Chapter 50: The Duality of the Dragon
The quartet—Tian Heng, Lilith, Faila, and Ilara—set off through the old maintenance tunnels leading to the location of the Basic Manufacturing Unit. The tunnels in this sector were different from those in the southern sector; they appeared more regular and engineered, with clear remnants of thick power cables and broken lighting fixtures along the walls, indicating that this had been an operational area during the golden age of the Vault. Lyra remained behind at the temporary base to secure it and monitor the surroundings.
Tian Heng walked steadily at the front, his outward calm hiding an intense inner activity. As he analyzed the path ahead and watched his surroundings, a part of his consciousness was immersed in exploring the energies coursing through him. He continued to strengthen his control over the Frozen Star Forging Style, feeling the cold, pure aether become denser and more responsive to his will with each cycle within. At the same time, he was cautiously sensing that other, darker, primal dragon energy, tied to the black tattoo on his right arm. It was raw, immense power, but his control over it was still instinctual and imprecise, compared to the increasing control over the aether.
A bold thought crossed his mind—what if he tried to channel both energies simultaneously? Not to merge them per se, but perhaps to make them flow parallel to one another, potentially enhancing each other or creating a new effect? As they passed through a wide, empty intersection chamber, with surrounding energy that felt slightly disturbed, he slowed his steps, closing his eyes for a moment. He focused his will, attempting to draw a steady stream of icy aether from his dantian, while simultaneously calling a small portion of the dark dragon energy lying dormant in his tattoo.
The result was immediate and violent. He felt a strong internal shock, as if two opposing electric currents had collided inside his body. A double glow burst from his body for a brief moment—icy blue light and smoky reddish-black light—accompanied by a contradictory sensation of burning cold and freezing heat. He stumbled and almost fell, letting out a muffled groan against his will.
"Master!" Lilith cried in concern and rushed toward him, while Faila and Ilara took defensive positions, expecting an attack from an unknown source.
But there was no external attack. The disturbance was entirely internal. The energy conflict suddenly focused in his left arm, the arm that hadn't been affected by the initial merge. He felt the same sensation of penetration he had experienced before in his right hand, but this time, it wasn't dark and searing—it was cold and unnaturally pure, as if the essence of an icy star had crystallized and manifested in his veins.
Tian Heng cried out louder this time, a mix of pain and shock, and the immense force flooding him changed him once again. His left hand and arm rapidly transformed. They were no longer simply white as snow; they acquired a faint icy glow, as if covered in a thin layer of eternal frost. At the same time, a new tattoo appeared on his skin, a perfect mirrored inverse of the first tattoo. A complex, glowing tattoo spiraled from the back of his left hand, curling around his forearm and arm, rising up over his left shoulder and stopping near his neck, forming the image of a majestic white dragon. Its body appeared to be made of crystalline ice or cold starlight, and its eyes glowed with deep celestial blue light. The two tattoos, the black one on the right and the white one on the left, seemed to wind around him in an eternal dance of darkness and light.
At the moment the white tattoo fully manifested, a new sword materialized in his left hand. It was the complete opposite of the black sword. Its blade was long and slender, made of a material resembling transparent ice crystal, shimmering with an internal blue cold light. Runes in the Builders' language were engraved on it, glowing with the same celestial blue. The hilt was masterfully sculpted in the shape of an elegant white dragon, with sapphire eyes that sparkled like pieces of the frozen sky. The sword didn't emanate a suppressive aura like the black sword, but rather an aura of pure cold, strict order, and calm, deadly power.
Tian Heng stood still for a moment, gasping slightly, gazing at the two contrasting swords in his hands, then at the tattoos now adorning his arms. He had become a vessel for two opposing dragon powers—an amalgamation of darkness and ice, of chaos and order, perhaps.
[Core, energy state analysis.]
The response came with a certain caution in the flow of data:
[A highly dense balanced energy signature with dragon-like and ice/pure properties has been detected. It appears to be a secondary integration or a balance response to the initial entity, triggered by the attempt to merge opposing energies and the effect of the Frozen Star Forging Style. The precise source of the second entity remains unknown. The overall integration state has become more complex but appears stable internally for now. Potential control over both types of energy has increased significantly. Extreme caution is still advised.]
Balance? Perhaps. He felt the two energies coexisting within him now, no longer clashing with the same initial violence but instead acting like opposing poles, yet still connected. He considered hiding the swords; they disappeared immediately, and the tattoos reappeared clearly, the black and white twisting around his arms as symbols of his new duality.
He looked to his companions. Lilith was staring at him with wide eyes, a mixture of awe and confusion, and clear discomfort from the pure, cold energy emanating from the white tattoo/sword. Faila's violet eyes were glimmering with sharp curiosity and a level of concern that bordered on worry, as if trying to comprehend the nature of this transformation that defied everything she knew. Ilara was still kneeling (probably due to the dual aura that had burst forth for a moment), her face pale like that of the dead.
"Rise," Tian Heng said to Ilara, his voice now carrying greater weight, echoing with the resonance of the two balanced (?) powers within him. "No time for delay."
They resumed walking, the air between them more strange and tense than ever before. Finally, they reached a wide industrial-style chamber, its walls covered in rusty metal panels, the floor paved with cracked tiles. In the center of the room stood a massive, complex machine, with multiple robotic arms halted mid-motion, raw material and final product input/output ports, and a large, dark main control panel—it was the Basic Manufacturing Unit (Tier 1). It seemed largely intact, though covered in a thick layer of centuries-old dust.