Chapter 257: Completion

Chapter 257: Completion

“Heh!”

Crack—

Whoa!!

“What are you doing?” Zheng Yichen glared at the woman who had suddenly jumped out from behind him, his face dark. He swung a deformed arm of the Alchemical Avatar in his hand and showed it to Dan Marina with anger. “Do you want an arm like this!?”

“Well~ Speaking of that, aside from the torso, the requirements for the limb parts aren’t that high, right?” Dan Marina pointed at the Blueprint Zheng Yichen had placed to the side. She had been here for a while now, watching him work on the torso of the Alchemical Avatar. From the Blueprint, she knew that was the most crucial part, so she hadn’t disturbed him. But when it came to the arms, she couldn’t hold back anymore.

Zheng Yichen had his own things to do and could ignore the passage of time, burying himself in work for hours. But she had been watching from the side for quite a long time. Having a chance to see Zheng Yichen’s rich reactions, she obviously didn’t want to miss it. So she took action.

“This dragon never produces shoddy goods!” Zheng Yichen rolled his eyes. Fortunately, this Alchemical arm hadn’t undergone solidification treatment. He could disassemble it again, fix the mistake slightly, and restore it. Although there was no loss, the feeling was definitely not good. What feeling?

It was like painstakingly typing for several hours, then before you could save, there was suddenly a power outage… pretty much that kind of feeling. If this had happened during the torso process, Zheng Yichen felt he really wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from pressing this blonde woman to the ground and rubbing her vigorously (physically!).

“Here, I’ll treat you to a drink.” Dan Marina reached her hand into the Void and pulled out a small cup containing a pale green liquid.

“What is this? Sprite? And way too little, right?” Zheng Yichen rubbed his claws together crosswise. Accompanied by a shower of sparks, some stubborn Alchemy potion stains stuck to them were scrubbed off. He carefully picked up the seemingly fragile cup and sniffed lightly. There was a faint, indescribable fresh fragrance.

“A nice little beverage.”

“Then I’ll give it a taste.” Zheng Yichen poured the liquid from the small cup into his mouth and savored it carefully. It tasted a bit like coconut milk, but there were clearly other different flavors mixed in, still hard to describe. “Uh, why does it have a bit of an alcohol effect? Damn, woman, you didn’t drug me, did you…”

Accompanied by a brief feeling of dizziness, Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but mutter. But the feeling came and went quickly. After the dizziness disappeared, it was replaced by an indescribable clarity. Zheng Yichen felt as if his entire body had been reborn, every cell highly active, like flower buds about to bloom, ready to burst open the next moment…

Sadly, no!

“This is good stuff!” Zheng Yichen exclaimed with some emotion. “As an apology, isn’t this too generous? Don’t think this thing can make me make the Alchemical Avatar better. I’ve already reached the limit of the design.”

“What did it feel like?” Dan Marina shook her head slightly, took the cup back from Zheng Yichen, and stared straight at him. If Zheng Yichen had ‘passed out’ at that moment, it would have been good. However, he didn’t ‘pass out.’ Judging from his blissful expression just now, the thing he drank did indeed produce its intended effect, but it went off course.

“It felt like my entire being was sublimated.” Zheng Yichen didn’t hide his changes. Besides the peak transformation he felt earlier, he still felt every cell in his body was exceptionally active. Under this activity, his body, which had returned to a ‘normal’ growth speed, would maintain an additional growth rate for a long time to come. “Why do you look so regretful?”

After describing his changes, Zheng Yichen noticed Dan Marina’s expression seemed off.

“Well~ There’s some good news…”

“Say the bad news first.” Zheng Yichen indicated he didn’t want to be subjected to this kind of routine passively.

“You’re probably really like you’ve been afflicted with an incurable Curse. You’ll always remain in the form of a Little Dragon.” Dan Marina shrugged. That cup of stuff, if seen by the Dragon Clan or races with long growth cycles, would definitely make them unable to control their emotions—either snatch it or exchange it at a huge cost. Even for the Dragon Clan, one-fifth of that amount would be enough for a Juvenile Dragon to directly enter slumber, then complete the metamorphosis in an extremely short time and become an Adult Dragon.

