Ruger stood before the workbench, quietly stroking his scales.
For this unassuming experiment, the difference between him and Lord Benson was not merely a gap in strength. There was another major obstacle: bloodline. Although Lord Benson had only taken the even crazier step of transforming his bloodline into that of a dragon species associated with a special kind of spatial power after successfully modifying his scales, his earlier performance suggested that his original bloodline already possessed some spatial abilities.
That was what Ruger lacked. It was his greatest obstacle, and also where the fun lay.
Lord Benson had paid no attention to that trace of spatial power in his bloodline. To him, the help it provided seemed negligible.
But Ruger could not ignore it. His version was already a low-end compromise, balanced right on the line between possible and impossible. Without that tiny extra push, he could not get across. Several adjustments, and even slight upgrades to the materials, had produced the same result. So he gritted his teeth and, after consulting his teacher, spent a few more of his lovely merit stones. This approach suited him, too. He was attempting to change the nature of a scale. Unlike Benson, he did not need to modify a large number of scales. He only needed one.
After carefully weighing his options, he finally selected a scale on his elbow.
To alter the scale's nature and give it a trace of spatial power, he again chose the approach most likely to succeed: a temporary change that would briefly grant the scale that power. All he needed to do was seize that window and complete the modification he had rehearsed several times before the power dissipated and the scale returned to being an ordinary, beautiful scale. By then, a small storage space would