Chapter 628: The Engine of Many.

Although multiple characteristics differentiated a true dragonkin from a lesser one, in my opinion, there were only two actual reasons.

The first was that true dragonkin blood was extremely potent for anything that required blood. Alchemy, blood consumption, and even rune crafting benefited a lot from it. Potions and toxins, especially, produced wondrous and devilish effects, respectively. Anti-dragon blood was probably the most “scientific” method to determine the necessity for the two monikers, as you couldn’t make it with kirin, cockatrice, or wyvern blood.

Neill was a true dragonkin, despite her appearance leaning towards kirins, ‘cause her blood could make authentic anti-dragon blood. Those blood-coated bolts Vifi used to defend me in Inferno Nest were made with her blood, after all.

The second trait was that true dragonkin innately have the potential to control their scales through [Scale Manipulation]. While wyverns and dragonewts could learn the skill, not all of them could, while true dragonkin may always learn it.

Those were the definite reasons for me, even if the books said otherwise. I wouldn’t challenge this fact, as I wasn’t a biologist, though, as that would be irresponsible of me.

However, I did have eyes, and sometimes I really couldn’t argue about the size and height difference between the two distinctions. The average rank A dragon was 3800cm (125 ft), and that was already enough to dwarf over a small human town. I haven’t seen a rank A wyvern who approached that number, and even Shay was only 2045cm (67.09 ft). Biologically, the reason for this discrepancy was that wyverns only had four limbs, while dragons had six, with their wings on their back, instead of the forearms like a wyvern, where a lot of muscles could be added without making them too bulky.

Beth, though, slightly broke this ruling with her rank A form. While she still wasn’t as humongous as the colossal 3800cm dragons, she was still a 2867cm (94.04 ft) chunk of scaly fury.

<Hoarfrost Silver Wyvern: A mutated ice wyvern with partial mineral dragon abilities, able to shed silvery powder and control them to create a pair of wing mantles to protect itself. With a bulky body almost similar to a drake, this wyvern exchanges the [Drifting Snow Wyvern]’s phenomenal flying ability for an iron-clad defense using high-purity ice mana. A freezing storm heralds this wyvern’s descent. Rank A>

“Princess Hestia!” Beth roared as I entered the airship subspace’s testing field, slamming her large forearms on the ground, shaking the ground slightly as she unfurled her “wings” of “snow.” “I’m starting to get used to controlling them! Hehe, I feel like—ahem! You know what!”

The true dragonkin working inside the room, testing some of the tech the artisans had created, was giving her side eyes for her “improper word usage in front of her princess,” but I didn’t care. I was just as excited as she was, after all! She. Looked. Like. A. Giant. Castle!

And this wasn’t just an exaggeration on my end, as Beth had chosen an evolution that fitted her unique skill gained from [Hestia’s Imperial Guard], just like Shay did with his rank A evolution.

Shay kept his slim form from his rank B [Drifting Snow Wyvern], but became a porcupine that could shoot out scales like a machine gun. Or maybe a better comparison was a ballista, which could shoot bolts like a machine gun. The point was that his range offensive power was amazing, and he still dominated aerial fights.

Beth, on the other hand, shifted completely to a defensive style in her new form, abandoning her sleek, aerodynamic body for a bulkier build—a larger torso, muscular limbs, and a size that showed it. Beth had always been one centimeter larger than Shay, but she dwarfed him by over 800cm now, to the point I was wondering if it was more appropriate to drop the twin moniker for them.

The colors of their scales also had a makeover, with Shay looking like glossy steel, while Beth was more white-silver like the Nordor dragonkin. Her drake-like size, coupled with a mantle of silver powder that looked like wings made from snow, made her look almost like family. It was as drastic a change as when I evolved into a rank B, growing that larger build and thick tail.

However, unlike my transformation, Beth’s new body wasn’t as suited to flying as her previous form. Her forearms were more developed for long strides, like a drake, and her control over her silver powder was nowhere near as good as a Nordor dragonkin’s, and she didn’t have a pseudo-[Scale Manipulation] like her brother.

