"By the way, Headmaster, whose record was that—yours?"
"No, I never take any tests." Angers answered patiently, though he wondered why Cheng Sui had asked.
"Why not?"
Angers rubbed the counter as he watched the numbers Cheng Sui had produced on the screen. "Because I'm afraid."
"Afraid? Never thought there was something you feared, Headmaster."
"I'm afraid of learning my limits, afraid of discovering there are things I simply can't do. I'm the undertaker of the dragon race—I can't be someone with limits."
"Right now you feel like Neo from The Matrix, Headmaster—when he believes he can do something, he can, even stop bullets."
"Stop bullets?" Angers smiled. He hadn't seen The Matrix, but inside the zone of Time Zero even bullets slowed to a snail's pace.
Cheng Sui shrugged. "In that universe most people around Neo are simulated data. If you're Neo, Headmaster, maybe I'm just a string of code."
"I'm old; the protagonist of this story will be you or Caesar—Chu Zihang has a chance too—but not me."
Angers snapped his fingers, and three or four brawny men wheeled an instrument in through the stadium side gate.
Cheng Sui eyed the men whose arms were thicker than his thighs. "What are these WWE-champion look-alikes for? Is there a wrestling event in the fitness test?"
"They're from the Campus Services Department, mostly ex-Navy-SEALs recruited by Cassell College after discharge to handle odd jobs around campus." Angers waved to the men.
"Former Royal Marine, Nivad Stafford, reporting." The lead giant saluted, his biceps bulging like footballs.
"All right, let's get on with the test; I have a flight to London this afternoon." Angers returned the salute.
"Yes, Headmaster."
Stafford directed the others to wheel the device in front of Cheng Sui.
It was a one-cubic-metre machine; through its brass frame one could see intricate gears and a complex Alchemy Array Diagram. On top was an armrest.
"This is…?" Cheng Sui stared at the contraption that looked straight out of the steam age.
"A Cassell-designed blood extractor. It was created to preserve dragon blood—you know how unstable it is; once exposed to air it reacts violently, chemically, elementally, even spiritually." Angers patted the machine. "So the Equipment Department built this to draw and store dragon blood samples."
"Has it ever been used before?"
"No—you're the first."
A bad feeling struck Cheng Sui; he instinctively stepped back from the device.
"The Equipment Department didn't stuff an alchemy bomb in there, did they?"
"They shouldn't have. Though they love risky weapon mods, they're reliable with lab equipment… I think." Angers rubbed his chin.
Could you please not say something so dangerous in such an uncertain tone!
Cheng Sui complained inwardly, then, after fierce internal debate, walked toward the machine.
Seeing him approach, Stafford and the other campus-service men stepped back in unison, watching him with admiration, as if bidding farewell to a soldier marching knowingly to his death.
Angers' expression turned grave as he watched Cheng Sui step forward.
If he really is a Dragon King, what should I do?
Feeling the folding knife in his sleeve, Angers drifted into a daze.
It had been years since he'd met a student like Cheng Sui; in the boy he saw reflections of many people.
Mennecker, Lu Shanyan—shadows of old friends flickered in him.
Angers gave a self-mocking smile.
You're really getting old, Angers—now you even hesitate over such thoughts.
He caressed the knife in his sleeve, eyes sharpening.
If Cheng Sui truly is a dragon, he would slit the boy's throat without hesitation!
Unaware the Headmaster had already "killed" him once, Cheng Sui nervously placed his arm on the device.
Click!
The precise mechanism whirred; the instant his arm touched the machine two alloy clamps snapped out and locked it in place.
This is supposed to be a blood draw? Feels more like an execution.
Had the system not told him Angers' favor toward him, Cheng Sui would've suspected this was a trap to immobilise him.
A sharp prick—his wrist—then a slender needle sprang out and pierced it.
Crimson blood was drawn; the moment it left his body it entered the field formed by the alchemy array, flowed along tubing, and finally collected in a thumb-sized quartz vial.
Watching the bright-red blood, Angers felt a quiet relief.
The senior dragonslayer's experience told him such gentle blood couldn't belong to a dragon.
But that was only his personal judgement; the final verdict would wait for the lab results.
The extraction proceeded slowly—every drop was channelled into a specific alchemical zone, transported through layers, and only then pooled into the container.
"Headmaster, if blood samples can test lineage, why do we still need the 3E Exam?" Cheng Sui asked while watching his blood drip into the tube.
"Seems your Dragon Biology grades weren't very good."
Cheng Sui scratched his head; he'd nearly failed the course and only passed thanks to the professor's mercy.
"Blood tests can measure draconic-gene content, but that's unrelated to lineage rating—it's a matter of quantity versus quality. Lineage rating chiefly reflects purity," Angers explained. "A classic example: a rampaging Hybrid has more dragon than human genes, yet his rating stays the same—so rampaging Hybrids still come in Classes A, B, C, etc."
"A similar case appears in Japan: as descendants of the White King, their dragon blood carries a psychic element, letting them handle more of it, but that doesn't necessarily make them stronger—they may have very low draconic purity."
Cheng Sui nodded; he probably belonged to the type with both low content and low purity.