Chapter 68: Older Characters Are Simply At a Disadvantage for Appearing Too Early

"First, I need you, Old Tang, to help me perform a blood transfusion using Constantine's embryonic blood."

Upon hearing just Leon's opening sentence, Old Tang's brows instantly knitted tightly together.

Setting aside whether this operation was even feasible, he could already think of two major hazards simply off the top of his head.

First, using Constantine's embryonic blood would undoubtedly impact the latter's condition. Second, if successful, there was a possibility that Constantine's status and authority might be usurped by the half-blood standing right before him.

Neither of these two hazards could be taken lightly.

Yet before Old Tang could voice his refusal, he heard Leon speak up once more. "If you are concerned, you can handle the specific procedures yourself, and the location can even be set right here in the Bronze City."

"Besides, if you want me to take Constantine's place, some risks must be taken, wouldn't you agree?"

Truth be told, even if Leon were to attempt it himself, he currently lacked the capability to pull off such high-end operations.

Apart from Norton, the only living individuals in this world capable of performing such advanced alchemical feats were probably Flamel from the Secret Party and that ancient schemer, Odin.

Clearly, the latter two would not be lending Leon a helping hand.

Hearing this, Old Tang could not help but fall silent.

Seeing this, Leon did not press him, merely waiting quietly in place.

After a long while, the King in Yellow, the Lord of Bronze and Fire, spoke up once more. "How do you plan to draw everyone's attention onto yourself?"

At these words, a surge of joy welled up in Leon's heart.

He knew that the plan he had just proposed had already succeeded halfway.

As for how to attract the attention of the half-bloods...

"Once it succeeds, Old Tang, you and I will appear together before those half-bloods of Shenzhou. When that happens, who would dare claim I am not Constantine?"

Leon was entirely convinced that the higher-ups among the half-bloods were well aware of the concept that the Dragon Kings were twins.

Once his class advancement plan was complete, at that point—possessing a full body of Constantine's blood, backed by Norton's endorsement—even if he claimed he wasn't Constantine, no one would likely believe him.

Yet upon hearing Leon's words, Old Tang narrowed his eyes slightly. "You want me to cooperate with those half-bloods?"

"It is merely..."

Before he could finish, Leon interrupted him. "The Black King is about to awaken, and we are all simply struggling to survive. I see no issue with cooperating with them. Besides, if not for these half-bloods of Shenzhou, Constantine's egg would likely have been taken away by someone else by now."

"..."

Old Tang knew that what Leon said was the truth, and thus he found himself momentarily at a loss for how to retort.

Furthermore, he had previously cooperated with half-bloods in the past, so deep down, he wasn't entirely resistant to the idea.

After a prolonged silence, Old Tang turned and walked toward the river water. "Follow me. I will bring you into the Bronze City."

Hearing this, Leon instantly felt a wave of relief wash over him.

At this moment, the class of [Dragon Vein Alchemist] was within his grasp.

Of course, popping champagne at halftime was a major taboo, so after quickly steadying his emotions, he hurried to follow behind.

Soon, guided by Old Tang, Leon spotted a massive bronze palace deep beneath the water.

Nibelungen—The Bronze City.

A magnificent achievement accomplished through the spatial expansion of the Seven Kingdoms of Alchemy.

Watching the massive bronze city, its internal machinery beginning to operate continuously upon Old Tang's arrival, Leon could not help but think silently to himself:

*One day, I too will be able to carve out such a miniature world...*

Seemingly mindful of Leon, under Old Tang's manipulation, the gigantic bronze palace gradually drained the river water from within its halls.

Seeing this, Leon's lips curved slightly upward as he thought to himself:

*As expected, a part of Old Tang still remains.*

Without a doubt, having spent so long among ordinary humans while stripped of his memories, the Lord of Bronze and Fire had ultimately retained a trace of humanity.

...Provided it didn't involve his younger brother.

Arriving before the gigantic amber egg, Old Tang turned to look at Leon, who was still appraising his surroundings. "How do you intend to proceed next?"

He figured that since this half-blood had proposed the operation of a blood transfusion, he must have already thought through the specific process.

Yet faced with Old Tang's inquiry, Leon merely waved a hand slightly. "There's no rush. Shouldn't you teach me a couple of tricks in alchemy first?"

"Otherwise, once we head back outside, if I, a dignified King of Bronze and Fire, don't even know how to practice alchemy, wouldn't that be far too embarrassing?"

This was an excuse he had concocted long ago.

Since he was going to impersonate Constantine, wasn't it completely normal for him to learn a couple of alchemical techniques?

Naturally, it was unrealistic for Leon to catch up to Old Tang's mastery of alchemy in a short time, but he had an argument prepared for that as well.

All Four Monarchs were twins, respectively wielding [Authority] and [Might].

And usually, the party wielding [Might] was not particularly bright.

