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When a person dedicates all their energy to a specific task, time passes quite quickly, and before he knew it, three years had flown by. During this period, aside from occasional visits to his father, there was hardly any time to leave Skull Island. Even if there were tasks to be done they were delegated to Kerry, communicated through Azazel. At most, Ivan would draft a development plan for his industry and leave the rest to Kerry to execute.
One day, Ivan who seldom left the laboratory, went out to savor the refreshing air. It brought comfort to his heart, as he had left behind the frustrations of unsuccessful research.
To be candid, over the past three years, many of Ivan's research endeavors had achieved significant breakthroughs. However, his ultimate ambition was to merge the characteristics of King Kong and the Skullcrawler with humans to create a shape-shifting being embodying these colossal beings. Unfortunately, the strategy of creating super-soldiers faced repeated failures, and the entire experiment hit a bottleneck, leaving Ivan somewhat disheartened.
At the outset, Ivan believed that by overcoming genetic barriers between species, combining the genes, and mastering self-control, one could transform between different species.
Ivan possessed not only the shape-shifting biological agent but also a fusion agent derived from wolf venom. He had deciphered its enigma, and could already merge genes from various animals.
Initially, everything progressed smoothly. Ivan instructed Arnold to apprehend some mercenary prisoners during missions for experimentation. The genes of lions, tigers, and other animals were successfully integrated, allowing individuals to truly transform into these beasts.
However, when Ivan attempted to utilize the genes of King Kong and the Skullcrawler, he realized he had made a fundamental error—energy conservation.
When humans transform into animals such as lions, tigers, or leopards, the energy consumption, though higher, remains within manageable limits. But what about transforming into colossal creatures like King Kong or a skeleton lizard? The energy stored within the human body was insufficient to sustain such transformations.
Ivan began studying methods to enhance the human body's energy storage capacity to accommodate these transformations, but human physiology was too delicate, and the research yielded no significant progress. Consequently, he turned to experimenting on animals initially, and the results turned out unexpectedly.
Detecting magical power within a low-level magical creature called the Blood Crow, Ivan used technological instruments to establish a magic circuit on the Blood Crow, complete with an energy node resembling a sealed coin in its heart. This mechanism allowed the crow to store energy in the heart, and release it when needed.
To enhance this effect, Ivan developed an improved shape-shifting biological agent, mixed it with dragon blood, and administered it to the Blood Crow. The outcome was a brand-new magical creature: the Dragon Blood Crow.
At this moment, Ivan gazed up to the left, where a small forest stood. Nearly a thousand crows perched on the trees, distinguishable by their blood-red eyes that resembled burning flames.
These Dragon Blood Crows possessed ample energy in their bodies. At Ivan's command, they could release their stored energy, prompting the activation of fire dragon genes, transforming them into fire dragons. When their energy was depleted, the Dragon Blood Crows reverted to their original state, gradually absorbing free magic energy from the atmosphere, and storing it in their heart seals. The replenishment process took roughly a year.
Ivan estimated that the energy stored in the seal could fuel a day's transformation into a fire dragon for the Dragon Blood Crow. It took a year to accumulate enough energy for a day of transformation.
In addition to the Blood Crow, Ivan conducted experiments on other magical creatures but found disappointing results. These experiments proved unsuccessful even on animals, let alone on the more complex human body.
Nonetheless, nearly a thousand Dragon Blood Crows, having grown from twelve to twenty meters long, were a formidable force due to their sheer numbers, which held the potential for the future.
Observing these Dragon Blood Crows, Ivan couldn't help but think of a certain companion. He blew a whistle, and a dragon's roar echoed from a distance. A massive black shadow soared into the sky, flapping its wings and flying toward him.
The shadow drew closer, revealing a black dragon measuring seventy to eighty meters in length. The black dragon was covered in dense scales, had razor-sharp claws, and a long, graceful tail that exceeded its body length.
