Chapter 589 - 589: You Shouldn't Get Your Hopes Up Too High; It's Best to Keep a Level Head

"In that case, please transmit all the research data you can access to me. We'll study it together; it will be a massive help in solving Irene's problem," Mavis said, not standing on ceremony in the slightest.

Over the past few months, the relationship between Mavis and August had blossomed beautifully. Through their mutual, heartfelt efforts, their dynamic was now functionally identical to a mother and son who had lived together for decades. Therefore, Mavis didn't feel the need to be overly polite with him.

Unlike Mavis, who had been asleep in a crystal for a century, Zeref had spent the last four hundred years actively researching ways to break his own curse. Given his unparalleled genius and infinite time, he had undoubtedly accumulated a staggering amount of groundbreaking research.

From the spell he had engineered for Irene, it was obvious Zeref possessed a profound, masterful understanding of the soul. This was an area of magical theory that both Mavis and Noah lacked, so absorbing Zeref's notes was a perfect solution.

Hearing Mavis's request, August nodded and agreed without hesitation.

The fact that his mother wasn't being polite with him was the ultimate proof of their genuine intimacy. If she had been overly formal, it would have felt incredibly unnatural. He wanted nothing more than a normal mother-son relationship, so her casual, authoritative tone filled him with profound joy.

She wanted his father's research data to help someone. He had zero reason to refuse. Honestly, even if she wanted the data for nefarious purposes, August would have handed it over and happily followed behind her to help execute her evil plans.

To August, his parents were the absolute most important things in the world.

He decided he would simply copy the entirety of Zeref's archives and gift the data to his mother. He knew she loved reading and studying, making it the perfect present.

"Wait, you never explained why the underlying principle of the spell is the soul," Irene interjected, pulling the conversation back on track.

"Actually, ever since I learned you had temporarily regained your human form, I had a specific question: how was Zeref able to restore your appearance so flawlessly and quickly? He didn't know what you originally looked like four hundred years ago, and he never asked you for details, did he?" Noah asked, looking at Irene.

"No, His Majesty never asked me anything like that," Irene shook her head.

"Exactly," Noah nodded. "Even if you possessed a perfect memory of your own face, four hundred years is a very long time. Relying purely on memory to reconstruct a physical body is incredibly dangerous. The human body is unimaginably complex; a single millimeter of error could trigger catastrophic biological failure.

"For Zeref to safely and flawlessly reconstruct your human appearance, he needed an absolute, infallible blueprint that already existed within you.

"Aside from memory, the only uncorrupted blueprint left was your soul.

"My analysis of his runic formula simply confirmed my hypothesis. Zeref utilized the shape of your human soul to mold your draconic flesh into a human shell. But realizing this provided crucial evidence for my secondary hypothesis."

Before Irene could ask, Noah continued.

"My secondary hypothesis was this: despite your body fully mutating into a Dragon, your soul remained fundamentally, perfectly human. It was barely affected by the dragonification.

"Or, to phrase it differently... your soul was so incredibly strong that it allowed you to retain your sanity, preventing you from going mad as your body mutated."

"My soul is still human?!" Irene gasped, her eyes lighting up with genuine shock.

She had spent centuries believing she was a monster inside and out. To hear that her core essence was still purely human was a revelation.

"Yes. It is highly probable that your soul remained entirely human, which is the only reason Zeref could use it as a template," Noah nodded.

"Everyone else who underwent dragonification eventually descended into mindless, bloodthirsty madness. As far as my historical research indicates, the only two individuals who survived the full mutation and retained their sapience are you and Acnologia. Everyone else died or went insane.

"Since you actually lived through the war, do you know of any other Dragon Slayers who survived the full transformation?" Noah asked.

"No. To my knowledge, we are the only two," Irene shook her head, a dark, bitter shadow crossing her eyes. "That was exactly why the humans were so terrified of me. They thought I would inevitably become a second Acnologia, so they preemptively imprisoned me. Even after I saved them, they betrayed me."

"And that brings me back to my hypothesis," Noah said, ignoring her bitter tone. "I believe you and Acnologia both possessed incredibly strong souls.

"When the Dragon Seed activated, your souls were resilient enough to withstand the corrosive corruption of the draconic power. You retained your sanity, enduring the process until your bodies fully transformed into Dragons.

"According to historical records, you became the Queen of Dragnof solely based on your overwhelming magical power, correct?"

Irene nodded. "Yes. I ascended to the throne through my own magical supremacy."

"Exactly. To possess that much power, both your body and your soul had to be exceptionally strong," Noah explained. "Acnologia grew powerful enough to slaughter the entire Dragon race in an incredibly short span of time; his innate talent and soul strength were undoubtedly monstrous.

"But the other Dragon Slayers didn't possess your level of strength. Their souls weren't resilient enough to endure the influx of pure, apocalyptic draconic Ethernano.

"The power of a Dragon aggressively corrupts the flesh, forcing the physical mutation. But the body and the soul are intimately connected. Because the draconic magic is so overwhelming, it simultaneously bleeds into and corrupts the soul.

"Because the other Slayers lacked sufficient soul strength, their souls were warped and torn apart by the draconic power. With their souls compromised, they naturally lost their minds and went insane."

Noah paused, letting the information sink in.

"Of course, this is currently just a working hypothesis based on the available data. To definitively confirm it, I'll need to conduct extensive research and clinical experiments."

