Chapter 602: Final Preparations

Feeling the tension rising along with the ice block beneath her starting to slowly break apart, Scaly swished her wing back and forth for a few seconds trying to determine how effective it would be as a shield against the icy currents. Figuring that even with one wing already lost, she should be able to get through relying on a single wing if she aimed it correctly and blocked off two icy currents in her path to the floating island.

The main problem wasn’t so much her ability to block the icy currents using her wing as a sacrificial shield, but more so the fact that her flying abilities had been significantly hampered by the loss of a wing. Making flying a far more difficult endeavor compared to before she ended up losing one of her wings.

Worse yet, given that the dreamscape was already difficult to fly through on its own. Requiring her to use dream coat, the self-invented dream magic spell that coated her body in dream magic to move through the dreamscape in the first place, it was harder for her to navigate through the sky of the dreamscape.

Even more so now that she was far deeper down in the dreamscape compared to before. Making the sheer mana required to keep her dream coat active far more costly compared to before.

Just the few jumps she had made so far had already drained close to half her mana... But... She didn’t really have much of a choice in the matter any longer and would have to make the jump regardless...

Whoosh~!

And it was with this in mind Scaly decided to go all in as she jumped off the crumbling ice block at the last second. Using her wind magic to propel herself forward as fast as possible, while at the same time also relying on her wind magic to properly align herself with the floating island of ice that was that had started to slowly start floating away from her.

Psssss~

Feeling as she drifted past the first of the icy currents that directly hit her non frozen wing. Freezing it rapidly before reducing it to a similar state to her already frozen wing. If anything, because her other wing had only barely grazed the icy current earlier, the state of her newly frozen wing turned out far worse, as small icy tendrils of frost spread from her wing to her body, causing a level of pain she hadn’t experienced before. Forcing her to shift her body slightly to alleviate the immense pain coursing through her body.

Not that it ended up helping much, as one of her legs ended up being hit by the icy current in the process. Freezing solid as she lost all feeling in it... And this was only the first of the two icy currents she had to pass through to reach the floating island.

Looking towards the last remaining and larger icy current she had to pass through, Scaly found herself seriously wondering how life would treat her once she turned into a dragon popsicle. Feeling a sense of serious doubt that she would be able to successfully make it through without turning into an ice sculpture in the process.

But just as she had managed to spin herself around to have her least damaged frozen wing face the large icy current, a large chunk of ice attracted by the floating island flew past the icy current and blocked it from higher up.

Allowing her to move past it far more smoothly than the first icy current that had almost ended up ending her little life, though not entirely without any cost, as her tail ended up being a bit too slow to get out of the way in time. Turning into an icy tail before she found herself smashing into the large ice block that had saved her-

Bang-!

And together with the large chunk of ice, crashed into the floating island made of ice, something that made her overjoyed despite the horrible state she found herself in following her landing.

After all, she had succeeded in reaching the floating island and could now safely undergo her seventh evolution in peace.

Of course, before she began her next evolution, she still had to find somewhere out of the way to go through her evolution.

Aware that while no dreamscape monster had been spotted by her so far, there was still a chance that some powerful dreamscape monsters had managed to adapt to the extreme environment... And if she ended up going through her seventh evolution out in the open, there was a good chance that any passing dreamscape monster. No matter how weak, would be able to easily swoop down and kill her while she was in a defenseless state.

Not to mention, she had no idea if this floating island would end up leaving the icy region of the dreamscape, she currently found herself in by the time she woke back up from her evolution again. Knowing that her evolution this time around was bound to last far longer than it had done back when she went through her sixth evolution.

Rustle~

With all this in mind, though in an injured state and having lost feeling in one of her legs, Scaly dragged herself forward. Away from the edge of floating island and towards the strange ice trees that seemed to grow on the floating island. Finding herself immensely attracted to the small hill that stood at the center of the small floating island. Knowing that finding a cave or digging her own hiding spot within that hill would serve as the best possible place for her to undergo her evolution.

Not only hiding her from view but also providing her with an extra layer of protection in case dreamscape monster or even adventurers ended up somehow finding their way to the floating island of ice while she was asleep.

The fear of there being dreamscape monsters potentially hidden away within the small ice tree forest on the floating island also ended up turning into needless worry from her, as the forest itself was completely dead outside of those unique ice trees and similarly unique foliage made from what looked like unique colored ice crystals.

Overall, the floating island was a beautiful, quiet and peaceful place with no one other than herself around.

In turn, the cave she had been hoping to find and use as a temporary home while undergoing her evolution was also nowhere in sight when she reached the small hill at the very center of the floating island.

Thus... After sensing her current state, she set forth using her claws to dig out a small burrow for her to hide away inside during her evolution. Spending what felt like hours digging away at the icy terrain before realizing that she could use her ice magic to carve out sleeping spot she wanted with far less effort compared to using her claws to break the ice.

At the same time, as her sleeping spot took shape, she also had a far easier time sealing up the place to make it look like nothing had happened using her ice magic. Creating a perfect small home for herself after a little over a day of hard work.

Exhaustion was the least of her worries as she finally laid down within her newly created home and got ready for her seventh evolution, as the icy tendrils spreading from the wing that had tanked the icy current head on had started slowly spreading to the rest of her body.

But, before going through her evolution, she decided to check her status for one last time...

Dragon blood: 47% (Rare)

Level: 50/50

Unique Identity: Approved Monster (Adventurers Guild)

Mana Heart: Third Circle

STR: 2077 |VIT: 4172| DEX: 2379| M: 7772

Magic: [Dragon Water Magic, lvl 9], [Ice Magic lvl 7], [Wind Magic, lvl 9], [Lightning Magic, lvl 5], [Dream Magic lvl 5]

Skills: [Dragon Bloodline, lvl 4], [Dragon Flight, lvl 8], [Poison/Venom Resistance, lvl 8], [Dragon Claw Strike, lvl 9], [Dragon Breath (Water), lvl 6], [Corrosion Resistance, lvl 4], [Pain Resistance, lvl 7], [Swimming, lvl 6], [Dragon Heart, lvl 1], [Endless Vitality, lvl 2], [Agility, lvl 1], [Brute Force, lvl 1], [Fear Resistance, lvl 1], [Mana Consumption, lvl 3], [Mana Circulation, lvl 4], [Cold Resistance, lvl 6]

Unsurprisingly, her ice magic had reached level 7, while her cold resistance had jumped all the way to level 6. At the same time, her pain resistance had also ended up improving...

Rustle~

Shaking her head as she stopped herself from inspecting her pain resistance that would undoubtedly mock her again, Scaly turned her attention towards the line she had done her best to ignore so far...

[Evolution available, choose evolution now?]: [Y/N]

Yes!

And without anything to hold her back any longer, she happily moved forward with her seventh evolution while getting comfortable in her small little ice nest. Knowing just how long she would be spending in this place.