Vol 13: Chapter 1-2.
The three of them flew back to the city on the Sky Stick. There was no need to rush now so they flew at a slower speed to conserve energy and mechanical attrition. This Sky Stick was irreplaceable at the team’s current state.
Xuan flipped the dragonshard on his hand and said to the two people hanging underneath. “Perhaps this is the biggest reward compared to the points and ranked rewards. If I am correct, this dragonshard is comparable to tier A magical items. Maybe even higher.”
WangXia asked. “Why? Is this item really so expensive?”
Xuan nodded. “Yes. In fact, I had been thinking of a question. That is the EMP rifle is too powerful. Don’t you have the feeling that sci-fi weapons overall too powerful? Even though they are ineffective against spiritual beings but they are just so strong in sci-fi movies and in team battles. Just think that if we point this gun at a team of similar strength and they do the same to us. What happens if we both fired?”
Kampa said in seriousness. “Both teams are going to die. No one can survive this gun.”
Xuan nodded. “Correct. I think you are familiar with the history of weapons. Defensive items such as shields and armors arose when weapons were too strong. The weapons became sharper as armors became tougher, from bronze to steel to firearms to cannons. Armors also went from leather to metal to plates to alloys. When technology advances to the level of the EMP rifles, will there be comparable levels of defense? Energy shields are what I see. However, magical items are more practical than technology in this regard.”
“There are many magical items that can create barriers starting from the tier D jade. But these items are all single use at tier B and below. Only tier A items are rechargeable. Though I can’t be absolutely certain.”
“The dragonshard may not be as effective as some the magical items since it only defends against long range technological weapons and detect energy fluctuation. However, it is a rechargeable item and Zheng is a portable source of energy. As long as he can revive, our team’s strength will reach another level. Just imagine each of us wearing a charged dragonshard. You will be immune to firearms for a time. If we had such defensive items, he wouldn’t have died.”
Kampa and WangXia halted and asked simultaneously. “The dragonshard can be split to multiple pieces?”
Xuan was surprised at the question. “Of course. You saw the effect of this shard. It blocked off so many attacks for the dragon and its effect only faded after the dragon died. I approximated that if each person receives 1/20 of the shard, the barrier might be even stronger since we are not 1/20 the size of the dragon. This dragonshard is more than a rank A reward. No wonder the difficulty of this mission was so high. Our rewards aren’t just what God gives us.”
Kampa and WangXia were both surprised. After flying for a while, Kampa sighed. “It’s unfortunate that the dragon died. Its attacks were so powerful. If we can tame it and bring it back like how you mentioned, we would have gained much more than what the dragonshard offers.”
Xuan smiled. “I think there’s a high chance of a dragon egg in the island. If that’s the case, we can raise a dragon as a member of the team. Anyway. Let’s go back to the city and plan our next step. See how we can complete the third bonus mission and gain enough points and rewards. We have to revive Zheng at any cost!”
At the same time, many repair staffs came up to the deck of the carrier. They cleared a path for the jets to land. The deck was covered with the shattered flesh of the dragon. The larger pieces were still wriggling as if they were alive and the smaller pieces clung to the large pieces or bones and began to grow. This capacity of regrowth gave them a chill.
Along with the repair staffs were many scientists. They ran toward the dragon within a craze and some screamed at the wriggling flesh like it was a treasure.
These scientists gathered around the dragon’s head. They quickly collected the blood, scales, and many parts of the dragon. A few ordered the soldiers to flip the head over so they could get to the marrows and brain.
The control tower was almost completely destroyed. Though neither the dragon or Kampa attacked it after the crash so most soldiers were fortunate enough to keep their lives. The commanding officers of this carrier were barely injured.
These officers sighed as they looked at the deck. One said with terrorized tone. “Is that still a human? He killed the dragon by himself. And did you see that flying device? Why does it look like the Sky Stick from the Spider Man movie that was just released this summer?”
Another man said with surprise. “You also noticed it? I thought I made a mistake. Individual flying devices. What the heck is the pentagon doing. Other countries are already using it in actual combat and we haven’t even heard such research!”
A vice admiral with gray hair said coldly. “Quiet. We suffered great losses this time. The third fleet to the west had been completely destroyed. Hm? They found something.”
Everyone in the deck was cheering. Or it was perhaps screams of surprises. The scientists found a human like figure stuck into a piece of wriggling flesh on the dragon’s head. The figure’s lower body and right torso were destroyed. Aside from the head and heart barely beating, its organs were either gone or critically injured. However, to their shocking surprises, the dragon’s flesh was repairing the missing parts of the human body, or more descriptively, integrating themselves to become the missing body. The veins and blood vessels had completely blended with the dragon’s flesh.
“This is unbelievable. The dragon’s cells have such incredible rate of regrowth. See those unique enzymes? I only found them in microorganisms at volcanos under the ocean. However, those were still incomparable to this rate of regrowth.”
“That isn’t the key point here. From our experiments with mice, rabbits, cats, and dogs just now, the subject injected with these cells exhibit a high rate of regrowth. The duration of this regrowth is relative to the subject’s vitality. Once this duration passed, the cells would invade the subject like cancer. If we can eliminate the invading quality of these cells, humans can live up to three hundred years healthily. This dragon is like a gift from the gods!”
A group of scientists were analyzing the cells they collected from the dragon in a laboratory inside the carrier. They named it X cells. The cells had unparalleled rate of regrowth and energy generation system. If it was successfully implanted into a human body, it would eliminate the majority of diseases and increase physical fitness by two to three times. Unfortunately, these cells were too invasive. Only cells strong enough to rival them could fuse with them.
They even used cells from humans and larger animals in the experiments, but there were no exceptions aside from this half human found inside the dragon’s flesh. He was the only one that survived the invade of the dragon’s cells.
