Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot
Chapter 214 - 213 - Graye took everyone by surprise.

Chapter 214: Chapter 213 - Graye took everyone by surprise.

After a while of some deep breathing, Raven exhaled, recovering from being kissed into a horizontal coma by Siris.

He cleared his throat, still adjusting his sitting posture in a way that suspiciously resembled strategic concealment. "Alright... moving on."

Arietta sat beside him once again, now gripping a cup of tea with both hands like she was imagining crushing it into dust. "Yes. Moving on."

He turned to Lia, the elegant tsundere princess who straightened up the moment his gaze landed on her.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, trying very hard to look composed—and failing adorably.

"I haven’t forgotten you, Lia." Raven reached into his spatial ring and pulled out a delicate, emerald-green crystal orb that shimmered with threads of gold inside. "This is a Seed of Verdance."

Lia’s eyes widened. "That’s..."

Then, she tilted her head. "What is it?"

Selena deadpanned. "Why did you act surprised if you didn’t even know what it was?"

Lia merely coughed, avoiding that question.

Raven, on the other hand, chuckled. "It’s a high-class artifact that helps one awaken a one-of-a-kind ability. That kind of relic usually belongs to dryad queens or guardian spirits of nature."

Lia’s lips parted.

"It does now belong to you," Raven said with a smile. "Your power has always been about asking plants to help. With this, you won’t need to ask anymore. You’ll command them."

A soft gasp left her lips as she took the orb with a quivering gaze.

"Also," Raven added, "you’ll be able to speak to trees. Not metaphorically. Actually converse. They have personalities, apparently. I’ve been told some of them are weird."

"Very weird," Arietta nodded. "I personally know a world tree that speaks about some organization called Billuminati."

All of them turned to her, and she shrugged.

"It’s true," she hummed gracefully. "She says that they are an organization that takes pictures of goddesses and sells them to others."

The group stared at her for a second longer before they focused back on the topic.

Graye leaned in. "Can she, like, ask a tree for dating advice now?"

"Technically?" Raven tilted his head. "Yes."

Lia blinked. "I... I won’t do that."

Graye waggled her eyebrows. "Bet she’s gonna ask the oak about Raven’s type."

"G-Graye!"

Ignoring the rising blush storm, Lia focused on the orb and closed her eyes.

The moment her fingers closed around it, it dissolved into motes of green light and flowed into her chest.

The garden reacted immediately—vines unfurling, flowers blooming, and trees arching toward her like they were greeting royalty.

A massive sunflower bowed dramatically.

"...Okay, that’s new," Lia murmured.

"You’ve awakened the Verdant Crown," Raven explained. "You’re now a full dominion-class flora mage. You’re not just a healer anymore. You’re nature’s voice."

Selena clapped softly. Siris offered a proud nod. Graye was halfway through trying to pluck a leaf off a bush to see if it would yell at her.

"Thank you," Lia whispered to Raven, her voice warm and trembling just a little.

Raven merely smiled, waving his hand before he turned toward Graye.

The armored girl flipped midair, landing dramatically before him like a hero in a stage play.

"YES! MY TURN! What epic death cannon of doom did you get me? Or maybe a sword that lets me punch gods?!"

Raven cleared his throat and pulled out something from his inventory with a shimmer.

It was a pitch-black bodysuit-like armor, folded neatly, shimmering with multicolored threads of mana.

"This," Raven said, holding it up with a reverent tone, "is... the Omniweave Armament Skin."

Arietta glanced at him, her brow raised. ’Did he really come up with that cringeworthy name on the spot?’

Others, unaware of the armor’s truth, leaned in slightly, curious.

Graye tilted her head. "Looks like a shiny catsuit."

Raven raised a hand, solemn. "Oh, it’s far more than that. This armor... can become any armor. Heavy plate? Done. Slim ninja suit? Done. You want feathery pauldrons or banana-themed greaves? It’s got you."

Graye’s mouth opened slightly.

"But wait," Raven continued, voice lowering dramatically, "That’s not all. This armor changes at your will. Unbound by element, shape, or genre. You could walk into a battlefield looking like a Valkyrie, and five seconds later, you’re a mech pilot in full power armor. Style? Utility? It adapts to your aesthetic whims."

Graye gasped, eyes sparkling. "It can do all that?!"

Siris whispered to Selena, "Isn’t that just shapeshifting armor?"

Selena nodded. "Yes. That’s literally all it does. He’s just saying it in fancier words."

Still, they understood why Raven was giving her this.

Her Tale related to the armor only worked when she had armor on, so what if she had armor that could be worn like clothes?

Above all, she was already way too OP. As long as she wasn’t killed with one strike, no matter how strong her opponent was, they would lose in the end.

