Chapter 78

Lord Lord Kuku had already vaguely sensed why he was summoned.

This time, the order of the heroic spirits should be to maximize Li En's ability to face crises.

When the Demon Tide truly descends, the ancient beast herds awaken from their seals, and the ancient gods and outer gods gradually return; "Li En" will inevitably be unable to escape.

He needs to adapt to the environment as quickly as possible.

Sul can grant Li En firm will and the courage to draw his sword, enabling his transformation from an ordinary person into a warrior.

Lex will turn courage into a chance for victory in desperation—the greater the desperation, the stronger the Heroine; if he truly inherits this potential, Li En will always have a sliver of hope in any situation.

But merely relying on desperation-fueled outbursts is not enough; to truly face world-level crises, personal strength is the only way.

Thus, it was Lord Lord Kuku's turn.

"Bad dragon! Strong! Bad dragon's power! Useful!"

Though he hated to admit it, in the development of dragon abilities, Lord Lord Kuku was likely the expert among experts.

After all, while despising dragons, Lord Lord Kuku's entire life had been devoted to freeing the kobold race from dragon influence—so at least he needed to understand the origin of this bondage.

Lord Lord Kuku continuously researched dragon power and dragon veins, and utilized the power of dragons.

Experts in killing insects are often experts in insect behavior; dragon enemies are almost always dragon scholars.

And as a weak dragon descendant himself, he had once relied on dragon veins for survival, and through prolonged exposure to low- and mid-tier battlefields, he had become skilled at progressing from zero to one, from weak to strong.

He was the most outstanding mentor, capable of granting Li En immediately usable combat power (Dragon Tongue Magic) while also designing his long-term path.

He ultimately decided that, during Li En's weakest stage, he would grant him a powerful source to accompany him for life.

"Dragon species evolution! Achievement of the age! Opportunity!"

Species evolution is a mature, verified technology of this era; enhanced bloodlines and physical bodies complement the professional system.

And in these past few days, Lord Lord Kuku had further refined his technique.

Of course, risks still existed—but he wouldn't tell Li En about them.

"Upper limit is high! Very high! Extremely high!" Let's emphasize the benefits first.

"Hydra of Greece! Xiangliu! Yamata no Orochi!" Multi-headed dragons and multi-headed serpents have, since ancient times, been top-tier entities in mythology.

Li En had long known that biological evolution in this world was individualistic, and it was best to use a powerful mythological species as a reference point to avoid losing direction or losing control.

Li En fell silent. Why did this feel off? Lord Lord Kuku was describing only Earth's multi-headed dragons—were they real? Would evolving according to mythological blueprints cause problems? It felt like using web novel tropes to cultivate.

"There are also ones in this world! Other-dimensional dragons! Super big bad dragons!"

Instantly, Li En remembered: this multiverse did indeed have a famously notorious (or infamous) multi-headed dragon god.

"Tiamat. The Five-Colored Dragon Mother, the God of Evil Dragons."

She was an evil dragon deity with five dragon heads, who, even when not in this plane, constantly meddled in affairs, serving as the hidden hand and final boss in countless rumors and tales.

Heroes and adventurers had come and gone in waves, yet she still appeared in new-era legends, continuing to act as the final boss, stirring chaos—proof enough of her power.

Come to think of it, Li En was a red dragon type, one of the five colors; if he imitated her form for evolution, he might truly achieve something great.

"I'll think about how exactly to do it," Li En relented.

Seeing Li En hesitate, Lord Lord Kuku immediately switched to teaching mode, striking while the iron was hot.

"You cannot use my soul-heart because you have the software but lack the physical hardware to run it—like installing a graphics driver without installing the graphics card. So I'll install a graphics card for you, serving as a multi-core auxiliary processor."

Li En had inquired about normal "species evolution" methods, but he'd never heard of anything like this.

From raw stone to colored metals (bronze, silver, copper), it usually began with integrating one supernatural trait and increasing physical strength—no one had ever heard of someone installing a head.

"Not a head! That's useless hardware! The head is just decoration!"

Clearly, Lord Lord Kuku looked down on Li En's obsession with the physical head.

Fine, the head was just decoration—the focus was what was inside.

"Graphics card. The pseudo-brain requires dragon crystal! And dragon soul! Plus a bit of brain cells!"

Dragons are children of the elements; their most precious aspects are not precious dragon teeth, scales, or claws, but their elemental dragon souls and dragon crystals—the aggregates of elemental origins.

As long as dragon crystal and dragon soul are provided, Lord Lord Kuku can create another "dragon head" for him, allowing direct evolution to the peak of colored metal stage (gold), after which progression up to fourth-rank will be effortless.

As for other hardware growths, they will naturally follow as the dragon head matures.

"Uh, the dragon head won't actually add another head, right?" Li En thought being human was fine, especially given the kingdom's general aversion to dragons.

"I said, the head is just decoration! As long as you don't fully dragonize, no one will notice." Lord Lord Kuku intended to create an "elemental dragon head," which would remain invisible in normal state and could instead be used as a "tool or equipment."

It sounded great, but Li En still wanted to think it over—after all, adding another brain.

"Will it cause schizophrenia?" This was the real issue—Li En suspected Lord Lord Kuku's occasional muttering stemmed from his soul-heart ability.

"No. Others might, but you won't. No matter how many thought lines split off, you remain you."

