The experiment that Lu Ran had set up was not the explosion of dragon heat that he had thought it would be. This was thanks to the liquid, the Primordial Buffer, that Lu Ran had made and the medicine that he had given to the Emperor. The Emperor's golden tattoos were moving against Lu Ran's skin and the computer screen was flashing in his eyes.
Lu Ran did not think about the Emperor's body or his eyes that seemed to be looking for something. Lu Ran just looked at the numbers on the screen. He felt the dragon blood going into his body. It felt like a sharp and hungry liquid. If Lu Ran did not have his liquid his insides would have gotten burned.
Kaelen whispered to Lu Ran "Do not leave me scholar. The fire is not burning you. Why is it not burning you?"
Lu Ran said, "It is because I changed the way the heat works." Lu Ran's fingers were digging into the Emperor's shoulders. The Emperor was very strong. It was like trying to hold a star in a jar.
Then the world seemed to spin around.
The computer said, "It is done. The baby is made."
Lu Ran let out a breath as Kaelen lay down beside him. The Emperor's chest was moving up and down. The room was quiet except for the sound of the floating rocks, which were now shining a purple color.
Kaelen said, "It is done." He looked at Lu Ran with respect. "I have never felt someone take my power easily. Usually they scream. Usually they break."
Lu Ran said, "I am not a body, Kaelen. I am a laboratory. And a laboratory does not break if it changes."
The Morning After: Political Fallout
The sun was not up yet when the doors of the room were opened.
Lu Ran was already awake sitting at his table looking at a bottle. He did not look up when the High Priest Malakor came in with his helpers.
Malakor was a man who looked like old paper. He wore robes and carried a stick with a dragon's tooth on it. He smelled like smoke and thought he was important.
Malakor said, "Where is the Emperor? And why did you do the Bloodline Ritual without the Twelve Saints?"
Lu Ran looked up. His eyes were cold. He had dark circles under them. "The Emperor is sleeping.. I did not want extra germs in the room during the procedure."
The High Priest was shocked. "Procedure? You were sent here to serve, boy. To be a womb for the Dragon-Blood. Not to play with glass and dirt."
Lu Ran stood up. He picked up a shining rock and walked towards the High Priest. The rock was shining with a golden light as it got closer to Lu Ran's stomach.
The High Priest's eyes got wide. He dropped his stick. "The light is steady. It is not moving."
Lu Ran said, "The gods are happy. The baby is made. I have a 92% chance of having a baby."
The computer said, "You have scared a person. You get 200 life points. You are now called 'The Architect of the Lineage.'"
The Laboratory of the Self
The few days were crazy. Lu Ran's body was not just his; it was a factory.
The computer kept telling Lu Ran what was happening.
On the day the computer said, "The baby is growing fast. You need to eat protein and special water. Your human DNA is stressed from the dragon blood."
Lu Ran told his helper, Pip "I need Iron-Root.. Tell the kitchen if I see one more plate of greasy meat I will make them sick."
Pip ran away. He was scared of Lu Ran. He knew Lu Ran was the most powerful person in the palace.
Lu Ran sat down. Opened his book. He was looking for a way to make medicine to help the baby. If he did not the baby would get too hot for his body to handle.
Lu Ran thought, "The computer found a plant that can absorb carbon and calm down the dragon blood."
The computer said, "I found Lily. It is in the Whispering Canyons. It is very dangerous."
Lu Ran said, "I need someone to get it for me."
Kaelen appeared behind him. "What do you need?"
Lu Ran said, "The Obsidian Lily. It is a medicine. Without it your baby will not be healthy."
Kaelen said, "The Whispering Canyons are full of creatures. I cannot send my guards there for a flower."
Lu Ran said, "Then you will not have a son. It is simple. Do you want to risk your guards or risk your bloodline? Which is more important?"
Kaelen looked at Lu Ran. "You talk about my child like he is a thing you are making."
