Yuri's actions caught the man completely off guard.
"What's this, weren't you planning to throw that weapon just now?"
"Why did you stop?"
Yuri gave a "humph" and sat back down on the ground.
"You already struck such a 'victory-is-certain' pose, how could I possibly fall for it?"
"If I'm not mistaken, your true magic should be... a Slayer-type magic of the Lightning attribute, right?"
The man froze for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"Hahaha... so I've been found out after all?"
"You guessed right!"
"I am Experimental Subject No. 3 of the Magic Science Research Institute, a Wizard who has had a Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic Lacrima implanted in my body."
"My true magic is, precisely... Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic!"
Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic?
Similar to the God Slayer Magic and Devil Slayer Magic possessed by Zera, the rumored magic used by humans to counter giant dragons?!
In this moment, Yuri felt both proud of his "moment of inspiration" at the critical juncture and fearful of the narrow escape.
"As expected, it was right not to throw that final move!"
"Otherwise, once you ate that move of mine, your physical strength and magic power would have been restored, and I would have completely lost this duel!"
"You, buddy, might be obsessed with fighting, but you're definitely no simpleton; you're quite crafty!"
Listening to Yuri's berating, the man laughed even more wantonly.
"Hahaha... likewise, likewise!"
"To be able to stop at the last moment, you have a bit of a brain yourself!"
Yuri fell silent for two seconds and asked in confusion: "I have another question. Since your magic is Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic, why didn't you use it from the start?"
"Does that even need asking?"
"Of course it was to enjoy the fun of battle!"
The man said as a matter of course: "If I showed the ability to eat lightning right at the beginning, what would I do if you stopped fighting me?"
It was actually just for that reason?
Yuri gave a helpless smile: "Heh... I'm truly impressed!"
"The person who should be saying those words is me!"
At this time, Edolas-Yuri finally walked out from the corner, complaining with an unfriendly look.
"Are you two finally done fighting?"
"Before you start a fight in the future, can you give a heads-up so others can get prepared?"
"Do you know I almost died just now!"
Yuri laughed heartlessly: "Hahaha... sorry, sorry, I'll pay attention next time..."
This guy will definitely forget!
Forget it, anyway, there won't be many such opportunities in the future.
Edolas-Yuri sighed helplessly, walked quietly to Yuri's side, and began checking his injuries.
The man opposite let his gaze wander between the two, and after a long while, he asked: "Are you two... twins?"
"No, we are..."
Yuri was about to answer when he suddenly cut himself off: "Wait! The duel just now was a draw at best, so you should be the one answering my questions first!"
"Alright, alright..."
"You wanted to ask about the situation here, right?"
The man sat up from the ground and said: "This is a Research Institute!"
"Research Institute?"
The two Yuri's froze simultaneously, quite surprised by this answer.
They had thought it might be an underground arena, a palace coliseum, or even a training room for an assassin's guild, but they never thought in the direction of a research institute.
Normally speaking, shouldn't a research institute be a place with several long tables, filled with colorful bottles and jars, and various precision instruments?
The place before their eyes didn't look like a research institute at all!
Looking at the confusion on their faces, the man laughed again: "What's this, so you really broke in without knowing anything?"
The two were too lazy to explain that they hadn't broken in voluntarily but were sucked in by spatial magic, and simply continued asking: "You say this is a research institute? Then what exactly is being researched here?"
The man didn't answer but simply extended a thumb and pointed at his own heart.
"This... could it be...?"
The two Yuri's looked at each other, lost in thought.
"That's right, it's exactly what you guessed!"
"This is one of the departments within the Magic Science Research Institute, a place specifically for researching 'Dragon Slayer Magic'!"
Even though they were somewhat prepared in their hearts, when they actually heard this answer, the two were still heavily shocked.
"Dragon Slayer Magic..."
"That kind of thing can be researched too?"
Edolas-Yuri looked toward Yuri; he wasn't a Wizard, so he didn't know much about the inner workings of such things.
Yuri thought for a moment and said: "I heard Weston say before that Dragon Slayer Magic was originally taught by dragons, but later people wrote the process of learning the magic into books, so there are also Dragon Slayer Wizards who 'learn Dragon Slayer Magic through books'."
"But there are no dragons left on the continent now, so the method of being taught by a dragon is obviously impossible."
"So you all learn Dragon Slayer Magic from books?"
The man sneered and shook his head, as if mocking Yuri's naivety.
"If it were like that, it couldn't be called 'research' at all!"
"Hundreds of years ago, in order to counter the giant dragons, humans indeed used the two methods you just mentioned to obtain Dragon Slayer Magic and become Dragon Slayer Wizards."
"Whether personally taught by a dragon or learning Dragon Slayer Magic through books, all Dragon Slayer Wizards face a risk in the end, and that is 'Dragonification'!!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Yuri was instantly drenched in cold sweat, his eyes staring straight: "You said... 'Dragonification'??!"
"Dragonification means a human will turn into a dragon!"
The man glanced at Yuri, "Dragon scales will grow on the Dragon Slayer Wizard's body, dragon wings will grow from their back, hands and feet will turn into dragon claws, and the body will become as massive as a dragon, losing emotion, losing reason, and becoming a complete and utter ferocious beast!!!"
"In history, there seem to have been such examples, which even destroyed several countries because of it!"
"So, in order to prevent subsequent Dragon Slayer Wizards from following in those footsteps, a group of people contributed money and effort to establish the 'Dragon Slayer Research Institute,' and kidnapped some people to perform experiments on them, wanting to research a method to 'learn Dragon Slayer Magic without undergoing Dragonification'."
"From its founding until now, this institute has existed for at least one or two hundred years, through six or seven generations of people."
"It's just that the power of dragons is too strong, and its invasiveness toward the human body far exceeded those people's expectations, so it wasn't until now that this technology finally matured."
"And I am one of the 'products' of this experiment!"
"Lightning No. 7!"
Hearing this, Yuri only felt his scalp go numb.
Even if he only thought about it with his toes, he knew that the sacrifices made during this process were definitely not few.
"You mean, human experimentation?!"
"Who on earth is doing such a thing?!"
Lightning No. 7 spread his hands: "That, I wouldn't know!"
"But to conduct such a large-scale research, the funds required would definitely not be small."
"Perhaps... some countries are backing this organization!"