Reeve stared blankly at Nick for a few seconds, not expecting him to ask about time path inheritances.
(Does he plan on studying time path?)
Regardless of the reason, Reeve planned to do his job correctly. He spoke to Nick with certainty:
"On Grand Earth, selling time path inheritances beyond rank 2 is restricted, but here in Greet Tree, because of the exclusivity of access to this realm, interesting items are sold in abundance. For time path inheritances, you should go to the Algreen family storefront. They are an Italian family, so if you do not speak the language, you will have to converse in Valteese."
Reeve then pointed at a large map of Everest that was bolted to the wall, and informed Nick of the location of the Algreen family storefront. Reeve's explanation lasted for five minutes before he stopped speaking. Nick thanked the man before leaving the Nefari storefront through the automatic glass sliding door.
When Nick stepped into the street, what he observed were well-paved roads with finely built, and decorated buildings adjacent to it. He could already tell from the map that Everest was as close to an urban center as a settlement in another realm could get. It had a central electricity grid, clean water, and sewer systems, magic academies of sorts, shopping malls as well as scattered trading operations, and administrative buildings at the very center of the city, raised on a platform made of unspecified materials.
Nick could see the top of the administrative center from where he was standing, and it was as magnificent as he expected, featuring a few buildings of the Victorian style. Nick also looked opposite the administrative center, where far beyond the city, over the horizon, stood a tall, evergreen tree that was apparently visible from anywhere in Greet Tree. That evergreen tree was why the realm was called Greet Tree in the first place.
Nick proceeded to walk through the bustling street while observing the adjacent roads, signs, and buildings. He also observed the people, who practically all wore either pants suits, or magician's robes. Nick was apparently the only person in the city without a sense of style, but he didn't care about that.
(Hmph! Why would a genius like myself be concerned with mere clothes? If not for the rules of common decency, I would walk these streets naked. Who would dare put my obvious nobility under scrutiny?…)
While thinking a little nonsense, Nick soon arrived at the Algreen family storefront. It had a signboard over the wood, and glass front door that read, 'Algreen'. The storefront was annexed to a few others, but it was twice as big in comparison to the others. Its exterior seemed to be lined with polished wood, and marble-like material.
Nick went ahead, and walked through the front doorway. What greeted him was a simple lobby that included a service counter, glass cases filled with magic tools, such as wands, and space bands, and three closed entryways to other parts of the building.
A woman wearing a magenta-colored magician's robe manned the counter while reading an old-looking, hard-covered book. The woman looked to be in her early thirties, had pale-white skin, long, flowing, brown hair, and brown eyes. She leaked the magic energy of a rank 3 middle stage Magician.
As Nick approached her, the female Magician put her book down, and addressed him in Valteese:
"Greetings. My name is Marjorie Algreen. How may I assist you?"
Nick spoke plainly in Valteese:
I am Nick Capitol. I want to see your rank 3, and higher time path inheritances.
The woman appeared to put on a thoughtful expression for a few seconds. Not able to recognize the name Capitol, she dismissed it as unimportant, however, she would not deny a paying customer. She waved her right hand, and a tablet computer appeared on the counter in front of her. After manipulating the tablet computer for a few seconds, she handed it to Nick for him to look through the entries.
Nick held the tablet firmly while checking the entries. There were three time path inheritances listed which included one complete rank 3 inheritance, one incomplete rank 4 inheritance, and one incomplete rank 5 inheritance, the stated rank being related to how much the information, and methods were developed. Nick asked Marjorie a question before he made a decision:
"Does the incomplete rank 5 inheritance include complete rank 3 information that includes a meditation, and foundation laws?"
Marjorie contemplated for a few seconds before she replied:
"Yes it does, but the rank 4, and rank 5 information is incomplete. Don't bother asking if I have any more of those kinds of inheritances. Time path inheritances are not cabbages, and you will hardly find other stores selling them."
