Exploiting the Bug: Blood Exchange

The study was brightly lit, peaceful and quiet.

Now and then, the sound of pages turning broke the silence.

Sunan sat behind his desk, absorbed in a book.

In the unseen void, notifications of increased spell-learning progress flashed at regular intervals.

Sunan had already successfully mastered Shield Spell.

He was now learning Charm Human, and its progress bar had already surpassed 90%. In another two or three days, he would master it as well.

After that, however, he would have no more spells on hand to study.

"Although I entrusted the Fire Fox Merchant Guild with it, suitable First-Circle Spells aren't that easy to find. I wonder how things are progressing?"

Sunan closed the book and murmured to himself.

Suddenly, his expression shifted. He looked toward the door, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"Where did you run off to this time? You didn't go bullying anyone again, did you?"

"Hiss! Hiss!"

A series of hoarse cries answered him.

As if an invisible curtain had been lifted, a Giant Lizard suddenly appeared near the doorway, swaying its head at Sunan.

Perhaps because it had been confined in a cage for too long, Hidden Dragon had completely let itself go after being released, running all over the inner castle every day.

Fortunately, it possessed the perfect concealment abilities of camouflage and Reality Shift, preventing it from causing any panic.

To this day, no one had noticed its existence, including Kei, an Advanced Grand Knight.

Sunan could not help marveling at his incredible luck. His very first contracted Magic Pet had awakened such powerful abilities.

In terms of physical strength alone, Hidden Dragon was at most on the level of an elementary Grand Knight.

Yet with its camouflage and Reality Shift abilities, even an Advanced Grand Knight could die to Hidden Dragon's ambush if they were careless.

Besides, Hidden Dragon's physical potential still had plenty of room to be developed.

The reason lay in the Dragon Lizard Bloodline within its body.

According to the information provided by the Synthesis Cube, the concentration of Hidden Dragon's Dragon Lizard Bloodline was currently only 18.35%.

If its Dragon Lizard Bloodline concentration could be increased, Hidden Dragon's strength would naturally be greatly enhanced.

"Increasing its bloodline concentration..."

A thoughtful look flashed through Sunan's eyes.

He had tried giving Hidden Dragon Dragon Blood Potion, but the results had been negligible.

Although Dragon Blood Potion contained Subdragon Blood, its effects had already been modified to strengthen the physique. Even if Hidden Dragon drank it, it could not increase its bloodline concentration. At most, it would slightly improve its physique.

After thinking it over for a long time, Sunan decided to take a different approach and directly perform a blood exchange on Hidden Dragon.

With the Synthesis Cube, he could draw Dragon Lizard blood from Hidden Dragon, synthesize it into higher-grade Subdragon Blood, then inject it back into Hidden Dragon's body to achieve the goal of replacing its blood.

Draw blood, synthesize and upgrade it, then transfuse it back. As long as he kept repeating the process, he could continuously raise Hidden Dragon's bloodline!

It was worth trying!

"Does this count as exploiting a bug?"

Sunan smiled self-mockingly.

Of course, the process would definitely take a long time.

After all, the quantity of blood would be greatly reduced after synthesis. Transfusing it back into Hidden Dragon would not make up for the blood that had been drawn out. He would have to wait for Hidden Dragon to generate new blood and recover on its own.

Therefore, the blood exchange could only be carried out once every so often.

As for drawing blood from the Blackscale Lizardmen prisoners, setting aside the fact that such a small amount of blood would be insignificant after synthesis, the rejection between blood from different individuals alone would add enough difficulty and risk to the blood exchange procedure for Sunan to dismiss the idea.

In any case, the blood exchange seemed quite feasible, and Sunan felt it was worth trying.

"Biological Modification just reached Level 2 not long ago. Performing a blood exchange procedure shouldn't be difficult."

Under Sunan's bright gaze, Hidden Dragon, lying on the floor, suddenly shuddered as it recalled the terror of being dominated by blood draws.

Late at night.

A silver moon hung high in the sky, scattering gauzy moonlight.

In the darkness, two figures silently climbed over the wall and slipped into the courtyard.

Looking at the utterly silent courtyard, the two exchanged glances, both puzzled.

Why was there not even a single guard at the residence of the brother of Blackstone City's lord?

Had the security of Blackstone City's inner castle really become this lax?

If the guards around their other target were the same, then this assassination mission would be much easier than expected.

After a brief exchange of looks, the two men dressed in black gripped the hilts of their swords and silently headed toward the corridor deeper in the courtyard.

According to the scouts' intelligence, Sunan rarely allowed servants into the courtyard, so they did not know which room he usually slept in. For now, they could only search through the rooms one by one.

Fortunately, there were no guards here, so they did not have to worry about being discovered if the search took too long.

Under the cover of night, the two moved smoothly, encountering no obstruction whatsoever.

Yet for some reason, they could not shake a faint sense of unease. Their backs prickled with cold, as though some dangerous presence had fixed its gaze upon them.

But when they looked around, there was not a single person in sight.

They merely assumed they were being overly cautious, shook off the strange feeling, and continued their infiltration.

After crossing the courtyard, they arrived before a long corridor.

Looking at the tightly shut door at the far end, both men gripped their sword hilts and silently drew the longswords hanging at their waists.

Yet at the instant they drew their blades, the unease deep in their hearts suddenly intensified. A chill shot violently up their spines.

In that moment, both men felt the terror of death.

Their years of combat experience left them no room for hesitation. They decisively leaped in opposite directions.

However, after the man on the right had only pounced three or four meters away, his body abruptly froze in midair. Several curved blood holes burst open across his chest, and his body twisted at a bizarre, unnatural angle between head and feet.

After the other assassin landed and steadied himself, he looked up at the sight, and his pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints.

Pale moonlight shone through the spraying mist of blood, faintly outlining a colossal beast over ten meters long, covered in scales and standing on all fours.

Its maw, lined with sharp fangs, was clamped tightly around his companion. Blood streamed from the twitching body.

Clearly, his companion was beyond saving.

"Star God above, what kind of monster is that?!"

The man sucked in a sharp breath.

It was not as though he had never seen ferocious beasts before, but a monster more than ten meters long that could turn invisible and conceal its presence so completely that two knights failed to sense it at all—he had never even heard of such a thing!

Thud!

The monster spat out the corpse, hissing as its enormous body slowly faded from sight beneath the moonlight.

The man's scalp went numb. Without a second thought, he turned and fled. In the blink of an eye, he reached the courtyard wall and leaped up to vault over it.

But in the next second, it was as if a massive boulder flying at high speed had slammed into him. His bones cracked with a series of cracks, and he screamed as he was hurled more than ten meters through the air before crashing to the ground.

Even after suffering such a heavy blow, the man refused to give up. Roaring, he spat out a mouthful of blood and flesh, struggling to rise and flee, only to feel his body suddenly grow heavy, as though something had stepped on his back.

The next instant, agonizing pain surged over him like a tide, drowning his consciousness.

Thanks to Xiu Xian An for the donation, thank you!