She was a defensive powerhouse, essentially the tank, like Grimnir. Furthermore, due to her true ice mana and her ability to flash-freeze the area around her from her [Drifting Snow Wyvern] days, she had phenomenal area control. In addition to her body’s newfound ability to produce silver powder, she could let it swirl around her body or even gather it onto her back to form wings. With them, she could temporarily regain her exceptional flying skills.

And this new defensive prowess was what Grimnir focused on once we knew her evolution choice four days ago. After all, he was responsible for creating and finishing the armor for Vifi, Shay, Beth, me, and Neill.

“Oi, lass, come over here! Beth, bring the lass over here to get fitted on!” Grimnir called from behind Beth, waving at me, where I could see the aforementioned members and Tasianna donning their new equipment.

Although the final paint coloring and runes were missing, our reborn rhytilic armor was all done after I gave Grimnir my order. Naturally, nine days for five sets of personal armor was an impossible timeframe, even with Grimnir’s talents and Daichi’s help… but unlike per usual, he had a far larger team this time. And this team was doing it out of passion to use this new alloy Grimnir’s cousin, Broggi, had created.

And who were part of this team? Naturally, Ryanno and Borom, the blacksmith and runesmith guild master of Inkoran-Tazul, respectively. Grimnir, naturally, still had a bad relationship with his runesmith master, Borom, due to how they were kicked out of the guild for entering Chihiro’s workshop, but the passion of the craftsman, in his words, could transcend bad relations.

“I’ve worked with them, and plenty of the journeymen and apprentices that came with them were my past assistants. The lad could use some compatriots around him, seeing how Ellaine is helping Saori in Carmaniate. Gotta keep his competitive spirit aflame,” Grimnir told me when he started building the blacksmith room inside the airship subspace.

And, suffice to say, those guys did a fine job. The engine of the many, right? Numbers were power, and in the battle prep, we had that in spades with the number of talented craftsmen we managed to recruit, not only from Kargryx, but from all the members of the Shakaie-Narn alliance. It was a true reaffirmation of Kargryx’s historic alliances, modernized with a new treaty.

And I was also happy ‘cause my armor was remade using Hikari’s and my materials.

While we did have to remove Neill’s materials since they would conflict too much with my fire and Hikari’s ice scales, it probably was for the best since the armor only lost [Lightning Resistance] and [Arcane Corruption Resistance]—two skills I had no problem with. In exchange, I got ice and water resistances? From my fucking armor? Holy shit!

Karhantheel’s rank SS blood wasn’t just useful to bind the runes, but it was also amazing to fuse it directly into the armor. And since we had a swimming pool full of that stuff, Grimnir added enough that I actually got a special skill out of it, similar to my solar-based ones in [Solar Energy Absorption] and [Solar Ice Damage Enhancement].

Ominous… but nice!

Stat-wise, the armor got a real bump in stats, giving me almost a two-thousand boost in both vitality and wisdom, and a meager seventy bump in intelligence. I also only had two runes finished on my armor, but that was fine, since I got the Dhuinn rune I wanted in “Fearless Defence.” That five thousand vitality and wisdom, essentially, was five-thousand base strength and intelligence once the rune was activated. Perfect with my buffs.

Most importantly, though, the armor was pure drip. Black undertone around the hinges, crimson highlights and sheen, while the rest was silver… and all of this in my fucking dragon form that can transform into a humanoid version once I humanize! Gooooosh, I looked so fucking coooool!

“You know how I said you’re a genius? You really are, you know that?” I cheered as I gave Grimnir a fat hug, rubbing his face against my metal shoulder pads. “Not really incognito, but I do look like a proper dragoon with the helmet on, hehe.”

After pushing me away to get some breath, Grimnir nodded in exasperation. “Bladdarg, lass, are you trying to suffocate me, or what? … But, yeah, that’s the idea. You’re fully armored, now. You’re also grown taller, though probably not enough to intimidate others with it.”