That being the case, wouldn't it be entirely normal for Leon, impersonating Constantine, to be somewhat clumsy at alchemy?

It made complete sense!

As for why he possessed a human form...

Just think of him as a premature baby.

Seeing Leon staring at him with eager eyes, Old Tang, who had remained expressionless all this time, finally broke.

He twitched the corner of his mouth and said speechlessly, "...Alchemy is no shortcut. Are you certain you want to learn?"

Leon did not answer, simply continuing to stare at Old Tang.

Seeing this, the Lord of Bronze and Fire spoke with a hint of helplessness. "Among the Seven Kingdoms of Alchemy you mentioned earlier, I am somewhat versed in spatial expansion, conceptual weaponry, and the creation of life."

"As for the rest, I merely have a few ideas and am not yet ready to teach you."

?

Hearing this, Leon was momentarily stunned.

If he remembered correctly, it hadn't been very long since he first mentioned the Seven Kingdoms of Alchemy to Old Tang today, right?

As expected! This Lord of Bronze and Fire was simply suffering the consequences of making his debut far too early!

Before he could dwell on it further, Old Tang continued, "Conceptual weaponry is quite simple: slay a metal, then extract a concept and imbue it onto it."

As he spoke, a massive sword case flew over from beside Constantine's egg.

As the sword case unfolded, seven swords and blades of entirely different shapes appeared before Leon's eyes.

Purgatory of Bronze: Seven Deadly Sins—a conceptual armament capable of slaying Dragon Kings.

Because the plot had already shifted drastically, this supreme masterpiece of dragon-kind alchemy naturally still remained within the Bronze City.

"However, concepts are not so easily condensed. One must maintain prolonged contact with a specific concept before there is a chance to forge it."

"Like this..."

With that, Old Tang drew a dadao—a broad-bladed saber—from the sword case before him. It was a weapon named Wrath.

As a golden alchemical matrix lit up on his hand, an indescribable, hazy ball of light materialized in his grasp.

[Dragon].

The moment he laid eyes on it, the essence of that sphere of light surfaced within Leon's heart.

It was also at this moment that he roughly understood how Odin's Gungnir had been forged.

As the legendary Nordic God-King, He had undoubtedly maintained prolonged contact with concepts such as [Destiny] and [Death].

Only, according to Lu Mingze's words, the other party seemed to have also utilized the technology of life creation during the process of forging Gungnir, so there must have been other operations involved as well.

Just as Leon was deep in thought, Old Tang beckoned, and a massive bronze tome flew over from a corner of the palace.

"These are my notes. If you wish to continue studying, you may take a look."

Although he had agreed to the conditions Leon proposed, Old Tang clearly wasn't going to hold his hand and teach him until he mastered it.

Thus, before Leon could react, Old Tang moved on to the next technique.

"Spatial expansion is something only the Four Monarchs can accomplish."

"...Those two can as well."

Who those two were went without saying.

The Black King and the White King.

As for the rigid condition of spatial expansion requiring Dragon King blood, Leon was not surprised at all.

After all, in his memories, every single Nibelungen that had appeared had been forged by entities at or above the level of a Dragon King.

Even the Doomsday faction's [Safe Haven] was inextricably linked to Lu Mingze's true body.

Fortunately, this was not a problem for him; after all, in a few days, he would become the new 'Constantine'.

"As for the creation of life..."

Mentioning the last top-tier alchemical art he knew, a rare trace of hesitation appeared on Old Tang's face.

Immediately following this, without him making any discernible movement, a terrifying monster with a withered body lumbered into the palace.

"I believe this should refer to it."

Corpse Guard.

If Servants were zombies, then Corpse Guards were mummies crafted through alchemy.

Yet before Leon could speak, Old Tang preemptively corrected himself: "No..."

"This probably still doesn't count as the creation of life; at best, it's a substandard substitute."

Watching the Lord of Bronze and Fire fall into deep contemplation before him, Leon didn't mind, simply flipping open the massive bronze tome in front of him.

While normally one would need to employ a Domain of Swords just to turn the heavy tome's pages, for Leon's current physical strength, it felt no different from an ordinary book.

For a time, the hall fell completely quiet.

......

While Leon was following Old Tang to learn alchemy, some uninvited guests arrived near the Kuimen Gorge Dam.

An elderly man with silver-white hair and a crisp suit gazed distantly at the calm, flat surface of the water in the distance. The black cigar between his lips flickered erratically, mirroring his current state of mind.

Taking a deep drag, the elderly man tossed the cigar to the ground and stamped it out with his heel. "Manse, what is the current situation?"

The middle-aged man addressed as Manse wore a grim expression. "Those half-bloods of Shenzhou are now strictly prohibiting anyone from approaching the sleeping chambers of the Dragon King Norton."

"All the Academy's personnel have been expelled."

The elderly man chuckled upon hearing this, yet the look in his eyes was ice-cold. "We should thank our lucky stars they haven't directly driven us out of the country."

