169: Dragon Knight

Inside the temporary laboratory in Kalamo Canyon, the light from holographic projections cast mottled shadows on the pristine white walls.

Ilya was hovering in mid-air, with a dense stream of data flowing like a waterfall before her.

That withered wooden wand, which had belonged to the court archmage, had been disassembled and analyzed by her hundreds of times. From its macroscopic physical structure to its microscopic atomic arrangement, even the core crystal circuitry had been mapped into a 3D topology using her nano-probes.

"The structure is clear, the energy conductivity has been calculated, and the wave frequency has been recorded..."

Ilya irritably scratched her long silver hair.

"But this is just like giving me the blueprints for a gun without telling me the formula for the gunpowder! I've built the gun, but I can't pull the trigger!"

In her simulations, she tried using electromagnetic waves, gravitational waves, and even controlled trace amounts of antimatter energy to stimulate the wand, but the results were disheartening.

Although the wand reacted, the effect it produced was negligible; it could not replicate the world-destroying magical effects from Klaus Difan's memories at all.

"The core lies in consciousness, in that fulcrum capable of prying reality."

Ilya's gaze passed through the glass wall and landed on the Red Dragon outside, which was lying on the ground, listlessly swatting flies with its tail.

"Although this big lizard can use magic, its method of casting is truly hard to understand; it relies entirely on racial talent."

Ilya shook her head. "Its brainwave frequency is too violent and not suitable for human imitation. If I want to let humans master this power, I still have to find... people."

An obvious fact that she had overlooked for a long time suddenly jumped into her mind.

There are "humans" on this planet.

Moreover, according to previous scan results, the humans here have a genetic similarity of over 99.99% to Earth humans; they are almost cut from the same cloth.

Since the humans here can become mages through learning and training, and can wield magic with their fragile carbon-based bodies, why can't Earth humans do the same?

"I'm looking far afield while ignoring what's right in front of me, Ilya." She smiled self-deprecatingly. "Instead of studying a reptile here, I might as well go capture a few humans who know magic for dissection... *cough*, for cooperative research."

Thinking of this, she immediately flew out of the laboratory and arrived in front of Klaus Difan's massive head.

"Hey, big lizard, wake up!"

Klaus Difan was having a sweet dream about swimming in an ocean of gold coins when it was suddenly woken up. It shuddered in fright and almost spat out a jet of flame.

After seeing that the person who arrived was that silver-haired goddess, it immediately put on a sycophantic expression.

"My lord, what are your orders? Are you hungry? I know there is a herd of wild oxen nearby..."

"I'm not hungry." Ilya interrupted it. "I ask you, the humans on this planet—the little ones who look similar to me—what is their level of spellcasting?"

"Humans?" Klaus Difan was stunned for a moment, then puffed two disdainful jets of white smoke from its nostrils. "How could that bunch of frail, short-lived creatures compare to you? Most of them are just ordinary goods who only know how to swing hoes or iron scraps; they don't understand what magic power is at all."

It shifted into a more comfortable position and began to show off its knowledge. "Among the human population, people with a tiny bit of magical talent are probably one in a hundred. Being able to conjure a small fireball is considered decent. As for those who can truly be called mages, they are one in ten thousand."

"As for the top powerhouses who can be compared to me, the great Red Dragon Klaus Difan..." It glanced at Ilya with a guilty conscience, its voice dropping. "Only the courts of those ancient kingdoms keep a few; for example, that reckless old man from last time—he was indeed a bit troublesome."

"Is that so..." Ilya stroked her chin, thoughtful. "In other words, although magical talent is scarce on this planet, it is not extinct, and it can be learned and improved upon later in life?"

"That is natural. Although humans have weak bodies, they have good brains. They like to set up things like academies and towers." Klaus Difan recalled. "However, I haven't left home for decades, so I don't know what it's like outside now. I heard that the Rocasia Kingdom in the south has been at war; maybe a large number of mages have died."

"Academies? Educational institutions?" Ilya's eyes lit up.

This was exactly what she wanted.

A systematic institution with a heritage and teaching methods is far more valuable than one or two wild mages.

"It's decided." Ilya snapped her fingers. "I'm going to take a trip into human society."

This wasn't just for researching magic.

