Lu Qiuchen paid no mind to Natasha’s endless gratitude, refusing her invitation and dragging Zhang Cheng away, preparing to head toward their target.
But before that, she needed to make a detour to the High Elves’ territory, letting Zhang Cheng soak in the Elven Sacred Spring to boost his strength somewhat—at the very least, to help him complete his class change.
Once he learned the Dragon Knight’s buff skills, both of them would be comprehensively strengthened. By then, even if those few half-dragons all mobilized together, they wouldn’t be able to stir up any trouble before her.
After the battle with the half-dragon lords, Lu Qiuchen’s craving for strength had grown even fiercer.
On top of that, the upcoming trip to the Theocracy was likely to involve a fierce battle, so enhancing Zhang Cheng’s power was an urgent matter.
Lu Qiuchen’s decision was also thanks to Zhang Cheng’s recent behavior aligning with what she wanted.
Firstly, Zhang Cheng’s gaze was no longer as arrogant as before. When the two of them occasionally locked eyes, his look was clear and natural, transforming her impression of him from a dense, lecherous fool obsessed with perverse thoughts into that of a normal person.
Before, when Zhang Cheng used concern as an excuse to grope her, Lu Qiuchen never felt the guilt he claimed to have; instead, it made her feel disgusted. Their past friendship was the only thing that stopped her from snapping at that time.
But since they laid down rules between them, Zhang Cheng’s changes had restored much of her trust. Especially recently, his small actions showed genuine care toward her, and his personality had become far more restrained than before. This gave Lu Qiuchen some hope for his future behavior.
This is what a good brother should look like! Lu Qiuchen momentarily forgot that her pursuit was just a way to keep Zhang Cheng’s attention, a mere excuse to tether him.
After all, Zhang Cheng hadn’t shown any intention in that regard recently, so she hadn’t given it much thought.
“Let’s go!” Lu Qiuchen called to Zhang Cheng, transforming into her dragon form.
Amid the worship of the diminutive half-dragons, she beat her wings and soared toward the Elven Kingdom in the east.
Such a high-profile approach was, of course, part of Lu Qiuchen’s plan. She hoped the onlookers would spread the news that she had a close relationship with the half-dragons, so the half-dragon lords would understand the situation here.
*****
What Lu Qiuchen didn’t know was that inside the half-dragon alliance, united in their hatred of her, a fierce argument had just erupted, dooming her scheme to failure.
The quarrel had since died down. Now, except for the wounded Yunxi Dragon resting, several half-dragon lords had regrouped to discuss countermeasures.
“The Sky Fragment was stolen by that damned Silver Dragon, and you let her escape because of your incompetence! What are we going to tell our lord when he asks about this?” The short-tempered Fire Scythe Dragon vented his anger at the other four lords.
The Storm Half-Dragon, whose head had almost turned green with rage, retorted sharply, “I was nearly catching up! It’s only because you didn’t come to back me up that she got away!”
“You were nearly catching up? We don’t have your speed. Besides, there’s an old, weak, sickly one dragging us down here,” Tree Elder Half-Dragon sneered, pointing his blame at Frost Crystal Half-Dragon.
Frost Crystal Half-Dragon fired back on the spot: “The Silver Dragon is an expert in spatial magic. It was useless to try and stop her once she prepared to escape. What use is it that I was in good condition?”
“In the end, this all comes down to you not properly guarding the fragment!”
“Enough! Shut up!” a roar cut through the argument.
Seeing that his intimidation had some effect, the Dark Magic Dragon, who had stayed silent until now, spoke slowly, “What’s done is done. Arguing here won’t help. It looks like you all can’t be relied upon, but luckily, I still have a backup plan.”
“A backup plan?” The other dragons perked up, curiosity overtaking their anger as they listened intently.
At that moment, Fire Scythe Dragon, who had a good relationship with Dark Magic Dragon, suddenly remembered something and asked in surprise, “You didn’t use your innate skill, did you? Wouldn’t that attract the attention of the Great Dragons? If things escalate, it’ll be bad!”
The other three half-dragon lords understood immediately and cast anxious glances at Dark Magic Dragon.
Dark Magic Dragon nodded at Fire Scythe Dragon. “That’s exactly it. When she fought against six of us and didn’t fall behind, I realized we couldn’t hold her, so I used Dark Corruption on her.”
Frost Crystal Half-Dragon’s expression turned horrified at Dark Magic Dragon’s admission, and he shouted, “Damn it! Doing that will only worsen our relations with the Great Dragons! Our fate might be even worse than losing the Sky Fragment and being punished by the Dragon Lord…”
Dark Magic Dragon interrupted, unfazed by the outburst, “I know the stakes. She is the Silver Dragon, the one with the highest magic resistance among dragons. Dark Corruption’s effect works slowly, and the darkness will be obvious later on—it will lead her back to us.”
Looking disdainfully at Frost Crystal Half-Dragon, Dark Magic Dragon sneered, “By the way, this whole mess started because of you. Maybe you should think about how to compensate us.”
*****
Lu Qiuchen flew toward the Elven Kingdom with Zhang Cheng, but she gradually felt her magical power leaking out of her body at a faint pace.
The shield magic she maintained for Zhang Cheng also seemed affected, requiring more magical output than before to keep the same effect.
Shocked by this discovery, Lu Qiuchen began to examine her body thoroughly but found nothing abnormal after some time.
Still, the magic leakage continued, and this unknown anomaly finally sparked her panic.
“If only Beta’s detection results were still accessible…” Lu Qiuchen began to miss the convenience brought by the game system.
Suddenly remembering she was no longer alone, she turned back and shouted, “Zhang Cheng, something’s wrong with my body. Quickly use the system to check my status!”
Zhang Cheng, already stressed from recent events and struggling to level up on the dragon’s back, was startled.
He found her request strange, not understanding why she would break their agreement.
But seeing the urgency in her eyes, he opened the system menu and checked her current status.
After some operations, Zhang Cheng found a poison icon in Lu Qiuchen’s debuff status.
【Talent – Curse】Dark Corruption: Applies a negative effect to the current character that prevents the body from storing magical power, causing continuous loss of internal mana. This effect cannot be dispelled by magic.
Hearing Zhang Cheng read the effect aloud, Lu Qiuchen instantly panicked.
Not being able to store magical power was nearly fatal for a mage like her! She would have to draw mana directly from the outside, making it impossible to cast even a forbidden spell.
As for who had done this, the skill’s name already made it clear.
Lu Qiuchen wanted to return immediately to confront Dark Magic Dragon but then remembered his goal was simply to reclaim the Sky Fragment.
She wasn’t willing to give up the fragment, so she hesitated.
After calming down Zhang Cheng’s worry, Lu Qiuchen thought it over and finally decided to call in a big shot.
The magic loss was very slow; there was still enough time to get back to Dragon Island.
She would go to Dragon Island and ask Odyn or Gairf to handle this matter!
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