After calming himself, Punk began patiently performing "Bloodline Tracing" divinations on the souls of the thousand-plus "abnormal warlocks" one by one, while slowly raising that seemingly ordinary Soul Flame before his eyes.
Although the existence of this "gray energy," which had already become neither psionic energy nor a concept, had yet to be thoroughly understood, objective observation and experimentation had made its effects on the souls of bloodline warlocks quite clear.
Just as the simplified "Evil Psionic Energy" had once turned a Legendary Dragon into a paranoid, violent destroyer, today's "gray energy" could also slowly turn ordinary warlocks into lunatics in an almost irreversible and unsolvable manner!
What was more, over nearly ten thousand years of "evolution," this bizarre substance had acquired an incredibly potent infectiousness specifically targeting magical bloodlines, comparable to a Legendary virus. As long as one warlock in a group became infected with "gray energy," a pack of madmen would soon emerge. Even Legendary Warlocks would likely be unable to avoid the erosion of "gray energy" if caught unprepared!
That was precisely why, after discovering the infectious nature of gray energy, even Punk had hurriedly added a powerful "psionic barrier" to his own soul.
Strictly speaking, Punk's Primordial Elf bloodline did not count as a "magical race bloodline," but the strangeness of this thing had already surpassed the Legendary Mage's imagination. Thorough protection was absolutely necessary.
"..."
"Even setting aside the consequences of this matter, a magical construct with self-replication, pseudo-biological properties, targeted infection, subtle soul alteration, and indiscriminate lethality against everything from ordinary Legendary powerhouses down to low-level magical beasts is an unbelievable existence. Whoever invented such a thing was not only a recklessly audacious madman, but also an indisputable genius."
Returning the abnormal soul sample to the magic circle, Punk marveled at this astonishing phenomenon