On the third day, Emperal’s turn finally arrived. To absorb the Verth from the Verth Crystal Formation aka, the Verth Spring!

And the timing worked perfectly for Emperal since the effects from the appearance-altering would be stripped from him.

At the third hour past midnight, Emperal sat in a cross-legged position with his eyes closed.

He ran his Verth through the circulation pattern he had maintained for the past two days.

The crystal absorption from the journey had done its work just fine; there was a slight refinement in his channels, and now, at the third hour past midnight in an enemy camp, surrounded by fifteen Verth practitioners, who had a higher cultivation base, the threshold to break through to Stage Three Verth Seeker finally arrived.

Looking at this, Emperal sighed when he felt it. "This just had to happen now. Anyways, I’ll try my best to be quiet, or it’d be difficult to explain if I broke through suddenly."

It wasn’t the breakthrough he feared; it was the ability he was gonna receive from the Infernal Dragon. Because this arrogant dragon tends to be pompous at times.

After a few minutes, a delightful sensation spread through his body. It was like opening a door that had been stuck for days.

His Verth veins, all of them and the full network from Thread Opening through Vein Widening to full circulation, finally completed their expansion simultaneously.

Stage Three Verth Seeker, the final seeking of the Verth Seeker realm. He felt the difference almost immediately; it wasn’t his output, his trash spirit root still produced the same Verth it always had.

In specificity, the channels were wider, cleaner, and the flow became faster and more precise. What he could do with the Verth he had was simply better now.

Then it came, the Infernal Dragon’s nature responded to the breakthrough, and it happened without his permission,

A passive body-hardening ability—Varath’kel. Basically, Magma Skin. The heat that lived underneath his skin at a manageable level suddenly spiked upwards. His skin temperature went from warm to something...unexplainable. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

And along his forearms...and jaw. A faint iridescent scale texture that his Dragon blood carried passively began to emerge.

The Infernal Dragon’s nature was domineering to say the least, but before it could emerge fully. Emperal clamped it down through his will.

Not with Verth, or a Verth suppression would easily be detected by anyone sensitive enough to be monitoring signatures while they slept. And the wolf bloods in particular, their senses were always partially active.

He did it with his will alone and compressed the Magma Skin activation from full surface to the background until it returned to normal.

Twenty seconds...that’s all it took for him.

"...impressive, for a half-blood to be controlling his new racial ability to this degree is simply unheard of."

The Infernal Dragon’s voice echoed in his mind, waking him from his euphoria.

"...Thanks"

The scale texture retreated, and the temperature returned to normal.

He sat there for another thirty minutes and focused on. Brack’s breathing pattern remained steady so far; he was still in a deep sleep.

Emperal sighed in relief when he saw that. The wolf’s blood near the entrance...his ears had twitched once, but soon returned to normal.

Emperal exhaled lightly, "Good, it seems nobody has noticed it."

He spent the next two hours doing what he shouldn’t have done during the time spent on the breakthrough.

He practiced suppression and emergence. Letting the Magma Skin appear at partial levels and learning precisely the point where its heat levels spark uncontrollably.

By the time the camp began waking before dawn, he could now activate it fully and suppress it fully within mere seconds.

"What a reliable ability," Emperal thought inwardly. Unexpectedly, the Infernal Dragon once again spoke.

"It’s nothing, these are merely the basic abilities. The real ones are locked behind that limitation of yours. And remember...I am the youngest. You have to grow fast—fast or else you’ll be devoured by enemies you couldn’t even begin to imagine."

From the starting congratulatory tone, the Infernal Dragon’s words suddenly shifted to seriousness, which surprised Emperal.

His words were even more shocking; he couldn’t help but shake his head.

"Of course, it couldn’t be free. But thanks for the heads-up on my talent. My pace is far better."

There was no way he would let any negative thoughts or other useless worries cloud his mind. If he can raise his cultivation and master his racial abilities...who would even dare touch him?

After a bit of chatting with the dragon, he also discovered something useful in those hours. The Magma Skin, even at partial expression without the visible scale manifestation, still produced its passive heat effect.

Anyone striking him or grabbing him would be met with scorching heat. Although it doesn’t sound like much, in a fight where his Verth supply was limited, a half-second hesitation was more than enough to turn the tables.

Soon the sun rose, the fourth day descended, and the pressure doubled. Emperal had two more days to play his cards. Or else, if caught, he would be tortured, killed, or worse, sold to the bounty hunters.

He had to create a deep conflict between the two so he could enter the Verth Crystal Formation and find the Verth Spring.

He stood up and stretched, rolling his shoulders twice. The camp was beginning to stir awake, the first perimeter guard rotation had begun, and the cooking area started its morning work.

He was about to move to the supply shelter to resume his scout patrol when his eyes caught something at the entry point.

Emperal’s eyes narrowed when he saw three figures...three new faces. They paid the entry fee and were being questioned by Kern. After moving through the standard assessment, they moved inside the camp.

"Those faces...the members from the Ninth-Dragon Unit. Which works under the...Dragon Princess"

He recognized those immediately, because he had obviously seen them and the way they moved.

"But, how did they even find this place so fast? Is that idiot Gorven having some secret allies I’m unaware of? This is bad; the two more days just became considerably more complicated."

Saying that, he put his head down and quietly resumed his duty. Without anyone knowing, he once again went towards the same tree line.