A surge in strength

Liu Qian swept the jumble of thoughts from his mind.

At that moment, he only needed to understand one thing: he had to grow stronger.

Liu Qian took the partially melted sword from Jelena. Broken whorl-shaped symbols glimmered along its blade.

He reached out with his enormous left forewing to touch the blade, then pressed his right forewing against the damaged armor on Aurion's corpse. He sensed pure magic power surging within both pieces of magical equipment, as though straining to break free.

Both pieces were damaged. Unless a Warlock skilled in forging magical weapons repaired them, they were of little value.

Without hesitation, Liu Qian absorbed the magic power stored in the sword and armor.

A torrent of magic power poured into Liu Qian through the points of contact. As his reserves gradually filled, he felt an indescribable exhilaration.

Liu Qian recalled the Panel's explanation of magic power. He could replenish it by absorbing magic power from the air, or by actively drawing it from magical items.

Among Valyria's weapons, those engraved with blood magic runes were exceedingly rare. The runes could store magic power, much like a power bank, allowing humans to cast magic through these weapons.

But as Jelena had said, such magical weapons exacted a terrible toll on the human body. Even Warlocks who had mastered magic could not use them frequently without paying a price.

Aurion had only been able to fire two arrows in quick succession because he had become a creature as unusual as a Scaleclaws monster.

Liu Qian drank in magic power ravenously. Only when the whorl-shaped symbols on the sword and armor lost their glow entirely did the flow dwindle, like a surging tide reduced to a trickle. Their stores of magic power seemed to have run dry.

He checked the numbers on the Panel. The two pieces of equipment had given him a full five thousand points of magic power.

His magic power was now even higher than it had been before he killed Aurion, reaching fourteen thousand points.

Beside him, Jelena brought over the Dragonbone Bow and its quiver. They had fallen nearby before Aurion was struck down by the dragon's claws, and the dragonfire had not damaged the magical longbow.

Liu Qian was certain the bow held even more magic power, but he chose not to absorb it. Instead, he kept it as his spoils.

Liu Qian had Jelena climb onto his back again, then took to the air and circled above Tyria.

He turned his disappointment at gaining no dragon spirit from killing Aurion into fury and poured it all onto the Scaleclaws Army within the city.

The army of monsters in the city seemed to sense their commander's death.

They no longer attacked or defended in organized formations. Instead, they shrieked in terrified confusion and rushed toward the enormous Blackstone Gate.

Liu Qian beat his wings and blocked the sky above the gate. Flames swept through the Scaleclaws Army like a golden torrent. Countless Scaleclaws howled and shrieked as they turned to ash.

Liu Qian did not know how many Scaleclaw Monsters had died in his dragonfire.

He only knew that masses of dragon spirit rose from most of the Scaleclaws' corpses, then plunged into his body.

The numbers on the Panel climbed rapidly, and his body swelled ever larger. The Jelena sisters stared in disbelief, their violet eyes filled with indescribable shock.

Questions tangled in their minds like vines, but they chose not to voice them then.

Liu Qian lost himself in this dance of destruction and soaring strength. Every cell in his body rejoiced at the influx of dragon spirit. There were almost no survivors left in Tyria's streets, only the widespread sight of Scaleclaw Monsters brutally slaughtering humans.

He spared not a single Scaleclaws. Searing dragonfire sealed the gate and cut off their retreat. His enormous draconic body glided low over the crisscrossing streets and alleys, his dragonfire a divine brush painting destruction in gold across the canvas of hell.

The terrified monsters hid among shattered walls and burrowed into collapsed houses, but they could not escape the merciless judgment descending from the sky.

Golden flames danced wildly, tearing through the heavy curtain of night.

His magic power fell rapidly under the relentless expenditure.

By the time Liu Qian saw that nearly all the monsters in the city had been killed, fewer than five thousand points of magic power remained on his Panel.

Yet he had gained a reward he could scarcely believe.

A full hundred and twenty thousand points of dragon spirit!

