"Good!" the dragon-spirit boomed, obviously happy to hear his acceptance. "If you have earned the approval of the Divine, then I could also ask for no better inheritor of the Jade Dragon legacy."
John heard that name again, ‘The Divine', and wanted to ask a bit more about it, but he decided against it as he recalled the karmic consequences of knowing too much revealed to him previously.
‘My strength has grown tremendously since then, but compared to my ‘father' or this dragon, I'm still so far beneath them I can't even imagine the limits of their power. I'm still too weak to handle the karmic consequences, and I have enough to deal with right now without adding further fuel to the fire.'
"Step onto the formation platform!" the dragon-spirit instructed John, who obliged and walked forward towards the center of the formation circle. When he arrived, he felt the dragon-spirit personally inspect him, much closer than he had done previously.
The energy invaded his body, but John did not resist despite the awkward feeling. It surged through his muscles, veins, and bones unhindered, inspecting every inch thoroughly.
"You…blinded by my anger before, I failed to notice your draconic compatibility…Just how much of the blood and bone did you absorb?" the dragon-spirit mused as its power flared outwards for a brief moment.
"All of it!" the dragon-spirit exclaimed, indicating that it had checked the results of the previous two temples. "You absorbed all the blood, and all the bones?" the dragon-spirit asked John for confirmation, surprise and slight anger in its voice.
"Uhhhh, yeah. Were you not aware of this?" John asked, finding it peculiar that the overseer of this temple's legacy wouldn't be aware of something occurring so closely.
"I was not," the dragon-spirit replied. "In an effort to keep my soul power usage as minimal as possible, I only awaken from my slumber when this temple's formation is activated," it replied.
"So that's how it is," John mused, before confirming the truth. "It's as you say. I absorbed all of the dragon blood and dragon bones. If only there was a bit more, that would have been even better, but oh well, it still improved my body greatly!"
"A bit more…" the dragon-spirit mumbled, as if stunned by the words it had just heard. "That amount of dragonblood and dragonbone was enough for a dozen more inheritances!" the dragon exclaimed, his words causing John to smile wryly in return. He had not thought his absorption of the blood and bone to be out of the ordinary, but apparently it was beyond extraordinary.
"I never thought a Heaven Tribulation human could absorb so much dragon blood and bone without perishing," the dragon-spirit mused out loud.
"It wasn't easy, let me tell you that. I nearly died by exploding from within," John replied.
"Nearly died? You should have exploded ten times over!" the dragon replied, still shocked at the truth of the matter, and fell into a deep silence for a bit.
"Hmmm, a human….one with the bloodline of the Divine…and an Asura-like body…there may be no better match for this burden in existence," the dragon-spirit continued musing, while John listened on in silence.
After a long silence, the dragon sighed deeply, as if its mind had been reluctantly made up. Its gaze locked back onto John, who felt as if he were being stared at by a godlike presence.
"The blood and bones should have lasted for many more inheritance trials, but the purpose of the inheritance trials is to find the one most suitable to carry the burden of the Jade Dragon legacy. However, with your ancestry, and draconic bloodline compatibility, I could think of no better inheritor to ask for. Prepare yourself, for this may hurt!" the dragon said to John firmly as a powerful energy suddenly flared from the formation beneath his feet, wrapping around him with absolute power.
The energy invaded his body with overwhelming power, racing through every inch of blood and flesh like a warhorse. John grit his teeth in pain and steadied his mind as he felt the energy run rampant throughout his body.
As the energy coursed through his body, John was shocked to discover that changes to his body were being made at a noticeable rate. When he had absorbed the dragon blood and dragon bones, the blood and bone had been absorbed by his body and his body had been strengthened greatly as a result, but that was all.
The dragonblood and dragonbone still existed separately from his natural body, although the two parts existed in harmony. It was as if two allies occupied the same body, augmenting each other but existing separately.
Now however, the strange energy was joining these two separate ‘allies' into one, something that John didn't even know was possible. The dragonblood he had absorbed earlier began to fully assimilate with his flesh, sinew, and muscles, becoming as if he had been born in such a aste. At the same time, the dragonbones that he had absorbed fused with his bones as well, as if they had always been one in the same. The process was beyond shocking, and also beyond painful.
John roared in pain as he felt as if a million knives were stabbing each and every inch of his body from within, while searing it at the same time. Steam flowed off his body as it heated up to a great degree, while John's flesh turned red from the scorching heat from within. His flesh ripped violently, like he was about to explode from within.
His muscles tore apart, bones shattered, and flesh ripped, but as this happened, it almost immediately healed, as dragon and human assimilated into one. The dragon-spirit oversaw the entire process, and couldn't help but be shocked at the level of assimilation and symbiosis.
"As expected from one of such esteemed lineage," the dragon mused, but frowned as it noticed something was not going to plan. While everything else within John's body was fusing to perfecting, John's blood refused to do the same, as if the Jade Dragon blood was not worthy of defiling it.
The dragon's remaining might flared as it tried to force the assimilation, but no matter how much it tried, John's blood refused to be changed in the slightest.
"So prideful," the dragon scoffed, but no longer attempted to force the process.
Roars of pain and agony continued to boom out from John's mouth as the process continued for quite some time. After what felt like an eternity for John, the energy finally faded away, and the process stopped. John instantly fell to his knees in exhausted agony, breathing deeply as he struggled to maintain his consciousness, as the process had been almost more than he could have handled.
"You only have yourself to blame for the process being this painful," the dragon-spirit said to him. "The more dragonblood and dragonbone absorbed, the more complete the fusion process…and the more painful. With how much of both you absorbed, even death was not an impossibility, but as one who carries the Mark of the Divine, I had expected nothing less."
As the dragon-sprit said all this, it hovered over to John, who still laid down on the formation platform, breathing heavily and trembling in pain. However, through the pain, a small smile of satisfaction appeared on John's face as he felt the changes to his body.
"Congratulations. You now have the powers of a True Jade Dragon!"
