TLWD 26

Chapter : 26 – A Guest Arrives at the Count’s Territory (1):

The translucent message stating that he had devoured Gelu Drake’s genetic material appeared before his eyes.

No sooner had the message popped up than his body reacted instantly—his fingernails and toenails transformed in a flash.

Visually, there wasn’t much change.
They still looked like human nails, but their durability and strength were no longer anything human.

◆ Dragon’s Claw [A]

When this skill is acquired, the player’s [keratin] components are enhanced. Density and toughness are refined to rival that of a dragon. From this point on, the player’s [nails, toenails, and hair] will have their hardness increased by [+1,601,200%] and strength increased by [+1,992,500%].

When attacking with this skill, the player ignores [-35%] of the target’s defense.

<This skill is a passive and takes permanent effect upon acquisition.>

The skill description floated in front of his eyes.
Like Reinforced Skin [D], it was a passive skill.

And passive meant “automatic.”
In other words, a skill that didn’t require deliberate activation to take effect.

Just having it meant it was always active—a very, very convenient and useful ability.

And not only that, it was a complete skill.
It didn’t require any additional devouring. It was a fully formed ability.

“Didn’t get any of the other powers, though.”

He figured he hadn’t acquired Gelu Drake’s other traits because all the devouring went into Dragon’s Claw [A].

His Devour skill [S+] wasn’t perfect enough to extract all of Gelu Drake’s abilities.
To gain one meant having to give up another.

“But that’s fine.”

It was far better to gain one complete, useful ability than to end up with fragmented, half-baked ones.

After all, Gelu Drake’s genes weren’t something he could easily get again.

There weren’t many of them—if any at all.

The lower something is on the food chain, the more it reproduces.
That’s because the risk of death is higher, so it leaves many offspring quickly.

Conversely, the higher something is on the food chain, the less reproductive drive it has.

And Gelu Drake?
It was the ruler of the snowy mountains.
Or to be precise, the former top predator known as the ruler of the snowy mountains.

With nothing threatening its life up there, Gelu Drake had little to no instinct to reproduce.
It didn’t go out of its way to find mates.
Naturally, its fertility rate wasn’t great either.

It wasn’t that there were no other Gelu Drakes, but…

“Maybe I’d find a few more if I turned the entire North upside down.”

So instead of acquiring a handful of miscellaneous and unimpressive abilities, it was much better to claim one pure, dragon-level gene.

And in that sense, the grade [A] spoke for itself.

Even the regeneration ability he got from the Ice Troll was only a [B-] grade, yet look how well it performed.

So [A]… was on a whole different level.

“Too bad my nails are too short to test this properly…”

From all the monster hunting in the snowy mountains, his nails were worn down to the quick.
They were so shaved down, they barely qualified as nails anymore.

After a moment of thought, he used Nutrient Synthesis [C+] to burn calories and generate keratin.
Then he triggered Regeneration [B-], and his nails grew rapidly in an instant.

The newly grown nails immediately reflected the Dragon’s Claw [A] effect.

Because passive skills took permanent effect from the moment they were acquired, he now essentially had a regenerating set of personal weapons—infinitely replaceable through Regeneration.

“Amazing synergy with my regeneration ability.”

Now, he could extend or retract his claws freely depending on the situation.
As expected—choosing one powerful ability was better than juggling several mediocre ones.

“I wonder how strong it actually is…”

The numbers on the screen were absurd, but the actual feel of it hadn’t sunk in yet.

“Something I can use to test this…”

He looked around.
But all he could see in the snow-covered mountain was ice—completely frozen solid by Ice Breath.

That’s when he spotted a single sword lying on the snow.

“That’s…”

It was the sword he had thrown aside while fighting Gelu Drake.

It wasn’t a special weapon, but it had been forged from solid steel and wasn’t of poor quality.

He walked over and picked it up out of the snow.
Though its edge had dulled from the battle, it would do for a test.

He raised one claw, angled it diagonally—and gripped the blade—

CHANGANG!

“…Huh?”

The sword snapped clean in two.

