"Urgh!! Cough cough!!"

Shena couldn't help but lean against the table edge and violently vomit, spewing countless foul sediments onto the old wooden floor of the basement.

This was one of the many secret laboratories in the Vattier estate. Shena had preliminarily solved the theoretical stage of dragon blood transformation and was now in the early experimental phase.

"But my body's rate of decay has been accelerating rapidly! I may not be able to withstand it!"

After stopping his vomiting, he struggled to stand up, his body trembling as if clad in thin clothes in the frozen winter wasteland.

"Mr. Vattier, are you alright?" The rat dragon tasked with guarding and monitoring him slowly approached and asked.

"I'm fine. Help me bring her over!" Shena wiped his mouth and raised his sharp gaze like lightning—the rationality and ruthlessness of a scholar.

The rat dragon nodded. Although ordered by Raphael to guard this half-century-old man, the latter's experiments required many hands. Under the circumstances where it was impossible to voice the secret, these guards had no choice but to double as lab assistants.

The spacious lab connected directly to the underground of Pillar Mountain. The rat dragon called a few of its compatriots and operated the Ground III to pull out a golden dragon from the darkness.

"No! Please, I beg you!" Nicole cried with tears in her eyes, constantly pleading to be spared.

However, neither Raphael's dragon kin nor Shena himself had any sympathy or mercy left. Nicole's pleas were merely meaningless roars to their ears.

"Ugh! Argh!!"

Nicole was pierced by special iron chains through her wings, wrists, hind legs, and even her tail root. There were several sutured scars on her belly.

With all her magic catalysts sealed, she had no combat abilities left other than physical attacks and her breath.

However, every time this golden dragon tried to muster her strength like a monster and struggle desperately, the iron chains would immediately tighten and pierce into her flesh, unleashing lightning that easily penetrated Nicole's thin scales and ravaged her body, sending excruciating pain directly into her heart that made her cry out loudly again.

The rat dragons quickly dragged the golden dragon to the open area of the underground lab using the Ground III. Shena pocketed several vials of potions and focused his mind on the work.

"Good! Spread the dragon's four limbs and secure them to the steel shackles!"

Nicole had already been drained of her strength and spirit from the torment of the lightning chains. She could only let her eyelids droop and cast a mournful gaze as her body was manipulated by the rat dragons.

Her forelimbs and hind legs were soon trapped in the steel shackles on the ground—restraints directly connected to the depths below the surface. Unless she had the power to upheave the entire earth, there was no way to break free.

"The dwarves' tunneling skills are indeed impressive," Shena said with satisfaction as he watched his experiment subject helplessly restrained by the outstanding tools.

These were resources he had specially obtained through the rat dragon guards after informing Raphael.

Crimson Dragon had secretly brought the dwarves and materials here through Hil and Naisa, but they only knew they were building an underground space, similar to the southern underworks. Even Hil was unaware of the secrets within.

Raphael had learned his lesson this time.

He did everything possible to separate the construction, experimentation, and daily resource transportation teams to maximize secrecy. Only then could the resulting achievements reach their full potential.

"Clear the area!"

Shena announced loudly. The rat dragons, blood wyverns, and other specially recruited helpers with restricted freedom hurriedly scattered.

Nicole, who had lived among humans for years, Familiarize their language. Upon hearing Shena's words, she couldn't help but tremble again.

She knew what that phrase meant.

Soon, a dazzling and strange alchemy array appeared on the previously blank area with only a few steel shackles. Its winding and twisting lines extended toward various designated material areas. More were densely connected to an area beneath a high wall—Shena's control dais.

"Energy extraction."

Shena took out his wand as a catalyst to aid his mana flow and controlled the entire array through the dais.

The uranium gold ore blocks placed in the deepest darkness were gradually diluted. These were military supplies Arnold had intercepted from reinforcements along the Modon River.

The alchemists of Erl could not break through the encrypted magic fluctuations of the Natterian military, so they could not extract the pure uranium gold energy for daily use.

But Shena was the first person to independently research uranium gold conversion techniques. Six hundred years had not diminished his talents but allowed them to mature further.