The armor’s humanoid design was inspired by the traditional dragoon armor, similar to Ellaine’s and my dragoon order, since I was more of a hit-and-run type of melee fighter. However, it still leaned towards the paladin style of Yorshka’s armor since my dragon version was quite bulky, and that weight had to show somewhere.

Though Grimnir was right that I was still a bit too thin to look intimidating. I had to build some muscles in my humanoid form… but that would ruin some of my costumes! Ahhh, the pain of wanting to look cool, but also sexy at the same time!

“Feels a bit tight on the prosthetics. I can’t move it as well as I want,” I heard Vifi giving Grimnir feedback on her armor.

While Shay’s, Beth’s, and Neill’s armor were pure rhytilic since they had to transform back-and-forth like mine, Vifi’s was a manatech armor similar to Grimnir’s. However, while his bulky power armor emphasized raw power and presence, Vifi’s was more similar to futuristic, form-fitting power armor.

Naturally, it didn’t have all those biometric or AI voice features that type of futuristic armor had, but it was still a masterpiece that combined runesmithing, artificerwork, and alchemy into one suit of armor. After all, the intent of Vifi’s armor wasn’t only to protect her, but to keep her agile in her preferred duelist or mass attack styles, while also supporting her voltaic lightning.

This reproduction was taken from the author's publication page without consent; the published chapter remains available there.

“I get that, and I’ll fix it, but how does it feel?” Grimnir asked, prompting Vifi to smirk as her power armor suddenly started glowing red before she zoomed around, only leaving behind her iconic streak of red instead of the red lightning. “Oooh, the lass seems to be having fun.”

“Haha!” I could hear Vifi’s maniacal laugh as she zoomed around from one area in the testing room, annoying multiple engineers testing their mana cannons.

When Vifi stopped in front of Grimnir with a loud bzzzz sound, Tasianna suddenly [Ice Spike], throwing the icicle towards Vifi’s feet. Normally, this would ruin Vifi’s ability to use her mana magnetism to accelerate herself, but—

“See ya! Haha!” Vifi smiled like the devil himself as a purple rune lit up on her sabatons, creating purple lightning before her power armor lit up red again, moments before she zoomed away. You could even hear her echo. “Faster! Faster! Faster!”

“Mana core integrated.” Grimnir scooted over to me, smiling just as widely as Vifi was. “It absorbs the outgoing mana from her red lightning, meaning she won’t shoot it out any longer. Less noisy, and I could have gotten rid of the red streak as well, but the lass does like its vanity of it. ‘I’m the Voltaic Red, I need it,’ she told me. Haaaa, same argument Ellaine and you lasses gave me on that damn cape.”

“Hey, it’s cool.” I shrugged, fully agreeing with Vifi’s decision here. She knew that it was drip or dip. “At least you didn’t need to add a cape on mine since I have wings. So, what does the core do outside of absorbing her lightning mana?”

Grimnir pointed at my legs. “Rune is an [Attack Rune: Voltage Blast]; it sends out lightning around the rune, counteracting any external mana source to balance the magnetism. Unlike my dreadnoughtus, Vifi’s runic ‘Accelight’ armor doesn’t need a fully charged mana battery to keep it running, because I figured this line of runic armor will be worn by people like you, Fargryneill, and Saori. People who expel mana out of their body beyond just spells, and that outgoing mana can be absorbed into the mana core. And then you can release that mana to charge up an attack. Vifi’s using it to speed herself up and to power up her voltaic lightning techniques. You ever want one of the accelight, just say it, okay? I got the design done.”

“Oooh, options, then which one would you prefer me to use?”

“Your exoarmor should definitely be used whenever you want to turn back into a dragon. The accelight has fewer defenses, but it allows you to store mana and keeps you light on your feet. Boosts your agility by a ton. I can make yours a special commission with another one of your solar core catalysts, but you have to donate me a solar core of yours, naturally.”

