"So that means, when I checked the water substances, I also got a few samples of the dragon's blood mixed in the water as well?" Mother looked at the vial containing the water of the lake.
"Yes. With how long the dragon soaked in, if the wound got big, then the blood and poison that is secreted out of the wound will mix into the water. This might also be the main reason why the poison became so corrosive. With dragon's blood being a corrosive material on its own, if it is mixed into something, that thing becomes similar to acid."
What Almira said is indeed correct. Dragon blood is extremely volatile. Something will go wrong if you are in contact with it for long that sometimes, you either receive a curse or if you are lucky, you receive a buff that powers yourself up. This is just like the time I fought and killed the Pendragon. If I was soaked in its blood, I might have received something from it, either a debuff or a buff, whichever it was but since the Versatile Weapon devoured it, perhaps there is a chance...
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Wait...
How could I even not think about that? I have been holding on to something that has the potential to be our solution, I didn't think it would be that simple either. So I decided to mentally talk to the Versatile Weapon's resident, the shadow dragon.
"Hey, are you there?"
As I tried to communicate to the weapon, the Versatile weapon grows an eye and opens up, then stares back at me.
"Yep, just woke up after you suddenly talked to me which is something I didn't think you would do."
"I apologize but I have a question. Can you consume poison and anything volatile in large quantities?"
"Consume poison? That's a first but yeah, of course I can. I can devour anything I wanted to devour. I don't think I have any problems consuming one. I have consumed a few great deals of poison before so it's nothing new to me. And as for large quantities, yep, pretty sure I can do that as well. As long as I can devour it, I can consume it just fine."
"Then perhaps you will be feasting today and the next few days because I will need that bottomless stomach of yours to devour poison and corrosive blood mixed into the water."
"Oh, a feast eh? I am always ready for that. Good thing I am always hungry. Just do the usual thing and you can make sure I will come and take the feast."
"Won't you have any side effects when devouring something dangerous like poison?"
"Poison does nothing to me. In fact, it nurtures me. Whatever poison it is, it fills me without getting harmed. No poison has ever harmed me before, normal poison, deadly poison, and even some poisons back during the age of gods where it can practically kill the gods, I can devour them just fine."
Hearing that bit, my eyes lit up. If what he said is true, then the poison that we are struggling to remove is nothing but food for the shadow dragon!
"Alright, if nothing else, I will go back to sleep. Give me a holler if you want me to devour anything. I am always up and ready to swallow anything that blocks your path."
After the communication I have mentally with the Shadow Dragon, I sighed in relief. Not only do I find a way to cleanse this troublesome poison but I can also remove the dragon away from the lake if that poison is gone for good.
Almira seemed to have noticed something changed in me and frowned.
"Something wrong Manato? You seemed to have gone into a trance just now?"
"Nothing, I just found a way to drain the water full of poison without a big problem on our side. Our only way goal right now is to beat up that dragon or cure it with its poison and let it hibernate for many years in the future somewhere if it isn't a violent and dangerous dragon."
"A solution, son?" Mother frowned.
"Yes," then I pulled the Versatile Weapon out of its sheath and presented it to everyone.
"Okay...so what does your weapon can even do? Does it have any purifying magic spell in it?" Almira asked.
"Nope, but it can devour the poison and the water that has been corrupted completely. We are going to have this drain off all of the harmful substance in the water and remove it completely."
Almira couldn't believe her ears. "Are you sure your weapon can devour that amount of water, poison, and corrosive blood in one go? Wouldn't your weapon get destroyed in the process?"
I chuckled a bit at hearing that. This weapon? Get destroyed? Even if it wishes to be destroyed, this thing will remain indestructible.
"Don't worry about it."
Almira sighed but she seemed to have been convinced about it. "If I have not seen the absurdity your weapon can do, then you would have to convince me harder than that. But since there are some unexplainable acts I have seen in your weapon done before, I think I also wanted to see how this weapon can fix that problem of ours."
"So that means, our problem with the poison is gone right? All we needed to do is either haul out the dragon out there or provoke it to fly off and perhaps fight us on land?" Pandora asked.
"Yes. Although I thought our meeting could be longer due to brainstorming about the methods of dealing with the poison after dealing with the dragon, Manato immediately laid out a solution to our biggest problem then we should begin our literal planning on how to get rid of the dragon from the Grand Lake."
Because the water is now out of the question, we focused all of our plans on how to provoke the dragon and forcefully remove it from its slumber. We have plenty of ideas but the one we settled with is to attack the dragon with our large-scale magic spells.
If it didn't work, then we will have to settle for damaging the reverse scale of the dragon, one of its weak points. According to Almira, it is a surefire way to provoke a dragon in action as that will endanger their life and whatever happens, that is their first priority to be protected no matter what.
Because of the other recommendations, Almira decided only on these two suggestions to make our lives much easier. Since Mother no longer needed to study the water of the Grand Lake to find a way to destroy and eliminate the poison, she went back to creating some volatile potions and some intricate items that can deal big damage and Almira supported it as there might be a chance that if we only rely on our normal spells, there is a chance it won't work.
Almira then gave us one night to prepare. One good night's rest for the big day. Although it's unsure if we can finish it in one day, there is a chance we will do so.
"Good job for pitching the ideas everyone. Now that we have finished our meeting, we will end our "Operation Poison Drain" meeting and prepare for tomorrow. Rest and eat well everyone. Be sure to gear up properly as well."
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Instead of sleeping, I went outside and watched the Grand Lake. The sun is about to set and the night is slowly creeping up, creating the glowing in the dark lake in the process. I don't know if it was due to the poison or it is from the water itself but the glowing of the poison makes the lake so ominous at night. It looks like it was being corrupted and something will rise there all of a sudden.
"So that was the poison you people were talking about? The Grand Lake itself?"
The Versatile Weapon started speaking. Perhaps it got curious how big the amount of poison and feast he was about to do.
"Are you not confident about doing so?" I asked.
"Heh, I am still confident, in fact, I can drain all of that without any problem to me. Prepare to be amazed tomorrow as I will perform the best way to consume all of that poison in one go."
I can only shake my head hearing that comment. Although this shadow dragon sounded arrogant, what he said isn't a lie either. If he said he can, he will do it. And since he knows how bottomless his stomach is, I can easily see him draining the lake to its last drop but still feel not enough.
Though I wonder, once the Shadow Dragon devours the poison, will it gain something important? After all, its a poison back when the gods still roam the world. There is only one way to find that out.
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