After the heartfelt conversation with Noah, Leon felt a weight lift from his chest.
In the days that followed, he devoted himself entirely to storing magical energy and practicing the Gates of Nine Hells. Under Aurora's guidance, his progress with the Gates accelerated noticeably.
However, the situation with magic storage remained unchanged from before. The dragon mark and that unknown "thing" inside his body continued to split the incoming magic, taking eighty percent for themselves and leaving a paltry twenty percent for the mark. The process was agonizingly slow.
To this day, Leon still had no idea what was wrong with his body. He had asked Aurora if she had any insights.
His youngest daughter had regretfully informed him that her research was primarily focused on magical arrays, and she wasn't particularly well-versed in the intricacies of the human body's magical structure.
Left with no other choice, Leon could only stick to the old method—slowly, bit by bit, storing magical energy into his dragon mark.
The four of them remained in this hidden underground space, guarding Rossweise, practicing, and waiting for Aurora to complete her research.
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.
Three months later.
Aurora decided to conduct the first test of the reversal magic array.
Everyone gathered in Rossweise's crystal chamber, where Aurora activated the array drawn on the floor.
The symbols of the array were intricate and complex to the point of chaos. Even a professor specializing in magical arrays would exclaim in awe at the sheer complexity of the work.
After all, this was the culmination of Aurora's ten years of research, and what she sought to reverse was no ordinary magic.
It was the key to changing everything.
Aurora walked to the front of the array and waved her hand to activate it.
Light immediately flared as the array began to react.
The other three watched with bated breath.
Aurora's success or failure would determine the future of their family.
The light from the array grew brighter and brighter, and the entire chamber began to tremble.
Leon instinctively raised an arm, shielding Noah and Muen behind him. "Aurora, is everything alright?"
Aurora, with her back to them, waved a dismissive hand. "It's fine."
Hearing this, Leon frowned slightly.
Something was off in her tone.
It didn't sound like the excitement of imminent success.It sounded more like…
In the next second, the array's light vanished as if a taut string had snapped, leaving no trace behind.
The chamber returned to silence.
The pattern of the array on the ground was scorched black.
Aurora slowly lowered her hand. After a brief pause, she said softly,
"It failed."
A simple summary, but her voice carried a deep, resonant frustration.
Ten years of dedicated research had still not borne fruit.
For someone who had dreamed of becoming a scholar since childhood, this was undoubtedly a heavy blow.
More importantly, there were less than three months left until the day their mother fell into her coma.
If they couldn't complete the reversal magic before then and send Leon back to the past, their mother's fate would remain unchanged.
No one wanted to accept such an outcome.
But the cold reality of failure felt like a blade, cutting deep into Aurora's heart.
"Aurora…" Muen began, wanting to comfort her sister. "It's… it's okay. This was just a test."
But Aurora didn't respond. Her shoulders slowly sagged under an invisible weight, as if she were about to be crushed by it.
After a moment of silence, Leon stepped forward and stood beside Aurora, gazing down with her at the scorched array on the floor.
"Where do you think it went wrong?" Leon asked softly.
Aurora's pink eyes trembled, and her voice quivered. "I-I don't know."
Leon looked at his youngest daughter's face, full of fear and uncertainty.
In that moment, he understood. She wasn't most afraid of failure itself; she was afraid of being unable to save their family.
"Aurora, have you ever heard this saying?"
Silence.
"The greater the power, the greater the responsibility."
Leon continued, "My master taught me that long ago. Later, I realized this saying also works in reverse."
Aurora blinked and slowly lifted her dejected head to look at her father.
"The more responsibility you bear, the greater your ability must be."
"Everyone believes you can do this, which is why they've entrusted you with this task."
"But don't let responsibility become chains that bind you. Do you remember what Noah once told Mom? About accepting oneself?"
"Accepting yourself is crucial, and so is accepting failure."
"If a person can't even face failure, then they don't deserve to succeed."
Leon placed a gentle hand on his daughter's shoulder.
Just moments before, that shoulder had been weighed down by invisible discouragement and frustration, but now, under her father's warm hand, she felt a powerful sense of reassurance.
Leon added, "Try to push all those thoughts about the consequences of failure out of your mind. Aurora, you've been researching this reversal magic for ten years. Believe in yourself—you can do it."
Her mother had once said that what fascinated her most about Leon was his ability to always bring her a sense of security.
As long as he was there, she felt she had endless courage.
At the time, Aurora hadn't quite understood what kind of power that was.
But now, she seemed to grasp the feeling her mother had described.
The pink eyes behind her glasses regained their calm and sharpness.
She furrowed her brows, then turned her gaze back to the extinguished array on the floor.
After observing for a while, Aurora slowly said,
"The fact that the array emitted light means it was able to activate. At least the first stage didn't have any issues."
"The problem must lie in the subsequent stages."
"There are four stages to completing an array:"
"Activation, operation, maintenance, and termination."
"We stalled at the operation stage. For most arrays, ensuring proper operation requires sufficient power."
"I was aware of this, so I prepared enough power crystals in advance, but they didn't seem to have any effect."
As she spoke, Aurora walked over to the power crystals, picked up a few, and carefully examined them.
"The energy inside hasn't depleted, which means these crystals didn't participate in the array's operation."
