Chapter 107: The Gathering
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The Black Dragon shifted its sleeping position and, finding an opportunity, quietly vomited its duplicate out from inside its belly. It then projected its consciousness into the duplicate and began the process of becoming human again.
The main reason Huang Ze had been so eager to create a duplicate was that, after being a giant dragon for so long, his psyche had developed one problem or another. It even seemed that his soul had taken on the shape of a dragon. He desperately needed to become human again and readjust himself.
Besides, before returning home, Huang Ze had thought of little else but becoming human again. Now that he had found a way to do it, naturally he had to try it as soon as possible. That was the only way to remain true to his original intention.
“Huh... Why does the signal feel so much worse?”
Huang Ze soon noticed a problem. Using consciousness projection within the country was clearly much more difficult than using it abroad!
The difference was like that between a 2G signal and a 5G signal. Not only were the transmission speed and quality far inferior, but there were even lags and dropped packets!
“Is it because... there are no magical elements within the country?”
Huang Ze seemed to have an epiphany. Somehow, he suddenly associated the spell of consciousness projection with wireless radio waves, vaguely sensing that the two might share some common principle.
In Huang Ze’s view, when human technology reached the distant final stages of development, humanity would actually possess the ability to manufacture powerful beings like dragons—and even turn them into a kind of toy.
This was not difficult to understand from a technological standpoint. First, one could use advanced biotechnology, mechanical engineering, artificial intelligence, and other technologies to create a life-form—or perhaps a machine—resembling a dragon.
Then, after installing a signal receiver inside its head, people could use radio signals and virtual-reality technology to control it remotely.
There was an indistinct similarity between that process and the consciousness-projection spell Huang Ze was using now.
“This is troublesome. With the signal this bad, I probably won’t be able to take it out for a romp...”
Huang Ze was somewhat depressed. The main reason he wanted to return to human form was so that he could re-enter Xia Kingdom society and live the normal life he had once enjoyed.
If this duplicate could only be used abroad, much of the point would be lost.
“I wonder if there’s any way to convert the magical signal into a wireless-electrical signal, and vice versa?”
Huang Ze could not help wondering. The Xia Academy of Sciences had been studying magic for quite some time, but so far, it had been impossible to systematize or concretely represent it. It was as though the laws underlying magic were chaotic and disordered, making them extremely difficult to describe and summarize in words or images.
Otherwise, given Xia Kingdom’s formidable industrial manufacturing capabilities, it would have established factories abroad long ago and begun mass-producing all kinds of magical scrolls and magical artifacts.
......
Since the duplicate could not be used within the country, Huang Ze’s little plan naturally came to nothing. He therefore told Academician Ding and the others that he could create duplicates.
They were astonished and immediately cooperated in conducting various tests on Huang Ze’s duplicate. They discovered that it could operate only within a radius of five kilometers from the Black Dragon’s main body. Any farther away, and the connection would be severed because of the poor signal.
They also discovered that although it was merely a duplicate, its performance was remarkably strong because it had been created from the Black Dragon’s flesh and blood, with golden dragon blood serving as its heart. It was roughly equivalent to a Level Four life-form.
“Mr. Huang, that ability of yours is incredible! With it, you alone are an entire army!”
Academician Ding could not help praising him. The Black Dragon’s ability to produce blood and flesh was extraordinarily powerful. As long as it had sufficient nutrition, creating eight or ten such duplicates every month would be effortless.
If every duplicate possessed this level of strength and quality, Huang Ze could create an entire army by himself!
“No, no, it isn’t that easy.”
Huang Ze waved his hand. Although the signal was poor, he still preferred to speak in human form.
“Even if I could create duplicates at will, my brain could operate, at most, two or three of them. Any more than that, and I’d probably become flustered—or even suffer a mental breakdown...”
Huang Ze was not being modest. He genuinely worried about that possibility.
He had always refused to strengthen his brain with gold, mainly because he knew himself well. He understood that if he did so, his mind and the core data of his soul would undergo tremendous changes.
Even if those changes were beneficial—making him more rational and perceptive, giving him a better memory and greater calculating ability...
