After a hill-sized serving of lasagna, a colossal steak with a side of a harvest of roasted potatoes, an entire school of grilled tunas, and enough ice cream to send half of Lustria County into a diabetic coma, Faluel was ready to talk. The delicious meal had given her both the time to think and the nutrients her body needed to return to its peak condition. Filled with renewed confidence and tasty food, she was ready to tackle the problem at hand. "As I said earlier, we Hydras are a bunch of seven-headed idiots." Faluel sighed. "I should have involved you in the Dragonhood project from the beginning." "Thanks for the vote of confidence, but this explains very little." Ajatar gave her a short bow. "I'm sorry, but before making a fool out of myself again, I need to confirm my hypothesis." She said. "Please, wear the Hands of Menadion and follow my instructions." Sharing her technique wouldn't force Ajatar to reveal his own, and the Hands would make up for the lack of a mana geyser. The artifact alone couldn't provide enough world energy to reach Dragonhood, but it was more than enough to trigger the Dragon Eyes. Ajatar complied without objections, honored by Faluel's trust. 'The Hands of Menadion. I can't believe I am wielding one piece of the legendary set.' He looked at the artifact in wonder, holding his breath. Ajatar had never asked Faluel to borrow the Hands, afraid his Dragon Greed would make it unbearable to return the artifact and ruin their friendship. "Ajatar, can I please study your life force while you flood your atrophied Dragon Eyes' organ with mana?" Allowing someone to study you with their breathing technique was an intimate and dangerous act. Trusting the wrong person would cost an Awakened their secrets, if not their life. "One moment." Ajatar stored his equipment and kept only what any decent Forgemaster was bound to know anyway. "Okay, whenever you are ready." Faluel put her hands on the Drake and instructed him step by step so that he didn't have to reveal anything about his technique to her. 'So far our life forces do not respond much differently, but I'm willing to bet…' As the solar bubble turned into a sunspot and then condensed into a black-slitted pupil, Faluel won the bet with herself. New bubbles surrounding the pupil appeared on the bright violet star surrounded by a frozen ring that represented Ajatar's life force and nothing else. No secondary phenomena emerged nor did the changes in his life force affect the nearby imperfections. 'Okay. Now, repeat the procedure on the secondary bubbles, please.' Ajatar complied, and the solar bubbles collapsed into new sunspots. Much to Faluel's surprise, they fused with the primary mana organ, giving it an X shape. Then, another set of solar bubbles appeared. 'Weird.' She said via a mind link. 'I expected the sunspots to form a second eye.' 'That would have been much weirder.' Ajatar replied. 'I have only two eyes, but you have fourteen of them. What would your life force end up looking like if you were right?' 'Point taken.' Faluel telepathically nodded. 'Continue as before, please.' Once filled with mana, the latest batch of solar bubbles turned into more sunspots that fused with the X-shaped pupil, forming what looked like a six-pointed star. Yet the apparition of the Leegaain Eyes lasted only for one second. The six-pointed star dissolved among the bright violet flames, forming an undertide that slowly spread from its point of origin. The energy of the Dragon Eyes mana organ was still strong enough for Faluel's Lifestream to follow its movements. The black tendrils advanced freely until they met another apparent imperfection in the Drake's life force, which caused it to swell. As the mana organ of the Dragon Eyes stabilized, its tendrils interacted with several imperfections before their advance stopped. 'If I'm right, those are not imperfections but more atrophied mana organs.' The Hydra thought. 'I have no idea what they do, but I know for sure that part of the energy animating the Dragon Eyes is moving toward the location of the mana organ responsible for producing Origin Flames. I wonder-' 'Do you realize I'm now using Dragon Eyes inside your house, don't you?' Ajatar's voice derailed her train of thought. 'I don't mind taking a peek at your work, but maybe you do.' 'Shit!' Faluel broke the physical and was about to ask the Drake to reverse the process when she looked at him with her physical senses. Ajatar's neck had grown longer, and his scales thicker. The horn on his snout was slightly smaller, part of its mass had shifted to the side of his head to form bony protuberances. Two outgrowths bulged beside his shoulder blades, where a Dragon's wings were supposed to be. "Gods, I was right!" The enthusiasm she felt from witnessing the definitive proof of her hypothesis didn't eclipse her pride as a Forgemaster. "Now stop the process, please." "You just needed to ask." Ajatar sighed in relief as the massive mana flow left his body. "I didn't want to do this. You did. As much as I enjoyed using the Hands, this little experiment of yours took a toll on me. Thank the gods we just ate." "I know. I'm sorry." Faluel offered him a barrel full of nutrient potion that the Drake drank in one gulp. They were adult Lesser Divine Beasts with huge bodies and stable life forces. Altering and developing them further consumed a lot of energy. Even if they found a way to achieve Dragonhood, without proper preparation, they would die of starvation before the process was completed. Ajatar's mass was nowhere near that of an adult Divine Beast, and without Mogar's help during the evolution process, he needed a stable supply of nutrients and the time to assimilate them. "Can you now tell me what you meant when you said that all Hydras are stupid and that you should have involved me from the start?" He asked. "Sure." She nodded. "After all, if not for your visit and willingness to be my test subject-" "Research partner." Ajatar corrected her. "Research partner, I would still be fumbling in the dark and keep at that for the gods know how long." Faluel sighed, needing a few seconds to collect her strength before admitting: "You are special, Ajatar. Or rather, the Drake bloodline is special." "I'm sorry, but if everyone is special, no one is." Ajatar shrugged. "You would be right, if there were just you guys." Faluel shook her head. "But there are many Lesser Dragon species on Mogar. Hydras, Wyverns, Lindwurms, and the list goes on. Yet the only thing they have in common is their progenitor." "Yeah, Grandfather sure kept himself busy during his long life." The Drake said. "That's not my point." Faluel replied. "My point is that Drakes are special because you weren't born from Leegaain the Guardian and another species. You guys belong to the same evolutionary branch Leegaain took as a magical beast." "Are you saying…" Ajatar's eyes widened in understanding, yet he didn't dare say the rest out loud, afraid to jinx it. "Yes." Faluel clenched her teeth, the wound in her pride was already deep, but admitting the truth made it much worse.