Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot-Chapter 140 - 139 - Iron Dumbass?

Everyone in the group had activated their power except Rufus, who had been feeling butterflies in his stomach, wondering how cool his item would be.

Rufus had seen the pain Clara and Jessy had to go through.

He hadn’t experienced it, but he could tell that it wasn’t bearable.

Despite that, he didn’t feel scared.

Because right now, he could see those two showing off their powers.

"Alright, Clara, your turn!" Raven’s voice echoed through the courtyard as he stared at Clara with his arms folded.

Clara didn’t respond.

She merely walked toward a cluster of thick trees, gently brushing her fingers against one of the trunks.

A low hum filled the air, barely noticeable at first.

Then—CRACK!

The tree convulsed violently, and in the next second, it exploded from the inside out, bark and wood splintering into the sky like confetti.

Everyone flinched, except Clara, who dusted her hands off like she’d just done the laundry.

"...Did that tree just implode from a vibration?" Alex blinked, poking his own chest nervously. "Wait, wait, WAIT. If she does that to a person, do their kidneys tap out??"

Nibbles, now calmly perched on Alex’s head like a tiny forest overlord, chittered something in Squirrelish.

"What do you mean ’Your bladder is the first to go’?! That’s oddly specific!" Alex cried.

"Welp, the lady just leveled up in danger," Omni muttered from his tattooed spot on Raven’s hand. "She’s got earthquake fingertips now. One pat from her and I’m gonna rattle like a damn maraca set at a salsa concert."

Jessy then stepped forward. "My turn."

In one smooth motion, she flicked her wrist, and every weapon the others were carrying—daggers, swords, even concealed ones—ripped themselves away and floated toward her in a metallic swirl.

All except one sword.

Omni stood firm, buzzing slightly with magical resistance. "Ay, ay, ay! Hands off, sweetheart! I don’t cheat on my owner!"

Jessy turned toward Raven, staring at his hand, raising a brow. "I wasn’t even trying to grab you."

"Even if you did, I wouldn’t have flinched," Omni scoffed with an imaginary smug grin. "Loyalty, baby. That’s what I’m built on. Loyalty... and lookin’ damn sharp while doing it."

"Hey," Raven spoke, shaking his head. "Let her concentrate, man."

"Yeah, yeah," Omni drawled, voice dripping with exaggerated pity. "Only you get to disturb the girls, huh? Me? I’m just the shiny sidekick—can’t even say ’hi’ without getting side-eyed. Ain’t easy being this sharp, man."

Jessy, meeting Raven’s gaze, would quickly turn away, shaking her head fiercely.

She quickly knelt and pressed her palm to the earth.

A metallic hum rippled through the soil. From beneath the cracked dirt, tiny slivers of iron rose like mist—a cloud of glittering dust that swirled around her like a metal storm.

Alex’s jaw dropped. "She just mined the floor. Is she dating the planet now?!"

Nibbles made an approving clicking sound, now holding a tiny peanut as a judge’s scorecard.

He flipped it. It said, "9/10: Room for more sparkles."

Siris leaned in, eyes wide. "So... if Jessy hugs me, will I turn into coins?"

"No, but you might get a free body piercing," Selena muttered in response.

Even Lia, who had barely spoken for a while, let out a soft, "Whoa..."

Her eyes sparkled as if she was genuinely reconsidering her whole career path.

Raven looked at his chaotic, spark-shooting, tree-exploding, sword-sassing squad, and he sighed with a half-smile.

Then his eyes settled on the last person yet to show off.

"Rufus," he said, turning to the smart foot who had been staring at everything with his mouth wide open.

Everyone quieted.

"Oh boy," Alex whispered, pulling Nibbles down protectively. "Here comes the final boss cutscene."

Even Omni lowered his voice. "Alright, show’s over, folks. Grab your popcorn and hold onto your teeth—this dude’s about to suplex the whole damn landscape."

Everyone could instinctively tell that this one was going to be the most chaotic power-up.

