Shut Up, Evil Dragon, I Don't Want to Have Children with You Again — Chapter 31

Just hearing those high heels, Leon knew it was Losweiser.

"Hi." The Queen walked into the bedroom and greeted him first.

Leon froze for a moment, then raised a brow. "Well, Your Majesty the Queen, you're in quite a good mood tonight. You actually said hi to me."

Losweiser sat down by the bed, crossed her long legs, and leaned back slightly, her beautiful eyes fixed on Leon.

"I am in a good mood."

"And why is that?"

"Noa is happy. When my daughter is happy, I'm happy too."

Leon turned around, resting an arm over the back of his chair. "How exactly is she happy?"

Losweiser shrugged. "She's learned a lot of things she'd never encountered before. And even with some things she already knew, she got a different angle of analysis from you. She thinks that's very good."

Leon was slightly taken aback.

He had thought Noa kept that little face of hers taut all day because she still couldn't be bothered with this dad of hers.

Who would've thought she would actually express her satisfaction to Losweiser in private...

Leon secretly rejoiced. Even though his biological daughter was all cold and aloof, she was still thoughtful.

After a pause, Losweiser added, "You've done very well too, Leon."

At that, Leon grinned, about to laugh aloud.

After all, getting this Dragon Queen to praise someone even once was no easy feat.

But Losweiser hurriedly added, "Of course, the main reason is that Noa herself is very smart."

Leon rolled his eyes at her and curled his lip, continuing to fish for credit. "Naturally. She's my daughter—of course she's smart."

"If she didn't have half of your genes, she'd definitely be even smarter," Losweiser shot back.

"Why couldn't it be that half of your genes are dragging her down?" Leon retorted without the slightest courtesy.

"Because dragons are perfect creatures. Only humans are flawed from head to toe."

"That's a stereotype. Humans have plenty of strengths too, okay? And dragons aren't perfect at all."

Losweiser raised a brow, tilting her head as she asked with interest, "How are dragons not perfect?"

"Dragons... uh... dragons..."

Power passed down for ten thousand years, a survival rule where the strong reigned supreme, the freedom to switch between human and dragon forms, the astonishing growth rate of young dragons, and—

absolute loyalty to their mates.

Leon scratched his head. These creatures really did seem to have no obvious flaws.

"Hmph. Can't say it, can you?" Losweiser said smugly.

Leon's eyes shifted slightly, and then he suddenly blurted out, "Your dragon race is way too vengeful..."

As for exactly how extreme that vengeance was, Leon didn't spell it out. He trusted that this Dragon Queen knew perfectly well what he meant.

Losweiser clearly froze. She obviously hadn't expected Leon to say something like that.

After a brief moment of surprise, the Queen gave a derisive laugh. She didn't deny it, only saying, "Don't worry, Dragon Slayer. It'll only get stronger from now on."

"...I really want to jump off the eighteen-meter-high Silver Dragon Sanctuary." Leon looked utterly dead inside.

Losweiser covered her mouth and chuckled. "All right, all right. Let's talk about our daughter instead."

"Whatever you say."

"Other than teaching Noa these past two days, haven't you done anything else? Like... parent-child games to strengthen the bond between father and daughter?"

Leon shrugged. "Do you think the eldest daughter is the type to play games?"

"Oh? Looks like you've more or less figured out her temperament already."

"More or less."

"Then you should understand too that Noa is actually a very good girl. She was the one who suggested giving you that box of throat lozenges. So she isn't as cold and unapproachable as she appears on the surface."

At that, Losweiser lowered her eyes, and the smile that had just curved her lips faded away.

Looking at the tips of her shoes, she said softly, "She's just... matured too early. At an age when she should be peacefully enjoying a father's and mother's love, like Mu En, she already has independent thoughts and needs of her own."

Leon carefully considered Losweiser's words. "Her needs... are?"

"That's something you'll have to slowly explore yourself. Still, there's one thing you said right, Leon. She's your daughter. She's very smart, just like... you."

Losweiser stood up, apparently intending to end tonight's conversation.

But before leaving, Losweiser sniffed the air and then frowned slightly.

"Why does it smell like medicine?"

Leon panicked and hurriedly stood, forcing himself to remain calm.

"Ah, I—I was a little tired earlier, so I drank a bottle of nutrient supplement. That's why it smells medicinal."

The matter of preparing Dragon's Might absolutely could not be discovered by the Dragon Queen.

Otherwise, she would definitely become even more insufferable.

Then the tiny bit of status Leon had painstakingly won in the family would be gone!

Losweiser nodded without pressing further. "All right. I'll have Anna bring you some more nutritional supplements tomorrow. Take good care of your body."

For some reason, Leon felt that phrase, "take good care of your body," sounded rather strange...