Nick wouldn't be surprised if that was actually the case, so he intended to make a purchase. The incomplete rank 5 inheritance was called the time edge inheritance, and was apparently collated by an already deceased rank 6 time path Magician, but the rest of the inheritance was lost due to the passage of time. Nick asked:
"What is your selling price for the time edge inheritance?"
Marjorie wore a thoughtful expression again before quoting a price:
"I will give you a copy for 3 vatas. Don't try to negotiate with me. Rare items are more expensive in Greet Tree if you were not aware."
Nick sighed aloud before taking out his smartphone using his right hand while holding the tablet computer using his left hand, and asking another question:
"What is your bank account information?"
Marjorie smiled after hearing Nick's question. She gave Nick the store's bank account information, then gave him a rank 3 heart worm magic tool that contained the details of the inheritance. The magic tool was about the size of a flash drive, but had the shape of a worm, and was made of chrome-colored magic metal. Marjorie explained:
"A person just needs to put the heart worm on their left breast, and pour their magic energy into it to activate it. It will dig into their body, and permanently transmit the information that it possesses to them. Even rank 2 Magicians can use it. It is a very convenient information path magic tool."
Nick stored the rank 3 heart worm into one of his space bands before asking for other items:
"I want a comprehensive book about the magic beasts that reside in Greet Tree, and a map of the wilderness."
Nick could have asked the Nefaris for these things, but he would rather them not have any clues as to what he was planning to do in Greet Tree.
(A wealthy family like the Nefaris definitely have wisdom path Magicians. I won't risk them deducing my aims.)
Marjorie waved her right hand again, following which, a thick, hard-covered, brown book, and a furled map appeared on the counter. She quoted prices for both items:
"The book is €100,000,000, and the map is €10,000,000."
Nick cringed when he heard those prices. On Grand Earth, either figure would set up a normal family for life, but he was going to use that money to purchase a book, and a piece of paper.
(No, I can't think like that. I am using the money to purchase accurate information, not the medium that they are written on.)
Nick then transferred the total amount that he owed the storefront to their back account, and showed Marjorie the electronic receipt before giving her back the tablet computer. Marjorie waved her right hand dismissively at Nick, indicating that she was not worried that he would not pay. She thought:
(How could poor people possibly be in Greet Tree?)
She had a right to think that because for her family to maintain their access rights, they had to pay the Italian Government 10,000 vatas per year. No legacy family would let an unworthy, unrelated party piggyback while bearing with such a massive expense.
Marjorie stored the tablet computer into her space band before taking up her old book again, at which point, she started to read it, and ignored Nick. Nick then left the storefront, proceeding to make his way to a small hotel in a quiet area of the city. Nick booked a room on the ground floor of the three storey building.
He quickly went to his room, entered, and locked the door behind him. Nick immediately sat at the small dining table within the living room, following which, he summoned the book on magic beasts that he had bought from the Algreen family storefront. He started reading the book, and did not stop reading the book until he had absorbed the entirety of the information within. Like that, one week passed.
(This must be a new record for me.)
Nick got up from the dining table, leaving the book behind to go, and take a shower. When he finished showering, he put on a gold silk polo shirt, a pair of black jeans pants, a pair of thin, black leather gloves, and a pair of black leather combat boots.
He stored the thick, brown book back into one of his space bands, and then had a meal of butter bread, scrambled eggs, sausages, and orange juice. When he was done, he left the hotel, and leisurely walked towards the entrance of the city, which took him one hour to find. The city was surrounded by grey metal walls that were about twenty-meters-high. In terms of height, there were many buildings that were greater in comparison, but Nick did not bother to think about a reason for that design choice.
He simply walked through the large, opened, rectangular gate that was constructed at the base of the wall. There were no Magicians stationed to guard the gate, but Nick knew that such an important place had to be actively monitored.
Once he walked beyond the gate, Nick felt free to use his magic. He did not use his spells carelessly in the city, so as not to stick out.
