Chapter 52: Challenge Failed…

The process of buying the house went quickly. After all, while Petty had been practicing her Martial Arts during this time, she hadn’t neglected other matters. She had already chosen the house half a month ago, having carefully compared both the location and the price. She had even negotiated with the seller, so she could complete the transaction directly upon arrival.

As for the house keys, Zheng Yichen took one. After experiencing the convenience of the Necromantic Body, he started to consider developing himself in that direction. Regarding the systematic learning of Magic, ever since Loris allowed him to develop freely, Zheng Yichen stopped worrying about it. He simply proceeded based on what was most convenient.

This was a choice he made after thorough consideration. His own special Talent allowed him to become a natural counter to Mages. As long as it was a tangible spell, he could directly grab it. Under such circumstances, learning Magic within a fixed system simply didn’t suit him.

Other people’s Magic became his own Magic. With that in mind, his elective studies naturally had to best fit his own situation. Moreover, Zheng Yichen had the capital to experiment like this. He was now a dragon, with a lifespan dozens of times longer than a Human’s. What took a Human a lifetime to achieve, he could accomplish by spending several times that duration.

Zheng Yichen could now create some weak versions of the Necromantic Body. Their strength was worlds apart from the structures Loris made. The Necromantic Bodies she created had high durability and defense, making it extremely difficult to detect them as products of the Undead.

In contrast, the ones Zheng Yichen made not only had physical strength similar to ordinary bodies, but their regenerative abilities were practically non-existent. Additionally, they emitted an Undead aura so obvious that even ordinary people could tell something was wrong. If Zheng Yichen used such a Human Form ‘armor’ to enter the city, he would be spotted immediately. The only aspect that surpassed Loris’s was its long-lasting duration, which was a consistent feature of his.

In short, the path to creating an Avatar seemed endlessly far away, and there was basically no need to think about it for now. Zheng Yichen had wondered if he could turn into a Human. He originally thought that since this world had Magic, it might be possible. However, the answer he got from Loris chilled his heart.

Since ancient times, there had never been a Dragon Clan member who could turn into a Human. Dragons were Dragons. They could use some Magic to create something resembling an Avatar, but she had never seen a dragon’s true body transform into a Human. After all, a dragon’s body possessed natural, powerful Magic Resistance. That resistance weakened even spells that were effective on them to an extreme degree.

Even if Humans had Magic that allowed transformation into other beings, those spells were only suitable for Humans. Using such Magic also required some Lineage modification to truly achieve transformation. As for the Dragon Clan… disregarding their Magic Resistance, their Lineage itself was extremely dominant. How could they incorporate another Lineage?

Especially a Human one. Humans had great potential. The weak remained ordinary their whole lives, while the strong could even make proud Dragon Clan members bow in respect. But that didn’t mean the Human Race’s Lineage was top-tier. At least in a direct Lineage clash between Human and Dragon Clan Lineage, the former was completely defeated.

Therefore… a dragon turning into a Human currently did not exist.

Of course, Loris added that this only applied to ordinary dragons. Zheng Yichen, as an extremely unique Cursed Dragon, inherently possessed limitless possibilities. So if Zheng Yichen really had such an idea, he could simply wait until after Reaching the Tier and conduct related research himself.

After all, Mages, once they reached a tier and lived long enough, weren’t just strong in Magic. They could basically all moonlight as scholars. The exceptional ones could even make true scholars feel ashamed.

In short, the self who didn’t like studying much before crossing over now probably had to develop into a scholarly dragon. As for sources of knowledge, Zheng Yichen didn’t worry at all. The collection in the massive Underground Library in the Castle was enough for him to read for over five years.

Regardless, using the Necromantic Body made by Loris as an Avatar, Zheng Yichen’s activities in Sta City became quite frequent. Before, he had no place to stay. Finding temporary lodging risked someone discovering something. Even if the Necromantic Body’s self-concealment was strong, after its duration ended, residual Undead aura would still leak out.

Now, with this house, Zheng Yichen could spend some time building a secret space here specifically to deal with expired Necromantic Bodies.

“Hmm… Damn it, failed again!” Zheng Yichen squinted his dragon eyes at the collapsed Magic Array before him. He looked again at the Magic Rune Array in the Magical Grimoire, then with a long face, began redrawing a new Magic Rune Array. This spell was the most challenging one he had ever attempted.

—The Necromantic Teleportation Array.

Its function was to teleport prepared Undead-type beings. The one Zheng Yichen was creating was small-scale, with a maximum teleportation unit of one. Moreover, this Teleportation Array had significant limitations. It could only be used by Undead-type beings and was completely ineffective on objects. It wasn’t entirely impossible for living creatures, but using the Necromantic Teleportation Array on them would be suicidal!

During the teleportation process, any living being would struggle to resist the intense Negative Energy erosion, except for Undead who were immune to Negative Energy.

With limitations excluding living beings and objects, and its safety features, the use cases for the Necromantic Teleportation Array dropped sharply. Even so, Magic involving space remained among the most difficult. From starting to set up this Magic Array until now, Zheng Yichen had failed over a dozen times in a row, already using several batches of auxiliary materials.

And this was while he was trying to conserve materials as much as possible, attempting first to see if he could successfully activate the Magic Rune Array. Relying on his theft-like characteristic, he could reverse the setup process when arranging the Magic Array. Instead of starting with materials, he started with the runes.

The benefit, of course, was conservation. Otherwise, with the previous number of failures, he would have lost at least thirteen batches of expensive materials by now. Even though these materials didn’t seem particularly valuable within Loris’s accumulated wealth—her long life had allowed her to amass too many good things! Living long enough, even an old bowl could become an antique and make you rich after a few centuries.

But Zheng Yichen was different. He didn’t yet have the mindset of a Longevity Species. So, after learning the price of these materials, he simply dismissed the idea of spending money to gain experience. Since he had a thrifty method, why use the most wasteful way like a fool with money?

“Connor, are you okay?” Petty, who had returned from the Academy, looked at Zheng Yichen’s dragon face filled with frustration and asked with concern.

“…I’m alright. Just failed a Magic challenge.” Zheng Yichen sighed. Magic involving space—this really wasn’t something he could use just by relying on his own uniqueness. In short, all dozens of attempts today failed. What was more frustrating was that he didn’t even gain any extra insight or clue…

Ultimately, it came down to… not understanding the power of space itself.