“Then give me one if you got the time, Grimnir! Haha!” Neill suddenly jumped from the side, wrapping her left arm around his shoulders. Radiating with a gleeful smile, she began patting his shoulder. “Honestly, I was pretty apprehensive even when Hestia only got the chestplate version, but I have to say, this is comfortable. Really easy to move around and throw a punch and kick.”

Shay, Beth, and Neill all had the same design on their rhytilic armor in their humanized forms, leaving the difference to their draconic forms. Made from their own materials, in addition to a few monsters they chose for themselves, Grimnir took my special request seriously and personally made each one to everybody’s liking.

Only Tasianna didn’t get anything, as she decided to fully commit to her witch robes. After all, runes didn’t work with enchantments on the same equipment, and robes with threads made from solid materials could be just as good at protecting you. Instead, Tasianna just made herself a new catalyst reserved for her water magic alone.

That was most of the update on my party’s equipment.

“Got it, lass. I’ll try to find some room once the airship is done, okay?” Grimnir agreed, but Neill looked like she wanted to urge him to make one now. However, he stood by his decision. “I’m planning on giving Rhekkraxus and Regolustrus’s group armor as well. So I really don’t have time to make you another one. Furthermore, the dragonewt smiths are currently producing new armor for the dragoon orders on Frozen Nest, so what do you want me to do? I don’t have the time!”

He then let out a deep sigh, scratching his beard as he began looking into the distance. “Furthermore, we have to figure out how to get down to that demonic item. I’m thinking of another Dhuinn rune; otherwise, we use magic. The exoarmor and the lass’s accelight have Karhalantheel’s blood infused into them, so you have a modicum of underwater pressure resistance, but getting down there is another problem.”

“That’s why I invited the archerudite,” I said. “A member of Uncle Kary’s clan could probably help us, but I would rather not take a dragon-leviathan from the front line, and any of the rank Bs or lower will be too weak if we were to somehow meet an enemy. Furthermore… Taim said I can’t go down there anyway, so you won’t have my buffs unless I figure a way out. Which, I think I finally have, Grimnir.”

Raising an eyebrow, Grimnir grunted, prompting me to continue.

“Rune magic. I think the solution is actually pretty simple due to the subspace, [Spatial Rend], the water separation tech I saw in Lecullius, and the three silence runes.”

“You want me to silence the voice of the idol buffing us up with songs?” Grimnir gave me an incredulous look, to which I nodded, causing him, Vifi, and even Tasianna to let out a baffled “huh?”

Seeing this, I couldn’t help but smile gingerly. I was starting to doubt my idea, but I pushed it out anyway. “[Musical Crescendo]. That’s the main point you need to worry about.”

“Your songs apply to everybody with a mana connection with you, you mean, my lady?” Tasianna answered quickly.

I nodded. “Silence runes won’t work on me, but only while I remain a dragonewt. Which isn’t a problem for you guys, since I won’t be going down under, right? I know it sounds weird that I’m intentionally silencing myself, but I’ve been giving it some thought, and I think I want to give Vifi, Shay, and you two your very own boss theme song! Just like how I did with mine!”

I explained to them how I wanted to combo [The Trials of Kings and Queens] with a song made explicitly for the opera music and the protagonist I choose. “Boss theme” really was just a song that fit them as people to create a spell song that perfectly buffed them, and them alone. The more restrictions on my songs, the more powerful they became. The clearer the image I wanted a song to emphasize, the more accurate the effects became.

However, there was one problem I had to discuss aside from how to isolate the different songs.

“[The Trial of Kings and Queens] forces me to choose one protagonist and one antagonist, and it applies to all listeners of a conductor. Gravy will handle playing the symphony with its golems, and Hikari and I technically count as two separate people in relation to the role of conductor. As such, I can fully buff two people with a two-song combo,” I explained. “One spell song slot is used for trials, and Hikari and I can apply it to two people as long as Gravy can make two twenty-man bands. That leaves two spell song slots open, and if we can separate the two songs from each other, I believe I can make two ‘protagonists.’”

