"..."

Ithil stood in front of his parents, now 80 meters long. To his parents, it was as if he had aged several hundred years in front of them. He was rougher, with larger spikes growing out here and there. He didn't look like a copper dragon anymore, nor like any other dragon they had ever seen.

After a few seconds of staring, Tikhar seemed to think for herself for a moment.

"This is... concerning," she eventually said. "We'll need to find out more about this. Especially since it could be dangerous. I've never heard of anything like this."

Ithil shrunk back to 30 meters. He then looked up at her.

"And how would we do that?" he asked.

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Ithil flew together with his mother toward the library. It was where they had the highest chance of finding something out since ancient information had been stored there for generations. The dragon library was located on the southern side of Cliffside and was sort of a community project. Anyone who had information could store it there. Things were written in many different languages, but that was no problem for dragons. They had their given knowledge.

It took some time to arrive because of the many dragons flying around, busy with their own lives. They landed at the entrance and morphed into their humanoid forms. Reading books was after all easier without claws.

The library was quite large and extended several kilometers into the cliff. They searched for several hours, trying to find something about Ithil's condition. They asked the dragons who worked there as a hobby, but none knew anything helpful. They were about to turn around when Ithil's mother spotted something.

"Could that be something?"

Ithil, who had almost completely given up, sighed and walked over to where his mother stood studying a very old book. Despite the magic dragons used to preserve books, the one Tikhar had found was in a very bad condition. She had to be very careful when opening it, or else it would tear.

The title on the front wasn't readable due to the passage of time, but the first page was, however.

"The Black Mountain Dragon?"

They continued reading. However, some parts had very ancient words that were hard to understand, and it took much longer than they hoped. A few days later, the book was finished.

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It contained information about a long-since-extinct dragon species, the Black Mountain Dragon, which was of a group called Mountain Dragons. They were capable of exceeding the upper size limit for dragons and could grow to extreme sizes. However, they disappeared due to some kind of internal conflict. Believed to be extinct, they were forgotten in history.

"The description certainly fits you. If you really are a Mountain Dragon, then we won't have to worry about your size. However, the information might be false... I guess time will tell," Ithil's mother said after some time. She still looked worrisome, but perhaps a bit more reassured than before.

"At least we have some information," Ithil said.

They didn't stay much longer, and soon, they were on their way back.

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Ithil looked at his siblings, deep in thought. They were undergoing their adult sleep. He was thinking about whether to leave right away or wait for them to wake up. He planned to finish what he started at the Island of Trials. He had only explored the southern half, which was the calmest part. Now that he had grown significantly, he hoped to tackle the rest. He was unsure of his power since he hadn't fought since waking up, so the Island of Trials would be a good place to get used to his new body.

'It might be a long time since I see them again, especially if the creatures at the Island of Trials are as powerful as mother says... Although... I feel much stronger than before, so maybe it will be a breeze to conquer the island.'

Eventually, Ithil decided to stay for a year. It wasn't Ithil's problem if they didn't wake up during that time.

He walked back to his parents, who were discussing what Ithil and Tikhar had found at the library.

"Yeah, there isn't much we can do. Let's wait and see what happens," Ithil's father said.

Ithil managed to hear a bit of the conversation before they spotted him.

"Oh, there you are, Ithil," Ithil's father said.

"I've decided to stay a bit longer. It would be nice to meet them before I leave again."

"Great! You're welcome to live here as much as you want."

The following year was quite uneventful. He spent most of the time to himself, studying his morphing ability or practicing control of his body. It would be bad if he accidentally injured himself during a fight.

His research of the morphing ability lead to some results, but not much. He could become any size from when he was a newborn to his current length. He couldn't grow any bigger, which was expected. He felt a little let down that he couldn't become smaller than a newborn since it could become very useful. For example, to hide in small places in case he gets severely damaged. But it was still very useful.

He also tried to change his clothing multiple times, but the ability was still too undeveloped. He could change the color, but not much more than that. He could switch clothes while in humanoid form, but it felt too bothersome. His current clothing was good enough.

After about half a year, Nadra woke up. She was quite surprised to see him when she woke up. Especially since Ithil looked completely different. It took some time for Ithil to explain what had happened to him, with the part about his extreme size being the hardest. It was quite hard for Nadra to accept that her brother was several times larger than her.

Visil woke up only a couple of weeks later. Again, Ithil had to explain everything. This time, however, he had Nadra to help him, so it went a bit faster. Ithil was then forced to tell them of everything he had been through, which took a while. Especially since they constantly interrupted him.

Ihtil then spent some time training with them. But it wasn't very effective, since he could almost kill them with his breath alone. So instead he went back to training control.

And almost half a year later, it was time for Ithil to head back to the Island of Trials.