( 2.5 years ago, Kremeth's cave )
"Gahhhh, Grrr"
" Hahahaha "
Rhea and Kremeth watched Max and Sebastian play with Miracle as Rhea could not help but be disappointed in her baby.
Looking at Miracle readily letting Max rub her belly and tickle her, Rhea felt her draconian pride be disturbed.
A belly was one of the only weak spots in a dragon's armour, especially in the younger stages of their life and her baby seemed to have no regard for exposing it to Max.
" Your disciple is spoiling my child " Rhea said, sounding annoyed.
" I am annoyed more, you see, even after the massacre, my huts' location is now compromised throughout the dungeon and so many of your clansmen lurk in the woods waiting for an opportunity to strike your baby down.
So it's a headache for me, I can't go out without 50 eyes following me, a complete disaster for my hermit lifestyle " Kremeth replied giving Rhea no room to argue anymore.
Rhea had never been schooled like a little girl for many many centuries now, however, the longer she stayed at Kremeths cave the better she understood the old man's power.
Now she knew better than to cross him, as the dragon queen conveniently changed the topic to avert his wrath.
" If you want me to transform the vampire, you need to bring me at least four nearly dead dragons, tier 4 at the minimum and 10,000 high grade spirit stones.
You will need to shield me from nature's tribulations during the process and for my reward of going above and beyond to cure his mana veins you will tutor my child as your disciple, teach it the cowards way, alongside the two bipedals ". Rhea said as Kremeth looked at her with interest.
Apparently Rhea knew how to fix Max's destroyed mana veins, a process that not even Kremeth was familiar with, however, he was very interested to learn.
The only problem was, that to cure Max of his collapsed mana veins Rhea needed to induce at least some draconian element into him to make him a form of lesser dragon, as the method known to her only worked on draconic species.
Her solution to this problem was to change Max's race from primordial vampire to draconic primordial vampire, a racial mixture that the universe had probably never witnessed before.
In the wide universe, there was a clan of Vampiric Dragon's found in the dark faction territory where dragon's drank blood for sustenance and had a Satiety index which governed their behaviour, however, the other way around had never been achieved where a bipedal was given draconic powers.
The vampiric dragon was also born after generations of cross-breeding as first vampires bred with their lizardmen counterparts to form bipedal vampiric lizards.
It was one of these vampiric lizards that managed to have a proper four legged dragon offspring with a lesser ranked Earth Dragon species, however, the baby did not have the ability to fly.
It was the descendant of the earth dragon with four feet that crossed with a proper dragon and gave birth to a new species of dragons called the vampiric dragons, which was how that clan came into existence.
This method could not be used to transform Max however, which was why Rhea demanded for four near dead dragons and 10,000 high grade mana stones as the process she had in mind to transform Max was to alter the very essence of his being.
The process itself was outlawed by the universal queen, and was a method straight out of the ancient dragon archives.
The process went against the rules of the universe and hence was sure to trigger nature's tribulation upon initiation, while the wrath of the Universal queen was a matter in of itself.
Had the queen chosen not to mess with her baby, Rhea would never choose to mess with her laws so blatantly, but now she did not care.
The queen was her enemy and one day or the other she was going to tear her down.
" If the results are satisfactory I will tutor your baby, wholeheartedly at that, however, what are the potential downsides of my disciple becoming a part dragon? " Kremeth asked as Rhea internally rolled her tongue.
Nothing slipped past the old turtle, he knew that any big transformation were not without downsides.
" He will not be able to racially evolve anymore, it will be the end of the road for him.
He may not be able to breed with any other species except dragon and vampire with his DNA being too chaotic to match with other species.
He already has primordial instincts close to that of a beast, but they will be magnified with him becoming one of the beasts.
There is a 40% chance of his mind not being able to tolerate the pain and hence him dying.
There is a 60% chance he grows a tail.
And there is a 10% chance he grows a second heart ". Rhea said as Kremeth began to hum slightly
The downsides of this treatment were not much when compared to Max's lack of ability to use mana.
In the end as his master, Kremeth decided that the benefits outweighed the risks which was why he decided to start gathering the materials needed for the procedure, while simultaneously beginning to train Max's mind.
" 3 months, I need 3 months to prepare everything you want, but in good faith, I will begin training your kid from today". Kremeth said as his eyes zeroed down on the bunch of playing children.
" ALRIGHT KIDS, TIME FOR PLAY IS OVER" Kremeth shouted as Max, Sebastian, and Miracle were caught off-guard.
When all three of them looked at Kremeth with slightly scared yet blank expressions the hermit turtle said with a smile " It's time for the turtle hermit way lesson number one:
You will write it 1000 times on 1000 leaves.
The lesson is ' When you see an opponent stronger than you - Run ' ….. "
Max and Sebastian scratched their heads at the lesson while Miracle looked into her mother's eyes and asked through eye-contact if the old turtle was senile?
However as Rhea told her to do as the old man said, Miracle felt betrayed as she sulked and purred.
" You have 3 hours to complete the task, failure to do so will result in you missing out on the practical lesson afterwards". Kremeth said as he left three inkpots in the house before vanishing in an instant.