“You haven’t tried it out yet?” Grimnir asked.

“Idea just appeared.”

“Then let’s try it. Made plenty of portable runes for the upcoming fight. Tons of them for the dragoons and field engineers and medics.” Grimnir then turned to the engineering group. “Hey, lad! Bring me two of the recently made silence runes.”

Portable runes were a staple in our toolbox, so implementing the idea wasn’t too tricky. Sure enough, the idea worked after Gravy organized two twenty-golem bands, allowing Hikari and me to confirm that, yes, we could play two [The Trial of Kings and Queens] to choose two protagonists and antagonists.

However, the songs did have to be separated from each other, as overlapping the two symphonies caused the System to consider them as one. Silence runes were mandatory, or I had to play the songs into two different rooms. Though at the same time, we also learned that this had a hard limit to its growth.

‘You can’t be the conductor for two symphonies at the same time,’ Hikari told me after she used her two spell song slots to play trials. She could not designate two protagonists, despite performing the song with silence runes that separate Neill’s song from Tasianna’s.

Meaning, [The Trials of Kings and Queens] could only improve if I were to split my soul even further, which Hikari and I couldn’t. As such, the only way to improve this “boss theme” idea was to train up my idols in Kaishta and the girls. Gravy could continually grow our army of musicians, so that would never be a problem. I only needed more idols.

“… You’re trying to make a bunch of new Saints, essentially,” Neill said, and I agreed.

Idols, in the blessed term, were a mix between the supportive Saints and the combative Champions. Now, I wasn’t trying to send Kaishta and the others into a fight, which was why Neill called them similar to Saints in what they would do. After all, they could just remain inside the subspace for their safety.

“Which brings me to my last wish: we need to find a way to protect the entrance of the subspace. We can’t have people shooting in spells or throwing weapons, endangering the people inside. I also need a protective barrier to keep water outside. I need to request a mana barrier, and those aqueous membranes the Caedhulens use for their underwater cities.”

“Done,” Grimnir said as he wrote everything down on a wooden slate.

“Oh, and add some mana cannons inside, as well. We got the engineers now, so I’ll be ordering a few to own now.”

“… Lass, do you even know how long the receipt is for all the materials used in the armor, runes, and Tasianna’s enchantment on her new catalyst? You want to add more, and you want finished siege weapons?” Grimnir scowled, looking a bit like Saori when it came to overspending our budget. “There is a reason why those things are only commissioned by armies. A personal commission is ridiculous.”

However, unlike my adventuring days, I could only shrug. “Skardrvo can handle it. I’m earning a lot from the digital media guild as its owner right now, so we have the budget for some expensive stuff, Grimnir! We don’t even have to use the one from the Sarlenzia company. Money is meant to be spent to keep ourselves alive. Spend in. More firepower.”

“If that is what our leader wishes.” Grimnir shrugged and wrote everything down. “Your mother already said that she won’t give you pocket money unless you trade her something, so I hope you have money to your name.”

Hearing that made me a bit nervous… but I could probably get myself a loan if it isn’t enough, right? I was a princess, so I had the name value to get one with some collateral… right? Well, Skardrvo could handle it with how he managed my budget, so if there was a problem, he’d bring it to my attention.

In any case, with my business with Grimnir over, I skipped back to the dungeon for afternoon training with Father, ready to show off my sweet new armor! Wooo!

… Although Father didn’t exactly show the same amount of enthusiasm. “It looks good on you, yes.”

“… Seriously?”

“I have no eye for armor, Hestia. I never wear one. I make my own with my black flames, and it naturally burns others for me. It’s strong enough to defeat your mother’s true ice, so why would I need armor?” he excused himself.

<You keep forgetting that armor isn’t really seen in a good light by true dragonkin,> Kramps just had to speak up.

I was surrounded by old men with no eye for aesthetics.

