A few minutes later, Kai's keen senses could faintly pick up the smell and sound of humans, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

He understood that the humans would most likely hunt him after the slaughter on the mountainside but strangely felt at ease now he was beneath the earth and, seemingly, protected by the dryad.

The subtle feeling of danger that had steadily been growing in his subconscious had, in an instant, disappeared when he settled into the warm, dry grass bedding.

With a dull thump, Kai let his head fall to the ground and marvelled at the softness of the roots underneath.

The young dragon was exhausted and, within moments, slowly closed his golden eyes as his body curled up. After devouring the rabbits, his stomach was full and, with with the mental fatigue from the genetic memories he had recently regained, he almost offered a prayer of thanks that he could rest.

It wasn't long before Kai fell into a deep, unfathomable sleep and his breathing and vital signs slowed to an almost non-existent state. His body temperature also dropped rapidly until it was the same as the warm burrow, at least in comparison to the outside forest.

It was evident that if he had fallen asleep outside or in a slightly colder environment, due to his ectothermic nature, his life would have been in danger.

If Kai could see himself now, he would have understood where the previous sense of danger had come. If it weren't for his bloodline and being naturally attuned to the element of fire, he would have been in serious trouble.

Now the danger had passed, the young dragon could sleep and, by doing so, his body to capitalise on his recent gains and attempt repair any damage he had suffered.

A dragon's sleep patterns were vastly different from most other species. When they slept, they fell into a state of near-stasis for long periods of time as their bodies attuned to the environment and experiences gained since the last cycle.

This was the main reason it took Kai so long to emerge from the cave system. Although it was vast, it wasn't eighteen years worth, even with the inhabitant's fierce opposition.

A creature that did not fear the relentless march of time would move at their own pace.

The Dryad, being able to split her consciousness in its domain, saw the changes in Kai and inwardly panicked.

It couldn't do much as she was currently conversing with the humans and trying to direct them away and, from the visual on their display stone, taken from the mist image taken from the mountain, it confirmed that they were after her newest subject.

A loud thump, Kai's heart beating once to push the blood in a complete cycle of his body, caused the dryad to relax knowing that he was still alive. However, it noted the drop in the dragon's temperature and ordered its roots to wrap around him carefully.

Kai looked like he had been covered in a swarm of slithering, green snakes, however, as the roots rubbed against each other and his scales, they generated heat.

The roots were extremely careful as they moved and it was evident that the would not harm the young dragon.

While Kai wasn't in any danger anymore, his body was still affected by the cold, and his extra warmth helped speed up his natural processes and body functions.

Naturally, a young dragon would be nestled between his mothers tail, but the dryad had unknowingly provided an excellent alternative and helped Kai's instincts to relax. This sense of security enabled his body to focus on gaining benefits from his bloodline, and for the first time in his life, Kai underwent a dragon's refinement.

Another thump of Kai's heart, like a clap of thunder, caused the world energy to ripple violently before slowly floating toward him.

If any other were to see this scene, without the knowledge of their forefathers, they would be shocked out of their wits.

World energy was passively absorbed during mediation and refined into spiritual energy, but the young dragon was breaking all common sense and seemingly pulling it towards him.

A breath of air escaped Kai's lungs, small sparks flickering through the dense mist-like vapour, releasing the spirit energy that was considered waste to his body but was beyond pure to traditional cultivators.

The dryad's avatar, standing in front of two humans shivered in delight as its roots greedily absorbed the essence, the impurities that caused it to be expelled by the dragon entirely insignificant for the dryad.

Luckily, they put it down to a dryad's rage. It had just been explaining how a reptile had come and killed one of its subjects, creatures cultivated to provide the dryad spirit energy, before flying towards the centre of the forest.

The dryad even explained how its defences had been turned to ash in seconds and had been currently jumping up and down like a child who had its candy stolen.

It was also demanding the human's make up for its loss, as they were meant to be protecting it, and that if the creature was caught, it wanted the beast as its protector as the Woad's had killed all the beasts of value.

The dryad moved from threats to bribes and then attempted to get sympathy from the humans, giving the pair, a man and a woman, a headache and after confirming that the creature that they were hunting had passed by, quickly made their excuses and started to leave.

After they reported to their superiors, that the reptile was last spotted heading deeper into the forest, they left as the dryad kept shouting, seemingly unwilling to let them go without confirmation that its demands would be honoured.

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The moment the humans had left its senses, the dryad's avatar body disintegrated, the energy needed to keep it functioning for no purpose not worth it as it refocused its presence on the reptile nestled in its vines.

For a brief moment, it considered repositioning him next to her core, where it would be able to absorb the essence directly but quickly dismissed the idea.

While the dryad would benefit significantly from being able to consume and refine the pure essence directly instead of through its roots, the dragon still hadn't gained her trust, and so it would be a considerable risk.

The fact that it could breathe fire meant that the Dryad would be foolish to alienate or restrain Kai and, for the moment, he seemed content to stay which reduced the urge to capture and dominate him significantly.

After watching Kai for hours, the dryad got bored and focused its attention on the surviving rabbits, creating new tunnels that were too small for her new subject, but would enable the rabbits to move about safely.

The dryad knew that keeping predator and prey together would be a challenge, but if it could get Kai to hunt those that hunted her other subjects, then it would be a massive advantage over the other dryads in the area.

