Game’s Dogma - Chapter 356: Charcoal (1)

Although Drako Yau couldn’t replace sleeping with meditation like Hagrid, he still took some time tuning his body to keep his yin-yang symbol circulating smoothly. This daily routine benefited his growth, proven by its major role in aiding him awaken to Boiling Form.

Boiling Form’s principle was somewhat mystical as it worked in reverse. It could only be achieved through extraordinary control over his yin-yang symbol, and meditation had certainly increased his proficiency in controlling himself.

Drako Yau closed his eyes and placed his hands on his lap, accelerating his yin-yang symbol as he did. The icy force from his upper body and fiery force from his lower body swarmed towards the symbol, then emerged from it as pure, usable forces.

While Drako Yau meditated, the charcoal-looking item on the shelf trembled, though he didn’t realise it as he was too focused. Disturbance was the greatest enemy of meditation, which was why he only meditated at places he deemed absolutely safe. He’d turn his focus into his body and become oblivious to everything around him, whereas he’d normally detect every wave of a blade of grass within several dozen metres.

The longer he meditated, the faster the symbol spun and the stronger the charcoal ellipsoid vibrated. It suddenly flew to him and levitated above his head. Oblivious to it, he simply continued to cultivate.

The pure forces that the yin-yang symbol produced usually circulated through his body before they were reabsorbed. However, the forces were now leaking through his crown, seeping into the black thing above him.

The charcoal began morphing. Its dull surface turned glossy, and its interior turned semi-translucent like a piece of black jade, with two patterns of red and blue slowly wriggled across it. More and more forces leaked from Drako Yau at an increasing rate as the charcoal continued to morph.

Noticing that he was sweating profusely, Drako Yau finally felt something was off, yet he could do nothing to stop the invisible whirlpool from sucking in his forces. He was already spinning the yin-yang symbol at its maximum speed. The greedy whirlpool devoured everything he produced and was demanding even more.

Some time later, the charcoal began spinning and increased its absorption rate. Drako Yau was already drenched in sweat, and he could feel his body weakening even further.

He had yet to recover from his injuries. He intended to heal himself through circulating his cultivation, but with the charcoal unexpectedly devouring his forces, he became even frailer than before. The unidentified thing above him had turned him into a human generator that produced internal forces for it without his consent.

The charcoal spun even quicker and began to wobble like a drunkard. Drako Yau felt himself reaching the critical point; if this went on, he’d expend all of his internal forces and become prone to external invasion, which could lead to severe long-term injuries.

Crack.

Time seemed to stop flowing. Drako Yau felt the outgoing flow of forces interrupted, and he immediately broke free from his meditation.

Drako Yau heard another two cracks above him. He looked up to find the charcoal above him, but its current appearance was far from its previous self. Its crystalline texture and zigzagged red-blue patterns gave it a delicate look as if a painter had drawn two perfectly plotted trajectories on a gemstone.

As the charcoal creaked even more, the patterns started flashing. One final crack was all it took to explode right before Drako Yau’s eyes. A dark shadow lunged towards him. He’d knock it away normally, but as weak as he was now, he could only lift his head to look at it.

Something soft landed on his head, prompting him to think whether this was part of Fatty’s prank. Before long, he heard a whimper from the blob resting on him. It glided down along his chest into his lap.

What on earth is this?

The black blob suddenly widened its eyes and blinked at him. It resembled a puppy, though it was rather sticky and filthy. The more he looked at it, the more he felt it had to be a puppy—apart from its eyes.

Eerily enough, the black puppy was an albino with red and blue eyes. Drako Yau didn’t realise that the colours were reflective of his eyes when Boiling Form was active.

Did this puppy break out from the chunk of charcoal?

The charcoal was the one who sucked in his forces, so the puppy was the mastermind behind his closely averted crisis! Reaching that conclusion, he shot an unfriendly gaze at it.

The poor puppy was unaware of his thoughts and snuggled its fist-sized head at him, licking his cheeks with its warm, wet tongue. It was a weird sensation, but not one that he detested; in fact, he enjoyed it a fair bit because he felt a close bond with the puppy.

As if the puppy had special powers, Drako Yau felt his body recovering slowly after spending some time with it. He caressed and patted its head, much to its enjoyment, until it fell asleep not long after.

Drako Yau chuckled, then murmured, “Since you’re born from a lump of charcoal, I’ll name you Charcoal.”

From that day onwards, Drako Yau’s daily routine had a new activity—spending time with Charcoal.

Charcoal, the pitch-black puppy, had dazzling albino eyes. It didn’t require food; instead, it seemed to feed on Drako Yau’s company. Every time he returned to his home, he could feel part of his internal forces seep out of him into the black puppy that wagged its tail passionately.