Dragon Clan: I am Lu Mingfei, the Intelligence Strategist, the God of Concepts!

Chapter 216 The Inherent Flaws of Dragon-Blooded Creatures

"I wonder how long it will take him to get the hang of it?"

Charlotte sipped her hot milk, her light blue eyes casually sweeping over Lu Mingfei.

As the heir to the Gauttingen family, she naturally possessed a sufficient intelligence network. Having previously learned some information about Lu Mingfei, and being chosen as the legitimate 'flagship,' Lu Mingfei must undoubtedly be of superior bloodline.
But she also understood that rumors are always a mixture of truth and falsehood.

The talent for learning alchemy is influenced by bloodline, but not entirely dependent on it. For example, Charlotte's bloodline is somewhat inferior to that of her grandfather, Aiton Gottingen, who is also an S-class, but her talent for learning alchemy is among the top in the entire history of the Gottingen family.

Before she even reached adulthood, Charlotte had already grasped the three fundamental elements of the first two levels of the Tree of Life.

Within ten years, she will be able to comprehend all the essence of the second level, and may even have the opportunity to glimpse the third level, the Tree of Life.

To become a master of alchemy and leave a mark on history.

“My bloodline may not be as good as his, and I'm not a hybrid with combat talent, but his talent in alchemy is definitely not as good as mine. He even needed a whole day to comprehend that statue. If it weren't for…”

"never mind."

Charlotte swallowed a mouthful of milk, trying to calm her thoughts.

A true noblewoman shouldn't belittle others like that. As the saying goes, everyone has their own expertise. Comparing her talent to Lu Mingfei's is really a bit unfair. She should learn to see other people's strengths instead...

"Okay, I'm done reading."

Lu Mingfei, who had been staring at the parchment scroll, looked up and stood up as if nothing had happened.

"?"

Charlotte almost choked on her milk through her delicate nostrils. "Cough, cough!"

"Miss Charlotte... are you alright?" Lu Mingfei asked cautiously, his expression clearly tense.

"……I am fine!"

Charlotte suppressed a cough and glared fiercely at Lu Mingfei, her eyes almost glowing red.

But Lu Mingfei was holding the parchment scroll in a strange posture.

"What are you doing?" Charlotte asked, puzzled.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just felt this parchment scroll was quite valuable, and I was worried you might spit it on." Lu Mingfei touched his lips, indicating that there were milk stains around her mouth.

Charlotte: "..."

You actually knew this parchment was valuable?! And you just glanced at it and called it a day?
call--

Calm down, calm down, repeat after me: "Lady, please calm down."

Charlotte silently took out her handkerchief, wiped her mouth, and couldn't help but turn her head to look at the clock on the third-floor wall—only twelve minutes had passed since Lu Mingfei started reading.

The exact era in which the parchment scroll recording the 'Path of the Fire Sword' was passed down is unknown. The vast majority of hybrids can only read various 'Dragon Script texts' through bloodline resonance. Dragon blood can preserve memories, carrying the memories and understanding of the bloodline's origin. From the original Black Emperor to the hybrids of today, humans can only glimpse a tiny fraction of this, yet it reveals a magnificent and lush tapestry.

However, it takes time to unfold the scroll. Charlotte took two days to understand the first primordial substance, and based on the proportional conversion, she estimated that Lu Mingfei would need at least a week.

Although I don't expect to fully comprehend the first primordial essence in one go, twelve minutes... is probably not enough time to establish a deep resonance with the dragon script on the painting.

“Mr. Lu…won’t you take another look? This is a rare opportunity.” Charlotte forced a smile.

"The theory of the Tree of Life is a bit too profound; it might take a lot of time to fully understand it," Lu Mingfei said truthfully.

Charlotte fell silent, wondering if the cultural gap between East and West had caused her to misunderstand the word 'thoroughly'.

“We have limited time tonight, so I suggest you go see your grandfather first,” Lu Mingfei suggested.

"……OK."

Having said that, Charlotte could only nod in agreement.

As she stood up, she suddenly remembered something.

