The Wise Dragon inspected the blueprint. Its eyes almost furrowed. Several minutes later, the wise dragon slowly turned its head aside. A broken drone flew toward the dragon. The Wise Dragon gently caught the drone and showed it to Michael. In the Dragon's hand, the drone looked tiny as an ant.

"This device is the same as the one in the blueprint, except for its design," The Wise Dragon was surprisingly correct. When one boils it down, The Spyders and Drones shared the same architecture and functionalities, except the Drones could fly and the Spyders couldn't. Plus, Michael was surprised to see that the Wise Dragon had broken the drone without breaking it apart completely.

"Yes. Is that enough for you to give us the information about Adelia?" asked Michael. But the Dragon shook its head. A cunning, basically a devilish grin emerged on its face.

"Knowledge like this is enough before I know how desperate she is for the knowledge I have. So the price went up. Give me one more like this, and I'll share my knowledge with you,"

Gaya clenched her fist. Nightmare quickly squeezed Gaya's shoulder with his claws, wordlessly telling her to remain calm and let Michael deal with it. When it comes to battle, brute killing force, Gaya was the best. But when it comes to negotiating, tricking, and outsmarting powerful beings such as the Wise Dragon, Michael was the best choice. That didn't mean Gaya couldn't do all this. In fact, she was on par with Michael in trickery. However, she was emotionally involved in this matter. She would do anything to find her mother without giving a thought to her actions.

"What else?" Michael asked himself.

There was his Dark Flames, the Primordial Flame, that no one had heard or known about. There was also the fact he is the Dark Lord, who could snap the dragon's head to the other side. But Michael can't divulge knowledge that puts him in danger with the Wise Dragon.

"I have something. But it's not a recipe or a blueprint. Intangible knowledge, something related to the Southern Continent's void,"

"I know why no one can cultivate in the Southern continent. That's not new," said the Wise Dragon.

"But do you know the origin of the reason? Where did it come from, and who controls it?" asked Michael.

"I know," The dragon snickered. Michael was surprised inside. The Wise Dragon did seem to know a whole lot and deserved the name the Wise Dragon.

"How about why it stays there? Do you know that?" asked Michael.

The Wise Dragon's eyes sparkled once again. Silence fell over them. The Wise Dragon was tempted.

"I'll tell you this after you tell us what you know about Adelia," said Michael.

The sparkling eyes immediately turned predatory. The Wise Dragon lowered its head, sending a puff of bone-chilling air out of its nostrils.

"Are you negotiating? I can kill you before you bat an eye. You're sorely mistaken if you think cultivation stages decide our power,"

"I know. But what if you raise the price once again? As the Wise Dragon, you know you can't blame me for thinking like that. Give us the information, and I will share my knowledge with you. Like you said, you can kill us before we bat an eye, if you think the knowledge is not worth the price,"

The Wise Dragon once again laughed at Michael's courage and the way he conducted himself. He was neither too afraid nor too haughty. One would be surprised how many humans the Wise Dragon has met and dealt with over the years. This human was special.

"Adelia Ashton, the Queen of Nagaland," The Wise Dragon said, slowly moving its head higher and higher.

"She came here searching for a cure to her vampirism. She offered me something, and I gave her the cure,"

Michael would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised by the Wise Dragon's words. No one expected Adelia to get the cure. If she did, why was she still hiding from the world? Could the vampires be the reason? Why? The Wise Dragon's answer created many new questions in their heads.

"Where did she go next?"

"I didn't need irrelevant useless knowledge such as her destination or her plans,"

"You-"

Gaya's words were cut short by Michael. He raised his hand.

"Now it's your turn," said the Wise Dragon.

Michael took a deep breath.

"It's searching for artifacts that hold some kind of energy within. It has found twelve artifacts until now and tasked me to find the remaining eighteen,"

The Wise Dragon's eyes went wide. Any oblivious man could tell the Wise Dragon was in shock. For a few moments, the dragon didn't even breathe. It just stood there like a statute in shock.

"If he tells us what he gave her, we might be able to find her," Gaya whispered to Michael. He was aware of that. But he doubted the Wise Dragon was kind enough to share that knowledge or any knowledge. He was a collector who hoarded valuable knowledge, and every collector has something that they wouldn't give it away no matter the price.

"Thank you for your help Wise Dragon. If you may, we will take our leave," Michael slightly bowed.

He was about to turn when the Dragon took a step forward. Web-like cracks formed on the icy floor. Everything trembled.

