Essence [1]

"This should be the first time you're seeing me in this form, right Aria?"

"Un."

When Alina appeared for the first time, she's been using the form of a mature woman that always has their glasses on. With a single braid on one side, she looked like the epitome of "knowledge".

This time though, she appeared in the form of a White Dragon.

'The pressure.. It's quite weaker when Master simulated his, but its still very strong.'

Just based on the pressure alone, Lugh knew that he won't be a match against them. Not like he has any intentions of fighting a Deity-Realm Combatant for now.

"You did the illusion trial well. Thanks to that, I had the chance to skip past the final trial and let you head straight here."

"There's still a trial?"

"Yes. The last trial requires you to kill a certain number of Wild Beasts. It's total chaos out there."

"The zergs?"

"You guessed it right."

After saying that, she generated a screen-like thing. There, Lugh saw the state of the last trial. There is many terrains out there, ranging from forests to winter lands. It would've been the normal trial grounds competition, but the zergs ruined all of that.

In the screen, it can be seen that the zergs are like locusts. Wherever they went, all living beings would be killed. Even the plants and ores wasn't spared.

"Ugh. It took me a lot of time to create that. Those zergs..."

"My EXP points.."

Both of them lamented for a while. It wasn't until Alina spoke did they stop.

"Let's get it done already."

"Aria's affairs?"

"Yes."

Saying that, one of the walls on her bedroom opened. A tall corridor that leads to 5 other guest rooms appeared. In the middle of the corridor, they saw the massive dragon corpse. It is a White Dragon, the same one as Alina.

"Huge.."

"That corpse.. Ms. Alina, is it yours?"

"Mn. I did a good job preserving it."

"I'm curious.. How did Ms. Alina keep it here? Isn't it supposed to be left in Mist Forbidden Zone?"

"That.. I used a special treasure to escape from there. Still, I died not long after. All I've done is to perfectly preserve it."

"I see.."

Hearing this, Lugh inferred the rest of the story. The only thing is that, he doesn't know why she didn't opted for a resurrection instead. When he asked, all she said was that it's an agreement.

"Shall we begin?"

"Un. I'll be right back, Lugh."

"Yea. Good luck."

Aria went beside the dragon corpse. There, a massive golden core floated towards her. With his [Evil Eyes], Lugh saw that it is a concentration of higher-levelled energies that he only saw in the books. That is the essence of a high-rank Deity-Realm Combatant. The Dragon's essence is well-known by another name-- Dragon's Heart.

The Dragon's Heart then merged into Aria, forming a blood-red egg. It is filled with runes, just like Lugh's [Demon God Physique].

'Runes? It's almost the same as mine. Then, it appears on something related to the Ancestors of each race?'

Lugh recalled some books that he had read before. When one steps into Deity-Realm, one would have their blood line go through atavism and they become closer to their Ancestors. It seems that he is witnessed it first hand.

"You also have yours."

"Pardon?"

When Lugh is bewildered, a small-sized chunk of Dragon's Heart flew in front of him. This event is out of his expectations. At most, he wanted to ask Alina whether he can be teleported to the last trial or not.

"Don't be shy. I'm already dead, so that's of no use to me."

"Then, thank you very much."

Without anyone's help, Lugh himself started to merge it to him. With his Heaven's Force, he can start refining it to himself right away. Just like Aria, a blood-red egg covered Lugh. Though, it is not as thick as Aria's.

"I've gone all-in. All that's left is to leave it to fate."

Alina said so as she watched her corpse disintegrate. Since she gathered every single energy that remained, it is natural that the rest of her body had collapsed. The one that's left are 4 crystals with different colors. They are her Authorities before she died. Right now, both of them wouldn't be able to handle it, so she stored it somewhere first.

She watched her corpse disintegrate before closing her eyes.

***

[A good amount of Origin Points had entered the host's body. Storing it in the panel's storage..]

[Requirements met. The trait [Dragon Physique] has been acquired.]

[The panel had detected that the trait has resonated with another trait and can still be evolved if the remaining Origin Points are used. Continue?]

'Mn, good? Continue.'

Even though Lugh's responded, he's only half-awake. The reason why he chose to continue is that he saw the word 'good'.

[The trait [Dragon Physique] has been resonating with another trait and was supplied with a huge amount of Origin Points ! Evolution starting.]

[The trait [Dragon Physique] had evolved into [Dragon God Physique].]

[The traits [Demon God Physique] and [Dragon God Physique] are resonating ! Merging..]

Just when the absorption was finished, nobody expected for it to be evolved with the Origin Points, causing Lugh to acquire something much more better, [Dragon God Physique]. Not only that, [Demon God Physique] and [Dragon God Physique] even merged.

In Lugh's words, the phenomenon that he's been experiencing right now is akin to rebirth. His transformation is even more drastic than when he first got [Demon God Physique].

The usual wear and tear on his body occurred due to it. His affinity and various resistances greatly increased as well. When what Lugh felt like a long time has passed, the transformation finished.

[Two traits had merged and created a brand new trait, [Demon-Dragon God Physique]. ]

[Demon Dragon God Physique (LV2)]

-A physique acquired due to a rare mutation. It has the power of a Demon Dragon that has both of its ancestor's bloodline.

-Gives the possessor a very tough body and a very great affinity towards energies.

-Gives the possessor a resistance to all types of attacks by 180%.

When he woke up, the blood-red egg cracked and merged into him. It seems that it's the final part to complete his transformation.

"You're done? W-wait!"

"Mn?"

"You.. just what did you acquire?"

"Oh, that. I got the [Dragon God Physique]."

"Impossible!"

".. And it merged with my [Demon God Physique]."

"Pardon?"

After Lugh repeated the words that he had said just now, Alina has this unbelieving look on her face.

"I thought Aria's enough to be a monster, but he also became one. Just what kind of monsters did I create?"

It continued that way until she calmed down hours later.