Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 314 - 313 - Beyond Human but not a Beast

Over 3 years had passed since Lind entered the Inheritance. He had made some great gains on his comprehension of his skills, Arts, and techniques but his cultivation had once more become stuck.

His talent as an Innate Cultivator told him he was nearly there, but just shy of the goal. His theories on his fonts' relationships had made massive leaps while his harmony actually became more under his control as well.

That last step was very important for the other 6 elementals. He was certain of it after he felt the bottleneck between him and Gold Tier thinned massively once he dove into the nature of his harmony.

It was much more than simply the balance between his elements coming together, it was a fundamental piece of him. He and Wyndam had often been stymied by incorporating harmonies into Arts.

It made them fail 9 times out of 10 easily. The few that worked usually entailed meditation Arts that helped temper cores or fonts. Lind often wondered at the wall but now he thought he grasped it.

Arts for harmonies could not exist because each harmony was unique to a cultivator. Even those that seemed similar, like 2 crimson flames or the turquoise of the Gu Clan, could have different results on the skill set of the individual.

One could be a great warrior while the same flame in another could be a miraculous conjurer. Lind believed Arts could be tailored to incorporate a harmony but it would be up to the individual cultivator rather than an Art all could use.

Despite all that understanding, his instincts warned him he would fail horribly if he tried to break through. Why? Why was he so close but missing something critical?

He had then focused on things he could advance.

Both his badges had become a pale amber color with a '5' on them. He was at the low grade 5 of both elixirs and Forging but at Heaven Grade. The Inheritance was a Godsend for letting him experiment and progress like never before in his life.

The ingredients that were treated as fodder here were extremely precious in the outside world. He would never have been able to work as he was out there.

Lady Dierdra, who he now refrained from calling mother-in-law ever again, confirmed his masters had created the badges as both his marks and his evaluator.

Between the 2, Delenn had been a bit more lenient than Younger Twin. Part of it was simply the easier method of replication in Forging compared to elixirs. Forging, once successful, had a solid and easily analyzed example to compare to future attempts.

Lind could pick them apart and see where he could improve and what to learn from each experiment.

Elixirs, on the other hand, were closer to a dash of luck than hard replication. A low grade 1 elixir was rated as such by certain criteria of quality, strength, materials, and so forth but within all of those variables was an acceptable range to produce a similar result.

It meant that even with the lowest quality herbs, Lind could successfully create grade 1 elixirs because he was able to extract all the essence he needed regardless. Such a feat took practice, time, and comprehension of months.

He could create elixirs as much as he wanted, it was the essence that determined his evaluation. It finally explained why he had been able to make a higher grade for so long but the badge never updated.

Still, Lind could tell he had reached his maximum potential. A single low Heaven Grade 5 elixir or Forging would not only exhaust him, it took 3 weeks to recover! Still, the day both badges turned pale amber were a day of pride.

There had been actual celebrations as Lind was lauded as a true expert in the roc clans.

Shortly after word had spread, envoys had come to court his favor as well as placate Dierdra for her being the one to host him. He could tell she enjoyed needling some of her rivals but she never went overboard.

All in all, he was extremely glad to be there. Kora had also been learning from him and due to his success with her, many other younglings had been brought to him as well. The once dangerous life of many Soul Realm aether beasts had been made into near certain success.

Dierdra had openly wept as some of her clansmen saw their children not only recover, but thrive under his guidance. While being an elixir master was highly treasured by aether beast clans, what he did for them in that regard of conflicting elements made him a life long friend.

All of it was glorious and brought smiles to his face, but it came back to his stuck progress and a feeling he was running out of time.

It was as if an instinct was warning him he really was not going to be able to stay where he was for much longer.

"Still stuck?" The teasing tone of Dierdra made Lind sigh but he nodded. She smiled brightly but then looked around for something else.

"If you are looking for Kora, she and Tal are playing again. When Tal broke through to the World Realm and was able to transform, I hardly see her anymore." Lind smiled as he spoke.

The stone dral shape did not seem capable of becoming human, but Dierdra had guided Tal to transform early. Apparently, higher realm aether beasts could attempt to teach the technique but it was not always successful.

If a beast could transform, it was a sign of excellent potential regardless of how perfect it was. Tal still retained the gray stone armor as her clothes as well as her face being somewhat narrow, but she had been so happy to look like Lind and Kora.

She was only a little girl, her actual age from what Lind could tell, but he enjoyed telling her stories when she asked for them. She acted like his daughter which he did not mind but felt painful when he realized he would be leaving her behind.

The longer he stayed, the more he found he would be hurt when he left.

"I was looking for them, but to send them away as I think I found a solution to your problem, or rather, I confirmed a guess I had." A scroll in a rough state appeared in her hands. Lind gently picked it up and unfurled it.

It was a language he could not grasp but then slowly the words began to make sense! The intent also felt familiar. A dragon, a dragon wrote it!

"We found that where those troublesome beings once lived and they knew about humans that acquired a dragon soul. They also seemed to have trouble advancing in cultivation." Lind grew excited as he did indeed see it but then shock flooded his body.

Of course! How stupid was he?!

"I have not considered my soul is no longer human nor that I am changing as well. I need to account for my bestial nature or suffer deviation." His head was like a storm as many of the words senior dragon soul told him began to make sense.

She had known! She had been preparing him but not explicitly telling him due to his 6 elemental nature. The scroll had such a comparison that all a quad elemental had to do was follow his dragon instincts and keep up his technique but that would not work with Lind!

He was like a hybrid creature. Not human but not becoming a beast either. The scroll spoke of transforming a dantian into a core but his instincts railed against. Still, it gave him ideas.

The record spoke of how the dragon soul dedicated the features of the transformation but that was not the case with Lind. It was clear as day his harmony was driving his transformation.

"My foundation and dragon soul are one. They are still fused together like before. Interesting." Lind retained a human cultivation system while his body had some changes. He had to integrate that fact into his attempt to comprehend the Gold Tier.

He did not cultivate by eating stronger beasts, after all. Neither did these other humans, not at first anyway. After they formed a beast core they had to switch systems, but Lind knew that would not work with him.

Ethry had all 6 elements yet she had no harmony. Clearly, he would not follow the path laid out in the scroll but it cleared up his mystery.

Lind bowed to Dierdra and returned to his room with excitement. He clearly had some enlightenment.

She chuckled as he left but then froze. She turned back to his room as the aura of a dragon bloomed but it was unlike anything before!

Her instincts were not only screaming at her to fight but to fear! Lind Frey was not a normal dragon but she had no way to confirm if she was right. If she was, his struggle was only beginning.

She left and Lind delved into his own dantian. He ignored his fonts and meridians but focused solely on his harmony. He dove as deep as he could and finally found what he was looking for.

A sinuous form was curled up in the center, similar to Ethry in shape but it was too tiny to be sure of all the details.

"Am I a baby dragon?" Lind smirked that he was a baby to dragons. It made him wonder but he focused on the tiny form and felt the connection to his soul once more. In the room, his aura was unleashed far beyond any level before.

It began to expand and the skies above rumbled. Some looked for tribulation clouds but there was no sign of such an event occurring.

Dierdra looked up in stunned surprise as she recognized what was happening.

"He will break through soon. He will awaken the dragon!" The memory was from the Divine Realm for the Inheritance, thus it was the best environment for many things, but even Dierdra only knew of legends about what was to come.

If she was right, if Lind was not a normal dragon soul, his tribulations would be the stuff of legends.