Chapter 64: Shocking! The Mighty Dragon King Actually...

While the outside world was churning with undercurrents because of a whistleblowing letter written by Leon, he was hiding in his temporary residence, tinkering with the alchemy he had previously obtained from Flamel.

Earlier, in order to grind the level of his [Craftsman Apprentice (Alchemy)], he had only skimmed through it roughly, focusing specifically on mastering the method for smelting ordinary alchemical bullets.

Other items, such as alchemical swords and blades, had not yet been studied in detail.

However, after a few days of research, he had roughly figured out how alchemical weapons in the Dragon World worked.

Simply put, it involved killing the metal and then imbuing it with new attributes.

Yet, due to the varying skill levels of alchemists, many failed right at the first step; and even among those who completed the first step, the vast majority were incapable of truly killing the metal.

"If I remember correctly, the Seven Deadly Sins were forged by Norton after he completely killed the metal and imbued it with new attributes, right?"

"If the Seven Deadly Sins are what you call conceptual armaments..."

"Doesn't that mean all weapons in this world are prototypes of conceptual armaments?"

"No, no, no, it shouldn't be that simple."

Thinking of Norton's Seven Deadly Sins—which possessed special efficacy against Dragon Kings—along with Odin's Gungnir that never missed, Leon touched his chin and fell into deep thought.

According to his speculation, the power Norton used to completely kill the metal was most likely the heaven and earth acting as a furnace.

That first step presented no problem for him; even if his current strength was not yet sufficient, as his mental fortitude and lineage continued to improve, he would eventually reach that stage one day.

The difficulty lay entirely in the second step.

Unfortunately, the materials provided by Flamel contained no methods on how to imbue new attributes.

"I still need to find a way to learn a trick or two from Norton."

After pondering for a while without coming to any conclusion, Leon temporarily buried his doubts deep in his mind.

"Speaking of which, it's already been two days since I posted the commission; why hasn't Old Tang shown up yet?"

"Am I really hiding that well?"

Just as he was thinking this, a commotion suddenly erupted outside the house, and the door was rudely shoved open.

Immediately following that, a young man with an awkward smile on his face walked stiffly into the room, trailing right behind him were several scruffy youths pointing guns at him.

"H-Hello, you must be Kennedy, right? I'm Ronald Tang."

The young man introduced himself in a dry, stilted tone.

Leon looked at the scene unfolding before him with a bewildered expression.

*What on earth is going on? The mighty King of Bronze and Fire has actually been taken hostage?!*

After such a thought flashed through his mind, Leon suddenly burst out laughing. It had to be said that people truly do laugh when they reach an extreme state of speechlessness.

Seeing his reaction, the few street punks immediately treated him as if they were facing a formidable enemy, shouting in extremely tense voices: "Asshole! Your friend is in our hands now. You better hurry up and crawl over here to beg for mercy!"

The gang members in the Monterrey slums had suffered because of Leon for a long time. Having finally run into a foreigner asking about this fierce star today, they naturally mistook him for the fellow's good friend.

Of course they were not going to let go of such a great opportunity; this was the absolute best chance to take down that terrifying star!

Meanwhile, Leon was somewhat curious about what would happen if he just left Old Tang to his own devices.

Would he be shot dead on the spot, or would the Dragon King awaken?

Unfortunately, that did not align with his interests. Norton could wake up, but not now—he had not yet obtained what he wanted.

Seeing that Leon remained motionless for a long time, cruel expressions appeared on the faces of the gang punks, and they immediately prepared to shoot and break one of the young man's legs as intimidation.

However, before they could even pull the trigger, Leon had already appeared right beside them.

Then, the group of punks collapsed onto the ground without making the slightest sound.

Looking at the thugs sprawled all around him, Old Tang first let out a sigh of relief, which was immediately followed by a breakout of cold sweat.

He finally understood why the moment he mentioned the name Kennedy, this bunch of punks had immediately grabbed him.

This employer of his did not look like a pushover at all.

Casually tossing the thugs from the floor out onto the street, Leon walked over to the table and poured a glass of water for Old Tang: "As a bounty hunter, you actually managed to get hijacked by a bunch of street punks?"

Old Tang took the glass of water and said awkwardly, "I didn't expect your popularity to be this good either. I had just barely mentioned a name, and they grabbed me."

If he had known things would turn out like this, he definitely wouldn't have done that.

After taking a sip of water to simply calm his nerves, Old Tang asked, "So, Boss, what's the next mission?"

"Are there any tombs nearby that you need me to raid?"

That's right, the task Old Tang had received most often over the years as a bounty hunter was tomb raiding. Somehow, every time, he managed to muddle his way through to the end alive and safely bring out the intelligence from within the tombs.

Most people who posted targeted commissions were aiming for tomb raiding, and in his view, Leon naturally was no exception.

Faced with Old Tang's inquiry, Leon merely waved his hand to dismiss his conjecture.

To be honest, before even laying eyes on this King of Bronze and Fire, he had always held a lingering doubt in his heart.

Since a Dragon King's blood is extremely poisonous to ordinary mortals, how on earth had Old Tang managed to handle this matter throughout all these years living the life of an ordinary person?

It couldn't possibly be that he had never bled even once, could it?

At this thought, he pulled out a thick stack of cash and said to Old Tang:

"Give me some of your blood, and this money is yours."

Looking at the banknotes in Leon's hand, Old Tang stuttered, "B-Boss, I sell my labor, not my body."

Hearing this, Leon didn't hesitate, turning his hand over to produce even more cash.

Still, he only had this much money on hand right now; if it still wasn't enough, he would simply have to go 'borrow' some more.

Who would have thought that upon seeing this, Old Tang would instantly perform a Sichuan face-changing stunt, cheerfully rolling up his sleeves without a single ounce of reluctance as he declared: "Boss, I can only draw 400cc; any more than that is bad for your health."

"..."

Are you also a mercenary who only works for extra pay?

Leon forcibly suppressed the urge to make a sarcastic remark and took out the blood-drawing kit he had prepared over the past few days.

With the assistance of [Nimble Hands], simply drawing blood was hardly a challenge for Leon.

Soon, a blood bag containing 400cc of the Dragon King's blood appeared before Leon's eyes.

From start to finish, Old Tang never asked Leon why he needed his blood.

Having been a bounty hunter for so many years, he naturally knew the golden rule: never ask what shouldn't be asked.

Besides, the employer had already paid so much money, so he wasn't getting the short end of the stick.

Thus, Old Tang simply watched as this employer tentatively poured some of the blood into a white porcelain bowl.

Yet, even he himself failed to notice that one of his pupils had subtly flickered with a pure golden light at some point, as if someone else entirely were watching the scene unfold before them.