Rufus, on the other hand, excitedly brought out the fist-sized, triangular disk, pulsing with light, which was the Aegis-X NanoCore.

"What do I do?" He asked, almost jumping in his spot.

"Calm down, man," Omni said from his tattooed throne on Raven’s hand, his voice like a streetwise thug at a barbecue. "You’re hoppin’ like a caffeinated ferret at a dubstep concert. Breathe. Inhale peace, exhale chaos."

Rufus froze mid-hop, his eyes locking on Omni like a student caught doodling explosions in math class. "Right. Right. Calm. I am calm."

"Yeah, sure you are," Jessy muttered, subtly shifting behind a tree, hiding behind it like others.

Raven, meanwhile, had been silent since Rufus pulled out the glowing triangular disk—the Aegis-X NanoCore—from his pocket like it was a Christmas present that ticked.

His eyes narrowed, arms folded, face unreadable.

Thirty seconds passed.

Then forty.

Fifty.

Rufus started sweating.

"...Dude," Alex whispered. "Is he buffering?"

No, he wasn’t. freeweɓnovel~cѳm

Raven was regretting giving the core to Rufus.

’Maybe I should’ve kept it for myself,’ he lamented.

He really wanted cool armor like that, probably because his second favorite Avenger was Iron Man.

But the problem was—

"Man, you got Dragonification," Omni muttered in his head. "Ain’t no damn way you need armor. You are the armor."

Yeah, that was the reason why he didn’t take the armor.

After all, later, his Dragonification would become full-body armor.

Soon, after one minute of silence, Raven finally sighed. "Drip your blood on it."

"Huh?"

"The core. Use your blood. Standard binding protocol."

"Ohhh. You got it," Rufus beamed, biting the tip of his thumb without hesitation.

Everyone leaned back, ducking behind whatever they were hiding.

Even Raven bought Omni out, keeping the sword protectively before himself.

"Yeah, man," Omni drawled. "Real impressive. Use a god-slayin’ blade like me... as a damn shield. Genius move, really."

"You’re the one who said you were indestructible," Raven shrugged.

"Whatever," Omni mumbled begrudgingly.

"Why did he bite himself like it was a cheese stick?" Siris whispered to Selena.

"I don’t know. But it’s... disturbingly efficient," Selena replied.

A drop of blood hit the core.

Everyone waited.

And waited.

And waited more.

...

Absolutely nothing happened.

"Uhh..." Rufus looked down at the core. "Did I break it?"

Alex glanced around nervously. "Maybe it’s allergic to Rufus."

Clara and Jessy shared a glance, brows furrowed.

Nibbles waved his peanut scorecard with a confused squeak. Even Lia tilted her head, uncertain.

Raven scratched his chin. "Maybe you’re not compatible."

"Oh..." Rufus deflated slightly.

"I’ll just take it, then," Raven said casually, reaching out with the same casual grace a dragon might have when ’accidentally’ walking through your front door.

There was a flicker of desire in his eyes—genuine desire.

"Woah, WOAH, back off!" Omni shouted, pulsing red-hot on Raven’s hand. "You try to replace me with that glowstick armor and I will sing sad breakup songs every night until your ears bleed, I swear!"

Raven smirked and ignored him, his fingers almost brushing the core when—

SHIIIIING!

A blinding white light exploded from the disk, forcing everyone to shield their eyes. Even Rufus flinched and threw an arm up.

When the light dimmed, they opened their eyes.

The Aegis-X NanoCore was gone.

"Uh..." Alex blinked. "Did it run away?"

"No," Raven said slowly, staring at Rufus.

A faint glow pulsed from Rufus’s chest—through his shirt.

"Rufus," Raven said, "What just happened?"

Rufus lifted his shirt slightly, revealing the now-embedded triangular disk glowing on his sternum like a high-tech soul mark.

"...It crawled into my chest," Rufus muttered, still stunned. "Like... slid up my arm and shloop, right in."