"What the-"

Before she could finish her thought, bone-chilling ice covered her. In a blink of an eye, she was crystallized and stuck inside an ice block with Nightmare on her shoulder. The Wise Dragon didn't give Michael time to react. Instead, it exhaled a chilling air that brushed past Michael, chaining his arms and legs to the floor beneath. Michael tried to wiggle the chains, yet he couldn't.

"I was right. You are special. I cannot risk you getting yourself killed. You should be in my collection," The Wise Dragon's tone completely changed. It sounded like a maniacal murderer instead of wise and calm.

"After I get everything you have," said the Wise Dragon. It double-crossed Michael. Nightmare and Gaya didn't move an inch. They were frozen inside the block of ice.

The Wise Dragon moved its head left and right as though it was searching for something. But suddenly, it noticed the calmness on Michael's face. The Wise Dragon was surprised, It just froze his loved one. Anyone could tell Michael loved Gaya and Nightmare by the way he looked at them, let alone the Wise Dragon. Moreover, the Wise Dragon noticed the matching rings in their hands. It was evident the Naga and the human planned to marry each other.

Yet, the human remained calm. He didn't scream her name or even turn back to look at her. All he did was remain calm.

"Aren't you going to beg for their lives and yours?" asked the Wise Dragon.

"For a Wise Dragon, you are pretty stupid," Michael snickered. The Wise Dragon bore its teeth in anger. Its eyes glowed with fury. Due to its anger, the temperature fell further down. As a result, a thick layer of ice formed on Michael's robes.

"You hoard knowledge. You do not share them. After all, you are a dragon, and dragons don't share. Even that little guy," Michael looked over his shoulder at Nightmare.

"Don't share anything easily. So I knew the double cross was coming before you thought about double-crossing," said Michael, surprising the Wise Dragon.

"Hahahaha," The Wise Dragon burst into laughter. His laugh echoed through the icy dome,

"So you should have known Adelia didn't leave this place alive, right?" The Wise Dragon asked.

"She is alive, and we both know it," said Michael. Elidyr created a rune that gets passed on from one Wraith to another. According to Elidyr, wherever a Wraith dies, all their knowledge, ancestry, and their duty to the Order would be passed to the next of kin. Suppose Adelia died, Gaya would have inherited everything through the rune. Since that didn't happen, Michael knew Adelia is still alive.

"Here's something you don't know," Michael slowly said. The Wise Dragon noticed the place growing darker and darker. Thunder rumbled in the sky above. Through the icy roof, the Wise Dragon saw streaks of lightning flash across the sky. Suddenly, the chains shackling the human cracked. To the Wise Dragon's utter shock, a dark flame coiled around his hands, melting the unbreakable icy chains. Furthermore, a dark shroud enveloped him. His robes soon transformed into black armor and a cape. Soon, a terrorizing dark skull mask covered his face.

"I am the God of Darkness," The dark flames completely melted the icy chains. Thick bolts of lightning shot out of his body when Michael snapped his finger. The Wise Dragon was caught off guard. Michael was in his full Lucifer form. Hence, he became a Half Immortal. The Wise Dragon's decision to stay in the Fusion stage bit the dragon in the butt. It wanted to find a way to ensure its absolute safety when crossing the heavenly tribulation to reach the Half Immortal Stage. The sole reason the Wise Dragon chose to live in the treacherous ocean was it believed the dragon clan's disappearance held the answer to many questions related to the dragons.

Unfortunately, the Wise Dragon wasn't so wise when it decided to double-cross Michael. Greediness blinded the dragon's brain. The Wise Dragon thought it could find some clues about the dragon clan through the Hydra slumbering in the Southern continent. But it dared not to venture into the Southern continent and ask the Hydra because it was nothing but suicidal.

So once the Wise Dragon learned the human had met and conversed with the Hydra, it wanted to capture him. A bad move. Now, the Wise Dragon had to pay for its mistakes. Crackling lightning bolts coiled around Michael, creating a buzzing sound of electricity. The dark flames covering him were hot enough to melt the block of ice Gaya was trapped within. Michael slowly walked toward the Wise Dragon. The lightning bolts shooting out from him hit the dragon left and right, without giving it any time to react.

"ARGH," The Wise dragon screamed.

"You were right about one thing. The cultivation stage doesn't decide our powers. Who we are does," said Michael.

"Despite your size, power, and knowledge, I didn't want to know about you. Do you know why? Because to me, you're just a stupid overgrown lizard,"

The number of lightning bolts that shot out from Michael's body increased significantly. Each bolt was powerful enough to penetrate the dragon's scales. Blood spurted out everywhere.

"I will make you a deal. Tell me what Adelia told you. Choose not to, your pursuit of knowledge will end here,"