Lu Ran said, "He is a living thing that I am helping to make. If you want a baby you need to give me the things I need. That is how it works."
Kaelen touched Lu Ran's face. "You are very cold Lu Ran. Do you not feel happy that you are having my child? Do you not feel scared of the power inside you?"
Lu Ran said, "I feel hungry and I want to eat citrus fruits. Emotions are chemical reactions, Kaelen. They do not help me make a baby."
Kaelen looked at Lu Ran for a time then let go. He. Said, "Fine. You will have your flower. I will go get it myself."
Lu Ran was surprised. "You? The Emperor? Over a flower?"
Kaelen said, "I am not going to fight over a flower. I will fight over the man who's brave enough to say no to me. You, scholars, stay in the pavilion. Do not let the High Priest come near your laboratory. If I come back and find out that you have been hurt I will burn the temple down."
The Cold Palace Threat
Kaelen went to the canyons and the Jade Palace became a kind of battlefield.
Lu Ran was in the middle of an experiment carefully adding the juice of a Sun-Berry to a vial of his blood when the doors opened again.
This time it was not the High Priest. It was a woman.
She was beautiful. In a way that felt sharp and dangerous. Her hair was silver. Her eyes were a cold blue. She came with four handmaidens. They all looked at Lu Ran's laboratory with disgust.
The woman said, "So you are the Great Alchemist that the servants are talking about."
Lu Ran did not stop his experiment. He said, "I am busy. If you want a skin cream, come back on Tuesday."
The woman's face did not change. The air in the room became very cold. Frost started to form on Lu Ran's table. It was going to freeze his samples.
Lu Ran. I looked at the frost then at the woman. He said, "You are making it very cold here. Please stop that."
The woman, Empress Dowager Elara said, "You are a commoner, a gift from the priesthood. Do not think that you are safe just because you have Kaelen's attention for a night. Many people have been with him before. None of them have survived the Dragon-Birth. When you fail. I will be the one to send you to the Cold Palace."
Lu Ran put down his vial. I stood up. He looked at Empress Dowager Elara. Said, "I will not fail.. Do you know why? Because I am not trying to win Kaelen's heart. I am trying to understand biology."
Empress Dowager Elara said, "You are arrogant."
Lu Ran said, "No, I am just looking at the facts. You want me to fail because a strong child would change the power in the kingdom and take it away from you.. I have a system that does not allow for politics to get in the way."
Empress Dowager Elara said, "What system?"
Lu Ran said, "My determination. Now please leave my pavilion. Every minute you stay here your cold magic is making the temperature drop. Stressing the embryo. If I lose the baby because of you Kaelen will not be happy. He will have no reason to keep you in the palace."
Empress Dowager Elara was angry. Left the room. Her handmaidens followed her.
The Price of Progress
Lu Ran sat down again. His heart was beating fast. He was not scared. He had a new understanding.
Empress Dowager Elara was about one thing: he had no magic power. He was a Primordial Vessel, which meant he could hold power. He could not make it. The baby was like a parasite taking his energy.
Lu Ran said, "System, is Empress Dowager Elara right? Will the baby take my life?"
The system said, "Yes that is correct. Without a source of magic the host's life force will be gone by the end of the second trimester."
Lu Ran asked, "How do we fix that?"
The system said, "The host must cultivate power or eat high-grade Mana Cores from magical beasts."
Lu Ran looked at his hands. He was a scientist. He knew what he had to do. He was in a race against his pregnancy. He had to become powerful enough to keep the baby alive. He would die.
Lu Ran called out "Pip!"
The boy. Said, "Yes, My Lord?"
Lu Ran said, "Forget about the Iron-Root. Find out where the Emperor keeps his Mana Cores. We are going to start an experiment."
The system said, "The host has accepted the Path of the Arcane Bio-Hacker."
Lu Ran looked at the vial of his blood. It was glowing with a light, like Kaelen's eyes.
Lu Ran said, "If this world wants a child it will have to make me powerful first."