Behind such rationality and sharpness, however, selfishness and ambition could easily take root. A selfish and ambitious dragon certainly would not be like him, devoted to cooperating with the nation and serving it tirelessly.
Thus, Huang Ze would rather keep his brain somewhat slower and more unrefined than spend gold upgrading it.
“That’s easy enough to solve.”
Academician Ding smiled. “Multithreaded operation is not difficult at all for a powerful creature like you. A powerful necromancer lord can even control tens of thousands of undead creatures. If you’re interested, you can learn more about that kind of technique.”
“Really?”
Huang Ze was somewhat astonished. The ability to control more than ten thousand units was truly impressive. Even the most advanced computer would probably crash if it had to run tens of thousands of background threads simultaneously.
“Of course it’s true. Why would I lie to you?”
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Academician Ding replied, “Multitasking and multithreaded spellcasting are, in a sense, standard abilities among the powerful. Not only necromancer lords, but beings such as elemental lords and demon lords generally possess the ability to use a hundred minds at once.”
“...”
Fine. I really was unworthy of being called powerful.
Huang Ze was rendered speechless. He could not use a hundred minds at once; even using two minds at once was difficult for him. He had always been reluctant to delegate authority, worried that trying to split his attention might truly produce two separate minds, which could then seize control and overthrow his primary personality.
Still, beings such as elemental lords and necromancer lords clearly possessed abilities that were both powerful and practical, yet they had achieved little in technology—or even in magic. This showed that merely knowing how to divide one’s attention and perform micro-management was useless. One also needed proper cultural and scientific literacy!
......
Although the Black Dragon’s ability to create duplicates had considerable limitations, it could still be put to some use—for example, by sitting in the office with everyone else and attending meetings.
In the past, Academician Ding and the others would relay the spirit and conclusions of their meetings to it, but that had mostly been a formality. The Black Dragon might not have paid much attention.
After all, many matters only became truly important, and truly understandable, when one participated in them personally.
The meeting this time, for instance, concerned the dragon-carrying space voyage scheduled for five days later.
“Mr. Huang, you should know this person, shouldn’t you?”
Liu Weihan of the military was chairing the meeting. He opened a slideshow and pointed to several photographs.
“I do. Pan Weiming—my high-school classmate and friend.”
Huang Ze nodded, then asked curiously, “I heard he was forcibly quarantined after being contaminated by an evil god. How did he become involved in our dragon-carrying space program?”
“Precisely because he was contaminated by an evil god, he is connected to our program.”
Liu Weihan explained, “Pan Weiming spent a long time staring into outer space through an astronomical telescope and also had a mental clash with an evil god. He may know something about what is happening up there.”
“And then...? Did you manage to get anything out of him?”
Huang Ze was curious. As a very close friend, he knew Pan Weiming’s personality well. Pan was outgoing and liked showing off, and his values were generally sound. If the nation questioned him about something important, there was a very good chance he would answer truthfully.
“No.”
Liu Weihan shook his head. “Mr. Huang, contamination by an evil god is not easy to remove. Pan Weiming’s brain has suffered severe damage, and he is almost incapable of normal communication. We were unable to learn anything from him.”
“What?”
Huang Ze’s heart tightened. “The last time I heard my other friend, Lu Fan, mention him, he said Pan’s condition had improved. How did it suddenly become this serious?”
“Pan Weiming’s condition has always been very serious,” Liu Weihan explained. “The relevant authorities may not have told him the full truth. The issue of evil-god contamination is extremely complicated and could easily cause panic.”
“All right...”
Huang Ze calmed down. “You brought him up now because you want me to go see him and find out whether I can get anything from him?”
“Yes.”
Liu Weihan nodded. “You are his friend, and you are also a powerful Black Dragon. Perhaps you can resolve the problem afflicting him and learn something about the situation in the heavens.”
“That’s no problem.”
Huang Ze nodded. “He is my friend. Whether for public or personal reasons, I’ll go see him.”
After they finished discussing that matter, Liu Weihan swiped several times across his tablet and displayed a few more photographs.
