This one sentence really was more useful than any threat. Upon hearing those words, the hands of the dragon chief trembled so much that it nearly pierced right through Du Wei's neck. Considering how sharp those nails were, it really didn't take much effort; even the slightest prick would have sufficed.
Struggling between hope and suspicion, his facial expression changed over and over, but in the end, the dragon chief couldn't resist the temptation of regaining his dragon form. The shame of being trapped in a human body for nearly a thousand years has long been his greatest shame. Part of his anger at being fooled by Aragon can still be understood, but never regaining his former form is nothing but torture!
"Fine then!!" The Dragon chief yelled out a cry, withdrawing his hand from Du Wei's neck: "Let's see what trickery you can come up with this time! Get on with it; tell me how to regain my dragon form!"
Du Wei was much faster in his reaction this time, fearing the thousand year old penguin would decide to go nuts on him and carelessly reveal the method without any afterthought. Taking the lead, he quickly stepped in and cut off the conversation: "How can we possibly tell you so easily! What is there to say that after we tell you, you won't kill us the next moment? We might as well not say anything, then that would be even better for us!"
"Humph!" The Dragon chief angrily glared at Du Wei. In his heart now, this youngster was no less hateful than Aragon… No need to say now, just the previous insolent attitude he received is enough to make him want to skin this youngster alive at this very spot! Never once in his life did he ever get so disrespected! Regaining his dragon form is extremely tempting, but he is still unwilling to let Du Wei go so easily.
Kill, or not to kill. This question was floating in the old dragon's mind. For the arrogant and prideful dragon clan, getting revenge is a must. Seeing the sudden change on the chief's face, Du Wei quickly spoke up: "I know you want to kill me, but don't forget, you are the Patriarch of the dragon clan. If you continue to stay in this human form, how will you maintain your leadership? Could it be you want to continue this farce?"
"You just want to stay alive by saying all of this." Struck with a thought, the old dragon immediately came up with an idea to solve all of this: what difference will it make in letting this youngster go first? If anything, he can just go out into the human world and seek out his revenge after regaining his dragon form. How much power can one measly kid possibly come up with? In the human world, there is hardly anyone that could stand up to him. Unless Aragon revives, none in this world can resist him! Even if the boy were to retreat to the very edge of the world, he is certain in his capability as the dragon chief.
Resolve the problem at hand, and then settle the score later!
Unfortunately for the dragon chief, his plans won't go as smoothly as he wishes. Du Wei is not a fool. Seeing the murderous intent in the old dragon's eyes, Du Wei naturally understood what the other party was thinking. Even if Du Wei is to somehow escape today, he wouldn't be able to stop the other party from seeking revenge at a later date. If that were to happen, Du Wei would not be able to resist such a troublesome fella like this old dragon.
"Don't get any ideas, you old thing. If you were playing the idea of coming to kill me later on, then you might as well make it quick and kill me today! I'll die today; I'll die tomorrow, then why bother dragging it out!" Du Wu clenched his teeth in anticipation.
"Boy, do you think a few words can erase the hatred I have for you?" Spending a long moment in thought, the dragon chief finally came up with a good solution: "Let's do this then. I can't possibly let you go so easily, but I must have the method to regain my dragon form so I'll make a compromise. We can play a game…. If you win, then afterwards, I won't bother you! If you lose, sorry then… You and your companions all must die!"
Might as well listen first, Du Wei nodded: "You go first, if I find it to be unfair, then I won't agree."
"It's been a long time since I played a hunting game!" His face grinning: "I can first let you out of here and give you and your companions a day's head start! Afterwards, I will set out to catch you guys. If you guys let me catch up to you, then the result will be self-evident! But if I fail, then consider it your win and the vendetta between us is over. Upon my name as the chief of the dragon clan, I guarantee that as long as you can run away, I won't bother you again…. How is that?"
Du Wei thought for a moment…..
One day? He could probably flee up to the forgotten ice field, but who is this dragon? Du Wei feared this chief wouldn't have much difficulty catching up to him in one day.
"No, no! This condition is too unfair." Du Wei shook his head: "You are the dragon chief, the most powerful being in today's world. I am just a little magician, the distance between our abilities are far too different. One day's worth of time, I fear you will easily catch up to me if you flew. I have to rely on my legs, how far can I possibly run?"
"Two days." The Dragon chief spoke coldly: "Cannot be anymore. I give you two days to run, this is enough."
Two days... Looking at the unwavering eyes of the Dragon chief, Du Wei feared that if did not agree now, this guy would immediately move to kill.
"There is another problem." Du Wei said: "When you come chasing after two days, we need to have a limit! Otherwise, you will just endlessly hunt us down."
"Then let's use the frozen forest as the boundary." The old dragon said this with a smile: "I'll let you run for two days, and then in two days, I'll begin my chase! As long as you can make it into the frozen forest, then I'll consider it your win! From then on, I'll immediately head back to the Holy Mountain and never trouble you again."
"Within the two days, you, and all of your clan members are forbidden to attack me and my companions. This includes stopping us from fleeing!"
"Fine!" The Dragon chief proudly nodded.
