Chapter 128 - 128: Origin Stat
"Boom!"
In the far corner of the massive dimensional vault, Lucien was seen bloodied and battered, looking extremely miserable.
His body, which had somehow managed to regain its shape before, now looked as if it had hollowed out entirely.
Fortunately, after Velmara used his trace of ancient bloodline to activate his Phoenix fire, the situation had now turned for the better.
At least now Lucien could finally pierce through the body of the dragon.
As Lucien's hand, which was engulfed in Phoenix flame, bombarded those hard scales, they slowly began to melt, making the dragon extremely vulnerable to physical attacks until…
"Bang!"
Lucien finally managed to pierce through the tough skin, gaining direct access to the place every cell in his body desired desperately.
"Thumm… thummm…"
However, as soon as Lucien managed to gain access to the chest of the dragon and was about to tear it apart and grab whatever was inside forcibly, a strange rhythmic humming began to sound, directly stopping Lucien in his tracks.
Unlike the furious pounding sound Malcolm heard before from behind that chest, this time the humming was extremely pleasant to hear.
In fact, the moment it sounded from the dragon's chest, Lucien's insanity stopped on its own.
While he had been tormented by hunger before, willing to do anything to grab that draconic essence, now he stood silently, looking directly at the place where that pleasant sound was being transmitted.
"Resonance of the Ancient Bloodline. Fortunately, the draconic essence really chose Lucien."
Velmara, who heard the sound, couldn't help but close his eyes and try to make his Vermillion bloodline react to this resonance.
Although he couldn't take the essence for himself, he could at least feel it.
Who knew? Maybe he would gain something.
Just when tranquility returned to the Dimensional Dungeon after the chaos, suddenly the massive chest of the dragon, punctured by Lucien, opened on its own, followed by the appearance of a translucent globe with a tiny dragon inside.
The tiny dragon was coiled within the glowing yet translucent sphere, its golden-crimson scales glistening like molten metal, faint embers of draconic flame flickering along its wings as an ancient, oppressive aura leaked out unconsciously.
"Roar!!"
Then, to the surprise of everyone, as soon as it came outside, it roared just like a dragon would, only the voice was a little cuter.
"Draconic Essence!"
Only, nobody laughed after seeing this.
After all, the thing in front was a bona fide draconic essence of a Lord-level dragon.
Such a treasure couldn't be seen just because one wanted to, and now it was right in front of them, within arm's reach.
To be honest, even Malcolm's breath hitched a little, and now he genuinely felt a little jealous of his grandson.
With such a thing recognizing him and the awakening of the Dragon King's Physique, Lucien's path ahead was now as smooth as butter.
Malcolm didn't deny that Lucien might get ahead of him within a year.
To be honest, if he remembered correctly, his grandson was already capable of producing an initial Weaver-rank strength before. He didn't know how powerful he would become once he absorbed that draconic essence.
'So lucky!'
While Velmara and Malcolm literally swallowed their saliva, the little spiritual dragon in the translucent mass, on the other hand, approached Lucien before finally directly entering his chest.
It was a totally silent approach with no force of any kind involved.
Also, while Lucien had shown extreme hunger for that thing just now, he now silently allowed the spirit to enter him without interrupting.
Moreover, once the spirit disappeared into his body, he directly closed his eyes and sat on the massive hollow of the dragon's chest, beginning his meditation.
'Damn, so close. I almost lost my life.'
Lucien couldn't help but think bitterly as he finally managed to regain his senses.
That strange hum of resonance generated by the draconic essence was really something else, as it directly managed to suppress his restless mind and body in a jiffy.
Even now, after the essence entered, there was no voracious devouring or fight like when he absorbed the dragon blood before.
Instead, the essence silently traveled to his heart, settling and sleeping quietly while simultaneously healing his injuries and nourishing him.
Unlike the dragon blood, which needed to be refined, the draconic essence was the core of a Dragon King's Physique.
After it entered the body, Lucien had finally successfully awakened his A-class Physique.
Ding!
Sure enough, just when Lucien was closing his eyes, meditating and recovering at the same time, he suddenly heard the prompt from the system that had been absent during all his suffering before.
[You have been chosen by the draconic essence and have successfully assimilated it into your body.]
[Congratulations! You have successfully awakened the Dragon King's Physique (A Rank) completely.]
