Chapter 195-2: Bloodline Dragonkin, Black Calamity Dragon (2)

“…This evolutionary chain is ridiculously long!”

Lin Xun couldn’t help but complain.

He had thought that becoming a pureblood half-dragon was basically the pinnacle, only to find there were graduate and doctoral tiers beyond it.

If the Bloodline Dragonkin were the equivalent of graduate students, and the Black Calamity Dragons counted as doctoral candidates, then what did that make the Ancient Hermit – Dark Dragon…

According to previous information, the Hermit Ancestor had already been imprisoned by its own descendants, imprisoned by those Ancient Hermit Dark Dragons.

As a believer of Omniscient True Knowledge, Lin Xun knew it was completely unrealistic to hope to obtain the Dark Dragon Knight’s inheritance from a group of progenitor scions who had already pledged themselves to the Radiant Stars.

Only the Hermit Ancestor, still aligned with the Omniscient faction, might be able to help him complete the path of inheritance.

But trying to approach the captive Hermit Ancestor while surrounded by Dark Dragons… The difficulty was obvious.

“The safest course would be to gradually absorb bloodline and ascend rank by rank, infiltrating the enemy from within… But time doesn’t wait, I’ll have to take a gamble!”

Lin Xun pondered for a long while, finally resolving himself.

[You possess the Shell of the Corrupted Theater Dancer!]

[Under the female half-dragon’s terrified gaze, you thrust your sharp hidden blade into her heart…]

[You have defeated the Pureblood Half-Dragon Who Gazes Upward. Experience gained slightly increased.]

[You have obtained: Indomitable Trace of Spirit Essence *1]

[You have obtained: Small Divine Statuette of the Radiant Stars (Junk)]

Lin Xun was about to possess the corpse before him when the hellish game informed him that compatibility did not meet the threshold, possession was impossible.

Peering closer, he saw the compatibility marked behind the corpse’s shell: 75% (+45%).

He opened the Shell Panel and checked the pureblood half-dragon shell he currently occupied; compatibility was at 83%, barely over the passing line.

“Is it because of the gender mismatch…”

Lin Xun suddenly remembered that 83% compatibility was what he’d had when possessing the mixed-blood half-dragon.

After the shell evolved into a pureblood half-dragon, compatibility should have decreased. But thanks to his Thousand Faces, Ten Thousand Forms talent, which secretly locked the panel, the value had remained frozen at 83%.

With his current compatibility bonus, never mind the Bloodline Dragonkin, who were even closer to the progenitor, even pureblood half-dragons were now impossible to possess.

“My possession plan is a total failure…”

Lin Xun scratched his head, suddenly feeling the game’s difficulty had jumped from hell-level to death-level.

He had originally planned to keep swapping into Bloodline Dragonkin shells all the way down to the foot of the mountain, then improvise from there. He hadn’t expected the plan to die before it even started.

If his talent could advance one more tier, perhaps he could still pull it off.

But he still lacked three Epic-grade Divine Items to complete the set of nine, and the Legendary-grade Divine Item Li Xingyue had promised hadn’t been approved yet.

“I finally understand what it feels like for an ordinary Apostle to play this damn hellish game… For now, I can only hope the Dancer’s stealth skill will carry me.”

Remaining in stealth, Lin Xun exited the cave, casually finishing off a few half-dragon slave attendants eavesdropping in the corners.

Descending the spiraling steps, he entered several caves at random. Even among the pureblood half-dragons inside, whether male or female, compatibility never exceeded 77 or 78.

And as he went farther down, the pureblood half-dragons grew ever larger, and compatibility continued to fall.

Fortunately, the mountain had not yet reached the altitude where the Black Calamity Dragons nested. The dragons circling overhead still remained below his position, and thankfully were not alerted.

Soon he reached the dwelling caves of the Bloodline Dragonkin.

So-called Bloodline Dragonkin, rather than calling them dragonkin, it would be more accurate to call them drakes.

They no longer moved upright in humanoid posture, but crawled on all fours.

The Bloodline Dragonkin were vastly larger than the pureblood dragonkin, resembling gigantic wingless lizards.

The Dancer’s stealth skill, enhanced as it was, proved highly effective, keeping him hidden from the Bloodline Dragonkin, but the Dancer’s combat strength could no longer keep up with the dungeon’s escalating difficulty.

Facing a Bloodline Dragonkin, the Dancer had not only failed to secure a one-hit kill, he had actually been at a disadvantage during the fight.

If Lin Xun hadn’t switched to the Earth Giant shell in time, the Dancer would likely have died in that cave.

With no better options, Lin Xun could only rely on the Dancer’s stealth skill to traverse the mountain, ducking into a cave to swap to the Earth Giant shell for battle whenever stealth was about to expire.

He had no idea how tall the mountain truly was, only that the Dancer’s shell, from the constant use of stealth, now displayed: [You feel utterly exhausted.]

At this point, there remained only a short distance to reach the elevation where the Black Calamity Dragons resided.

“The Dancer’s stamina has already been drained by two-thirds. At this rate, it’ll collapse in exhaustion before I ever reach the mountain’s base.”

If not for the dragons lurking below, Lin Xun could have summoned the Valkyrie to carry him straight down to the base of the mountain.

Unfortunately, given the current situation, even if he did summon the Valkyrie to fight head-on, she wouldn’t last more than a single gulp from those dragons.

[You walk to the edge of the spiral stone steps and look down. The cave entrances carved into the mountainside below are far larger than those of the Bloodline Dragonkin.]

[Staring at those vast, pitch-black caves, then glancing at the circling dragons not far beneath your feet, you realize you are about to reach the altitude where the Hermit’s Descendants – Black Calamity Dragons reside.]

[Will you continue descending, or turn back in the face of danger?]

At this moment, Lin Xun had two choices.

First was to continue descending the steps while maintaining the Dancer’s stealth state, and pray that the circling dragons would not detect him.

Second is to summon the Valkyrie, have the flying Valkyrie carry the Abyss Lantern to draw the dragons’ attention, while he himself sprinted down the mountain as fast as he could.

The first option was unreliable. The Dancer’s stealth skill had already surpassed Lin Xun’s expectations by getting him this far.

Counting on stealth alone to fool such powerful dragons, success was far too unlikely.

Dying once meant 24 hours of anti-addiction cooldown. Lin Xun couldn’t afford that gamble.

As for the second option… Lin Xun lifted his head and looked at the kimono-clad girl tidying the living room, feeling a pang of guilt.

Pitting the Valkyrie against dragons in a contest of flight speed, she would probably end up dead again.

Lin Xun didn’t know that, due to his hesitation, a Three-Headed Lion in a certain corner was furiously spamming question marks.

At last, after a long time, he finally made up his mind.

“Fairness must be upheld. I can’t favor one over the other, both the Three-Headed Lion and the Valkyrie are my precious darlings.”

“Besides, maybe by the time I reach the foot of the mountain, the Valkyrie still won’t have been caught by the dragons, and I can forcibly recall her.”

He was about to tap the Refined Copper Sand Maraca to summon the Valkyrie and lure the dragons.

Suddenly, he noticed the Ring of the Radiant Stars gathering dust in the corner.

After killing the Legendary Starborn Spirit – Thunderbeast Mammoth, the Advanced Essence of Star Faith he’d obtained was enough to overcharge this special equipment to overflowing.

A bold thought sprouted in his heart…

“What would happen if I summoned a starborn creature here?”