2038 Restricted
Their serpentine lower bodies curled into the tail of a scorpion. A black shelled exoskeleton followed up their snaking bodies, twisting into six scorpion legs that became their armored rib guards.
Their upper body formed two powerful arms matted in pinkish-
red fur, the slightest touch of which could slice apart steel. Their boar-like heads were covered in the very same black exoskeleton, only revealing two sinister crimson eyes… But what couldn't be hidden with their long black tusks, dotted with holes that dripped a purple liquid… As each droplet fell to the ground, a sizzling sound grated on the soul, each searing the soil beneath their feet with the aura of death.
These creatures had already become the nightmare of the southern region. They seemed to treat war like a game, using it to hone and mature their strength, uncaring and unfeeling for the lives they reaped.
However, these two beast species had a third sibling that struck fear all the more.
The four regions were each separated by a mountain range. To laymen, this may have been the real reason the regions didn't interact very often. However, to those who dared to risk their lives, the true reason wasn't a mere geological disadvantage, but rather a bloodthirsty creature that treated no one as friend…
To the mortal plane, they were known as the Failed Dragons…
They weren't as beautiful or majestic… Nor were they as talented or powerful… Even their so-called pride was nothing more than hot air, or why would they ever enter the Ancient Battlefield in the first place?
The wyvern… An ugly beast that was no different from a lizard with wings or a garden snake with limbs. It was a race that had long been obliterated from the mortal plane by the Dragon Race themselves.
Yet, some of their Race had suddenly gained a newfound confidence under their new ruler… Enough confidence that they dared to call themselves the Emperor Dragons!
Dyon didn't believe the wyverns needed to be changed, nor did he have some magical ability to change the path of an already established race. What he could do, however, was light the path they needed to follow.
What wyverns lacked the most in comparison to dragons wasn't just strength, but rather, a proper dao heart.
The wyverns believed themselves to be arrogant, but in reality, they were stereotypical beasts. Despite many of them having high cultivations, their intelligence was lacking, and their comprehension was even worse.
Beasts could usually make up for this lack of comprehension with their innate affinities, but the wyverns were both lucky and unlucky in this respect.
They were lucky in that their affinities were highly tailored toward their bodily strength. Much like Celestial Tigers, they specialized in a sort of slaughter qi, but this slaughter qi was much less refined. While a Celestial Tiger's slaughter qi had aspects of intimidation and mental attacks, a wyvern's slaughter qi was a pure physical augmentation.
And this was where their lack of luck became clear. They continuously evolved along the path of greater pure strength, but they lacked any sort of flexibility. Wasn't this the very same reason the Titans fell in the end as well?
As powerful as he was in the way of alchemy, Dyon couldn't just concoct a pill to raise their intelligence. Well… He could, but the issue was the spiritual ingredients needed. They were simply too rare, even for his current level of wealth.
What Dyon needed to do was find a way to have the wyverns raise their intelligence themselves… But if such a thing was so easy, wouldn't they have already done it?
It was then Dyon noticed something peculiar.
On a day several decades ago while his clone was on yet another campaign through the Ancient Battlefield, he released his Presence for a matter he had long since forgotten about. However, what he did remember very clearly from that day was how the wyverns reacted to it.
Dyon noticed faintly that their blood began to boil, vibrating at a frequency that was eerily similar to when he unleashed his own Presence.
It was then that Dyon had an epiphany.
Presence… Perception… They were mystical martial arts that one could release with just your body and nothing else. In fact, even Dyon's own mortal father had comprehended Presence and likely even Perception without having cultivated a single day in his entire life.
This sort of instinctual cultivation, one that relied on the most primitive tool one's own body… Wasn't it perfect for the wyverns?
It was then that Dyon realized his previous assessment of the wyverns had been too shallow. Their 'slaughter qi' wasn't actually a qi at all, but rather a slaughter martial intent that was passed on through their bloodline.
Thinking back to the Pride Clan's pool of blood, Dyon fell into his own thoughts.
Ever since that day, his Presence had morphed into something completely out of his expectation.
Firstly, it no longer seemed restricted by the strength of his body, though, somehow, his bodily strength still contradictorily helped to strengthen it.
Secondly, he could no longer properly categorize his Presence either. Before he absorbed the pool of blood, he had been an Emperor Grade Presence wielder. But now, he had no idea what realm he was in. Was it the God Grade? He didn't know…
Thirdly, he couldn't detect these changes in his own blood. He thought that maybe there would be some mutation, but his bloodline still followed his Titan Diamond Body without faltering. It was almost as though the changes made weren't tangible at all, yet their impact was very clear.
The point of all this was simple. If even Dyon couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on, how could the wyverns who innately lacked intelligence comprehend was sort of secret lay dormant within their own bodies?
However, now, they had Dyon to think for them… Comprehending the Pride Clan's blood might have been beyond him, however, the wyvern bloodline was much more straight-
forward.
