170: Chapter 170 The Meeting Begins

After dismissing the crowd, Zhou An went alone to the newly expanded, super-large gravity training room, preparing to properly explore the specific usage of the [Omnipotent Dragon Soul].

"Hoo—"

Zhou An stood in the center of the spacious alloy floor, took a deep breath, and with a thought, directly activated the Fire Dragon Soul hidden within his body.

"Hum!"

A surge of spiritual energy, as scorching and violent as magma, was instantly pumped from his heart, flowing into his limbs and bones. A layer of dark red, materialized aura steamed off his body surface.

"Let's try fifty percent semi-dragon transformation first."

With the precise output of energy, dense, dark red, streamlined scales rapidly grew on his arms and lower legs. These scales did not ruin the aesthetic beauty of his human form; instead, they resembled a form-fitting, high-tier biological battle armor, shimmering with a cold, domineering metallic luster. Sharp, dark golden spikes extended from his ten fingers, resembling dragon claws.

"My strength and nerve reaction speed have increased significantly!"

Zhou An clenched his fist, and a crisp sonic boom cracked in the air.

"Next—full Dragonman transformation."

Zhou An opened his eyes abruptly, his originally deep black pupils instantly transforming into majestic, dark golden vertical slits. The Fire Dragon Soul within his body was driven to its limit.

"Boom!"

A circle of crimson fire, visible to the naked eye, exploded violently with him at the center.

Zhou An's stature grew by nearly ten centimeters, and his perfect muscle lines were completely enveloped by a layer of even more magnificent crimson dragon scales, edged with dark golden patterns. Most shockingly, accompanied by the light sound of bone restructuring, with a "swish," a pair of massive dragon wings with a span of over four meters suddenly spread from his back.

These dragon wings were not the ugly membranes of traditional monsters, but rather seemed carved from dark red crystal. Mysterious flame runes flowed along the wing bones, and a slight flap whipped up scorching vortices in the air.

At this moment, Zhou An not only lacked any sense of monstrous ugliness but instead exuded the posture of a Dragon Race king—divine, tyrannical, and transcending all living things.

"This form... is too perfect. And, there is huge room for deep development."

Zhou An spent several hours excitedly messing around in the training ground. Relying on his extremely high combat intuition, he quickly mastered this power completely. He could now achieve "partial dragon transformation" at will—for example, only letting dragon scales appear on his forearms to block weapons in daily life, or instantly summoning dragon wings in mid-air to glide at high speeds, without needing to go through the fanfare of a full-body transformation every time.

"Clatter."

Just as he retracted the crimson scales all over his body, leaving only a pair of majestic dragon wings to practice low-altitude hovering, the alloy door of the training room opened.

Li Muzi walked in. She was wearing a tight-fitting sports outfit with her hair in a high ponytail, preparing to do her daily stretches.

"Bo—" Li Muzi was about to say hello, but when she looked up, she saw Zhou An hovering in mid-air with huge crimson wings on his back and his eyes still dark golden vertical slits. She was rarely stunned, her red lips slightly parted, and the towel in her hand dropped to the floor.

"Yo, Muzi, here to exercise?" Zhou An chuckled, landing on the ground in a cool manner. The dragon wings on his back dissipated into specks of fire, and his dark golden vertical pupils returned to normal.

"Boss... what is this..."

Li Muzi stepped forward, looking at Zhou An with curiosity and shock. "How did you grow wings? Is this a new function of the LV6 Cloud Top Fortress?"

"Consider it a surprise that came with the fortress upgrade, a newly awakened physical ability," Zhou An explained with a smile.

The commotion here was not small, and combined with the interconnected authorization channels inside the Cloud Top Fortress, within a few minutes, Old Zhang, Luo Ning, Shen Xingyue, and Xila all curiously gathered around.

"Boss, I just heard from Muzi that you grew wings?"

Old Zhang circled Zhou An twice and slapped his thigh. "Could it be that you've been eating the meat of those high-tier mutated beasts every day, causing a genetic mutation?!"

"Uncle Zhang makes sense!"

Luo Ning excitedly leaned in and pinched Zhou An's arm. "Have you mutated into a Lizardman now? Or Batman?"

Zhou An huffed and flicked his finger against Luo Ning's smooth forehead. "What the hell Lizardman, that's a dragon! A noble dragon, understand?!"

Xila watched Zhou An from the side, her eyes shining with bright worship. As a member of a race that also possessed wings, she had felt a terrifying bloodline pressure from afar just now—that kind of power made one want to prostrate and worship.

