Rowan Mercer set the severed dragon's head back onto its massive body and began inscribing a complex magic circle around the corpse. The forging of a dragon crystal required no rare reagents, no exotic catalysts. Only one thing was needed: the body of a dead dragon.
Through a specialized ritual array, the dragon's remains would be compressed and refined, condensing every trace of its power, blood, and essence into a single crystal. Once formed, that crystal could be fused directly into the body.
Some mages chose to split the corpse and the heart, producing two crystals instead of one. Rowan had no interest in that. Dividing the source weakened the result. He wanted the best possible outcome.
"Let's begin."
With the array complete, Rowan placed both hands on the glowing runes and poured in his magic without restraint. The circle ignited, brilliant light wrapping around the dragon's body as it began to shrink, flesh and bone dissolving into pure energy.
The process took a full hour.
When the light finally detonated outward and faded, a single crimson crystal lay on the ground, no larger than Rowan's palm.
He picked it up at once. Dense fire-aspected power pulsed within it, heavy and violent.
"It worked."
Without hesitation, Rowan began the fusion ritual. He pressed the crystal against his chest, directly over his heart.
Agony exploded through his body.
The crystal softened like liquid and sank into him, merging with his heart as draconic power flooded his veins. When the process ended, Rowan staggered slightly, breath sharp, every nerve screaming as his body reshaped itself from the inside out.
The change was immediate.
His physical strength surged far beyond its previous limits. Before, layered enhancements from multiple incarnations had already pushed him past what a human body should endure. Now, with the dragon crystal fused, his raw physical durability alone had multiplied several times over.
The greatest change was defense.
Previously, his body resisted conventional weapons well enough, but magical attacks still struck him fully unless he actively defended. Now, he carried part of the dragon's nature. Both physical and magical resistance were woven into his flesh. Ordinary attacks barely registered. Even stronger magic was dulled before it could do real harm.
Rowan flexed his fingers.
"Even this alone makes it worth it," he muttered. "No wonder Morgoth's first dragon was so feared."
He opened his mouth experimentally.
Black flame poured out in a smooth, effortless stream, no incantation required. It felt as natural as breathing.
After a moment, Rowan cut the flame and surveyed the scorched ground with quiet satisfaction.
He was no dragon, but he had become something close. A humanoid vessel for draconic fire.
Stronger flames would require technique rather than raw output. That was fine. Fire-based combat arts already existed. He could refine them later.
There was one more thing to test.
Rowan conjured a small blaze and tried to draw it into himself.
Nothing happened.
He frowned and tried again, this time using a different source of flame.
Still nothing.
"So it doesn't work," he concluded. "Different worlds, different dragons."
The crystal granted immense benefits, but it didn't replicate everything. At least there was one upside: he felt no trace of the debilitating dizziness that plagued certain fire-based warriors in other worlds.
"Looks like I still need a proper one someday," Rowan said with a shrug.
Even so, the gains were undeniable. Greater physical resilience, vastly improved close combat performance when combined with giant-form magic and electrical reinforcement, and dramatically enhanced control over fire.
One spell in particular had changed.
The cursed black fire he once struggled to restrain now obeyed him completely. It burned only where he willed it to burn.
That alone could change the course of a war.
When he finished his tests, Rowan returned to the elven city. In the time he had been gone, the Light Elves had already restored the burned gardens and groves, life magic undoing the scars of battle as if they had never existed.
The city was alive again.
...
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