That Dragon Queen was definitely hinting at something again!

Standing on the balcony, Leon gazed solemnly at the dark clouds in the distance.

"It's going to rain."

Noa had not come to him for tutoring today. Losweiser said that Noa was doing physical training today, so their lesson had been postponed until tomorrow.

That was perfect—it gave Leon a whole day to himself.

That morning, he had followed the methods in the medicine book and tried to refine Dragon's Might.

But without exception, every attempt had ended in failure.

Well, Leon had actually expected to fail, and he had already analyzed the reasons for it.

Just as the book said, whether it was high-temperature separation or physical separation, both were extremely difficult. The slightest mistake would cause all previous efforts to come to nothing.

Too high a temperature would deactivate all the nutrients in the medicinal residue.

Too low a temperature would make it impossible to refine enough medicinal residue.

Physical separation required specialized equipment. Leon had tried shaking it by hand for half an hour—his arm had nearly fallen off from all the shaking, yet there was still no sign of separation.

The dark clouds in the distance drew closer and closer, bringing with them an oppressive atmosphere.

Leon closed the window, returned to the bedroom, pulled out a chair, and sat at the desk, frowning as he thought.

"How exactly can I effectively separate out the final medicinal residue...?"

Leon sat cross-legged on the chair and absentmindedly picked up a pen from the desk, biting its end between his teeth.

It was a habit of his when he thought, like how some people liked to pinch their fingers, while others liked to tap in a steady rhythm, like a bird pecking at rice.

Leon's habit was biting pen caps.

Though it was a little unhygienic, it was quite effective at improving his concentration.

As he chewed on it, Leon blinked. "Noa seems to like biting her pen when she's doing problems too, doesn't she?"

Thinking of that, he chuckled. "Just as expected of my daughter."

After making that little joke to himself, Leon returned to his thoughts.

In a daze, Leon recalled something that old man, Master, had once told him.

It had been many years ago, when Leon was practicing a kind of magic according to the methods in a textbook.

But no matter how he practiced, he could not master it.

After Master saw this, he said, "If you follow the methods in the book exactly as written and still can't get it right, then try using your own method. Books are dead, people are alive. If one road is blocked, look at the other roads, kid."

Leon murmured Master's teaching under his breath. "If one road is blocked... look at the other roads..."

As he pondered, a sudden flash of intense light came from outside the window.

Around three or four seconds later came an explosive boom.

Rumble—

As though it were about to blast a hole straight through the heavens.

Leon turned his head slightly, looking at the bolt of lightning in the distance that tore through the dark clouds and the sky.

"Lightning... thunder... lightning..."

Leon muttered, his eyes widening slightly. "Maybe... I could try using the Lightning Element, something the book never mentioned?"

If neither high heat nor spinning could separate the medicinal residue within it, then he might as well open another path and give the Lightning Element a try.

As it happened, the magic Leon was best at was Lightning magic.

Without further delay, he held the test tube in one hand and placed the other around its bottom. A pale blue glow gradually flickered in his palm.

Though his body was weak, using this kind of small-scale Lightning magic was still no challenge.

Back then, Leon had won the admiration of many teachers and professors through his exquisitely precise control over the Lightning Element.

Lightning Element magic was used for offense in most situations.

But as long as he controlled its intensity and range well, it could also be used for delicate work.

Adaptability was a basic quality of an outstanding Dragon Slayer.

Crackle—crackle—

As magical energy surged, sparks of electricity began to flicker around the test tube.

The medicinal powder inside immediately reacted.

Leon's eyes lit up.

"It really works."

He wanted to increase the infusion of magical energy.

But he discovered that his frail body could only manage this much for now.

This magic had originally been meant to torment enemies; if he cast it at such a weak intensity, the other party would probably mistake it for a scratch.

Leon sighed inwardly. He could only grind away at it slowly.

About forty minutes later, the medicinal powder in the test tube had visibly separated into upper and lower layers.

Leon poured it into water and waited quietly for a moment. What floated to the surface was useless residue.

What sank to the bottom, meanwhile, was the raw material for the Dragon's Might he had been yearning for!

Leon skimmed away the residue from the surface and filtered out all the raw material from the bottom.

He then dried and shaped it.

This process could not be rushed, and Leon was patient enough.

Half an hour later, a piece of Dragon's Might, bright and lustrous in color and resembling a chocolate candy, was complete.

Leon repeatedly compared it with the illustration in the medicine book.

That was right—this was the Dragon's Might he wanted.

"It's done."

At the lowest cost, in the most rudimentary alchemy environment, he had successfully refined this little pill with a crafting process that was practically a makeshift operation.

Leon pinched the pill between his index finger and thumb, examining it closely.