Just now, Lu Mingfei stared blankly at the parchment scroll for a while, his eyes not even brightening... He can resonate with the dragon script without activating his Golden Eyes?

Charlotte seemed to suddenly understand something, and the corners of her mouth suddenly curled up slightly.

“It’s alright, Mr. Lu, you’ve already done a great job. It’s a little difficult to get started with the Tree of Life theory for the first time. How about this… if you can find a way to restore my grandfather’s health in a little while, you can take this ‘Path of the Fire Sword’ parchment back with you and study it for a while longer.”

After speaking, she walked gracefully towards the door, each step unhurried and deliberate. Her dress accentuated her slender waist and beautifully curved calves. Every movement exuded the elegant temperament of a noble lady... noble and kind.

"Uh, okay, thank you..."

Lu Mingfei stared at Charlotte's retreating figure, clearly stunned for a moment, before realizing that Charlotte seemed to have misunderstood him.

I couldn't help but want to laugh.

This time, the theory of the Tree of Life is indeed a bit too difficult, requiring a full range of methods, including [deep intelligence extraction authority], 'Gqotoh', 'spirit', and one's own intelligence.

After a perilous 12-minute quest... I finally crossed the threshold between the 'Material World' and the 'Forming World', entered the second realm, and with the help of the 'Primordial Knowledge'—the Abyss, I successfully mastered all three primordial qualities of the second realm, and incidentally glimpsed the scenery of the third realm, the 'Creation World'.

Therefore, Lu Mingfei gained a deeper understanding of the 'Path of the Fire Sword'.

In this world, humans and ordinary hybrids can be located in the 'Kingdom' of the Primal Essence within the first world from the bottom up, the 'Material World'. Through cultivation, they can reach higher Primal Essences and Worlds.

As Charlotte had previously warned, historically, hybrids could only rise to the third level, the 'Creation Realm,' and could never reach the highest level, the 'Divine Realm.'

This is because the 'human personality' and 'dragon personality' within the body are incompatible.

Even dragons, after reaching the third level of 'Creation Realm', possess extremely powerful and stable spiritual strength, and can freely control violent and dangerous incantations.

With its innate control over the 'elements', it can even regenerate from its cocoon time and time again.

But whether human or dragon, there is a chasm between them and the highest 'divine realm'.

Even beings at the level of the Dragon King cannot cross that chasm.

This is something all dragon-blooded creatures are born with...

defect.

Through [Deep Intelligence Extraction], Lu Mingfei learned about the method of breaking through the divine realm, which was quite astonishing.

"To break through the divine realm and obtain the world's power, the strength and stability of the spirit are no longer the core elements, but rather the absolute consistency of consciousness... Corresponding to hybrids and pure-blooded dragons, this refers to the human personality and the dragon personality..."

"It is expected that dragons will possess human personalities. After all, Jormungandr and Norton, the two dragon kings, do not conform to the cold-blooded, crazy, and tyrannical image of dragons recorded in the classics. Instead, they are full of human...art."

"Could it be that the ultimate pursuit of spiritual consciousness is actually unification?"

Lu Mingfei followed Charlotte, deep in thought.

Immediately, he silently began to try it out according to the Tree of Life theory he had just learned.

Ding--

His own panel quickly popped up in front of him.

[Special State: Something for Nothing Fusion: 33% - 35% - 32% - 29%]

……

The estate beneath the Göttingen estate.

Charlotte led Lu Mingfei through a maze of twists and turns, finally arriving at a dimly lit passageway that looked no different from an ordinary hospital corridor, filled with advanced medical equipment and alchemical devices with exclamation marks above their heads.

It is a hospital that combines alchemy and modern medicine, even more professional than the ξth floor of the Genji Heavy Industries building.

As expected, hybrid factions mostly like to build key locations and mechanisms in underground areas.

Charlotte pushed open a hidden door, and Lu Mingfei composed himself and followed her inside.

"It seems like I can actively control my dragon form now? I'll give it a try later."

The room wasn't small, but it was filled with all sorts of complicated devices, making it feel quite crowded, almost to the point where there was nowhere to stand. A huge life support device was flowing with a dark blue mercury solution, which pooled on a clean white bed, where an old man lay.

