C-level hybrid forced to slay a dragon

He hadn't died. He had excessively exploited the power of the dragon's blood and hadn't taken any medicine; that deadly poison should have killed him.

The jade general, wearing an iron mask, spoke gently. “A Pandora device has been implanted in your spine to suppress your dangerous bloodline. I also injected you with serum purified from the blood of a giant serpent. Isn't that the same treatment the Gattuso family uses?”

Parcy remained noncommittal. Dragon serum could neutralize the toxicity, but it would also slightly elevate the bloodline, creating a vicious cycle.

"You still won't live much longer. The dragon blood's deadly poison has seeped into every corner of your body. You've been using your power far too frequently, unlike that girl from the Uesugi family. Suppressing your bloodline can only slow down the rate of the dragon blood's erosion; it can't restore you to normal."

I was thinking of inviting you to be my colleague, but if you continue to be out of contact, won't that trigger an aortic lock? What a shame.

Who are you?

"We are Samaritans. We are never stingy in using our knowledge to help others, but we ask for a reasonable price."

Percy suddenly realized that he had misjudged his opponent from the very beginning. His focus had been on the Snake Clan and the mysterious "Doctor" mentioned by the family. But a new monster had already emerged on this land, an opponent the Gattuso family knew nothing about.

What price will you charge?

"We hope to have more opportunities to collaborate. The Pandora's Device can extend your life by several years, but it has a little something added to it, you understand?"

Once we have the technology to cure you, we will invite you to join us.

Percy did not answer. The secretary stood up and stepped into the bright, sunny Tokyo sky.

Chapter Forty-Nine: Evolution

Whoosh!

The white dart struck the bullseye and cut into the steel target.

Luo Yin was somewhat disheartened; he had initially thought that the Heavenly Cloud could be mass-produced. Many of the hosts of the Sacred Relics had evolved sword-shaped white skeletons, ranging in length from two centimeters to the length of a forearm, and a pile of them was laid out on the table.

In fact, there may only be one genuine Ame-no-Murakumo blade, the tail blade of Yamata no Orochi. The rest are all very sharp bone blades, made from excellent alchemical materials, but they lack the most crucial element: "concept".

The Ame-no-Murakumo possesses a peculiar quality. While its appearance differs greatly from that of a typical sword, anyone who sees it for the first time will mistake it for one. The sacred remains, and even the White King himself, imbued it with the concept of a "sword," granting it unique powers and transforming it into a born sword.

The Kusanagi is a natural sword bone, while the White King is unlikely to have a full sword bone; one sword would be enough.

Now that even the ashes of Orochi are gone, the Ame-no-Murakumo still retains its absolute sharpness. It can't be called an alchemical artifact, but its unique concept allows it to cut through almost anything, including various strangely regenerated metals. In Luo Yin's view, the Ame-no-Murakumo still has considerable room for improvement, but perhaps only the White King himself can further modify and enhance it.

As for the Sacred Remains... the Sacred Remains has gone into a state of apathy. After having its power drained more than twenty times, it has entered a peculiar sage state, unmoved by any host offered to it. Perhaps only Erii's arrival can awaken the Sacred Remains. Based on the requirements of sustainable development, Luo Yin has decided to give the Sacred Remains a short break.

He had considered using the Pandora Device to create a counterfeit pureblood dragon, but it was impossible. The separation ritual only temporarily simulated the effect of pureblood, not a true separation of human and dragon. Moreover, in terms of food quality, although the quantity of dragon bones extracted from the sacred remains was small each time, their quality surpassed that of the next generation, making them top-tier ingredients in the dragon bone world, comparable to Yangtze River knife fish, Kobe beef, and Alba truffles.

Because these dragon bones are very small, Luo Yin coated them in egg wash, dipped them in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried them until golden brown and crispy. He then drained the excess oil and served them with two different sauces: Sichuan-style and sweet and sour. The result was a beautiful and delicious dragon rice popcorn dish.

The total amount of Dragon Rice Flower only accounts for about one-eighth of the Holy Relic's power, yet it raised Luo Yin and Susie's bloodlines to A, and Olivia to A-. It truly is a treasure left behind by the White King.

The third time he ate dragon bones was only half a month after the second, resulting in some serious aftereffects. He wouldn't dare to eat dragon bones again for a while. Most hybrids only awaken their bloodline once in their lifetime, and in the short term, they will experience reactions such as emotional abnormalities, headaches, and spiritual vision. Luo Yin alone experienced three levels of awakening: C, B, and A. He truly understood the art of bloodline awakening.