(It is best if everyone thinks that I am an ordinary nobody, for now.)
Beyond the city walls was a grassy plain that stretched to beyond the horizon in all directions. The grass was short, and neat like it was being actively maintained by humans. Nick quickly engulfed himself in his deep-blue miasma magic energy before activating Cursed Vessel. The deep-blue miasma partially gained a red hue before vanishing along with Nick.
Since coming to Greet Tree, Nick had kept Spatial Awareness perpetually active to warn him of threats from high level Magicians. Although his talent was not very effective in the city for some reason, it worked fine out in the wilderness. Nick immediately appeared on the grassland again, having traveled several kilometers using only a few thoughts, and his own magic energy.
(I should not use Space Craft less I attract unwanted attention from dangerous magic beasts, or Magicians…)
There were a few reasons that Nick wanted to come to Greet Tree in the first place.
(I had found out about this realm when researching the Nefaris. Greet Tree is abundant in resources, especially in the form of magic beasts, and even more special in that it has an above average concentration of dragon magic beasts. While I am in Greet Tree, I intend to research dragons, especially the talents that they may possess.
My own talent, Dragon's Advantage, is interesting. I suspect that it allowed me to endure the intense heat of Parvone's lasers when I battled him, and my movements are becoming cleaner, and steadier with each battle. I might as well see if there are other talents that dragons have that I might want. There is also the fact that relatively rare items are sold within this realm by the legacy families. I already managed to get a rank 5, time path inheritance for Zane.)
Nick engulfed himself in deep-blue miasma magic energy again before activating Cursed Vessel. Like before, once the deep-blue miasma partially gained a red hue, Nick, and the miasma vanished from the grassy plain.
******************************************************
RRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!
(Saturate Poison)
Emerald-green gas quickly formed over an area with a radius of about fifty meters, causing the grass in the vicinity to wilt instantly. A group of six Magicians, and a dragon magic beast were quickly enveloped by the evidently poisonous gas.
The members of the group of Magicians all wore magician's robes, but the robes were all of varying colours. They each immediately summoned a vial of light-blue liquid from their space band, and consumed the liquid. One Magician that wore a green, black-spotted robe spoke to the others using a tone of certainty:
"My Saturate Poison spell can liquefy the organs of magic beasts in minutes. All we have to do to kill this royal bronze dragon is to stall it while the poisonous gas does its work. Plato, use your Air Lock spell to make sure that the dragon cannot fly away."
(Air Lock)
A dark-skinned man dressed in a turquoise-colored robe immediately cast his wind path spell that prevented entities from taking flight. The man named Plato spoke to the Magician who poisoned the dragon, using a suspicious tone:
"Dax, are you sure that this will work? You are our group's only rank 3 middle stage Magician while the rest of us are rank 3 initial stage. If the dragon goes on a prolonged rampage, everyone except you will be cooked."
The other four Magicians looked at Dax with an indication of the same worry in their eyes. Dax tried to assure them while comically raising his right thumb to his front:
"Everyone, believe in me! Magic beasts cannot stand up against my poisons. We are different since we have consumed the antidote that I prepared. The poison is so noxious that even I am not immuned to it."
Despite Dax saying this, internally his mind was in turmoil due to worry:
(Dammit! The royal bronze dragon is a metal path magic beast. They tend to have high resistances against poison, but what else can I do but assure the others? If we all ran away carelessly, many of us would die without doubt, so a confrontation is the most logical choice. Of all the magic beasts in this area, why did we encounter a rank 3 dragon? My poison path is decent at killing, but I am lacking in strength when it comes to direct confrontations. I just hope that this dragon doesn't have that high a resistance to poisons.)
Dragons were magic beasts often written about in legends for a reason. They were fierce, resilient, intelligent, and persistent. Although dragons were not generally the most powerful species of magic beasts, they were among the most feared.