[Name: Aidon Gottingen], [Special Status: Half-Deadman, Mental Fragment]...

“This is my grandfather, the former patriarch of the Gao Tinggen family. Please keep everything I have seen here a secret, Mr. Lu.”

Charlotte introduced the old man in a soft voice, gazing at him in a state of semi-sleep or semi-consciousness. There was an indescribable meaning in her eyes, a mixture of gentleness and coldness.

"What is he doing...?"

Lu Mingfei noticed Charlotte's gaze but wasn't surprised. He felt that she was the kind of aristocratic girl who had been mistreated in her childhood, forced to study hard all day long, unable to play and forced to inherit the family fortune with tears in her eyes. This old man was probably the source that kept her moving forward.

"out of control."

Charlotte uttered a single word softly.

Following the direction of her finger, Lu Mingfei saw bluish-gray marks on the old man's arm joints. At first glance, they looked like metal poisoning, but they were actually scales growing under the skin.

"About ten years ago, when I was about eight years old, my grandfather found a parchment scroll that had been lost by the Göttingen family. It contained fragments similar to the 'Path of the Fire Sword,' also from the ruins of the King of Bronze and Fire, but instead of being carved on a stone slab, it was on a broken pillar..."

Charlotte remained expressionless. "Remember when I told you that the spiritual potential of half-bloods is destined to never be enhanced?"

"That tattered scroll records a possibility for enhancing the spirit of hybrids."

"Amazing!" Lu Mingfei exclaimed in agreement.

"..."

Even though Charlotte knew Lu Mingfei was cooperating with her, she still found it hard to keep her composure, barely managing to suppress the throbbing veins on her forehead.

“My grandfather was an expert on the theory of the Tree of Life and knew everything about the second layer, the ‘Forming Realm.’ He tried to explore the mysteries of the third layer, the ‘Creation Realm,’ but because his own ‘spirit’ was insufficient, he chose to try the method of that incomplete scroll in an attempt to increase his spirit through external objects.”

"Wow... impressive." Lu Mingfei couldn't help but recall the method Norton taught him. The most difficult part of helping Su Xiaoqiang become a hybrid was not giving Su Xiaoqiang the power of dragon blood, but rather enabling Su Xiaoqiang to go from an ordinary person to possessing the 'spirit' sufficient to control the power of dragon blood.

Every hybrid faction has inevitably researched ways to enhance their bloodline, but this is a deep abyss. If one is not careful, one will turn into a Deadpool. The boundary between humans and Deadpools lies in consciousness, or rather, 'spirit'.

"The Philosopher's Stone?" Lu Mingfei asked tentatively.

"Yes, historically, some adventurous alchemists believed that the Philosopher's Stone, extracted from the corpses of ancient dragons after they were truly killed, could theoretically be absorbed as the spiritual power of hybrids as pure spiritual energy..."

Charlotte took a deep breath and said, "According to the records of the Göttingen family, all the hybrids who tried this behavior died suddenly. It turns out that pure spiritual elements are not a tonic for the soul, but a deadly poison."

"And this Mr. Aiton...?"

"Heh, he always brags that he was an adventurer when he was young," Charlotte sneered.

understood.

Lu Mingfei couldn't help but cover his face. Wasn't it supposed to be that the young people would fight to the death on the spot while the old men secretly stirred up trouble behind the scenes? This isn't how you stir up trouble, Brother Aiton... You're supposed to be the head of an alchemy family, using yourself as an experiment. Have you been watching too many old-school shonen manga?
...However, this did remind Lu Mingfei that he should test the Philosopher's Stone before feeding it to Su Xiaoqiang.

"In short, after my grandfather obtained that fragment of the scroll, he combined his own understanding with the notes of the Gauteen family and made some modifications to the alchemy matrix. However, an unexpected incident still occurred. His spirit did improve. But the human body, as a container for spiritual power, is fixed. The sudden introduction of external spiritual power immediately caused him irreversible damage. To put it simply, it's like a balloon being filled with water. Continuing to fill it with water will only cause the balloon to burst. Not only will it be unable to hold more water, but the original water will also be lost."

