Chapter 35 : Chapter 35
Chapter 35. Dragon Blood Ascension and the Scholar’s Treasure
Alice paced back and forth across the plaza.
The sound of her heels striking the frozen ground echoed sharply through the vast, empty space.
From time to time, she glanced toward the black stone wall that had returned to its lifeless silence.
Lilith squatted nearby, absentmindedly scraping the ice with a small dagger.
At that moment, the black stone wall suddenly lit up without warning.
The light was gentler than before.
A figure staggered out from within it and collapsed onto one knee, breathing heavily.
It was Alectos.
He had changed.
The golden dragon scales that had once flickered faintly across his skin were now solid and radiant, gleaming with a brilliant luster.
The horns on his forehead had grown longer, jagged and sharp.
Most striking of all was the faint phantom of a dragon tail behind him, formed from pure energy and slowly swaying in the air.
The aura surrounding him had completely changed.
He was no longer the determined third-tier knight from before.
Instead, a more ancient and powerful presence now emanated from him.
It was the pressure possessed only by a fourth-tier Dragonblood Knight.
“Wow!”
Alice shouted in amazement.
She instantly forgot all her earlier complaints and rushed over in a few quick steps, circling Alectos curiously.
She cautiously stretched out a finger and poked one of the dragon horns on his head.
“So what happened to you… did you undergo some kind of ancestral reversion?”
She clicked her tongue in wonder.
“You look a lot more valuable now!”
“No, wait. I mean a lot stronger!”
Alectos slowly stood up.
Feeling the surging power inside his body, even he looked slightly stunned.
“To be honest, I do not really know what happened either.”
He clenched his fist, and his knuckles cracked loudly.
“I only remember being pulled inside.”
“Then a lot of strange images appeared in my mind.”
“When I opened my eyes again, I was already back outside.”
He looked toward Logaris, gratitude and confusion visible in his eyes.
“The curse that was devouring my life… it seems to have been suppressed.”
“But it is still there.”
“I can feel it.”
“I sensed it as well.”
Logaris had already performed a brief spiritual scan of Alectos' condition.
He quickly delivered his conclusion.
“A stronger bloodline power has temporarily covered the rot.”
“But the root of the problem remains.”
“Your time has been extended from half a year to perhaps… five years.”
Hearing this, Alectos showed no disappointment.
Instead, a sense of relief appeared on his face.
Five years was enough time to accomplish many things.
He bowed deeply toward Logaris.
“No matter what, thank you for your help.”
“As promised, everything within this ruin—except for the bloodline relic I must take—belongs entirely to you.”
Alice opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something.
However, after glancing at Alectos, whose strength had greatly increased, and then at Logaris, who had remained calm from beginning to end, she swallowed her words.
Although she felt somewhat speechless at how generous Alectos was being, it was not her family’s ruin after all.
There was little she could say about it.
Logaris' gaze had already locked onto the magnificent side hall on the edge of the plaza, the only structure not sealed in ice and emanating an atmosphere of knowledge and ancient years.
Now that the trial was complete, the restrictions there had also been lifted.
“Thank you.”
Logaris left behind those two words.
Then he stepped forward and walked straight toward the enormous building.
That place had once been the dragons’ alchemical laboratory.
It was also their repository of knowledge.
The moment Lilith heard that everything inside could be taken freely, her eyes lit up instantly.
She hurried after him, imagining whether there might be legendary dragon-forged weapons inside.
Alice and Alectos exchanged a glance before following as well.
The heavy stone doors slid open silently with a gentle push from Logaris.
The sight beyond instantly shattered Lilith’s expectations.
There were no mountains of gold.
There were no seas of silver.
There were certainly no piles of magical gemstones.
Instead, towering shelves stretched all the way to the ceiling.
Upon them were not books, but countless Memory Crystals glowing with soft light.
At the center of the hall stood a complete set of strange metal-and-crystal constructs.
It was a full set of dragon alchemical equipment, far more advanced than even the finest laboratories in the modern human world.
“That is it?”
