Chapter 34: Dragon Vein

An hour later, the Shadowflame Dragon, having recovered some of its strength, crouched in front of Li Mochen like a starving puppy, greedily devouring the complimentary fruit in the room.

This little creature had apparently gone without food for a long time; upon seeing the food, it attacked it with the ferocity of a starving ghost.

Yet whenever it occasionally looked up at Li Mochen, its body would instinctively lower, and its golden vertical pupils would reveal fear and confusion.

Li Mochen was not surprised by this. How could the magic contracts of this world compare to the 'Beast Taming Spirit Contract' imprinted deep within each other's souls?

This was the supreme beast-taming secret art of the Divine Thunder Sect, which, through special techniques, temporarily amplified one's primordial spirit power severalfold to forcibly subdue various beasts.

Some cultivators with exceptionally strong souls could even use this secret art to subdue demonic beasts with divine beast bloodlines.

It must be noted that the divine beasts of the Primordial Sky Realm held a status similar to what this world called mythical creatures. And the divine beast bloodlines referred to here were far more powerful than the Shadowflame Dragon.

It was said that the 'Beast Taming Spirit Contract' originated from the Beast Taming Sect in the far west, an ultimate inherited secret technique created by that sect after pushing the study of beast souls to its extreme.

Fourteen hundred years ago, the Divine Thunder Sect, in a campaign to punish the wicked and save the people, allied with seven central immortal sects to destroy the Beast Taming Sect. Thus, this supreme secret art was taken over by the Divine Thunder Sect, which further developed and elevated it. Using it on this little Shadowflame Dragon was somewhat overkill.

Especially since he, in the state of Heavenly Mind, was exceptionally domineering, insisting on waiting until the Shadowflame Dragon fully awakened to crush its spirit head-on.

Thus, the docility shown by the Shadowflame Dragon at this moment was only natural.

After the little creature had eaten its fill, Li Mochen took a primary 'Oak Potion' from his sword pouch and fed it to the dragon. Then he used techniques of true essence transfer and bone and muscle massage to help it digest.

He still had a task that required this Shadowflame Dragon, but it needed to be in a state of full vitality. This primary 'Oak Potion' should be enough to make up for the physical deficiencies it had suffered since being captured.

As the potion's effects spread, the Shadowflame Dragon became drowsy. But before it completely closed its eyes, it struggled to lift its head and licked Li Mochen's hand.

Hmm? It seems its nature isn't bad; it still has a sense of gratitude.

Li Mochen could tell that the little Shadowflame Dragon's action was purely instinctive. A cub less than two months old couldn't have overly complicated thoughts.

In that case, I should give you a name. With your pitch-black appearance and being a fire-breathing dragon, how about 'Black Flame'? Hmm, that doesn't sound much different from 'Shadowflame.' Let's change it. Well, the vein patterns on your back are quite conspicuous. In the future, you will surely transform into a true demon dragon, so let's call you 'Dragon Vein.' Little one, if you don't object, I'll take it as your agreement.

He spoke to himself while picking up the 'Dragon Vein,' which could no longer keep its eyes open, and placed it into the hood behind him. The little creature was less than two palms in size, so it fit easily into the hood.

Then he left the room and went to the first floor of the shooting center to test the gun.

Besides using the vouchers provided by the gun shop, Li Mochen also purchased three hundred regular bullets, three freezing bullets, and three molten bullets.

He planned to use this opportunity to grasp the basics of shooting and also to see the effects of the freezing and molten bullets.

There were paid shooting instructors here, but Li Mochen didn't waste money on them. According to the original owner's memories, his father Li Chunchu had taught him how to use a gun.

Li Mochen reviewed his memories of firearms while using his divine sense to observe the other customers, especially those with high accuracy, learning from their movements. After firing over thirty bullets, he could already shoot in a passable manner.

'Passable manner' meant that he could finally keep the bullets from missing the target at a distance of one hundred meters.

