Chapter 97: The Dragon's Body

In a manor located in the southern part of the capital, a middle-aged man with a somber expression stood inside a room, gazing out at the garden. Perched on his shoulder was a jet-black bird, its blood-red eyes also fixed on the view outside the window. If Xu Han were present, he would have immediately recognized that this was none other than Lei Ming, who had previously fled.

Just as Lei Ming was lost in thought, footsteps sounded behind him. Soon, a figure entirely shrouded in a black robe entered slowly. Lei Ming turned around, dropped to one knee, and respectfully greeted, “Greetings, Your Excellency.”

This black-robed individual was none other than Shadow, one of the four great archbishops—Wind, Fire, Thunder, and Shadow—of the Abyssal Church. Beyond the High Priest, no one had ever seen his true face, nor did anyone know the extent of his actual strength.

Shadow gave a slight nod, his deep voice rumbling, “Rise.”

Lei Ming stood, head bowed, respectfully awaiting orders.

“So, you failed the mission? You didn’t manage to kill that Xu Han?”

A flicker of malice crossed Lei Ming’s eyes as he nodded slightly. “Yes.” He then recounted the entire sequence of events in detail to Shadow.

A chilling gleam flashed in Shadow’s gaze. “It seems this young man, Xu Han, has some skill after all. The plan we orchestrated in the freshmen’s secret realm at Dragon Nation University was also thwarted by him. We even lost two of our men.”

Lei Ming spoke in a low voice, “Your Excellency, I believe we must find a way to eliminate Xu Han. If he’s allowed to grow any further, the consequences will be dire.”

Shadow nodded slightly. “I am aware. However, since he’s currently inside Dragon Nation University, we’ll have to find a way to lure him out. He’s now a student of that woman, Night Butterfly. We can’t act recklessly on campus. Otherwise, provoking Night Butterfly would bring unnecessary trouble.”

Lei Ming nodded in agreement. “Precisely. As long as he steps outside Dragon Nation University, there are a hundred ways to deal with him.”

Shadow slowly lifted his head, another glint of cold light in his eyes. “Don’t worry, I already have a plan. Dealing with a fledgling like him is no great challenge. I’m assigning you a new task; leave the matter of Xu Han to others.”

“Yes, Your Excellency,” Lei Ming replied.

…

Xu Han returned to his dormitory. The first thing he did was take out the Black-armored Dragon’s claw and place it on the table. Its claw resembled that of a crocodile. Xu Han couldn’t think of any sophisticated way to prepare it, so as usual, he chose to barbecue it.

He took out his dagger, swiftly removed the dragon scales, revealing the vivid red flesh beneath. Then he placed the dragon meat on the grill and began to cook it. Before long, the tantalizing aroma of roasted meat filled the air.

Xu Han’s mouth watered uncontrollably. No matter how many times he had eaten roasted meat, the flavor of dragon flesh was always irresistible. He sprinkled some seasoning over it, then grabbed the entire claw and took a hearty bite.

The moment he tasted it, the system notification chimed:

“Host has consumed Black-armored Dragon meat for the first time. Strength +200, Constitution +200.”

A surge of power coursed through Xu Han’s body. The sensation of growing stronger just by eating was truly wonderful. Then, another notification echoed in his mind:

“Dragon Claw mutating…”

Xu Han was delighted. Even without gaining a new skill, another mutation of the Dragon Claw was certainly good news. He waited patiently.

Soon, the system message sounded again:

“Dragon Claw has successfully mutated into Dragon Body.”

Xu Han opened his skill panel. The Dragon Claw had indeed become Dragon Body, and the skill effects had transformed dramatically.

Dragon Body LV.2: Encase your entire body in dragon scales, transforming into a Black Dragon. Attack power doubles, defense doubles, magic resistance increases by 90%, lasts 1 minute, cooldown 5 hours.

Xu Han’s eyes widened in astonishment. The effect of Dragon Body was worlds apart from that of Dragon Claw. While Dragon Claw only covered one arm, Dragon Body enveloped his entire form in dragon scales. Both attack and defense received a massive boost. Even more impressively, his magic resistance rose to ninety percent. With this, hardly any magic could harm him. Without magic penetration, a mage’s attacks would be nothing more than an itch to him.

This skill was simply overpowered.

Next, Xu Han donned Shadow Mantle. His stats surged dramatically. He opened his attribute panel:

[Name: Xu Han]
[Race: Human]
[Class: SSS-tier Grand Gourmet]
[Level: 24]
[Strength: 3430]
[Constitution: 2579]
[Agility: 2010]
[Spirit: 1149]

His strength had soared to a terrifying 3,000-plus. All other attributes had surpassed a thousand as well. With his current power, he could hold his own even among fifth-tier experts. His next step was to raise his level further.

After a brief rest, he headed to the mission assignment center to select some tasks.

As soon as he stepped into the mission hall, a cacophony of voices greeted him. All around, students were poring over the lists of available missions—most were sophomores or juniors. Freshmen were still busy with classes and rarely had time to take on tasks.

Xu Han squeezed into the crowd to study the missions.

[Basic Mission: Collect 100 Desert Wolf Fangs]
[Description: Hunt desert wolves on the western outskirts, collect their fangs, and deliver them to the Forging Department.]
[Reward: 5 Credits]
[Requirement: None]

Desert wolves were level-25 monsters—not weak, and they often moved in packs. To deal with them, at least several professionals needed to work together; otherwise, a lone student would end up as their prey. Yet such a mission only offered five credits, which spoke volumes about how hard it was to earn credits.

[Basic Mission: Find the Lost Pet]
[Description: The Shadow Cat belonging to Tailor Zhang in the north of the city has gone missing. Please help retrieve it.]
[Reward: 1 Credit]
[Requirement: None]

There were also errands like searching for lost pets—just one credit for such a task, miserly indeed.

He glanced through other basic missions. They were all about gathering materials, finding lost pets, or running errands. Truly not worth the effort. Still, quite a few people with support-class professions were picking these up.

Xu Han understood—after all, support classes had limited combat abilities. All they could do was fetch pets or run errands to slowly accumulate credits and exchange them for things they needed.

Shaking his head, Xu Han decided to check the intermediate missions.

At that moment, a commotion nearby caught his attention. He turned to see three male students in light armor, weapons in hand, surrounding a female student—someone he recognized: Qin Xuanyi.

Qin Xuanyi frowned, displeased. “I chose this basic mission first. Why are you trying to take it from me?”

One of the boys, a swordsman, leered and replied, “Little lady, fetching errands like this is so dull, and the credits aren’t worth much. How about this—instead, you support us on an intermediate mission outside the city and earn more credits?”

An archer beside him smirked. “Yeah, doing an intermediate mission, you’d earn at least five credits. And if you’re willing to have a little fun with us, you could get even more. It all depends on you.”