Chapter 323 – Strange Energy

Deep in thought, Punk didn’t directly respond to Ben Lajie’s muttering. Instead, he pointed seriously at a little girl running along the road and transmitted a message to Ben Lajie:

“Look at that child. Do you notice anything unusual about her?”

“Unusual?”

Hearing Punk’s question, Ben Lajie released his senses with slight confusion. The little girl playing cat’s cradle by the roadside was instantly scanned multiple times by Ben Lajie’s perception without her knowledge.

“Nothing unusual… Though this little lass is quite the beauty. She’ll definitely grow up curvy—would look really sexy in priest robes…”

“Enough! I meant for you to examine her physical characteristics and how her bloodline differs from ordinary humans!”

Seeing how Ben Lajie’s focus was completely misaligned with his own, Punk felt utterly speechless.

Even with Punk’s hint, Ben Lajie—who basically ignored alchemical magic as a “spell-barbarian”—still failed to reach any useful conclusion:

“You mean her partial draconic bloodline? What’s strange about that? The Dragonhowl Empire is essentially a nation of half-dragons anyway. After generations of intermarriage between half-dragons and humans, why would it be odd for residents here to develop some draconic features?”

Ben Lajie pointed at the little girl while retorting Punk with self-assurance.

The girl he indicated clearly possessed a pair of small pointed horns on her head, and her dark green pupils were vertical slits like those of an animal.

Looking more carefully, most residents here bore similarly inconspicuous draconic features like this girl. These physiological changes typically manifested in altered pupils, while a minority might sport a few green scales on their arms.

Nearly every person walking along the street carried some non-human bodily “organs” to varying degrees. Ordinary humans would likely tremble in fear, thinking they’d entered a monster kingdom. But to mages like Punk and Ben Lajie, these people’s appearances alone weren’t remarkable—any random specimen in their Laboratory would be far more terrifying and bizarre than these “dragon-touched” humans.

However… if it were merely inherited draconic traits, Punk wouldn’t find it strange. As Ben Lajie said, genetic changes in humans ruled by other races were perfectly normal. Countless new “human subspecies” emerged in this world daily, their varieties innumerable. The sorcerers’ wildly diverse bloodline inheritances demonstrated how “indiscriminate” magical creatures could be regarding reproduction.

What truly caught Punk’s attention about this nation’s people was…

“Don’t you find the atmosphere here peculiar? The townsfolk coexist harmoniously, engaged in thriving production and livestock farming. That little girl can even enjoy playing cat’s cradle—a game requiring patience… Don’t misunderstand, this would be perfectly normal in human cities. But in a dragon-touched village… doesn’t it strike you as highly abnormal?”

Punk pointed out the anomaly with piercing clarity.Ben Lajie’s focus was entirely on beautiful women and delicious food, and since these dragon-touched individuals behaved and looked so much like ordinary humans, out of habitual thinking, he subconsciously overlooked the fact of their “dragon-touched bloodline.”

As Punk had said, these dragon-touched individuals carried some bloodline of half-dragons, who in turn inherited some of the violent and insane traits of the five chromatic dragons. Under the influence of such an advanced bloodline, even if the draconic heritage in these dragon-touched individuals was so diluted it was almost imperceptible, the inherent ferocity from their bloodline would still affect the thoughts of every bearer. Even sorcerers, who were professionals, often struggled to suppress the influence of the instinctual “personality” from their bloodline. How could ordinary people possibly resist the corruption of the chaotic bloodline of the five chromatic dragons?

But look at the scene unfolding before Punk—this phenomenon of “dragon-touched individuals” living together harmoniously and building a peaceful society had actually occurred? How could such a bizarre situation not capture Punk’s attention?

Now that Punk had directly provided a detailed explanation, Ben Lajie finally began to think seriously about it. He quickly realized the unusual nature of the situation, but this eccentric “hedonist mage” still didn’t take it as seriously as Punk did:

“It is indeed a bit strange, but what does this have to do with the Ovakain Acidmaw we’re here to deal with? Maybe their bloodline has mutated, or perhaps it’s just too diluted. Whatever the case, we’re here to slay a dragon, not conduct research. Let’s not be too curious, alright? Isn’t it better to just happily kill the dragon and leave?”

Ben Lajie didn’t pay as much attention to the various anomalies along the way as Punk did. Right now, all he wanted was to quickly slay the dragon and return to pay off his debts. After all, interest was something that truly made people anxious.

However, just because Ben Lajie didn’t care didn’t mean Punk felt the same. Ignoring the fat old man’s head-shaking, Punk, growing increasingly uneasy, walked silently over to the little girl playing cat’s cradle and casually plucked a wisp of soul from her mind.

From start to finish, neither the little girl still playing cat’s cradle nor the passersby noticed Punk’s presence.

“Hey, hey, that’s ruthless, Cyan, old pal. You’re going to shorten that kid’s lifespan.”

Seeing Punk’s actions, Ben Lajie walked over to him with some displeasure.

“Quiet. Look at this wisp of soul.”Completely disregarding the awkwardness in Ben Lajie’s tone, Punk directly held out the faintly glowing blue wisp of soul before Ben Lajie’s eyes:

“As a mage who’s somewhat proficient in alchemy, I can tell you with certainty that in this little girl’s soul, although the bloodline of the five chromatic dragons is diluted to a certain extent, it still absolutely retains the ability to turn the most docile ordinary person into a ferocious orc.” You can also sense the bloodline corruption in this wisp of soul, but this corruption is actually being neutralized by some special ‘energy.’ Although this energy is so low-level that it only affects ordinary people, its composition is so complex that even I can’t analyze it! How can you still be thinking about roast duck after seeing this?”In the sharp gaze of Punk’s pupils, the azure glow of magical energy was as chilling and profound as an unfathomable abyss. Maintaining a stern expression, Punk fixed his slightly furious eyes on the bewildered Ben Lajie. The soul fragment serving as evidence still floated at the tip of Punk’s finger, and under the catalysis of magical energy, even Ben Lajie could sense the unusual energy neutralization reaction within this piece of soul.

“……Alright, you’re right. This matter has indeed become troublesome.”

In the end, the dejected Ben Lajie could only throw up his hands in resignation. He finally believed Punk’s words—this dragon-slaying mission was far from as simple as he had imagined. That mindset of “finish the fight, everyone’s happy” was truly no longer acceptable.

Please give some votes~ Even raising a book requires votes as nourishment. Recently, the votes have been decreasing day by day, it’s quite disheartening~

(End of Chapter)