Li Mochen had overestimated his own strength and underestimated the difficulty of handling the 'Alloy Warhammer.' The recoil of this magical gun was extremely strong; each bullet made his arm numb. He had to step back and rest for a full half hour after firing sixty bullets, during which he continuously massaged his arms and stimulated acupoints to help his muscles recover quickly.

However, the power of the 'Alloy Warhammer' was satisfying. The copper humanoid target provided by the shooting center had a small hole from each shot. Li Mochen estimated that the muzzle velocity of these bullets was between Mach 3.2 and Mach 3.5, with an effective range of four hundred meters, comparable to some gunpowder rifles.

He thought to himself, the so-called technology of this world is truly terrifying! This meant that most magical professionals would have no resistance against them.

The only feasible way to deal with such magical guns was to dodge before the enemy fired, never giving them a chance to aim.

In the second round of shooting, still sixty bullets, Li Mochen's marksmanship didn't improve much. But after carefully summarizing his experience in the third round, he finally managed to get the bullet impacts within the rings.

By the fifth round, Li Mochen could hit the eight-ring, but only for the first shot after aiming. If he had a little time to adjust for the second shot, he could hit within the six-ring, but for continuous fire, the accuracy was disappointing. The key issue was the strong recoil, which made it hard to control the sights.

At this point, Li Mochen realized that his shooting skills couldn't improve much further. Unless his strength increased, there would be no qualitative change. Continuing would only waste money and unnecessarily wear down the barrel of the Alloy Warhammer.

Although this was a magical gun, the barrel's design life was only eighteen thousand rounds. Beyond that number, accuracy could not be guaranteed, and in severe cases, the barrel could burst.

He also reflected that he had originally thought he would need to spend money on upgrading this gun later. But now it seemed he had been too presumptuous.

Even the current Alloy Warhammer required at least level seven strength to fully control.

Next, Li Mochen hesitated briefly before attempting 'Heavenly Mind Illumination.'

As expected, in the 'Heavenly Mind' state, his shooting accuracy was on a completely different level; he hit the bullseye nine times in a row.

Heavenly Mind Li Mochen's control over his muscles and his perception of the gun were far beyond what he could achieve in his normal state. This was the value of the 'Heavenly Mind Illumination' secret art. Although it affected his personality, in this state, Li Mochen was confident even against outlaws.

After ten bullets, Li Mochen returned to normal under his self-imposed mental suggestion. Next came the test firing of freezing and molten bullets. After just two shots, Li Mochen was deeply impressed by the power of these magical bullets. The former completely froze the entire copper humanoid target, while the latter melted the area around the bullet hole.

Next up is Dragon Vein—

Li Mochen touched the little creature in his hood. The Shadowflame Dragon had fallen into a deep sleep after taking the potion. Even in the shooting range with constant gunfire, it slept soundly without any disturbance. But Li Mochen didn't intend to let it sleep any longer; he wanted to see the little one's abilities.

As a dragon species, the Shadowflame Dragon's strength at birth was equivalent to a level four magical professional. It innately mastered five天赋 spells: 'Shadow Shelter,' 'Shadow Stealth,' 'Flame Impact,' 'Flame Breath,' and 'Fire Blessing.' These could be utilized by him, with usage limited only by the dragon's mana capacity.

Li Mochen was quite looking forward to this. He had deliberately saved one last molten bullet and forty regular rifle bullets for this Shadowflame Dragon.

As Li Mochen pressed his fingertip, the Shadowflame Dragon slowly awakened. It clearly hadn't slept enough and made dissatisfied grumbling sounds. But soon, under its merciless owner's urging, it cast the 'Fire Blessing' spell on the Alloy Warhammer.

When Li Mochen fired again, the head of the copper humanoid target a hundred meters away instantly melted completely.

Cool!

Li Mochen gave a light praise, satisfied as he blew the smoke from the gun's muzzle. The combination of 'Fire Blessing' and the 'Molten Bullet' was already quite astonishing.