Chapter 844 - 829: Xiao Hai’s New Form

In the wilderness, where Numer Four's self-destruction had scraped the ground clean, only the mycelium grew back in a short time, forming an endless white fungal mat.

On this fungal mat, several mages operated giant magical instruments, researching something.

One mage took a deep breath, stepped forward, and walked a few steps.

Under the surveillance of the instrument, his outline quickly faded away, disappearing into the air, and half a minute later, the blurry figure returned to its original spot.

The mage controlling the instrument looked up: "How is it?"

"Just as predicted, it shifted over ten meters on the other side," said the returning mage.

Without further words, they bent down to jot data on the recording board and adjusted the runes on the instrument.

Similar groups of three to five rune-expert mages were found throughout this wilderness covered by the fungal mat.

There were humans, members of the Demon Race, dwarves... all arranged by Lin Jun to research and analyze the space distorted by the influence of the Void Realm in this area.

After Xiao Hai's scales enveloped her, forming something similar to an egg, the Void Realm automatically exerted force, isolating her region.

From outside, one could only see the Dragon Scale Egg, hovering huge in the air, but could not truly approach it.

Even Lin Jun couldn't break in by force using Puki's self-destruction.

Luckily, Lin Jun was not alone and easily gathered these scholars to study the Void Realm.

Some were "borrowed" from the United Kingdom, others were spellcasters from the occupied areas of the Empire eager to redeem themselves.

With everyone's joint efforts, although they couldn't break through the Space Barrier, they could slightly interfere with the spatial barrier using newly developed instruments.

Yet, the progress was still slow, and before they achieved more, the Black-Scale Dragon Egg began changing, releasing intense energy fluctuations since a day ago, possibly about to emerge.

It was uncertain what Xiao Hai's state would be once she came out.

Weak? Confused? Even amnesiac like when Link was revived?

Or worse, in a fury and frantic state?

For this reason, Lin Jun made ample preparations, bringing over items that could evoke beautiful memories for Xiao Hai early on.

Such as the Bright Crystal that Xiao Hai collected for years, the deliciously juicy and well-prepared No. 7, among others…

"Boss, will Sister Hei turn into a huge dragon?" Outside the spatial barrier, a tailless lizardman with sparkling silver scales asked.

"Who knows, maybe she'll enlarge proportionately, turning from Xiao Hai to Da Hai."

As the anxious No. 7 cleaned itself for the third time, the Dragon Scale Egg, which had sustained energy fluctuations for two consecutive days, finally changed again.

With a "crack," one black scale after another fell off onto the fungal mat below.

The commotion grew, and more scales dropped, almost revealing a hole through which Norris could vaguely see inside.

Instinctively, he held his breath, leaning slightly forward… Suddenly, the egg became quiet again.

Norris waited for a moment, then waited some more, and eventually couldn't help but speak: "Boss, what's happening? Could there be something…"

Before finishing his sentence, a burst of heat blew from behind, causing him to stagger a step forward.

No. 7 rolled forward, tumbling "Whoa!"

Norris turned around.

A massive dragon head filled his entire view!

Covered in black scales, with glittering golden eyes, it looked down at him, warm breath washing over his head, blowing his hairstyle back.

"Hei... Sister...?"

He stood there, body stiff.

His rational mind repeatedly told him this giant black dragon, larger than a Giant Dragon, must be Xiao Hai, and Boss was monitoring here, indicating no danger should arise. However, innate biological fear made his limbs quiver uncontrollably.

Just as Norris almost lost his balance, the dragon, along with its oppressive presence, vanished into thin air, as if it had never appeared.

This made Norris rub his eyes, looking again, yet failed to see the massive dragon head once more.

"Ah—! Such perfect chewiness!"

No. 7's exclamation from within the Fungal Network made Norris quickly turn his head.

He saw a golden-eyed maiden draped in black scales at her extremities, with dragon horns on her head and a black tail dragging on the ground. She held No. 7 upside down in her arms, chewing its foot with juices flowing everywhere.

Numer Four thoughtfully extended tentacles to catch the dripping juice, ensuring nothing was wasted.

"Sister Hei?" Watching this maiden, with more human content than himself, Norris spoke even more uncertainly than before.

The maiden raised her head, still biting half of No. 7's foot, and incoherently muttered "Mm."

That long, black tail flicked, lifting Norris up, the familiar feeling returning to him.

He asked: "Boss, why did Sister Hei turn like this?"

Norris didn't find Xiao Hai's near-human form particularly bad, just a bit too human…

"You're not a human, why shy, huh? As for Xiao Hai like this…"

Lin Jun recalled the woman with seeming autonomy in the illusion produced by the Emperor consuming Absolute Mushroom.

Xiao Hai's current form nearly mimicked her, even bearing some resemblance in appearance upon closer reflection.

Seemingly confirming she was the previous-generation Ancient Dragon, Xiao Hai's mother.

As for this form closely resembling human appearance, it's likely an effect of [Ancient Dragon Path].

In truth, within Lin Jun's view, Xiao Hai's changes extended beyond appearance.

The most direct was the massive attribute boost, surpassing the former Emperor and belonging to genuine world boss-level power.

Through [Inspiration], Lin Jun perceived the sight of a stitched foreign soul enveloping Xiao Hai's original soul.

Some parts of the stitched soul seemed familiar to Lin Jun, appearing to be taken from dragons killed in the Dragon Struggle, although not all, more like bits from each one.

This stitching resembled Lin Jun's soul sea, albeit cruder, and wasn't entirely unified. Xiao Hai's soul and the soul cloak connected yet remained distinct.

Forcing words, Lin Jun truly merged souls, whereas the soul cloak functioned more like external equipment.

What concerned Lin Jun more was Xiao Hai's intelligence attribute on the panel exceeding human levels; how would it translate in reality?

"Xiao Hai, what's 1+1?"

"2!" Xiao Hai, mouth full of No. 7, replied muffled.

Lin Jun involuntarily had the Puki clap, impressed Xiao Hai calculated even 1+1, surpassing some Puki's intelligence!

"Two thousand six hundred and seventy-four."

"What?"

"Two thousand six hundred and seventy-four Bright Crystals, so many, so fine!" Xiao Hai leaned against the pile of Bright Crystals moved over, embracing Norris and the half-eaten No. 7, happily squinting.

Counting even this accurately!

Lin Jun surveyed the little mountain of various glass balls, gemstones, slightly astonished. For a moment, Lin Jun curiously wondered what level Xiao Hai's intelligence precisely reached.