The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 26: A Guest Visits the County (1) (Part 1)

A translucent message floated before his eyes—
You have devoured the genetic material of the Ice Drake.

The moment it appeared, his body immediately reacted. His fingernails and toenails transformed.

The appearance didn’t change much.
To any observer, they still looked like human nails—but the durability and strength were far from human.

◆ Dragon’s Claw [A]

: Upon learning this skill, the player’s [Keratin] composition is enhanced. The density and hardness are refined to rival that of a dragon.
Henceforth, the [fingernails, toenails, and hair] of the player will gain a [+1,601,200%] increase in hardness and a [+1,992,500%] increase in strength.
When using this skill in attacks, it ignores [-35%] of the target’s defense.

A skill description floated before his eyes.
Just like [Toughened Skin][D], it was a passive skill.

And “Passive” meant “involuntary.”
In other words, a passive skill did not require any active input.

Just possessing it kept the effect constantly active—an incredibly convenient and useful type of skill.

What’s more, it was a complete skill.
A fully realized ability that required no further Predation.

“…Didn’t get any other powers though.”

It seemed that by focusing on acquiring Dragon’s Claw [A], he hadn’t inherited any of the Ice Drake’s other abilities.

His [Predation][S+] skill was still incomplete. It couldn’t extract all the traits at once.
To gain one, he had to give up another.

“This is better anyway.”

Rather than gaining a bunch of half-baked abilities, it was much wiser to fully obtain a single, solid one.

Especially since the Ice Drake’s genetic material was rare—so rare it was practically extinct.

The lower a species is on the food chain, the stronger its drive to reproduce.
With constant threats to survival, they strive to leave behind as many offspring as possible, as quickly as possible.

The higher a species stands on the food chain, the less they feel this urge.

The Ice Drake ruled the Snowy Mountains.
To be precise, it had once ruled them—as their apex predator.

It had no natural threats in its domain, so the Ice Drake lacked any real drive to reproduce.
It never bothered seeking out mates.
Its fertility was correspondingly low.

That wasn’t to say other Ice Drakes didn’t exist, but…

“I’d probably have to comb through the entire North just to find a few more.”

So instead of acquiring some miscellaneous half-powers, he had made the smarter choice in obtaining a pure dragon gene.

Especially when it was an [A]-Rank skill.

Even [Regeneration][B-], which he got from the Ice Troll, showed amazing performance for its rank.
He couldn’t even imagine what [A]-Rank could do.

“My nails are too short to test this properly…”

Hunting monsters in the snowy mountains had worn them down.
There wasn’t much nail left.

After some thought, he used [Nutrient Synthesis][C+] to burn calories and produce keratin.
Then, with [Regeneration][B-], his shortened nails quickly grew back.

The newly grown nails immediately benefited from [Dragon’s Claw][A].

Since passive skills were permanently applied once acquired, he had effectively gained a personal weapon that could be regenerated infinitely through [Regeneration][B-].

“Great synergy with the regeneration ability.”

This meant he could freely adjust the length of his nails depending on the situation.
As expected, going all-in on a single ability was better than spreading himself thin.

“How strong did I get…?”

The stat boosts were absurd.
But he still didn’t have an intuitive feel for how hard the claws really were.

“Let’s see if there’s anything I can test on…”

He looked around—but nothing stood out.

The snowy landscape was endless white, completely frozen over by Ice Breath.

That’s when something in the snow caught his eye.

“…That sword.”

It was the one he’d thrown while fighting the Ice Drake.
Nothing special—but it had been forged from steel and was of decent quality.

He walked over and picked it up from where it had sunk into the snow.
Though the blade had dulled from the battle, it was still good enough for a test.

He raised a nail at an angle. Then gripped the blade—

Changg—!

“…Huh?”

The sword just snapped in two.

He hadn’t done anything dramatic—just applied light pressure.
Yet the blade split cleanly in half.

To be precise, it had been torn apart.

“I expected it to be stronger than steel, but this…”

He hadn’t thought it would destroy the sword so easily.

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

The [Heightened Keratin] ability from his previous life—one he had desperately tried to reacquire—had been roughly equal to steel.
Even then, he had to stack multiple abilities to compete with a sword wrapped in Aura.

So he’d expected [Dragon’s Claw][A] to be similarly limited.

After all, it still enhanced keratin, just like before.

But even by itself, it far outclassed a steel blade.

“This could probably shatter Aura too.”

He hadn’t tested it against Aura directly, but it seemed likely.

He had faced many Aura users during his Predator days.
From that experience, he was confident he could now crush an Aura Blade easily.

That wasn’t all.

“Maybe even a Master’s Aura Blade wouldn’t stand a chance?”

Aura at its peak—Master-class.
The ultimate goal for knights, martial artists, and all Aura users.

Even that kind of blade might not beat this [Dragon’s Claw][A].

Because this ability was no metaphor. It was a true Dragon’s Claw.
And no matter how powerful the Master-class warrior… before a dragon, they were just prey.

Dragons were the pinnacle of biological evolution.
The claim that no gene on this continent could surpass a dragon’s was no exaggeration.

“Crazy…”

The word slipped out on its own.

This truly was a power born from devouring a dragon’s gene.
All the struggle of hunting the Ice Drake had been worth it.

With this—

“Perfect.”

He had surpassed his previous life.

One step closer to becoming what Ian had called the Ultimate Lifeform.
One step closer to Ian himself.

And it wasn’t just [Dragon’s Claw][A].

==「Player Information」==

[Name] – Adrian Whitewolf
[Title] – Lord of the Snowy Mountains
[Level] – Level 26
[HP] – 26
[MP] – 0
[Stats] – STR: 27(+5) / AGI: 13(+5) / VIT: 20(+5) / MANA: 6(+5)
[EXP] – 34.7%
<Bonus Stats: +13>

Level 26 already.
And now there was a new [Title] section in his Player Info tab.

Translatin_Otaku

•