“Next, there’s only this guy left.”
Staring at the brilliant cluster of colored light before him, Arlette couldn’t help but feel a flash of tension in his eyes.
“If I can successfully absorb it with the ritual…”
His throat moved slightly, and a strong sense of tension instantly enveloped his entire body.
If the grade of the Magma Slug’s core and shell was B, and those auxiliary materials were C…
Then the grade of this Inverse Scale of the Gem Dragon was undoubtedly “A+”.
If he succeeded, what Arlette could gain would be far more than just simple body tempering.
With materials of this level, even Arlette himself couldn’t be sure what kind of chemical reaction they would produce with his body.
He cautiously raised his hands, slowly guiding the colored cluster of light toward his chest.
From an arm’s length at first to a hair’s breadth now.
The cluster of light approached bit by bit, gradually closing in on the blood-red color on Reno’s chest.
However, just as it was about to sink into it, a powerful force of attraction suddenly erupted from Arlette’s chest!
“What?!”
Arlette hadn’t even had time to react before that cluster of light had already begun to drill into the blood-red vortex.
It came aggressively, as if it weren’t Arlette who wanted to absorb it, but rather this outsider wanting to drill into his body to occupy and then devour him!
In an instant, agonizing pain completely took over his entire body.
Even the materials he had previously absorbed into his body became increasingly unstable, as if they would collapse at any moment because of this thing’s arrival.
“No, I have to stop immediately!”
“Otherwise, my body will be torn apart by this thing!!”
Arlette suddenly raised his hand and grabbed the lethal cluster of light.
But even though his arms and wrists strained with all their might, he couldn’t pull the thing away from himself even an inch.
Arlette struggled and fell to the ground. Seeing that the thing was about to drill completely into his chest, he had a flash of inspiration. He kicked out wildly at the massive array on the ground with his legs, directly and completely destroying the magic circle he had drawn earlier.
The flames flowing over the bone meal gradually extinguished as the magic circle shattered, and that lethal colored cluster of light also gradually dimmed.
The suction disappeared, and Arlette collapsed onto the ground, exhausted, his muscles trembling slightly from the narrow escape.
When he came to his senses, the colored scale that had nearly cost him his life was lying quietly in the palm of his hand.
“Am I… not qualified to control it yet?”
Arlette could feel it.
This Inverse Scale of the Gem Dragon didn’t reject him.
It could even be said that it eagerly desired to become a part of him.
But that was precisely the problem.
The current Arlette simply couldn’t accept materials of such a high grade.
“If I had let that thing enter my body just now… the ritual would have definitely collapsed.”
There was an extremely important taboo in this Vampire Ritual.
Once a person forcibly absorbed materials that exceeded their limit, their body would completely collapse.
Therefore, upon noticing anything unusual, the ritual had to be terminated immediately.
This was also something Miss Merlo had taught him.
Fortunately, Arlette had kept these teachings firmly in mind and destroyed the magic circle at the first moment. He didn’t let things worsen further.
The previous materials had been absorbed very smoothly, and Arlette could feel that his body had indeed grown much stronger.
He couldn’t even feel his previous injuries anymore.
“It seems I can only set it aside for now…”
Looking at the brilliant treasure in his hand, a massive sense of regret couldn’t help but well up in Arlette’s heart.
“When my body can withstand it one day, I’ll try to absorb it again.”
***
After completing the ritual, Arlette spent the entire afternoon continuing to recover from his injuries in the inn.
The specific process basically consisted of using healing magic on himself, waiting for his mana to recover, and then performing the healing again, over and over.
Finally, at dusk, he left the inn and set out on the journey toward the teleportation array.
After walking out of Dice Town, beneath his feet was a dirt road covered in gravel and pebbles, with towering trees on both sides of the path.
Occasionally, travelers in groups of twos and threes or horse-drawn carriages could be seen nearby.
And among those scattered figures, one slowly approached Arlette and then leaned in close.
“Oh my! What a coincidence~ my little knight. Meeting here again.”
With a playful greeting, a graceful figure quite familiar to Arlette appeared in his peripheral vision again.
She wore a dashing black jacket, with denim blue shorts on her lower body.
Today, she wasn’t wearing black silk stockings, but instead paired her outfit with a pair of cotton over-the-knee socks. The absolute territory near the base of her thighs was made even more alluring by the contrast.
And on top of her head was still the same unchanging large, round witch hat.
Undoubtedly, this was the Witch Vivian.
The first thing Vivian did after getting close to Arlette was to start making small talk.
“My, my, that ‘shameful’ young lady of yours is really too much.”
“Even though it was because of her that you were seriously injured before.”
“And because you were seriously injured, you were at a disadvantage when fighting the goblins.”
“In the end, she still wants to punish you. She’s really a heartless person.”
Hearing this, Arlette suddenly stopped in his tracks and stood still.
Vivian, who had been moving along with his pace, bumped her head into his armor because of his sudden braking.
“Ugh! Ouch, ouch, ouch! Why did you suddenly stop!”
She wailed while clutching her forehead, fiercely condemning Arlette’s immoral behavior.
However, Arlette had no intention of discussing that topic.
“How did you know I fought the goblins?”
He spoke coldly, his somewhat muffled voice coming from beneath his visor.
“A girl bumped her head and you don’t even know how to offer comfort! You’ve been raised by Merlo to be heartless too!”
Vivian gave Arlette a fierce glare to vent her anger, and then answered his question:
“Of course I know, because I was right there watching at the time.”
“When you fell, I was really afraid you would die. I almost came out to help you.”
“Then why do you also know that I was punished by the young lady?”
Vivian crossed her arms, a subtle smile appearing at the corners of her eyes.
“That’s because I was also around the room watching at the time.”
“When you were delirious from the fever and called that little Elf girl ‘Mama,’ I saw the whole scene clearly.”
“Oh dear, it was so cute my heart almost melted. If only you had called me that, how great it would have… Hey, hey, where are you going?”
As she spoke, Arlette suddenly stopped walking, turned around, and headed back toward the town.
“To the security bureau to report a case. To have you arrested.”
“Hey, hey, what are you doing! Stop right there!”