Dyon pondered a bit, before nodding. That did, in fact, make sense. "What do I do about its size?"
'Sometimes I question if you're intelligent at all. Just how being was your martial father? Your master?'
A sudden realization hit Dyon.
'Just because it was small enough for you to wrap your hand around it here, doesn't mean that this was its original size. A single reverse scale from a beast of that size can be anywhere from tens of meters to hundreds of meters at full length. It only shrinks down like that when they enter their human forms, like the scale on your little brother's forehead.'
"I see. So if the scale can't be destroyed by even a peak dao formation expert, does that mean I can run rampant? Or is there a catch?"
'Of course there's a catch. For one, powering this scale requires your bodily stamina and it definitely isn't a cost many people other than you can handle. If you can't power its increase in size, it'll go right back to that small shield it is now. I guess if you place it over your heart it can protect that small area then.
'Secondly, the power it can provide is only as much as your body can. Although your body is at a lower celestial level, the reverse scale should help you scale up its defense to peak lower celestial levels, or lower mid celestial levels with ease.
'Thirdly, do you think it's so easy to turn a dragon's scale into a weapon? If your body isn't eradicated on your first attempt, you can consider yourself lucky.'
Dyon sighed. "Fantastic." Without waiting, Dyon immediately summoned the golden scale before, without pause, pouring his golden runic flame into it.
In an instant, Dyon felt almost as though the scale could move to his will, but directly afterward, yet another Dragon's roar resounded in his mind. This time, it was easily ten times more powerful than before.
Blood dripped from Dyon's seven orifices, but his gaze remained locked and true.
His Presence erupted once again, bearing down on the scale.
"You're mine now, be obedient!"
However, unlike the previous time, the scale didn't feel up to calming down. It struggled violently, constantly trying to send its power through Dyon's runic flame and directly into his heart where it resided.
Unlike his aurora flames that could be destroyed without any impact to himself, runic flames were completely different. They were connected to your vitality, in fact, they were quite literally born of your blood essence. Any damage to it could cause irreparable harm to yourself.
While an aurora, was, at the end of the day, and external resource, the runic flame was not. Dyon was quite literally putting his life on the line to subdue this reverse scale.
Just when Dyon felt that his mind might collapse, the Demon Sage's essence roared to life, almost as if to say, 'If I bowed down to this kid, what right do you have to think you can't?!'.
Dyon felt a new power feeding into his runic flame, adding flecks of black and red to the pure gold.
It power blasted outward, shining with a majesty that was more than worthy of ruling the cosmos.
Seeing this, the old man sighed. He knew from the beginning that Dyon alone was much too weak to subdue a dragon's reverse scale. But, he allowed it to happen anyway because he expected this result.
It wasn't that Dyon's will wasn't strong enough, but rather he simply didn't have the power to back that will. Only the Demon Sage did.
The fact that the 32.2% of the Demon Sage's blood felt the need to help Dyon out let the old man know that the Demon Sage really had changed in the latter portion of his life. Although he had never said the words to Dyon, he felt that this kid here was worthy of being his successor. And given his arrogance, would he allow anything to harm him? Of course not.
The scale pulsed before acquiescing. Maybe in its prime, it could have fought toe to toe with the Demon Sage, but without the support of its body, it could do no such thing.
Dyon's eyes blinked awake from his trance before he eyes the dragon scale before him. It was currently revolving in his palm, light flickers of gold, red and black shining across its metallic gold surface.
With a thought, Dyon's runic flame once again erupted, causing the scale to expand to hundreds of times its size in an instant.
He immediately felt a drain on his stamina, but it wasn't nearly as much as the drain placed on him by the Aurora Steps. Even in a drawn out battle, Dyon felt that if he was clever with his actions, he could withstand using it for a few hours.
As for the eruption of blood essence from the Demon Sage, Dyon felt that as well. It seemed that the blood essence he had integrated from the Demon Sage could be used to boost his runic flame temporarily as well. He was surprised to see that it turned his lower comet level runic flame, into about a peak level moon runic flame. That was truly quite a leap.
Unfortunately, he found that in this state, he couldn't use the Dragon Scale's Dragon Soul but Dyon expected that much. If it was so easy to do, the Dragon Refining Arts wouldn't need to exist. But, that didn't matter too much. The Dragon King said that his Dragon Soul was only a step away from evolving from the King level too, so this scale and the Dragon King were probably on par. And, unlike this reverse scale, Dyon could use the Dragon King's Dragon Soul.
'Hmph. Don't be ridiculous. Even between half-step Sovereigns there are differences. My full strength Dragon Soul is easily two times more powerful than this clown's.' An ancient voice Dyon hadn't heard in a long time reverberated in his mind.
Dyon rolled his eyes. Although he could use the Dragon King's Dragon Soul, it was limited by the number of unlocked seals he could handle. Before, the Dragon King's domain was able to freeze Elder Daiyu only because the Daiyu Clan only had lower bronze reverse scales, so, even in a weakened state, the Dragon King was still able to heavily affect him. But, right now, Dyon's Presence was far more powerful than the pressure the Dragon King could emit.
The old man suddenly interrupted Dyon's thoughts, 'How about for your next treasure, you take the weapon from the third and fourth trials?'
"What a scam, taking a weapon that I caused to grow up counts against me as a treasure taken?"
'Stop complaining about everything,' In the next instant, a massive broad sword appeared before Dyon.
It looked completely different from before. Its metal body like finish was gone, replaced my a sleek black body coursing with red veins. It had dark chains riddled across it, clearly meant to act as a harness while also doubling as a tool for combat. Additionally, the obnoxiously long handle was wrapped in a powerful leather Dyon was sure he would have no chance of breaking.
The blade was blunt as always, but definitely made up for it in ridiculous size and weight. A 7 foot long body and a 2 and a half foot long handle was truly pushing it, but Dyon was still inexplicably drawn to it.
'You have no idea how many people would kill for a Life Stealing weapon.
'Not only is it powerful, it's also the mark of the top 100 God Trial finishers because only they have the right to take this weapon away from the tower.
'In addition, although the Life Stealing aspect is useless to many others for cultivation, since you have understood death intent, it will definitely help your comprehension. A warrior capable of comprehending the Life Stealing path is one that will be feared across the cosmos.'
"Oh? It's a matter of status? Then, of course I have to take it then." Dyon said with a grin.
'It's also a weapon that cannot be stolen. No matter how greedy a person is, once they recognize the origin of this weapon, they wouldn't dare to. This is because a person who steals this weapon will forever be unable to enter the tower.'
"I see… That's convenient."
'Do be careful though. Unless you use the Life Stealing ability, all anyone will see is a supreme level weapon.'
Dyon nodded, "I understand."