The royal bronze dragon near the center of the cloud of emerald-green gas was as large as two elephants combined, had bronze, and copper coloured scales, four strong legs, a long, slender neck, a relatively small head, orange eyes, spiked, non-protruding fangs, and two wide wings that were leathery and slightly tattered underneath. Its rank 3 aura was undeniable, and stifling to the five rank 3 initial stage Magicians. Dax, who was a stage higher, only had a slightly easier time bearing with the mental pressure induced by the dragon's aura.
Just as everyone was getting ready to do battle with the royal bronze dragon, the dragon suddenly breathed in deeply, drawing in all the poisonous, green gas into its mouth within moments. Everyone except Dax stood still on the spot, shocked by what they saw. Plato quickly buried his shock, and sneered at Dax, saying:
"You are a bullshitter!"
Dax threw up both his hands into the air in defeat when faced with Plato's accusation. He then lowered his hands, and countered with:
"Okay, I failed. We need to think of a plan to defeat the dragon before it starts seriously attacking. I am still the person with the highest cultivation here, so…"
Before Dax finished his sentence, everyone suddenly sensed the appearance of strong space magic power, including the royal bronze dragon that now lowered its head to look at a white-haired man that suddenly appeared in front of it. The white-haired man also had spiraling, blue eyes, and sported an indifferent expression.
The rank 3 Magicians were shocked by the white-haired man's sudden appearance, but sensing his rank 3 middle stage magic power, they were a bit happy that he arrived. Dax quickly shouted at Nick:
"Friend! Help us to defeat this royal bronze dragon, and I will pay you your weight in gold. I swear!"
The five other Magicians sneered at Dax in unison after they heard those words. One female Magician wearing a white robe, who had pale-white skin, short, blonde hair, and green eyes internally mocked Dax:
(His weight in gold? What could possibly be the use of your bullshit gold?)
Nick stood less than three meters away from the dragon while he mused:
(Finally. It took me four days to find this royal bronze dragon. One day on Grand Earth is about six days within Greet Tree, so I cannot afford to drag my feet.)
The royal bronze dragon sniffed at Nick for a few seconds, sensing something strange about him before its orange eyes became somewhat bloodshot, after which, it opened its mouth to the widest angle that it could possibly go, and roared at Nick.
RRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!
The dragon's roar was so fierce that a decent amount of saliva flew out of its mouth, and slapped Nick in the face because he did not currently have his space path spells active. Since entering the wilderness of Greet Tree, Nick did not keep his other spells active because he could move farther using Cursed Vessel when his active spells were kept to a minimum, and even more so when none were active. He was reaching for efficiency, after all.
(Oops, I made a mistake. I should have activated my spell as soon as I appeared. The great scenery out here made me a little too relaxed. This royal bronze dragon sure has become aggravated. That is probably the downside of Dragon's Advantage at work…)
Nick immediately cast Seeker Instinct, which resulted in his spiraling, blue eyes partially gaining a red hue, and the dragon's spit flying through him to land on the ground at his rear. Noticing Nick's surge in magic power, the royal bronze dragon tried to bite at him but its fangs simply passed through Nick without harming him. Nick then stepped backwards, away from the dragon, in response before mobilizing another of his methods, ignoring the other Magicians present:
(Advanced Blade Works.)
Nick, and the royal bronze dragon instantly, and simultaneously disappeared, which caused the other rank 3 Magicians that were paying attention to the situation to stare with wide, opened eyes. They stood on the spot, not sure what to do. Dax put aside his shocked feelings faster than the others, before saying:
"Do you all still think that I am a bullshitter, now? My urging caused my friend to take the dragon away from here. Don't thank me all at once."
Hearing Dax's shameless words, everyone's expressions became mocking as they sneered at him in unison.
*****************************************************
Within the special space of Advanced Blade Works, Nick summoned both Hard Marvel, and Stoic Grave into his left, and right grips, respectively. Nick activated Sheer Soul's power, Sheer Hold, and cast Soul Haze.
