Chapter 393: The Path to Criticality.
“Roar～”
Basin stopped, looking at the remnants of the battlefield with lingering fear.
The ferocious fist prints had pulverized the ground, creating numerous jagged rocks and spreading explosive traces all over. Lava surged out from the fractured magma, spreading a vast pool of molten rock across the floor.
“Slime Mold.”
Jié Jié’s head hung low as he stared at the slime mold and battle marks on the ground.
His padded feet stepped onto the slime mold, exerting friction that brought a noticeable burning pain.
This wasn’t ordinary slime mold; it was… Critical Slime Mold.
There were two sets of Sui Long footprints, one larger than the other. He was certain the smaller one belonged to his own offspring.
Following the bloodstained footprints and bits of fungal threads, they even came across fragments of shell. Up ahead, the sound of massive explosions grew louder, causing Jie Jie’s heart to tighten as he quickened his pace.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a Rocky Thief Dragon using explosive bombs in an attempt to intimidate the Sui Long. Before he could relax, he noticed the cruel scars on the Sui Long’s body.
The hard indigo-blue shell bore many broken marks, with slime mold filaments seemingly stimulated far beyond normal levels, drilling into the gaps between the shells.
The bombs meant for intimidating monsters landed on the Sui Long, triggering a special explosion of the slime mold.
The explosion of the slime mold filaments expanded the cracks in the Sui Long’s shell, severely injuring it, causing it to fall flat on the ground.
The Sui Long struggled to climb up its body, lifting its leg slightly, clearly still wanting to hunt the Rocky Thief Dragon to recover. But heavy injuries made it unable to move after taking a few steps, forcing it to rest by supporting itself with both fists on the ground.
The Rocky Thief Dragon was about to escape, but Jie Jie arrived.
The Flame King Dragon leapt into the battlefield with a flying pounce, surpassing the Rocky Thief Dragon’s escape speed. With both claws piercing into the Rocky Thief Dragon’s body and fangs sinking into its neck,
Jie Jie bit into the limp corpse of the Rocky Thief Dragon and threw it in front of the panting Sui Long.
“Grunt～”
The Sui Long’s figure was low as Jie Jie circled around to observe the horrifying wounds on its body.
It was clearly attacked by another Sui Long, which must have been the Explosive Frag Dragon. During the attack, a considerable amount of critical slime mold had adhered to their Sui Long’s body, causing the original slime mold to abnormally activate and fuse with the critical slime mold.
This meant that the slime mold on the Sui Long’s body was gradually transforming into critical slime mold.
Jie Jie searched everywhere for water moss, transforming into a Sky Dog Beast to smear the water moss onto his hands and began cleaning the slime mold.
“Grunt～”
The Sui Long’s body swayed slightly, attempting to leave from beside him, its eyes filled with reluctance.
“Are you willing to die just for the sake of slime mold?”
A severely injured Sui Long trying to withstand the powerful explosions of critical slime mold was nothing more than a foolish dragon’s dream.
Seeing the stubborn look in the Sui Long’s eyes, Jie Jie slapped it on the head, forcefully pinning it down.
The slime mold was still activating, and he didn’t have time to argue with this creature. Even if he couldn’t clean the slime mold, he had to at least suppress its activation.
Lifting his palm to show the water moss to Nana, she understood and left to collect more water moss.
Meanwhile, Jie Jie continued suppressing the activated slime mold on the Sui Long while holding it down.
The Sui Long struggled a few times but ceased resisting.
The effect of the water moss on suppressing the critical slime mold was quite average. The red glow would extinguish only to be reignited by adjacent active parts.
With limited water moss, Jie Jie transformed into an Abyssal Wave Dragon but dared not let the heavily wounded Sui Long get wet. He had no choice but to reuse the small amount of water moss repeatedly.
Fortunately, just as the water moss was about to run out, Nana returned carrying a large string of water moss.
The water moss was slightly dried near the mouth of the Flame Empress Dragon, but it could be easily rehydrated using the form of the Abyssal Wave Dragon.
As time passed, the slime mold on the Sui Long slowly dimmed, returning to its usual green state.
But within this green hue, there appeared some noticeable yellow patches, which were the critical slime molds.
The Sui Long also consumed a good portion of the Rocky Thief Dragon, restoring some strength. However, since it was pinned down by Jie Jie, it eventually fell asleep.
Jie Jie released his grip, patiently guarding beside the Sui Long to prevent any monsters from taking advantage of its weakened state. Meanwhile, he gathered all the minerals from the cave and placed them in front of the Sui Long so it could see them at a glance.
Since the slime mold wasn’t completely removed, it implied that Jie Jie tacitly approved of the Sui Long embarking on the path to criticality.
Critical slime mold is easy to obtain, but a true Explosive Frag Dragon isn’t so easily born. Countless Sui Longs have died due to contamination with critical slime mold.
He wouldn’t let his own Sui Long meet such a fate. He would provide all necessary support for the Sui Long’s journey toward criticality.
Suppressing the activation of the slime mold, providing food to restore vitality, and offering minerals to promote shell regeneration—following this routine, he truly believed the Sui Long wouldn’t fail to complete its journey to criticality!
The Sui Long actually had a solid foundation. There were abundant minerals in the Golden Land, enhancing the hardness of its shell, allowing it to survive attacks from the Explosive Frag Dragon.
He was curious about the Sui Long’s journey to criticality too.
Jie Jie patiently waited for the Sui Long to awaken. Nearby, Nana circled around him, occasionally flicking her tail to hit him.
Attempting to seduce JPG.
However, nothing happened, leaving Nana somewhat dissatisfied, though not strongly.
She was already an ancient dragon who understood the concepts of friendship and companionship.
Not to mention, when Jie Jie was absent, the Fire Dragons would bring food and ask her to help make soups and barbecues. She naturally benefited from this arrangement, almost eliminating the need for her to hunt herself, living like she was retired in the Golden Land.
The Sui Long woke up.
Upon seeing the finely ground minerals before it, it swallowed them without hesitation and began digesting.
Suppressing slime mold activation, providing food to restore vitality, and offering minerals to promote shell regeneration.
Over these past half-month, Jie Jie observed the Sui Long’s journey to criticality by its side, making several discoveries.
Under sufficient nutrition, the Sui Long’s size increased by over ten centimeters. Perhaps the intact shell had restricted the Sui Long’s normal growth, or maybe the critical slime mold had unlocked the Sui Long’s shackles, nurturing it with energy.
In his memory, Explosive Frag Dragons’ sizes could break through the fifteen-meter average limit, reaching twenty meters, which was clearly a good sign.
Compared to regular slime mold, critical slime mold accelerated the regeneration of the Sui Long’s shell, and the cracks were slowly repairing themselves.
As the Sui Long’s vitality recovered, Jie Jie gradually relaxed his observation of the slime mold activation.
“Boom!”
During its activities, the Sui Long was once again blasted off its feet, and the repaired shell shattered once more.
Clearly, merely repairing the shell wasn’t enough to become an Explosive Frag Dragon. It needed to continuously evolve under the explosions caused by the critical slime mold!
Through constant explosions, this was how the Sui Long had come thus far.
Jie Jie remembered the appearance of the young Sui Long, covered in scars with slime mold mixed among the broken scales and undeveloped shell, looking vastly different from its current form. Only the stubbornness deep in its eyes remained unchanged.
So, let it remain stubborn amidst the explosions.
He would prepare the food and minerals.