If Raven were to give her more power boosts, then she might end up carrying the whole group.

The real problem was that she might end up offending someone way too powerful for them to handle, and although she would survive the fight, they might not.

So, instead of making her stronger, it was better to help her utilize her existing power better.

Graye, however, couldn’t hear those words.

She was already bouncing in place. "It’s like the perfect cosplay power suit!!"

"It is absolutely that," Raven confirmed with the straightest face he could muster. "You won’t just wear armor—you’ll be the armor."

In reality, it was armor from Arietta’s stash. It was one of those items that she made but forgot about.

Graye’s brain, however, short-circuited from excitement.

Then, without hesitation, she shouted, "I LOVE IT!"

Then, without thinking—

Clang!

She peeled away her old armor like it was wrapping paper. Plates went flying. Clasps exploded. Bolts pinged off the marble.

Everyone froze.

Because there she was: curvy, toned, and absolutely naked.

Raven’s brain stopped functioning.

She had always been in that bulky full-body armor—nobody expected her to have the body of a goddess sculpted by muscle, agility, and just enough softness in all the right places.

She was so curvy, GPS would get lost just trying to trace her silhouette.

Raven had seen many poster girls in his past life. He had even seen the figures of those girls who were called the best in the world, yet he didn’t think any of them could compare to Graye’s figure.

Above all, that figure, along with her destructively cute face, was no less than a disaster for his heart and his little brother.

It wasn’t that Raven hadn’t seen any woman with a figure that good.

No, Arietta’s figure was likely similar if not better.

But looking at Graye naked was completely unexpected, and it took him by surprise.

It was so shocking that even the girls were stunned for a few seconds.

"Bro? What the fuck’s happenin’?!" Omni yelled in Raven’s head, his tone sharp with panic. "Why the hell can’t I see jack shit, but I can feel the damn air crackin’ like it owes somebody money?!"

Maybe it was because of Raven’s possessive mind working the moment he saw Graye trying to remove her armor, but he had unconsciously cut off his link from Omni, cutting the sword’s sight.

"Bro? BRO?!" Omni kept calling out to Raven, but Raven wasn’t even listening.

His eyes and mind were busy tracing Graye’s curves.

Arietta, the only one who wasn’t stunned, blinked once. Twice.

"Oh, for the love of celestial sanity—"

Snap.

A sheet of black silk poofed into existence, wrapping tightly around Graye’s body like a censor bar blessed by the gods.

"Eh? Why’d you cover me?" Graye frowned. "I was just changing. I don’t mind if Raven sees."

"THAT’S EXACTLY THE PROBLEM," Lia and Siris shouted in unison.

Raven, still stunned, looked down, subtly adjusting his seating again. "Yeah, uh, don’t do that again, Graye."

She blinked. "But you liked it, right?"

"...That’s not the point."

"But you liked it."

Arietta growled under her breath. "I’m going to install a divine modesty aura on her. I swear."

Internally, however, she was surprised that there was someone in Raven’s unofficial harem who had a body so curvy that it reached her level.

Graye finally pouted and touched the armor, letting it stick to her body under the sheet.

With a dramatic shimmer, it formed into a sleek, skin-tight suit of chrome-purple armor with glowing veins of red—somehow elegant, edgy, and battle-ready all at once.

She stepped out, fully clothed again, twirled once, and flexed. "Tadaa! Look! Now I’m sexy and deadly!"

"...You were always both," Raven muttered before he could stop himself.

Lia stared at him.

So did Arietta.

"...I mean, she’s still an idiot," he corrected quickly. "A hot idiot, but—"

"Raven." Arietta stared at him.

"What’s so good about a fluffy body?" Siris muttered, staring down at her petite body, pouting.

"Yeah," Lia nodded, staring at Graye with jealousy.

Graye, on the other hand, just beamed proudly.

A moment passed.

"Bro?" Omni’s voice echoed in Raven’s head again.

’Ah, yeah. What’s wrong, Omni?’ Raven finally replied to the sword.

"Can I please get my vision back?" Omni groaned. "Feels like I’m trapped in a busted lantern out here, man!"

Raven, realizing what had happened, quickly restored their connection.

’My bad, I did it unconsciously.’

Then, before Omni could say anything else, Raven stood, rubbing his temples. "Alright. That’s enough training and trauma for today."

Selena sipped tea. "We didn’t even train."

"We emotionally trained," Raven replied.

Siris giggled.

Graye pumped her fist. "Let’s fight something tomorrow! Or—I don’t know—wrestle celestial bears!"

Arietta, sitting back with her arms crossed, sighed. "Please. No celestial bears. I just fixed the orchard."

Raven turned to his team with a grin. "Rest up, everyone. We’ve still got time left in this realm. Let’s use it well."