32, Dragon Blood Enhancement (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

32, Dragon Blood Enhancement (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

(Revision: I got the borders of Ixialia wrong earlier. It isn't that large; it lies between the Miasma Jungle and the Yamalanxin Coast, in the southeastern corner of Shurima, some distance from the Kumungu Mountains and far from people and civilization. So the Kumungu Mountains, where the earlier dragon-slaying battle took place, have been changed to mountains near the Miasma Jungle. This is mainly a change in geography and has no effect on the plot.)

Yuan Chen could sense the change in Mordas.

Yuan Chen didn't know whether this change was good or bad...

Yuan Chen wasn't a true prophet, but he could tell that Mordas was changing from an idealist into a genuine reformer. And any reform would bring disputes, conflict, bloodshed, and death.

Perhaps because they both realized how serious the matter was, they didn't speak much after that. Instead, they processed their feelings separately and busied themselves with their own tasks.

Yuan Chen opened his status panel. Even after Milio's treatment, his status still showed that he was weakened.

This was a little ridiculous. The Flawless Heavy Blade he'd only just finished making was wrecked again...

Seven of the twelve Flawless Heavy Blades, all made with solid, heavy materials, had been destroyed in battle. Three of the five remaining blades were broken, and the last two were riddled with cracks. They couldn't even handle the work of cutting up the corpse—one of them shattered on the spot.

But... it didn't really matter.

Yuan Chen wasn't the least bit heartbroken. Instead, he gazed at the dragon corpse before him, eyes shining.

The Elemental Drake was thirty meters long. Judging by dragon ecology, it was probably at the peak of its youth, on the verge of maturing into adulthood. Under those circumstances, its teeth, claws, and bones were all excellent materials.

It was just like Japanese cuisine: no skill required. As long as the ingredients were good enough, even an idiot could forge a weapon of at least excellent quality.

Did that sound like an insult to Japanese cuisine?

No... It felt more like an insult to the dragon corpse.

After all, look at its weight. Swinging a hammer was a lot harder than swinging a knife.

While Yuan Chen was still thinking about it, he suddenly noticed that something new had appeared under his traits.

He focused his attention and narrowed his eyes. Beneath his existing epic trait, "Demon's Blessing," he saw a new one.

Dragon Blood Enhancement (Excellent):

Bathed in Dragon Heart Blood, you gained the power of a superior being. Your body's hardness, resilience, and magical affinity increased.

Enhancement spells were slightly stronger, casting speed increased slightly, and resistance to all elements rose slightly. Fire resistance increased moderately, and you could exert bloodline pressure on lower-ranked creatures.

Seeing the new trait, Yuan Chen froze—

Its effects were simple and easy to understand. It was basically an across-the-board improvement to his physique and combat ability. But why hadn't he felt any different?

As he wondered, Yuan Chen glanced at the word "weakened" in his status and understood.

As a dancer, Yuan Chen had far better control over his body than ordinary people. He should have noticed such a change immediately, but he'd passed out as soon as the battle ended.

And he'd woken up feeling incredibly weak. No wonder he hadn't noticed.

With that thought, Yuan Chen used the blade to stab at his arm, under Mordas's puzzled gaze. Mordas stared in surprise, hurried over to stop him, and demanded,

"What are you doing?"

"Checking this new trait."

Yuan Chen waved his right hand. The Flawless Heavy Blade was a little damaged, but it was still superbly made. It might not split a hair, but piercing flesh should have been easy.

Yet now, the sharp, fast-moving blade left only a faint white mark on Yuan Chen's palm.

It was as if he'd put on a suit of invisible armor.

"What is this...?"

Mordas looked astonished.

Yuan Chen glanced at him. A chill ran over Mordas, as if someone were peering into him. Before Mordas could ask, Yuan Chen explained,

"Dragon Blood Enhancement... Looks like we got lucky. You got it too, but you might not feel it while your body's still weak."

"...What are you talking about? What Dragon Blood Enhancement?"