While the royal bronze dragon furiously looked over its now sandy surroundings in confusion, black haze was emanated from Nick, soon saturating the area within a two hundred meter radius of him.
Noticing the black haze, and realizing that Nick was the source, the dragon directed an all out roar at him again before rushing at him like a mad bull. The dragon rapidly crossed the few dozen meters of distance that separated it, and Nick in moments before swinging its front-left leg's claws at him.
Its three-foot-long claws passed through Nick without harming him, but Nick did notice that his body's spatial projection shook unnaturally as a result. He sighed in response to this:
(Seeker Instinct is only intermediate grade while this dragon's body is probably filled with all kinds of metal path laws. Of course the integrity of my spell is being threatened by the dragon's swipe. It should have about the strength equivalent to rank 3 initial stage, or maybe a little higher. Although Advanced Blade Work's special space is formidable, it cannot decrease this dragon's vigour by much, so I have to be careful.)
Nick moved quickly to slash at the back of the dragons front-left leg using Stoic Grave in conjunction with his sword technique:
(Cross Stream Sword Technique.)
In moments, Nick unleashed dozens of slashes on the dragon's offending leg using crisscross movements reminiscent of a meandering river, or stream. Although its copper-bronze-coloured scales were both hard, and tough, Stoic Grave was made from the parts of a dragon of the same rank, and was bolstered by Advanced Blade Works special space as well as Nick's own magic energy that had a slight signature of both soul path, and blade path.
When slashed ten times, the damage to the royal bronze dragon was hardly noticeable, but when slashed tens of times, many of its scales were cut away, and Nick was able to pierce its flesh in a shallow manner. That was enough, however, for Sheer Hold, and Stoic Grave's passive ability to show their effects.
The dragon cried out as its movements slowed, evident by how stiff it was as it withdrew its front-left leg away from Nick. The dragon's expression became incredibly hostile before the four claws on its front-left leg grew to six feet, and gained a bronze luster.It swiped at Nick with the same leg again, but this time at three times its original speed as magic power could be sensed vaguely emanating from its body.
Nick did not dare to let this attack pass through his body, so he moved to parry it using Hard Marvel, which made his left hand go slightly numb, before striking at the dragon's wrist using Stoic Grave, and his sword technique.
Dozens of precise slashes struck out, cutting away the dragon's scales, and soon cleaving into its flesh. Once Nick struck a vein, bronze-red-colored blood flowed, like water from a damaged pipe. The royal bronze dragon roared in fury before it exerted three times its original strength in its front-left leg, sending Nick flying backwards for thirty meters at canon ball speed.
When Nick crashed into the sand, he clenched his teeth together before jumping back to his feet. Nick quickly let go of his swords to let them float in place at his sides. He then exuded over 20,000 magical units of his deep-blue miasma magic energy, having it move quickly to engulf the fast approaching royal bronze dragon.
Nick activated Cursed Vessel one moment after, which caused the deep-blue miasma to partially gain a red hue. At that point, the royal bronze dragon heard an ear-piercing, beastly shriek that it recognized, which incited it to respond with its own beastly cry before the miasma, and the royal bronze dragon disappeared. Nick then quickly raised his right index, and middle fingers while his other right fingers remained clenched together.
(Control…)
Once the royal bronze dragon reappeared in front of Nick again only a moment later, standing right over him up to four feet in height, but noticeably stiff due the events of the battle, he cast his spell:
(Malevolent Shrine.)
For a brief moment, a fifteen-meter-high, tattered temple stood behind Nick, the surroundings became pitch-black, and the sand became littered with pale-white bones. After that brief moment, the manifestations of Malevolent Shrine vanished while the dragon's legs were brutally sliced through at the upper joints by Nick's blade magic.
