Stormterror's Lair remained as blustery as ever. With Dvalin having flown to the central high tower, the storms here were even more ferocious than before.
However, these storms were nothing to Yu Jin and Lanssangx. The two successfully entered Stormterror's Lair.
"Alright, let's go! I'm counting on you!" Yu Jin patted Lanssangx's shoulder and pointed towards the high tower, which was Dvalin's temporary nest!
Lanssangx looked around. It was similar to the outskirts of Farum Azula; the ceaseless storms constantly grazed her body, giving her a familiar feeling.
She never expected to find such a great place for a free massage in this world. How lucky!
"It seems that fellow named Dvalin is having a rough time!" Lanssangx exclaimed after taking in Stormterror's Lair.
She could tell that the winds here were unusual. A malicious lingering resentment stirred the air, making the winds unhealthy; prolonged exposure would lead to illness.
Moreover, this was a human ruin. Dragons in The Lands Between were unwilling to use human ruins as their nests.
"Boom!" Amidst the howling winds, red lightning exploded!
A colossal shadow enveloped Yu Jin; it was Lanssangx, who had revealed her dragon form.
"Wait for my good news, King!" Lanssangx flapped her wings and flew, her dragon wings dispersing the chaotic air currents, transforming them into the power for the giant dragon to soar into the Sky.
Yu Jin watched Lanssangx's gradually shrinking figure, his anticipation growing. What kind of sparks would fly between dragons from two worlds?
...The top of the high tower in Stormterror's Lair was an eye of the storm, and within it was a Domain. Dvalin resided in that Domain.
The Domain at the top of Stormterror's Lair's high tower was filled with endless storms. The entire Domain was within a massive eye of the storm. Dense Anemo element power dyed the background of the Domain in vast patches of blue-green.
But in this unending storm, crescent-shaped stone platforms emerged from the dark green below the eye of the storm, standing firm.
These platforms seemed to have undergone special treatment, remaining intact even in such violent gales.
Unfortunately, Dvalin, lying on the platform, didn't care about any of this. He only knew that it was quiet and spacious enough for him to rest for a while.
"Hoo—" Dvalin exhaled a turbid breath, his back aching in waves. From time to time, various negative emotions relentlessly drilled into his mind.
"Roar!" Dvalin's originally indigo dragon eyes were stained with a hint of scarlet. He angrily scratched the platform ground with his dragon claws.
Restless Anemo element power emanated from his body, and small storms whipped up around him.
However, neither the scratching of his dragon claws nor the restless Anemo element left any marks on the platform.
This was one of the reasons Dvalin secluded himself in Stormterror's Lair—it was tough enough to withstand his attacks when he went berserk.
The sound of dragon claws scraping on the rock continued for a long time. Finally, the scarlet in Dvalin's eyes receded, and his thoughts stabilized.
Dvalin collapsed on the platform. He didn't know why he was still fighting the poisonous blood; Mondstadt had clearly forgotten him.
The Abyss Mages said he didn't need to resist the poisonous blood; they could turn it into power. Then he would be stronger, and there would be no more pain or resentment.
But Dvalin had not agreed to them, and he couldn't say why.
The corrosion of the poisonous blood was deepening. Before, it was just pain; now, it was beginning to corrode his spirit. Perhaps, as those Abyss Mages said, embracing the Abyss was the best choice.
Dvalin's dragon eyes looked towards Mondstadt, his heart a mix of emotions. He extended a dragon claw, which held the ancient dragon smithing stone Yu Jin had originally intended to give him.
The tiny dragon scale brought him the only joy he had since waking up. In it, he saw a completely different scene.
Dragons, humans, and beasts lived together in a huge city, indistinguishable from each other.
Dragons would transform into human forms, imparting knowledge unknown to him to humans and beasts. Humans and beasts were always competing: knights would vie with werewolves to see who was stronger, human priests would compare with beast sages to see whose Prayer was faster, more numerous... Dvalin put away the ancient dragon smithing stone and looked up. Perhaps he still had a third path to choose, which was to seek the place reflected in the scale, but where was that place?
Dvalin didn't know; he had been a lone dragon since his birth, and the only Durin he had ever seen was a complete madman.
If he really found that place, could he fit in? Dvalin looked at the feathers on his body and his green skin, and couldn't help but shrink his body.
The dragons there seemed to be either white or earthy gray; none were green like him.
Just as Dvalin was worried about whether he could fit into Farum Azula, a colossal aura suddenly intruded from the eye of the storm at the entrance of the Domain.
Then Dvalin saw a white dragon head poke in from the eye of the storm.
"Is there a dragon here?" Lanssangx pretended not to see Dvalin, looking around and asking.
"Yes, yes, yes!" A slightly hoarse voice came from Dvalin, and he looked at Lanssangx somewhat reservedly.
It was a being identical to the giant dragon reflected in the scale, and also a being utterly different from him.
"Then I'm coming in." Lanssangx was not as reserved as Dvalin; she walked in generously from the eye of the storm, slowly descending onto the platform.
"Cough, cough!" Lanssangx took a deep breath, and the dense Anemo element power seized the opportunity to surge into her body, making her cough a few times.
It was then that Lanssangx realized how overbearing the power called 'element' in this world was.
They swirled around Lanssangx, trying to corrode her body. However, the scales of an Ancient Dragon were almost immortal, and the corrosion of the element was very limited.
But this still made Lanssangx very uncomfortable; it was as if countless drills were constantly boring into her skin. It was destined to be futile but irritating enough.
Lanssangx looked at Dvalin, a dragon she had never seen before. Green, scaleless—this resembled a wyvern, but he also had four wings, which was peculiar.
"Don't you feel uncomfortable here?" Lanssangx asked, looking at the two dark purple blood clots protruding from Dvalin's back and then at the dense element power around them.
"I'm alright." Dvalin carefully observed his kin opposite him, his eyes full of curiosity. This was the first time he had seen another intelligent dragon, and curiosity had already overcome the pain brought by the poisonous blood.
Dvalin looked at the neatly arranged, rock-like scales on Lanssangx's body, and then at her two folded wings behind her, and inexplicably extended his dragon claw.
He wanted to see if Lanssangx's scales were the same type as the scale in his hand, and he wanted to feel if his kin in front of him was truly as solid and heavy as rock.
"Greeting a lady so casually would get you beaten where we come from." Although Lanssangx said this, she actively extended her dragon claw and shook Dvalin's.
Unfortunately, Ancient Dragons have poker faces, otherwise Lanssangx would surely have given Dvalin a brilliant smile.
Two sets of giant claws, capable of easily crushing houses, were now incredibly gentle. Neither party was sure of the other's strength, so they held back a lot when shaking hands.
Dvalin felt the expected weightiness, but also an unexpected smoothness.
Lanssangx, on the other hand, looked at Dvalin's dragon claw in surprise. What she felt in her hand was not the softness of a wyvern, nor the hardness of an Ancient Dragon, but roughness.
It was then that Lanssangx discovered that Dvalin did have scales on his hands. However, the mottled scratches on those scales, and the savagely broken dragon claws, together made Dvalin's hand incredibly rough to the touch.
"It's not good to just bite off your claws when they get too long." Lanssangx looked at Dvalin, who had retracted his claws, then said cheerfully, "So, I'll teach you how to trim your nails!"
Dvalin looked up and saw that Lanssangx had, he didn't know when, acquired a huge and peculiar pair of scissors in her hand.
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