I Raised a Black Dragon - Chapter 242

From Lenia’s position, his upper body suddenly appeared to have been swallowed by an invisible wall. While she was pale in the face, Muell pulled out a cyborg that Kyle had subdued.

“That is stage 2,” Lenia pointed out. 

“Okay…”

“Then over that… thing, there must be the third stage.”

His head turned toward the room where Adrian was temporarily detained. One of the two human beings who were indistinguishable at first glance. 

Lenia continued her statement, trembling. “The point of the third stage is… cloning and reassembling the human soul. Spiritual magic is one of Adrian’s areas of expertise, so… I know that he has written many theories related to binding the soul and body…”

“Hmm…”

“I don’t know for sure, but… I heard that the binding of the soul weakens more when a certain intensity is applied to the body. Then, the soul is placed in a prepared core and sealed up. So after all of the human memories, knowledge, and abilities inherent in the nucleus are informally recorded, they’re implanted into an embodied automaton… No matter how many experiments there are, he could not create a real human being, just a more sophisticated machine.”

That was a fact. No matter how much a human’s body and soul were analyzed and copied, the clone that was created was just a collection of information. It couldn’t feel or perceive anything.

“That’s why Adrian chose soul division. Even in the process, the failed experiment comes out tremendously,” said Lenia. 

To minimize damage to the soul, it’s divided in half, with one going into its original body, and the other into a finely embodied clone. At this time, it is the mighty dragon’s power to act as an adhesive for the soul and the clone. A supernatural power with the densest magic to bring all dying creatures to life at once, allowing them to be free to go beyond the boundaries of construction, and rule the world.

Muell, feeling enlightened, nodded his head. “I think humans are a brilliant existence.”

The reason why dragons and transcendents with the power to make everything possible other than the creation of something out of nothing have not tried to clone this kind of soul so far, or to experiment with themselves, is that they do not have to. They are already the most perfect beings in all dimensions on their own.

On the other hand, humans are weak. And incomplete. Therefore, they gather to live in a society, set standards between good and evil, and act inconsistently, being swept away by emotions. And sometimes, they come up with ideas that they cannot do forever. Interesting, Muell thought, biting the tip of his pen. 

But as expected, the latter was arrogant. Muell liked Noah the most in this world, followed by his nanny, and didn’t hate other humans, but he didn’t love all imperfect humans. The ones who have ill will toward someone he likes are especially already a long way from being liked.

“Then what now?” Muell’s eyes turned toward the room where the arrogant man was locked up.

The doorknob to that room was shaking disturbingly.

*

While Muell wrote down all of Lenia’s words in front of the main staircase, and Noah and Kyle scoured the lab on the fourth floor, there was only a curious silence in room 319.

The faint sound of Lenia crying, someone muttering, and the bright voice of a young dragon seemed to be heard, but no one inside listened.

The man lying down with his eyes to the ceiling as if he’d died raised his upper body again after a long time. Leaning his cheek on the back of his hand, Adrian looked at his other self for a moment. Another Adrian Rossinell created through a destructive desire.

Having gained enough dragon power to conduct just one experiment, he had chosen himself without hesitation. It wasn’t that the experiment was lacking. Now wasn’t the time to ponder on ethical problems.

There was a wave of emotions he couldn’t handle; destructive feelings that ate himself little by little. Love wasn’t the only thing that has plagued him for a long time. In fact, what he felt for Eleonora wasn’t a form of love. It was the desire for genius and a sense of inferiority that coexisted as much as love did; crushed self-confidence; an emotional exchange that he longed for but could not eventually gain; a deep sense of betrayal.

He wished he’d cut out the things that’d driven him crazy for the past years. Or split them in half if he couldn’t drive them to one side completely. And now, the weight of losing was finally divided into two, with not even a mark to distinguish the real from the fake. Only the real Adrian knew which one was fake. However, there was no point in distinguishing who had been cut out and who did the cutting out.

Since there will only be one person left anyway.

The two pairs of green eyes met in the middle, and a low voice fell between them.

“What do you think, Adrian?”

One was expressionless while the other smiled faintly.

“Who wants to stay?”