Lu Mingfei nodded. Norton had explained this before. Adaptability was crucial. Controlling the speed at which the Philosopher's Stone was converted into mental energy and slowly 'expanding' the volume was the core of his alchemical matrix design.

“Originally, my grandfather should have died a violent death like those alchemists in history. It was his research on the Tree of Life that saved his life. With his understanding of the Tree of Life, he was able to stabilize his mind as much as possible, but it was still only a temporary solution. In the first few years, he could still run around while his body was leaking energy, but in the last two years, this process has exceeded the critical line. The power of the dragon blood overwhelmed his mind, and he became completely unable to move. His body even began to show signs of becoming like a dead servant. So I had no choice but to take over the position of clan leader ahead of schedule.”

"So, Miss Charlotte, how would you like me to treat you?"

Lu Mingfei licked his lips and asked, "Our adventurer's condition... sounds quite serious."

"It should be possible to repair the vulnerabilities in his spiritual body by implanting an alchemical matrix."

Charlotte said calmly, "We'll handle the rest ourselves."

"So that's all there is to it... Could it be that there are no other alchemical masters within the Secret Society who are proficient in this technique? Why have they been dragging their feet on it?"

Lu Mingfei suddenly asked.

“This is an internal matter of the Göttingen family… but it doesn’t matter if I tell you. My grandfather’s tutor at Kassel College, Flamel, is capable of doing it, but for some personal reasons, he doesn’t want to seek his help.”

At this moment, Eden Göttingen, who had been lying in his hospital bed, woke up and made a faint sound.

"Are guests coming?"

"Grandpa, I've found you a doctor." Charlotte led Lu Mingfei to the bedside.

"My illness is not something a doctor can cure," the old man said.

Unexpectedly, the 'adventurer's' voice was unusually gentle, with a wise and aristocratic tone.

“Hello, Mr. Aiton, I am an alchemist with some knowledge of alchemical matrix design,” Lu Mingfei introduced himself.

Of course, I have to do the job after I've received the money, especially since this is a rare opportunity to practice.

The old man slowly opened his eyes, struggled to lift his head and look at Lu Mingfei. His eyes were cloudy with an unhealthy gray hue, merging the pupils and whites of his eyes into one.

He suddenly opened his eyes wide. "You're Lu Mingfei?"

Charlotte, standing to the side, was slightly taken aback.
Her grandfather has been sleeping in the life support room for the past two years, rarely concerning himself with family matters, and having no energy to worry about the world of mixed-race people.

How did you come to know Lu Mingfei, who only rose to fame this year?

Lu Mingfei didn't know much about this, and looked at the old man's eyes with some surprise: "Your eyes are like this... how can you still see things clearly?"

"I can see a little bit more clearly now. Are you the young man that Angers values ​​most? You certainly have an extraordinary presence, and you are even healthier and more vibrant than I was when I was young."

The old man seemed to be explaining to his granddaughter: "Angers visited me some time ago and specifically introduced me to this young man."

Sunshine...healthy, a strange adjective.

Lu Mingfei muttered to himself.

“By the way, you just mentioned Mentor Flamel?” the old man suddenly said.

Clearly, he awoke not because he sensed someone was coming to treat him, but because he heard that name.

"No."

Charlotte said expressionlessly.

"No, you said you were talking about Flamel."

The old man persisted in asking, then suddenly realized, "Oh, I know, could it be that Lu Mingfei is about to inherit Flamel's mantle?"

Lu Mingfei was slightly taken aback. Inherit the mantle? What does that all mean?

"You and that mentor Flamel have a... past?" Lu Mingfei asked hesitantly.

“No, we were rivals in love. When I was young, he and I both pursued a lady from a mixed-race family in North America.” The old man shook his head.

"..."

Lu Mingfei looked at Charlotte for help.

Charlotte turned her head away indifferently, as if to say, "You started this conversation yourself, go talk to him."

Lu Mingfei: "..."