Don’t be fooled by Zheng Yichen’s current appearance resembling a Juvenile Dragon. He was actually just a larger ‘Young Dragon.’ Such a large amount didn’t even cause him to ‘metamorphose.’ This confirmed that there likely wasn’t any normal way for him to truly grow up in the future. As for feeling like it was a loss using this thing on him?

She said she had rarely suffered losses from the past until now. If it had succeeded, it would have just meant an extra delay of a few days. Oss’s side was currently making a big fuss and would need some time to resolve. If it failed, it wasn’t without benefits either. Zheng Yichen becoming stronger was also good for her. After all, she was also a Witch who ‘cared’ about Zheng Yichen. A weak dragon needing protection versus a strong, awe-inspiring dragon that people dared not provoke—she preferred the latter.

“… That’s fine, I guess. Being too big can also be a bit troublesome.” Zheng Yichen slightly twisted his mouth. His body size wasn’t small, but compared to Adult Dragons that easily exceeded twenty meters or more, it was really nothing. But if he were really that huge, the Underground Base would need extra expansion. He felt staying as-is was fine. Expanding and such, so troublesome…

You know, to accommodate his size, this Underground Base had specially enlarged many areas. If he were in Human Form, he could free up a lot more extra empty space within the existing area to set up useful things.

Although, sometimes, a large size was indeed convenient in battle and could produce a great suppressive effect. Back during the incident with Loris, if Zheng Yichen had possessed a size a hundred times his current one, he could have completely torn that Light Screen to pieces in a short time. “What’s the good news?”

“The good news is what you’re feeling now. Although it didn’t achieve the intended effect, the conversion directly boosted your own effect counts as an extra gain, right.”

“Alright. Anyway, I feel like punching out an Adult Dragon shouldn’t be hard now.” Zheng Yichen waved his arm. When he punched out that Red Dragon before, it was based on favorable timing and terrain. Now Zheng Yichen felt even without the magic-suppressing environment of the Light Screen, he could probably spar with the other party, find an opening, and if he landed a Critical Strike punch on its head, he could probably give that Red Dragon the same outcome as before.

As for other things? Hey, did you think this dragon’s Magic Weapon Summoning Book was fake?

“Alright, don’t disturb me. Give me five hours, and I’ll finish it for you today.” Zheng Yichen’s claw tips extended some ‘mana thorns’ attached to them. These thorns allowed him to perform even more highly detailed work, a kind of use similar to Mana Thread. Mana Thread was basic; anyone with mana could use it as long as their Mana Quality could withstand the assimilation force of the outside world.

But the current method was an advanced usage Zheng Yichen had found in Irene’s research notes. After quite an effort mastering this method that wasn’t Magic but a mana usage skill, he rarely used his old method of using Projections for detailed work anymore. He even found some usage techniques involving deep fusion of spirit and mana in Irene’s notes, but those methods were quite difficult to use.

After all, they weren’t Magic but mana techniques. However, those methods somehow achieved effects only Magic could achieve. Simply put, they used one’s own mana to form a state similar to a precision machine tool. Zheng Yichen still hadn’t mastered this technique even now.

“Five hours… okay.” Dan Marina snapped her fingers. A chair appeared behind her. The chair had just touched the ground when it was turned into powder by an invisible force. Loris walked in and, amidst Dan Marina’s protest, practically dragged her out of Zheng Yichen’s Laboratory.

“Tsk~” Zheng Yichen made a light clicking sound and comfortably stretched his back. He really liked his current physical state. He’d ask later what exactly Dan Marina gave him, then find a way to get more. Even if it was very precious, he could just dilute it with water and drink it. He shook his head, refocused his attention, and concentrated on dealing with the reshaped and deformed arm of the Alchemical Avatar. If the materials weren’t so precious, he’d really want to scrap this thing and make a new one!

Reshaping required more effort than making a new one.

“Tee-hee, your life is good now too. You can even eat meals. Back then, when you wanted to eat something…”

“Shut up!”