"Have you figured out how the plan was leaked?"

Faced with the elderly man's inquiry, Manse's expression suddenly turned strange. Weighing his words, he said, "According to the intelligence I gathered, it seems someone directly reported the Kuimen Project to the Shenzhou authorities."

"…?"

The expression on the elderly man's face froze, turning solemn the next second.

Aside from the personnel directly executing the Kuimen Project, the only ones who knew of it were the members of the Board of Regents.

The possibility of the information leaking from within was practically zero.

Unless...

There was a mole on the Board of Regents.

Unfortunately, try as he might, the elderly man could never have imagined that beings like transmigrators existed in this world.

At that moment, a calm voice suddenly rang out beside the two of them. "Principal Anjou, please return. Our Zhou family will handle the matter of the Lord of Bronze and Fire."

The speaker was a refined-looking young man.

And the elderly man was naturally Anjou.

"I naturally trust the Zhou family. After all, you have been accustomed to dealing with Dragon Kings since ancient times, haven't you?"

In the Dragon world, the emperors of note throughout Shenzhou's history were basically super half-bloods, and quite possibly Dragon Kings themselves.

Therefore, Anjou's remark was not entirely inaccurate.

Of course, the young man knew the other party was mocking him covertly, but he didn't mind, merely muttering inwardly:

*Such an outdated dragon-slaying philosophy.*

What era was this, and they were still clinging to a mindset of life-and-death struggle against pure-blood dragon-kinds?

Furthermore, based on observations over these past few days, the aggressiveness of that secondary-class descendant guarding the Bronze City was nowhere near as high as they had imagined.

Who would believe that the Lord of Bronze and Fire had not sanctioned this?

It was a pity that for some unknown reason, the other party persistently refused to show themselves.

Even so, in the judgment of Shenzhou's half-bloods, the Lord of Bronze and Fire had been reclassified as a pure-blood dragon-kind that could be approached and perhaps even courted.

And the other party was a Dragon King!

Only a fool would push them to the opposite side with their own hands.

With this thought, the young man put on a strictly professional front. "Principal Anjou, your Secret Party should be rejoicing that Shenzhou isn't holding you accountable, rather than coming here to trade barbs with me."

"Please return. If we discover any more members of the Secret Party or the Academy nearby, don't blame us for taking coercive measures."

Hearing this, the corners of Anjou's eyes twitched slightly. He turned to Manse and said, "Let's go back. Our host doesn't welcome us, so there's no point in making fools of ourselves here."

With those words, he led Manse away from the Kuimen Gorge Dam.

Watching this scene, the young man merely shook his head slightly, saying nothing more.

......

Inside the Bronze City, Leon remained entirely unaware of what was transpiring in the outside world.

Because after seven days of preparation, he was finally about to undergo the blood transfusion with Old Tang's assistance.

The reason it took seven days wasn't because he needed time to learn alchemy.

Rather, Old Tang was unwilling to release a massive amount of Constantine's embryonic blood all at once.

Releasing only a moderate amount of embryonic blood each day would undoubtedly minimize the physical damage suffered by Constantine.

Leon had no objections to this, and it happened to give him more time to study the alchemical arts Old Tang had taught him.

Regrettably, mastering high-end skills like the Seven Kingdoms of Alchemy within seven days was clearly unrealistic.

At this moment, before the gigantic amber egg, Old Tang looked at the blood within the bronze cauldron before him, his tone calm. "You should know that if this fails, you will die?"

"I know, but this is merely the most basic risk."

Power was never so easily acquired; Leon had already made his psychological preparations.

If anything, Constantine's embryonic blood far exceeded Leon's expectations.

Besides, he still had the Reversing Life Triple Dan to fall back on as a safety net.

"Come on, first implant the alchemical matrix into my body to help suppress the activity of my half-blood genes."

Leon had already thought through the precise operation of the blood transfusion process.

Since he wanted to become a pure-blood dragon-kind, he naturally could not allow his half-blood genes to interfere.

This was why he had initially wanted to acquire Cassell Academy's [Nibelungen Project], as the two shared certain similarities.

Fortunately, that was no longer necessary.

After Leon shared his train of thought with Old Tang, the latter had perfected the specific plan in a mere seven days.

Such was the strength of the Lord of Bronze and Fire!

Having an external brain available was simply too convenient.

Seeing the resolute expression of the half-blood before him, Old Tang said nothing more.

The very next moment, the massive bronze palace began to rumble with a "clack-clack" sound.

Amidst the rotating gears, the original palace gradually shifted into a different configuration.

As the sleeping quarters of the Lord of Bronze and Fire, this Bronze City undoubtedly also functioned as an alchemical workshop.

"Then let Us witness your caliber."

As the majestic voice of the Lord of Bronze and Fire fell, a vast alchemical matrix instantly unfolded beneath His feet.