As a descendant of the pseudo-White King, his critical bloodline limit is higher than that of ordinary hybrids. Reaching grade A is not enough to cause bloodline instability, but further improvement carries considerable risk.

The enhancement brought to him by the artificial A-grade bloodline was mainly in the spiritual realm; his power of words increased several times, and the analytical and copying abilities of his Mirror Eyes underwent a qualitative change. Among the words of power he had previously analyzed, he could directly copy and use Discipline, King's Servants, Serpent, and Sword Control, although the consumption was quite high. Copying Monarch's Flame required the assistance of words of power armor, and Judgment was out of the question.

His physical abilities were steadily improving, but he didn't have much time to seriously learn swordsmanship or other martial arts. As long as he wielded the Ame-no-Murakumo sword, who would dare say he couldn't practice kendo?

His appearance also improved significantly, earning him a place in the Kassel Handsome Men Association. His dark circles from overworking were gone, his thinning hair had grown back, and his skin looked younger. In addition, Luo Yin possessed an inexplicable air of mystery, reminiscent of an ancient scholar, and his dark eyes had become much deeper.

But this change was a problem for Luo Yin. It was just too eye-catching; people who didn't know better would think he'd had plastic surgery in Tokyo. He'd have to rely on makeup to cover it up and wear big glasses from now on.

------------

Following the Red Well Incident, Genjiro launched a massive search for the mole within the Snake Clan. However, someone had already foreseen the current situation, and the core members had all gone underground.

As for the demons who didn't participate in the main operations but were merely implanted with Pandora's demons, Luo Yin was certain that Genji wouldn't harm them. These people were in the exact same situation as Erii, and this group would continue to grow. Genji couldn't eliminate the normalized demons from the Eight Families, thus he had to compromise in the face of technological monopoly for a long time.

Kazama Ruri reverted to her harmless Kabuki actress persona, feigning ignorance of all of Genji's questions. The mysterious Samaria and Tama both disappeared simultaneously, while Luo Yin feigned ignorance for a long time; it's quite reasonable that an ordinary logistics technician would know nothing about it.

Genjiro, who upholds justice, would not lay a hand on the innocent, much less put Erii in danger. He, Rain, is simply bullying an honest person today.

Erii's status within the Snake Clan has risen significantly, and her true demon bloodline is an open secret among many of her kind. Demons within the clan who hide themselves using Pandora, dangerous children with dangerous bloodlines raised in seclusion in the deep mountains, and members of the Fierce Demon Group are all involuntarily drawn to her.

Amaterasu no Mikoto, Minamoto no Chiki, is the nominal head of the Snake-Headed Eight Families, but Erii is showing signs of becoming the leader of the demons, like a bright moon radiating a gentle glow. She has become the true "Tsukuyomi no Mikoto." With Kazama Ruri, a half-human, half-demon, supporting her, an ambiguous balance gradually forms within the Snake-Headed Eight Families.

As the situation gradually stabilized and the storm passed, Luo Yin's forces began to resurface furtively. He then resorted to his ultimate tactic: playing the family card.

The ramen chef awkwardly met the two brothers and the girl at the ramen stall. The two brothers maintained a subtle restraint and composure, not mentioning the killing they had done years ago, and awkwardly chatted with Uesugi Koshi.

Erii was so engrossed in eating her ramen that she was much more receptive to life changes than most people. The girl's smile reminded the old chef of Aunt Charlotte, his mother, and his eyes suddenly welled up with tears.

Uesugi Kotsushi once believed that the Emperor's bloodline was a curse, but the scene before him made him realize that this curse might also contain a gift. Even though they were test-tube babies, even though he could not find their biological mothers, even though he had never witnessed their birth or growth, never spent a birthday with them, and was not by their side in their lonely and painful moments... he still felt the connection of blood.

The emperor, possessing the highest bloodline, also bore the deepest loneliness. Uesugi Kotetsu had thought he would die alone in an unknown French town from organ failure, the only living person he missed being Angers, who had defeated him. But fate did not abandon him, giving him a chance for redemption before his death.

To the ramen shop customers, he became an ordinary father. The soon-to-retire ramen chef entertained his three successful children in his own shop. The customers knew nothing of their identities or the pasts they carried. They simply talked about the Tokyo weather and complained about their busy work schedules, unrelated to the heavy burdens of fate or the headaches of family affairs.

