Chapter 197: The Secret of Dragonblood

Dragonblood species, a long-standing research subject among alchemical wizards.

Before the world was even called the Wizarding World, dragons and sea monsters ruled the skies, lands, and oceans of the world. During that period, every peak on the wizard continent was home to a radiant dragon's nest.

Later, wizards seized control of the Wizarding World from the dragons and made a pact with the sea monsters, becoming the new rulers of the world.

The dragons, of course, became subjects of research for the wizards.

Dragonblood was incredibly powerful. Any adult dragon could become a first-tier being, and as dragons aged, new heads would sprout. With each new head, the dragon's life level would increase by one.

During their peak, there were five six-headed dragons on the wizard continent, which later became the spoils of the five major wizarding factions.

In addition to their power, dragonblood had an incredibly strong corrosive nature. Any being born of a dragon, whether a hybrid or just exposed to dragon blood, would exhibit strong dragon traits. Even bathing in dragon blood would lead to the erosion of the body's bloodline, transforming it into a dragonblood species.

While dragonblood species were not as powerful as pureblood dragons, they inherited some of the dragons' traits and were quite formidable in combat.

When wizards ventured into the stars, they discovered that dragons were not confined to the Wizarding World. In the known worlds explored by wizards, only a few worlds lacked any trace of dragons, while most of the others had some form of dragon or dragonblood species.

Though the specific traits of these dragons varied widely, from flesh and blood to plants and even hybrid elemental creatures, the core characteristics of dragons and their potent corrosive bloodline proved that these seemingly different dragons were all part of the same species.

This led to a group of wizards specializing in dragon research emerging among alchemical wizards.

However, when Richard saw these dragonblood species, he couldn't help but think of the three-headed dragon in the Blackstone Mountains.

"Is that dragon considered an employee of the Academy? Or is it more like a pet kept by a Grand Wizard?"

Yelina smiled shyly when she heard Richard's question. "Well, it's not exactly research. It's just that my current research happens to need dragon blood, so I'm looking into it as well."

Richard walked up to a glass container, observing a dragonblood species inside.

This creature, before being corrupted by dragon blood, was probably a rabbit. But after exposure to dragon blood, it had grown sharp fangs and scales, with a pair of menacing dragon horns glowing with a chilling light.

"Dragonblood species are a good research direction," Richard casually commented. "Dragons are incredibly strong beings. Just making a little progress in research can greatly improve synthetic beasts."

Yelina looked at Richard in surprise. "Senior Brother, do you have any research on dragonblood?"

She quickly walked over to Richard, pointing at the dragonblood rabbit inside the container.

"I've been researching how dragonblood affects the physical transformation of creatures. After exposure to dragonblood, even a rabbit can turn into a killing machine. But I've encountered some issues recently. Could you… help me figure it out?"

Yelina looked at Richard carefully. She had heard from Jorrod that Richard was incredibly gifted, and could often come up with solutions that others hadn't thought of.

But as a wizard, Yelina felt a little uneasy. Wizards were very protective of their knowledge, so asking for help was always a sensitive issue.

Even though she was his junior sister, she felt a little impolite asking without offering something in return.

But Richard's next words eased all her concerns.

"I haven't researched dragonblood before. I've only heard a little about it."

Hearing this, Yelina felt both relieved and slightly disappointed. But just as she was about to change the subject, Richard asked:

"However, you can still tell me your issue. I might be able to offer a different perspective."

Yelina, taken aback by Richard's kindness, was left momentarily flustered.

Thinking back to her earlier concerns, she realized she had overthought it.

"Well, it's like this: while researching the effects of dragonblood, I discovered that sometimes dragonblood exposure doesn't lead to dragonification. Instead, it causes the creature's cells to rupture, and the entire body disintegrates."

Yelina took out a recording crystal ball and showed Richard the scene that had occurred during her experiment.

In the crystal ball, a rabbit's body rapidly liquefied, with blood and bodily fluids pouring out. In just a few seconds, the once-living rabbit had turned into a pool of blood.

Yelina explained: "After injecting just one milliliter of dragonblood, this rabbit began to show signs of dragonification after three minutes, which is normal. But thirty seconds later, these signs started to break down, and the entire rabbit's body began to disintegrate."

She continued, "I repeated the experiment many times, and it's not an isolated case. Every hundred experiments or so, one results in disintegration, and the time for it to occur varies."