The dragon's body quickly collapsed, forcing Nick to rapidly step back along with his floating swords by over a dozen steps. The dragon lied over its severed limbs as it tragically cried out in pain, and anger. It eyed Nick with deep malice no matter where he stepped, but it could not rush at him, and it seemed unable to make proper use of its magic power without its limbs.
The stale air quickly became saturated with the metallic scent of the dragon's bronze-red blood, but Nick did not even wince as a result of the unpleasant smell. Instead, Nick willed for Hard Marvel, and Stoic Grave to rapidly fly out to strike both the royal bronze dragon's eyes. The swords sunk in all the way to the hilts, causing various fluids to flow out from the small gaps created in the dragon's eyeballs.
The dragon shrieked in pain non-stop, but Nick remained indifferent to its cries. He soon sat cross-legged in the sand, and simply waited. Soon, the dragon's profuse bleeding stopped.
(Dragons should have very impressive healing abilities, but no doubt it would take a long time to regrow limbs from scratch for a dragon of this calibre. Not to mention that Hard Marvel, and Stoic Grave are stuck in its eyeballs, practically poisoning it with their magic power. Soul Haze's black haze is weakening its soul, and Sheer Hold is helping to keep it in place. I will definitely be able to act soon.)
Minutes passed, then hours, and then a day. Nick noticed that the dragon's limbs were indeed slowly regenerating, but its soul had been worn down so much by the effect of Soul Haze that the phenomenon was hardly relevant. The dragon no longer shrieked, or moved, and it kept its head down in the sand perpetually, but Nick knew that it was still alive, just exhausted due to its soul being severely weakened.
Nick got up from his sitting position, following which, he waved both his hands, and patterns consisting of D-Soul symbols appeared marked in the sand, encircling the royal bronze dragon. The patterns were actually the parts of a magic formation that Nick was laying at this time. The soul path magic formation consisted of hundreds of thousands of symbols.
(This is a modified version of my own Soul Examination Formation. I am going to use it to examine this royal bronze dragon's soul for the laws that might be related to its talents. I cannot examine its body for those laws because it is filled with metal path laws that my Eyes of the Fated talent cannot scrutinize, and so I am left with no choice but to focus on the soul.
That is not a bad thing, though, because the soul is where one's affinities leading to talents are born in the first place.)
Nick soon had the magic formation assimilate soul path, and formation path magic materials as fuel, and stabilizers. He soon willed, and a projection of the dragon's worn down soul was formed in the surroundings with the dragon's body at the center.
Nick then began to patiently read the Valteesian symbols that appeared while also thinking:
(The special space of Advanced Blade Works can house me indefinitely as long as I have enough magic materials to act as fuel, and also as long as a strong enough Magician doesn't come along that can find, and destroy this special space.)
Finding adjacent spaces was both easy, and hard, and depended a lot on the knowledge, and skill of the offending Magician. Nick did not think that he was going to coincidentally come in contact with another space path master, though. Like this, Nick spent three months examining the royal bronze dragon's soul.
After that time, his research finally yielded fruit.
(I have isolated a section of the royal bronze dragon's soul that probably has to do with a talent as far as the power of Eyes of the Fated has allowed me to conjecture…)
By this time, the royal bronze dragon's limbs had fully regrown, but after three months, Nick had its soul fully suppressed using his modified magic formation. Hard Marvel, and Stoic Grave were also still lodged into its eyeballs that were now completely dead, so the dragon could not move, or make sounds on its own.
(The issue now is how do I make use of this information. Talents are manifested using laws that are naturally present somewhere on a living being. Whether those same laws can be transplanted or engraved onto another living being is up for debate. Not only that, but talents belonging to magic beasts may not at all be compatible to humans. For example, if a certain talent required a tail to be used, it would be of no use to me.)
After a few days of thinking, Nick had an idea:
(My split souls are very compatible with me, and also very impressionable once I separate them from myself. What if I transplant the relevant part of the dragon's soul onto my split soul, then after observing the split soul's health for a time, I rejoin it to myself? Would that work?)
