Alex knew that since the trait was only level one that it wouldn't be anywhere as close to as powerful as the blasting scales that Bazelgeuse had. That didn't mean that the exploding scales couldn't be very valuable in astera. Specifically as a type of slinger ammo that lets hunters tranq monsters from afar. It would need some modification from the scholars to perfect but it would make capturing monsters safer for hunters. Once the trait got stronger Alex himself could use the scales himself as a means of attack or distraction.-
'Before that though I need to wait for the system to do it's thing and modify my scales for the trait.' Alex thought with a sigh. This process took two days during which Alex went bazelgeuse hunting for the chef just to get it out of the way much to the lynians amusement. Alex was surprised to see that his exploding scales weren't like those of the bazelgeuse in appearance. In fact they barely looked much different from his normal scales most of the time. It was only when he decided to use them that the scale chosen would rapidly fill with exploding poison and inflate until it look like a pitch black teardrop.-
If he chose to make it trigger activated then the entire thing became volatile to any and all movement. 'Fucking landmines seriously?' Alex thought is astonishment when he figured this out on accident. If he chose impact however the scale only detonated when it struck something hard enough making it perfect for slingers. Since it was one a level one trait the explosions were barely the size of a basketball , but that was plenty for spreading the tranq dust about. When Alex reported this to the commander and admiral they were both impressed at the idea and agreed to have the scholars work on if it was possible.-
This of course meant that Alex needed to supply the scholars with exploding scales for them to experiment on. Thankfully his scale regrowing trait still applied to these new type of scales even if slightly slower than the normal ones. Once the scholars had a few dozen exploding poison filled scales Alex left for the day to perform his own experiments. Specifically if he could fill the scales with his normal type of poison and basically make war crime grenades.-
The final result of these test however came up a solid "NO" on this front as if he put his normal poison in the scales the explosive stuff simply stopped working. A positive thing though was that Alex could now share his poison with the hunters who like to use poison in their hunts without it breaking down in a few hours. So long as the scales were kept sealed the poison within them could be stored almost indefinitely and the time limit only became active after the seal was purposefully broken. The second fleet master wanted a few of these poison scales to test out on some weapons and Alex was happy to help.-
The next day reports of increased effluvia levels came from the rotten vale and Alex knew that his next target was rearing it's head , Vaal hazok the rotten ruler. An elder dragon that cloaked itself in rotten flesh and effluvia which it could also use to attack and control. Alex was honestly tempted to totally let Zain handle this particular species as effluvia poisoning is a very unpleasant business. 'Suck it up Alex you need all the traits you can get and you're almost done with the elder dragon trait.' he mentally hyped himself up.-
Alex left astera and made his way the the rotten vale once he was thoroughly prepared with a lot of potions and nulberries. As much as he would have liked one of the charms that gave the holder immunity to effluvia all test done with charms showed that they didn't work on him. Alex could only grimace once he entered the rotten vale truly as the unpleasantness of the area made itself known via a burning sensation in his lungs and eyes.
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