Chapter 300: Strange Dragon Breath, Returning Fully Loaded

"Certainly, my thanks."

Wang Yu accepted the transparent container holding the Silver Dragon's blood without a hint of affectation, immediately sensing the surging, ferocious vitality and magical power contained within.

"My sister is quite interested in you. You mentioned before that you gained some special power from my blood, so I told her about it, and she gave me some of her own to pass on to you."

"For us dragons, blood is a completely renewable resource. Aerielian's blood should be far superior to that of a broken dragon like me. I hope it proves useful to you."

Zig said with a self-deprecating smile; though his words were disparaging, there was no longer any lingering sorrow in his tone regarding his own incompleteness.

"Then I shall put it to the test. The right path is to convert everything that can be turned into strength into strength as soon as possible."

Wang Yu had no intention of waiting until he reached the Sky Mechanical City to use it. As evidenced by Zig selling his own dragon scales, these things were truly trivial to dragons; once a relationship was established, there would always be more if he truly needed it later.

"Sss."

He used the Broken Meteorite Blade to slice open the skin of his increasingly resilient arm. Blood welled up from within his body of its own accord. Wang Yu opened the container and poured the shimmering Silver Dragon's blood onto the blood emerging from his wound.

Instantly, a sensation of pain surged back from the wound. The Silver Dragon's blood was devouring his flesh—a common trait of powerful creatures, where even a part of the body possessed intense vitality.

He was well-versed in this process. Wang Yu manipulated the blood within his own body, beginning to strangle the Silver Dragon's blood that had entered through the wound.

Wang Yu's blood was already quite unique, possessing life-like characteristics and fused with battle aura, yet it was incredibly fragile when faced with this small amount of Aerielian's blood.

The sensation was subtle. The Silver Dragon's blood rampaged through his body, not only "exterminating" his own blood but also ravaging his organs. Just as Zig had said, Aerielian's blood was far more "powerful" than his own.

The blood vessels within his body were pierced by the silver blood, creating holes of various sizes. Had his blood not been able to circulate autonomously, he would have suffered internal hemorrhaging.

His muscles and bones were under assault. Upon entering his body, the Silver Dragon's blood displayed intense aggression, rejecting everything in Wang Yu's frame as if attempting to tear through his body to regain its freedom.

Wang Yu glanced at the small bumps suddenly appearing on his skin—a phenomenon caused by the Silver Dragon's blood struggling as it coursed through him.

Feeling that the time was right, although Wang Yu had no immediate way to deal with the blood, as time passed, the Silver Dragon's blood had gradually integrated into his own.

In other words, this blood could now be considered a component of Wang Yu's own, and thus, his blood pool could contain this "impurity."

Sensing the space where his blood pool resided, Wang Yu swapped the blood containing the Silver Dragon's essence with the blood in the pool. Instantly, the formidable silver blood plummeted into the pool, completely surrounded by hundreds of times its volume of Wang Yu's own blood.

It was a case of many ants biting an elephant to death. The endless supply of his blood surrounded the silver essence; the dragon's blood continued to exterminate his own, but it was ultimately a rootless duckweed with no way to replenish itself, while Wang Yu could continuously feed newly generated blood into the pool.

When the Flag of Triumph began to shimmer and feed back abundant vitality, Wang Yu knew it was nearly over. His blood had gradually adapted to the dragon's blood and had begun a thorough strangulation of it.

As the blood in the pool devoured the last of the Silver Dragon's essence, the blood itself began to change. Just as when he had consumed the blood of vampires or Zig, subtle, indescribable changes manifested within Wang Yu's own blood.

After a long while, the boiling blood pool calmed. The Silver Dragon's blood had been completely absorbed. The unknown changes followed the blood as it flowed back into Wang Yu's body, where he could perceive them.

"A change has occurred. A strange feeling... *cough, cough*..."

Wang Yu muttered to himself, touching his throat with a subtle expression. This change had come quickly; what his body had learned from the Silver Dragon's blood seemed entirely focused on the blood itself, and he now felt a bizarre impulse.

"Professor, I'd like to ask, what does it feel like before you release dragon breath? Does it make you want to vomit?"

Wang Yu's expression was strange as he asked Zig, who stood beside him, mimicking a retching motion.

"Vomit? Not exactly. In truth, dragon breath doesn't necessarily have to be released from the mouth. Fundamentally, it is the release of special energy stored within the body; it's just that firing it from the mouth is the most convenient method."

"Wait, are you saying...?"

After answering, Zig suddenly froze, realizing what Wang Yu's question implied. He had assumed Aerielian's blood would, at most, strengthen Wang Yu's physique, but it seemed that was not the case at all.

"Yes, I'm not certain, but that's how it feels. I'll just have to try it."

Touching his throat, Wang Yu felt as though he could spit something out—and what he would spit out was that blood, altered by the absorption of the Silver Dragon's essence.

Aivia and the others stepped aside, clearing a space for Wang Yu to experiment.

