It had been a month and a half since Damien's battle with Igor and his promotion to Wyvern level.
This month and a half could be considered both eventful and uneventful at the same time. Damien simply didn't know which category it fell into.
On one side, he had been battling constantly with people at his own level. Unlike the Snake level, the combatants at the Wyvern level actually had some ability.
Although it wasn't able to push his limits, his combat experience had indeed increased. Stupid mistakes like losing his hand due to the instability of elements like what happened during his fight with Igor would most likely not happen again.
Though, the future couldn't be predicted, so he couldn't say for sure.
At the Wyvern level, the number of people qualified to reach the Dragon level was much higher than those in the Snake level qualified to enter the Wyvern level.
In general, the quality of combatants was higher. Nobody who entered here could do so out of luck, and nobody let their fear overtake their desire for improvement.
In this kind of environment, even after a month and a half, Damien wasn't able to challenge the 10 times a day limit, at most challenging 6 or 7 times before returning home to rest.
The house itself wasn't very big, similar to a one-bedroom apartment, but it was much better than the tiny shack he had been given before.
Not to mention, there was higher quality food and bedding in comparison. Damien rarely used the bed, but he appreciated the upgraded room since Ruyue, who would rarely leave the house, would live more comfortably.
Ruyue's life had been relatively dull since they arrived at White Dragon Grotto. She had made little improvement in any area, since there wasn't a situation to foster her growth, but she was at least able to absorb the elemental essence of the Endless Snow Mountain and use it to attempt comprehension towards her affinities.
Progress was slow, but at least it was progress. It was enough for her to tell Damien that she was improving, lessening his worries.
And he had plenty of worries. His expectations for the White Dragon Grotto had been high at the start, and they remained high, but he had recently encountered a major problem.
The bodies of these normal individuals with dragon bloodline weren't the same as his. For them, under the training environment created by Senior Bai, the constant consumption of other bloodlines would lead to the purification and growth of their own.
This was the essence of the White Dragon Grotto.
But Damien was different. He was the bearer of the Void Physique. The number of opponents he had killed and devoured over this month and a half numbered in the hundreds, so the level of dragon bloodline he had was substantially increased, but that was it.
Whether it came to the purification aspect or the control aspect, neither was able to improve, even in the current conditions.
From what he had theorized, his Void Physique was indeed the cause of this. Unlike others, he could achieve perfect integration and balance. From the years he had been training, this was the function of the Void Physique he had long since discovered.
But the problem was, the physique never purged anything, it only improved. His other bloodlines were terrible right now, and the amount of influence they had on him would be reduced due to the integration of more dragon bloodline, but they wouldn't disappear.
This meant that he could either go through a similar process as he was doing with his dragon bloodline with his other bloodlines, strengthening them and having his Void Physique balance them and turning him into a chimera, or he could leave them be.
But he wanted neither. He wanted to purify his bloodline until only dragon bloodline remained. At that point, rather than his status saying "Half-Human/Half-Beast," it'd say "Half-Human/Half-Dragon".
That human part of him would never leave unless he chanced upon some miraculous circumstances, with his integrated bloodlines having to share the other half, but he didn't mind this.
Still, that wasn't the point. Currently, the only purification he could receive was from the ambient dragon aura that provided passive purification.
But that was extremely slow. If he had to quantify it, his bloodline had been purified around 1% in his entire stay. With this rate of purification, it'd take him close to 9 years to completely purify his bloodline of any outside influence.
For others, this could be considered as an average rate of purification. Some of the combatants had even stayed within this grotto for tens of years and hadn't achieved a pure bloodline.
Especially when considering the fact that Damien could only receive passive purification, this rate of improvement could be considered insane.
But it wasn't nearly enough for him. In the first place, he only had 7 more months within the 3000 Beast Mountain Range, and he didn't plan on staying in the Endless Snow Mountain the entire time.
Obviously, exploring the entire area was impossible, but he at least wanted to visit that massive tree in the center.
At the moment, his dragon bloodline had become strong enough for him to achieve a complete transformation. Although he couldn't totally control it, he at least was able to maintain a sliver of reasoning.
In the end, he had benefitted from this environment. It was just that such benefit wasn't enough. It didn't live up to his expectations.
Damien sighed lightly.
"Do you want to leave this place?" Ruyue's voice suddenly woke him from his thoughts.
"Sigh, I'm not sure. I'll be able to strengthen my bloodline more if I reach the Dragon level, but that won't really matter. I won't be able to bring out the strength of my bloodline unless I can find a way to purify it, which seems impossible in this place."
Ruyue looked at his helpless expression and shook her head. "This type of opportunity is rare as is. It's almost impossible for us to find something that'll immediately get the results you want. If we stay, at least you know what you're getting into, but if we leave, it's unknown. It might be fruitful, but it also might be useless."
Damien fell into thought. Although Ruyue's words sounded like they were trying to make him dispirited, he knew that she was only speaking the truth. This was exactly what he needed to hear.
Bullshit that would just feed his ego or give him false hope was, after all, bullshit. He didn't need that.
Ruyue had become a lot more thoughtful since they entered the mountain range, either that or she had become gentler.
And Damien was the same. The consideration she had for him ever since they had gotten into this situation made his attitude a lot gentler. The bickering they used to do was a much rarer sight nowadays.
"Ahh, I don't know what to do." Damien sighed in exasperation, falling limply to the side.
Due to the position they were sitting in, with Ruyue on the bed and Damien on the floor next to her, his head ended up on her lap.
But neither of them moved to remedy it. Damien was enjoying the feeling of Ruyue's thighs while she was feeling an unknown emotion that stopped her.
After sitting in silence for a few minutes, Damien finally spoke once more. "Let's leave."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. I'd rather cling to the possibility of gaining something than continue on this path that I know won't give me anything. Even if we end up wasting time in the end, it'll just be the consequences of my own decisions."
Damien slowly stood up, stretching his body.
"Plus, don't think I didn't notice. You didn't actually gain a spark of insight, did you?"
"Ah…" Ruyue opened her mouth, but no words came out.
"Relax. You don't need to feel bad about being the reason for us leaving, since I was planning to leave anyway. But I can no longer force you to endure while I reap all the benefits. We came here so both of us can get stronger. It's not right for me to be selfish."
Ruyue smiled lightly. Indeed, she would've felt extremely guilty if she had been the reason for him leaving. But his words had slightly calmed her heart.
The two of them spoke for a little longer, trying to hatch plans for how they were going to move after departing, when suddenly, Damien's golden medallion shone with splendor.
"Eh? What is this?" Damien took the medallion out and looked at it.
A projection of Senior Bai suddenly showed up. "Hahaha, kid, I heard you want to leave."
"Ah…" This time, it was Damien's turn to be speechless.
Seeing his expression, Senior Bai broke out into a fit of laughter. "Don't worry, kid, I wasn't spying on your love nest. There just happens to be a feature involved in your medallion that allows me to know when the topic of leaving the grotto is spoken about.
"It's not to pry or anything, but I can't let those ungrateful fellows who want to take without gratitude and then disappear off easy, right?
"Anyway, I know you aren't like them. I've been watching your progress recently, since your rise was pretty meteoric even compared to some of the top talents here. I noticed that your bloodline hasn't been purified at all, regardless of how much you strengthen it.
"To be honest, I've never seen a case like yours before. This environment was made specifically for people like you, yet it seems to be hindering you.
"And so, I have an opportunity for you. Well, it's both an opportunity for you and a mission that you can do for me as thanks for saving your life back then."