"Did you just say shloop?" Jessy raised an eyebrow.

"I felt the shloop," Rufus said seriously.

"And... you’re getting any data?" Raven asked.

"Yeah," Rufus blinked. "Tons. It’s talking to me in... graphs. I think I speak graph now."

Raven exhaled. "Functions?"

Rufus’s grin returned. "Instead of telling... why don’t I show you?"

He tapped the glowing core.

Tiny particles began crawling out of the disk like a swarm of metallic ants—streaming over his chest, his arms, and his legs.

Within seconds, his body was enveloped in sleek, red-and-black armor, glistening like molten obsidian.

A faint hum vibrated the air. The helmet snapped into place with a click.

Everyone stared.

Even Jake, the human boulder, muttered, "Damn..."

"Okay," Rufus’s voice echoed from inside the suit, just a little distorted. "First feature: echolocation-style pulse scan. I can sense life signs in a 50-meter radius."

Clara nodded slowly, raising her fingers as if she were feeling something in the air. "There’s a vibration. The interval of ten seconds."

"I can make it one, maybe lower as I grow stronger," Rufus said smugly. "Even if the visual sensors go out, I can track things with the pulses. Oh, and—"

FSSHHK!

The faceplate opened like a blooming flower, revealing Rufus’s grinning face.

"Got manual vision, too."

Raven was glaring now, arms crossed tighter than a pretzel at a gym.

"...What else?" He asked, clearly fighting internal turmoil.

Rufus giggled—yes, giggled—then snapped the faceplate shut. "It. Can. FLY!"

Everyone leaned forward.

WHRRRRRRRRMMM...

Energy flared from Rufus’s boots and back vents as he floated off the ground, arms wide, light pulsing.

"OFF I GO!"

Then—

WHOOOSH!

—he launched straight into a tree.

THUNK.

CRASH.

Leaves rained down.

"...Did he just...?" Jessy whispered.

There was silence.

Then a weak cough.

"I’m okay!" Rufus called out from the tree base, upside-down, twigs in his hair. The faceplate opened again, revealing a dazed expression. "Armor’s good!"

Raven muttered under his breath, "Thank god the suit’s okay..."

Rufus stumbled upright, brushing off leaves. "Okay, minor trajectory issue, but it flies! And there’s more!"

He raised a hand, and a thin beam of red light sparked out, slicing a branch clean in two.

"Hyper-concentrated beam. Big damage. And this—"

His right arm retracted, forming into a sword-like shape.

"Low-concentrated energy. Customizable weapon forms."

From his shoulders, two small pods popped open, launching tiny glowing orbs that exploded with satisfying pop-booms in the distance.

"Mini light bombs! Projectile attack from shoulder cannons. Medium damage, but wide range."

"Any drawbacks?" Raven asked dryly.

"Yup," Rufus nodded cheerfully. "All this costs mana. If I run out, the suit powers down and goes back into core mode."

"And...?"

"Oh! Right. It heals with me," Rufus added proudly. "Like, if I get injured, it uses my healing factor and mana to regenerate itself too. Isn’t that insane?!"

Everyone stared at him like he was the final boss who had chosen peace.

Clara blinked. "So... he has sonar, flight, lasers, shoulder bombs, adaptive weapons, and self-repair?"

Siris whispered, "Can I slice him?"

Even she was feeling jealous.

"No," half the group responded instantly.

Omni was silent for a long second.

"...Aight, fine. Maybe the shiny armor’s kinda cool. But if it starts crackin’ jokes? I’m snappin’ it in half and absorbin’ it for XP. No competition in this duo, feel me?"

Rufus struck a pose.

The chest core pulsed, lightly humming like a heartbeat.

Raven, however, sighed again.

’Should I not have learned Dragonification?’

Worse, even with his Fate Eyes, Raven couldn’t tell which one was better because both of them were violet-ranked opportunities.

Poor Raven. He didn’t even know that the opportunity rank of his Dragonification had leveled up.

After all, he didn’t check it recently.

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