CHAPTER 264: IT’S A PUPPET

"Alright, alright; get off her, you giant lizard."

Jason eventually came around and lifted Gina into his arms while carrying her away, and Gina wrapped her hands around his neck with a wide smile! She was still trying to stop her laughter from Ragnar’s attack, and she gave Jason a playful grin when she finally calmed down. Gina had only been playing with Ragnar for a few minutes, but Gina could see a familiar glint in Jason’s eyes!

’Is the big bad King jealous that I’m playing with someone else?’

Jason rolled his eyes at Gina’s tone, and he answered in a deadpan voice.

’I have no idea what you’re talking about. We need to be careful since you just woke up, so I’m just keeping an eye on you to make sure nothing went wrong.’

Gina couldn’t stop herself from laughing once she heard Jason’s response, and she leaned up and gave him a deep kiss before hugging him even tighter.

’I guess I don’t have a choice then, I’d better stay right here in your arms until you’re sure I’m okay. You’ll protect me from anything, won’t you, my king?’

Jason grinned in amusement, and Gina hugged him tighter before she buried her face into his shoulder and began to place small kisses along his neck. Ragnar let out a huff that almost sounded like a chuckle as he watched both of them, and Jason gave the bastard a nasty look and told him to shut up before he turned to send messages to the members of his Legion.

Jason commanded some of the free pawns that didn’t have any Rook Rank Commanders to go and join Ragnar, Raya, and the Immortal Lich. But Jason realized that there was a problem after he saw that he had run out of pawns. Jason had more than seven hundred pawns, but he also had over sixty Rooks, so the number of pawns he had wouldn’t be enough to fill out the spaces for all the Rooks. But that wasn’t a bad thing since the only benefit the pawns received from being a Rook subordinate was the ability to use [Stonewall], as well as the boost in their defenses that came from the link.

All Jason had to do was make sure all his Rook Rank III subordinates had enough pawns, and he would leave some of the Rook Rank I’s without pawns. Jason did this because the higher the rank of a Rook subordinate, the higher the defenses of the pawns that were under it. The Rook Rank I subordinates gave a hundred percent increase in defenses, but a Rook Rank III subordinate gave a three hundred percent increase in defenses! It was just the more sensible thing to do.

Once Jason was done with that, he saw that the Phantoms he sent to the Lich’s cave were coming back with ten large journals that were black and dusty. They also had a few hundred gold coins in a bag, as well as thousands of magic crystals, but there were no artefacts. Jason asked Azrael why he didn’t have any artefacts, and Azrael said that artefacts are useless to a researcher like him. Azrael’s work focused on improving the body and creating a link between the mortal plane and the [River of the Afterlife]. Using an artefact in his research would only disrupt and slow down his progress.

Jason nodded in understanding as he put the crystals and coins in his Alternate Dimension for later, and he asked Azrael if this was everything he had used for his research. The Lich answered that it was.

’The rest of my knowledge is stored within my mind, my king. I made sure not to write down too much about my research because of how delicate it was. My goal was to find a way to reach the River of the Afterlife and obtain eternal power from it, but the closest I came to that goal was the weapon known as the [Death’s Mirage] that could draw power from the River. If you desire it, then I would be more than happy to aid you in any study you wish to make into the Necrotic Arts.’

So the Lich had been studying Necrosis to obtain eternal power? Jason didn’t know much about the study of Necrosis or how it worked, but he could tell that Azrael had made a lot of sacrifices for the sake of his studies. Azrael might have been a twisted and dark creature, but there was no denying the fact that he was a dedicated bastard.

’I’ll need your help crafting the Rune to bond with the [Death’s Mirage] later, and I also plan to learn more about the Runic Arts. Can you teach me that?’

Jason raised a brow towards Azrael as he asked this, and the Lich bowed its head in acceptance.

’It would be my honor to teach you everything I know, my King. I shall make you a force to be reckoned with by the time we are finished with our lessons.’

Jason nodded, and he told the Phantoms to take the journals into his Alternate Dimension for later. The journals had been created using magic, so the Phantoms didn’t have any problem with taking them into the Alternate Dimension.

Once they were gone, Jason finally decided to test the Lich’s abilities. Jason summoned Ragnar’s original body from his Alternate Dimension, and the body of the dragon landed on the floor beside him. Ragnar turned to its previous body with a curious look and huffed in slight irritation. Gina tilted her head to one side as she looked at the large dead dragon and asked Jason where the hell he got that from.

Ragnar’s original body was a lot smaller than the current Ragnar because of all the upgrades and battles Ragnar had gone through, so if you didn’t know anything about Jason’s abilities, you would never think they were the same dragon.

Jason told Gina how he got the dragon’s body, and Gina made an ’oh’ sound before she turned away and bit Jason’s ear playfully. Just like most other people in Jason’s life, Gina had also learned not to question most of the things Jason did. It was just better for her sanity!

Jason chuckled at Gina’s reaction before he told Azrael to reanimate the dead dragon. The Lich put its bone fingers towards the dragon, and Jason felt a murky, dreadful mana creep over the air like thick grease. A strange Rune appeared on the floor under the dragon’s body, and the Rune pulsed with a dark red light before the dragon’s body started to move!

The dragon raised its wings and then planted its feet on the ground! Its body shook a few times like a puppet that was being raised by a string before it finally stood up in all its glory. Jason expected the dragon to spread its wings or roar loudly like Ragnar would normally do, but he was surprised when the dragon didn’t do anything at all. It just stood there silently and stared into space with a distant gaze.

So this was what the System meant when it said that reanimated creatures wouldn’t have the same abilities that his Legion did. Although Jason’s Legion were reanimated souls, they were still capable of independent thinking, and they could do things on their own without Jason being there to hold their hand. But Jason could tell that if the reanimated dragon wasn’t told exactly what to do, it would just continue standing still like a statue.

’It’s a puppet.’

Gina’s voice came through their mental link, and Jason nodded along. He told the Lich to move the dragon around, and Jason watched as the dragon suddenly flapped its wings and took off into the sky! The dragon flew around a few times before it opened its mouth and unleashed a wave of fire towards an empty patch of land in front of it! This continued for a few more seconds before Jason told the Lich to bring the dragon back down, and the Lich did as it was told.

Ragnar went close to the reanimated dragon and poked it with his nose before turning around and using his tail to swipe it across the head! The dragon didn’t make any moves to retaliate, and Ragnar grew irritated with it as he moved towards Jason and lay down behind him with a huff. Jason could understand why Ragnar was irritated by the dragon.