This Star Silver Is a Damn Good Thing

"One silver coin in exchange for a small favor. Will you help?"

At Jonavili's words, Furiel felt the weight of the silver coin in her claw and nodded her draconic head.

"Lead the way."

"Simple enough. Follow me."

Jonavili beat her wings, leading Furiel to the star silver vein.

Seeing this scene, Furiel understood immediately.

"I assume you already know what I want you to do."

Jonavili raised an eyebrow. Furiel said nothing; she moved past her and opened her maw.

In the next second, a cone-shaped fire breath with the strongest piercing power shot from her draconic snout.

The breath, containing terrifying power, struck the deep blue rock surrounding the star silver, sending sparks flying.

After several seconds of deadlock.

A crisp sound rang out as a chunk of star silver detached from the rock layer and fell to the ground.

Jonavili's draconic eyes narrowed, and she quickly raised a claw to pick it up.

Feeling the slight star power and the incredibly rich ice element power within it, Jonavili couldn't help but tremble with excitement.

One must understand that this was a treasure sufficient to make even a silver dragon in the elder stage drool! Now that it was lying quietly in Jonavili's claw, how could she remain calm?

Watching Jonavili tremble with excitement, Furiel stopped her movements, her fiery red eyes flashing with envy and greed.

But she quickly suppressed it by force.

Although she really wanted to collect this star silver, even if it was useless to her, as a friend—and especially as a proud red dragon—Furiel believed she absolutely could not go back on her word. Absolutely!

Jonavili no longer hesitated. No matter how good a treasure was, if it couldn't improve her strength, it was useless. Thus, Jonavili threw it into her mouth.

She didn't chew, as it was impossible to bite through, and swallowed it directly.

Given the strength and hardness of the star silver, Jonavili knew very well that it would take her at least three years to fully digest it.

Therefore...

"[Chrono Surge]!"

Jonavili cast [Chrono Surge] on her stomach to accelerate her digestion speed.

Soon, a bone-chilling sensation came from her stomach, flowing through Jonavili's entire body.

This showed the intensity of the star silver; even as a white dragon with ice element immunity, Jonavili actually felt uncomfortable from the "cold."

But! Because of this, Jonavili's expression became extremely excited!

"This... this power within my body!!"

Jonavili began to rapidly increase the output of [Chrono Surge] within her. The mana in her body was being consumed at a blistering speed, nearly reaching exhaustion.

But none of that mattered!

Jonavili pried a frost-patterned mana crystal from another rock wall and swallowed it.

Thus, a strange scene unfolded: Jonavili held her belly tightly with one claw because the pain was so intense, while her other claw continuously stuffed frost-patterned mana crystals into her maw to replenish her mana.

Seeing this, Furiel wore a strange expression.

"Aren't you pushing yourself too hard? Can your body take it?"

Jonavili answered Furiel's question with action, crushing a frost-patterned mana crystal in one bite and swallowing it without chewing.

Seeing this, Furiel felt a sense of respect.

She hadn't expected Jonavili to be so persistent and desperate to increase her strength.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Mofana, who was fighting with Qiao, paused as alarm bells rang in her heart.

She could perceive—could perceive very clearly—that the star silver vein she had guarded for decades had been slightly damaged.

This made her suddenly turn her head toward the entrance they had come from.

"Shameless little thief!!"

Qiao struck her with a claw, the powerful force shaking her back several steps.

"Mofana, don't get distracted during a fight. Heh heh heh..."

Mofana's mind was in total chaos; now she only wanted to protect her vein! She had no desire to fight at all.

"Qiao! If you dare stop me again, I will fight you to the death!"

Hearing Mofana's furious roar, Qiao was startled for a moment, but then he felt he had lost face.

"Mofana, do you fucking think I was born yesterday? 'Fight to the death'? Come on, then! I'll beat you into submission today and make you beg for mercy on your knees!"

A new round of combat began. Mofana's breathing was ragged with rage, and her eyes were bloodshot.

"I... motherfucker! I'm putting my life on the line today!"

...

At the star silver vein, faint changes had already appeared on Jonavili's body.

First were her scales, which now shimmered with a faint starlight. The starlight was ethereal and barely there; without looking closely, it was hard to notice.

But it added to Jonavili's overall aura, giving her a mysterious, void-like quality.

Not only that, but star patterns had also grown on Jonavili's body.

Originally, her pure white scales combined with the shiny metallic texture gave a sense of nobility and holiness; now, combined with these mysterious star patterns, it added even more regality and mystery.

However, these star patterns were not concrete lines like Mofana's; instead, there was a star-like glow at the joints of her scales.

More importantly, the hardness of Jonavili's scales had increased by a large margin. She was confident that with the improvement from just this one piece of star silver,

she could withstand five seconds if she faced the molten crystal-armored dragon lizard's breath again.

It wasn't just her defense that had improved; one had to remember that star silver also contained surging mana and ice elements.

Thus, Jonavili felt that the purity of her ice element affinity had loosened again, appearing to be just a bit higher.

This was an incredible discovery. Usually, elemental affinity was almost fixed; under normal circumstances, it stayed at whatever level it was and wouldn't change at all.

But now...

"This is a damn good thing."

Jonavili looked at the star silver vein, her greed and obsession completely unconcealed.

Furiel watched the changes in Jonavili with envy, but soon shook her head.

After all, no matter how much she envied her, it was useless; she still needed to work hard herself.

Sensing that the commotion outside was getting quieter, Jonavili and Furiel exchanged a glance and walked toward the underground hollow.

Jonavili was in no hurry to continue devouring the star silver. She needed to recover properly; after all, her body hadn't adapted to these changes and power yet. If she devoured another piece, Jonavili didn't know if her body could hold up.

During this time, Jonavili continued to dig out frost-patterned mana crystals to replenish her nearly depleted mana.

Before the two dragons even drew close, they heard a furious roar.

"Mofana! Are you fucking crazy? Do you really want to kill me?"

Hearing this, both dragons perked up and involuntarily quickened their pace.

Upon reaching the hollow, the scene before them left both dragons collectively stunned.