Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 111 The Scholar's Age
Su Ming fired several more bone spears, which indeed caused the Violet's shield to tremble. At the point of impact, the magical barrier developed severe cracks.

"You're quite something!" the scholar observed the details. "You made the bone spear thinner, increased its length, and the tail—" she clearly noticed the extra plate-like protrusions at the rear of the bone spear.

"The tail fin is for increasing flight stability," Su Ming explained.

"Very delicate, but that's not enough. What else did you do?"

Su Ming slowed down his movements and reconstituted a bone spear. In the center of the already refined bone spear, he compressed an even more solid bone core, but the rest of the spear was even more "fragile" than normal.

The scholars were completely baffled. "Why is it that when you do it this way, the penetration effect is even better than when the whole thing is compressed?"

"The outer ring will quickly shatter upon impact to maintain the stability of the core," Su Ming explained simply, "ensuring that the core can continue to act on the single point of the magic shield."

The scholar was quite annoyed, saying, "Why does your Earth always have this kind of infuriating knowledge?"

Su Ming shrugged. He didn't really understand the specific principles, but all the tungsten-core armor-piercing projectiles on Blue Star had this structure. "My magic has an advantage in penetration, so I've been looking for magical configurations that can utilize this property."

“Okay, you win,” Violet admitted. “But the excessive concentration of penetrating power also has its drawbacks. Multiple bone spears cannot accurately hit such a small point and cannot achieve superposition.”

While it may sound like nitpicking, this is indeed something that needs serious consideration, given the consistently high-level battles we've faced. Against higher-level enemies, the 'Bone Spear - Armor-Piercing Mod' is insufficient in single-shot power, and multiple shots are difficult to focus.

Although the reason for this is that Su Ming's rank is insufficient, the enemy will not care about "fair play".

“There are further modifications that can make up for the shortcomings,” Su Ming said, “but my control is not yet good enough.”

The scholar's eyes lit up upon hearing this, "Then you'd better practice hard, I'm really looking forward to it!"

The bone bird brought a measuring tape, and Violet measured a complete set of sizes and handed it to Su Ming. As expected, all the measurements had increased to varying degrees.

"Wait, you've grown taller?" Su Ming asked in surprise. The girl's height had actually increased by one and a half centimeters!
"That's strange?" Violet raised an eyebrow.

"Um, well, this might be a bit presumptuous of me to ask, but it's something I've wanted to ask for a long time," Su Ming said. "How should I understand your age?"

Normally, a girl's height stops growing rapidly after the age of 14. Su Ming had always treated Zi Jin as an older sister, but now, this feeling was hard to describe.

This question has clearly stumped the scholars as well.

"How far have you gotten in solving the mystery of my identity?" she asked Su Ming first. "Have you figured out my age yet?"

Since they're both bone dragons, it's only natural that Violet was originally a dragon. As for the type of dragon, it's not hard to guess; her name is a clear indication.

But regarding age, Su Ming calculated that the earliest appearance of the Chestnut Owl was 154 years ago, so—

"You were probably born about 170 years ago."

Zi Jin's expression suddenly turned serious as she looked at Su Ming. "How... how did you do that?"

“Purple,” Su Ming replied. “When you were still a dragon, you transformed into a human and wandered the world, becoming a scholar. Your hair and eyebrows were purple at first, and after you became famous, your nickname was Eggplant. Among dragons, only the Fairy Dragon has this characteristic.”

“Fairy dragons are purple, but they don’t turn purple after transforming,” Violet argued. “That’s right, so the conclusion is that you were a very young fairy dragon back then. Your power was too immature to control these things!” Su Ming said. “From this, we can infer that you were born 170 years ago. As for the rest, there are still many questions I haven’t answered.”

Violet murmured, "You have exceeded my expectations."

"Sorry, if you don't like having your past pried into—"

The girl shook her head. "I initiated this invitation. There's something I've been hesitating about, which is why we set up this puzzle game."

She presented the riddle, but didn't limit Su Ming's time to solve it. In a sense, she had already made a choice subconsciously, and was just using this method to solidify her resolve.

But for a scholar who is usually decisive to be in this state indicates that this matter is no small thing. Even when she had Su Ming fuse with the White Bone Mark, she did not hesitate this much.

"So, what is this so-called reward?"

Zijin sighed, "Myself."

Su Ming's expression instantly became a fascinating mix. "I don't understand—or, do I mean I can understand it?"

"No, it's not." The girl rolled her eyes at him.

Well, what a disappointment. Su Ming thought to himself.

“This matter requires me to return to my hometown, and it may not be possible to do so,” Violet explained. “I will explain it to you properly then.”

“We’ll see,” Su Ming said, suddenly remembering the original topic. “So, how should I interpret your age in human form?”

After a moment of thought, Violet said, “Elisa’s form is human. I was six years old when I appeared in the temple and studied there for eleven years until I was sealed away. It’s just that during that period, Elisa’s form did not grow normally due to health defects.”

"So I should understand you as a seventeen-year-old girl who's still developing?" Su Ming said. He finally understood why the girl had been eating so much lately; it turned out she was in the period of extreme hunger.

“If you don’t mind that there’s actually a 170-year-old dragon living inside,” Violet replied.

Su Ming decided to ask all his questions. "There are no immortal species in my world. I don't understand this life form."

Zi Jin understood what Su Ming meant. "Dragons are creatures that can live for thousands of years and are slow-paced creatures that change slowly. Normally, a 170-year-old dragon is indeed similar to a teenager in human form."

“This is also where I feel conflicted right now,” Violet continued. “My state is actually closely related to my physical form. When I was a dragon, I didn’t have many emotions, and I could just take things slowly. I could sleep for a long time every day, and it was normal for me to sleep for several days in a row when I was tired. I was content with whatever came my way.”

"So, the longevity of dragons is actually somewhat questionable?"

"During the young dragon stage, the discount is about 40% or 50%," Violet replied. "The older it gets, the bigger the discount becomes. When it gets old, it takes up less than 10% of its active time."

"I see."

"After becoming an undead, the world in my eyes became cold, and it was hard for my heart to have any ripples. It was only my thirst for knowledge that sustained me." Violet recounted her past. "But after changing to Elisa form, my personality has changed too much. You don't know this, because you have only been in contact with my bone dragon form for a very short time."

(End of this chapter)