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*****
The evolution of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was essentially synonymous with his own growth in power. Feny checked the time, rose, and opened a portal to his training grounds in the Himalayas, where he summoned the dragon.
"Roar!"
Upon appearing, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon let out a low roar at Feny. Although it hadn't yet birthed a conscious mind, some primal instinct seemed to make it unhappy about having been cooped up for so long.
Feny flew into the air and gave its neck a consoling pat, smiling. "Sorry, sorry. I've been a bit busy lately and didn't look after you properly."
The dragon let out a soft hiss—it was hard to tell if it understood and was responding, or just venting. Feny didn't mind; he had a gut feeling that as it continued to evolve, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon would one day develop true intelligence.
Next, Feny began his routine. He practiced his Breathing Technique while simultaneously summoning and feeding Violet's Special Fried Chicken Rolls to the dragon.
Despite his long-term efforts, he still couldn't fully integrate the Breathing Technique into his daily life as a passive state; he still had to activate it consciously. However, the practice wasn't without merit. At the very least, during combat, he only needed to dedicate a small fraction of his focus to maintain the breathing rhythm.
He spent over three hours feeding the dragon—consuming what was essentially a month's worth of rations for the Kamar-Taj sorcerers—until the Blue-Eyes White Dragon finally reached its evolutionary threshold. A hazy white light enveloped its body, and the evolution began under the night sky.
"Roar!"
The process was swift. Feny delightedly observed the changes in the now four-star dragon. Its body had grown another size larger. The originally snow-white scales now shimmered with a faint, translucent fluorescence under the moonlight, appearing even more brilliant and polished.
Feny suspected this evolution might have bolstered the dragon's scale defense. Looking at the jade-like scales, he actually felt a bit hesitant to test them. Ultimately, he summoned the longsword from Incursio and gave it a few prods, followed by several low-power Explosion Magic blasts.
As expected, it didn't leave a scratch. It wasn't until he gradually increased the force—even going as far as a full-strength thrust with his sword without activating the Breathing Technique—that he managed to leave a faint mark on the scales.
While the defensive boost exceeded his expectations, he was disappointed to find that the four-star evolution hadn't granted any new skills.
He tested other attributes; speed and strength had improved, though not as significantly as the defense. After the testing, Feny began to wonder if he should try feeding the Tesseract to the dragon. After a moment of internal struggle, he gritted his teeth and decided to give it a go.
Returning to his room to retrieve the Tesseract, Feny even offered a threat to the cube before feeding it:
"I know you lot possess sentience. I haven't settled the score for you teleporting me against my will last time, so it's not too much to ask for a bit of energy now, right? Your energy is infinite anyway."
The Tesseract remained as cold and aloof as ever, ignoring him. Feny snorted and said no more. Looking at the Blue-Eyes White Dragon before him, he tossed the Tesseract into its mouth.
The dragon swallowed the pale blue cube in one gulp. Feny waited tensely. Seven seconds later, before a smile could even form on his face, the dragon let out a whimper and opened its mouth wide, spitting the cube back out completely intact.
Though he had expected this outcome, Feny was still slightly disappointed. Looking at the Tesseract on the ground, now covered in dragon saliva, he picked it up with a huff and wiped it clean, grumbling:
"Stingy, all of you. Just you wait. Thirty years East, thirty years West; don't look down on a youth just because he's poor. One day, when I'm stronger, you'll regret this."
The Tesseract still didn't react.
However, as Feny finished wiping it down, he suddenly noticed a series of tiny hairline fractures appearing on the glass-like surface. He froze.
The Tesseract was the vessel for the Space Stone; more accurately, it was a physical layer designed to suppress and contain the Stone's power. Without a sufficiently powerful body, one cannot easily touch an Infinity Stone. Feny felt this was also a standard by which the Stones chose their users—much like the sacrifice required for the Soul Stone.
The underlying message was essentially: You're too weak, don't touch me!
Looking at the minute cracks, Feny felt a twinge of worry. He wasn't sure if his current self was qualified to touch the Space Stone directly. After all, back on Vormir, the Soul Stone had deemed him too weak to wield it.
Studying the cracks, Feny guessed it was because of the feeding attempt. While the dragon hadn't absorbed the Space Stone's power, it seemed to have siphoned a sliver of energy from the outer casing, leading to this instability.
"It looks like I'll have to find a way to pay them a visit."
Feny frowned, pondering a solution. Since the cracks had formed, the structure was no longer stable; the cube could shatter at any moment. Once the Tesseract vessel was gone, he would need a new one. There weren't many things on Earth capable of withstanding the power of an Infinity Stone, but Feny happened to know of one.
Wakandan Vibranium.
This metal was top-tier even in a galactic context, so it should be able to serve as a vessel for the Space Stone. However, Wakanda was extremely isolationist, and because of the "Panther Goddess," he had always wanted to avoid contact. Given the current situation, he had to find an opportunity to go.
The thought of how to convince them to hand over Vibranium gave Feny a headache. With that "Mother Leopard" there, he didn't want to start with threats of force. But if they absolutely refused, Feny had other ways; he remembered there was a small amount of Vibranium circulating on the black market. If all else failed, he'd just have HYDRA track it down and buy it.
The next day, Feny woke up and instinctively went to check his class schedule, only to remember he had graduated. He walked into the living room to find Skye actually awake and not sleeping in for once. She greeted him with a smile: "Morning! How's the first day of post-grad life feeling?"
"It's alright," Feny replied lazily, sitting at the dining table and summoning a few fried chicken rolls for breakfast.
"Any plans for what's next?" Skye sat beside him, grabbing a roll and asking curiously between bites.
"Yeah, a lot to handle. It's going to be a bit busy."
Feny nodded. Between his eighth skill draw and the deteriorating Tesseract, he had his work cut out for him. The power of an Infinity Stone was too immense; if not handled correctly, the resulting catastrophe would be far too great.
(End of Chapter)