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Chapter 321 Exploring the Ruins
The old dragon soul remained silent, but Lu Xuan could sense that it was immersed in a complex and sorrowful atmosphere. There couldn't possibly be a living dragon here; it could only be something else. Lu Xuan stepped into the cave entrance, and a wave of heat rushed towards him.
Faintly, he could hear the sound of something enormous writhing. Lu Xuan silently approached the depths of the cave and saw a colossal figure in the distance. Larger than a dragon, its entire body was covered in scales. He couldn't see its full form, but Lu Xuan still had a guess.
"That's... a fire worm?"
"Fire earthworms... is that what you call them?" The old dragon soul's voice echoed in his mind. This made Lu Xuan think of something strange. Many documents in this world had recorded this. Beneath the Fourteen Beacon Fires, besides the dragons, there was another creature that lived alongside them, called fire earthworms. Now it seemed that it wasn't just a simple matter of living together.
"Can you imagine? These fire worms were once dragons. Or rather, they should have been dragons. The Valyrians of yesteryear tampered with our eggs to eliminate our intelligence, hoping to create a horde of war machines without self-awareness. Such things don't happen easily."
At this point, Lu Xuan suddenly realized.
"Therefore, they were the failed products of the original experiment."
"That's right. Starting from the dragon egg, the descendants of the dragon underwent a process of twisting and mutation. They even eventually formed a special race."
"Well, now my grief over the fall of Valyria has lessened considerably. Those guys were really..."
Lu Xuan didn't know how to evaluate this race. They were powerful, confident, and ambitious. They were the most promising race Lu Xuan had ever seen in this world. However, many of their actions were truly inhuman. It left Lu Xuan unsure whether to pity them or gloat.
"What do you need me to do? This thing might not be so easy to take away."
"No, you don't need to take me away. I'll stay here."
"Stay here?"
“That’s right. These mutant dragons were deemed worthless after their mutation because they could no longer fly. This meant they weren’t extensively modified afterward. In other words, their bloodline is closer to my race than the dragons you ride.”
"You want to reawaken their bloodline?"
"Even so. I will use a secret technique of the dragon race to be reborn in the egg of a fire worm. This will not change anything. It will only slightly stimulate its hidden bloodline. Then my descendants will continue this awakened bloodline. Generation after generation, at some point in the future, perhaps a true atavism will occur, allowing our race to reappear."
After listening, Lu Xuan remained silent for a long time before saying:
Is there anything I can do?
The old dragon soul remained silent for a long time before speaking.
"Give me some time." Lu Xuan understood what it meant.
“I guarantee that as long as Daenerys’s empire stands, this land will not be set foot on by anyone else.”
"Thank you, but it's a pity I can only give you so little."
"That's enough. The dragon's magic has given me a lot of inspiration."
"That's good. I can actually sense that you genuinely want to help the dragon race revive. Can you tell me why? You've spared no effort for that girl's empire, and the same goes for the dragon race. I don't quite understand your thinking."
"That's to be expected. Humans are always complex, doing things that seem useless and offer no benefit to themselves. I'm a typical example. I do inexplicable things based on my own desires. However, my willingness to help your race stems from a somewhat peculiar idea of mine. I've always believed that for a world to develop, it needs diversity. There needs to be unity in form, but diversity in thought and culture."
This world has been stagnant for thousands of years. Look at the nobles of Westeros, their lineages spanning millennia. I'm not against long-established families. It's just that for thousands of years, they haven't made any progress whatsoever, which is simply unacceptable. Therefore, for this world, a little more change is better.
“An interesting point of view. You have a very long lifespan, much longer than the average human. Perhaps one day in the future, we will meet again. This is what I know about some of the Valyrian laboratories.”
The old dragon soul passed on its last memory to Lu Xuan, and then completely left Lu Xuan's mental world.
When Lu Xuan stepped out of the cave again, Daenerys seemed to sense something.
"It's gone."
"Yes. But they left me some clues at the end. Let's give it a try."
The Valyrians possess an exceptionally strong scientific spirit. They study all sorts of magic, alchemy, and even some forbidden things. The fact that they dared to turn dragons into mindless war machines shows that these people have a certain madness in their bones.
Following the addresses provided by the old dragon soul, the two found some underground structures that had once been laboratories on the outskirts of the city. Unfortunately, the first three had been completely destroyed, leaving nothing of value. It wasn't until the fourth, and final, coordinate that a glimmer of hope finally appeared.
"Can you feel it? There's a fairly large space down there. We may have found an underground structure that wasn't completely destroyed."
Entering the underground structure was no easy feat; the fact that it hadn't been destroyed by the cataclysm proved its structural integrity. Furthermore, the surface, covered in thick layers of lava and volcanic ash, had formed a solid shell. Lu Xuan directly used his daily training method to forcefully break through this outer shell. After another half-day of digging, they finally managed to open a passage about thirty meters underground by sunset.
"Wow, it looks like we've come to an amazing place."
Lu Xuan looked around. With the help of the dim light from the cave entrance, his enhanced vision allowed him to see his surroundings clearly. He saw that the walls were covered with ancient Valyrian runes.
Daenerys summoned a ball of fire, illuminating her surroundings. But the next second, the runes around her flickered with a faint light. Then, Daenerys stared in astonishment as the fire in her hand inexplicably vanished.
"This is......"
"It's these runes that have dispelled your magic."
"No, I can feel the magic within my body."
“Me too. Our powers are still there, but the spells won’t work.” Lu Xuan said, reaching out to conjure a fire spell. Just like Daenerys’s flames, the spell was extinguished by another force the instant it took effect.
"Perhaps these runes were originally capable of even imprisoning the power within us. But over time, their effectiveness has been weakened. In any case, we should be able to gain something real here."
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Chapter 322 An Egg
Lu Xuan and Dani were unable to detect any clues in this underground ruin. The entire ruin was covered with all sorts of runes. This not only suppressed the release of magic but also restricted their spiritual senses. They could only see and hear, just like ordinary people.
"There might be danger inside, be careful," Lu Xuan whispered a warning. Daenerys noticed this as well. She even activated a small mechanism on her arm, unfolding a device on her gauntlet that formed a small shield in front of her.