He hadn’t done anything elaborate.
He’d just squeezed it lightly.
And yet the blade split in half.
More precisely, it looked like it had been ripped in half.

“I figured it’d be harder than steel, but this is nuts…”

He never expected it to shred a blade so easily.

“Even the Heightened Keratin I devoured in my previous life wasn’t like this.”

The [Heightened Keratin] skill he had devoured in his past life had been just about equal to a steel sword.
He had to supplement it with other powers to take on aura-coated weapons.

So he thought Dragon’s Claw [A] would be similar.

After all, it still just strengthened the keratin in his body.

But this? It vastly surpassed steel swords on its own.

“At this rate, I could probably shatter aura too.”

He hadn’t actually tested it against aura, but he was pretty sure.

He’d fought plenty of aura users during his Predator days.

Based on those experiences, he was confident this could overpower an aura sword.

And not just any aura sword—

“I might even be able to beat a Master’s Aura Blade.”

The pinnacle of aura mastery: Master.

The ultimate level sought by all warriors who wield aura—knights, fighters, and beyond.

Even such a weapon couldn’t surpass Dragon’s Claw [A].

Because this power was quite literally a “dragon’s claw.”

And no matter how strong a Master-level warrior was, they were still prey before a dragon.

Dragons were the apex of biological evolution.

The claim that no genetic material on the continent could surpass that of a dragon wasn’t exaggerated—it was fact.

“Crazy…”

The word slipped out without thinking.

This truly was a power worthy of a dragon’s genes.

All the hardship he’d gone through to hunt Gelu Drake had paid off—and then some.

And with this—

“Nice.”

He had surpassed his past self.

One step closer to the Ultimate Lifeform that Ian had spoken of.

And one step closer to Ian himself.

And it wasn’t just Dragon’s Claw [A]—

==「Player Info」==

[Name] – Adrian Whitewolf
[Title] – Ruler of the Snowy Mountains
[Level] – 26
[HP] – 26
[MP] – 0
[Stats] – Strength: 27 (+5), Agility: 13 (+5), Endurance: 20 (+5), Mana: 6 (+5)
[Experience] – 34.7%

<Bonus Stat Points: +13>

Level 26.

A new [Title] entry had appeared in his Player Info tab as well.

Thanks to that, all his base stats had increased by +5, and he had 13 bonus stat points to distribute from leveling up.

“All stat points to Agility.”

He raised his Agility all the way to 26.

This massively boosted not only his reaction time, but also his sensory processing capabilities.

His sight was so sharp, he could see the crystalline structure of snow.
His smell was so sensitive, he could detect the scent of ice.
His hearing caught even the softest breeze.
His sense of touch was razor-sharp, able to detect the slightest presence.

“At this point, it’s basically ESP.”

No joke—if he kept investing in Agility, he’d reach sensory perception beyond extrasensory perception.

Maybe even surpass it.

Of course, it meant not investing in Strength or Endurance. But that was fine.

“I’ll just train my body harder.”

Those stats could be raised through physical training anyway.

Which meant it was finally time to head back to the Count’s territory.

“I wonder if Ian’s returned…”

With that thought, he began descending the mountain. Then stopped.

“Can’t just leave Gelu Drake’s body behind.”

Besides the heart, every part of Gelu Drake was valuable.

Even its hide, which could withstand steel blades, made excellent armor material.

Carefully, he stored the body in his inventory.

Thanks to the <Ruler of the Snowy Mountains> title boosting his Strength by +5, his inventory capacity had increased to 1,080kg.

◆ You have exceeded your inventory weight limit.

“Still not enough?”

He couldn’t store the entire thing.
The body alone was over 10 meters long—easily 1,500kg at a glance.

Meaning he’d have to ditch about 500kg even if he crammed it in.

“No way I’m doing that.”

Of course, he had no intention of leaving anything behind.

He dumped the remaining monster corpses from his inventory—he’d eaten most of them during the fight anyway.

He sharpened his claws and began butchering Gelu Drake’s body.

Its hide had resisted steel blades, but—

CRACK—!

Dragon’s Claw [A] shredded it like paper.