“Mr. Huang, can you tell anything from these photographs?”
“A woman... an exceptionally beautiful woman!”
Huang Ze took only one glance before answering without hesitation.
“...Anything else?”
“An enormous—an incredibly enormous—pair of pectoral muscles!”
“...”
Liu Weihan was silent for several seconds, but he still did not give up.
“Anything else...? Apart from that, is there really nothing you can see, Mr. Huang?”
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“Apart from that... is there anything else I’m supposed to see?”
Huang Ze looked puzzled.
“All right...”
Liu Weihan was finally defeated and took the initiative to explain, “Mr. Huang, this is the red dragon who calls herself Lady Red!”
“What?”
Huang Ze was startled. He hurriedly examined the photographs more closely and then felt... that there really was something different about her!
The Splendor of the Sun and Moon
Under normal circumstances, Huang Ze now found it very difficult to feel any intense interest in or attraction toward female creatures in human form. Yet when he saw the photograph of this so-called Lady Red, he was inexplicably drawn to her.
The long-dormant soul of a lecher awakened in an instant!
Fortunately, he had already reflected on this matter before. His mind reacted quickly, activated an emergency protocol, and forcibly suppressed those unruly organs once again.
His eyes, however, remained fixed on the photograph of Lady Red for a while. It was not that he could not control his gaze; he was simply curious whether a human body created through transformation magic differed from a real human body.
Did it have pores? Acne? Double eyelids? Nose hairs? Boogers...?
Liu Weihan, however, had no idea what was going through the Black Dragon’s mind. He assumed Huang Ze was simply captivated by Lady Red’s beauty, and quickly shut off the slideshow.
“Mr. Huang, I really think you should avoid getting any ideas about her. She’s nine hundred and eighty years old. You can’t handle her.”
“...What are you talking about? Do I look like such a shallow person?”
Huang Ze truly had not developed any lascivious intentions, so he spoke righteously.
“I merely want to study how good her transformation magic is, so I can learn from it in the future.”
“...Good.”
Liu Weihan nodded, then got straight to the point.
“Mr. Huang, the reason we brought up Lady Red this time is that she wants to meet you.”
“Meet me?”
Huang Ze was curious. “Why does she want to meet me...? Does she know me? No—does she know my former self?”
“She probably doesn’t.”
Liu Weihan explained, “She simply wants to meet you.”
“As for the reason... it’s probably because you suddenly announced that you intended to join Xia Kingdom. In a sense, that created extremely serious internal competition for her and damaged her interests, so she wants to have a talk with you.”
“...All right.”
Huang Ze nodded, thought for a moment, and asked, “What do you think? She’s obviously up to no good. Should we agree to meet her?”
“Also... didn’t we say earlier that if we ever had to deal with her, we could use this opportunity to pretend to meet her and then take her down in a black-on-black operation?”
“...Mr. Huang, that isn’t how the term ‘black-on-black’ is used, is it?”
Liu Weihan was embarrassed. The Black Dragon sounded righteous enough, but he was certain Huang Ze had a tremendous interest in this female dragon. His mind was probably filled with scenarios involving imprisonment and bondage.
“Lady Red has behaved very well recently. She has sold us a great deal of material in which we’re interested. Moreover, she isn’t alone—there is a considerable force behind her. If we took her down through such an operation, our reputation would suffer badly if word got out.”
“...All right.”
Huang Ze was disappointed. It had been a long time since he had fought a female dragon.
“So you want me to meet her?”
“Yes.”
Liu Weihan nodded. “Perhaps she was afraid we would refuse. This time, Lady Red is paying a considerable price. She has directly offered four red dragon eggs as an introduction fee, asking only for the chance to meet you once.”
“She’s going that far?”
Huang Ze was surprised. Then he asked curiously, “Did she lay those eggs herself? Are they fertilized?”
Offering four dragon eggs merely for the chance to meet him once—Huang Ze estimated that Lady Red was almost certainly up to no good. She probably wanted to defect him and prevent him from taking Xia Kingdom citizenship.
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