The atmosphere suddenly became slightly awkward, and in order to calm the patient down, Lu Mingfei had no choice but to chime in.

"So it seems that your mentor Flamel couldn't win against you? You two eventually formed a happy and fulfilling family?"

"No, quite the opposite, I couldn't compete with him at all. His nickname at the bar was 'Curry Rooster,' and he won that lady's heart in just one night," the old man said.
Holy crap... I acknowledge your status as adventurers now.

Lu Mingfei offered a weak consolation: "It's not a big problem. A lady who can be conquered by a curry rooster in a bar in one night would probably be conquered by a jungle elephant. It's probably a good thing that you didn't end up together, after all, you are a true aristocrat..."

To everyone's surprise, the old man shook his head firmly: "No, Miss Poole was a woman who was faithful to love! She never married and never accepted the advances of any other man. It's all Flamel's fault! He was a playboy who toyed with other people's feelings and betrayed her. Every time he went to a new bar, Flamel would change his female companions and then abandon them the next day!"

"What I hate most in my life is a man who juggles multiple relationships! So I can't accept Flamel's help!" the old man said indignantly.

Lu Mingfei suddenly realized why Charlotte's attitude towards him wasn't very good at first.

“Uh… I am not Flamel’s successor.”

Lu Mingfei gave Charlotte an awkward smile, but she still ignored him.

I felt a growing curiosity about the 14th Flamel mentor who lived deep within the Kassel College.

The old man seemed to have triggered a key phrase and continued, "Later, my wife was an ordinary person, she..."

"Alright, Mr. Aiton," Lu Mingfei quickly interrupted.
"Let me treat you first; your granddaughter can't wait any longer."

Lu Mingfei was in a hurry to finish his work and go home. He didn't want to listen to the gossip of a strange old man. Business was just business.

"Okay, how confident are you?"

The old man finally stopped, his cloudy eyes scrutinizing Lu Mingfei from head to toe.

Without asking what the reward was for Lu Mingfei's help, the old man believed that his granddaughter had already made a deal. He was no longer the head of the family, and he could only accept the arrangements made by the true head of the family.

"It's hard to say, I haven't received detailed information about your physical condition yet."

Lu Mingfei shook his head, not intending to have too high expectations.

“Very good. I like your style of not making promises too easily, which is completely different from Flamel’s. But I can see that your abilities are definitely no less than his.” The old man suddenly smiled slightly. “Don’t feel any pressure. Even if you can’t cure him, the Gauttingen family won’t let you work for nothing.”

"You can tell from that..."

Lu Mingfei muttered something to himself, assuming the old adventurer was just talking nonsense again, and looked at Charlotte: "Please open his life support pod, I need to collect some data at close range."

“Okay,” Charlotte agreed without hesitation.

The reason for asking Lu Mingfei for help this time is because of his talent in designing human alchemical matrices. The field of alchemical matrix implantation is more inclined to the Flamel lineage, which is different from the alchemical lineage of the Gottingen family. It is too late for Charlotte to start learning from scratch.

Having chosen Lu Mingfei, they would naturally trust him completely.

"Grandpa, please bear with it."

Charlotte began to dismantle the complex alchemical matrix, which not only contained life support devices but also had an outer defensive function to prevent anyone from infiltrating and harming Aidon Gottingen.

Suddenly, her body trembled slightly.

I heard my grandfather whisper:

"Because I could see that his mental stability was truly unprecedented..."

Lu Mingfei: "..."

Dude, this place is so tiny, I'm not deaf.

"It's funny."

Charlotte took a deep breath, turned around to make room for Lu Mingfei, and watched him walk forward with a complicated expression.

He silently pondered the meaning of his grandfather's words.

Since his spiritual body shattered, Grandpa has gained a more acute spiritual perception than ordinary people... just like a candle in the wind, more easily swayed by external stimuli, especially the approach of another powerful spiritual body.

But his mental fortitude is unprecedented?

What means?
She suddenly remembered that Lu Mingfei had just read the parchment scroll of 'The Path of the Fire Sword'.

(End of this chapter)