[Dragon King's Physique (A Rank) – A passive as well as an active skill that can help you be a vessel capable of being infused with draconic essence while simultaneously granting overwhelming vitality and resilience.
> Passive Effect: Increases Strength and Endurance, and increases natural regeneration speed.
>Active Effect:
Strength: +50%
Endurance: +60%
Physique: +70%
Vitality: +80%
Natural Regeneration: +200% (recovers wounds, fatigue, and energy faster)
Damage Reduction (Physical and Magical): 40%
Note: Since the essence is of a Lord-rank dragon, this skill has a chance to get promoted into an S-rank skill if the conditions are favorable.
'When did it become an active skill?'
The first thing Lucien thought after seeing the prompt in his mind was the change in the Dragon King's Physique.
It seemed that after he absorbed the draconic essence, it managed to transform into both an active and a passive skill.
And the effect of the active skill was so awesome that Lucien almost grinned in happiness. After all, a percentage increase was always more helpful than raw numbers.
While raw number increases might look big for him right now, with his increasing strength, they would definitely become redundant.
But with the percentage increase, it would definitely scale with his power.
For example, with his base strength stat of 318 points, if he used the active phase of his physique, he could directly reach 477 points in strength alone.
'Gulp!'
Just feeling how strong he would be at that time, Lucien couldn't help but be shocked.
In the Apprentice realm, he was already nearing 500 marks in his stats.
Although he couldn't see the exact stat requirements in each realm, from how he could unleash a power equivalent to the early Weaver rank in the mere Apprentice realm, he felt that he might be able to fight a middle-stage Weaver rank after activating his physique.
Of course, he was talking about raw power, as in a true confrontation, he might die before even doing anything at all.
'Although this is good, but… I don't seem to have any Physique or Vitality stat. How does this even work?'
Lucien suddenly thought while paying attention to the other effects.
Although the increase of 70 percent for Physique and 80 percent for Vitality was more impressive than strength, he didn't have any basic stats like that at all.
So, he was confused.
Fortunately, just when Lucien thought so, the prompt from the system continued again, clearing his doubts.
Ding!
[Congratulations! A new set of stats, Vitality and Physique, has been opened successfully following your successful awakening of the Dragon King's Physique.]
[Now, you can gain these stats too in your normal debt extraction.]
—
[Attributes]
Strength: 318
Physique: 200
Agility: 198
Endurance: 121
Vitality: 200
Intelligence: 118
Perception: 115
Charisma/Charm: 68
Mana: 250/250
Lifespan: 10 (extra)
—
[Note: You currently cannot use the 100 points of Vitality and Physique to generate a new skill. The host is advised to collect these stats to successfully generate a skill.]
'200 points on both stats. Damn, dragons are really awesome.'
Lucien gawked in surprise at the starting stats he gained.
After all, although his status looked luxurious right now, this was after he extracted a large number of debts.
His early stats were basically below ten points, while a dragon's starting stats began at 200.
'No wonder Velmara was pressed directly to the ground under his foot. He was no match at all.'
Lucien thought, realizing that Zeyvyr might be far more powerful than he had shown before.
Ding!
[It is detected that the host has finally come into contact with the power of Origin.]
[A new Unique stat related to the system has been generated.]
[Unique Stat: Origin]
[Current Origin: 1 point]
[Use of Origin: Locked]
'Hmm?'
Just when Lucien thought that the prompt was over, the system gave him another surprise.
Only, this surprise made him more confused than shocked.
'Unique stat? Origin?'
Lucien didn't understand what this unique stat meant. He could see that although it was a stat, it didn't appear below the attribute section of his status panel.
It seemed to be a system-related stat that had a completely different purpose altogether.
'Maybe I will know about it after entering the World of Origin?'
Lucien thought when he heard no explanation from the system.
So, he directly ignored it for now and fully concentrated on assimilating with the draconic essence while repairing his damaged body.
Because he had lost his sanity before in hunger, he used excessive force that he wasn't supposed to use.
If not for the regenerative effect of Phoenix fire, although he might still have gained the Draconic Essence, his condition would have been far worse.
'Sigh… unfortunately, all the stored Phoenix fire has been used up. It seems I need to ask Sera tonight.'
He thought, feeling that it could be one of his trump cards.
After experiencing life and death today, he was finally awakened.
Now, he was beginning to think about every angle possible to enhance his safety.
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