Chapter 1055: 1054: Fifth Star
Simon put away the empty cases and brought out the dragon egg.
It settled before him on the cultivation platform, its cracked black shell rising almost to his chest while he sat. He brushed some dust from its surface and placed his palm against it.
There was no heartbeat and no warmth.
Only the essence Lilith had sensed.
Devour
Black strands spread through the cracks beneath his fingers. A piece of shell crumbled, and its remains disappeared into his palm.
Warmth travelled up his arm.
Simon watched another fragment break away, then frowned as the absorbed essence reached his muscles and bones.
His body was growing stronger.
The increase was small, but it was there.
This dragon had died before hatching. Much of its essence had already faded, yet the remnants could still strengthen him even if it was only slightly.
He looked at the egg with renewed interest.
"How strong would you have become?"
There was no answer, of course.
He continued absorbing.
As the physical essence settled within him, Simon followed Devour deeper into what remained. His awareness of the chamber receded, leaving him surrounded by darkness.
Far below, several lights appeared.
They grew larger as he approached, until each resembled an enormous star.
He recognised the sight.
The Fleshwood’s regeneration abilities had appeared like this too. These weren’t actual stars. They were Chaos runes whose complexity his mind couldn’t fully grasp.
His blessing allowed him to perceive their general shapes without confronting every detail at once.
Simon examined the nearest.
True Dragon’s Claws
He could make out curved talons within its shifting pattern. Beyond it waited others: True Dragon’s Roar, True Dragon’s Breath, and True Dragon’s Eyes.
Another held overlapping shapes resembling scales.
His attention lingered there before moving toward the last.
True Dragon’s Tongue.
The ability to speak and understand the language of True Dragons.
Simon felt tempted.
He wondered what Lilith would say if he suddenly addressed her in her own language.
Then another thought occurred to him.
Why choose only one?
He had combined the Fleshwood’s three regeneration skills into Unholy Regeneration. What would happen if he fused all these abilities?
A single skill containing a True Dragon’s scales, claws, breath, eyes, voice, and language.
Simon drew the Claws and Scales runes slightly closer.
Both resisted.
His mental energy tightened around them, but keeping one steady allowed the other to pull away. He increased his control, and a dull ache formed behind his eyes.
He stopped.
This was only an attempt to hold two of them. He hadn’t even begun a fusion.
The Fleshwood’s skills had shared a source and a purpose. All three restored different parts of him.
These abilities came from the same creature, but that didn’t make every one of them compatible.
What advancement would combine armoured scales with the ability to speak a language?
He had no clear answer.
Even fusing the scales and claws would demand considerable mental energy and Will. He would have to subdue both, maintain them, and find a way to combine their functions without destroying them.
Trying all six would be worse.
He hadn’t forgotten the time he nearly killed himself attempting to fuse Fire and Ice skills in his previous life.
Failure wouldn’t merely cost him the skills. His mind, soul, and body could suffer with them.
Simon released the Claws rune.
A powerful new ability was tempting but everything because he wanted too much was not.
Something shifted beneath the star-like runes.
He turned his attention downward.
A small, dark mass was slipping away.
His affinity with the Shadow element responded faintly, but the thing below was different.
Darkness element.
’So the true dragon had an affinity for the Darkness element.’
Simon directed Devour toward it.
The mass darted aside.
He followed, drawing it toward himself, only for it to stretch into thin strands and scatter.
His expression tightened.
He had encountered this before. Skills and affinities could behave as though they were trying to escape him, whether they truly possessed awareness or not.
This one wasn’t getting away.
Simon widened the pull instead of chasing each strand separately.
The scattered darkness slowed.
He gradually drew it together, closing the gaps whenever a portion tried to slip free. The effort pulled at his concentration, especially with the skill runes still resisting nearby.
One thread finally reached him.
Then another.
The dark mass twisted violently before Devour swallowed what remained.
Simon felt the new affinity settle within him.
Peak F grade.
For a moment, he was disappointed.
Then he remembered what he was consuming.
The embryo was dead. Its surviving essence had been deteriorating within a cracked shell for who knew how long.
He had obtained Darkness affinity and that was worth something.
And unlike a skill, it wouldn’t occupy another star.
Simon returned his attention to the remaining runes.
Four of his blessing’s seven stars were already occupied.
He would use the fifth carefully.
His attention passed over True Dragon’s Tongue once more before settling on the scales.
Lilith had spoken of their defensive strength long before he joined The Abyss. He hadn’t forgotten how highly she regarded them.
He could attack in plenty of ways but his defences needed more work.
Terra and Ice could protect him, but without a powerful defensive technique, simply piling up barriers would not match what he hoped to gain here.
Unholy Regeneration was useful after an attack tore through him.
He wanted something that could stop the attack first.
And with his Seven Stars Blessing, the scales could improve further.
His decision made, Simon reached for the rune.
It immediately retreated.
Devour caught it, drawing it closer despite its resistance.
Then black scales spread across his vision.
A dragon’s head rose before him. Its wings opened, and an immense body curled around the rune.
ROOOAARRR!
The roar struck his mind.
Simon’s hand jerked against the egg, scattering fragments across the platform.
He steadied his breathing and maintained Devour.
The dragon lunged.
Its claws tore through the strands drawing at its body. A sweep of its tail drove Simon’s perception backward, sending pain through his temples.
He reached again.
The scales locked together, and the pull weakened.
The resistance carried a stubborn refusal that made him think of Lilith’s warnings about True Dragons.
Even now, it would not yield.
’Stubborn bastard’ he muttered inwardly.
The rune was slipping farther away.
Simon fed more demonic energy into Devour, but the dragon roared again and fought the pull.
Then he stirred the Seed of Gluttony.
Its hunger joined the skill.
The dragon’s outstretched wings jerked inward.
Simon tightened his control.
This time, when the claws tore through the approaching strands, the hunger closed around them instead. The manifestation struggled, its jaws snapping as more of its body unravelled.
His heart beat harder.
The pressure in his head grew, but the rune was coming closer.
He kept Devour focused upon it while Gluttony wore down the resistance.
The dragon twisted, trying to wrench itself free.
One wing broke apart.
Its roar faltered.
Simon pulled again.
The jaws scattered into darkness, followed by the neck and the remaining wing. The scale-shaped rune emerged from the collapsing manifestation.
He drew it into himself.
The other lights faded from his perception.
For an instant, he felt the ruined shell collapse beneath his palm.
Then his awareness shifted.
Simon appeared above the black waters of his sea of consciousness.
Seven black stars hung overhead.
Inside the fifth, a new Chaos rune turned slowly, its shape resembling overlapping dragon scales.
Two stars remained empty.
Simon looked up as dark light gathered around the newly occupied star.
He remembered what came next.
The baptism.
The fifth star shone, then a thick beam of black light descended and engulfed him.