Chương 191: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 191 - Hive Mind (2)

"G-g-great, great master!" Kobold Chieftain Bolikri hit the ground with a thud, dropping to his knees. Right in front of his wife. Whatever beauty surrounded him had vanished from his perception entirely. His eyes went blank, his mind filled with nothing but the image of the Black Dragon — dark as an abyss, vast as a prison. If not for the familiar aura clinging to that figure, Bolikri would have long since lost control of his bladder. That presence was simply too terrifying.

Bolikri had never laid eyes on the Demon King Satan. But he suspected Satan himself wouldn't be much more than this. Even now, as a follower who shared the dragon's bond, he was trembling.

"Bolikri, do not resist. Open your mind and soul." Su Nian gave the warning anyway. Though it seemed Bolikri couldn't have resisted even if he'd tried. The moment the words left his mouth, a surge of energy poured into Bolikri along the golden threads of the Hive Mind. The inheritance of Iron Armor. It moved fast, no ceremony, no buildup, it just went in. Far less dramatic than Su Nian had anticipated. The only thing he noticed was that the energy stored in the Dominion Hillock had dropped by one unit.

Exactly one-thousandth.

"This... this is...?" Bolikri stared at his own claws, slowly clenching them. A savage, brutal force. It had crashed into his body along a barely-visible golden thread, not gently, but like a battering ram. It slammed through his internal organs, then spread outward through every limb and muscle until it reached the very surface of his skin. Something was coming out. Crack. Black scales began pushing through, accompanied by a sound like fracturing stone.

They were nothing like the fine, delicate scales Bolikri had grown after receiving the heart's blood. These were large and black, each edge sharp and clearly defined, hard as iron but lying flush against the skin, roots fused with flesh, tips catching the light with a cold, vicious gleam. He checked. The area for making little kobolds was scale-free. Bolikri exhaled in profound relief. Otherwise, he might have wept in earnest. That particular future would have been very dark.

"Thank you for the gift, great master!" His eyes welled with tears. He had once been a kobold weighing less than fifty pounds. Even after all his training, he'd barely cracked sixty. Now his weight had multiplied tenfold in a single moment, his bones harder, his entire body denser and stronger with every scale that locked into place. From Su Nian's perspective, the numbers told the same story more cleanly. HP: 3, 000+ to 17, 000. Armor: tenfold. Strength: tripled.

Agility took a hit, yes, but trading speed for survivability was an easy bargain. Any commander would take that deal. Bolikri's race entry had also updated. He was no longer simply a kobold. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He was now an [Iron Scale Kobold], a special race unique to the dungeon.

"System," Su Nian said, still reviewing the panel.

"Bolikri's race has changed. Can the offspring he produces with other kobolds inherit his Iron Scale talent?" [They can. However, the inherited talent will not be as refined as the current version, there will be some dilution. After all, Bolikri is currently the only Iron Scale Kobold in existence.]"Easy fix." Su Nian reached along the Hive Mind to Bolikri's wife and pushed through a portion of the Iron Armor inheritance. It took only moments. Soon, Nightbark was also wrapped in a full set of hard black scales.

Su Nian nodded in satisfaction.

"Now any offspring Bolikri and Nightbark produce will have a clean, perfect inheritance of the Iron Armor talent." Solid investment. He didn't extend the talent to the rest of the kobold population, for two reasons. First, the gap between an ordinary kobold and a chieftain wasn't significant enough to justify the resource expenditure. Second, Bolikri was his loyal lieutenant, he deserved exclusive privileges.

The power gap between Bolikri and his kin would now be obvious, which would only strengthen his authority over the group and make managing both the existing kobolds and any future hyena-men much easier. Su Nian withdrew from Bolikri's mind and left him to it. Covered head to toe in iron scales, Bolikri sat on the floor for a long moment after the Black Dragon's presence faded. He rose slowly, heart still full of gratitude, and turned back to his wife with purpose.

He was ready to do his part for the dragon lair's monster expansion plan. Then he stopped. On the straw mat, the exquisitely charming female kobold he'd left there was now a solid lump of iron. Female Kobold: "Woof. Woof woof?" [Darling, what are you staring at?] Bolikri: "\(oДo*)!!!" Su Nian paid no attention to whatever existential crisis was unfolding behind him. The Iron Armor talent only affected the exterior. The interior remained entirely intact. Reproduction was still completely viable.

The texture might be a little firm. That was all. He moved on. Using the same method, Su Nian passed inherited talents down the line, to every gnoll, every harpy, every Rock Helm Crocodile, a portion of the Flame Rabbits, the Snake Chickens, the Blackwater Pythons, and the Spear Boars. The gnolls were already formidable fighters, so he gave them Muscle Enhancement. The results were immediate. Their builds swelled, wider, taller, denser.

Their leader, Grey Wolf, now stood over three meters high, putting him squarely in Frost Troll territory. For the harpies, he chose Dragon Breath. They could now spew it themselves. Diluted versions, acidic rather than full-strength, but effective. Chicken Too Beautiful had the highest tolerance and managed acidic fire instead of plain acid. The Rock Helm Crocodiles already had solid natural defense, so they also received Muscle Enhancement.

Every monster enhanced this way grew, and the crocodiles were no exception, their bodies lengthened, their limbs stretched out, taking on a structure that reminded Su Nian of Komodo dragons from his previous world. Their average body length hit ten meters. The leader pushed close to twenty. Carrying seven or eight gnolls across a battlefield would cost them nothing.

For the Flame Rabbits, Blackwater Pythons, Snake Chickens, and Spear Boars, he distributed the talents more selectively, granting Muscle Enhancement, Dragon Breath, Muscle Enhancement, and Iron Armor to each species' leaders and their female counterparts respectively. The Blackwater Pythons, Snake Chickens, and Spear Boars had all been relatively unremarkable until now. That changed. They emerged as legitimate heavy hitters, standing alongside the Iron Scale Kobold Chieftain without looking out of place.

As these races bred and multiplied, the army would only get stronger. The combinations were already obvious. Iron Scale Kobolds paired with Iron Scale Spear Boars made a proper heavy cavalry unit, built specifically for slamming into human military formations. The Muscle Enhancement rabbits — big, brawny, standing a meter-eighty, capable of punching through a tree trunk — could anchor the front line as infantry, with Blackwater Pythons coiled around their waists to serve as living flamethrowers.

The Snake Chickens had always been a speed-oriented species; their increased size barely slowed them. They remained excellent scouts, and on an open battlefield, they were ideal for flanking strikes and surprise attacks. Su Nian rose into the air and flew to the very top of the Dark Sovereign Hall. Only two remained: Anna and Rolls-Royce. The Ettercaps he'd deliberately left out, he didn't trust those things not to wreck the dungeon environment if they got any stronger.

The thread connecting to Rolls-Royce was thick and bright gold, luminous even against the surrounding dark. It reflected what Rolls-Royce already was: a fourth-tier Bronze Dragon, Level 37. As for what ability to inherit, Su Nian had decided to let him choose that himself.

Hand's given out on me today. One chapter's worth of energy today, instant noodles and dried fish tomorrow, living the quality life. Your support on QQ keeps this going. ➤ Next: Rolls-Royce's Choice