The brightly lit study was quiet and serene.
Occasionally, the sound of pages turning could be heard.
Sunan sat behind the desk, engrossed in reading books.
In the invisible void unseen by others, prompts of magic learning progress occasionally flashed.
He had already successfully mastered the [Shield Skill].
Currently, he was learning [Charm Humans], and the progress bar had already exceeded 90%. In another two or three days, he would successfully master it.
However, after that, he had no more spells available to learn.
"Although I entrusted the Fire Fox Chamber of Commerce with this, it's not that easy to find a suitable Tier One Magic. I wonder how things are progressing?"
Sunan closed the book, muttering to himself.
Suddenly, a change in expression swept over him. He looked up at the doorway, a hint of a smile appearing on his face.
"Where have you run off to again? Didn't cause any trouble, did you?"
"Hissss!"
A raspy sound was the response he got.
As if lifting an invisible curtain, a giant lizard appeared near the door, wagging its head at Sunan.
Perhaps from being caged for too long before, once set free, Hidden Dragon had completely let loose, running around the inner fort every day.
Fortunately, it had perfect camouflage and a real-to-illusion transformation ability, preventing any panic.
To this day, no one had noticed its presence, including Kei, a Grand Knight.
Sunan couldn't help but marvel at his extraordinary luck, having his first magical pet awaken such a powerful ability.
In terms of sheer physical strength, Hidden Dragon was only at the level of a Junior Grand Knight.
But coupled with its camouflage and real-to-illusion transformation capabilities, even a Senior Grand Knight could easily fall prey to Hidden Dragon's ambush.
Furthermore, there was significant potential for enhancing Hidden Dragon's physical strength.
The reason lay in its internal bloodline of the Dragon Lizard.
According to the information from the Magic Cube, the concentration of Dragon Lizard bloodline in Hidden Dragon's body was currently only 18.35%.
If its Dragon Lizard bloodline concentration could be increased, it would naturally strengthen Hidden Dragon's power significantly.
"Increasing bloodline concentration..."
A thoughtful look flashed through Sunan's eyes.
He had tried giving Hidden Dragon the Dragon Blood Potion, but the effect was negligible.
Although the Dragon Blood Potion contained components of Sub-Dragon blood, its effect had been modified to enhance physique. Even if Hidden Dragon took it, it couldn't increase the bloodline concentration, at most only slightly enhancing its physique.
After contemplating for a long while, Sunan decided to take a different path and directly perform a blood transfusion for Hidden Dragon.
With the synthesis Magic Cube, he could extract Dragon Lizard blood from Hidden Dragon, synthesize it into a higher-grade Sub-Dragon blood, and then inject it back into Hidden Dragon, thus achieving the goal of a blood transfusion.
By repeating the process of blood extraction, synthesis advancement, and transfusion, Hidden Dragon's bloodline could be continuously enhanced!
It's worth a try!
"Isn't this kind of like exploiting a glitch?" Sunan mused humorously.
Of course, this process would undoubtedly be quite lengthy.
After all, the volume of synthesized blood would drastically reduce, and transfusing it back into Hidden Dragon wouldn't compensate for the extracted blood; Hidden Dragon would have to generate new blood to recover.
Therefore, blood transfusions could only be carried out periodically.
As for extracting blood from Black-scaled Lizardman captives, not only would the synthesized blood be negligible, the rejection between different individual bloods alone would make the blood transfusion surgery more difficult and risky, which was enough to dissuade Sunan from this idea.
Regardless, the feasibility of blood transfusion seemed quite high, and Sunan felt it was worth trying.
"Just in time, the biological transformation level has been upgraded to Level 2 recently; performing a blood transfusion surgery shouldn't be difficult."
Under Sunan's bright gaze, Hidden Dragon, sprawling on the ground, shivered violently, recalling the fear of being subjected to blood extraction before.
...
Deep into the night.
The silver moon hung high in the sky, casting down a veil-like moonlight.
In the darkness, two figures silently climbed over the wall and sneaked into the courtyard.
Looking at the tranquil courtyard, the two exchanged glances filled with some confusion.
How could there not even be a single guard at the residence of the Black Stone City Lord's brother?
Could the defenses of the Black Stone City's inner fort really be so lax?
If the guards were similarly lackluster at the other target's location, their assassination mission this time would be much easier.
After a brief eye communication, the two men clad in night suits pressed against the handles of their swords, moving in unison towards the corridor deeper within the courtyard.
According to the spies' information, Sunan rarely allowed servants into the courtyard, so it was unknown which room he usually slept in. They would have to search each room one by one.
Luckily, there were no guards here, and they didn't have to worry about the prolonged search being discovered.
Under the cover of night, their actions were extremely smooth, without encountering any hindrance.
But for some reason, a sense of unease lingered in their hearts, a chilly sensation creeping down their spines, as if some danger was watching them.
But a look around revealed no one in sight.
Assuming they were being overly cautious, the two shook their heads, quelling the strange feelings in their hearts, and continued their infiltration.
Moving through the courtyard, they finally reached the front of the corridor.
Seeing the tightly closed door deep in the corridor, the two simultaneously clenched the handles of their swords, silently and deftly drawing the longswords sheathed at their waists.
But just as they drew their swords, the sense of unease within them suddenly amplified, and a freezing cold shot up their spines.
In that instant, both were seized with an overwhelming sense of mortal fear.
Years of rich combat experience left them without a moment's hesitation, and they sprang deftly to the sides.
However, the man on the right had only leaped three or four meters when his body suddenly froze in mid-air, his chest erupting with arched bullet holes, and his head and feet twisted at a strange, unnatural angle.
The other assassin, landing on the ground and standing stead, raised his head and saw this scene, his pupils contracting to the size of pinpoints.
The luminous moonlight pierced through the spattering mist of blood, faintly illuminating a massive beast, more than ten meters long, its body covered with scales and standing four-legged.
Its mouth, brimming with sharp teeth, was firmly gripping his comrade, blood trickling down the twitching body.
Clearly, his companion was beyond saving.
"By the Star God, what is this monster?!"
The man gasped, drawing a sharp breath.
He'd witnessed ferocious exotic beasts before, but a monster like this, more than ten meters long and capable of hiding so that the two knights didn't notice its presence, was unheard of!
Thud!
The monster spat out the corpse with a hiss, its massive body gradually disappearing into the moonlight.
The man's scalp tingled with fear; without hesitation, he turned and sprinted, reaching the wall in the blink of an eye, preparing to leap over.
But the next second, he was abruptly hit by an invisible force, like getting struck by a high-speed flying boulder, his bones cracking with a "crack...", and he was sent flying over ten meters away, crashing to the ground.
Despite the severe blow, the man wouldn't give up. Spitting out blood and flesh, he struggled to get up and escape, but then felt his body pinned down as if something was pressed against his back.
The next second, a wave of excruciating pain surged through him, drowning his consciousness.