The uranium gold ore blocks were continuously dissolved by the alchemy array on the ground. One ingeniously arranged mana chain after another effortlessly bound the raging unstable energy, allowing it to obediently flow to various parts of the array as the fundamental power source.

"Dragon physiology detection."

Shena used the dais again, and a purple glow at the center of the array enveloped Nicole.

This caused no particular sensation, but the golden dragon couldn't help but shudder and feel nauseous each time, as if an invisible giant hand was caressing her.

"Relatively weak physique, chaotic mana flow in her bloodline, but not to the point of complete depletion. Good."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

He observed the wedge-shaped glyphs lighting up one by one on the dais and quickly translated the results in his mind.

The power of dragon blood was too overwhelming. Even after leaving the main body, it remained turbulent. Dragon scholars suspected this blood had its own consciousness, like a decapitated snake still thrashing about for a while.

Shena needed controllable dragon blood to analyze its composition and principles. If the blood was too violent, it would produce erroneous data.

"Inject Experimental Potion Mixture No. 27."

Another command was issued, and this time Nicole became completely frenzied, struggling upward like a beast, trying to break free from the steel shackles' restraints.

But it was no use. If it were Raphael, he might have been able to uproot the rock layers along with the shackles, but Nicole was clearly not a dragon of physical might.

"Cough cough...Argh!!"

Soon, the reflected helplessness and pain from her flesh made her give up this endeavor. In despair, this golden dragon could only try to condense her breath—which she had used no more than two digits in her life—and attempt to incinerate the puny human before her.

Clank!

Nicole's long neck had already been tightly secured with three restraint rings. As the high temperature of her breath merely grazed these devices, the steel rings activated by the excessive heat immediately unleashed astonishing lightning!

Nicole felt a sharp pain in her neck, instantly overwhelmed by a suffocating numbness that filled her mind. Her breath could only subside.

"Ugh!"

The golden dragon widened her eyes and opened her mouth, as if praying to a non-existent deity.

But then she collapsed heavily to the ground, only able to watch as the now orange-glowing alchemy array flowed and gathered into some potion, which was injected into her body through the lightning needles in the steel shackles.

The strange potion's power quickly clashed and merged with Nicole's dragon blood, initiating an extraordinary transformation.

"Ugh!!"

She soon felt her mind growing dizzy, followed by an indescribable nausea and vomiting sensation that set in, spreading an unspeakable misery and despair.

This was not the bloody, outward destruction of a battlefield but an internal imbalance of her body, bringing a torment no less than being incinerated alive by Crimson Dragon's fire.

Watching the golden dragon on the ground silently writhing her long neck, her four wings constantly trembling and convulsing, a few strands of drool slowly oozing from the corners of her mouth, Shena continuously observed the scene and the wedge glyphs flashing on the dais, his brilliant mind never stopping.

"Good, the potion is starting to pair with the dragon blood. Experiment Subject No. 1 is exhibiting reactions of pregnancy. Her body is being deceived into nurturing a egg, ensuring the birth of a dragon kin."

"Hmm...the dragons' bloodline origins are starting to reject the human genes. The two forces are 'struggling' within her egg chamber. No matter which prevails, this violent reaction will leave an indelible mark on the resulting subject's appearance."

Shena frowned.

"As expected, it's difficult to forcibly fuse the two genes or use harmonizing potions to subjugate the draconic bloodline's physical appearance with human bloodlines."

According to Raphael's description, the first step in obtaining a kin capable of freely transforming between human and dragon kin forms was to find the balance point between the vastly different bloodlines.

But this was a difficult problem. The supreme ecological traits of dragons were fully manifested here—even the finest human genes, aided by various harmonizing potions, could not overcome draconic genes.

Even a cowardly mother dragon with an adulterated bloodline was not enough.

"If this dragon is already so difficult, how can the blood of Crimson Dragon be handled? What human genes could possibly dominate that power?"

Seeing the final continuously flashing wedge glyphs, he knew the dragon blood had once again prevailed over the human blood.

"Stop."

Shena ended this experiment and recorded all the data and observations in his notes.

Simultaneously, glow of the alchemy matrix turned a clear blue, beginning to clear away the waste produced during this experiment and drain it into the depths below.

"Sigh, another failure."

