Ch 102 – Figures Working in the Dark

"Raiden!"

"Mmm!"

As the family of three looked up to the night sky where a vague shadowy figure floated in the sky, Lute releases his control over the flight spell and Raiden saw the Ice Dragon's gigantic body slowly dropping down to the ground at a rapid pace.

"<Martial Arts, Infinity Slash>"

As if countless lines appeared, the body of the Ice Dragon was chopped into many pieces and were all contained in an invisible coating, as to not let the blood drip down towards them who reside below it.

"Tonight's menu would have a whole Ice Dragon! Is everybody ready!" Shouting loudly, Lute meticulously controls the Ice Dragon into a gigantic large metallic pot many times the size of a house filled with water. It was a simple thing to create with Lute's mastery over Alchemy, and how he can basically create materials with magic and his weird mana reservoir that never seems to run out no matter how much mana he expended.

Slowly, a pleasant smell wafted through the air like a mixture of many types of meat combined into one. Just one whiff from the pot made Raiden salivate. The taste of a dragon, he heard many tales and legends about it.

Many rumors told its taste was simply divine, and when some ate dragon meat at the Otherworld Restaurant, many fainted from shock alone. Not only that, dragon meat holds many mystical properties which makes it priceless for many fighters. Such as raising their physical strength, both physically and magically. The usual process a fighter does to increase their physical strength is feeding their cells to strengthen them slowly but permanently. But that usually leads to a lot of fighters, especially Rangers or Assassins, looking thin even though the absurd physical strength they wield.

But with dragon meat, they can increase their physical muscle mass, and the most praiseworthy of all, increase their very physical limit! Yes, fighters can't just endless pour mana into their cells, they still have to physically train to increase their muscle mass and raise their mana limit. That's why most higher-rank fighters are physically fit.

Though the dragon meat was valuable, the true treasure resides in the source of a dragon's power, their heart. What is a dragon's heart? It's simply the treasure of treasures. Wielding certain properties that make it invaluable, causing many nations to fight over attaining a dragon heart. And what were those certain properties that make it special?

To purify the soul, and gain a new attribute!

Yes! There was indeed a way to raise someone's talent! And that was through a dragon's heart! Not only that, but it can also raise both magical and physical strength permanently. It holds so much mana and energy, that one bite from it can raise an F Rank Adventurer by a couple of ranks in the two general paths of fighter and mage.

And so, minutes passed and a timer's ding was heard, causing Raiden who was standing in a daze to have his eyes shot wide open.

"Is it ready, Dada?" Raiden rapidly asked, shouting towards the sky towards Lute who was flying high above the pot, wielding a gigantic wooden spoon with only one hand considering he is currently wearing his raven black armor.

Without responding, Raiden watches as the pot slowly wisped away into blue mana flames, turning into a gigantic metallic plate instead as a mountain of meat presented itself to Raiden. Its mere scent alone from such a far away distance almost made him lose his mind.

"MINE!" Raiden shouted, his body being covered in crimson sparks and ramming straight into the mountain of meat, for a family of three enjoyed a feast belonging to kings and emperors in a remote plain with no other humans in sight.

Each bite caused a burst of flavor to appear in Raiden's mouth. It was like the green juice he drank a few hours ago, yet many times better. The taste, oh how indescribable it was. It was savory, tender, seemingly both solid and liquid at the same time, the juices each bite produced made it a natural soup on its own, Raiden's vocabulary can't even begin to describe how good it was.

Imagine if God decided to cook a meal for a mortal man. That was what it was like for Raiden as of now, and God was his father who cooked the meal for him.

"Hick, I, I love you, Dada!" Raiden cried, both tears of joy and sadness overflowed from his eyes. Joy in that he is able to eat this divine meal, sadness in that he won't be able to eat it all as he can feel his stomach was about to burst.

And just like Lute expected, he watches Raiden fall down to the ground with a bulging stomach. The overflowing energy coming from the dragon meat caused Raiden's body to subconsciously emit crimson sparks. Digging into his own portion of the meat, Lute could slowly feel his body getting stronger which propped him to grin widely.

Though inside was a different matter altogether, 'With the transmutation circle, I can have a valid reason for my absolute control over my physical body. Though that would be too dangerous, considering many would go after me if they learn I can alter my atomic structure at will, granting me nigh-invulnerability and nigh-infinite strength. But that would lead to a lot of problems, what I need is to attain a slime's body supremacy and have a valid reason for my limitless body. And so later, when push comes to shove and I'll have to use the three-body backup plan, I would be able to fuse well with Raiden's concepts and Kira's soul.'

'Though I might have to purposefully deplete the mana that is currently strengthening my body in the future as a sort of side effect, to lessen suspicion and show its drawback.' Lute thought as more and more plans appeared in his mind. One can only wonder what lies deep inside the bottomless pit of Lute's limitless mind.

***(A Few Minutes Later)

"Uwah, it's still beating!" Raiden shouted, looking at the gross ice blue heart of the Ice Dragon floating in front of him.

Looking at it with analytical eyes, Lute slowly controls the mana coating the heart and made it float in front of him. The abundant mana inside it leaked slowly into the air, the pressure it emitted was many times stronger than the mana leaking from the sleeping Ice Dragon from before.

