Lin Lei also felt that his body had improved greatly compared to the past. He was once a fourth-level warrior, but now he had suddenly leaped to the sixth level. This was the innate talent of a 'Dragon Blood Warrior'. Of course, the pain he had experienced not long ago still made him shudder just thinking about it.
"Lin Lei, try out the effects of Dragon Transformation," Derinkoort said with great interest.
"Yeah, Boss, give it a try quickly!" Bei Bei added expectantly.
Lin Lei nodded slightly. He was also curious to see just how far his strength could go in the 'Dragon Form'. Immediately, Lin Lei focused on the crystal-like 'Dragon Blood Battle Qi' gathered in his lower abdomen's dantian, and instantly—
Streaks of cyan-black liquid surged madly from his dantian toward every limb and bone.
*Sssss~* A low sound rang out as black dragon scales rapidly surfaced on Lin Lei's skin. At the same time, a black dragon tail nearly two meters long, like a steel whip, sprouted from the end of his spine, and sharp spikes also emerged along his back.
Compared to a Spine-Back Iron-Armored Dragon, the number of spikes on Lin Lei's back was slightly fewer, and their length a bit shorter.
"I feel boundless power throughout my entire body now," Lin Lei couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement in his heart. What incredible strength! A Dragon Blood Warrior, one of the four ultimate warriors of the entire Yulan Continent, and he had only just begun training, yet he already possessed such power.
Truly worthy of being an ultimate warrior!
"My current strength is several dozen times greater than before." Lin Lei extended his right hand. Now, his arm was covered in scales, and his fingernails were as sharp as blades.
Lin Lei's legs gave a sudden, powerful push against the ground—
His entire body shot forward like lightning, dashing straight into the vast cavern. His arm sliced into the stone wall, and only a rumbling sound was heard as fragments of the wall naturally fell away. Driving his arm into the stone felt as easy as piercing mud.
Too powerful.
"Haa—!" Letting out an excited shout, Lin Lei also kicked fiercely at the adjacent wall, instantly creating several large craters. Debris even rained down from the cavern ceiling.
Pushing off the ground again, Lin Lei shot into the air.
His fists smashed powerfully against the cavern roof—
*Boom!* The entire ceiling cracked open, and massive boulders crashed down. But Lin Lei didn't care at all. Such rocks hitting him caused no damage whatsoever. The defensive power of his black scale armor was far superior to that of a 'Jade Stone Armor'.
*Whoosh!* *Whoosh!* *Whoosh!*
Lin Lei's figure blurred into a black afterimage—landing one moment, soaring into the air the next, now sweeping powerful legs and feet against the walls, now delivering a devastating uppercut to the ceiling, letting the falling stones pound against his body.
After a moment—
Lin Lei landed on the ground and leaped directly to the passageway.
"Grandpa Derinkoort, how was that?" Lin Lei asked.
For a warrior's strength, without systematic testing, an ordinary person couldn't truly assess it. At least Lin Lei didn't have that ability, but the experienced Derinkoort could estimate it based on the destructive power he had just witnessed.
"In terms of raw strength alone, you should have just reached the threshold of an eighth-level warrior," Derinkoort said, though a bit uncertain. "However, your movement speed just now was very fast. Perhaps you've inherited the Spine-Back Iron-Armored Dragon's characteristic of swift movement. Your speed should be comparable to an agile eighth-level warrior. As for your defensive power, without a proper test, it's hard to say."
Lin Lei nodded slightly.
He knew his 'Dragon Transformation' was closely related to the Spine-Back Iron-Armored Dragon. It was possible that his 'Dragon Form' shared similarities with the Spine-Back Iron-Armored Dragon's traits.
"For warriors of the 'Dragon Blood' lineage in our family, the stronger the overall power, the smaller the gap between the three transformation states. Right now, I'm a sixth-level warrior, and Dragon Transformation can bring me to the 'early eighth-level' state. According to the books, if a normal human form possesses ninth-level warrior strength, then Dragon Transformation can just barely enter the Saint Realm. And if a normal human form possesses power at the Saint Realm, then even in Dragon Transformation, one remains within the Saint Realm—though combat effectiveness sees a slight boost."
Lin Lei understood the fundamental reason behind 'Dragon Transformation'.
The reason for 'Dragon Transformation' was that in his current body's normal human form, he could not yet fully unleash the power of the 'Dragon Blood Warrior bloodline'. Only through 'Dragon Transformation' could he tap into greater strength.
But once he reached the Saint Realm and fully absorbed the bloodline's benefits, then even Dragon Transformation would provide only a minimal increase in power.
"Lin Lei, hurry up and deal with those two magical beasts' corpses! One has a Saint Realm magic beast crystal core, and the other is a ninth-level dragon crystal!" Derinkoort urged immediately.
Lin Lei's heart skipped a beat.
Ninth-level and Saint Realm?
He knew a ninth-level magic beast crystal core was worth five million gold coins—a vast fortune. Probably only the combined wealth of a sizable family in Fenn City would amount to that much.
And a Saint Realm magic beast crystal core was simply a priceless treasure.
"Alright." Lin Lei maintained his Dragon Form and rushed directly to the corpse of the Saint Realm Purple-Striated Black Bear. Because of his earlier reckless attacks on the walls and ceiling, too much debris had fallen, and even the Saint Realm Purple-Striated Black Bear's body was partially buried.
Lin Lei's right arm, covered in black scales, swept powerfully, sending over a dozen large stones flying and revealing the upper body and head of the Saint Realm Purple-Striated Black Bear.
His clawed hands, also covered in scales, attempted to tear open the bear's hide.
"Hnngh—!" Lin Lei exerted force, but the bear's pelt didn't budge.
"Lin Lei, this is a Saint Realm magical beast. Even in your Dragon Form, you're only at the early eighth-level warrior realm. Tearing through a Saint Realm magical beast's hide is completely impossible," Derinkoort said with a laugh.