Mordas scratched his head, looking curious.

"It's an enhancement from the magical energy in the Dragon Heart Blood. You've been to the human kingdoms of Valoran, so you've probably heard the stories in their knightly novels about people growing stronger after bathing in dragon blood."

"And those stories aren't made up. The requirements are just pretty demanding."

Yuan Chen tossed Scout Skill at the several buckets of Dragon Blood nearby and said thoughtfully,

"Dragons come into being in a very special way... Under the right circumstances, bathing in a dragon's blood really can improve your physical fitness and various abilities. Of course, the blood itself has to meet certain requirements."

Hearing this, Mordas turned his hands over, examining them from every angle. He'd only just woken up, though, and was only a little more alert than Yuan Chen. After a moment's hesitation, he simply picked up a knife and pressed its tip into his fingertip.

Sure enough, the sharp hunting knife couldn't cut his finger. It was as tough as thick, tanned leather.

Realizing what he'd gained, Mordas's face lit up with delight.

"What about the blood? Can we keep using it?"

Mordas pointed to the buckets of Dragon Blood. Yuan Chen shook his head.

"You're getting ahead of yourself... We got this because we took the full force of the Dragon Heart Detonation. The blood from the Dragon Heart is completely different from the blood in the rest of the dragon's body."

"The blood in those buckets isn't concentrated enough... But if we refine it, we should be able to make a lower-grade version."

Yuan Chen rubbed his chin.

"Our Dragon Blood Enhancement is excellent quality. The refined version should be ordinary or fine quality. We could probably make enough for a dozen or so Dragon Blood Enhancement warriors."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Mordas perked up at Yuan Chen's words. Over the past few days, he'd learned that even an ordinary-quality trait, as Yuan Chen called it, meant having exceptional talent in some area.

"Let's get started and refine it!"

"Wait. There's no rush."

Yuan Chen shook his head.

"Adding other ingredients during refinement can improve the final product. I can tell roughly what herbs do, but expecting me to combine them so their effects add up to more than the sum of their parts is asking too much."

Yuan Chen could use Scout Skill to identify the properties of herbs and such, but his earlier experience studying herbalism with Nedeli had made him realize something.

An herb's intrinsic properties were one thing, but its environment and the magical elements that permeated the natural world were another.

Combining two beneficial herbs could instead produce a terrifying poison...

Yuan Chen could now make a rough guess about which herbs could be combined, but handling a high-grade material like dragon blood with his level-two-or-three herbalism...

That would be treating the Elemental Drake's worth like a joke.

"Then we..."

"Let's wait for Nedeli."

Yuan Chen nodded toward Nedeli, who was undergoing ascension in the distance.

"She's the real herbalism expert. We can ask her once she wakes up. We'll just have to pay her, but it'll be well worth it."

"Yeah."

Mordas nodded in agreement. After the Dragon Hunt, he had absolute faith in Nedeli's strength.

Damn, how could he not? If her javelin hadn't pierced the dragon's defenses, Milio and the others would probably be preparing to hold a seventh-day memorial for the rest of them right now.

"But I should make this clear first." Seeing Mordas's excitement, Yuan Chen decided to pour cold water on him—

"Lupe and the village helped a lot too, so not everyone who bathes in dragon blood can be a Meat-toothed Beast."

"I know. I'm not that greedy."

Mordas nodded in understanding.

"After all, if it weren't for Lupe's spellwork and the ballistae operated by those artisans, we wouldn't even have been able to reach the dragon..."

Yuan Chen nodded.

The work of processing the dragon went on for a long time.

They weren't completely dismembering it, but cleaning and preparing the corpse—

There was no way they could cut up a dragon this large in a short time.

For one thing, the dragon's body was so hard that ordinary people couldn't help with the work.

So the villagers and hunters only collected the broken scales, scraps of flesh, and blood. The real butchering would probably have to wait until they reached the county seat—

They had better butchers and better blacksmiths there, and getting everything done in one place would save them a lot of trouble.

