The dragon's core shone with golden luminescence, so bright it was like someone had plucked the sun out of the sky and placed it in his hands. It was also extremely hot to touch, enough that Alyssia had retreated backwards to avoid getting burnt. With his recent upgrades in vitality and the rest of his attributes, he had no such problem dealing with the orb. His clothes- the little he’d managed to put on post-hydra fight- however, did, and so he’d had to generate some water to soak them in to avoid them combusting into flame.
He could’ve spent hours admiring it- no, that's definitely a lie, I'd get bored in a minute tops- but his impatience and the timer hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles prevented him from taking things slowly. And I’m fucking starving for it. It was a wonder he’d managed to place it in his blood at all instead of just shoving it in his mouth like a massive ball of candy. The feat should’ve awarded him with some extra willpower.
Thankfully, their earlier worries seemed to be for nought, as the core was melting into his blood the same as every single one before had. He attributed the smooth process to his increased vitality and Alyssia, almost as if she'd read his mind, confirmed his hypothesis a moment later. “You know, I don’t think your blood would’ve done anything to the core if you hadn’t gotten past the thousand vitality milestone. It was struggling enough with the hydras, and the dragon's is an order of magnitude greater.''
She walked over and leant over the steel bowl cautiously observing the alchemical process. The core had thankfully stopped emitting so much heat the moment it had come into contact with his blood and now she could use her advanced aura skills to see the creation process up close and personal. She was no master potion maker but she knew the insights that could be gleaned from watching such powerful ingredients synthesise was an opportunity that couldn’t be ignored. The alchemists on her homeworld would give up their arms and legs to stand where she was right now.
If anything, the elixir creation was progressing faster than normal, a testament to just how potent Arthur’s blood had become. Curious, Arthur decided to identify the blood seeping out of the numerous wounds on his body. The results produced were more than a little surprising.
Regenerative blood (Elite+)- The liquid of life taken from a creature tied to the concept intimately, it is a potent catalyst for many alchemical processes. Drinking 100ml will restore a thousand health but will come with certain side effects.
Side effects: ??? ???
It looked like getting his vitality so high came with a whole lot of unexpected boons. His blood had undergone a qualitative change and it made sense that the dragon core was mixing with it so well. Heck, it was on the verge of becoming an epic item in and of itself and his body produced the stuff at an incredibly fast rate. If he didn’t mind selling parts of himself, he was sitting on a goldmine. Unfortunately, Arthur wasn’t yet strong enough to protect the resources his body represented, nor was he too fond of selling himself so he’d have to shelve the idea for now.
“It’s about to finish,” Alyssia said excitedly. She was looking at the Ikea bowl like a toddler would a new fish tank and Arthur would’ve found the sight amusing if he wasn’t doing the same. Watching the solutions magically mix themselves was always amazing to see and he could see that his trusty cauldron was beginning to undergo certain changes too.
He would’ve been excited about that under normal conditions but he had much more incredible things to look forward to. A system notification's sudden appearance startled him out of his reverie but it came with welcome news.
Congratulations! You have created your first Legendary item. You have gained the award- Master Artisan III
Reward: Enhance a crafting skill of your choice.
Error! Host possesses no crafting skills. Reward held in stasis. Please gain a crafting skill or see a system administrator to have your reward changed.
Reading through the system message, Arthur couldn’t help but grin. He didn’t care that he was currently locked out of his rewards. He’d done it. He’d created a friggin Legendary elixir. Sure, he’d used a pseudo-divine ingredient to make it but no one needed to get caught up in the details.
"Holy shit,” Alyssia whispered beside him. “You created a legendary elixir. A fucking legendary elixir,” she repeated the words in disbelief.
She picked up the bowl almost reverently and placed it into his shaking hands. “Drink it. Quickly, or the universe is going to find some bullshit way to take it from you. Hell, I won’t be surprised if a dragon breaks into the locus right now to steal it.”
Identifying the liquid gold concoction, Arthur understood her fears a little better.
A dragons Inheritance (Legendary)- The dragons are majestic creatures, their ancients recognised as divinities across the multiverse. They stand at the top of the food chain, arrogant in their sovereignty overall. This elixir contains the condensed essence of one that could never spread its wings and conquer the skies.
Its scent acts as a beacon to all dragonkind, the tragic tale of the demise of one of their young. Consuming it will enhance their power further and push them to new heights. Taking it for yourself will grant you the power of their kind, but it will leave you marked.
As friend or foe, none can say.
Arthur had barely finished reading the item's description before he was already chugging it down. It didn’t matter how cryptic the message was, no way in hell was he going to wait for a dragon to show up and steal it from him. He NEEDED this to survive past the next twenty minutes. If they wanted to take it from him, they’d have to do so from his vivisected stomach.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
As rushed as he was, Arthur didn’t fail to enjoy the elixir's taste, though to describe it as a physical sensation would be doing it a disservice. Drinking the Dragons Inheritance was a spiritual journey, it was the enlightenment sought by all cultivators, the condensation of all his dreams made manifest as an ambrosia that would forevermore haunt his nights with its elusive taste, a sensation he’d forever chase but never again experience. In reality, it took him six seconds to drink the liquid gold but it felt like he’d lived a lifetime before the bowl dropped from his lips and then crashed to the ground from unresponsive fingers.
