Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

“Before you go claiming that these are the insects you want, I must warn you. Choosing the pillbugs will mean you forfeit your chance to gain any of the other insects,” the Insect Sage explained. “Even if you are okay with that, you must understand that you won’t get the pillbugs directly. Instead, you can only get a chance to awaken 10 of them. If you fail to awaken them, then you must leave them behind. You can only take them when you do awaken them.”

Alex listened to the Insect Sage’s words and was surprised by how unfair the requirements were.

Not only would he only get a chance to awaken the pillbugs, but doing so would mean he would have to give up on all the other insects. If not for his lack of enthusiasm toward the other insects, he could only imagine the tantalizing dilemma that the others would have been placed under.

Would you want a guarantee to get the Emperor Soldier Bees and the Man-Eating Golden Beetles, or would you want a chance at maybe getting a few pillbugs that the records claim do something?

“You can take as much time as you need,” the Insect Sage said. “There is no reason to be hasty.”

“That’s fine,” Alex said without much thought. “I have already made my decision. I want the pillbugs.”

“I see. Then could you record your intentions in this talisman? We want a guarantee that you won’t claim unfairness later on and that you fully understand what you are getting yourself into.”

Alex smiled and did what the old man asked him to. It was as simple as speaking into the talisman, claiming that he wasn’t being lied to and that he was going into it of his own accord.

Once the man received the talisman, he put it away and spoke up.

“You may pay the 200 silkworms anytime you want, and we will provide you with 10 of the pillbugs for you to try and awaken,” the Insect Sage said.

Alex reached into his Soul Space and brought out the silkworms in a beast storage bag. He handed it over to Rockcrust, who went through each silkworm individually for a few minutes before finally stopping.

“Everything seems to be in order,” he said. “How long will it take you to prepare the dragon blood? We can continue once you have it.”

“Oh, I have it already,” Alex said. “Can we do it right now?”

The Insect Sage complied. “I shall bring you the 10 pillbugs now.”

He walked into the room and came out with exactly 10 Dragon-Blooded Pillbugs—no more, no less.

He placed them before Alex instead of giving them to him directly.

“Bring out the blood.”

Alex nodded and cut into his palm before the man. Rockcrust stared at Alex with a confused look on his face, not understanding what he was doing. He couldn’t see what reason Alex could have to bleed himself in this situation.

“Err…” Strongclaw spoke behind him. “You need to use a dragon’s blood. Yours won’t work.”

Alex smiled. “It should work.”

He poured his blood on just one of the 10 pillbugs for now. If it didn’t work, he would concentrate the blood and try again.

“Did you somehow keep the Azure Dragon’s blood inside your body?” the Insect Sage asked with a confused stare. He couldn’t see how else Alex planned to use the Azure Dragon’s blood.

“Something like that,” Alex said, explaining no further. It was unlikely the man could guess that he held the Azure Dragon’s bloodline, so he had no reason to worry.

“Well… in that case, we will know soon if it will work or not,” the Insect Sage said.

Alex looked at the pillbug but saw no sign of it working. He frowned a little, worried. “Did I fail?”

“No, it takes some time,” the Insect Sage explained. “The blood has to first seep into their scales to change color, and then the bug underneath can actually awaken.”

Alex nodded, putting away his worries for now as he looked at the bug. The pillbug had clearly rolled into a tiny pill-sized sphere, so it would have to unfold before he could see the actual bug.

’So the shell is actually dragon scale, huh?’ Alex thought curiously. It would have taken a lot of time for his thoughts to come to that conclusion on their own. He would have continued believing it belonged to some armadillo family.

“Does it become a color other than black then?” Alex asked.

“The Azure Dragon’s blood would make its scales azure,” the Insect Sage said. “I had found some blood from the Winterborn Dragon family of the Twin Scar Realm, and so the ones I awakened were light blue. The Beast God also used Azure Dragon’s blood. If the Dragon Turtle’s corpse still held blood, it would have been so much easier, honestly. But since it doesn’t, there’s nothing else we can do.”

“There should have been more dragon bloods, right?” Alex asked.

“There have been a few, of which only two had worked. One was green dragon blood and the other one was red. They were apparently blood from some strong dragon family that existed in the past, but since there was no follow-up blood in our cases, we couldn’t continue.”

Alex nodded. He could understand how difficult it was.

“How do I make them mine?” he asked. “I don’t have to bond with them, right?”

“No, it’s simpler. All you have to—” He paused for a second, his eyes turning to the single pillbug that had been bled on. “Look! It’s changing color.”

The black scale suddenly grew lighter in color as it all changed.

The three of them watched with quite a bit of expectation, waiting for the scale to become azure.

But the Dragon-Blooded Pillbug never became azure. Instead, it turned a different color altogether.

“That’s not right,” the Insect Sage said, getting closer to the bug to look at it clearly. “Why did it suddenly become a golden pillbug?”