Nick thought that the idea seemed so simple in principle that it was unlikely to work, but after thinking for a few more days, he decided to give the idea a chance.
(My intuition is indicating to me that my idea is still somehow valid…)
Nick worked out the mechanics for another two months before he modified his Soul Examination Formation further. During this time, he had removed his swords from the royal bronze dragon's eyes, since he had the dragon fully suppressed. Because of this, the dragon's dead eyes were eventually replaced with new ones due to its regenerative abilities.
Nick could sense, however, that its vitality was weakening because of starvation as Nick had not fed it in months to reduce the risk of it suddenly breaking away from his control. When he was ready, Nick used the rank 3 version of the Minor Soul Split spell from Slade's inheritance to create a minor split soul that shared his memories.
A floating, glowing, charcoal-black orb therefore now floated over the modified Soul Examination Formation. The orb was Nick's minor split soul that was ready to be experimented on. Nick then willed, and the Soul Examination Formation induced black sparks to emanate from the royal bronze dragon's body, which soon resulted in a writhing portion of the dragon's soul to escape from its body.
At that time, the projection that represented that part of the dragon's soul vanished, and so Nick was assured that he had excised the correct portion of the dragon's soul. Nick thought in amusement:
(Soul surgery…cool.)
Following that, Nick required little effort to use the magic formation to join his minor split soul, and the dragon's split soul together, albeit superficially. When the souls came into contact with each other, black sparks enveloped them continuously to begin a profound merging process. This process included ridding the dragon's split soul of the dragon's will, and memories that could corrupt Nick's own soul.
Nick observed the process for days before the merger of the split souls was complete. Now, in front of Nick floated a glowing, charcoal-black orb like before, but a little bigger in size. Nick then used a rank 3 spell from Slade's inheritance to merge his minor split soul with himself again:
(Return Soul.)
At that point, the minor split soul floated into his body through his chest, and the merging process began, similar to the merging process that took place between the dragon's split soul, and Nick's split soul. After a while, beads of sweat began to roll down Nick's face, and soon, he was forced to sit down cross-legged again due to feeling severely ill.
Days passed before Nick felt well enough again to stand on his feet. When he did so, he dismissed the projection of the royal bronze dragon's soul, and instead projected his own soul for the purpose of examination.
Nick spent hours examining his soul's projection until he was able to form conclusions:
(My experiment worked. My soul is healthy, and whole again. It also now has the laws that were present on the dragon's soul, but now I am faced with the issue of what kind of talent these laws induce if they are in fact laws related to a talent…)
Nick soon thought of something before dismissing the projection of his soul, and then bringing up the projection of the dragon's soul again. Nick searched for the relevant laws related to the supposed talent, but could not find them.
(The way souls usually worked is if a piece of it was split off containing certain laws, that piece would regenerate later with the same laws, but the dragon's soul has recovered from the split I induced at the very least, but the relevant laws are nowhere to be found. Does that mean that once the laws related to a talent are removed from the host, they do not somehow regenerate?)
Nick found that interesting because it formed a basis to believe that talents could be transplanted from one being to another if you knew where to look for their laws.
Now that Nick had learned that, he had to find some way of deciphering what the laws that he had transplanted actually meant to find out what kind of talent he obtained. Nick could use Eyes of the Fated to intuit what the laws of the talent meant in pieces, but as a whole, they just seemed like fancy blur. Nick was only able to identify the outline of the relevant laws using surrounding soul path laws, after all.
Nick sighed, and got to work. He retrieved his tablet computer from one of his space bands before drawing the impressions of the laws in question into it, and trying to work out their total meaning by trying different combinations of them.
Nick conjectured that if he did this for long enough, his intuition would bring all the pieces together coherently. After four more months of trial, and error, Nick was finally able to identify the talent:
__________________________________________________________
Species Luck -> host has luck that tends to allow it to move towards the highest potential of its species.