His dragon bloodline purity had reached an astonishing 16.8%.

The golden dragon now measured nearly a hundred and sixty-four feet in length, roughly fifty meters.

In terms of size, even among the Great Dragons in the history of the Targaryen Dynasty, he would have counted as a large dragon.

For instance, Meleys, the Red Queen ridden by Princess Rhaenys, the Uncrowned Queen, had measured around a hundred and fifty to a hundred and sixty feet in length, making her slightly smaller than Liu Qian's golden dragon form.

Amid his elation, he also discovered a problem.

The higher his bloodline purity rose, the lower his chances of obtaining dragon spirit from killing Scaleclaws became. At his current purity, that chance had already dropped below fifty percent.

In other words, he had actually burned more than three thousand Scaleclaw Monsters to death, but fewer than half had yielded dragon spirit.

He could not help grumbling about the system's drop-rate mechanics.

Liu Qian sighed. His plan to improve his bloodline purity simply by farming Scaleclaw Monsters would probably fall through.

As his bloodline purity continued to rise, the dragon spirit drop rate from Scaleclaws would eventually approach zero.

Liu Qian landed atop Tyria's towering Blackstone Walls.

The cold stone bricks were soaked with dark red blood. The defenders' corpses lay strewn everywhere, amid fragments of shattered armor and broken weapons.

Most of the corpses bore fatal wounds on their necks, deep enough to expose bone. Their blood had long since drained away and congealed into black stains.

Some had even had their limbs brutally torn off, their sturdy armor ripped apart like paper.

The air reeked of blood.

Liu Qian had no time to pray for them.

He set the two women down. Golden light rippled over him, and under the sisters' breathless gaze, his enormous dragon body shrank and condensed until he finally took human form.

Before the shock of witnessing that miraculous transformation had faded from the sisters' faces, fresh astonishment took its place.

"Ah!" Janice gave a short cry. Her face instantly flushed crimson, and she hurriedly covered her eyes with both hands.

Damn it! Liu Qian cursed inwardly. The exhilaration of soaring as a dragon was instantly replaced by overwhelming embarrassment.

He fumbled for a bloodstained defender's helmet nearby and barely managed to cover his private parts.

Jelena's reaction was relatively composed. She was a born warrior, her attention fixed solely on the blade's edge.

She remembered that Liu Qian had been just as naked and ridiculous during their second encounter. She had assumed it was merely a consequence of fire witchcraft, never imagining that Liu Qian could turn into a Great Dragon.

"Why can you transform into a Great Dragon? Is this magic? Why do-

"-you know this kind of magic?"

Jelena stepped forward and questioned him before Liu Qian could find suitable clothes to cover the rest of his body.

The barrage of questions stirred Liu Qian's impatience. He replied flatly, "Of course it's magic."

"Impossible. You're not one of the Valyrians. How could you possess magic that turns you into a Great Dragon?"

Jelena shook her head firmly, undisguised suspicion in her eyes.

As far as she knew, only a Valyria Dragonlord could tame a Great Dragon.

Now, a Warlock from the East could transform into one. The revelation shook her profoundly, crushing the pride within her.

Instinctively, she wanted to reject the truth, even though she had witnessed it herself.

Liu Qian did not like Jelena's cold, arrogant tone in the slightest. Combined with her aristocratic manner and way of speaking, it felt far too much like an interrogation.

His voice turned abruptly cold. "Miss Jelena, please don't speak to the man who saved your life in that tone. Are Valyrians the only people allowed to learn magic? As far as I know, even Valyria had no magic that could turn someone into a Great Dragon."

Liu Qian's words snapped Jelena back to her senses. Realizing how harsh and offensive she had sounded, she felt her cheeks warm slightly, and a flicker of shame crossed her eyes.

"I'm sorry... I was rude."

Her voice sank, heavy with exhaustion and self-mockery. "Liu Qian, thank you. You saved both our lives. You're right. Perhaps we Valyrians were too arrogant. We thought we could tame magic, only to be devoured by it when it ran out of control."

