Chapter 239: Tests

After I turned the kitsune, I went to find one of the only persons who wasn’t in attendance.

The street was dark and empty since everyone was back at the shrine celebrating.

The moonlight acted as the only light source illuminating the path ahead.

“Alpha!”

Suddenly, I heard a voice calling from behind me, so I turned around. It was Andy, one of the children from before.

He had a cheeky smile on his face as he walked over to me.

“Where ya’ going?”

Of course, I knew this troublemaker. Andy was a ghoul. His parents were killed by vampires before I even came to this city.

Because of that, he was a bit of a troublemaker. He had been brought to me more than a few times for causing trouble.

I punished him by making him clean the building where I lived, which I called my room and the girls’ rooms.

But every time he got out of one punishment, he would soon be brought back to me.

After a while, I finally realized that he was getting in trouble on purpose all so he could have a reason to meet with me.

“Alpha,” his eyes were shining brightly even in the darkness. Seeing this, I already knew what he wanted to ask me. “I want to become one of your generals!”

I knew this was coming, and just like all the other times, I would give him the same answer.

“When you’re old enough.”

I found his question admirable, and I wished that there were more people in my pack just like him. I’ve been considering giving the children a bit of training so they could at least protect themselves, but I just didn’t have the time.

If only I had a right-hand man that could see to their training. But I didn’t, so it would have to wait for now.

Even at my words, Andy didn’t lose the glimmer in his eyes; in fact, he seemed even more determined.

“Oh, wait, take a look at this.”

Saying that, Andy got down into a squatting position. He clenched his fist tightly, and the veins in his head began to bulge.

I stood watching with a blank expression as he strained himself. Soon, his skin began to take on a greenish hue; this continued until it morphed into a brighter shade of green.

Then suddenly, lizard-like scales began appearing on his forehead. His teeth became frightfully jagged, and his nails grew longer but not long enough or sharp enough to become claws.

He could only keep this up for a few seconds before he was forced to stop.

His legs trembled, and he plopped to the ground, breathing heavily.

After I turned him, his special organ became his skin. He was able to grow lizard-like scales, but these scales weren’t nearly developed, and his transformation took a lot of energy.

“You see, Alpha, I’m getting better. Soon I’ll be able to turn into a giant reptile monster like Godzilla and protect the pack!” He shouted excitedly.

“It will take a while until I’m strong enough, but I’ll prove to you that I’m worthy enough to become one of your generals.”

Before that, he could only turn his skin slightly green with scales barely visible to the eyes. He had come a long way just by training himself.

I reached out and patted him on the head.

“Keep up the good work. If you continue to progress like this, I see you become one of my generals in no time.”

He smiled happily and nodded his head.

“Thank you, Alpha.”

He didn’t have any parents, so me being his Alpha was the closest person to him.

“So where are you going, Alpha?” he asked excitedly.

His expression dropped a little. It looked as if he wanted to ask something but was holding himself back.

“Would you like to come with me?”

Suddenly, a smile bloomed on his face.

“Really?”

“Sure, come along.”

Andy nodded his head excitedly and walked closely beside me. As we walked, I suddenly felt something on my hand; I glanced down to see he was holding my hand while smiling happily.

After a while, we arrived outside of a large white building. There were a few guards standing outside. They were witches.

They bowed their heads as I walked past them and entered the building.

“Woah, what is this place?” Andy asked in amazement.

“It’s a laboratory. This is where all the mana crystals come from,” I explained.

There were different squared machinery lined up next to each other and several people in lab coats going about their business.

They bowed their heads and said polite greetings as I walked past. Soon, we arrived at an elevator, and with just a scan of my key card, I activated the elevator and pressed the button for the lowest floor.

The elevator vibrated softly and emitted a soft buzz before moving downwards.

After a short while, we finally arrived at the lowest level. The setup to this laboratory was similar to the one we infiltrated before.

We stood in a room with a glass panel. Below was the dragon fossil I saw before. Persephone had used transportation magic to get it here into my settlement.

Andy looked at the giant skull with childlike curiosity on his face. Persephone was in the room with the dragon, dressed in what looked like a hazmat suit.

Around her were small mana crystals that sprouted from the ground like weeds. She held a bucket in her hand as she picked them up. There were several others around her doing the same thing.

“What kind of creature is that?” Andy asked with an expression that held both fear and excitement.

“That’s a dragon. It’s like the Godzilla you were just speaking about.”

“A dragon,” he muttered, somehow seeming more amazed.

The two of us watched until the group finally left the room. A short while after, Persephone arrived at where we were.

“Alpha, you’re here,” she said with a slight nod, but then her eyes turned to Andy.

“Who is this?”

“This is Andy,” I explained briefly. “How are things coming along?”

I found Persephone burnt to a crisp after the battle with Cassian. She begged me to save her, so I did. When I turned her, it healed all her previous wounds.

She was a valuable addition to my pack. I counted myself lucky to have found her in time.

If I intended to build a city that is run by mana crystals just like Purgatory, I would need people experienced in using these mana crystals.

That was Persephone’s purpose. She was responsible for a lot of the inventions made with mana crystals.

“It’s slow. What you asked me to do is a hard task. I tried for centuries, but I ended up having to give up.”

What I asked her to do was to run some tests on the fossil to find out more about the dragons.

“The problem is that there is hardly any information we can get from the outside of the skull. None of our technologies are working on it. Maybe if we could break through on the inside. But we can’t even crack the skull,” she explained.

“Do you wish for me to try again?” I asked, to which she nodded her head.

“Do you need a hazmat suit?” she asked.

“No need.”

I left and went down to the room where the skull was located.

Standing in front of the giant fossil, I was nothing but an ant in comparison to the massive creature.

I approached the skull and rested my hand on it. I felt a strange power emanating from it. My body had adapted to the strong mana coming from it.

I then took a step back and readied my claws. Then with a deep breath, I swung at the giant white bones.

My claws danced against the surface, even creating a few sparks. I used all the strength I could muster, but losing against the bones, there wasn’t even a scratch on it.

I couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

“Maybe after my evolution, I’ll finally be able to break through this skull,” I hoped.

These bones were too dense. It felt as if it was reinforced by mana. This creature has been dead for hundreds of years, yet still I couldn’t break through its bones, which should’ve been hollowed out on the inside by now.

I couldn’t help but wonder what this creature would’ve been like when it was alive.

I looked down on my claws and saw they were a bit chipped. They were healing but at a slower rate than normal.

I couldn’t shake this ominous feeling inside the pit of my stomach. If more creatures like this one came to our world, then everything I was doing is practically meaningless.

How could we even survive something like that?

I was hoping that something inside this creature could help us fight against them. Or at least we could extract information from it.

There was something I wanted to test, but it would have to wait for now.

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