Meanwhile, behind the crowd, Shen Xingyue pushed up the rimless glasses on the bridge of her nose.

"Boss."

"Muzi said you were covered in red scales earlier? Demonstrate it again; I want to see the complete 'Dragonman transformation'."

"Right, right, right! Transform quickly and let us have a look!"

Luo Ning also reacted immediately, dropping her wrench and taking out a portable scanner, her eyes shining.

Looking at these two, Zhou An sighed helplessly and circulated the spiritual energy in his body.

"Boom!"

Accompanied by a crimson flame aura, that majestic, perfect, and oppressive full Dragonman form appeared before everyone once again. Dark golden vertical pupils, magnificent crimson scales, and domineering dragon wings instantly stunned everyone present.

"It's incredible... This kind of real-time restructuring at the genetic level and exoskeleton manifestation simply defies conventional biological laws!" Shen Xingyue looked at the exaggerated data on the scanner, her breathing becoming rapid.

"Boss, how long can you maintain this fully armed form?" Luo Ning asked curiously, touching the magnificent dragon wings.

"Partial dragon transformation doesn't consume much, but if I maintain a one hundred percent full Dragonman transformation, the physical stamina consumption will increase exponentially." Zhou An felt the rate of blood energy loss in his body. "With my current Tier 5 Peak constitution, this limit state can last for about three hours."

"Three hours?"

Shen Xingyue and Luo Ning exchanged a tacit glance, and a creepy smile curled up on both of their lips simultaneously.

"That's enough."

The next second, Shen Xingyue skillfully grabbed Zhou An's left arm, which was covered in dragon scales, and Luo Ning hugged his right arm.

"Let's go, let's go! Boss, it's rare that you mutated so successfully. Three hours is enough for us to perform a comprehensive deep scan and data measurement on you from head to toe, including every bone gap in your wings!" Luo Ning shouted excitedly.

"Hey! Wait, I just finished testing my new skill, and I haven't eaten yet!"

Zhou An looked at these two wolf-like, tiger-like women and wanted to break free speechlessly. With his strength, he could certainly break free, but he was afraid the dragon scales would hurt them, so he could only be dragged forward.

"What food! Research comes first! After we measure the data, we'll have Uncle Zhang roast two cows for you!"

Amidst laughter and Old Zhang and the others holding back their laughter, the dignified supreme commander of the Cloud Top Fortress and owner of the domineering Fire Dragon Soul was thus "kidnapped" into the first-floor laboratory by his own dedicated doctor and mechanic.

Inside the laboratory, scanning beams from various precision instruments crisscrossed back and forth.

Zhou An was currently being stripped bare, feeling aggrieved, and lying naked on the cold, specially made transparent examination table.

Shen Xingyue wore sterile gloves and a monocle tactical analysis lens, her stunningly beautiful face devoid of any unnecessary expression.

She professionally held the scanning probe, moving from Zhou An's chest, which was covered in crimson dragon scales, down to his firm abdomen, exploring every inch and conducting detailed energy detection.

"Cough... Um, Xingyue, just scanning the scales on the inner thighs is enough, you don't need to get so close."

Even for Zhou An, whose skin was as thick as a city wall, being examined at "zero distance" by a cold, stunning beauty made his old face flush with heat.

"Don't move around, your heart rate is exceeding the limit. The energy conduction of the flesh and blood here is very special, and I need to confirm if it will affect your endocrine system."

Shen Xingyue didn't even look up, still occasionally reaching out to touch and fiddle with it.

"Pfft—"

Luo Ning, leaning nearby, couldn't hold it back and laughed brazenly. She was holding a cup of cola, her gaze scanning over a certain part of Zhou An's body unscrupulously.

"Oh, don't be shy. Our Xingyue is the top-tier doctor, a professional! In her eyes, you are just a top-grade specimen composed of carbohydrates and energy. What kind of big waves hasn't she seen? Besides—"

Luo Ning blinked slyly, her tone drawn out long. "I've already inspected the goods, both what should and shouldn't be seen. But seriously, Boss, after this dragon transformation, did that place also undergo secondary development, coming with 'dragon scale barbs' and 'high-temperature burning' effects? Who could stand that?"

"Fine, you just wait for me. Tonight back in the room, I guarantee I'll let you 'test' it personally and teach you a good lesson!"

Luo Ning stuck out her tongue. Not only was she not afraid, but she provocatively puffed out her budding chest.

