Dragon

"Ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha!"

On the sandy beach, a man was bent over, his body trembling and laughing uncontrollably.

His face was contorted in pain, his eyes showed agony, the incessant laughter was gradually driving him insane.

This person was none other than Ye Long, having drunk the potion for the second time.

The moment he began transforming, Mei kicked him out of the crack space.

The reason? Mei was afraid that if it worked this time, she would be affected by fear.

...

The instant he drank the potion.

Pain surged, but Ye Long didn't collapse on the ground, writhing and trembling like others. Instead, he started running around frantically.

At first, he clutched his head, muttering something incomprehensible. Then he went completely mad.

Finally, he burst into maniacal laughter.

"Ha ha ha!"

"It's not me! I can't talk to them, it's the village chief! He did it!"

"Yes, it was the village chief!"

"Cough, ha ha ha, splat… I'm willing, I'm willing to serve you as king, spare my life… please…"

Ye Long suddenly raised his head, his expression becoming twisted and terrifying. "Since when do dogs choose their own masters?"

"Ha ha ha!"

After saying that, Ye Long's eyes widened.

"No, that's wrong… that's not it, whose memories are those?!"

Splat!

Bloody mist started erupting from Ye Long's body. His limbs stretched, scales grew on his body, and his hair turned white.

In a flash, Ye Long's body exploded and expanded, instantly transforming into a long figure that soared into the sky!

"Roar—!!"

A dragon's roar echoed through the sky. Mei, in the crack space, was stunned.

She wasn't shocked by the fear characteristic. She was simply dumbfounded.

"A eastern dragon?"

No, no, no, this isn't important!

What's important is!

Mei didn't sense any fear characteristic on him.

She used her magnifying glass to confirm. There really wasn't any!

This wasn't because the potion didn't work, the potion's effect was completely distorted!

It felt like a strong, dominant power had transformed the fear characteristic into another characteristic.

Mei tried using her magnifying glass to locate the source of this transformation. The information he received was confusing.

"The first potion became the key."

"The second potion was distorted by the fixed factors behind the door."

"No matter what potion is consumed, the effect will always be the same, which is the dragon appearing."

"The dragon appearing means high-level energy being broken down and downgraded into low-level energy that can be directly absorbed by life. It can be understood as a recovery of low-level energy and reduction of high-level energy."

Wait a minute, that's a lot of information.

Mei first broke it down. "No matter what potion is given to Ye Long, only the single result of becoming a dragon will occur."

"And the appearance of the dragon signifies the appearance of a certain low-level energy."

"Just like after 002 appeared, many Ancient Artifacts and other related things also appeared."

Thinking this, Mei suddenly looked at the sky.

She had a bold idea!

And at this moment, a massive influx of information flooded Mei's vision!

"The essence of life represents the essence of the world. The two are interconnected and complementary. When the world's essence reaches a certain level, high-quality life will be born…"

"Similarly, the emergence of high-quality life will also elevate the world to a higher level?"

Mei suddenly froze. If this is the rule of this world, then the many monsters she created are equivalent to enhancing the essence of life.

The essence of that world will also be enhanced.

Simply put, the world will level up because of Mei's creations.

The existence of higher-level life can elevate the world to a higher level!

So, is this good or bad?

Mei couldn't judge.

But for humans, this is probably more harmful than beneficial.

Because if the world is filled with high-quality life, then humans are the weakest beings, only able to be preyed upon.

But at the same time, the existence of these high-quality lifeforms also brings other changes.

For example, Ancient Artifacts, these mysterious items that grant humans superpowers.

And, for example, the low-level energy that appeared after the dragon appeared.

Could this be considered a kind of spiritual recovery?

If so, then humans can indeed benefit from it, but it's not limited to humans. All life can benefit from it.

The strong will become stronger. Even plants and animals could threaten humanity.

So, for the collective, this is naturally more harmful than beneficial.

But what does this have to do with Mei?

She only cared about whether Absolute Fear could be created.

"The Absolute Fear failed on 025. This isn't a problem with the potion. It's a problem with 025 himself."

"Leaving 025's unique traits aside, the two creations that currently have the greatest impact on the world are 002 and 025."

"The world has changed after their appearance."

"It's because the essence of their lives reached a certain level."

"It seems there's a need to sort through and categorize the levels of these lives. What level does it take to affect the world?"

Mei already had an idea.

She felt like this ranking system could be divided into seven levels.

Using humans as a baseline, lifeforms stronger than humans are categorized as 1st Step.

Those possessing innate traits or secondary traits are 2nd Step.

As for 3rd Step, they either possess absolute traits, or their life level has "almost" reached the level where they can change the world.

4th Step is the level Mei currently considers capable of changing the world.

And Mei's evaluation of herself is also roughly 4th Step.

So the question is, if Mei is 4th Step, what has she changed?

Mei has thought about this. She believes this crack space probably exists because of him.

As for the fatelines, Mei can't be sure if it's related to her.

Then there's 5th Step.

The foundation of 5th Step is the ability to freely travel through the universe with the physical body.

And 6th Step, Mei calls it Sanctuary. The life form completely transcends the physical body.

It's a qualitative change.

As for 7th Step, Mei calls it Myth.

7th Step Ascension. This is the current limit that Mei has envisioned.

As for the basis for godhood, Mei hasn't figured it out yet.

Just like Mei had said, gods shouldn't be understandable. At least, she can't comprehend the level of Myth yet.

This is Mei's Seven Steps to Ascension. But the monsters don't fully understand the complete meaning of these seven steps.

They will likely use simple strength to judge the levels.

"If I can perfect Death, I can reach the 5th Step. Traveling through the universe wouldn't be impossible."

"And the only thing I'm missing to complete Death is the fear trait."

For the sake of perfection, Mei wants to transform this characteristic into an absolute characteristic.

That is, absolute fear.

Use absolute fear to evolve the complete Death form. What kind of effect this will have, Mei doesn't know yet.

"For now, the dragon matter can be put aside. I need to go back and make a few more vials of Absolute Fear potion."