The dragon's might surged and swept across the Ice Cliff Territory. Then, without stopping, it moved like the waves of a vast sea, flowing towards the surrounding space. It passed over every inch of the Extreme North Ice Plain, every snow mountain, every canyon. Even the Dragon Spine Mountains beyond the Ice Plain were touched by this profound dragon's might.
Like a tangible force, the dragon's might swept through the Dragon Spine Mountains, brushing past ancient trees, causing the branches and leaves to rustle against each other.
At that moment, every creature living in the Ice Plain or the mountains fell silent, overwhelmed by an intangible yet terrifying sense of oppression. The sky was clear and sunny, but it felt as if dark clouds and thunder loomed overhead.
In the Ice Cliff Territory, within the Immortal Fortress, the huge light cocoon became ethereal and almost invisible. After a few more minutes, it disappeared entirely.
Amidst a deep, thunderous breathing, the beast that had slept for two and a half years slowly awakened.
In the nearly stagnant air, the silver-white and silver-gray intertwined body trembled slightly. The gold coins and gems around it rubbed against the silver scales, creating a strange and unique sound.
In the colorful main nest of the fortress, a pair of platinum dragon eyes slowly opened, revealing a deep, ancient gaze, as if embodying time itself.
Garon fluttered his wings, pushing aside the surrounding coins and gems. After more than two years of inactivity, his body slowly rose.
"Almost two and a half years. This is the first time I've slept for so long," Garon thought, stretching his wings. The extended wingspan reflected the gemstone's luster, his scales shimmering brilliantly.
Before examining the changes his growth had brought, Garon looked towards Yuna.
Her cocoon, still buried under the gold and silver lake, emitted a soft light visible only through the gaps between magical gems and precious metals, obscuring Yuna's form. She had not yet awakened.
Garon noticed that Yuna's surrounding light wasn't as intense, indicating she would soon wake up. From the arc of her body under the treasures, he sensed significant changes.
Garon then turned his gaze to himself, conjuring a refracting mirror in the air with his magic.
The silver dragon saw his current form in the mirror. His towering and sinuous horns, the deep and heavy facial armor, and the tightly fitted silver-white or silver-gray scales had a deeper and heavier luster than before, not as bright. The proportion of silver-gray scales had increased.
Garon also noted changes in his size.
Before his slumber, he was a giant dragon with a body length of thirty-three meters and a wingspan of thirty-six meters. But now, he had grown to forty-six meters in length with a wingspan of fifty-two meters. Standing on all fours, his shoulder height reached nine meters, his breath like a wild wind and thunder.
This size marked the upper limit of dragon size classification - the supergiant.
Since supergiant true dragons are rare and mostly primordial dragons, there's no clear classification beyond this size. Even a hundred-meter dragon would still be roughly classified as a supergiant dragon.
Compared to ancient gold dragons, red dragons, or silver dragons, Garon's size was no less, even slightly larger. At least, the ancient gold and silver dragons he had seen were smaller than eight-year-old Garon. If he met them now, they would likely be astonished.
"Is this really an eight-year-old dragon?" Garon pondered. Even a favored gold dragon would be grateful to reach forty meters by eight hundred years old.
"If I had grown naturally, I might have reached this size as a fifteen-year-old young dragon or even a teenage dragon," Garon thought.
Life gems and divine power crystals from the God of Light played a key role in his current size. Every movement of Garon now caused changes in his surroundings, his enormous size exuding a terrifying presence, intimidating countless creatures with fear and awe.
"This is the largest growth spurt in my history," Garon nodded, pleased and happy.
His growth wasn't just due to the gift from the God of Light, but also his natural growth over two years. Previous uses of dragon soul stones or life gems didn't involve such a long sleep.
The divine power crystal from the God of Light nourished his body gradually and thoroughly, combined with the natural growth of a legendary dragon, resulting in his current state.
Tremendous power flowed within him. Garon gently waved his claw, and the air seemed to tear apart, emitting a sharp and eerie sound, leaving clear claw marks in the air that slowly dissipated.
With a flick of his tail, a thunderous sound erupted, like silver lightning striking the ground, echoing endlessly in the main nest of the fortress.
Garon then spread his increasingly large wings and fluttered them a few times. His casual movements generated an unparalleled wind, lifting the solid metal below. Just a light wave of his wings created such a wind force.
Garon felt that without any spells, he could create a catastrophic storm just by flapping his wings.
He was slightly disappointed not to see new rings of black scales on his body. The external stimulants didn't seem to hasten their growth. However, this didn't hinder the deepening connection between Garon and the River of Time. The rings of black scales were just a characteristic feature that would increase with age, not a true representation of his power.
Looking around, his platinum dragon eyes reflected the silently flowing ethereal River of Time. The river brushed against his body, giving Garon a gentle sensation as if touched by a soft breeze.
This was a new sensation for Garon. Although he could see the River of Time, he had never felt its flow like this. Now, the usually intangible river felt like a real, tangible entity.
Garon extended his claw, spreading and then slowly closing his sharp and slender talons.
"Time is vast and mysterious, and it will eventually become something I can hold in my hand," Garon declared.
The river flowed steadily, indifferent to the young Time Dragon's bold statement.
