7 Chapter 7

Ren looked up at this old man, studying his face, then his ears, before proceeding to ask, "Such an old man is a kidnapper? Sorry, I don't have money for ransom." Then he proceeded to ignore him before lying back down. As a matter of fact, he was never fully sent into a sleep state.

Dream dragons have the ability to not only lucid dream, but also sleepwalk consciously. This state allowed him to have full control of his senses. If he was not sure it turned out to be a mistaken identity, he would have broken the sleep state at a critical moment and either escaped or killed his way out.

He was finally rest assured when he heard the Elder Orciath speak to his two moronic underlings. He though, decided to act stupid, when he thought they were bandits, he had long eaten the remaining silver. Though it was a bit harder to do in this form, there were still no issues.

Elder Orciath had another immediate headache, he looked at this human who seemed to 'accept his fate'. It really made his old face shameful to be mistaken for a kidnapper. He immediately tried to reassure the man, "This is all a misunderstanding." As he said this, the human looked at him in contempt.

Ren looked at the man, more specifically his soul. These elves were the first actual sapient beings, besides for the runes in the soul common among all beings with innate abilities, there were a variety of colors. Normally, when he was hunting in the past, most of these colors were dull, it was only until now that he realized that they were emotions.

He dug around in his mind from the soul dragon inheritance, but aside from the ability to roughly see the soul, it should not be as highly detailed as what he sees, he assumed this may be a combination of the physique of the two dragon breeds. Right now, this elder elf's soul was a deep magenta.

He could intuitively guess that this was not anger or hostility, but more along the lines of frustration. Understandable for having incompetent subordinates, as well as encountering a situation where he was mistaken for a bandit and kidnapper. Ren decided to stop teasing the old man.

He looked up and said, "Ok, if you are not a kidnapper, and I am not imprisoned, can I leave now?" To his surprise, the old man actually refused. When asked why, he seemed to not want to say. His soul flickered a light blue, the same as spooked animals when he was almost discovered on hunts.

He reluctantly said, "Someone here wants to meet you." These words, combined with the emotions that flickered an array of colors set off several alarm bells in Ren's mind. His mind turned at a rapid pace, trying to think of why someone would want to meet him. Not giving him any chance to ask more questions, Elder Orciath left.

When the door to the room he was in closed, he cursed at the weakness of his soul eyes, to him, every soul is like a bright light, radiating everywhere depending on its strength, but also, like light, it cannot travel through solid objects. So in a completely enclosed space, he cannot see other's souls.

It did not take long for him to wait, the door was opened, and along with Elder Orciath, walking a step behind, was a woman. She was taller than both Elder Orciath and Ren himself, at almost 2 meters. Her hair was a deep golden, while her skin was a jade white. Her eyes are a piercing steel gray.

She could be considered a supreme beauty, even by elf standards. Though, with his soul sight, he saw through her at a glance, she too was a dragon, a steel dragon. While Ren was studying her, she too was studying him. Her eyes were slightly curious, she too saw through Ren's alternate form, albeit through different methods than him.

She spoke, "Purple eyes, usually seen among purple dragons or amethyst dragons., though I have met both before, and they have different auras. Also, your eyes are a much lighter color than dream dragons, though I have only ever heard of them. You also seem to have passed the hatchling period, seeing as you can take on a second form."

Her eyes twirled for a moment, "You seem to have not completed your first sleep cycle, still making you a wyrmling. Interesting, very interesting." Elder Orciath was standing to the side, not daring to interrupt, though filled with surprise. He did not expect to randomly 'catch' a dragon.

Then his eyes were filled with a bit of fear, thankfully they did not really try to pressure him, though they could deal with a young dragon, they would have to pay unnecessary costs. The woman continued to speak after muttering to herself, "Why human though? If you wanted a humanoid form, I bet there would still be countless forms among your inheritance."

She was truly curious at this point, "You should know that humans cultivate by merging souls with their own, while alternate form gives you the capacity to do the same to an extent, it is actually restrictive to your growth." Ren was stunned by her talking, he actually did not pay too much attention to Humans in the inheritance, as he had found the titan form long before he made his final decisions.

Then he also started to think about why he could not go through his first sleep cycle as the steel dragon woman noted, He guessed that it was because he was actually a human soul occupying a dragon body. Human cultivation would probably be the most beneficial for him.

His mind quickly spun, coming up with an excused, "I am a hybrid." These words were perfectly true and contained no lies. Hybrids can grow with many defects, one of the most common is loss of knowledge in their inheritance. Sure enough, the lady bought his excuse, her brows furrowed.

"It is rare for hybrids to appear, You do not show any of the most obvious defects, yet yours is probably the worst." Her words contained a bit of pity. His eyes studied her soul as she spoke, a mixture of colors representing what he felt were curiosity, happiness, sadness, and a bit of pity.

He noted her soul was different from the elves, while they were mostly blobs or masses, hers took on an almost fully solid dragon form. Whether this was something unique to dragons, or just strong souls in general, he was unsure. He also noted that her abilities seemed to be covered by a layer of fog.

He wondered whether this was a secret method, or a manifestation of strength as well, glancing at the old elf, there was no similar fog. Though his soul radiance was noticeably less than the steel dragons.

His mind spun as he asked a question that had been bugging him, "How do humans gain strength?"