Limitless Evolution: I'm The New Dragon God?
Chapter 64: Mana Crystals

Chapter 64: Chapter 64: Mana Crystals

"ROARRR!"

Ryu unleashed [Sunflare Glacial Roar], a devastating hybrid breath of searing heat and icy death.

A blinding beam of golden-blue energy tore through the battlefield, its intensity both scorching and freezing at once. A dozen Ice Giants were caught in its wake. They let out agonized howls — but only for a moment.

Their towering bodies were instantly reduced to scorched, frozen corpses, locked in contorted shapes of agony.

Then—

CRACK!

A gust of wind swept through the clearing, and the corpses shattered into shimmering blue particles, glittering like powdered sapphire snow as they faded from existence.

"Whoosh!"

Flapping his wings with ease, Ryu — now in his full Solarfrost Imperial Dragon form — descended gracefully beside another cluster of Ice Giants.

He didn’t need words.

With a single swipe of his scaled, glowing paw, he struck the group with raw force and momentum.

"CRACK! THUD! SPLASH!"

They were flung like ragdolls, slamming into rock walls, shattering against tree trunks, or smashing into one another in midair.

Their bodies ruptured in a mix of blue blood, shattered bone, and torn flesh stained the snowy terrain.

It was a brutal scene.

But before long, their remains vanished into motes of fading light, leaving behind only glimmering monster cores and a few glowing skill books.

Ryu glanced at the loot briefly, but he wasn’t finished yet.

Sensing the last remaining Ice Giants regrouping in the distance, he narrowed his draconic eyes.

[Tunnel Gore Strike]

With a sudden rumble, he launched himself into the ground like a meteor piercing ice. The dungeon floor split open as his massive form burrowed through frozen stone like it was soft soil.

Then—

"BOOM!"

He burst up behind the remaining giants, erupting from below in an explosion of shattered ground and snow.

Caught off guard, the last of the Ice Giants had no time to react.

One by one, he tore through them with precise, powerful strikes, ripping through their defenses from behind. Claws flashed. Wings slammed. Ice shattered.

The last of them fell.

The air was thick with the lingering heat of battle and the scent of scorched ice and blood.

Suddenly—

[ Congratulations! You have leveled up. ]

[ Level 11 → Level 12 ]

[ Strength +19 | Agility +19 | Vitality +22 ]

[ Mana +200 ]

The glowing notifications blinked across his vision, but Ryu paid them little mind.

Panting lightly in his Dragon form, he hurriedly scanned the battlefield littered with faintly glowing items.

"Hah... not bad," he muttered.

He moved quickly, weaving between the cracked earth and frozen corpses that were slowly vanishing into particles. One by one, he picked up the shimmering monster cores, each pulsating faintly with elemental energy.

Some were still warm, others icy cold to the touch.

Each one told a story of a beast killed by sheer power and precise skill.

After a few minutes, his dragon palm were full.

"43 monster cores," he counted aloud, stacking them neatly into his Fusion Lab.

Inside, they shimmered like crystallized energy. Many were from Ice Giants and Panthers, with a few from crystalline serpents and wolves.

Then his gaze landed on the most exciting part:

Skill books.

He used Basic Appraisal to inspect them:

[ Frost Shard Lancer ] (F) – Unleash a barrage of ice shards in a straight line.

[ Slime Absorption Field ] (F) – Temporarily absorb minor elemental attacks.

[ Snow Panther Pounce ] (F) – Grants a triple-speed leap with a short stun on hit.

[ Crystal Skin Reinforcement ] (E) – Temporarily boosts defense by forming a crystalline layer.

[ Ice Giant’s Grip ] (E) – A powerful hold technique that freezes what it grabs.

[ Frozen Echo Step ] (E) – Move with ghostly speed, leaving behind afterimages.

[ Dire Wolf’s Howl ] (E) – Temporarily increases allies’ strength and lowers enemies’ morale.

[ Chillbite Fang ] (F) – Imbue melee strikes with biting cold.

[ Avalanche Guard ] (E) – A defensive stance that reduces frontal damage.

[ Beast Sense ] (E) – Heightens awareness and perception for five minutes.

He reached down and picked up a glowing blue tome edged in silver runes.

"Ten skill books... some F Rank, but a few are definitely E Rank." His lips curved into a satisfied grin. "If I’m lucky, I might be able to evolve them into a D Rank skill, or even a D-Rank Skill Tree."

He grinned once more before storing them away inside his Fusion Lab.

"Now... where is the Boss of this mode? Wait... now that I think about it, why didn’t it come for me like the others? Something’s definitely off about them," Ryu muttered as his dragon form glided forward through the cold air.

His draconic eyes and sharpened senses stayed alert for any potential ambush. He had already wiped out the ordinary monsters. Nothing interesting remained in sight.

However, something caught his attention.

A glimmer in the snow below sparkled oddly. It wasn’t the usual icy reflection. It was bright blue, as if something beneath the snow was glowing.

Suspicious, Ryu descended until he hovered just a few meters above the ground.

He inhaled deeply, gathering solar energy into his mouth, and then unleashed a heated breath upon the snowy surface.

The snow began to melt away slowly, revealing a cave-like structure hidden beneath the frost.

Bright blue glimmers radiated from within the small cave entrance, faint but unmistakable.

"What is this? A cave inside a cavern dungeon?" Ryu mused aloud, though he already excited to explore it.

But the space was too narrow, so he had to morphed into his Manus form to get inside.

Inside, the atmosphere was dim and quiet. The cavern walls were embedded with glowing crystals that softly illuminated the space.

As he focused on one of the crystals, its basic information appeared before his eyes.

[ Mana Crystal - Grade: F ]

[ Extractions Unavailable ]

"Ohh, Mana Crystals... I’ve heard of them, but I don’t really know what they’re used for."

"Can they be used to increase one’s Mana?"

To find out, he scraped one of the Mana Crystals from the wall and examined it closely.

He tried every method he could think of—infusing it with his aura, holding it in his palm, and even attempting to swallow it. That last idea nearly choked him. Clearly, he didn’t possess some legendary devour ability that allowed him to consume foreign items safely.

After several failed attempts, he came to a conclusion.

The Mana Crystals were most likely meant for crafting magical weapons and gear rather than direct consumption.

"They’re definitely valuable... just not useful to me right now," he muttered.

He sighed, then called out with a smirk, ’Grakar, it’s time for you to come out and do some work.’