Roa reluctantly got up. Although he was annoyed and exhausted, he should be more patient.
Roa kept comforting himself like this, opened the door, and saw Eris.
A year had passed, and Eris had changed a lot. The most obvious change was that she had grown taller. As a noble lady, her appearance was naturally not bad, but her temper still hadn't improved.
She was a girl who couldn't be changed.
Roa put on his clothes and walked outside.
He stood back a bit, and Eris's hand, which had been knocking on the door, hung in mid-air.
Roa leaned down and looked at the little girl in front of him, raising an eyebrow. "What do you want?"
Eris put her hands on her hips and said proudly, "My tenth birthday is coming up."
Oh, her tenth birthday?
Right, he was now thirteen, almost fourteen.
At this age in this era, he was almost old enough to marry and have children. Had time passed so quickly?
Roa pondered for a moment and smiled at Eris. "Is that so? I'll prepare a birthday gift for you. So, Eris, is there anything else?"
Nobles had a custom of holding large-scale banquets and celebrating enthusiastically on their fifth, tenth, and fifteenth birthdays.
Of course, it was just a party, and Roa wasn't particularly interested in it.
Eris's face turned red. She glanced out the window, and her tone softened for once. "Um, I want to ask you how to dance."
Roa nodded. "Oh, you want to ask me how to dance? Wait, dance?"
Roa looked at Eris with a suspicious expression. "I remember you have a teacher who teaches you etiquette. Why are you asking me?"
At the same time, Roa was secretly complaining to himself: Damn it, I don't even know how to dance the noble social dances.
But in the end, Roa still agreed to help her practice the so-called dance steps.
But that would be tomorrow's business.
After casually shooing her away, Roa looked at Rudeus behind Eris and asked with a slightly strange expression, "You, do you have something too?"
Rudeus scratched his head, looking embarrassed, and said to Roa, "Um, I want to go home and take a look."
Roa stared into his eyes, and for some reason, Rudeus instinctively swallowed and suddenly changed his words. "Cough, actually, it's fine if I don't go home. I just miss Sylphy a bit."
Roa thought for a moment, filtering Rudeus's words. Rudeus was saying he missed women.
In the end, Roa decided to comfort him, so he said, "Don't think about those things. When you earn enough money, won't you be able to be with Sylphy?"
Rudeus said somewhat awkwardly, "But…"
Roa patted his shoulder and said with a mature expression, "Kid, don't think so much at such a young age. Besides, what could you really do even if you wanted to?"
Rudeus instantly understood and gave a knowing smile. Roa kicked him away, feeling somewhat helpless. "Don't always act so carefree. If you keep this up, who would want to marry you?"
Rudeus remained silent, lying on the floor like a dead fish.
Roa didn't pay him any more attention. After thinking for a moment, he said to himself, "In a while, I might go out for a bit. You understand, right?"
"Go out for a bit?" Rudeus looked up at the handsome guy in front of him.
Unconsciously, Roa's somewhat feminine appearance had disappeared. Now, Roa looked like a hero from a novel, with a dazzling head of golden hair tied casually at the back, naturally falling to his waist. His once soft features were gone, and now he looked like a standard handsome young man. Perhaps it was due to his long-term sword training, but he exuded a strong sense of pressure.
Golden hair, golden eyes, and such powerful strength.
Damn it, the protagonist is so annoying.
Rudeus cursed in his heart. The little loli had passed her expiration date and not only didn't turn into a golden-haired beauty but had become a golden-haired handsome guy. Now there was one more person to compete with him for a wife.
This was really infuriating.
This time, going out was definitely for some bad deeds. He absolutely couldn't agree to it.
Roa didn't know that Rudeus could come up with so many thoughts just from hearing that he was going out. Roa said calmly, "That's right, Rudeus. I have a troublesome matter to deal with."
Rudeus looked at Roa with suspicion, his lips curling into a smile. He said, "Master Roxy would be very sad if she knew, right?"
Roa's hand, which was about to close the door, paused. He looked at Rudeus expressionlessly.
Was this kid itching for a beating? It had been a while since he last disciplined him. It seemed he needed to teach him what it meant to respect his elder brother. The dignity of an elder brother couldn't be challenged.
Thinking this, Roa pulled Rudeus into the room and closed the door.
Rudeus felt a chill run down his spine and tried to break free from Roa to rush outside.
Although Roa's mental energy was depleted, dealing with Rudeus was still more than enough.
He threw Rudeus onto the bed, looked at him calmly, and smiled. As Rudeus looked at him with fear, Roa slowly approached and said, "Kid, it seems you're really itching for a beating."
Rudeus was already regretting it. He wished he could slap himself twice. What was wrong with him? These things should be seen but not spoken of. Yet he had gone and provoked Roa.
After thoroughly disciplining Rudeus, Roa fell asleep, cursing in his heart: These people really came at the wrong time.
This sleep completely knocked Roa out.
When he woke up, it was already late at night.
He had slept for almost an entire day, and now he felt much better mentally, although he still needed a considerable amount of time to recover to his peak.
Roa looked at his system panel again. He still had two rewards to claim.
He opened the system's item bar, where two items were displayed.
Perfect Dragon Blood, High-Level Spirit Awakening.
Roa thought for a moment and felt that there shouldn't be any issues.
He took out the Perfect Dragon Blood item, which was contained in a transparent glass bottle of unknown material.
The liquid inside was like flowing lava, quietly resting at the bottom of the container.
Roa shook the glass bottle, and the dazzling liquid swayed with his movements.
[Perfect Dragon Blood]
[Category: Item/Bloodline/Consumable]
[Quality: Perfect]
[Note 1: This is just a spark, but there is nothing more precious than this spark.]
