Close Combat Mage
Chapter 325: Powerful Evolution Pt. 2

As Suo Jia was wondering, the surface of the alighted Diamond Dragon’s body flashed blue. Layer after layer of scale-like veined patterns appeared in succession.

Before, the Diamond Dragon was like a large ice sculpture. Its entire body was transparent, and was made of large chunks of ice piled together. Its surface was extremely smooth, and had clear edges.

But it was different now. After the intense changes, the sharp edges of the Diamond Dragon’s body had become rounded and smooth. Its outer appearance no longer seemed like a rectangular ice cube, but rather, there were now lines that carved out the shape of robust muscles.

That wasn’t all. The muscle-like ice cubes were quickly covered on the outside by a pale blue layer of Glacial Armor. However, while the blue color was very, very light, it could still clearly be seen.

Suo Jia dropped his jaw in delight at the Diamond Dragon that now looked as if it had been made from blue crystal. Although he didn’t know what exactly had happened, the Diamond Dragon had undoubtedly evolved!

During the Diamond Dragon’s thousand year long maturation period, it would evolve countless times as it continued to battle and absorb more experience. Each time it evolved, the Diamond Dragon’s battle power would increase to a new stage!

Suo Jia looked at the smooth body, flourishing muscles, the entire body of blue scales, and the overall extremely elegant appearance of the Diamond Dragon. In his excitement, he stepped forwards and his body quickly landed on the Diamond Dragon’s shoulder.

“Eh!” As Suo Jia neared the dragon, he was astounded as he discovered that the Diamond Dragon’s head seemed to have increased as well, going from 6 meters to a ridiculous 9 meters. It was now the height of a three-story building, and while its body had become quite a bit thicker and more solid, it had also become more healthy-looking as its height had increased. When Suo Jia saw the Diamond Dragon’s bus-sized head, as well as the three meter sharp, human-thick horns coming out at a 45 degree angle from the back of its head, he knew that the dragon had definitely gained another method of attack.

As Suo Jia was thinking this, the Diamond Dragon’s body suddenly sprung into action. With a fierce, resounding noise, the Diamond Dragon spread its thick legs apart and began to walk forwards.

“Aiya!” Suo Jia hadn’t thought that Diamond Dragon would suddenly begin moving, and hadn’t prepared himself. His foot slipped, and his body miserably fell off the Diamond Dragon’s shoulder.

Fortunately, he hadn’t fallen far before his body stopped as the Diamond Dragon reached out its left claw to catch him. With a bitter smile, Suo Jia sat up from the center of the claw, and looked at the new sight of his surroundings that were quickly passing by him on either side, feeling an indescribable delight.

The Diamond Dragon’s pace wasn’t actually very fast but…with the Diamond Dragon’s physique, its every step was larger than more than a dozen of Suo Jia’s, and its speed wasn’t exactly slow either. Rather, it was at least two times faster.

Why didn’t the Diamond Dragon just fly? Wasn’t that even faster? Actually, the Diamond Dragon still couldn’t fly at the moment. It could only use its jumping strength to leap up and then glide for a hundred meters or so. Moreover, this was a very unstable action, and it also consumed a lot of energy. Flying 2-3 times in succession would probably be able to completely drain the Diamond Dragon’s energy.

Of course, its inability to fly was only temporary. After continuous evolutions, there would eventually come a day where it can fly again. Although the Diamond Dragon wasn’t a creature that could fly particularly fast, it flew in the strangest way. It was like a fish in midair; at high speed, it could instantly make 180 degree turns. Moreover, its speed wouldn’t decrease.

Nobody knew exactly how much longer it would be until it could fly. It could be after one year, 10 years, or even 100 years. But…there was one thing that could be said for certain; once the Diamond Dragon passed its thousand year long period and entered the mature period, it would definitely be able to fly.

The Diamond Dragon’s left claw suddenly began to move as it supported Suo Jia and moved him near its bus-sized head. It then lightly placed Suo Jia in between its three meter horns.

As the Diamond Dragon began to slowly leave, Suo Jia’s foot slipped again. If he hadn’t quickly used his arms to hug the arched back horns, Suo Jia definitely would’ve fallen down once more. After all…the Diamond Dragon’s Glacial Armor was too slippery.