Was the technology this advanced? Li En was surprised. Something felt off, but his knowledge wasn't sufficient to challenge an expert.

Lord Lord Kuku merely sneered, looking disdainful.

Someone already insane wouldn't notice if they became even more insane.

All of Lord Lord Kuku's earlier experiments on other creatures had failed—only he himself succeeded. Back then, he'd thought it a miracle, a breakthrough brought by soul-heart awakening in despair.

Now, looking back, it was simply the uniqueness of the Thousand-Faced Dragon's "soul"—the split consciousness remained the Thousand-Faced Dragon.

The Thousand-Faced Dragon's soul was destined to be "unique"; even adding countless "extra heads" would only result in tools and aids—branching tendrils under the soul network.

Since the final product was only Lord Lord Kuku himself, this research ultimately became exclusive to "Li En."

"Uh, I can't seem to find a reason to refuse."

It sounded tempting, but such a major decision naturally made Li En want to ask more.

Come to think of it, it really did sound good—imitating the Five-Colored Dragon God's evolutionary path and adding an evil dragon head could even grant an additional elemental affinity.

But what most attracted Li En wasn't even what Lord Lord Kuku proposed: the ability of a secondary brain to constantly analyze, mimic, and assist his spellcasting.

"Uh, when my main body uses the Paladin ability, can the secondary brain use other class abilities?" This was a dreamlike ability.

Li En's Thousand-Faced Dragon trait meant his future abilities would inevitably be numerous and varied.

An ordinary person might know many things, but at any given moment they can only use one. If one truly could split one's attention in two, the improvement would conservatively be multiplicative.

"I'll think about it a bit more." Li En was still resisting stubbornly; he always felt something wasn't quite right about this.

Although he saw Li En still talking tough, Lord Lord Kuku wasn't in a hurry — he simply began preparing for the surgery and ritual.

Lord Lord Kuku had long known that Li En would ultimately agree.

Li Ensu had never been someone who clung to constraints; on the contrary, he was not only very good at adapting to his environment, but was also extremely greedy for unknown supernatural power and magic. Especially with Lord Lord Kuku's heroic spirit possessing him, this greed simply could not be restrained.

"How do we get a dragon soul and dragon crystal — can we buy them?" After agonizing for half a day, asking a question like this meant Li En had probably already fallen.

"Kill a dragon." Materials that could serve as a deputy-head core level had to be fresh; any dragon crystal you could buy was already long dead.

"A pseudo-dragon?" Li En already had a bad feeling.

"That works too! If you're willing to accept a transitional product — a dragon head that will grow up and then turn to trash."

Li En fell silent. With his own current level, going to trouble a true dragon? The other side wouldn't even need to use dragon breath; its underlings alone could pile him to death.

And by this logic, the best option was to take down a fresh chromatic dragon? Is that a BOSS a rookie like me can challenge?!

Li En silently looked at Lord Lord Kuku. He knew this "little fellow" wouldn't waste time saying so much without reason — Lord Lord Kuku definitely had more to follow up with.

"Is there any other way?" Li En was a bit resentful, but had no choice but to respond.

First draw the pie, then make it clear it can't be done (cost issue), then pull out the prepared inferior alternative — "please choose." He knew this routine all too well. Wasn't this exactly the PPT tactic he'd used to fob off his superiors before?

"Fine. I'll make you a fake one to make do first. But within half a year, find a real one. Complete the advancement! Otherwise—"

Lord Lord Kuku casually pulled out a deep-red crystal — it looked very familiar. Wasn't this the crystallization from the blood he'd drawn from Li En earlier?! He'd already prepared it.

"Otherwise what?" Li En sighed. He was being arranged down to the last detail.

"It will degenerate. Truly degenerate. A degeneration that cannot be stopped."

This time, Lord Lord Kuku wasn't exaggerating.

A "forged dragon crystal" was destined to be unable to withstand Li En's ever-growing dragon soul. When it completely collapsed, it would naturally begin degenerating from an evolved species. And once that collapse began, it could not be stopped.

Looking at the deep-red "pseudo-dragon crystal" in Lord Lord Kuku's hand, Li En sighed.

"Go ahead, before I regret it."

But just as Lord Lord Kuku came over with the scalpel (the dinner knife from earlier) and the blood dragon crystal, Li En hesitated a little.

"Um, is there any anesthetic?!" There was still cake cream on that knife — at least disinfect it.

"No!" Lord Lord Kuku was getting annoyed. How could he be so squeamish — it was just a simple craniotomy.

"Um, it really won't grow an extra head, right? It won't suddenly make me ugly." Thinking of that volcano-head, Li En felt uneasy again.

"You won't even be able to tell! Trust my technique!" What a troublesome test subject. Patient, Lord Lord Kuku — Lord Lord Kuku struggled to stay patient.

"Um, I faint at the sight of blood, could you—" Li En silently retreated, edging toward the door. He seemed to need a little more time.

Next time, definitely next time!

"No!" Lord Lord Kuku cast a Sleep spell, and Li En, who hadn't resisted, collapsed in a daze on the spot.

Then the little fellow snickeringly dragged him onto the dining-table operating-table.

"At least… at least wipe the table clean! Don't put me down on the cream and cookies — at least lay out a tablecloth." These were Li En's final, struggling words.

(End of chapter)