After a moment of silence, Garon coughed lightly and withdrew his claw.
Under the night sky of the Extreme North Ice Plain, the supergiant silver dragon soared swiftly. Its huge wings blocked the bright moonlight, casting a dragon-shaped shadow on the ground. Garon flew with incredible speed, leaving trails in the frosty clouds, creating waves of white air.
He flew freely in the high skies, his body cutting through the moonlight like a sharp sword.
After waking up from two and a half years of slumber, Garon didn't immediately leave. He restrained his excitement and stayed in the main nest of the fortress, focusing more on understanding the changes in himself. This significant growth deepened his connection with the River of Time, and he slowly mastered some new time-related abilities.
A month later, Garon felt he had sufficiently digested and understood his new abilities. He left the Immortal Fortress amid the enthusiastic calls of his followers and soared into the sky.
Garon left intricate trails in the air, occasionally folding his wings and diving towards the Ice Plain like a missile, then at the last moment, before crashing into the ground, he would powerfully flap his wings and draw a beautiful arc, breaking free from gravity and soaring into the sky.
Due to the impact of his wing flaps, the snow was scattered, revealing numerous fine cracks on the hard ground, resembling branching lightning.
His unrestrained dragon's might rolled out like tidal waves, forming a clear area with a diameter of nearly a thousand meters. Within it, an oppressive aura that could shatter souls lingered.
Occasionally detecting hidden aberrant creatures, Garon didn't need to approach. From afar, he locked onto his targets with his mind, and his oppressive dragon's might crushed them, exploding them into black blood and flesh, splattering on the snow-white ground of the Ice Plain, eventually buried and hidden by the snow.
"With my current strength," Garon mused, "If I had joined forces with the dragon race from the start, taking advantage of the moment when the Barren God's avatar was suppressed by the Pope of Light, perhaps I could have killed it before it broke free from the suppression."
The Primordial Sun God left a deep impression on Garon. He had no affection for the aberrant creatures it left behind. These creatures invariably carried a chaotic, dark aura, reeking of decay.
After continuous efforts by Garon's followers, the number of aberrant creatures on the Extreme North Ice Plain had drastically reduced. The remaining ones were either stronger or adept at hiding.
But after Garon awoke, he decided to act personally, as the faint stench in the air displeased him. Thus, the surviving aberrant creatures met their end.
Garon could easily detect them even with his eyes closed. Lowering his flight altitude to about a hundred meters above the ground, his rapid movement pushed the snow on the Ice Plain, creating a cone-shaped tear and forming small avalanches on either side.
Garon, now solidified with a five-fold acceleration capability, could use it without consuming any time power.
Maintaining his terrifying speed, the landscape in his vision rapidly retreated, leaving long trails on the Ice Plain.
Every aberrant creature detected by Garon exploded instantly, leaving no intact bodies.
Bathed in the cold moonlight and snow, the silver dragon stood tall and imposing.
Garon lifted his head, extending his wings to their limits, standing proudly against the wind and snow, as if embracing the entire Extreme North World.
After admiring his majestic form under the night sky, Garon nodded in satisfaction.
"An unstoppable display of power."
Even a skeletal, emaciated black dragon would naturally become intimidating when reaching the supergiant size, let alone Garon, who was already robust and agile. Simply standing on the peak of a snow mountain, he resembled a king surveying his territory.
At the same time, Garon calmed his emotions and focused on the River of Time.
Time power surged from within him, entering the depths of the River of Time.
Like a stone in a lake, the surrounding waters rippled. Garon continuously infused time power.
Events that had already occurred could be traced back in time. The future, about to arrive, could also be glimpsed from the present.
Last time he evolved, Garon gained the ability to look back in time. Now, upon awakening, he mastered a corresponding ability - foreseeing the future.
While in the main nest of the fortress, Garon had already spent time researching this ability. It allowed him to understand future events related to him, potentially impactful, whether good or bad.
For example, while studying foresight in the fortress, Garon saw something that didn't cause him loss or gain, but left him speechless.
In a series of flickering images, he saw a slender female white dragon wandering around the Extreme North Ice Plain, her amber eyes scanning attentively, gathering magical items hidden among rocks, under snow, or at the bottom of ice rivers.
Dragons, regardless of type, have a keen sense of treasures, including magic items emitting elemental light.
Under the white dragon's tireless collection, after a few years, most of the magical items Garon had scattered across the Ice Plain were picked up by her. She even nearly figured out Garon's habit of placing magic items, knowing where to find them more likely.
The white dragon didn't understand why there were so many magical items on the Ice Plain, but she didn't bother to think about it, considering it a gift from nature.
Foresight was random, and Garon couldn't control what future snippets he would see.
After consuming a certain amount of time power, the ripples in the River of Time formed a semi-transparent water curtain, similar to when he activated time retrospection.
Garon looked towards the future.
In his vision, rolling snow mountains appeared, a familiar landscape of the Extreme North Ice Plain.
The following scene made Garon frown slightly.
Under the cold moonlight, he saw the shattered corpses of the Cold Forest Serpent Dragons, and atop the bodies, a figure on horseback entered the fog and vanished.
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