He severed the half-cut neck completely.
Chopped off the tail too.

Butchering it was no big deal.

Honestly, finding something he hadn’t done back in the Special Ops days would be harder.

“…This should be about right.”

After separating the parts, the torso alone weighed close to 1,080kg.

He stored it in his inventory—and it vanished.

Of course, not actually gone. Just stored.

What remained was the head and tail.

He’d have to carry those himself.

As he hoisted them over his shoulders, his body sank deep into the snow.
That was expected—they weighed about 500kg total.

That gave him an idea.

“Perfect for weight training.”

He swapped the torso back out of the inventory and stored the head and tail instead.

Then, using the 1,080kg torso like a barbell, he descended the mountain in a lunge stance.

◆ Muscle fibers tearing again!!
◆ Reconstructing new muscle fibers!
◆ Strength stat +3!

…The results were spectacular.

BOOOOOM!

The heavy wooden gates of the Count’s castle swung open with a thunderous roar.

The sound of the gate alone was deafening, but the shouts that followed were even louder.

“Th-that…!!”
“Gelu Drake…!!”

The guards at the gate all jumped in shock.

Every single one of them stared at him in utter disbelief.

“Lord Adrian…”
“He actually hunted a Gelu Drake?”
“Sir Kai wasn’t lying?!”
“I-it’s impossible…!!”

Shock.

Directed both at the Gelu Drake corpse on his shoulders—and at him.

‘Wasn’t trying to make a scene…’

He hadn’t brought it to attract attention.

He’d just used it as a weight for training Strength and Endurance.

And he’d raised Strength by +6 and Endurance by +3, too.

Still, he didn’t like drawing attention.

It wasn’t great for a special ops captain to stand out too much.

He set the body down—

THUD!!

A tremor rippled as the 1,080kg corpse hit the ground.

“G-good heavens…!”
“He carried that here…?”
“Oh my god…!”

…He’d unintentionally drawn even more attention.

As the soldiers swooned, the gate finished opening.
One man stood at the center—likely the centurion in charge.

“You there.”

“Y-you mean me, sir…?”

“Is there another officer here besides you?”

The centurion glanced around.

Sure, there were plenty of soldiers nearby.

But he seemed to realize he was the only one in charge and rushed over immediately.

“Reporting, sir!”

He froze briefly but snapped to discipline quickly.
Kai had clearly trained them well.

Adrian gestured at the Gelu Drake corpse on the ground.

“Store this safely. Make sure it doesn’t rot.”

Sure, he could just keep it in his inventory.

But he wanted to keep that empty to store nutrients for regeneration.

“Y-you mean… the Gelu Drake?”

“Yes. Is that a difficult order?”

“N-no, sir!!”

The centurion snapped to attention, stiff as a board.

Adrian brushed the snow off his head and asked:

“Also, any unusual activity in the territory while I was gone?”

“Unusual activity, sir?”

“Like anyone visiting the estate… anything out of the ordinary?”

“Ah—well, Sir Kai did escort a man into the territory earlier.”

Adrian’s eyes lit up.

If the centurion didn’t recognize him, he probably wasn’t from the estate.

Which meant—it was likely Ian.

“Who is it?”

“I’m not sure, sir…”

“You don’t even know his name?”

The centurion gave a small nod.

He glanced around, but the other soldiers also looked clueless.

Adrian asked again.

“Where is he now?”

“Currently meeting with Lady Seraphia in the lord’s manor.”

“Seraphia?”

“Yes, sir.”

He had to go right now.

“Make sure that Gelu Drake corpse is preserved.”

“You have my word, sir! I’ll guard it with my life!!”

The centurion stood stiff at attention.

As Adrian began to walk—

“Form ranks!!!”

The centurion’s shout rang out.

The soldiers instantly stood at attention, forming lines on either side.

Their posture was perfect—disciplined to the core.

“To Lord Adrian, who risked his life for the Count’s territory—salute!!”

The way they looked at him now was completely different from just two weeks ago.

“““Honor!!”””

Adrian walked between their salutes, heading straight for the lord’s manor.