Wild Dragon of Rome 42 (Patreon)

Astrid froze under my touch at the mention of the Tree of Life, her reaction implying that it was a big secret. “Sorry, I missed the last part. What were you saying?” I said.

It wasn’t a good excuse, and it was clear that Astrid didn’t buy it even for a second. Still, no matter how much I hated the general patterns of the noble life, one of their principles was certainly true.

Maintaining a false facade was better than an honest conversation.

“Ah … I was talking about whether you wanted to learn more about shapeshifters,” Astrid said, the fact that she used Roman terminology showing just how anxious she was to change the topic. I nodded and led her to a nearby rock where we could comfortably sit.

“I have already talked about the basics, and two methods of creating a holy warrior,” Astrid started.

“Yes, living vitae, and solidified, dead vitae,” I said, wondering which one was more relevant to mine. Considering the crystal state of the dragon heart, I wanted to believe that it was the second, but I doubted it. “Why don’t you start talking about the dead vitae,” I still asked. There was no harm in learning about both.

Things would have been much easier if I could just tell about the dragon heart, but I didn’t feel any more comfortable than her talking about the Tree of Life. The only difference was that I was more careful keeping secrets.

Or, at least, I wanted to believe I was.

“There’s not much application to your situation, but there’s no harm being through,” Astrid admitted. “As I said, implanting the dead vitae is the simpler of the two, but it doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. Once an immaculate beast dies, their vitae solidifies. Then, a priestess extracts it, cleanses it through several rituals, and carefully grafts it to the skin of the warrior.”

“Why skin, and not the flesh?” I asked.

“Because we don’t want the blood to spread the vitae around, of course,” she said with a chuckle. “That’s a slow and painful way of executing someone.” I chuckled at her as well, but mine was considerably more nervous. “In any case, the solidified vitae transforms its immediate surroundings. It’s a painful process, but when it ends, it grants the holy warrior the abilities of an immaculate beast. The warriors usually replace their legs or arms, though there are exceptions, it doesn’t end well.”

“How about with the living vitae?” I asked.

“The method is essentially the opposite. The vitae has to be drawn from a third-order beast, and it could only be transferred by blood. Then, it’s injected into the warrior, one drop at a time, allowing him to adapt the essence slowly.”

“And, when you say slowly?”

“Years,” she answered. “It takes a lot of time for a warrior to align correctly with the beast essence. It’s a highly spiritual journey. They live with the beast, hunt together, and do their best to embody their aura. Only by aligning to their perspective, they could handle the essence.”

“That must mean that they start to embody the instincts of the beasts as well, right?” I asked.

She chuckled, shaking her head. “Don’t worry, your lack of instincts is understandable. That’s not how it works. In both cases, instincts don’t transfer. That’s why they have to live together with the beast to learn how to control the essence. Only when the essence is not prepared correctly that’s a problem.”

“Does it mean that there’s a solution?”

Astrid wore a sad expression. “No. When such a mistake happens, the candidate inevitably goes mad. A quick execution is the most merciful method.”

“Glad that it’s not my problem,” I chuckled, using a lifetime of experience to conceal my fear. Luckily, Astrid was too distracted by her own concerns to actually pay attention to it. “As I said, I wasn’t exactly conscious of the essence transfer but —”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “Just give me your arm and let me diagnose you.”

I decided to extend my arm. I was confident that, with my control over my internal mana, I could detect the direction of her probe, and retreat it even if I couldn’t block it. She put her hand over my scales, and I felt her magic over mine. Her magic was interesting, surprisingly close to pure mana, though more orderly and obedient.

Feeling her magic, I could understand her reason to define elemental magic as cursed better. Once transformed, the elemental magic was hard to control and even harder to contain; a rabid animal compared to a docile, well-trained pet.

Still, I kept moving the pure mana inside me moving and churning, ready to block if her probe extended further. However, she stayed true to her promise, and her magic had been limited to the scales and the immediate surroundings.

“Just as I suspected,” she said. “Whoever responsible for your plight had used living essence, but not much of it.”

Her explanation told me that I managed to hide the truth of my transformation from her. “Any idea which beast,” I asked.

“No. Some kind of a snake, but that’s all I can say,” she replied, then smiled. “Still, it’s excellent news. While they clearly used more essence than any sane person should do to initiate the transformation, you clearly survived and thrived. You just need to get a handle on the techniques, and you can slowly spread the transformation across your whole body.”

With her explanation, I managed to get a rough sense of my situation. Assuming that dragon heart was some kind of solidified vitae — even if it wasn’t, it functioned reasonably similar — it was clearly not exactly dead, but in some kind of deep slumber.

Following that, my desperate breakthrough attempt by mixing four elemental vitae had managed to awaken whatever imprint of instinct was captured in its crystal depths, but only partially. Maybe it even liquified a minuscule portion of it at that time, or maybe it was slowly dissolving into a living essence.

Either way, since it was lodged deep into my heart, spreading through my blood was just a natural conclusion.

Then, there was the part of the instincts, one aspect I didn’t dare to reveal yet. Her declaration about their fate had a sense of finality, and I wasn’t ready to see if she was willing to make an exception for me.

I had no intention of dying pathetically. Even if I concluded that death was inevitable, I would first go back to Britannia, and make sure my precious uncle accompanied my grandfather to the underworld.

As for what to learn from her first, it was easy. “I prefer to learn how to reverse it first,” I replied. She looked surprised at my choice. I pointed at my scales. “The ones responsible for it are not happy that I managed to escape, and searching for me. I would feel much safer if I could hide myself from them.”

“That’s reasonable, but it’ll be much harder for you to reverse it once you start. The true essence is easier to spread than contain. Usually, holy warriors slowly transform themselves completely, and only when their transformation is complete, they learn how to regain their human form.”

“But, it’s possible,” I asked.

“Yes, but at the cost of wasting the true essence of the immaculate beasts,” she said reluctantly. “Once a warrior does something like that, sometimes they find they can’t reverse the transformation, and require more essence to trigger the transformation again.”

“Believe me, that’s not an end I fear,” I replied.

Her eyes widened. “How can you say that,” she gasped, shocked. “Becoming a holy warrior is a great opportunity, and not just because of our belief. Even without transforming, they are stronger and faster. They heal faster, and live longer. Once they transformed they can even contend against the cursed sorcerers of Rome. Why do you think that Rome could never dislodge us from our true home?”

The true answer was Rome liked fighting with itself too much to put a proper focus on expanding, a situation that turned particularly exaggerated since Eastern Rome had declared its independence and established the Empire a century ago. Otherwise, even if their so-called holy warriors were strong, they couldn’t keep back a determined Rome.

Fighting against a sorcerer was impressive, but what if that sorcerer was a part of the legion, with a cohort fully dedicated to his defense... But, I just nodded rather than confronting her about it. While I enjoyed discussing military tactics, it wasn’t the time.

Instead, I made her an offer. “Alright, I’ll try to complete the transformation first, but only if you teach both the method of expansion and reversal.”

It looked like a sacrifice, but it was not. As long as the crystal stayed lodged in my heart, the last thing I would struggle to continue to transform. All I needed was to let my mana build up, and the transformation would quicken.

Assuming, of course, that was even possible in the first place.

“Alright. As long as you promise not to completely erase the transformation,” Astrid admitted, clearly feeling invested in my success as a shapeshifter, but considering their status both in her society and in her religion, it was understandable.

“I promise,” I lied, not that I thought it would matter. My transformation felt inevitable. I just hoped for a way to control it.

“Both methods require meditation, and it would require months for you to truly get familiar…” she started, initiating our lesson.