abilities, also undergo mutations stimulated by elemental energy and are enveloped in elemental auras, albeit fainter than those of magical creatures.
Garon patiently searched, soaring and circling in the air.
In less than two minutes, his gaze sharpened as he spotted his target.
The ferocious Frost Tiger, with snow-white fur mixed with some black stripes, was lazily sprawled on the snow, meticulously licking and grooming its fur. Bloodstains remained around its mouth and claws, indicating a recent victorious battle.
Nearly two months had passed since Garon
last saw the ferocious Frost Tiger, and its body had subtly grown larger.
When Garon first encountered it, the tiger, from head to tail, was nearly ten meters long. Now, it exceeded ten meters.
Aside from their elongated necks and the dragon wings not present in feline species, the proportions of the torso, limbs, and tail were similar to those of feline creatures.
The ferocious Frost Tiger's size was not much smaller than Garon's.
"Normal Frost Tigers barely reach three meters, while ferocious types can grow to ten meters, and it seems that's not even their limit."
The difference in body length was more than threefold, but the overall difference in strength was far greater than just three times.
The ferocious type's heightened senses, having developed to their limit, allowed it to sense the gaze from the sky as soon as Garon looked at it.
The Frost Tiger, while grooming, paused its movements. Its body crouched low, limbs slightly bent, as it raised its head to look at the giant dragon in the sky. Its jaws opened, revealing sharp fangs.
Garon's gaze was steady, his wings extended, casting a shadow that enveloped the ferocious Frost Tiger, sweeping over it with an intangible dragon might.
The supernatural force of the dragon's presence affected the ferocious Frost Tiger, causing its body to stiffen for a few seconds. After regaining its senses, it didn't flee but became even more alert, its eyes showing a readiness to challenge.
It was not intimidated by the dragon's might.
With its head raised, the ferocious Frost Tiger roared at Garon.
Roar!
The deafening roar exploded the surrounding snow, sending ripples through the air, its presence formidable.
After its defiant roar, the ferocious Frost Tiger remained motionless, its eyes fixed on Garon's every move.
Garon, facing the unyielding ferocious Frost Tiger, frowned slightly, then slowly opened his mouth.
The next second, a rolling dragon chant, carrying an overwhelming dragon might like thunder amidst dense clouds, surged towards the ferocious Frost Tiger like a tidal wave.
The resonant and vigorous chant caused creatures within several kilometers to freeze in fear, their limbs going weak.