Zijin's Scales

Su Ming stood on the bridge, watching the Silver Dragon sail away before beginning to inspect the ship's operations.

Under the energetic leadership of Beianqi, the maintenance work on the engine room crews has already begun in full swing.

Meanwhile, the freshwater supply operation on the other side also began smoothly under Younier's meticulous arrangements.

After processing several requests, Su Ming and decided to go find Zijin. He planned to invite the girl to go ashore together to relax, hoping it might help her unwind from the recent days of work and her low spirits.

But Zijin wasn't in the work area or the command center. Su Ming arrived at Zijin's cabin in the living area and knocked on the door.

After a short while, the hatch opened, and Zijin appeared in the doorway. Stacy was also in the room, and what struck Su Ming as unusual was that Zijin had a thick towel wrapped around her head, as if she had just taken a bath.

"Did you wash your hair?" Su Ming asked, somewhat puzzled.

He didn't smell the familiar berry scent, the kind of shampoo that Zijin usually used.

Zijin hesitated and looked back at Stacy, who simply shrugged, indicating that she should speak herself.

The girl took a deep breath, raised her hand, untied the towel from her head, and used her fingers to brush aside the hair on her forehead that was slightly messy from being pressed down by the towel.

Su Ming looked closely and then noticed that there was now a purple scale about the size of a fingernail between the girl's smooth eyebrows.

Although the area is small, its boundary outline is already very clear, presenting an exquisite rhomboid base, and at the four corners of the rhombus, and even at the center, several very small, sharp, needle-like Starlight- shaped protrusions extend out.

Under the cabin lights, the scale shimmered with a faint, magical glow, its textures flowing with strange colors, possessing a unique geometric beauty and a profound sense of fantasy.

Su Ming suddenly remembered that a few days ago, he had noticed an unusual redness on the girl's skin. He had initially thought it was a scratch from an accidental bump, but it turned out to be scales growing there.

"These are... newly formed dragon scales?" Su Ming guessed.

"Hmm," Zijin replied softly, pressing her fingers against the area below her collarbone. "Actually, I already have four patches here."

Because she was in her own room, Zijin was only wearing a thin, soft shirt. It seemed to have been unbuttoned just now, with one button undone, revealing a glimpse of her skin through the open gap.

Su Ming's gaze followed her words to the spot where her finger was pointing, and he immediately noticed that the girl glared at him with a "I knew it" look.

Su Ming looked away somewhat awkwardly.

"Hey, you're the one who led me to look there!" he protested, dissatisfied.

This is clearly a sting operation!

"If you want to see, you can." Zijin's lips curled into a mischievous smile as she reached out, pretending to unbutton her shirt. "Anyway, you saw this spot when I was injured last time."

Upon hearing this, Su Ming's gaze immediately and involuntarily turned to Stacy, who was watching with great interest.

His movement reminded Zijin of the presence of a large third wheel in the room. She quickly lowered her hand, her cheeks flushing slightly, and even the tips of her ears turning crimson.

"Ahem, I'm going out for some fresh air!" Stacy immediately coughed and walked towards the door.

Su Ming quickly raised his hand, "Wait, Stacy, please just tell me what happened!" He turned to Zijin, then his joking expression vanished, replaced by worry, "I want to know how this change will affect you."

"This happened about a month ago," Stacy stopped and answered. "Let me state the conclusion first: Zijin's body is indeed human. The cause of this phenomenon is a chimera."

"Chimera?"

Su Ming tried hard to recall the concept of chimera, a situation that is actually quite common in the human world. A single body may possess two or more different sets of DNA.

One common source is the fusion of two separate fertilized eggs, where one egg is absorbed by the other early in embryonic development, resulting in an individual whose body is partly derived from another DNA source.

Another type is called microchimerism, where cells from the mother and fetus can permeate each other through the placenta during pregnancy and remain in each other's bodies for a long time.

In other words, everyone has micro-chimerism with their mother's cells, and vice versa.

****

"These two areas on Zijin's body were cleverly implanted with elements originating from her Faerie Dragon form during her embryonic development," Stacy further explained. "Now, as her human body matures, these sealed Dragon Race traits are simply 'awakening' and developing."

"Did it cause her any harm?" Su Ming asked again, his expression serious.

"The scales below the chest aren't a big problem," Stacy said, "But the one on the forehead needs to be treated as soon as possible, otherwise it might affect the brain area as it grows."

"Since there are risks, why not remove it now?" Su Ming asked.

Theoretically, removing an implanted chimera, as long as it is not a critical organ, can also solve the problem.

"Are you sure you want to do this? This was something that Master Howard the Bronze Cormorant and Healer Sebastian the White Pheasant painstakingly and painstakingly accomplished." Stacy said seriously, "The scales on her chest contain the seed of the Faerie Dragon's core magical talent— 'Elemental Resonance.' The one between her brows is the origin of her unique spiritual talent— 'Whispers of the Stars.'"

The two Titled Scholar went to great lengths and made unimaginable efforts to achieve this state of affairs in preserving the Faerie Dragon's talents.

"These sound like very good stuff?" Su Ming asked.

"The ' Elemental Resonance,' once fully integrated, can compensate for my current weaknesses in the four elemental magics, restoring my resonance-level affinity with the four elements of wind, fire, earth, and water," Zijin interjected, her voice tinged with complexity. "The healer White Pheasant, only told me that my potential would naturally be replenished after I came of age—I never imagined it would be in the form of growing scales."

"And what about this on your forehead?" Su Ming turned to Stacy and asked, "Didn't you say it would affect the brain?"

"To be precise, both of her scales need to be treated," Stacy corrected. "These are unfinished matters left behind by the two Titled Scholar. But we need to go to the Land of Ancestral Spirits of the Dragon Race and use the ancient and powerful magic array there to complete the final work."

Su Ming thought for a moment. He had already received an invitation from Dragon King Gelie, so this matter shouldn't be a problem. Besides, he currently had many bargaining chips to use to "communicate" and trade with the Dragon Race.