Suo Jia was bitterly smiling as he hugged the slippery horns that were so thick they were hard to hold. He felt like some trash hanging from the horn. After a moment, Suo Jia couldn’t but shout loudly, “Oi! Little pet…are you trying to overturn the heavens? You dare to treat me like this!”

Hearing Suo Jia’s words, the Diamond Dragon felt wronged and opened its mouth. The next moment…the part between its horns suddenly caved in to form a kind of open-air vehicle’s pilot room.

Suo Jia couldn’t help but feel exceptionally excited this. With a light tread of his feet, he baselessly fell into the caved in part and sat down in a throne-like ice chair. Only his upper body was still exposed to the outside.

“Yahoo!” With a joyous cry, Suo Jia flailed around in excitement. Sitting on top of the 9 meter tall dragon’s head between its arched back horns while looking at the land stretched in front of them made it seem cooler than any other open vehicle!

Sensing that Suo Jia had settled down in his seat, the Diamond Dragon finally relaxed. With a burst of strength from its legs, its walking pace increased from slow to fast, before turning into a run. Amidst fierce booming sounds, the Diamond Dragon slightly opened its wings as it traveled at a speed impossible to describe!

Suo Jia looked down at the Diamond Dragon in gratitude as he comfortably settled in his chair. If it were any other person, even if the dragon allowed them to, they wouldn’t be able to sit here. The cold air’s invasion from the Diamond Dragon’s Glacial Armor wasn’t something one could withstand for long periods of time.

But Suo Jia was different. After completing the Atlantis equipment set, resisting the cold was a minor matter; it was pretty much an immunity to water magic. Even if the water was at absolute zero, it couldn’t possibly harm Suo Jia.

Suo Jia leisurely say in the chair, but he didn’t relax for long. Instead, he quickly flipped out from his interspatial ring some books discussing the Diamond Dragon’s traits. He swiftly began to look through them; he wanted to know just exactly was going on with the Diamond Dragon’s evolution this time!

After flipping through the books for only a while, Suo Jia found the place that discussed its changes. First was those pale blue crystal-like scales that could improve the already amazing Diamond Dragon’s defense. At the same low temperature, this layer of scales would be able to boost the Diamond Dragon’s defense by around twofold. These dragon scales were called—Diamond Dragon Armor!

Aside from improving the Diamond Dragon’s defense, the Dragon Armor could also stop the cold air from spreading, which meant that the Diamond Dragon could maintain its attack state for longer periods of time. That way, the combat state wouldn’t just wear off halfway through a fight because a lot of the cold air had dispersed away.

Before today, the Diamond Dragon could only keep its battle state for around a dozen minutes. When this time limit passed, the Diamond Dragon couldn’t continue holding its current appearance. But now, after possessing the Diamond Armor, the cold air’s dispersion rate was drastically slowed. Currently speaking, maintaining this state for 20 minutes wasn’t an issue.

Of course, this Diamond Dragon Armor was still in its elementary state. As the Diamond Dragon’s strength increased, its defense would become better, and its ability to stop cold air from diffusing would improve as well. By the final phase, the Diamond Dragon would be able to permanently maintain this appearance.

As for the changes, these were all natural, and had nothing to do with abilities. The dragon had been constantly picking up things from its battles, and making endless alterations to perfect its results. The Diamond Dragon’s fighting style was actually created by the Diamond Dragon condensing all the Mysterious Ice it could control. Any forms depended on its own decisions. When it believed its appearance was suitable, it would naturally transform into it.

After looking up the Diamond Dragon’s changes, Suo Jia put away the history book and excitedly looked down at the Diamond Dragon. Suo Jia watched the dragon’s large legs take large strides with its giant wings were open. This speed…was as fast as lightning!

When it encountered a magical beast’s interception, the Diamond Dragon would run faster for a few steps before it would exert strength on its feet and send its body rocketing up first. After gliding over the 100 meter distance, it would land back on the ground and continue running. In the blink of an eye, the intercepting magical beast would already disappear from Suo Jia’s line of vision.

Finally…the 20 minutes passed very quickly. Right before it crumbled, the Diamond Dragon stopped and crawled along the ground, before cracks quickly spread across the body as it fell apart. The next moment…the Diamond Dragon cheerfully leapt out from the pile of ice cubes, excitedly jumping into Suo Jia’s arms as it warmly licked Suo Jia’s face with its tiny tongue.