“Arthur, hey Arthur!”
Worried, Alyssia gripped his shoulder and shook him. His aura had all but disappeared from her senses and for a brief moment, she feared that something had gone wrong and the dragon's elixir had killed him. Only the steady rise and fall of his chest kept her from panicking. Arthur didn’t respond to her shouting, nor did he seem to register her crushing grip on his shoulder. To all intents, he was dead to the world. Just as she was beginning to think the elixir had failed, something changed.
A small electrical current passing through his body was the only warning she received. Only her trained reflexes kept her from losing her legs as she exploded away from him at twice the speed of sound. She barely escaped. A massive inferno sprung into existence around Arthur, the flames possessing the same golden glow the core had. The ether contained within them was so dense it put the hydra's insane vitality to shame and it served as the perfect barrier to block what was going on within them even from her trained analytical skills.
Those were the more ordinary traits the flame possessed. It was at the edge of what she could perceive but could feel it. The inferno had a concept attached to it. She couldn’t tell what it was exactly but it felt akin to rebirth and renewal, more the domain of the mythical bird, the legendary phoenix than the dragon it originated from.
Alyssia could feel ‘something’ else beneath it and she knew instinctively that the very same flames that were healing and rebuilding Arthur would destroy her to the last atom if she approached any closer. As curious as she was, she’d remain standing right here where it was safe and watch from a distance. Seeing a dry tree stump a metre away, she quickly changed her mind. Sitting down was way more comfortable.
Arthur, meanwhile, was surprised that he wasn’t experiencing extreme pain. In shows and books, a character going through a power-up of any sort tended to be accompanied by mind-numbing agony as their bodies were broken and rebuilt. Because that was exactly what was happening to Arthur.
He could feel it, observe it in a way that transcended his normal vision as his flesh and bones burned away in the golden flames that surrounded him. His body turned to ash and served as fuel for the inferno, though to call his mortal flesh adequate fuel for a divine flame was perhaps arrogant of him. If anything, he was corrupting them with his lesser flesh.
Where his body burned away, new substance was created, the molecules of its makeup suffused with ether and arranged in strange ways that seemed to transcend three dimensions. It hurt to look at, his brain too weak to comprehend the information it received. He did know one thing though, it was so much better than what it had once been. It felt amazing too, believe it or not, like a full body massage at the hands of someone with a class specialised for it. No pain whatsoever.
The flames seemed to possess a consciousness of their own, a will of some kind. He could feel it looking at him, a mixture of curious amusement and mischievousness in its gaze. Ever the idiot, his bestial side decided to try and assert its superiority. Thankfully, the flames didn’t take offence at his stupid preening and continued on as they were. Was it the remnants of the dragon that had never lived? Arthur suspected that might be the case, but he’d never know for certain.
The metamorphosis of Arthur's body took twelve minutes, for too little time in his opinion. He doubted he’d ever feel such a pleasant sensation ever again. Opening his eyes, Arthur was sad to see that his clothes hadn’t survived the process. His favourite pair of boxers went up in flames. In his defence, he hadn’t expected the elixir's results to be so…fiery.
Arthur's vision felt weird, it was like the ground was further away than he was used to and he realised what happened when he saw Alyssia. She’s shrunk? In actuality, Arthur had gotten taller, which took him worryingly long to realise. Before, he’d been just shy of 6’1 and now he was pushing the boundary of 6’6. It wasn’t the only part of his body that had grown either Arthur idly noted. The notifications clamouring for his attention helped explain what had happened to him.
You have consumed a massive source of primordial ether.
Energy is being assigned in order of importance…
Host’s soul shell is at 47% integrity…
Healing in progress…
Integrity 58%... 65%, 74%, 93%... 100%
Your soul has been completely healed and made more resilient in the process…You have become more resistant to minor soul damage…
The (tier 4) title primed soul has been removed from host's status…
Arthur let out a sigh of relief when he read that. He’d been fixed. The problems that had been troubling him for so long were now gone. Which meant that his soul affinity should now be free to use. Hopefully, his terrible affinity with shadow magic had also improved in the process. He’d have to save the experimentation for later though. He’d have to save the experimentation for later though. The next notification was where things started to get juicy.
He’d evolved again. Quite literally, in fact.
Primordial energies are being used to enhance host's race.
Human: Rank- F-->Human: Rank- D
A one-time addition has been made to Host’s evolution gains.
Arthur Ward: Evolved Rank D- prodigious title bearer III (Increases effectiveness of all titles by 30%) Draconic Rebirth (Increases all stats by 10%. This increase is applied to host's status after all titles and evolutionary effects are calculated)
Reading through the notifications overwhelmed him. It was so much more than he could have asked for, so much more than he’d expected. Three evolutions before unlocking a class! It was unheard of. An impossible feat in and of itself. An ordinary person's soul would have exploded by this point, unable to deal with the power of so many evolutions without the aid of a class reinforcing their spirit. A ten percent increase on top of everything else he had was just the cherry on top, and the fact that it was the final modifier that was applied on top of everything else just made it sweeter. There was still one last notification to go through, and after reading it Arthur realised that everything before was just the starters.
The main course was still waiting for him and it came in the form of a choice. Arthur grinned maniacally.
He already knew his answer.
You have consumed the primordial essence of a dragon. Please choose an attribute to enhance to the Draconic variant.