At this moment, they are just an ordinary family amidst the surging crowds of Tokyo. So beautiful.

Arrangements for Chapter Fifty

"Received a message from Norma."

Luo Yin opened it to take a look, and his pupils dilated in shock.

"Norma, the college's secretary, reminds you that the six-month training program at the Japan branch is nearing its end. Please submit your training log and research report in a timely manner."

Even though he had been poaching students from the college, embezzling research funds, skipping classes, and illegally requisitioning college resources for a long time, Luo Yin was still a sophomore at Kassel University and would be a junior next semester.

Looking at his study log, he realized he was missing four months' worth of assignments, and the research report was completely untouched. This familiar yet strange feeling was the fear of starting school soon with no homework to show for it.

There's so much he wants to write about: slaying kings, reorganizing the demon army, creating new alchemical artifacts, ambushing expeditions, robbing cargo, killing the Yamata no Orochi, torturing sacred remains...

But none of them could be written down.

"Immediately give the order to find a few people who are good at writing to help me with the college assignments."

Olivia: ......

"Boss, as you instructed, we've sold off most of the industries we used to prepare for Project Red Well, and even made a small profit. The funds have all been used to set up the alchemy workshop and biological laboratory. We've found quite a few suitable candidates for biological research, but the background checks are taking a long time."

Luo Yin nodded. Their strength in Tokyo was growing, and this place would be developed into his stronghold. Infrastructure and research needed to be prioritized. It was normal that they couldn't compete with established powers like the Academy in the short term; the important thing was to plan ahead.

The biological laboratory has three important projects for the future. First, to try to reconstruct Wang Jiang's technology. Cryptography experts with Soviet and Russian backgrounds are being recruited to try and crack all of Wang Jiang's notes.

Second, they used the hosts of the Sacred Relics as research materials to explore the principles behind the Sacred Relics' evolution. Third, they bred the Ghost-Toothed Dragon Viper. They preserved some fish fry in the Red Demon River without killing them, used the dragon flesh and blood of the experimental materials as feed, and every now and then fed them some scraps from the alchemy workshop.

The Ghost-toothed Dragon Viper will turn these things into treasures. Once they are fattened up, it will slaughter a batch of them, extract their metallized fish bones, and after a little processing, they become high-quality alchemical materials.

Olivia will be based in Tokyo long-term, responsible for investing, making money, and recruiting talent. Hybrids with A-grade bloodlines possessing the power of the "Heavenly Evolution" word are extremely rare in the history of the Secret Party; the last recorded one was Carl von Gambett, one of the founding members of Kassel. She has the potential to do this job well.

The Shadow Warrior Yu Jiang and the Ghost Knights, along with a large number of people lying in wait within the Snake Clan, will all be left to Olivia to compensate for her lack of personal combat strength. Meanwhile, Luo Yin will lead Samaria and the other elites back to North America, the epicenter of the vortex. This time, he is vastly different from when he first entered the world of hybrids.

As for Susie, she was terrible at hiding her talent. She hadn't revealed her Word of Power, yet she still received very good reviews from the Execution Department. After spending half a month in Tokyo, Susie was assigned a new mission and is probably already in the western United States.

Poor Boss Luo had just finished improving his female employee's bloodline when he went to see two movies with Susie. They hadn't even held hands a few times before Susie went to work at the academy. How infuriating!

......

In early June, Luo Yin invited Kazama Ruri out for drinks and barbecue. The cross-dressing man still didn't trust him and wouldn't let Luo Yin perform brain surgery on him.

Luo Yin speculated that Kazama had undergone a brain surgery similar to that of the Shadow Warrior, opening his skull and stimulating him with high-purity dragon serum, which might repair his brain damage and cure his personality split at its root.

But Kazama Ruri politely declined, saying that taking his medication on time and getting psychological counseling was fine. His brief camaraderie with Luo Yin wasn't enough for him to trust Luo Yin to open his skull.

Kazama's wariness deeply wounded Luo Yin, so he casually analyzed Kazama's Word of Power: Dream Baku. This was a realm he had never ventured into before. As a Word of Power not recorded by the Secret Party, Dream Baku might be a high-level form of the hypnotic Word of Power system. Besides Dream Baku, Time Zero, Royal Authority, Immortality, and the Bronze Throne were all Words of Power he was very interested in, and he would have to acquire them one by one later.