Despite its initially fearsome appearance, the black dragon appeared entirely non-threatening at the moment. Upon reaching Ivan, it bounded over like an excited puppy, even sticking out its tongue, seemingly eager to greet Ivan.
"Smaug, little one, take it easy."
In response to Ivan's words, the black dragon ceased its exuberant behavior but wore an expression of hurt, which was rather endearing. Yet, the spectacle of a sixty to seventy-meter-long black dragon evoked a peculiar mixture of amusement and incredulity.
This black dragon marked another of Ivan's achievements in researching magical creatures. Ivan had nurtured numerous magical animals on Skull Island, using the island's environment to expedite their bloodline's enhancement and their evolution into majestic beings reminiscent of ancient mythical creatures. Unfortunately, this evolution process was exceptionally slow, requiring hundreds of thousands of years at the very least. Ivan was unwilling to wait that long, so he attempted various methods to accelerate the process.
Ivan's chosen subject for research was the fire dragon. He had identified a mysterious substance in the blood of the fire dragon, which could fortify their bodies. Ivan continually extracted this substance from the blood of fire dragons, amassing dozens of tons of dragon blood. However, the supply was insufficient for a full-sized fire dragon, accounting for less than 1%.
Ivan then considered that while it might not suffice for an adult fire dragon, the substance could potentially enhance a dragon egg. After careful selection, Ivan poured this mysterious substance into two high-quality dragon eggs and initiated the hatching process.
One of the dragon eggs unfortunately exploded during incubation, possibly due to the potent energy of the substance. Fortunately, the other egg hatched successfully, giving birth to a small black dragon. In just three years, this dragon grew into a colossal being over seventy meters in length, earning the name Smaug in honor of the talking black dragon.
Ivan looked at the disheartened Smaug, smiled, and approached, stroking the dragon's neck. Smaug expressed his pleasure, closing his eyes and even rolling on the ground like a playful kitten.
Ivan's physical strength had reached extraordinary levels, enabling him to exert tremendous force. Touching any other creature in this manner would result in broken bones and injury, but Smaug remained unscathed. His body was equally formidable.
"All right, get up, little one. Take me to the Animal House to check on your fellow creatures."
Responding to Ivan's command, Smaug stood up and playfully jumped. Ivan leaped onto Smaug's back, and with a powerful flap of his wings, Smaug flew towards the center of the island.
As Ivan soared through the skies on the back of Smaug, other inhabitants of Skull Island scattered in fear. Some were trampled by dinosaurs in their panic, leading to unfortunate fatalities. Smaug was now the undisputed ruler of the island, even prompting King Kong and the Skullcrawlers to steer clear of his path.
In no time, Ivan touched down in a small valley, boasting a picturesque landscape with dense forests and a serene lake. The valley was home to a multitude of magical creatures, including trolls, house elves, hippogriffs, griffins, Sphinxes, unicorns, giants, and more. Some were visible, while others remained hidden in the woods, caves, or the water, totaling over fifty species.
Those familiar with magical creatures on the island would notice that these creatures were significantly larger than those found elsewhere. This was a consequence of the island's environmental radiation, which elevated their bloodlines.
As Ivan dismounted from Smaug, a joyful barking sound reached his ears, and a dark shape bounded toward him. Ivan effortlessly caught the exuberant creature, a dog that stood over a meter tall and resembled a lion.
This lion-like dog possessed bright, intelligent eyes and appeared particularly fond of Ivan. It barked incessantly as if inquiring why Ivan had been absent for so long.
"Simba, have you been enjoying your time here? I've been swamped lately and couldn't spend as much time with you as I'd like. Please don't hold it against me."
Simba, the lion-like dog, had been Ivan's purchase from a magical pet store, and in the past three years, he had grown rapidly, surpassing a meter in height. Ivan named him Simba, hoping that he would grow into a majestic king like the Lion King.
After Ivan introduced Simba to the island, he had been preoccupied, leaving Simba in the Magical Animal House to roam freely.