"My... humanity?"
Durin's crimson eyes showed a hint of confusion. His mind was not yet mature, and he did not fully understand humanity.
"Hmm... you can understand it as something essential to you! Your joy, your pain, all of you, that is humanity."
Yu Jin stroked his chin, giving Durin a simple explanation of the concept of humanity.
"The ring on your chest is the hole where your humanity is lost. Strive to remain human, oh no, a dragon in every way!"
"After all, only then can you continuously save those you once harmed."
"Save, those I once harmed?" Durin repeated Yu Jin's words. His eyes grew brighter, and the light they emitted even dyed the entire factory a crimson red.
"Ang--"
Durin felt a surge of energy swirling in his chest. Following the feeling in his heart, he raised his head and let out a long dragon's roar that echoed through the clouds.
"Haha." Yu Jin covered his ears, laughing as he watched Alex and Bayeta rolling on the ground from the noise. He did not stop Durin.
Alex and Bayeta had died countless times when creating Durin's body. Even if they were deafened to death this time, it was no big deal.
However, they did not die in the end. Durin's deafening roar ultimately did not reach the point where it could directly kill someone.
When the dragon's roar ceased, Alex and Bayeta stood up. They rubbed their bleeding ears, looking at Durin in silence for a long time.
"Brother Alex, Sister Bayeta, I'm... I'm sorry!" Durin immediately pulled his head back when he saw the blood flowing from their ears.
"What? Durin, what did you say?"
"Louder! Can't hear you!"
"Durin is apologizing!"
This time Alex and Bayeta heard it. Yu Jin's words were like a good medicine, bringing sound back to their ears.
"Apologizing, oh, no need." Alex looked at Durin, who had retracted his head into his wings, and shook his head with a smile.
Despite having such a ferocious body, he made such a childish gesture. Durin was still the Durin he knew, that insecure, unloved, sensitive young dragon.
"Alex, you said... have we succeeded?" Bayeta looked at Durin's ink-black body, her voice trembling slightly.
She knew that Durin's consciousness could only exist stably thanks to Yu Jin's power, but Bayeta no longer cared about that.
In the stretched-out time, she understood many things. Bayeta clearly knew that she had done her utmost to turn that lingering resentment into a physical entity.
Bayeta was not a genius like Rhinedottir; she was just a somewhat talented teacher at the Khaenri'ah Alchemy Academy, nothing more.
To be able to create such a shocking thing with the help of a god, she felt that she had no regrets in this life.
"Hoo--, it must have succeeded. Even if you don't believe me, you have to believe in Lord Yu Jin, right?"
Alex grinned. He rubbed his shoulders, his endless overtime finally over. Next, he could return to his previous slacker days!
"Are you satisfied with just this? This is just the beginning!" Yu Jin spread his arms, simultaneously putting them around Alex's and Bayeta's necks.
"I'm already very satisfied. That I could achieve this much is all thanks to Lord Yu Jin." Bayeta felt it was inappropriate for Yu Jin to hug her like this, so she pushed him. Good, he didn't budge.
"Although I'm reluctant to admit it, the pinnacle of machinery is probably nothing more than this." Alex also nodded. The skeleton of Durin's black body was made using Khaenri'ah's mechanical technology.
Alex used all his knowledge, plus an immeasurable passage of time, to finally create a machine that could stably exist in the endless darkness.
Alex looked at Durin's body and smiled with relief.
Durin's body still glowed, and the flowing blackness seemed as if it could drip down at any moment. Although Durin's body was molded like tar, it still maintained the form of a dragon.
And what made all this possible was the faint, brownish-grey steel surrounding Durin's massive body.
Because of them, the originally flowing blackness was restricted, transforming into the shape of a dragon through continuous movement.
"Tsk tsk tsk, it seems that surpassing the path of Gold will depend on you, Durin."
Yu Jin released Alex and Bayeta, smacking his lips as he spoke.
"Surpassing... Rhinedottir?" Bayeta looked up.
Darkness, like a descending mountain, enveloped all of them; the pulsating blackness seemed to evoke the deepest shadows within one's heart; the crimson, ferocious dragon eyes looked as if they were bathed in blood.
Yet, the master of all this, Durin, was incredibly clear-headed. From those crimson eyes, one could even see Durin's inner confusion.
"Surpassing Rhinedottir? But why do I feel like we've already succeeded?" Bayeta smiled confidently.
She was sure that even the Golden Rhinedottir could not create a masterpiece comparable to the Durin before them!
"I tend to speak modestly." Yu Jin scratched his head, then explained, "When I say 'surpass,' I mean pinning him to the ground and rubbing him hard!"
As Yu Jin spoke, he pulled out a rag from somewhere, threw it on the ground, and rubbed it vigorously.
"That's what it means, understand?" Yu Jin moved his foot away, and the rag on the ground had already become a crumpled mess.
"This... I think I'll pass." Bayeta's spirits immediately deflated like a punctured ball after hearing Yu Jin's words.
Although the current Durin was very powerful, Bayeta felt that he was still a bit short of being able to pin Rhinedottir to the ground and rub him.
And she herself did not have the confidence to make Durin advance to a higher level.
"Sur... surpassing Mom?" Durin, upon hearing Yu Jin's words, also deflated like Bayeta.
Surpassing the mother who awakened him from the dark universe and shaped his former body?
Durin started to retract his head again. Deep down, he didn't believe he could surpass his mother, the alchemist known as "Gold."
"Durin, you kid, have a little more confidence in yourself." Yu Jin saw Durin's timid appearance and knew that his inferiority complex had flared up again.
"I remember I once told you: your body is vast enough to carry the eyes of countless people."
Yu Jin then looked up at the Burning Dark Ring on Durin's chest and continued:
"Now I'll add: your soul is pure enough to outline the forms of countless people."
"So, Durin. You must use your lost purity to dye the darkness on your body. This is what you must do, and it is your atonement."
"When the blackness on your body completely turns pure white, then go find Gold!"
"With your purity, bearing the faces of countless people, question everything about her!"
As Yu Jin spoke, he gestured excitedly. It seemed he still had some Talent for public speaking. What he said made even him want to find Rhinedottir and give him a good interrogation.
Why give birth but not raise? Why release Durin knowing he was in this monstrous state? Why abandon Albedo... If he couldn't answer one question, he'd get a slap.
Watching Yu Jin punch with his left hand and slap with his right, Durin blinked his crimson eyes.
He had been with Yu Jin, Alex, and Bayeta for a long time. Alex absolutely couldn't be disturbed when tinkering with machines, Bayeta didn't like strong light... Durin had figured out all these things. But only with Yu Jin, Durin knew nothing.
Yu Jin seemed to like everything, and yet nothing.
For example, right now, Durin didn't know what Yu Jin was doing.
Feeling the gazes of Alex and the other two, Yu Jin finally reined himself in. He pretended to cough and said to Durin:
"Do you know what I meant by those words?"
Durin shook his head. What pure white, what faces of countless people, he was a bit confused.
"Actually, it just means to bring all the people you saved with you when you meet your mother."
"A group of people arguing with one person, if you still can't win the argument, don't come back to me!"
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