[Note 2: Oral consumption. It will flow through your entire body and be absorbed. Alternatively, you can choose to inject it.]
[Note 3: The bloodline of an ancient monarch. The absorption process might be a bit painful, but it is absolutely not life-threatening. Well, probably?]
The molten golden blood, even through the bottle, exuded an inexplicably sweet aroma. Roa had a strong intuition that if he consumed it, his strength would advance further.
Thus, Roa opened the bottle and chose to drink it in one go.
The dragon blood entered his stomach, and in an instant, Roa's expression turned extremely dramatic.
He felt as if he had swallowed an entire bowl of chili peppers, with his throat and stomach burning intensely.
The burning sensation began to spread rapidly, coursing through his veins and reaching every part of his body.
[You have consumed Perfect Dragon Blood]
[Your body/bloodline is undergoing transformation]
The burning sensation grew more intense, especially in his abdomen. It no longer felt like he had eaten a bowl of chili peppers; it felt as if he had swallowed molten lava.
Roa's condition was extremely poor, and he was in a bizarre state.
Realizing his abnormality, Roa left the mansion. With the aid of his magic, his figure flickered, and within a minute, he arrived at a quiet forest.
This place was not too far from the mansion, but it wasn't exactly close either.
As soon as Roa landed, the forest, which had been filled with the sounds of insects, fell completely silent. All living creatures were now mute, with only Roa's heart beating incessantly.
Roa's eyes were no longer the brilliant golden color they once were. Instead, they were now molten golden orbs, like flowing lava.
[Bloodline fusion progress: 20%]
The system's cold voice echoed in Roa's mind. The bright moonlight pierced through the dark forest, illuminating Roa's fierce yet majestic face.
An unparalleled pressure began to spread—a superior's dominance over an inferior, an insurmountable gap between bloodlines, a sign of the awakening of an ancient bloodline.
Scales began to grow on Roa's body, starting from his temples, then his arms, and finally spreading downward. The scales shimmered with a cold, black light under the moonlight.
The scales covered most of Roa's vital areas. His torso and arms began to stretch and elongate. His hands, once calloused, transformed into sharp claws. His spine began to shift, his bones stretching and realigning. The sound of his bones cracking filled the air as his height increased, and a long tail emerged.
At this moment, Roa looked like a black, scaled monster standing in the forest.
[Bloodline fusion progress: 70%]
His lungs, heart, liver, kidneys—all his organs felt as if they were being tempered in fire. His heartbeat was like a drum, and with each breath, he exhaled long streams of mist.
Oxygen was rapidly sent to his lungs, and his entire body was filled with the most primal, savage strength.
Powerful!
This was Roa's assessment of his current body. But along with the power, a wild and greedy desire began to emerge from the depths of his mind. This negative emotion grew stronger as the dragonification progressed. Roa's mental energy, though partially recovered, couldn't suppress this bone-chilling killing intent. It was a primal rage, a desire to destroy everything around him.
The molten golden eyes grew brighter, and the aura around him became more frenzied. The black monster roared, but what came out was a series of sonic booms.
The sonic booms completely shattered the trees in front of him, sending dirt flying in all directions.
[Bloodline fusion progress: 90%]
The black monster's back erupted with blood as iron scales bloomed like flowers. A pair of skeletal wings grew out like willow branches sprouting leaves. Flesh quickly covered the skeletal wings, and within a few breaths, a pair of wings covered in black scales had fully formed.
This was the symbol of the dragon race. As a perfect creation, wings were an essential part.
Roa, still conscious, flew toward a more distant location.
An instinctual intuition guided him toward a specific place.
That place was none other than: the Red Dragon Mountains.
The will to kill continued to spread. Roa, with his remaining willpower, suppressed the fiery agitation in his heart.
He wanted to engage in a fierce battle to vent his rage.
Roa flew toward the Red Dragon Mountains, his black figure streaking across the sky.
The Red Dragon Mountains divided the central continent into western, northern, and southern ranges. Due to the presence of the Demon God Laplace, S-rank Red Dragons inhabited the mountain peaks. Except for the "Red Dragon's Upper Jaw" in the northwest and the "Red Dragon's Lower Jaw" in the southwest, the mountains were impassable.
The five-meter-long monstrous creature flew toward the Red Dragon Mountains. After an hour of high-speed travel, he finally sensed a massive dragon resting at the peak.
The upper regions of the Red Dragon Mountains were extremely hot, with the ground a deep red. This place was famous for its Red Dragons.
The dragon's body was ten meters long, and its wings were as large as Roa's entire body. This was clearly an adult Red Dragon.
Although Red Dragons were rare, almost all of them resided in this area. When the dragon sensed Roa's approach, it opened its crimson eyes and let out a warning roar.
In its eyes, this black dragon was like a deformed, underdeveloped creature—weak and pitiful.
After all, it was less than five meters long.
But in the next moment, Roa dove toward the dragon, his sharp claws aiming for its neck.
Although Roa's body was small, his speed was astonishing. In an instant, the scales on the Red Dragon's neck were torn apart by his claws.
The Red Dragon roared in pain, its front claws slashing at Roa's torso. The sound of claws scraping against scales was ear-piercing. The Red Dragon's strength was immense, and Roa's scales couldn't completely block the attack. Soon, a chunk of flesh was torn from his body.
Blood dripped from Roa's torso, and the pain only fueled his ferocity. His remaining rationality quickly faded, and he attacked again. His clawed hands gripped the dragon's body, and with a powerful motion, he dragged it from the sky and slammed it into the ground.