Then, it could gradually gain his trust and, if he proved himself, allow Kai into its core chamber and instantly benefit from his presence.

Little did it know, in the mass of squirming roots that were still carefully wrapped around Kai, a few of them had started to mutate.

Dragonic spirit energy was incredibly pure, yet tyrannical in nature. When it had been absorbed and filtered by the roots, the essence had left an imprint on some of the dryads cells.

Here and there, almost too small to be noticed with the naked eye, were small, bark scales. These wooden scales were incredibly durable while maintaining their flexibility and looked remarkably similar to Kai's if you ignore the texture and colour.

As Kai slept, his body grew and adapted, a haven and the awakened memories enabling his bloodline to advance at a rapid pace.

His horns grew slightly, his scales became much sharper and defined, and his muscles change their composition enabling most more explosive power.

His teeth hardened alongside his bones, generating little snapping and grating sounds the reverberated through the warren's tunnels.

What was even stranger, and seemed to defy all conventional logic, was that he levelled up multiple times, releasing waves of spirit energy and rapidly depleting the world essence in the surrounding area.

Usually, a creature would level up at the moment they had gained enough experience and world energy yet, dragons once again broke the mould. They could instinctively suppress the ability to level when they were in danger, reducing the risks that came alongside the event.

The increase in strength one gained from levelling, while good, in the midst of combat, could become a huge disadvantage. The few minutes where the body changed, releasing energy, were also unstable and prone to moments of weakness. The change in one's body would throw their movements and skills into disarray, allowing an opponent a golden opportunity to strike.

In fact, it was well known for most sentient creatures who knew they were close to levelling, especially those of higher levels which meant the impact would be much stronger, to go into closed-door cultivation.

This way, when they broke through, they would be in a safe environment and could focus on refining their new strength and, if they were lucky enough, abilities or skills that they had gained new insight.

The world essence that had been steadily flowing into Kai increased in speed, causing a whistling sound as it became condensed enough to affect the airflow.

The dryad's attention snapped back to the sleeping dragon, these events too obvious to miss. "He's ranking up?"

Its voice, though no one was there to hear it, was ecstatic.

While humans could easily identify one's level, something about the aura one possessed, most sentient beasts could innately tell the rank of an opponent. A rank represented the amount of refinement their core had gone under and the number of rings that overlapped it and, unlike levels, was directly related to their potential.

Those with higher ranks, beast, man or monster, were always more intelligence, had more substantial reserves of spirit energy and had bodies that were stronger, faster and more durable than those of lower rankings.

The dryad was already ecstatic when Kai had chosen to stay, knowing instinctively he was a rank one natural monster, an entity that was almost legendary in this part of the world.

While there were multiple cases of beasts breaking through and forming a monster core, they were never the opponent of a natural monster of the same level. The starting points and innate abilities of their bloodlines were like the difference between heaven and earth.

The dryads joy only increased when it found out the reptile was a drake.

There were only a few natural monsters, drakes being one of the more famous and so, if it nurtured him correctly, it would have a protector that was unparalleled and the dryads strength and influence would grow by leaps and bounds.

The fact that it just ranked up, something that often took dozens of years, vast amounts of resources and no small amount of luck, left the dryad flabbergasted and felt like it was dreaming.

Almost immediately, the room Kai was sleeping in started to sink as the roof was reinforced by many vines and roots. During this time, the Dryad pushed its senses to the limits, looking for any sign that anyone was watching nearby.

This creature, which it thought was a stroke of fortune to it was almost too valuable, and the dryad didn't know whether it was a stroke of immense fortune or terrible luck. Not just the humans, but even those of its kind would happily eliminate the dryad to get their hands on it.

If a rank one natural monster was enough to bring beings to blows, a rank two was enough to start wars, mainly as the monster was unbound and seemingly didn't have a human form.

However, instead of fear, the dryad hardened its resolve. The benefits were just too high, even passively, it could feel itself become more and more energised with the pure, at least to the druid, spirit energy Kai was continuously releasing.

A possessiveness that her ancestors were renowned for awoke in the dryad's bloodlines as it finally decided a gender, something that would have long-term consequences and often wouldn't be made until it was much older.

The dryad knew that it would need to appease Kai, ensure that he wanted to stay and create a bond between them so it couldn't give in to the impulses to lock him deep under the ground where the dragon would be safe.

On an instinctual level, the dryad knew that would be an incredibly foolish mistake, but that didn't mean it couldn't make his den, being created near its core, one of the safest places in its domain.

If the dryad provided the necessities, food, water and safety, it felt the dragon, which it still thought was a drake, would find it hard to leave.

The dryad released a feminine sigh as she fretted over the fact that she might not be able to keep such a great windfall to herself. She had chosen to become female as it was the opposite of Kai. Many creatures, especially the sentient ones, were predisposed to the opposite gender which made it easier to form attachments.

Above ground, a butterfly fluttered into the Dryads zone of control and, before it could even beat its wings a second time, was mercilessly struck with a flying thorn, and falling to the ground.

"Oh, eliminating my scouts without warning... seems like this offspring of mine has found something interesting." A few miles away, deeper in the forest, a tall tree, seven times the size of the dryad's stood towering menacingly above its neighbours. Dark red fruits hung from its branches, the metallic smell of blood hanging thickly in the air. "Seems like I will have to expand in that direction earlier than I expected."