The Baku can generate a peculiar electromagnetic wave that forcibly invades the nervous system of others. It then selectively extracts a segment of the victim's memory, combining it with its own will and the victim's subconscious to create hallucinations and dreams. While the Baku isn't limited to creating nightmares, nightmares are generally considered to be more devastating.

Those afflicted by this word of power may become addicted to the dream memories due to their unique nature, leaving them at the mercy of others; or they may fight back fiercely, turning the Baku's infinite dreamscape into a battlefield of pure spiritual power between the two sides, where both the caster and the recipient of the word of power may be killed in the dream.

Luo Yin's spiritual power is far inferior to Kazama Ruri's, and the consumption of replicating and releasing Word of Power with Mirror Eyes would be even greater, making it difficult for him to kill others in dreams. The value of the Dream Eater to him is not its lethality, but rather its flexible and versatile development potential.

In a short period of time, Luo Yin only achieved a very rudimentary application of the dream-eating tapir.

He upgraded his Weakness Glasses, inscribing simple alchemical circuits on the frames to emit electromagnetic waves similar to those of a dream-eating beast. These waves create a slight illusion for those around him, making them less likely to notice Luo Yin or unconsciously drawing their attention to him—essentially adjusting his presence.

He implanted a new alchemical matrix into the alchemical puppet, using artificial dreams to fabricate more realistic memories. Luo Yin combined dreams with "permanent memories," meticulously filling in the details of the puppet's false life, making the alchemical puppet's behavior extremely close to that of a normal person, and enabling it to accept more complex and diverse commands.

The next goal is to create a large-scale alchemical dream, develop a 100% virtual dream RPG called "Dragon Raja", and pull all the students in Kassel into the dream to conquer the 100-layer maze designed by Uncle Luo... Ah, wrong movie.

------------

It was drizzling in Tokyo today, but the streets were still bustling with activity.

Luo Yin watched as the bustling commercial street shrank little by little, the blocks transforming into irregular jigsaw puzzle pieces. The plane's wings pierced through the light rain, broke through the clouds, and greeted the sunlight above.

The main force traveled to North America by sea, while he traveled alone, lightly equipped, to return to City X first. He carried only a silver-white suitcase with him, which contained an alchemical array with a weakening effect, suppressing the frozen holy remains.

Luo Yin unusually bought a first-class ticket this time, worried that if the sacred remains were to rise from the dead, he would expose himself. Fewer people always reduce the risk.

This trip back to City X was mainly for a vacation and to visit his parents. As for the junior and senior high school reunions, he really had no interest in them.

Shilan's classmates are now sophomores, just like him, and most of them haven't even participated in their professional internships yet. Returning home in triumph at a class reunion... Luo Yin has no interest in that. Showing off is only fun if others can understand it; if he talks to his classmates about the Snake Clan's Eight Families and the Fierce Demon Clan, searching for the Holy Remains, they'll just think it's a joke.

The moment he set foot in City X, he felt how wonderful his hometown was. Away from all the mess and chaos.

"Received a message from Norma."

A simple, temporary task, not even graded. School orientation; student: Lu Mingfei.

Luo Yin: ?

Didn't this loser get completely fooled and agree to enroll in Kassel months ago? Why is he still stuck in City X...?

The Nameless

Chapter 1 Orientation

"I remember you confirmed your enrollment in April...?"

"I'm still in my final year of high school, I need to get my diploma."

Lu Mingfei subconsciously scratched his head, trying to hide his guilty conscience. He and Luo Yin were the same height, but because he was hunched over, he looked shorter. The two walked one after the other on the playground of Shilan Middle School.

Objectively speaking, he was somewhat afraid of this Senior Brother Luo. The academy's explanation for the Tokyo incident was that Luo Yin had disguised himself as him as bait to protect him, but he instinctively felt things weren't that simple.

After his trip to Tokyo, his status at his aunt's house plummeted to an all-time low, even lower than a toilet seat. His uncle, aunt, and cousin Lu Mingze have never mentioned the details of his kidnapping by the gangsters. Although the academy later sent a huge sum of compensation and provided psychological counseling, that memory is indelible in their hearts.

Adding to that, his previous impulsive confession to Chen Wenwen—well, that thing was less of a confession and more like a porcupine making a firm decision and then smashing its head against a rock until it bled—his inner conflict was resolved, but his relationship with Chen Wenwen had become incredibly awkward.