What appeared above Ved were two dragons. A winged dragon and a serpent dragon.

The dragon's bodies were deep red, scales as red as blood covered their entire body like armour of a bloody knight.

The moment they appeared they turned their red eyes towards him. He felt a mountainous pressure bear on him.

His already spent body was forced to the ground. He gritted his teeth and glared back at them.

His image shook, it massive leaves gently dancing in the air. The black dragon raised it massive head and roared.

It roar was silent yet the world shook from it might. The moment the image moved Ved felt his body becoming lighter, not exactly stronger but easier to control.

There were other changes but he couldn't tell what they were yet. However even with the image, he still felt an impending doom all around him.

He felt as if he was stuck in the deepest depth of the sea and he was drowning and the pressure was crushing every bone in his body.

His breathing grew heavier with each passing moment. However one good thing that happened was that.

The moment his image appeared, he regenerated his stamina, poison and everything else rapidly.

He knew why that happened, the image determined that increasing the effect of his regeneration would increase his chances of survival.

His perception changed and became better. He crouched and waited for them to attack. In his current state, he might even be able see their movements.

He was wrong, the moment the two dragons moved, all he saw was red, some of it from the blood in his eyes.

Their power had reached an absurd level,they shook the sky with each movement.

The moment they touched him, every muscle and tendon is his body was ripped apart and every bone was crushed into dust. The attack was powerful enough to reach even his organs.

He sighed, realising he was probably dead this time, they were going to attack in a moment and he wouldn't be able survive that.

However something happened, a green light cascaded from the tree image behind him. When the light touched him he felt a change inside him.

He felt his regeneration trait becoming much more effective while using much less energy. ' It's stronger?'

He realised regeneration wasn't like other traits or abilities. When it effect changed, so does it power.

It was more straight forward which made things easier. His body healed faster than he can blink.

When he thought that was it, something else happened. After his body regenerated, the dragon opened it mouth and spewed a golden light onto Ved.

The light surrounded his body and it grew stronger, much stronger than before. This wasn't merely changing the effect of either his attack or defence.

His body was really stronger than before.

' Strength through trial.' he whispered with pride in his voice, this was his definition and belief in strength.

Growing stronger after surviving hardship and this case, a wound that would've killed most.

The more gruesome the wound, the stronger the enhancement but he could tell it was only temporary.

But even so, the golden light enhanced all his physical attributes significantly and since his traits partially counted as part of his physical attributes, they were also enhanced.

However even with his enhanced perception he couldn't clearly follow their movements. So he did what he had been holding back.

He used ignition 4x, ribbons of blue and red energy danced around his body. All four of his hearts and his soul ignited with essence.

His physical strength and will increased by 16x. On top of that, his dragon pride activated.

Unlike before, it conditions for activation now was not being looked down upon but having his source of pride which is his ability to survive challenged.

If anything threatened his survival then his dragon pride with show itself. The condition for it activation no longer felt as a strict to him.

On top of the golden light and soul force, he didn't know how much stronger he was compared to his normal self but he was incredibly more powerful.

Yet he still felt his power didn't reach theirs at all. ' How huge is the gap between rank 4 and 5?'

He always thought he understood the difference but only now did he realise he still underestimated how massive the gap between these two realms was.

The world shook around him as he retreated from the two dragons. His massive body was covered in multiple different lights that interwove with each other forming a beautiful spectacle.

Black from soul force, red and blue from vital and soul essence and the golden lights from the image.

Each representing a boost in his power. From the perspective of his citizens he looked like a divine being battling the heavens themselves.

Their beliefs in him became stronger. Some knelt on the ground praying to him. Unbeknownst to him, his people had set him as an object of worship.

Their belief in him strengthened their will but none of them noticed, none except the strongest beings around.

The six rank 5 beings looked at Ved flabbergasted, none of them knew what to say. The three sea kings besides Ursela shook with fear.

They feared the power Ved would wield after he became rank 5, they knew when that happened they would be forced to submit to him or leave his world as they knew it was rightfully his.

Ursela turned to Nimue and her husband. " His..his power is close to a rank 5 now isn't it?" She asked. " No." Novak replied, Ursela looked at him.

He continued , "You're a rank 5 yourself, you should know how huge the gap between those two ranks is. While I admit his body is very close to that power level, body strength alone isn't enough to breach the gap, there's both a massive quantitative and qualitative difference between ranks the further up you go." Novak said to her.

" Even so, his abilities seem to be getting more and more ridiculous, what kind of ability increases ones power by so much? And what up with that image? Why does it feel so strong?" She asked with a voice full of amazement.

Novak and Nimue looked contemplative, Nimue replied in her sweet voice. " His image does seem strange, like it's a combination of two different images.

And it power does seem to be much stronger than other images and not simply because his will is strong. The image itself has very powerful abilities."

She sighed, " I wonder how strong it will be after his rank up." Novak shook his head at the two.

" It's not as simple as you two think. The most powerful powers usually come with a cost or conditions. The conditions for an image of that much power must be strict, I don't think the boy can control it at will."

Novak had no idea how accurate he was, Ved on the other hand turned his attention to his opponent, oblivious of the shock he had left in everybody's hearts.

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