As the Chief Scientist of the Human Federation, and also someone who possessed a certain degree of strategic vision after being influenced by Lei Wen, Ilya keenly realized the value of the humans on this planet.

Billions of the same kind, with genes very similar to Earth humans and an identical appearance.

If they were incorporated into the territory of the Human Federation...

No complex genetic modification or long periods of environmental adaptation would be needed; this was simply a ready-made colonial population supplement! One could even say this planet was Earth's long-lost twin sister.

As long as this place was conquered, the Human Federation's population base would increase by an order of magnitude. And if the mystery of the magic here could be solved, it might even turn the Human Federation into a magical civilization where everyone could conjure fireballs by hand!

"This is a strategic resource..." Ilya licked her lips, her eyes becoming somewhat like those of a greedy capitalist.

"Navigator." She called out on the communication channel.

"I am here, Captain."

"Modify the Star Map log and officially rename F-81-03A to Mana." Ilya said. "This name represents magic power in an ancient Earth language, which is very suitable for this place."

"Updated. Mana Star, and the indigenous Mana humans."

"Also, get ready, I'm going out."

Ilya turned to look at Klaus Difan, her eyes flashing with calculated light.

"Big lizard, you just said that your inherited memories contain the common language of human society?"

"Of course!" Klaus Difan said proudly. "The inherited memories of the dragon race are all-encompassing. Let alone the common language, I even know those lost Elvish languages and the forging songs of the Dwarves!"

"Very good."

Ilya reached out and pressed her hand against the Red Dragon's hard brow bone. "Don't move, relax your brain; I'm going to download data."

"Down... download?"

Before Klaus Difan could understand what that meant, a faint electric current instantly pierced into its cerebral cortex; it was a neural reading pulse released by the Navigator through Ilya's bionic body.

"Awoo! That itches a bit!"

A few minutes later, the massive language data packet was extracted.

"Parsing grammatical structure... building vocabulary library... optimizing pronunciation model."

The Navigator's efficiency was astonishing. In less than half an hour, a perfect [Mana Common Language Translation Program] had already been loaded into Ilya's vocal module.

"*Cough, cough*." Ilya cleared her throat and spoke. "Humble reptile, offer up your treasures."

This time, what she said was no longer a mechanical voice transcoded by a translator, but rather the Mana Common Language, spoken with perfect pronunciation and a certain ancient aristocratic accent.

"Perfect." Ilya nodded with satisfaction.

Everything was ready, and she adjusted her nano-combat suit.

This outfit could change its appearance at will according to the environment. With a thought, the bodysuit transformed into a silver-white mage robe that looked both mysterious and noble on this planet. Although the material was still high-tech nanofiber, it was flawless on the outside.

"Alright, let's go."

Ilya walked towards the cave entrance, but stopped after taking two steps.

She looked back at the empty wasteland, then at the Red Dragon lying on the ground, and a brilliant idea suddenly popped into her little head.

Since she was going to human society and would be contacting those so-called mages, her entrance had to be shocking enough and have enough "presence" to save a lot of unnecessary trouble.

What identity is the most intimidating?

A mysterious powerhouse descending from the heavens? A reclusive grandmaster of magic?

No, these aren't explosive enough.

In this world of swords and magic, what could better demonstrate status and power than having a dragon as a mount?

Dragon Knight.

This profession, which has been written to death in Earth's fantasy novels, is an existence at the top of the combat pyramid in this real fantasy world.

A devilish smile curled at the corner of Ilya's mouth. She turned around and approached Klaus Difan step by step.

"Hey, big lizard."

Klaus Difan was preparing to continue its nap. Hearing this voice, all the scales on its body stood up. It raised its head and saw that silver-haired demon (no longer calling her a goddess?) sizing it up with the look of someone eyeing "top-tier equipment."

"M-my lord, what do you want again? If you want to eat meat, my meat is very sour and doesn't taste good..."

"Cut the crap." Ilya pointed outside the cave. "Crouch down and spread your wings."

"Huh?"

"I'm going to the nearest human kingdom, that Rocasia you mentioned." Ilya said as a matter of course. "The journey is long, I'm too lazy to fly, so you're taking me there."

"What?"

