The Scholar's Age

Su Ming fired several more Bone Spear, which indeed caused the Zijin's shield to tremble. At the point of impact, the magical barrier developed severe cracks.

"You're quite something!" the scholar observed the details. "You thinned the Bone Spear, increased its length, and added two..."

She clearly noticed the several extra plate-like protrusions at the rear of the Bone Spear.

"The tail fin is for increasing flight stability," Su Ming explained.

"Very delicate, but that's not enough. What else did you do?"

Su Ming slowed his movements and reconstituted a Bone Spear. In the center of the already refined Bone Spear, he compressed an even more solid bone core, but the rest of the spear was even more "fragile" than normal.

The scholar was completely baffled. "Why is it that when you do it this way, the penetration effect is even better than when the whole thing is compressed?"

"The outer ring will rapidly shatter upon impact, maintaining the stability of the core," Su Ming explained simply, "Ensuring that the core can continue to act on a single point of the magic shield."

The scholar was quite annoyed, "Why does your Earth always have this kind of infuriating knowledge?"

Su Ming shrugged. He didn't really understand the specific principles, but all the tungsten-core armor-piercing projectiles on Blue Star had this structure. "My Magic Power has an advantage in penetrating power, so I've been searching for magical configurations that can utilize this property."

"Alright, you win," Zijin admitted. "But the excessive concentration of penetrating power also has its drawbacks; multiple Bone Spear can't accurately hit such a small point, and therefore can't achieve cumulative effect."

While it may sound like nitpicking, it is indeed something that needs serious consideration, given the consistently high-level battles. When facing High Rank enemies, the "Bone Spear - Armor-Piercing Mod" is not powerful enough for a single shot, and it is difficult to focus when firing multiple shots.

Although the reason for this was Su Ming's insufficient rank, the enemy won't care about "fair play".

"There are further modifications that can remedy the shortcomings," Su Ming said, "But my control isn't quite there yet."

The scholar's eyes lit up upon hearing this, "Then you'd better practice hard, I'm really looking forward to it!"

The bone bird brought a measuring tape, and Zijin measured a complete set of sizes and handed it to Su Ming. Just as expected...

All the data showed increases to varying degrees.

"Wait, you've grown taller?" Su Ming asked in surprise. The girl's height had actually increased by one and a half centimeters!

"That's strange?" Zijin raised an eyebrow.

"Well, this might be a bit presumptuous of me to ask, but it's something I've wanted to ask for a long time," Su Ming said. "How should I understand your age?"

Normally, a girl's height stops growing rapidly after the age of 14. Su Ming had always treated Zijin as an older sister, but now, this feeling was hard to describe.

This problem has clearly stumped the scholars as well.

"How far have you gotten in solving the mystery of my identity?" she asked Su Ming first. "Have you figured out my age yet?"

Since they're both bone dragons, it's only natural that Zijin was originally a dragon. As for the type of dragon, it's not hard to guess.

Her name is a clear indication.

As for age, Su Ming calculated that the earliest appearance of the Liya was 154 years ago, so "you were probably born 170 years ago."

Zijin's expression suddenly turned serious as she looked at Su Ming. "How... how did you do that?"

"Purple," Su Ming replied. "When you were still a dragon, you transformed into a human and wandered the world, becoming a scholar. Initially, your hair and eyebrows were purple, and after you became famous, your nickname was ' Eggplant.' Among dragons, only the Faerie Dragon shares this characteristic."

"The Faerie Dragon is purple, but it doesn't turn purple after transforming," Zijin countered.

"That's right, so the conclusion is that you were a very young Faerie Dragon back then. Your power was too weak to control these things!" Su Ming said. "From this, we can infer that you were born 170 years ago. As for the rest, there are still many questions I haven't answered."

Zijin murmured, "You have exceeded my expectations."

"Sorry, if you don't like having your past explored—"

The girl shook her head. "I initiated this invitation. There's something I've been hesitating about, which is why we set up this puzzle game."

She presented the riddle, but did not limit Su Ming's time to solve it. In a sense, she had already made a choice subconsciously, and was just using this method to make up her mind.

But for a scholar who is usually decisive to be in this state indicates that this matter is no small thing. Even when she had Su Ming fuse with the White Bone Mark, she did not hesitate this much.

So, what is this so-called reward?

Zijin sighed, "Myself."

Su Ming's expression instantly became incredibly varied. "I didn't understand—or, do you mean I could understand?"

"No, it isn't." The girl rolled her eyes at him.

Well, what a disappointment, Su Ming thought to himself.

"This matter requires me to return to my hometown, and it might not be possible to do so," Zijin explained. "I'll explain it to you properly then."

"We'll see," Su Ming said, suddenly remembering the original topic, "So, how should I interpret your age in human form?"

Zijin pondered for a moment, "Ailisha's form is human. I appeared in the temple at the age of six and studied there for eleven years until I was sealed away. It's just that during that period, Ailisha's form didn't develop normally due to health defects."

"So I should understand you as a seventeen-year-old girl who's still developing?" Su Ming said. He finally understood why the girl had been eating so much lately; it turned out she was in the period of greatest hunger.

"If you don't mind that there's actually a 170-year-old dragon living inside," Zijin replied.

Su Ming decided to ask all his questions. "There are no immortal beings in my world. I don't understand this life form."

Zijin understood Su Ming's meaning. "Dragons are creatures that can live for thousands of years, and they are also slow-paced creatures that change slowly. Normally, a 170-year-old dragon is indeed similar to a human teenager."

"This is also where I'm currently conflicted," Zijin continued. "My state is actually closely related to my physical form. When I'm a dragon, I don't have many emotions, and I can take things slowly. I can sleep for a long time every day, and it's normal for me to sleep for several days in a row when I'm tired. I'm easygoing."

"So, the longevity of dragons is actually somewhat questionable?"

"During the young dragon stage, the discount is about 40% or 50%," Zijin replied. "The older the dragon, the bigger the discount; when it gets old, it's less than 10% active."

"I see."

"After becoming an undead, the world I saw turned cold, and it was hard for my heart to feel anything. Only my thirst for knowledge sustained me," Zijin recounted her past. "But after changing into Ailisha's form, my personality changed too much. You don't know this, because you've only been in my Bone Dragon Form for a very short time."