"But why? I've tested these crystals many times; they work in any other reversal magic, but they had no effect on this one meant to reverse Ravi's space magic."
—
[Heart-protecting Dragon Scale— A rare and powerful protective scale formed by dragons over a long period. It carries significant magical energy and is crucial in this context for reversing powerful space magic.]
Aurora continued, "If the array doesn't have enough energy during the operation stage, then it'll fail in the maintenance stage as well."
"So we need to solve the issue of the energy not feeding into the array…"
Leon crouched beside her, observing the power crystals.
After a moment's thought, Leon said, "You just mentioned that it's about reversing Ravi's space magic… right?"
"Yes, because Dad, you were transported here by his space magic."
Leon: "But didn't Ravi's space magic go out of control at the time? And the reason it went out of control was because of Ravi's heart-protecting dragon scale—"
"The heart-protecting dragon scale!" Aurora suddenly looked up, excitement flashing in her eyes as if she had just grasped a lifeline. "The reason the power crystals didn't work is that their energy nature is different from Ravi's space magic!"
"The space magic that brought you here was fused with the power of Ravi's heart-protecting dragon scale."
"So, to successfully operate the reversal magic now, we need a power source similar to Ravi's heart-protecting dragon scale!"
Leon smiled with pride, impressed by how quickly his daughter caught on. However, he had to raise the next crucial question.
"But where can we find something similar to a heart-protecting dragon scale…?"
Aurora paused, scratching her head. "Normally, dragons need at least a hundred years to slowly form a heart-protecting dragon scale. But the three of us combined aren't even a hundred years old…"
"And even if we had a heart-protecting dragon scale," Noah interjected, "its energy nature would certainly be different from Ravi's."
"We're Silver Dragons by nature, while Ravi belonged to the Star Wanderer Dragon Clan. Our powers don't share the same origin."
"Big Sis is right."
Aurora let out a long sigh, her fingers running through her messy pink hair. "Ah~~ So where can we get something like a heart-protecting dragon scale from the Star Wanderer Dragon Clan, and one at Ravi's Dragon King level, no less?"
"I did come across some reliable intel not long ago," Noah said casually. "In that place, we might just find the heart-protecting dragon scale we need."
Leon turned to her. "Where?"
"The Empire."
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"Why does the Empire have a dragon's heart-protecting scale?" Leon paused for a moment and added, "Besides, I still don't fully understand what this heart-protecting scale is. It's not exactly an explosive device, but it doesn't seem like an organ that just stores energy either."
"For dragons, the heart-protecting scale is extremely important," Noah explained. "Its function isn't just as simple as storing energy or being used as a self-destruct mechanism in desperation. The heart-protecting scale acts more like a 'safety mechanism.'"
"A safety mechanism?" Leon asked.
"Yes," Noah said. "A dragon with a heart-protecting scale can control their power much more effectively. You see, pureblood dragons have an innate thirst for violence, and during battle, they can lose control and act recklessly. The heart-protecting scale is there to prevent the dragon from being consumed by their own power. And, of course, it has other functions too."
"For example, it can enhance a dragon's vitality or serve as a final resort for self-detonation, just like how Star Flame Dragon King Star used his," Noah added.
Leon mulled over Noah's words. "A safety mechanism… consumed by power…" He then glanced toward Rossweise, still lying in the crystal chamber. "Do you think your mother fell into a coma after exhausting her strength because of something related to her heart-protecting scale?"
Noah nodded. "Great-grandmother said that Mother's heart-protecting scale was… peculiar. It existed, but its effect was minimal. So, when she unleashed that miracle-like power, the scale didn't activate properly, which is probably why she fell into a coma."
"Of course, the heart-protecting scale may not be the only reason. There could be many factors why someone of Mother's power level would fall into such a deep slumber. The scale is just one possibility."
Leon nodded thoughtfully but didn't linger on the issue of the heart-protecting scale. Instead, he steered the conversation back to the original question: "So, why does the Empire have dragon treasures like these?"
Noah shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. The person who provided me with this information only said that there are many heart-protecting scales stored within the Empire."
Leon raised an eyebrow. "And this informant of yours is…?"
Noah let out a little laugh. "Not telling you."
"Tch, keeping secrets from your father now, huh?" Leon pouted.
Noah stuck out her tongue playfully but remained silent, refusing to reveal any more about this mysterious informant.
Leon wasn't overly concerned about the informant's identity. What mattered more was, "Is this person trustworthy?"
"Very trustworthy. There's no one more reliable in the world than her."
Alright, Leon had to take back what he said earlier. His curiosity was now completely piqued. Who could be so highly regarded that even someone as cautious and skeptical as Noah would vouch for their reliability without hesitation?
But Noah seemed intent on keeping her secret a bit longer.
"So, besides the Empire, do we have any other ways to obtain a heart-protecting scale with a similar energy nature to that of a Star Wanderer Dragon?" Leon asked, returning to the practical matter.
"Ravi only fell twenty years ago," Noah replied. "The Star Wanderer Dragons probably haven't even chosen a new Dragon King yet. Their territory is in chaos, and raiding it directly would be too dangerous and time-consuming. The Empire is our most realistic target."
"Then it's settled," Leon said, his voice firming with resolve. "We go to the Empire."