She relinquished her fixation on Great Dragons and her pride, removing her helmet in defeat. Letting the night wind dishevel her long hair, bright as molten silver, she gazed despairingly down at her old city, now scorched earth. Her heart was deadened to ash.

Janice edged closer to Liu Qian. Her voice was barely audible, pleading. "I'm sorry. Please don't blame my sister. She devoted her entire life to Tyria and Valyria. Ever since the Doom, the surviving Valyrians have believed that one day, they would revive Valyrian civilization.

"To all Valyrians, Great Dragons are creatures that belong to Valyria alone, inseparable from its glory. Every survivor hopes to bring Great Dragons back to life, hoping they will lead Valyria's remaining people in rebuilding their cities.

"Others might see that hope as madness and obsession, but to Valyrians, it's what keeps them alive."

The girl's voice carried profound sorrow, both for her sister and for all the hopes that had perished.

Liu Qian nodded silently.

Janice's words were like a light cutting through fog. They let him see more clearly the mountain of responsibility weighing on Jelena's shoulders, and understand more deeply the source of Blood Warlock Osarion's reckless madness.

For that elusive "Dragonlord Dream," they had willingly plunged into the abyss.

Now, the dream was shattered and the city destroyed.

"There's something else." Liu Qian's voice broke the heavy silence. "Osarion is dead."

He gave a brief, cold account of Osarion's plot in the High Tower, the Chimera's creation, and how the Blood Warlock had ultimately been devoured by the monster he created.

The sisters listened, their faces paling and their eyes filling with horror.

They had known that Osarion behaved strangely, but had never imagined his methods could be so cruel.

"Ugh..."

Just then, Jelena swayed violently. Her face turned as white as paper, drained of all color.

She covered her mouth as a fierce coughing fit erupted from her throat. Thick, dark red blood spilled between her fingers. Her legs could no longer bear her weight, and she collapsed to her knees like a puppet with severed strings.

Terrified out of her wits, Janice cried out and rushed forward. "Sister, what's wrong?"

Jelena lifted her head with difficulty. Her face was bloodless, vivid streaks of blood marking the corners of her mouth. Her voice rasped like scraping sandpaper. "I used my magical weapons too often to stop those monsters. Now I can't control the blood magic in my body anymore. Hurry! Janice, kill me with your sword! I don't want to become a monster that knows nothing but slaughter!"

Jelena screamed in despair. Her tears poured like a breached flood, washing away all her former strength and cold composure.

Liu Qian's sharp gaze instantly fixed on her neck.

Patches of cold, hard, grayish-brown scales were spreading over her once-fair skin at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He suddenly understood why she had stressed that the Dragonbone Bow could only be used once every two weeks or more.

During the bloody battle on the steps, the Flame Longsword she wielded and the gleaming Runic Armor she wore had hastened this lethal corruption every time she activated their magic. Every measure of borrowed power had demanded a payment in life.

"No! Sister! Please!" Tears streamed down Janice's face as she sobbed uncontrollably.

She whipped around toward Liu Qian, like someone seizing the only piece of driftwood in a boundless sea. Clutching his arm tightly, she looked at him with violet eyes full of desperate pleading.

"Liu Qian, please save my sister! You know magic. You must have a way. Please!"

Liu Qian remained silent.

He was no saint filled with compassion for all, nor a softhearted fool who would save anyone he saw dying.

Especially not Jelena, who had always treated him coldly and never stopped talking about Valyria's glory.

Yet Janice's heart-wrenching pleas moved him.

He remembered that when he first arrived here, this timid girl had led him to the ghost grass and helped him fill his magic power reserves for the first time.

He remembered the deadly encounter with the Purple Monster Bird. Without Jelena's precise, timely arrow bursting its head, he would probably have met a grim end long ago...

A heavy sigh escaped his throat. "I have a way, but it comes with a harsh condition."

"What way?" A spark of hope instantly lit Janice's eyes, and she pressed him eagerly.