"Daddy?"
Hearing that word, Xia Zhi froze for a moment before chuckling helplessly.
He shook his head and said, "I'm not your dad."
Durin lowered her massive head, those shining eyes fixed on him, her tone unusually serious. "You are Daddy."
"Why?"
"Mom gave me my first life, so she's Mom. Daddy gave me my second life, so you're Daddy."
The "Mom" she referred to was the one who summoned countless Abyssal creatures and birthed Durin into this world.
It was the voice Xia Zhi had heard chanting in the darkness when he first entered Durin's dream.
Most likely Rhinedottir, an alchemist deeply entwined with the cataclysm that struck Khaenri'ah five hundred years ago.
And if you looked at it through Durin's rather… innocent logic, Xia Zhi did indeed grant her a second life—so calling him "Daddy" wasn't entirely wrong.
"Thank you, Daddy."
"For giving me wings to fly again."
"For giving me a strong body again."
"I'm so happy."
Durin joyfully spread her enormous wings.
The blood cocoon that had nurtured her cracked apart, the fragments scattering across the snowy field like falling petals, transforming into a multitude of crimson crystals.
Xia Zhi raised his hand, and one of the nearby crimson shards floated into his palm.
It was a [Crimson Agate], far more potent than the standard [Scarlet Quartz], imbued with a richer, deeper blessing.
But for Xia Zhi, now donning the identity of [Vampire Progenitor], this thing was basically a giant piece of popcorn.
He rolled the crystal between his fingers, then stored it in his inventory. Pulling out the [Temporary Certificate], he rewrote it with [Angel of Interstice], overwriting his previous identity.
Once equipped, the bloodthirsty urges tied to the vampire persona faded away.
Xia Zhi looked up toward the sky and called out in monster tongue: "Durin."
"Daddy."
She swooped down from above, bowing her massive head before him.
"Do we need to form a contract?"
"Yeah. Don't worry—it's just some standard conditions."
Xia Zhi raised a hand, channeling divine contract magic, and pressed it gently against her scaly forehead.
He could feel the cold, hard texture of her scales… and the toxic Abyssal aura still clinging faintly to her being.
"First, you must never speak of what happened here today."
"Okay!"
"Second, you're not allowed to run off without telling me."
"Okay!"
"Third, you…"
The terms of this contract were much stricter than the ones he'd made with his cousins
Sure, those two liked to stir up a little mischief, but they knew boundaries—they wouldn't cause any real disasters.
Durin, however… as innocent as she was, her understanding of the world didn't quite line up with normal people's.
Things she found beautiful could be literal doomsday-level threats to everyone else.
Even now, after dropping to platinum-tier, she was still a walking natural disaster.
He couldn't just let her roam free.
The contract was sealed.
Xia Zhi withdrew his hand and felt the presence of a new contractual link forming in his mind.
Durin sensed the warmth of his palm leaving her forehead and asked softly, "That's it, Daddy?"
Xia Zhi nodded. "That's it. Now we can move on to the next step."
Durin tilted her head. "Next… step?"
"You haven't learned how to take human form yet, have you?"
"Nope!" she replied earnestly.
"In that case, let's take care of that first."
Xia Zhi opened the [Shop] and found a transcendent item he'd purchased a few days ago.
[Transformation Pill]
Quality: Gold
Type: Consumable
Trait: Shapeshifting
Effect: Allows monster-type creatures to immediately enter human form.
Hidden Effect: Transformation is entirely painless.
Price: 500 points.
He bought it. A small bottle appeared in his hand.
He popped it open and tipped out a plain-looking pill.
"Here, open wide."
"Okay."
Durin obediently opened her mouth—it was huge, like a shadowy abyss.
Xia Zhi flicked the pill into her maw.
"This'll help you take on human form. You should transform shortly after swallowing it."
"Mhm!"
And so, dragon and human waited together.
Ten minutes passed.
But nothing happened.
"Durin, do you feel anything strange?"
"Nope! I'm fine, Daddy!"
So… the pill didn't work.
But Durin was a monster-type… Cloud Retainer had no problem with it last time…
Xia Zhi thought for a moment and checked Durin's platinum-tier progress bar in his god's eye.
Maybe it was a tier issue.
The original [Transformation Pill] was gold-tier. Cloud Retainer had also been gold-tier when she used it, which made sense.
Durin, however, had once been diamond-tier and only recently fell to platinum—still a tier above Cloud Retainer.
So the pill likely wasn't effective at her current level.
To test the theory, Xia Zhi opened the [Shop] again, bought another [Transformation Pill], then headed over to the [Evolution] tab.
He placed the pill in the interface and evolved it into a new version.
[Transformation Pill]
Quality: Platinum
Type: Consumable
Traits: Shapeshifting, Blessing
Effect: Allows a monster-type being to instantly enter human phase and grants a random talent.
Hidden Effect: Transformation is entirely painless.
Recyclable: 1000 Points
Let's give it another shot.
Xia Zhi retrieved the upgraded pill—this time, it glowed with dazzling iridescence.
"Here, open wide."
"Okay."
Durin once again opened her massive abyss of a mouth.
He tossed the pill inside.
A few minutes later, a wave of black light began to shine from her body.
She started to feel sleepy.
"Daddy… I'm so tired…"
"Then sleep. I'll watch over you."
"Mmm…"
Durin closed her eyes, curling her wings in tightly around her and tucking herself into a ball.
The dark green light engulfed her completely.
As time passed, the glowing orb began to shrink.
About an hour later, it had condensed into a large egg—just over a meter tall.
Xia Zhi walked up to it, eyeing it curiously.
It really did look like the legendary dragon eggs from stories back in his original world.
At that moment, a ringtone chimed from the square device in his pocket.
He pulled it out.
It was Xia Ci calling.
"Hello?"
"Cousin! Where are you?"
"I'm outside."
"I'm outside too. How come I can't find you?"
"I went a bit farther out."
"Oh. Well, we've all finished bathing, so you can go in now."
"Got it. I'll head back soon."
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