16 A Draconic Upgrade.

As he stood over the dead Aevreor he panted in exhaustion. For the first time in his life, he had met a foe who had not died as prey but pushed him to his limits. Remembering how that mad dragon tore out his spike and stabbed him with it would stick with him for a long time. 

Talos watched as an ethereal copy of Aevreor emerged from the corpse. He looked at his body and then at Talos. 

"May my body nourish and give you strength. You are mighty." 

"It shall. Until we meet again." 

With those parting words, Aevreor's soul dissipated into the environment. If he was lucky and conditions were right, he would one day resurrect, but the chances were slim. As he was enjoying the feeling of victory, Scrat reappeared on top of Aevreor's body. 

"I shall say, that was a battle. Let us not waste this chance and make you as strong as possible. There are plenty of ways we can use Aevreor's body to honor his final wish. Are you ready?" 

Talos nodded. 

"I am. Teach me." 

Scrat's mana began to surge from his body and into the dead dragon. He drew out all of the blood remaining in Aevreor's corpse and the blood that had seeped into the surroundings. 

Dragon's blood was a useful tonic that could not be wasted, especially not when it could help Talos. After it was collected, Scrat condensed it into a small fist-sized stone of silver blood. 

Scrat scurried over to the wings and analyzed them before looking at Talos' back. 

"What are you thinking?" 

"Talos, do you trust me?" 

"Not really when you ask that question." 

Scrat began to chuckle as he rubbed his chin. 

"Brutally honest, but I like that. Anyway, from the time I have been with you, I see you have a way to adapt to better yourself. So, I am thinking about what would happen if I attached Aevreor's wings to you. 

The wings of a Sky Dragon, are some of the best among dragons. Once I surgically attach them to you, I will inject his Spinal Fluid into your spine which will make your body begin to adapt as it has done. 

At the same time, you will absorb this Blood Stone along with washing your Bone Marrow with Aevreor's. I want to give your body as much Dragon materials in the hope that you evolve into a Dragon.

And, I want you to absorb the energy of his Dragon Heart into your Beast Core. To top it off, your own lungs should be fused with his own. Are you willing to risk it?" 

Talos thought about it as there was no risk to himself. His Adaptive Evolution would use the massive infusion of Dragon Materials and evolve him accordingly. But he probably would not be turning into a Dragon as his Bloodline was super dominant.

"I am willing." 

Scrat began to rub his squirrel hands together as he could already see the power gains Talos would get. 

"Give me an hour to get everything ready. In that time, rest and recover." 

Talos did not have to be told twice, so he just walked not far away and slumped down to the ground. He took a deep breath before he closed his eyes and fell asleep allowing his body to recover. Already he could feel his mana flowing through his body refreshing him. 

His regeneration repaired any wounds that remained and even cured his blindness from Aevreor's teeth going into his eyes. And even the blood he had drank from Aevreor was starting to be processed. 

What he had consumed was very little, but already his Hellblade bloodline was starting to be spliced with that of Sky Dragon. By the end of whatever Scrat was planning he would most likely gain the power of the wind element. 

One that he had been unable to use beforehand. Even now, he could only use Lightning, Fire, Earth, and Metal Elemental Mana for some reason. Maybe this would be a way to get past this hurdle. 

While he slept, Scrat began his butchering of Aevreor. He dived into the corpse through the hole Talos opened up with his tail blade and harvested what he needed. To begin with, he surgically removed the Dragon Heart and the Lungs the two most important body parts of a dragon. 

While he was in here, he took apart the Sky Dragon with brutal efficiency. He removed the spine for the fluid inside, the Bones for the Marrow, and the claws, teeth, scales, spines, eyes, and as he said the wings. 

If it would help Talos, he harvested it as for the flesh he left it for Talos to consume after. He spent that hour processing everything for the procedure. It had to go well as this was not a chance that came often. Dragons even in the Forbidden and Lost Regions were rare. 

So he spent that hour ensuring everything was harvested just in time for when Talos opened his eyes. When Talos got up he looked over and was shocked at what was left of Aevreor's body. 

His intestines had been stored away by Scrat as those had value, but Talos refused to eat them. What remained was just flesh as all the scales had been removed. 

"Talos, just in time. Are you ready?" 

Talos nodded. 

"Yeah, what is the first step?" 

Scrat smiled ominously as this was going to hurt. 

"Just lay down and do not move no matter how much it hurts." 

Talos did as instructed and laid down on his belly. Scrat waved his hands and Aevreor's large wings floated to his left and right. 

"Talos, I will have to cut you open to attach the muscles and nerves to yours. I will need you to hold your regeneration back." 

"Got it." 

