Chapter 515 455: Transfiguration

'So, what is Sidor Sea Water trying to do?'

He didn't believe the man would send him this juicy tidbit for no reason. The gossip was great, but the motive behind it was more important. Sidor wouldn't do something without a purpose.

Of course, Leech was loving this particular piece of gossip.

'Is he trying to tell me that the Eldest Prince is a useless fool and the Second Prince is gay, so it's time for the old dynasty to fall and a new one to rise? I'm with the Duke of Radiant Sun. What the hell does the Lu Leiyi Kingdom have to do with me?'

The kingdom might seem unified on the surface, but a single word could shatter the Lu Leiyi Kingdom into a dozen pieces. Leech was certain that the Duke of Radiant Sun would declare war that very day. He wouldn't just establish the East Gorge Duchy; he'd launch a northern expedition against the Dusk Lion and a southern campaign against the Thunder Giants, waging war on multiple fronts to cleanse the realm.

As for Leech himself, of course he'd follow his liege lord. He was just a minor Baron, there to profit from the chaos and pick up the scraps.

'Or is Sidor Sea Water just doing this for fun?'

Leech admitted to himself that he didn't really get the guy's angle. It wasn't that it was too profound; he was simply too lazy to think about it or even bother with him.

'It all boiled down to one thing: an illegitimate son like him could never make any real waves, no matter what schemes he cooked up.'

Everyone in East Gorge knew the "Golden Stallion" was a useless lecher who spent all his time chasing women. If the Duke of Radiant Sun tried to replace him with Sidor Sea Water as the heir, at least half his vassals would rise in rebellion, likely asking, "My lord Duke, why have you chosen to rebel?"

After releasing the raven, Leech summoned the Black Dragon Du Ao from its hiding place under the bed. He ordered it to activate its innate abilities and travel stealthily to the Rift Cave.

The black dragon was a natural at stealth. It possessed not only a Stealth Skill—a type of magic that completely concealed its aura, reduced its presence, and hid its tracks—but also the Invisibility Skill, a magic that made it vanish from sight completely.

Ultimately, a black dragon wasn't suitable to keep by his side. It wasn't that it was too ostentatious—on the contrary, a small whelp wasn't ostentatious *enough*. At best, it would be seen as nothing more than a luxurious, exotic pet.

Being a dragon, it was bound to attract a host of people with less-than-pure intentions.

It was absolutely true that every part of a dragon was a treasure—even its dung could fossilize into draconic gems. If Scholar Toma ever found out, he'd probably move heaven and earth to get here. He'd want to pluck a few scales, cut off a piece of flesh, draw some sinew, and drain some blood, all for the sake of his "great alchemical research."

That was out of the question. He didn't know about other dragons, but Du Ao clearly lacked any powerful regenerative abilities. More importantly, Du Ao was an undead creature; any research would easily reveal that something was wrong with it.

If Du Ao were a full-grown Giant Dragon, Leech would keep it by his side without a second thought. He'd flaunt it openly, probably even ride it to the privy.

An adult Giant Dragon was basically a magical nuke.

Unfortunately, a little black dragon that hadn't finished growing was only good for petting, and a bony, uncomfortable-to-hold one at that.

Coincidentally, Leech wanted to create a secret identity for some underground, illicit activities. And since he'd already fabricated the persona of "that Lord," what could be more mysterious or impressive than casually keeping a dragon whelp as a pet, like one might a common cat?

As the symbol of "that Lord," Du Ao would need to work alongside Kaqi and the other Corpse Ghosts, playing the part of an adorable pet. With Isis secretly managing and coordinating things, the progress of his underground operations should proceed without any major issues.

「The next morning.」

The Soldiers Leech had dispatched began to trickle back in, bringing some rather useful information with them.

They had currently identified the locations of two abandoned caves, but they were quite far away, requiring a journey south along the Koso Mountain Range. The route was through mostly desolate mountains and wilderness. Safety was one concern, as Leech didn't have many Soldiers with him, but the real problem was the travel time.

He wasn't in a hurry to leave. He planned to wait until all the dispatched Soldiers had returned with their findings before planning his route. This would save him from wasting time on the road.

The New Year according to the Divine Calendar was about a month and a half away. He wanted to get back to his own domain to celebrate, which didn't leave him much time for running around. He had to get this sorted out within a month.

At noon, Leech was practicing a type of magic known as Transformation.

He had learned this kind of minor magic, which had little combat application, from Tangkx Scholar before, but he'd never paid it much mind. He was far more interested in things like forbidden spells or Ninth-Circle Magic. Unfortunately, such concepts didn't exist on the Lu Leiyi Continent. Magic wasn't even clearly divided into tiers; either you could use a spell, or you couldn't.

Transformation magic could turn a wooden staff into a needle, or a dog into a stool.

There was no clear boundary between transforming living and non-living things.

The difficult part was that after turning a dog into a stool, the resulting stool couldn't run away or bark. It had to docilely believe it *was* a stool, allow people to sit on it, and most importantly, not suddenly topple over and expose its belly if someone happened to scratch its "back."

By the same token, a hedgehog transformed into a seat cushion couldn't prick the person sitting on it.

An eagle transformed from a mug of beer had to actually be able to fly.

Tangkx Scholar could currently do all this, but Leech was nowhere close. He figured it was probably because he had no real desire to study the magic in depth.

Transformation wasn't just about changing a target's outer form. Its greatest success lay in altering the target's psychological perception of itself.

A snake transformed into a bird would believe it could fly.

A person turned into a dog would change their diet, develop a love for treats, and so on.

However, it couldn't create something from nothing, nor could it conjure food.

According to Tangkx Scholar, the pinnacle of Transformation magic was Polymorph—turning an enemy into a docile sheep. It was far easier said than done, because the target's compliance, its resistance, and the size difference between its original and transformed states all directly impacted the spell's success rate and the energy it consumed.

Thus, the magic was almost completely ineffective against enemies stronger than the caster. The weaker the target and its resistance, the better the spell's effect.

Leech would much rather just charge in and smash an enemy's head in with a Knight Kick. It was far more decisive and clean.

But after obtaining Du Ao's memories, Leech had a change of heart. He decided he wanted to learn it after all.

It was a well-known fact that Giant Dragons were hopeless romantics; it was just that each of their romances had a rather short shelf life.

But that didn't stop them from being true romantics. They threw themselves wholeheartedly into every relationship, falling madly in love regardless of race or gender.

Thanks to their "perfect" biology, Giant Dragons had no reproductive barriers and could mate with almost any creature.

Even the smallest adult dragon was at least 30 feet tall. The scene of one marrying and having children with a five-foot-tall human girl would be... a bit gory.

This was why dragons had a huge natural advantage when it came to transformation. A Giant Dragon could change into almost any creature it desired, taking on any skin or hair color it wished.

Leech waved his hand. The wine cup on the table transformed into a cat. It didn't move.

He grabbed it by the tail, lifted it up, and tilted it slightly.

A hole ruptured in the cat's head, and wine spilled out with a SPLASH.

'Can't rush this. I have to practice slowly. Hopefully, by combining this with the inherited memories of Giant Dragon transformation, I can get the hang of it in three to five days...'

If Tangkx Scholar heard him, he would have spat right in his face. It takes three to five *years* just to get the basics down, and you think you can master it in three to five *days*? You clearly have no respect for magic!