Dragon Raja; Chapter 144: Epilogue

Dragon Raja

In the white bone china cup was tea, shimmering with a golden hue. On the small bone china saucer beside it was a scone sprinkled with a bit of rose dew.

In Cassell College, in the Principal’s office, separated by a wide desk, Lu Mingfei and Principal Anjou were having afternoon tea.

Being invited to have afternoon tea by the Principal was an honor at Cassell College even more enviable than a scholarship. However, Lu Mingfei was wrapped in bandages like a mummy, with only his eyes peeking out, resembling the chainsaw-wielding zombie lady from Resident Evil. He himself felt like he wasn’t really in the mood for afternoon tea.

“It’s a fine tradition passed down from the Victorian era,” the Principal said. “Try the No. 2 Darjeeling—it’s excellent.”

Lu Mingfei took a sip from the bone china cup, glancing around. The Principal’s office wasn’t far from Valhalla, a modest two-story building surrounded by trees. From the outside, it looked as simple as a garage, but inside, it was completely different.

The entire room was essentially a bookshelf. The first and second floors were connected, and there was a massive skylight with frosted glass at the center, still covered with leaves from the previous autumn. The afternoon sunlight was warm, making Lu Mingfei feel cozy. The walls were adorned with oil paintings and towering bookshelves filled with complete sets of hardcover books and ancient imprints. Stairs and platforms clung to the bookshelves at different heights, allowing easy movement around the vast library-like room.

“Do you like my office?” the Principal asked with a proud expression.

“Yeah.” Lu Mingfei nodded.

“First semester GPA of 4.0—here’s your official transcript. I kept my promise. Congratulations, not many in Cassell College’s history have scored full marks in their practical course.” The Principal placed an envelope on the desk and slid it toward Lu Mingfei. The seal bore Professor Guderian’s cursive signature.

“What did the practical course involve in the past?” Lu Mingfei asked.

“It depended. If a dragon happened to awaken, you’d be assigned to some operation. Otherwise, you could excavate dragon relics. If there was nothing to arrange, you might volunteer at the Chicago Zoo, taking care of the alligator pond while studying the evolution of reptiles.” The Principal smiled. “You were lucky to have such a good opportunity. But you still need to complete the practical course thesis. I thought of a topic for you: A Brief Analysis of the Four Dragon Monarchs.”

“Sounds very profound… I’m afraid I won’t be able to write it,” Lu Mingfei said.

“You don’t need to make it too academic. You’ve proven two things through your experience. First, the ‘Four Monarchs’ mentioned in The Ice Sea Scrolls do exist. They are the First Generation of dragons, personally bred by the Black Emperor Nidhogg. Second, ‘Twins on the Throne’: the King of Bronze and Fire is actually a pair of brothers,” the Principal said. “It’s quite an astonishing discovery. If I could publish it openly, I’d have already won the Nobel Prize.”

“You make it sound so academic… but it was really all just brute work,” Lu Mingfei said, scratching his head.

“I can tell you have questions, so go ahead and ask,” the Principal said, leaning forward on the desk, looking at Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei thought for a moment and looked up. “Why did the Dragon King… look human?”

The Principal nodded. “You used to think that dragon-slaying involved killing a big monster. But dragons can indeed appear in human form. They are still an alien race, and their understanding of the world is entirely different from ours. They cannot be regarded as humans.”

A large envelope was handed to Lu Mingfei. He opened it, his hand trembling slightly. Inside was a photo of Lao Tang. Lao Tang was playing cards with a group of people at a table in a café, sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating his young face.

“His real name was Ronald Tang. He was an adopted Chinese-American. No one knows who his biological parents were. He dropped out of high school and lived in a poor area of Brooklyn, New York, taking on secret jobs for money,” the Principal said softly. “We had his information even before you set off, but I didn’t tell you because I knew you two had met online.”

“How did he become the Dragon King?”

“He didn’t change—he always was. According to The Ice Sea Scrolls, the brothers had always lived in the Bronze Palace in Northern Europe, but at some point before Christ, they disappeared from all records. As it turns out, they crossed the Eurasian continent and went to China. No one knows how long the journey took, but by the time they arrived, Wang Mang had usurped the Han Dynasty, and China was engulfed in warfare. The elder brother assumed the alias Li Xiong, using his dragon powers to gain the trust of the warlord Gongsun Shu, who occupied Sichuan, helping Gongsun Shu declare himself emperor and becoming one of his key ministers.”

“Why did they do that?” Lu Mingfei asked.

“We don’t know. There must have been an important purpose, but no one knows anymore. Twelve years later, with the help of certain dragon-slaying families, Emperor Liu Xiu defeated Gongsun Shu and the brothers. At the moment of death, they completed their soul’s ‘chrysalis’ transformation. That jar wasn’t a bone urn, but rather an ‘egg’ for breeding a new body. The hatching occurred in sequence, and the younger brother lagged behind. The elder brother was the first to leave the egg but couldn’t recover his memory. Though he looked only in his twenties, he could have been much older. He left long before the Three Gorges Dam was built. Somehow, he ended up in America, where he was adopted. He lived in the U.S. for over twenty years, believing himself to be human, until his younger brother, who awakened later, restored his true nature,” the Principal explained.

“All of this is just conjecture?”

“Speculation, yes. They’re both dead now, and no one knows their story anymore.”

“Aren’t dragons supposed to be immortal?”

“Normally, yes. High-ranking dragons can prepare an ‘egg’ before death and complete their soul’s chrysalis, allowing them to hatch again. Where they hide these rebirth ‘eggs’ is one of the dragons’ greatest secrets,” the Principal said. “But this time was different. Norton never tried to chrysalis. He chose to merge with the dragon servitor. If successful, he could have unleashed the most powerful fire-element Yanling known to date—‘Dragon Candle’.”

“What’s the effect of ‘Dragon Candle’?” Lu Mingfei asked.

“I don’t know. It’s Yanling No. 114—extremely unstable. It’s believed that the last time Norton used this Yanling, it destroyed Bronze City. The exact location of Baidi City has always been uncertain because the earliest Baidi City was destroyed shortly after its construction by ‘Zhuolong’.”

“He seems pretty vengeful… Does he hold that much of a grudge against humans?” Lu Mingfei thought about Lao Tang—or rather, Dragon King Norton’s—final gaze.

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