>>5813499Don't worry about it, you mostly as going to get the result you voted for anyway>>5813426>>5813426Obviously, you were always going to keep your promise to Zith-Zi and to Hershy. Whatever the goblin’s motivations might have been, whatever the results of her pilgrimage here, she HAD lived up to her end of the bargain. Could you do any less, then? Besides, there were FAR worse motivations in your eyes than wanting to help a family pet to live a longer, healthier life.
But mending and healing this chimera… Well, that WOULD be a challenge. <Monstrous Regeneration> could help regrow or reattach limbs, mend damage to flesh and bones and even skin, but this was another matter. Even if you fully UNDERSTOOD the material composition of the old chimera-drake—you didn’t—you weren’t exactly capable of just turning back a biological clock. Most of what afflicted the old animal was simply AGE.
“Drakes are commonly thought of as reptilian, but that isn’t true,” you explained to Zith-Zi.
The goblin-girl sat once more upon your desk, so as to be at eye-level, and kicked her feet with absurd childishness.
“Well, duh, he’s a bird,” she said, tugging Hershy’s wing open as he hissed his displeasure and snatched it back “Look, feathers!”
“Birds are actually not so distant from the reptilian organisms,” you replied. “It’s why they have scaled talons.”
“Oh,” she said, with a tone that implied she didn’t understand at all. “So drakes… ARE reptiles?”
“No,” you sighed. “Drakes are AMPHIBIANS, like newts and salamanders. Their wing structures are similar to those of the ancient dragons and their few living relatives, so ASSUMPTIONS were made, but their internal biology bears this out. The feathers he has are from his alchemical admixture with some OTHER organism… Likely a bird. What KIND of bird is key, though. It must be a longer-lived species, as most drakes only live three to five years...”
“And Hershy here’s older than me,” Zith-Zi nodded. “But why’s it matter?”
“Treating an organism with magic to extend its natural lifespan is very species-dependent. It’s not an easy thing to do, and the risks of complications—cancers, organ failure, dementia—are HUGE. If it were… Well, I’m sure you can imagine how the world would look pretty different if every Tower student could access immortality.”
“Liches,” Zith-Zi said darkly. “Liches everywhere.”