This grueling, comprehensive deep examination lasted for a full hour before it was declared over.

Zhou An retracted the stamina-draining full Dragonman form and put on his loose black combat uniform again. On the other side, Luo Ning looked at the final aggregated data on the holographic panel, the mockery on her face instantly disappearing, replaced by exaggerated shock.

"My goodness... Boss, your data is just too perverted!"

Luo Ning braced her hands on the console, her eyes fixed on the bar chart on the screen. "Take Xila for example, as a superior race, the Winged Race's innate base physical data is usually only fifteen to twenty percent higher than us humans. Your base data was already explosive enough from eating legendary grade ingredients. But the data just now shows that after you activate the full Dragonman transformation—"

Luo Ning swallowed her saliva. "Your bone density, muscle fiber toughness, and cellular recovery ability—your pure physical strength has skyrocketed to at least double what it was! That's not even counting the fifty percent final damage bonus that comes with the Fire Dragon Soul!"

"Double the base value, plus a fifty percent damage multiplier?"

Shen Xingyue also stopped her movements, a fanatical scientific light flashing in her eyes.

Luo Ning didn't dare to calculate further. Just how exaggerated would it be when these kinds of terrifying boosts were stacked together?

"Good stuff, this is absolutely the perfect evolutionary direction for a life form!"

Shen Xingyue excitedly took out a specially made vibranium blood collection tube, unceremoniously poked it into Zhou An's arm, and forcibly drew a large tube of "dragon blood" that was still shimmering with a faint golden-red color, preparing to keep it for subsequent genetic serum research.

Zhou An helplessly pressed against the needle prick, just about to complain a couple of words when the encrypted communication channel of the main control room suddenly lit up.

"Boss, Ningning, Xingyue! Come up quickly!"

Li Muzi's anxious voice came from the communicator. "The peace talks meeting between City Lord Zhao Tianyu and the Beast Race faction is about to start its full-region broadcast! Uncle Zhang and Xila and the others are already waiting in the hall!"

"It's finally starting."

Zhou An's eyes narrowed, the previous playfulness instantly restrained.

"Let's go to the main control room to watch this negotiation that decides the fate of the entire airspace."

Zhou An waved his hand and led Luo Ning and Shen Xingyue to quickly walk out of the first-floor laboratory, taking the internal elevator to the main control room hall on the second floor.

In the hall, Old Zhang, Li Muzi, Xila, and even the recently born Myriad Spirit Beast "Xiaobai" were all there. The massive holographic screen in the center was in a black-screen state, and the time in the bottom right corner was ticking regularly.

"EVA, how is the signal connection going?" Zhou An walked to the main console and asked in a deep voice.

"Reporting, Boss, I have captured an encrypted signal from the public frequency band at the frontline junction."

EVA's mechanical voice echoed in the main control room. "Forcing decryption in progress..."

System prompt: Signal reception successful. The full-region joint broadcast channel has been established.

The image on the large holographic screen gradually became clear, but the broadcast interface at this moment still appeared somewhat empty.

The screen was neatly divided into seven independent viewing windows. Divided by faction, the Beast Race's three super guilds occupied three windows; the Human Race, Elf Race, and Winged Race each occupied one; and the last window was left for the secondary alliance temporarily cobbled together by marginal races such as Gnomes, Dwarves, and Goblins.

At this time, the meeting seats in the seven windows were all empty, obviously, the big shots hadn't officially appeared yet.

However, although there was no one, lines of translucent text were lively scrolling across the top of the screen.

"Yo ho, there's even a barrage function?"

Zhou An leaned back in the leather chair of the main console, looking at the familiar interactive UI, and couldn't help but laughingly complain. "This is definitely the handiwork of that bunch from Sky City. They probably just directly copied and pasted the underlying code of the human live streaming software; it's quite nostalgic."

As soon as his voice fell, Luo Ning on the side keenly noticed a blind spot.

"Boss, look carefully at the ID suffixes of those sending the barrages." Luo Ning pointed to the text scrolling on the screen, her expression a bit strange. "It seems... they are all names of our Human Race."

Zhou An looked closely, and it really was. The dense barrages on the screen were all typical Human Race IDs like [ Sky City - Mad Blade ], [ Solo Player - Li Laoba ], and not even one name from another race could be seen.

"This bunch of guys from Sky City are really wicked. The broadcast port and servers are set up on their side, and they directly locked the permission to send barrages, creating a 'Human-exclusive version' broadcast room."