"Ahhh, *chomp*"

With the Ice Dragon's heart shrinking down rapidly with Lute's Alchemy, he swallowed it whole just like that without any hesitation. A burst of mana then exploded outwards from his very soul as he directed it all inside, to reinforce his soul and body as a whole. Like an endless stream that brought endless energy, Lute sat in a lotus position to control the flowing mana inside him with the greatest control he can exert.

Time passed, and Lute opened his eyes a few minutes later. His violet eyes turned a lighter shade, while he exhaled an icy mist from his mouth. Not only that, Raiden who was sitting right beside Lute felt the air around him getting a lot colder compared to before, like a living, breathing freezer.

"Whoa! Dada is so cold right now, Papa, look!" Raiden walks up to Kira and drags his head to touch Lute's cheek, causing Lute to chuckle as he sneakily slides his palm to Raiden's back.

"Yeek!"

"Hahaha! Pretty cold, right? Your Dada now has the bloodline of a dragon!"

"Eh?! Dada is a dragon?!"

"Yep, after eating the heart, it forcefully changed my body to accommodate the overflowing energy."

"Not fair, I want to be a dragon too!"

"You could have just asked," Waving his staff in the air, Lute muttered a spell, and Raiden watch with a dumbfounded stare as the Ice Dragon heart—in its shrunk-down form—appear in front of Lute once more. Not only that, it held the same pressure from before, as if it was a perfect copy.

"EH?!"

"I can control time, silly. In fact, you should also be able to control space-time in the future if you train hard enough, so be sure to train hard with your power, Raiden-kun."

"You mean I can also do the cool things you can do, Dada? Papa, is that true?!" Raiden turned his head to Kira silently standing beside them. Nodding his head, Raiden's eyes sparkled like the starry night sky while opening his mouth in shock. But unfortunately for him, the dragon heart entered his mouth directly causing a burst of mana to appear from his body.

***(A Few Minutes Later)

Standing opposite to each other, Lute and Raiden looked at each other in the eye. Lute grinned nonchalantly while Raiden took in deep breaths to calm himself down. He will have to fight his father in a friendly spar right now, so he won't hold back and use his all, so that he can get some more dragon meat later.

'Me and Dada ate the Dragon Heart a few times already, so I need to expend this energy to sleep! Uwah, Dada, you better prepare yourself. Though it's sad that Papa can't eat the Ice Dragon's heart because of his special soul condition.' Raiden thought; crouching down, he buckled his sheathed katana and grabbed its hilt tightly.

"Here I go, Dada!" Raiden shouted, crimson sparks erupted from his body as Lute grinned in the distance.

"Do your best, Raiden!" Lute shouted, the crimson gem on Lute's staff glowed brightly as Raiden prepared for any of Lute's tricks.

But as if feeling the ominous air from Lute, Raiden prepared to run as fast as he can, but sadly… "[Time Stop]."

"Kuwak!" Raiden shouted, screaming loudly from fear as a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulders. Turning his head around rapidly, he saw Lute standing behind him with a wide grin.

"I win."

"It's not fair! You stopped time, didn't you!"

"All's fair in love and war, Raiden-kun. Now come on, Velan City is just a day away!"

***

Within the royal capital, a young girl with straight brown hair that reaches her waist stood in front of a full-body mirror. Her skin was fair and milky, her face was covered by a pair of glasses showing her ocean blue eyes. She wore an average pair of clothes, which were a long-sleeved pink sweater, a dark blue skirt, and black thigh highs. It was like the girl was trying so hard for the cute anime nerd girl look, in fact, if somebody were to search "anime nerd girl" on the internet, they'd most likely find the girl having the same appearance with a certain picture, just that she has ocean blue eyes.

"Mmm, this would do well enough for me considering I'm going into dangerous territory! If I remember correctly, the antagonist of that otome game looked exactly like the boy Honda showed from before, so it might be beneficial to stay low-key while I study there. If I look like a nerd, I can just act shy and avoid a majority of human interaction, I'm truly a genius!" Imerda looked at herself in the mirror and smiled smugly.

'It's not that I'm an introvert, I just find it more convenient to avoid interacting with others, ugh, I still remember how many would be entranced by my beauty wherever I go! But it's a good thing I can control it quite well now.' Imerda thought, not knowing that her life would be entangled with certain figures who control the world around them in the dark in the near future.

***

Floating high above the night sky, a certain human can be seen sitting on their flying wooden staff with a toothy grin flashing on their face. She wore clothing similar to those of witches, revealing her smooth white skin underneath like a jade beauty. Her hair was akin to snow, while her eyes gleamed a scarlet light. Her witch hat lightly fluttered with the harsh winds, while the luminous moon glowed brightly behind her.

"To think I can get to Imerda in such close proximity. Though it would be too risky to kill her first, I can at least implant some countermeasures on her, and when the time is ripe, I can use it to deal with those Reincarnates!" Her eyes gleamed with a malicious light, and scarlet flames covered her whole body slowly.

And when the scarlet flames receded, what appeared was now a blond-haired girl with blue eyes, wearing a thick set of clothes consisting of a long-sleeved white sweater, and a black skirt. Now, she looked like a typical saintess in fictional media.

'Kukuku, just you wait, Kilt-kun. I'll slowly kill off the Insurgents of God one by one just like what you did to me from before.' She laughed lightly, before disappearing once more in a flash of scarlet light.

AN: This chapter has 2168 words.

It's power stoning time, give me the damn power stones, boy! NOW! *THUNDER*

(July 27, 2022 – 245th day of writing)