"Cough, cough. It wouldn't really be dragon breath, would it? Spitting out blood, like the Brimstone from The Binding of Isaac?"

Opening his mouth to clear his throat, Wang Yu pondered what might be expelled, his mind immediately conjuring images from games he had played on Earth.

He did not hesitate. Following the obscure sensation, the special blood was released from the pool into his body, circulating once before undergoing a sudden transformation as it reached his heart.

Certain special components within the blood were activated; the liquid blood transformed into an indeterminate state of energy after passing through his heart, traveling through his body to his throat, gathering, and then, releasing.

"ROAR!"

A deafening sound, like a dragon's roar, erupted from Wang Yu's wide-open mouth. No physical substance was released; instead, an invisible shockwave exploded outward.

The air pressure rippled outward, and everything in a fan-shaped area in front of Wang Yu was struck by a powerful, invisible force. Stones and dust were swept away; decaying deadwood was first shattered into fragments by the impact, then its roots were forcibly ripped from the ground and blasted away along with the debris.

"Clatter, clatter."

The "dragon breath" ended. A large amount of debris blasted into the sky by Wang Yu's shockwave rained down, scattering everywhere. The surface of the ground in the fan-shaped area had been stripped away, revealing the different-colored soil beneath.

"A bit different from what I imagined. Rather than dragon breath, this is more like a strange wind-attribute dragon-language spell."

Wang Yu muttered to himself, observing the effects of his "dragon breath." Releasing it once had consumed half of the blood containing that special power; if he wished, he could release it a second time.

"It consumes more energy than ordinary blood, and the regeneration speed is slower. As for the power..."

"Wang Yu, can you release it again? I've never seen this form of dragon breath before. Use it on me—let's test the power."

Wang Yu was still analyzing when Zig's words arrived. As a scholar, he was deeply interested in this "dragon breath," and knowing Wang Yu, he was certain the man was already calculating its potency.

"Alright."

Wang Yu nodded, aiming at Zig, who had stepped forward and crossed his arms in front of his half-dragonized form. He channeled the special blood within him, released the energy, and once again unleashed the shockwave from his mouth.

Standing about ten meters away, Zig felt a deafening roar fill his ears, followed by a relentless buzzing. A violent, invisible force slammed into him, lifting his body from the ground and sending him flying backward.

"Step, crunch..."

The impact ended. Zig, having been sent flying by the dragon breath, landed and slid for a distance before coming to a steady stop about twenty meters away. Aside from his clothes being slightly disheveled, he appeared completely unharmed.

"The destructive capability itself isn't high; it's a very pure thrust. If one isn't anchored, they will definitely be blown away. That was the power at ten meters; if you were closer, it's possible your eardrums or bones could be shattered."

Zig walked back to Wang Yu's side, sharing his findings.

"Very useful. Against spells with physical trajectories like fireballs, or crossbow bolts, a single release of 'dragon breath' would handle it. In a fight against knights, releasing it unexpectedly could create a chance for a finishing blow."

After two releases, Wang Yu had a measure of this new ability. The destructive power wasn't overwhelming, but the force was substantial, which would be a great help in his future battles.

"Truly interesting. I never thought a human could release dragon breath, and this form is something I've never seen before. But coming from you, I suppose it's no surprise. Are you preparing to leave the Undead Plane now?"

Zig shook his head; though he was accustomed to Wang Yu's strange traits, he was still taken aback.

"I think that's fine. But since we're already here, we might as well collect more of the Undead Plane's specialties before heading back."

Wang Yu agreed with Zig's suggestion, but after exchanging a look with Aivia, he voiced their shared plan. Since they were here, there were plenty of good things in the Undead Plane—useful for alchemy, magic practice, and even for sale—so they might as well gather some resources.

"That makes sense."

Zig did not object. With a knight like Wang Yu, who was unaffected by the plane's suppression, and the alchemy supplies Aivia had prepared, there was basically nothing in the Undead Plane that could threaten them. It would be a pity not to harvest a wave of resources.

And so, for the next ten days or so, the lone undead creatures of the Undead Plane were in for a streak of bad luck.

The notorious, ferocious Abominations were hacked to pieces by a knight even more ferocious than they were, and their undead-infused iron hooks and butcher knives were collected by Aivia as trophies for her research.

The colossal corpse-blossom was unearthed by a dragon that emerged from the void, only to be reduced to ash by the flames of Noelle, the red dragon-maiden standing upon its back; the crystals amidst the charred remains were prime alchemical reagents.

The slumbering, stationary skeletal bear stared blankly at the gaping crater where its lair had once been, a hollowed-out scar left behind by Wang Yu and his companions as they excavated the unique ores of the undead realm.

Within the Eden-seed pocket dimension, Wang Yu and his party, their stores overflowing with rare minerals and necrotic materials, returned to the site of their arrival, activated the device, and departed for the Sky-Mechanical City, laden with the spoils of their journey.