Besides, a whole dragon would make a far more suitable tribute—and a much more impressive sight—than one hacked to pieces.

Even so, though they were only doing simple things like removing broken scales that had lost their mana circuits, everyone still worked for a day and a night before they finally finished.

At noon the next day, with everyone working together, they loaded the dragon corpse, more than thirty meters long, onto a massive wagon.

The wagon was enormous, built from stone and wood. The Elemental Artisans had worked through the night, dismantling the ballistae and other hunting equipment and using the Yuan Chu Axiom to build it.

Just keeping the wagon stable required more than a dozen Element Apprentices to constantly reinforce and enchant it.

By comparison, draining the blood and cleaning the wounds was a small part of the job.

Even dead, the dragon still contained a large amount of solidified magic. Until that magic had completely dissipated, the dragon wouldn't decay.

"Let's get ready to go... What are you planning to do?"

Mordas had been packing to return to the camp near the village and rest, but then he noticed that Yuan Chen showed no sign of leaving.

"Wait for someone."

Yuan Chen looked at Nedeli, who was surrounded by flames.

"We haven't given out her share of the hunt yet... I need to wait until she finishes ascending."

At this, Mordas glanced at Nedeli, still wrapped in flames—

There was no denying that Nedeli looked beautiful now.

She was completely different from the athletic, wheat-skinned beauty she'd been before. A crystalline whiteness now flowed over her body, with a faint blush of flesh showing through.

Her black hair had turned a brilliant gold, and the Heavenly Power had left a permanent mark on her face and forehead.

As starlight rippled around her, the flames surrounding her illuminated specks of a starry sky. For a moment, she looked like a celestial maiden who had descended to earth.

"She'll probably wake up in three days. That'll give the villagers time to gather their belongings."

Yuan Chen gazed at Nedeli without turning his head.

"Three days from now, we'll set off for the nearest county seat.

"We should get there in about a week. You'll be able to trade for supplies you might need when you return to your tribe."

Mordas nodded in understanding.

He didn't know all the details, but he could tell that Yuan Chen cared deeply about Nedeli.

Especially now that Nedeli had become a Dawn Bringer and might become an ally in the future, Mordas didn't want anything to happen to her.

He had to admit, he was a little envious... She'd used Azure Starfire just once and awakened a legendary class like that.

And him? He'd used it seven times...

Remembering how Nedeli had managed to unleash that decisive strike despite only having a preliminary grasp of her power, Mordas was consumed by envy...

He now understood why Yuan Chen's face had shown such a complicated mix of regret, wastefulness, and heartache when he'd told him he'd used it seven times.

A real spendthrift.

Following the wagon train, Mordas and the other Meat-toothed Beast hunters headed toward the village.

After everyone had left, Yuan Chen went straight to the little hill where Nedeli was.

It wasn't very far—only a few hundred meters.

Watching Nedeli's body continue to recover and her aura grow stronger, Yuan Chen had to admit he was envious—

Dawn Bringer sounded so much better than Demon's Hound.

And she really was powerful.

As he thought about it, Yuan Chen planted the Earth Vein Spear he held in the ground beside Nedeli.

During its earlier use, the Earth Vein Spear had been enhanced because of Nedeli.

It was no longer an Earth Vein Blade. It had become a true Earth Vein Spear.

Heavenly Power had fused the Earth Vein Blade dagger with its wooden shaft into a single weapon. The weapon's quality had risen from excellent to epic!

Just like now: the moment the Earth Vein Spear landed beside Nedeli, surging Heavenly Power enveloped it, continuing the enhancement and enchantment that had not yet been completed.

When one person made it to the top, even their hangers-on benefited... Now even weapons were no exception.

A new book's future recommendations depend heavily on its follow-up-read stats. The League of Legends universe is fairly niche, so I hope everyone will show it plenty of support. Once it's published, updates will increase to 8,000 characters a day.