"Noah's hypothesis aligns perfectly with the most logical outcome," Mavis chimed in, supporting him. "I reviewed the data from the Dragon Slayer ruins Noah excavated. The skeletons of the berserk Slayers were all in a state of partial or half-dragonification. Not a single one had fully transformed.

"That clearly indicates that they went insane and died midway through the mutation. Their skeletons were significantly denser than normal humans, and the mutative patterns were nearly identical, proving they were all undergoing the exact same biological process.

"The fact that they all stalled at the halfway mark strongly suggests their souls simply couldn't handle the strain of a complete transformation."

"I see..." Irene murmured, her eyes wide with realization. "So the human soul simply cannot withstand the corrosive weight of a Dragon's power?"

For centuries, she had believed the Dragon Slayers went berserk simply because they couldn't control the raw magical output. She hadn't realized the corruption occurred on a spiritual level. In a way, going berserk was a failure to suppress the power, but it was a failure of the soul, not just magical control.

"Since my soul is still in its human form... does that make it easier for me to truly turn back into a human?" Irene asked, her voice trembling slightly with desperate hope.

"Absolutely! In fact, because your soul is still human, the process will be significantly simpler than I initially calculated," Noah smiled.

"If both your body and your soul had completely dragonified, reversing the mutation would be dozens, if not hundreds of times more difficult.

"However, even though it's easier than the worst-case scenario, reverting a biological mutation of this magnitude is still an incredibly complex, monumental task. And that's assuming you cooperate perfectly.

"Even under the most optimistic, best-case estimates, it will take years of continuous treatment to fully restore your human body.

"So, you shouldn't get your hopes up too high; it's best to keep a level head," Noah warned gently, wanting to manage her expectations. To a young man like him, several years felt like a very long time.

"No, no, no! If I can truly become human again, I don't care if it takes a few years! I would gladly wait decades!" Irene shook her head frantically, her eyes shining with pure, unadulterated joy.

She had spent four hundred years conducting hollow, hopeless research just to find a cure.

Despair was a terrifying thing. Even when she was completely hopeless, she hadn't stopped trying. Now that Noah had handed her a genuine, scientifically viable path to salvation, waiting a few years felt like nothing.

A radiant, incredibly beautiful smile broke across her face. After centuries of agony, the sheer, overwhelming relief welling up inside her chest was too much to contain. Tears began to prick the corners of her eyes.

Realizing she was about to cry in front of her daughter's boyfriend and a colleague from the Spriggan 12, Irene immediately spun around, hiding her face.

Noah, Mavis, and August saw her turn away, but none of them said a word. They didn't interrupt her or offer hollow platitudes; they simply lowered their heads and quietly returned to reading the research files.

They all understood the sheer weight of what she had endured. Four hundred years of failed dreams would break almost anyone's mind. And then, surviving the brutal psychological whiplash of Zeref's false cure... the fact that her sanity hadn't completely shattered was a testament to her terrifying mental fortitude. She truly possessed a soul strong enough to resist a Dragon.

Hearing that there was finally a real cure, her emotional dam had broken. It was perfectly natural for her to cry. The best thing they could do was give her the space to let it out.

Facing the wall, the tears finally spilled over, streaming down Irene's face.

She hastily raised her arm to wipe them away, but the tears wouldn't stop falling, quickly soaking the fabric of her gloves.

Suddenly, a crisp, white handkerchief floated gently into her peripheral vision.

Irene felt a subtle pulse of Noah's magic lingering on the cloth. She hesitated for a fraction of a second before gently taking it and pressing it to her eyes, wiping away the tears.

After a few minutes, she took a deep, shuddering breath, fully composing herself. Ensuring her face was clean, she tucked the handkerchief away and finally turned back to face them.

While her eyes were still slightly red, there were no traces of tears.

"I apologize. Hearing Noah's prognosis made me a bit emotional," Irene said softly.

"It's perfectly fine. We understand," Mavis smiled warmly, waving her hand dismissively.

Mavis then turned to Noah, her expression shifting to one of genuine curiosity.

"Based on what you just said, you've formulated a concrete method to cure her?

"Zeref explicitly stated that her biological essence was permanently a Dragon, and that true reversion was impossible. How do you plan to bypass that?"

Mavis harbored incredibly complex feelings toward Zeref, but she absolutely never doubted his magical genius or his scientific prowess. If Zeref deemed it biologically impossible, Mavis was incredibly curious to know how Noah intended to prove him wrong.

Hearing Mavis's question, Irene instantly tensed up, looking at Noah with bated breath.

She was incredibly grateful for Zeref's cosmetic illusion, but his declaration that she was fundamentally a Dragon had been devastating. She was terrified that Noah would echo Zeref's sentiment and add a cruel "but..." to his prognosis.

"Yes. After reviewing Irene's centuries of empirical data, analyzing the soul-manipulation formula Zeref used, factoring in the unique materials and magic I possess, and evaluating Irene's specific biological state... I have formulated a rough, theoretical framework for a complete cure," Noah explained calmly.

"However, whether it actually succeeds will depend entirely on rigorous, continuous experimentation, clinical trials, and real-time adjustments based on how her body reacts to the treatments.

"We also have to factor in my own growth. The procedure will likely require me to push my magical capabilities to their absolute limits.

"Because this method is entirely theoretical and relies on long-term biological engineering, it cannot restore her overnight. That's why I told her to be patient. Even the most optimistic timeline requires several years of continuous treatment. And if we encounter unexpected biological resistance, it could take much longer."

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