Son-in-law of the Bone Dragon Family

Son-in-law of the Bone Dragon Family

Amber Xiu looked at the trembling Isabelle. He had originally wanted to praise her a little, but he reckoned that the moment he opened his mouth, he might scare her unconscious.

She had not acted like this before.

Heh, humans really did judge by appearances.

With a wave of his hand, he let Isabelle flee the laboratory as if she had been pardoned. Amber Xiu then solemnly placed the two bottles of Living Mercury Solution on the experiment table.

Soundproofing barrier, anti-detection barrier, divination countermeasures... After casting a series of spells, Amber Xiu completely sealed off the laboratory. Even the air could not circulate.

Only a lich could endure it. Any living person would suffocate to death in here.

Once he felt everything was ready, Amber Xiu opened one of the bottles of Living Mercury Solution.

The five-hundred-Gold-Coin bottle.

The bottle was as large as a human head and filled to the brim, but unfortunately, it had been diluted with actual mercury.

Mercury was not exactly worthless, but compared to the Living Mercury inside, it was practically cheap junk.

After taking out various tools and separating the mercury, Amber Xiu obtained a lump of Living Mercury not much larger than his fist—and it was Living Mercury that had completely lost its vitality.

"Truly black-hearted. There isn't even the slightest bit of genuine product in this five-hundred-Gold-Coin bottle."

But what Amber Xiu needed now was a corpse.

Amber Xiu extended a finger. Magic power gathered at his fingertips, then turned into a faint glow that fell upon the lifeless lump of mercury solution.

Necromancy: Corpse Manipulation.

The standard casting gesture, a perfect magical structure. As a Legendary Tier lich, even a dragon's corpse would have to blink under the effect of Amber Xiu's spell.

Yet the lump of mercury solution showed no reaction at all.

The Corpse Manipulation spell landed on the thing and immediately burst into a cloud of light, its magic power scattering without leaving a trace.

"Fuck! Magic Resistance?! Isn't that a little too ridiculous?!"

Amber Xiu had considered many possible ways this could fail. He could even have accepted the possibility that the mercury solution could not be classified as a corpse. What he had never expected was Magic Resistance.

"Are those lunatics in Alchemy City insane? What exactly are they trying to make?!"

Creating a new lifeform was already an outrageous proposition, but Alchemy City had tirelessly courted death over it for hundreds of years. Amber Xiu could still accept that.

But creating a Mercury Slime with powerful Magic Resistance? Had their brains been kissed by the Goblin God?

Magic Resistance was an extremely rare trait. Aside from certain naturally noble races, such as the High Elves Amber Xiu hated most, who were born with incredibly powerful Magic Resistance, ordinary spells found it difficult to affect them. Charm-type magic in particular was simply useless against them.

Dragons were the same. Spells below the Legendary Tier found it difficult to breach the defense of dragon scales. The most widely circulated dragon-slaying spell involved casting Fireball on yourself, then blowing apart the dragon's insides once it swallowed you. But after that trick had been used too often, even the Dragon Race's inherited memories gained an extra rule: "Humans cannot be eaten raw!" Dragons would roast humans thoroughly with dragonfire before putting them in their mouths.

Back to the point, Magic Resistance was an extremely rare trait. Slimes themselves did not possess Magic Resistance, so the lunatics of Alchemy City had definitely used some unknown method to add it.

"They definitely weren't trying to make some lowly creature like a slime at first. Then they failed, and now they're using false advertising to cover up their real plan. Are they sick? Don't tell me they want to blaspheme against the gods again? Weren't those seven shit-like towers enough? Do they want even more?"

Amber Xiu felt as though he had accidentally gotten tangled up in the melodramatic cursed relationship between Alchemy City and the Alchemy God. Why didn't the god just strike them dead? Instead, it had refused to kill them while humiliating them for centuries, as though it was afraid it would fail to raise enemies who wanted to slay a god.

As expected, the thoughts of gods were beyond the comprehension of mortals.

Although he cursed nonstop, Amber Xiu would not give up. He had spent several thousand Gold Coins. He could not just let it go to waste.

He cast several more spells, all of which were neutralized by the mercury solution's Magic Resistance. Still, Amber Xiu determined that this thing's Magic Resistance was not as terrifying as a dragon's. With the effect of a Legendary aura, he could still successfully control the Mercury Slime's corpse.

After all, he was Legendary. Even if Amber Xiu was somewhat mediocre, his ability to enhance magic was still there. By using Legendary power, he could break through the Mercury Slime's Magic Resistance.

But Corpse Manipulation was extremely awkward to use on it. This thing was just a puddle of mercury, and Amber Xiu had no idea what methods the Alchemy Association had used on it. It lacked all the organs of an ordinary slime. To Amber Xiu, it was something completely unfamiliar. He even found it difficult to make the Mercury Slime squirm.

And after examining it, Amber Xiu reached a conclusion.

This Mercury Slime was a complete and utter failure. They had created a deformed, utterly soulless shell. Rather than a living creature, it was more like a corpse that had had its soul extracted but had not completely died yet.

No, even that description was not enough.

It was a machine missing countless parts. It had not even had its operating system written when it left the factory. If you took it apart, you would find only the screw holes for a motherboard inside—not even a trace of an actual motherboard.

That was why these manufactured Mercury Slimes had no reaction whatsoever and relied solely on biological instinct to devour metal. And because they lacked internal organs, even regular feeding could not keep them alive for long. They would only continue dying slowly.

What a pity this thing had no soul. Otherwise, it would have been a mass-produced "Tormented Soul," and liches would have loved it to death. In the undead world, Tormented Souls were the real hard currency, even more useful than Gold Coins.

Read the flawless version without errors!

"Too bad my Simulated Soul is also a fake without a soul. It can't develop the resentment characteristic of a soul after being tortured. Otherwise, this would have been quite a way to make money."

Amber Xiu was still pondering how to make money from this thing. If nothing else worked, he had to restore Living Mercury's metal-devouring effect. Otherwise, how would he explain it to Headless Bro? He had already taken the deposit. There was absolutely no chance of a refund.

After studying it for half a day, Amber Xiu reached one conclusion. He knew too little about creatures like slimes. Several modification ideas had crossed his mind, but he could not continue deducing any of them.

He did not have much material on hand, so he could not waste it carelessly.

"I still need to look up some information."

Amber Xiu opened the Necronomicon, entered their lich group chat, and typed a message.

[Diga Ultraman: Seniors, does anyone know much about creatures like slimes? I have a few questions I'd like to ask.]

[Crown of the Headless Knight: Kid, are you trying to make fakes and scam me?]

Amber Xiu: ...

How had he spotted the problem from a single sentence? He was a Headless Knight, an undead without a head. Being this smart was an insult to his race!

Amber Xiu had underestimated Headless Bro's sensitivity toward his private stash. He could only answer honestly.

[Diga Ultraman: I'm not making fakes. I'm trying to fulfill the order. Alchemy City's finances have run into major trouble, and prices are rising across the board.]

Amber Xiu explained everything he had seen and heard, though he concealed the part about testing counterfeit goods. He only said that he could not obtain the goods for the moment, so he was preparing to figure out how to make Mercury Slimes himself.

Unexpectedly, after reading Amber Xiu's little story, Headless Bro immediately replied with great bravado: [Isn't it just paying more? I'll pay! What matters most is speed!]

Amber Xiu was stunned by that outrageously bold declaration.

Headless Bro, just how much private money had you hidden as a son-in-law?!

Amber Xiu even began considering whether he should find a Bone Dragon and live off her.

(End of chapter)