Contemplating, Du Wei estimated that in two days, he and his companions would be able to make it as far as the half-way point in the forgotten ice field. (When he was coming, it took them four days to make it through) Even if the strength of the old dragon is tough, he would most likely need one day to catch up to them.
Adding the days up, that would be three days.
In other words, the time left for them to flee is around three days.
Three days to cross the terrifying ice field. Du Wei wasn't certain of this, but at least there is a glimmer of hope.
"Dear honorable chief, shall we set up a contract again?" From the penguin's word, the old dragon's facial expression instantly changed. It was obvious he did not want to have another contract with a human again! Just one single contract with Aragon was enough to make him suffer.
"Humph, I'm the chieftain of the dragon clan. There's no need to form any contract, I'm not someone without credit. If I'm not someone that keeps his promise, then I wouldn't have been chained by Aragon for a thousand years!"
With that said the dragon patriarch used a low voice and vowed in the Draconic language. Du Wei may not understand the words, but from the dignified face he was seeing, he knew the old dragon would not repeal his oath. It did help that he repeated the vow in the human language afterwards.
"Now, quickly tell me the method of returning to my former body, then you can start running!"
Raising a hand, the dragon chief instantly conjured up a huge hourglass about the size of a person. With a smile: "When the sand in this hourglass finishes pouring, it will be the end of two days! After that, I will begin my chase towards you."
Glancing at Penguin, the bird nods his head and says: "In the past you were able to change your form from an adult dragon to a human, then obviously you should have mastered the transformation spell, correct?"
"Yes." The Dragon chief proudly spoke: "I am the dragon chief, so of course I have reached the highest level in the art of transformation. I can easily take on the shape of anything in this world, including humans."
"Very good then." Penguin nods: "The message Aragon asked me to pass on to you is this: The water he made you drink is essentially a magical substance that permanently solidifies someone's form. In this world, there are no antidotes. Unless God intervenes, there is no other way to lift the magic of the water."
The old dragon's complexion changed: "Then what is your solution?"
"It's simple." Penguin smiled: "Aren't you capable of transforming, don't tell me you forgot your own body's form? You can transform into a body of dragon…."
"Nonsense!!!" The Dragons Chief flew into a rage: "You think using such a thing will stall me?! If transformation magic can return me to my dragon form, then I would have done it a thousand years ago!!!
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(Authors explanation)
The art of transformation in the human world has long been considered useless. It may seem strong from an onlooker's point of view, but it was very impractical.
Reason behind this was that this kind of magic is too difficult to practice and understand! Considering the effort required to achieve any noticeable result, most people thought it was just not worth it.
Transformation magic, as the name suggests, is to be able to transform into other species of animal.
Also, the magic does not only allow the caster to change his form, but also to take on the abilities of the creature they transformed into!
In other words, if a person were to transform into a bird, then that person can fly into the air! If they changed into a fish, then they can swim in the water! As for what animal the caster can take on depended highly on the magician's power level. For a magician that could only use a low level transformation spell, they could only take on the form of a small fish or rabbit…. Even If they can learn this magic, there isn't much use for it.
Just like that mouse Prime Minister Gargamel, this person had once upon a time cultivated his transformation magic to an intermediate standard. Even so, the most he could do was to take on the form of a low leveled magical beast and wield the limited abilities of such creatures. Due to this, others paid little attention to him in the past.
But Transformation magic is absolutely not a useless spell! If you can practice it to the advanced stage, you can become a much more powerful creature! Some grand magicians in history that had specialized in transformation magic can even transform into high leveled magical beasts. Only when the art of transformation magic reaches such a height can its powers truly be manifested!
Even in the legends, if one can reach the peak of transformation magic, the person can directly transform into a dragon! Not just in appearance, they will wield all the powers and strength of the dragons. This would of course include Draconic magic!
A powerful dragon is definitely a horrifying existence!
Thus, transformation magic is definitely not useless.
The problem was that the method to cultivate this kind of magic is way too difficult and hard to understand.
Historically, very few people can practice this magic to such a profound level. The best example on record was at best a high leveled magical beast, but the energy and time required is several times than that of other spells of the same class.
As for the level of being able to transform into a dragon, no one in history had ever done it.
Moreover, the spell of transformation requires the input of magic, so there are time limits to how long they can last. Once the energy is depleted, they will return to their original body. Theoretically speaking, those with higher magic reserves will last longer, and those with lower reserves would have a shorter time limit.
But if one can turn into a dragon, even for a small period, the combat strength is definitely enough to deal with any problem.
But...
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"Relying on transformation magic to turn into a dragon?" The old dragon felt like he's been fooled. Angrily growling, he continued: "Do you not know there's a time limit! Even if I could transform back into a dragon, that is only for a short period! After the time limit, I'll return to this human form!"
"I understand." Penguin gently knocked on the head, and then began his explanation:
The fundamental use of the fountain of youth is to permanently solidify ones form.
Look at it this way. Since your normal form is that of a human, even if you were to take the form of a dragon, there will be a time limit.
But the fountain of youth disrupts this rule. A good example is Gargamel. When he first drank the spring's water, he was in the form of a mouse, so he is stuck in the form of a mouse. Flipping this around, if he were to transform into a human from his current mouse form, the water would solidify his human transformation.