___________________________________________________________
Nick looked at the English translation of the talent's laws with a raised right eyebrow, thinking:
(What kind of talent is this? Species Luck? It sounds like a luck path talent. Why does a metal path magic beast have a luck path talent…)
Nick soon remembered his own discovery with his human path talent, Cursed Vessel:
(Apparently, a magical being does not have to have an affinity with a path to have a talent belonging to that path. Based on my readings, congenital talents are usually related to affinities, though. I guess I found out something interesting that is not stated plainly in text books.)
Now that Nick found out what his new talent was, all that was left was to figure out how to use it.
(A luck path talent, huh? I know that luck is a significant factor that determines strength, but I do not know how to use it directly…)
Nick threw his hands up in the air due to helplessness. He just could not figure out how to make use of the talent because he had practically no attainment in luck path.
(At least I now have a new avenue of cultivation. Magic beasts commonly have talents while with humans, it is not so naturally common. Humans usually have to earn talents somehow. With my methods, I can strengthen myself with choice magic beast talents.)
After reassuring himself about his gains, Nick observed the body of the royal bronze dragon. He thought about taking the dragon back to Grand Earth as some kind of pet like the jade-green wyvern, but soon realized that it was not worth it:
(I am not an enslavement path Magician. I should stick to what my specialties are.)
Since the dragon was helplessly suppressed by his magic formation, Nick simply summoned Hard Marvel from one of his space bands, and practised the Cross Stream Sword Technique on the royal bronze dragon's neck until he beheaded it, killing it without active resistance. Nick stored the carcass into one of his space bands, and left the special space.
Nick then instantly found himself standing on the grassy plain where he had move to trap the royal bronze dragon within his special space. Only this time, there was no one around.
Nick was about to leave the area using his Cursed Vessel talent, but suddenly, the cloudless, sunny sky above him became saturated with thick, dark clouds, and the environment became so gloomy that someone would assume that it had become night time. Nick quickly became suspicious of the sudden change until he sensed a magic power that made his hairs raise, his complexion pale, and his butt cheeks clench.
He looked up towards a section of the sky directly above him in time to see a massive magic beast begin to descend from the dark clouds. This magic beast was the size of five warships, and emitted magic power that was undeniably of the space path. The space around Nick trembled in response to its descent, and even some random places on the plain began to warp.
Nick's instincts immediately made him feel fear, as if he could feel in his bones that this space path magic beast was superior to him. He thought:
(Is this the feeling of my bloodline reacting? What?)
Nick's intuition spun his thoughts rapidly, and that was the conclusion that he came up with. A few seconds later, when the magic beast had completely descended, Nick realized that it was in fact, a huge dragon.
This dragon had azure scales, two deep-blue eyes, a slender, snake like body, two muscular arms, a column of silver spikes that ran down the length of its back, two ten-meter-long, silver whiskers, and massive, protruding fangs in its mouth.
Nick wanted to flee, but he found that he could not move. The aura of the magic beast had actually froze him in place.
(Shit! It really isn't funny when this kind of thing happens to you.)
Nick swallowed his own saliva many times as he watched the dragon descend, soon landing its serpent-like body on the grassy plain in front of him. The then dragon lowered its massive head towards him, staring at him for close to a minute before its head completely lowered, and its eyes closed.
Following that, Nick sensed all the mighty dragon's vitals drop like a stone in an instant. At that time, its body became completely still, its breathing stopped, its magic power dampened to almost nothing, and the spatial phenomena ceased although the dark clouds, and gloominess had not abated yet.
Nick was finally able to move again, so he moved closer to the dragon to confirm a suspicion that he currently had. He soon reached as close as the dragon's mouth where he cast Dragon Hold to raise himself to the level of a gap in the dragon's protruding fangs. Nick felt not one ounce of breath escape the massive dragon's body.
He was finally able to confirm his suspicion.
"This powerful space path dragon actually died in front of me? What kind of dog shit luck is this?"