“I did see you injured when you two had a fight in Inferno Nest, you know?” I rebuked, but Father simply nodded, not even trying to deny it. “Speaking of which, if your fire mana is that pure, why haven’t you been able to develop your own true fire mana yet, Father? Even Kramps hasn’t been able to, right? It just feels so weird that you need to be lucky with an evolution, or get in contact with the fire elemental emperor to obtain it.”

“That is just how it works, Hestia. You should have learned it from your training with your mother. Hikari is lucky because your mother was lucky enough to obtain her true ice from her evolution. There are limitations to everything, and this is something I cannot change. However, what I can do is to make the flames so hot that they can melt right through even true ice,” he said, before raising an eyebrow, as if he noticed something on my face. “… Your flames are our distinctive black, but they are still quite potent.”

“Oh? I don’t really need any pick-me-up, but thanks.” I forced a smile. “I’m not that self-conscious, and I already made my peace. As you and Kramps have said, I didn’t choose the black dragon evolution. That was my choice. I like being a sunfang dragon, and that includes the solar energy portion.”

“… Tell me, you still haven’t unlocked the wrath step yet?”

I shook my head. “It’s only been four days, Father. I don’t think much has changed.”

“It has. You still look like you’re filled with energy, but you’re not showing it as obviously as before. You’re getting used to [Battle Frenzy (Major)]. This is… strange. How is Hikari?”

I quickly let Hikari take over the body, having her report her mood to Father, leaving him even more baffled.

“… I don’t understand. You should have reached another moment of enlightenment by now, with how fast you are progressing. How have you not reached the next step yet?”

Hikari shrugged. “You tell me.”

For how long have I maintained [Battle Frenzy (Major)] today? Probably six hours straight without going crazy. If I had to guess, my dual soul really helped the process since one of us could always shoulder the brunt of the trauma, and if it got too strenuous, we could just switch places. Maintaining this feeling of high alert was tiring, but it wasn’t hard any longer.

[Split Soul Autonomy] is a cheat code.

<Then what a surprise that we managed to find out. That small trickery Gel’Glariri did to ‘spice’ up his entertainment unintentionally created a loophole in the training.>

Sure did.

Father, shaking his head, decided to change the topic. “No matter. Training will be as usual, but I’ll accompany you on the hunts instead of your companions. Tomorrow, though, I need you to open your stream again. The second testing poll will begin in two days.”

“So soon?”

“It has been a month. Considering Phsothophus’s surge in popularity after Maustoovaka’s expulsion from his seat as dragon ruler, I believe we should see the empire’s opinion on things. Furthermore, it should give us a good idea of the mood of the empire, seeing how Gyadiosa had followed up on your siblings’ wishes by fully starting preparations for the war. The last report I received said that the mainland is around twenty percent ready, while Frozen Nest is forty percent.”

“That’s not including the airship, right?”

He nodded. “The recent skirmish has galvanized the ice flight and wake. Not to mention, your population isn’t as widespread around the nest as the mainland.”

“All right, guess I’ll do that. I haven’t streamed anything serious in a while, so I’ll take that as my chance to stop using [Battle Frenzy] and calm down. Hmm, better than all the eating strea—”

Huh?

“Is something?” Father tilted his head slightly.

Raising my brow, I stumbled over my words a bit as I wasn’t sure if I should report it or not, but decided to be truthful. “I just lost five beastmen followers. Dragonewts and levianewts belong under it, so I’m not sure if that’s worth telling you or not.”

“Five? Hmm, my condolences to those people, but—”

“Twenty-seven.”

“Just now?”

I nodded. “Again, ‘beastmen,’ but that’s a total of thirty-two now. Did somebody get into an accident, or—”

“A wyver—”

“Teleport me back to Coral Beard, now!” Father commanded, prompting me to open my subspace. As we entered it, I quickly changed the entrance to an exit, designating the subspace runes at our Coral Beard mansion. “Done! Okay, you—”

“… How many?” Father asked once I turned silent from the notification.

Slowly turning my head to Father, I said, “One. Dragon.”