Watching the scene in the crystal ball, Richard stroked his chin, feeling like he had seen something similar before.

The symptoms of the rabbit seemed to resemble cellular breakdown.

After thinking for a moment, Richard shared his hypothesis:

"This rabbit's situation appears to be a case of cellular breakdown.

Dragonblood is highly corrosive, and I suspect the essence of this corrosion is that the life force in the dragonblood is trying to merge with the original creature's life core. From the looks of the rabbit, the life force integration probably failed, leading to the collapse of the life core and resulting in cellular disintegration."

"If you want to prevent this, the best approach would be to start with experimental creatures, using other methods to avoid this issue, but I doubt it will be easy, and the results might be hard to achieve."

Yelina's eyes lit up upon hearing Richard's suggestion.

"Integrating life force into the life core... integrating life force into the life core!"

Yelina rushed over to her desk and hastily jotted down the words in her notebook, as if she feared she would forget them if she delayed.

"Senior Brother, your summary of the dragonblood process is truly… right to the core."

Yelina looked at Richard with flushed cheeks, her eyes brimming with excitement. She had been researching dragonblood for a while, but she had never considered explaining the mechanism of dragonblood's effect in such a simple way.

Richard smiled and didn't continue the discussion.

Wizard research was often highly private, and continuing the topic would mean he had to share in the results.

However, the nature of dragonblood caught Richard's attention.

Dragons were incredibly powerful creatures, and their adaptability to nature seemed to reach some kind of limit. No matter how harsh the environment, dragons could evolve into the most suitable forms for survival, all while retaining their core dragon traits.

This trait was somewhat aligned with the concept of the Adapted Body.

After asking Yelina about the teaching requirements, Richard casually obtained two test tubes of ordinary dragonblood from her.

It was a token of appreciation for offering his advice.

---

Jorrod had invited him over just in time for the new students to begin their classes, so Richard's first lesson at the Wizard Academy was about introducing the concept of wizardry to these new students.

As the morning bell rang, Richard took his notes and entered the classroom.

In front of him, several hundred young students stared at him with wide eyes. After the entrance exams, these young ones had mostly shed their immaturity and now looked at everyone with vigilance.

Richard walked up to the podium and, just like Anna once did, wrote "What is a wizard?" on the blackboard.

"I'm Professor Richard, an alchemical wizard. Since this is your first class at the Academy, I must add something before we begin the Introduction to Alchemy."

Richard looked at the students, his gaze calm, but it made every student he locked eyes with feel a chill down their spine.

Even though Richard reined in his life radiation, there was still a fundamental difference between him, a second-tier being, and these students who hadn't even reached first-tier.

Wizards' unique method of spiritual evolution made wizards and their apprentices almost like two different species.

"So, who can answer my question: What is a wizard?"

As he posed the question, the classroom fell silent, like a graveyard. But soon, a trembling hand raised in the air.

A boy dressed simply, yet with a nervous expression, raised his right hand.

"Tell me your answer," Richard said calmly.

"I—I think a wizard is someone who can fly and possess supernatural powers, like a superhero."

Richard nodded and motioned for him to sit down.

"That's a good answer, but not the essence. Anyone else?"

Richard scanned the room, and soon another hand went up.

This time, it was a boy dressed in extravagant noble attire.

"Tell me your answer."

The noble boy took a deep breath and answered loudly, "I think a wizard is someone who pursues knowledge like a fanatic."

Richard smiled slightly and gestured for him to sit down.

"That's a good answer, very lofty, but unfortunately not original. This quote comes from the Speaker of the Truth Council."

Richard then took the opportunity to introduce the Truth Council.

"The Truth Council is the ruler of the Wizarding World, and all wizards follow the orders of the Truth Wizards. But because of this, the Speaker's words feel a bit too distant for us."

"Listen to it, but wait until you become wizards yourselves to truly understand it."

With that, Richard wrote a sentence on the blackboard.

"A wizard is a profession, and at each stage of this profession, the essence of a wizard is different."

After writing, Richard explained the meaning of his words to the several hundred students.

"Wizards are divided into three stages: apprentice wizards, wizards, and grand wizards. During the apprentice stage, it's best to give up on unrealistic dreams, work diligently, earn magic stones, increase the power of your spells, and improve your combat skills."

"Knowledge is wonderful, but you need to be alive to reach it."

"Of course," Richard smiled, "if you plan to join the Necromancy faction, you can ignore my last sentence."

(End of Chapter)