Info dump below. But I'd like it if you could read it all.

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Chapter 86

“We’ll take over now,” Cassandra said as she stepped out of her tent, and coincidentally, Lucas came out of his tent at the same time.

“What happened to him?” Cassandra asked as she found her brother sleeping on a rock.

“It appears, young master was too tired, young lady,” I replied with a straight expression. Cassandra looked at me with a gaze that said, ‘Ahan?’

“Go rest and take Cassius to his tent, too. Lucas and I will switch.” Cassandra said. Lucas stared at me with an expression that urged me to leave.

Seriously, what was so great about that guy that Cassandra was head over heels for him?

Well, not like it was my business. I picked the young master whose name was now known to me and dropped him at his tent. After that, while the two lovebirds were busy with each other, I slipped into the forest.

[Night Demon Lv: 1]

[MP -100]

[Your footsteps become light]

[You become one with the shadows]

With my steps quiet and shrouded in the silence of the night, I disappeared into the forest and arrived in a clearing far away. Once I was sure no one would spot me here, I purchased the barrier artifact from the shop and placed it on the ground. It perched a barrier around a certain area, which gave me not only camouflage properties, but also a perception deceiver, which made it difficult for others to spot me.

I wasn’t just moving on my own. I had a plan. Not only would this buy me some time, but it would also help divert the attention of those coming to the town of Anemose.

Mainly from the now deceased lord and Baron Ruuthhaven.

[Creation (SS) has begun]

[Ingredients:

Blood crystals x4

Heart Ginseng

Purple Mushrooms

Wild Phoenix’s flame

…

…

…

…

…

Green Osepius]

“Haa…” I took a deep breath and began. What I was after was very simple. But I could only hope it would be done on the first try. I had only tried this once before, when I was in the world of spirit animals, where there were no other beings like me, and surely there weren’t any dragons.

That was a seven-time failure but that was only because I didn’t have blood crystals then. I had them now. The odds were highly in my favor. I just needed to keep an eye on the process.

The heart of a dragon was a very complex thing. It was a dragon itself. There were two halves of a dragon. One was the heart, and the rest was everything else, from meat to organs and everything else. Excluding the bones and skin, everything else was the essence of a dragon.

But, where the flesh and other organs held physical properties, the heart of a dragon had all its magic and magical potential.

Just like in humans, there were those with trash and amazing magical talents in dragons as well. But, even someone with the trashiest talent in dragons was stronger than your most talented human in magic. The only reason humans could ever contend against other beings was that they could grow faster than others.

For example, given long lives, vampires, elves, dwarves, orcs, and dragons naturally grew strong as long as they did what they were born for. Orcs were born for hunts, so as long as they trained their bodies, they could grow strong. The same went for dwarves. The elves were proficient in nature magic, so as long as they learned that properly, they could become unstoppable even with such a gentle power.

As for vampires, as long as they drank blood, depending on their potential, they could reach the peak in two to three hundred years. If their talent wasn’t good, then probably a thousand years. Their life span was also around two thousand, so that spoke volumes.

And lastly, the dragons were sort of all-rounders. But the only flaw of a dragon was the race they were born into. Gold dragons were the ones that had the most pride, green were healers, white were chivalrous, dark were mischievous or evil, and red were the epitome of perfection, the strongest types of dragons.

But they couldn’t grow strong. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t raise their strength on their own like humans. They grew in strength as they grew older. Depending on their bloodline purity, they could grow to their limit in around 30,000 years, and if their bloodline was polluted, then somewhere around 100,000 years.

A time that a human couldn’t even imagine. Whereas humans could reach their potential in thirty years at most if they were talented and even if they were not and they used good resources, in seventy years, they could reach the peak as long as their talent allowed.

Anyway, enough of that.

Coming back to dragons.

The moment dragons were born, by human terms, their power would be at four to six stars or circles. Of course, dragons weren’t classified by stages but by bloodline purity and age.

What I aimed to make was the trashiest heart. I didn’t need a very good one. I just needed a successful one. Because even the trashiest heart could help a human reform their body without any issues as long as a human could bear it. But in my case, the failure lay in making the heart itself.

If I became too greedy and tried to make a heart too complex, I’d lose everything. It was better to keep it straight and simple.

First and foremost, the foundation of a dragon’s heart was mana, which was a very complex structure and required utmost precision. It was a difficult step, even for me to some extent, which was why I chose a location with little to no disturbance and even took preemptive measures to make sure no one could disturb me, even by luck.

Or bad luck in my case.

The structure of mana veins and channels took some time, but in the end, I managed to construct them and get them running. It wasn’t long before it was done, and the next step had already begun.

Unfortunately, after the structure of mana veins, nothing else was up to me. The foundations were set, and the rest, which were vitality, stability, and profound control, were up to the process. I did what I could have. Now I could only leave it up to chance.

The red globe before me kept changing various shapes, sometimes emitting small electric tendrils, and sometimes breathing fire so hot that it even threatened me. The fire of a dragon was not a normal fire after all. I didn’t have much experience in that regard because dragons were rare in every world I had been to, but I still knew one thing about them.

The race that was banished to the mortal world.

It was said that despite possessing powers to match the gods, or in this case, the overseers of the worlds, they remained in the mortal realm, mingling with lower races.

But some dragons claimed it as a blessing, not a punishment. After all, the overseers weren’t beings who could interfere in the course of events of the worlds. Dragon could, and that practically made them better than gods.

I don’t know the full story because it changed in every world, but one belief remained the same. Born from the fires of hell, their fire was so strong that it could burn the souls out of existence even in hell. Hence, they were banished so they couldn’t wipe out souls. But their fire was said to be on par with the gods, or maybe stronger, given they could do something that even gods couldn’t do. Wipe out souls.

Well, they were all stories in the end. I never believed much in them. I was the existence that ruled above dragons after all. Some hundred or more dragons that I did encounter in my long, long lives, I killed them all and used them to raise my level.

In the end, they were just my bags of EXP.

The fire that felt like it could wipe my existence finally dimmed down, and everything came to a halt. The globe emitted no special effects anymore and just floated in the air while I, with bated breath, waited for the system’s notification.

[Ding]

My breath hitched. If it were my power on line, I could have just started from the beginning. But…

This was a matter for my son. My upcoming generations.

‘Please, let me be a father, oh despicable world.’

‘Take pity on me.’

I really hoped my prayers worked since I had only relayed my good intentions. My other intentions, such as fucking my mother and sisters and almost every other woman in this world, in other words, my impure intentions, were better left unsaid.

And finally…

[Success]

‘…’

For a moment, I didn’t know how to react before…

“YAAAHHHOOOOOO!!!!!”

~~

“What was that?” Cassandra immediately stood up, with her hand on her sword, on guard against something she thought she heard.

“I didn’t hear anything.” Lucas, who was sitting next to her, replied.

“…” Cassandra remained silent for a few seconds, but when she didn’t hear anything for some time, she let go of her sword and sat back down next to Lucas and resumed their lovely conversation.