“A bunch of broken rocks?”
Lilith’s face immediately fell.
She felt as though she had just lost several hundred million coins.
Alice, however, was stunned by the sight.
As a mage, she fully understood the value of those knowledge crystals.
These were not stones.
They were a treasure trove of knowledge that could drive any mage organization on the continent into madness.
Logaris extended his hand.
His fingertips lightly brushed across the surfaces of the crystals.
In the next moment, an immense flood of information poured into his mind.
Dragon magical structural theory.
Dragon alchemy.
And even dragon mechanical theory.
Good heavens.
Could the ancient dragons really have been some kind of advanced civilization?
Logaris did not pause.
His fingers rapidly swept across shelf after shelf.
His mind processed the information at an inhuman speed, filtering, categorizing, and absorbing the knowledge.
Alice and Alectos stood at the entrance.
Watching Logaris move through the glowing sea of knowledge crystals, they found themselves unable to speak.
They had never seen anyone “read” in such a way.
Lilith had already squatted in the corner, drawing circles on the floor in boredom.
She had absolutely no interest in any of this.
Time passed second by second.
Suddenly, Logaris stopped before a remote bookshelf.
From the top shelf, he took down a Memory Crystal that looked particularly ancient.
Its glow was faint, and several cracks were visible across its surface.
He pressed the crystal against his forehead.
A completely different stream of information surged into his mind.
“Forbidden Chapters of Life Alchemy.”
Logaris' breathing paused for a moment.
Countless theories and formulas concerning the fusion of life force, soul grafting, and bloodline recombination unfolded within his mind.
These theories were wild and audacious.
They could even be considered blasphemous.
Yet they were also precise and rigorous, filled with the beauty of pure logic.
He saw countless failed experiment records.
He also saw successful cases.
Finally, within a section discussing how to fuse supreme life materials of different attributes, he saw a word he had long dreamed of.
“Dragon’s Breath.”
It was a super catalyst invented by the dragons themselves.
It could perfectly harmonize incompatible life energies and merge them into an entirely new and higher form of existence.
Below that description was the full formula and refinement method for Dragon’s Breath.
And the core material required to produce it required only one thing.
Dragon Blood Stone.
Logaris suddenly opened his eyes.
Unrestrained joy shone within them.
This was the very objective of his journey.
He turned and strode quickly toward the complex alchemical equipment in the center of the hall.
He stopped before a metal cabinet that appeared to be a material storage container.
Without hesitation, he opened one of the drawers.
Inside lay a fist-sized stone.
The stone was entirely crimson.
Within it, molten currents seemed to flow slowly like magma, radiating a warm yet immense life force.
It was a Dragon Blood Stone.
And its quality surpassed anything he had ever seen described in any book.
Logaris lifted the Dragon Blood Stone and gently rubbed its warm surface.
For the first time since beginning this journey, a smile appeared on his face.
Every theoretical and material requirement needed to recreate the Elixir of Eternal Youth had now been fulfilled.
Nearby, Alectos frowned deeply.
It was not because Logaris was freely taking items.
Rather, it was because he had seen something during the inheritance that sent chills down his spine.
The black-robed man who had planted the Withering of Blood curse upon him.
When the man cast the spell, a twisted emblem had been revealed beneath his cloak.
It was formed from vines and a skull.
Alectos had seen that symbol before.
Deep within the most forbidden historical memories of his inheritance.
It did not belong to the hawkish faction.
Nor did it belong to any faction within the Demi-Human Empire.
It pointed toward a far older and far more sinister organization that was believed to have been completely eradicated a thousand years ago.
The Corruption Cult.
The internal struggle of the Demi-Human Empire was far more complicated than he had imagined.
The one hunting him might not even be his brother at all.
Alectos clenched his fists tightly.
He did not reveal this discovery.
This secret was too enormous.
It involved an ancient cult long believed to be extinct, something far beyond ordinary royal conflict.
Before he understood everything, revealing this to Logaris—an outsider—would only bring unpredictable consequences.
This had become his own war.