Loris coldly interrupted Dan Marina’s reminiscing about digging up black history.

“Not calling the Little Dragon to join?”

Loris didn’t speak, just silently glanced at Dan Marina. The meaning was clear—the reason for not calling him was still you!

“Your implication makes me unhappy. The Little Dragon seemed to be enjoying himself.”

“… Probably experiencing the joy of creating a daughter.” Loris said a relatively long sentence for her, which made Dan Marina’s expression stiffen slightly. Then Dan Marina waved her hand dismissively.

“So this is why you’d rather stay here and not go out, and don’t want him to make an Alchemical Avatar for you? Actually, you could think of it this way—maybe he wants to experience the joy of creating a girlfriend?”

Loris looked at Dan Marina expressionlessly. Dan Marina wisely didn’t say more, watching Loris stuff various foods from the dining table into her mouth quickly, like a hamster. She shook her head slightly. This child, it was all because of being ‘hungry’ back then… Wait, she was older than me.

“Ugh… two extra hours. Good thing this dragon has no hair.” After completing the final step of the Alchemical Avatar, Zheng Yichen gave a long stretch. He glanced at the time—it took a bit longer than the expected five hours. Originally, he could have finished within the normal time, but later he thought of something and modified the Alchemical Avatar.

Most modifications were to the appearance. Considering the transformative effect of that portion of Evil God Essence, for the initial appearance, Zheng Yichen thought about directly making a faceless entity. But this was the initial appearance. Making a faceless entity would mean occasional moments of revealing the true face. Thinking about it, that seemed a bit mean, as if maliciously pranking that woman Dan Marina.

Although Zheng Yichen quite wanted to do that once, this was work currently in progress… Would excessively inserting such personal thoughts be a bit improper? So after some thought, Zheng Yichen made a difficult decision. She just treated him to a drink, so better not use a faceless appearance. As for the real appearance setting…

Since this Alchemical Avatar had the characteristic of transformation, how about making a tall, thin Black man with a bright smile?!

Ahem… forget it. After all, the Alchemical Avatar’s base form wasn’t scary, and he couldn’t make something with an indescribably terrifying appearance. If he could, he wouldn’t need to stay in this Underground Base now!

With such a regretful thought, Zheng Yichen spent some extra time designing a new appearance. Not much original creation—Zheng Yichen mainly used Dan Marina’s image. However, this Alchemical Avatar was shorter than Dan Marina, so completely adopting her current appearance wasn’t suitable. He could modify the design to be more youthful, then modify the hair and eye colors.

Well, aside from hair and eye colors, it was practically a younger, girl-like Dan Marina. Hmm… hairstyle. Zheng Yichen thought about many at that time, tried various types, and finally simply made it long, straight black hair. Simple, quick, and clear. Anyway, the appearance image he modified and designed could completely handle and carry it…

“Ah~ Haa~” Zheng Yichen looked at the Alchemical Avatar in front of him—sitting on the worktable with eyes closed and arms crossed over its chest—and let out a long yawn. He gently patted its head… He had been working in a highly focused state for nearly over twenty hours. Zheng Yichen was really exhausted this time.

As for why he used ‘she’ for this Alchemical Avatar instead of ‘it,’ it was because Zheng Yichen really couldn’t think from what angle to use ‘it.’ Besides lacking consciousness, this Alchemical Avatar, based on the Flesh Stone’s magical effect, emanated a life aura indistinguishable from a living being. If the Flesh Stone wasn’t useless for Alchemical Puppet cores, Zheng Yichen estimated he could really create true Alchemical life, not this kind of Alchemical Avatar.

“Huff~ A bit of a pity. Forget it. Maybe later, as Dan Marina uses it, you can truly ‘evolve’ life.” Zheng Yichen rubbed his head. Now, due to activation and completion, the materials inside this Alchemical Avatar’s body had already begun to ‘fuse’ because of this activation. Soon it could become a true Alchemical ‘organ-like’ entity, not like the Alchemical Avatars used by Irene and the others, which looked no different from ordinary people but were essentially very advanced ‘robots.’