After three hours of walking without stopping, I finally reached my home once more.

Yeah, I just rushed back to the cave, no way I was going to keep going with a big corpse around, I was sooner or later attract to the attention of other animals.

Good thing I covered the corpse in a layer of thin ice, stopping it from rotting and also stopping the smell of blood.

Finally reaching the cave, I left the corpse deep into this tiny cave and slowly began to scratch away the ice.

I had already eaten a big Ice Rabbit anyways, so I will leave this for the next few days.

Yeah, just as you thought, I am going to keep cultivating for now, the stronger I get the more opportunities I can have to survive.

Now that I got this sizable meal, I can last like two more days in closed cultivation before I am forced to go hunt once more.

However, why would I scratch the ice out of the corpse if I want to save it?

Because of this!

I quickly break the chest of the wolf, as a small, blue-colored jewel covered on froze blood drop into the floor.

This is a delicious Mana Core!

No way in hell I was going to wait to eat it.

The Rabbit I ate also had one which increased my stats a tiny bit, but maybe this big wolf can be a bit better.

I quickly open my jaws and gobble the entire jewel, it is crunchy and bitter, but I immediately feel new mana flowing through my body.

Ding!

Oooh! Nice, some extra stats.

With this, I become a tiny bit stronger, nothing too noticeable, but really, I feel like I progressed at least a bit.

My Mana has reached 171, and my Strength 41 too, maybe I should use my claws more the next time I fight…

For some reason, I feel like my Mana Core had become way heavier than before, and it is flowing with more Mana too.

I think I might be able to increase my Cultivation Stage to the Middle Stage if I keep Cultivating and also eating Mana Cores.

I wonder what will happen then…

Will I become a bigger dragon? Maybe evolution?

I have not to meet any monster with Middle Stage in their Rank 1 Cultivation, so maybe I would be the only one and finally dominate over the rest, hehe.

By eating the Mana Core and the Rabbit my Mana is back to full now, although the Rabbit didn't give me as much Mana, and it took several minutes (almost an hour) to finally gain Mana from anything I eat.

Thanks to Immortal Body, I can eat anything and convert it into calories and mana, of course, ice and grass will give me close to zero of these…

Meat is the way!

But even then, it takes some time to digest the meat, so I don't get mana and calories immediately after eating the rabbit.

Anyways, bathroom break…

Phew.

Now, time to get this thing going.

I decide to rest for the rest of the night BUT!

There is a but, of course.

I am going to meditate too, to cultivate.

Meanwhile, I will keep slapping myself, slashing myself, and conjuring ice and winds.

Now that we got the ice knives done, I want Ice Blades, or Ice Spikes, or Ice Spears, or maybe an Ice Wall, even!

And thanks to Mana Control, my new cheat-level Skill, I can control Mana a bit better, which makes the process of learning a new spell easier.

…But it still hard.

I try to conjure an Ice Wall but I cannot even get it above 4 centimeters before it crumbles into shattered pieces of ice.

Meanwhile, I also try to create an Ice Blade, which could be said to be just a long knife that has a greater penetration strength, but t is just as hard.

And then, I try to make an Ice Spike, which is EVEN harder.

I have specialized in Ice Knives, but I just discovered that making other complicated shapes really takes a toll on my mind.

Oh right, and while I do that, I try to use the wind to lift my body, which does not work because I keep falling.

But that is also good, as I fall, it forges my body, and my Strength or Vitality stat might increase.

I mean it hurts, but I am covered I armor-like scales, so there is no problem.

Actually, my scales could even level up as I do this, so everything is actually good.

And while I do all of this masochistic training, I mediate somehow and let the mana flow through my body while absorbing the energy of the ice attribute within the outside.

[Day 13]

In the end, I still fell asleep, but I only slept around 4 hours, so no worries!

And my entire body is filled with pain.

Ugh, was I too merciless on myself?

But in this world, I have to be merciless on myself.

It is just pain anyways, I have agonized way more before.

I have to live with the pain.

Okay, I have grown a tiny bit stronger through that night, although I still cannot many any of my "Ice Armament" yet…

Nonetheless, my Mana increased a bit and so did the other stats except Dexterity.

Maybe I should go running around the cave while doing all of this for maximum efficiency?

I eat a bit more of wolf meat, some bones, and a side dish of Ice Grass and Snow, as I begin running around the cave while doing everything else.

Oof, I never thought I would be working out so much after becoming an Ice Dragon.

I have never been this fit in my previous life, in fact!

I guess I really had to become an Ice Dragon to become conscious of my own health?

No, I am just a paranoid that does not want to die again, most likely.

-----

Within the Pine Tree Forest, a group of wolves begins to sniff around the snow, finding the blood and pieces of fur and flesh from a member of their pack.

The scent is no one else than the mate of the wolf pack leader, who howls sorrowfully while the other ice wolves glance at him with contempt.

Scornful and vengeful, the Ice Wolf Pack Leader howls once more, commanding its pack of six strong males, as he begins to track the scent of his mate through the icy landscape.

-----

Author's Note: If you're enjoying this Novel make sure to check some of my other works, such as Epic of Summoner: Supreme Summoner System in the Apocalypse!

It's a Novel about an Interdimensional Apocalypse where the main character is thrown into it! Using his amazing Summoning System, he crawls his way to the top and survives the turbulent and chaotic era!

I am sure that you won't be disappointed at all if you like Action and LitRPG elements! Check it out if you can!