Talos focused on his cells and turned off their regeneration. He felt as Scrat scurried to his right side. Scrat focused his hands on Talos and began to use his mana like a laser to make the cut. As Talos had lowered his defenses and his regeneration Scrat managed to get through his living metal armor. 

The pain was less than enjoyable so his nerves lowered the amount of information they sent. He closed his eyes and just relaxed as Scrat began the process of fusing Talos's nerves and muscles to the new wing. 

The process was crude as simply sticking a limb where one never was would cause rejection. Scrat was basing this on two things. Talos' Adaptive Trait and his Regeneration. So once the first wing was attached, he scurried to the other side and repeated the process. 

This took 20 minutes for both sides and was just the first step. When it was complete, Scrat spoke again. 

"Done, don't heal again just yet. I got more things to do." 

"Just get it done." 

Scrat scurried to the top of Talos' back and began to use his mana to lazer his way toward his spine. When he managed to find it, he drew out the large vial of Sky Dragon Spinal fluid. 

He stabbed it straight into Talos' spine which actually hurt like hell. Talos grits his teeth together as he feels the infusion of foreign Spinal Fluid. When all of it was in, Scrat got out of the wound he made on Talos. 

"Next step. The eyes." 

He rushed over to Talo's head where his eyes were located. Talos looked at Scrat curious. 

"How will this work?" 

"I told you I was good as potions yes? I used the eyes to make a potion I would inject into them. Now open wide." 

Scrat brought up another vial which he carefully stabbed into the center of Talos' right eye. The second time he had ever had that happen, but once the first was in, the second was injected into his left eye. 

"Almost done Talos. Now, you need to do the last steps. Here." 

He held out two stones, one was a bright blue which was the Bloodstone. The second was dark green which was the Bone Marrow. 

"Each both at the same time and take the heart and lungs. You will know what to do." 

Talos proceeded to eat all 4 which made Scrat run away. He did not know what kind of explosions would occur like last time. As for Talos, he turned back on his regeneration and Adaptive Evolution traits at the same time. 

Instantly, the wounds where the wings were attached began to mend themselves with the new appendages. Once they were healed, Talos' blood began to flow into them causing them to warp. 

They began to take on the same dark red color as the rest of him and even a coating of living metal began to emerge to encase them. Talos began to flap them slightly, but his Adaptive Evolution took over as the things were taken as a part of him. 

They became smaller than before but even stronger. As for the Spinal Fluid, it began to flow through his spine and central nervous system. His eyes became even more sensitive to the sight of a Dragon along with his own Hellblade sight.

Inside, the lungs he ate began to be fused into his own lungs which affected the fire-breathing organ in his throat. As for the Dragon Heart, its special properties were infused directly into his own. 

When this process ended, he would have a Beast Core in a Dragon Heart which would cause unknown effects. Even the Stones he consumed of Dragon Blood and Marrow began to be processed by his body. 

His own Marrow began to be infused with the Sky Dragon causing his Hellblade Glavenus Bloodline to fuse with that of a Sky Dragon. Even his Cells began to fuse one by one with Sky Dragon Blood. 

His Evolution Ability seemed to cheer at having a worthy stimulus to use and got to work. The most important thing was fusing both the Hellblade Bloodline and Sky Dragon Bloodline. This was also a good chance so it began to draw out the Divine Energy and Divine Ki flowing from his soul in small quantities and added it to the mixture. 

The fusing of both bloodlines was causing a giant build-up of power that was increasing by the second. The largest build-up of power was happening in his heart. Turning his heart into a Dragon Heart was difficult. 

Even more so to make it work with his Beast Core, but his trait would not be Divine if it could not handle something like this. Talos began to glow a violent magenta along with green as his elements began to grow unstable. 

The build-up of energy was so great if released it be more violent than a Nuclear Blast. Scrat in the distance was already worrying that Talos would unleash another explosion and cursed himself. 

'Why Rahtatoskr. Why do you have to let your curiosity get the better of you? Why do you have to kick the bee's nest.' 

But, that did not happen as the energy began to be used up by Talos' new bloodline as food. This caused his body to begin to warp, grow, and evolve. There was no explosion this time, but Talos felt itchy all over. 

He closed his eyes waiting for the changes to start, but there were none. Other than the fact that he got bigger there were very few outward changes. When he opened his eyes he realized he had only grown another 5 meters allowing him to reach 50. 

"I expected more change-" 

As he said that he passed straight out and fell on his side. Something more serious than his bloodline now had a crack in it. A small crack, but the seal on his soul had a pinky-finger-sized crack. 

Now, more Divine Ki and Divine Energy began to flow into his body in higher amounts. The sheer power behind those was so large that his Adaptive Evolution began to sing. It knocked him out as it finally had the energy it needed. 

It was working at less than half efficiency with little Divine Energy. With that crack, it went into over drive. When Talos woke up, what would he say?