Shena watched as the rat dragons and assistants approached to release Nicole's restraints. They used large cleavers to cut open the suture scars on her belly, blood and mixed turbid fluids immediately flowing out and seeping into the ground to be drained away by the operating array.

Then, a malformed fetus fell out. Its limbs were between a reptilian and mammalian form, appearing grotesque. On its back were two pairs of bony wings, but upon closer inspection, they were merely protruding ribs forced open. Its spinal tail had been unnaturally elongated, yet the uncoordinated structure had blocked the fetus' excretory opening, preventing it from completing its biological cycle.

Fortunately, no one would have to endure the suffering of malformation, for this newborn had died within Nicole's womb before its consciousness could even manifest.

The rat dragons eagerly incinerated this aberrant kin with the fierce Tempest flames of their breath cannons, the smell of another dragon's kin filling them with disgust.

"Perhaps my approach was wrong from the start. Allowing human blood to forcibly dominate dragon's would solve this problem, meaning human ecology has ascended to the ranks of higher life forms, akin to the powers of creation itself."

He pondered as he operated the alchemy matrix to heal Nicole's wounds. Even geniuses could become stuck at times, for Raphael's request was exceedingly difficult to fulfill.

"Mr. Vattier, master has something for you," a blood wyvern, one of Crimson Dragon's elite guards, suddenly arrived and called out, snapping Shena from his contemplation.

"Oh? Ah! Very well, I'll be right there." Shena was roused from his daze, extinguished all the lights on the alchemy matrix, and followed the blood wyvern out of the underground laboratory.

He paid no mind to the passing scenery, fully immersed in solving the problem at hand, even forgetting about his own quest for eternal life and impending death.

"We're here." The blood wyvern guard dropped off Shena, who walked a few absent-minded steps before bumping into Raphael's crimson scales, finally jolting his thoughts back to reality.

"What were you doing?" Raphael asked quizzically. This old alchemist always behaved peculiarly, becoming utterly absorbed whenever knowledge and exploration were involved.

"I was thinking about how to naturally allow the dragon kin to take human form, bypassing the lockdown of dragon blood. It's too difficult to forcibly overcome," Shena explained, his mind already drifting back.

Raphael snorted a puff of hot air, yawned, and then stated the reason he had summoned Shena: "The materials list you gave me last time was too extensive. I'm having trouble procuring everything, so the supply will be delayed."

"What?!" Shena was aghast. "Without sufficient materials, how can I provide you those special kin?!"

"Why are you shouting?! Keep your voice down!" Raphael roared for Shena to lower his volume.

Only then did the latter realize they weren't in Crimson Dragon's golden nest but rather a warm grassy area, with heat wafting up from the surface.

"the dragon training ground of the palace ? Why have you come here"

"Because Hil happened to discover this place. He told me it was very warm and comfortable, so I came," Raphael said, comfortably squinting his eyes as he lay down, maximizing his body's contact with the ground.

Shena understood what was going on. Heating furnaces were installed throughout the palace and operated fully during winter even humans from sweating profusely in light clothing.

The entire training grounds had underground heating, allowing the king's dragons to maintain their vitality during winter, during the reign of Morey.

"Very well, but why are you postponing the supply of materials for my experiments? Does this mean I can work on something else?" Shena asked in a hushed voice.

Raphael opened one eyelid, his dark golden iris sharpening dangerously. "Don't even think about slacking off. My kin won't be withdrawn, so you must continue experimenting as much as possible with the resources you currently possess!"

"After all, you're a genius, aren't you? Everyone sings such high praises of your brilliance. Surely this isn't an insurmountable challenge," Raphael concluded with a subtle mocking tone.

Faced with Crimson Dragon's unreasonableness, Shena could only swallow his objections.

"But you must provide me the naturally transforming experiment subjects - that's the key!" he finally pleaded.

"That...I'll figure something out. For now, just try resolving this issue yourself," Raphael nodded in agreement.

"Oh, and take these." He suddenly produced several large stacks of papers from his spatial ring.

"What are these?" Shena accepted them and examined the materials quizzically.

"Experimental reports on dragons that I obtained from the humans. Perhaps they'll be of some help to you," Raphael replied nonchalantly.