54. Dragon Lacrima
Ben has inserts Smog's soul into his body through Dragon Soul Technique. But it won't fully stop Ben's Dragonization and just slow it down. Smog is far weaker than Escanor, so his soul can't make the antidote for Ben's Dragon Seed.
Furthermore, Smog's soul only has a remnant of his real power when he's alive. So it will only help Ben a little, but that's enough for Ben.
Previously, AI Chip predict that his Dragon Seed will grow fully in around 5 to 7 years, depend on his usage of Dragon Slayer Magic. But now it increased to 10 to 12 years with his current usage of Dragon Slayer Magic.
However, that estimation can drop if Ben overuses his Dragon Slayer Magic. That's why Ben needs to control his Dragon Slayer Magic usage. At least he needs to use normal magic more often for weak opponents.
In these 10 years, he will make sure that he grows strong enough to solve this problem permanently. His target is defeating the infamous Acnologia. He only has 10 years to do that. He is sure that he can do it, he will make sure that he can.
Ben's business is done here, but he decides to walk around and look at the crystals. This cave has a lot more crystals than the cave near his village. This place also has more Ethernano that feel very dense.
"No wonder Smog choose this place to hide. His magic power gets covered completely by the Ethernano. Sigh, too bad this place is too far from the village so I can't train here. Let's just take some crystals as souvenirs," says Ben while walking around.
Ben looks around to find good lacrima crystals that he will take. With his magic sense and experience with lacrima crystals, he can find the best ones among these crystals.
Ben spread his magic sense and find some good crystals. He takes some that he thinks as the best among these good ones. He gather around 27 crystals with medium & small sizes but has better quality and a higher amount of Ethernano than the big ones.
Ben is about to leave when he felt something strange in the cave room. He feels something like a resonance, but it's faint. The source of this resonance is like calling him to find it.
He concentrates and searches for the source of that feeling. Finally, he finds it right in the center of this room, and it is under the ground where Smog's skeleton was located.
Ben put his crystals and check the location that he sensed. Ben digs the soil for a few minutes until he makes a 3 meters deep hole. Inside there, he finds a strange crystal ball with bright red color.
"What's this? A dragon ball? Do I need to find 6 more balls? Hmm, but this doesn't have any star inside it," says Ben jokingly.
[Item founded: Heat Dragon Lacrima]
"WHAT THE F! It's really a Dragon Ball?" Ben gets surprised by his joke that becomes real.
[Natural Dragon Lacrima: A lacrima crystal that formed in the location of a deceased Dragon. Formed from the gathered essence of a Dragon's corpse.
The chance for the natural dragon lacrima to be formed is higher in a place with a high magic density. But it's still very low. Maybe this lacrima can be formed because Smog's soul is still here for years.]
"Ooh, so this is very rare, huh? But why did you call it Natural Dragon Lacrima, and not just Dragon Lacrima?" asks Ben
[There are 2 types of Dragon Lacrima, Natural and Artificial. The Natural one is like what you just found. The artificial one is made by mages using the remnants of Dragon. They extract the Dragon's magic from the remains and insert it into a lacrima crystal.]
"Damn, they can even get the power of a fossil. Is this like Jurassic Park?" Ben is amazed by the information.
Ben looks at Smog's Dragon lacrima that has the size of his fist. He become curious about this Dragon Lacrima now. "Where did you find all those information?"
[From one of the books that you've scanned in school. You will know it too if you read the books instead of just scanning them.]
Ben sweatdrop at AI Chip that lecture him, her owner. But he is immune to this kind of tone from AI Chip. She has been like this since he arrived in this world after all.
"Does this thing have any usage?" asks Ben.
[It can grant the power of Dragon if placed in a mage's body.]
Ben widen his eyes in shock because of that revelation. He is surprised to know that a Dragon Slayer can be made just with a crystal like this.
That means the Dragon Slayer doesn't need to learn their magic from a Dragon. This also allows future mages to become Dragon Slayers even when Dragons have perished. They just need to make an Artificial Dragon Lacrima.
AI Chip also explains to Ben that the Dragon Slayer who uses Dragon Lacrima won't have Dragon Seed. Now Ben gets very jealous because they don't need to worry about turning into a Dragon.
"Sigh, maybe I should put this thing inside my body and stop using Sun Dragon Slayer Magic," says Ben while sighing.
[I advise you to not do that. You already have Sun Dragon Slayer Magic. Your Sun Dragon Slayer Magic hasn't mature and is still weak. Adding another Dragon Slayer Magic will only make your progress slower and your power become half-baked.]
[Furthermore, even though your Sun Dragon Slayer Magic also utilizes heat, but it will be very different from Heat Dragon Slayer Magic.]
"Hmm, I think you're right. Training 2 types of Dragon Slayer will split my concentration and make me can't reach its max potential," says Ben.
[If you want to add another power, then add it after your power mature and you reach a very high level on your Sun Dragon Slayer Magic.]
"Alright, I'll follow your advice. I will keep this lacrima and learn it. Maybe I will learn some things about heat and apply it to my Magic."
Ben decides to keep Smog's Dragon Lacrima for him to learn. It might be useful in the future and help him when he needs it. It's also very rare, so he won't just leave it here like an idiot.
Ben takes the crystals that he has gathered and gets out of the cave. The sky has started to get dark, but Ben doesn't realize it when he's in the cave. He put all the crystals in his car's trunk and drive back to the Capital city.
When he reaches the Capital, it's dark already. But the city is not dark at all, it's very bright with colorful lamps everywhere. The streets are also full of people and stand like a festival.
Well, it's really a festival to close the Racing Tournament. Many people have come to the Capital today, so the Kingdom needs to do something that will make them happy. The only way is to make a festival like this.
Ben drives slowly among the crowd and it's really hard to pass through. Everyone recognizes his car and knows that he is the runner-up of today's race. So they get close to his car and want to see him.
Ben sigh and just wave from inside the car while keep driving very slowly. He finally reaches Joseph's place after 2 hours even though he just drives inside the city. The crowd is really crazy and makes it hard for him to drive.
Ben gets out of the car and enters Joseph's Capital residence with a tired expression. Ben walk to a couch and just slump on it while sighing. A maid approaches him and asks if he needs something, so he just asks for cold water.
"Ah, where're my sisters?" asks Ben.
"They are walking around with Madam to enjoy the festival. As for Master, he is in his office," answered the maid.
Ben nod and the maid leave to take his cold drink. Ben enjoy the drink after it arrive and rest for a few minutes. Then he goes to find the girls because there will be a firework tonight. The girls want to see it with him, so he needs to find them.
"Sigh, it's tiring to be a big brother."
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