Klaus Difan let out a roar of humiliation. It stood up abruptly, and two long jets of flame spewed from its nostrils.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"I am a noble Red Dragon! I am the overlord of the sky! I am the incarnation of fire! How could I let anyone... even if you are a goddess, you cannot ride on my back! This is a trampling of the dragon race's dignity! I would rather die than be a mount!"

The dragon's roar echoed in the canyon; it struck a pose of unyielding defiance.

On Mana Star, the dragon race is proud.

Except for those legendary peerless powerhouses who signed equal contracts with dragons, no one has ever been able to force an adult dragon to serve as a beast of burden.

This is not just a physical insult, but also a torture of the soul.

"Oh? Is that so?"

Ilya was not angry; she just narrowed her eyes slightly—a dangerous, ruby-like glint.

She slowly raised her right hand.

"Hum—"

The air suddenly became heavy.

Her slender arm began to change; the nano-muscle fibers under her skin locked instantly, and the output power of the micro-dark matter reactor increased to 30% in an instant.

A visible stream of blue energy coiled around her arm, and the surrounding space distorted slightly due to the high-energy reaction.

Ilya threw a punch through the air at a massive rock beside her that was larger than Klaus Difan itself.

"BOOM!!!"

Without direct contact, merely from the air cannon and force field impact generated by the punch, that massive rock, which had weathered a thousand years, disintegrated into a sky full of gravel and dust in an instant, leaving not a single intact stone behind.

The dust settled, and Ilya blew the non-existent dust off her fist, looking at the Red Dragon, which was now dumbstruck.

"What did you just say? The wind was too loud, I didn't hear you clearly."

She asked with a smile. "Are you saying you would rather die than take me for a flight?"

"If that's the case, I'll just have to peel your skin off to make leather boots, dismantle your bones to use as specimens, and then dig out that crystal in your brain to use as a flashlight battery."

"You know, I am a scientist, and I never waste materials."

Klaus Difan looked at the pile of rocks that had turned into powder, then looked at Ilya's brilliant smile, and it felt its heart stop beating.

If this punch had landed on it...

Its proud dragon scales would probably be no different from paper.

Dignity?

Can dignity be eaten as food? Can dignity block that kind of punch that can turn rock into powder?

As a Red Dragon with a flexible moral bottom line, Klaus Difan made the decision that best fit its survival philosophy in 0.01 seconds.

"Thump!"

That massive body expertly lay on the ground again, its huge membranous wings spreading obediently on the ground, and it even thoughtfully adjusted the angle of the scales on its back to form a depression similar to a saddle.

"My lord, you've misunderstood."

Klaus Difan said in an extremely sycophantic tone, completely unrecognizable from the unyielding attitude it had just shown.

"What I meant is, being able to serve such a great existence as you is the honor of Klaus Difan's life!"

"What dragon dignity? It's worthless in front of your radiance! I've long wanted to experience the feeling of soaring through the sky while carrying a goddess!"

"Come, please take your seat! Watch the steps... oh no, watch out, the scales are a bit slippery!"

Ilya looked at this shameless big lizard and nodded with satisfaction.

"That's right, good doggies get meat."

She jumped lightly onto the dragon's back; the broad back was like a small platform with an excellent view.

"Target, Rocasia Kingdom."

Ilya pointed towards the distance, full of spirit.

"Take off!"

"ROAR—"

Klaus Difan let out a loud dragon roar, partly to vent the frustration in its heart, and partly to display its power.

Its powerful hind limbs kicked off the ground, and its huge membranous wings flapped, whipping up a gale. Its massive body, lifted by magic and air currents, soared into the air and shot straight into the clouds.

The strong wind whistled past her ears. Ilya stood on the dragon's back; although she hadn't activated her personal shield, the Red Dragon would automatically form a low-pressure airflow protective layer around itself while flying.

The Kalamo Canyon below shrank rapidly, and the scenery of the wasteland was in full view.

"Is this what it feels like to ride a dragon?"

Ilya spread her arms. Although her anti-gravity flight was much faster and more stable than this, the sense of conquest from controlling a primitive giant beast to conquer the sky was something cold machines could not provide.

"This feeling is not bad."

"Navigator, activate stealth escort mode and have the Wanderer follow above the stratosphere."

"As you command, Captain."

One person and one dragon thus sped towards the Rocasia Kingdom.