While thinking about Hogg, Lei Lin entered a cultivation room built entirely from level-seven and level-eight magicite, its surface covered in Energy Gathering Magic Arrays, and began cultivating.
Without altering his bloodline, increasing the concentration of magical elements around him as much as possible was the best way Lei Lin could improve his strength.
The results were pretty good. It had taken him nine years to advance from level one to level seven!
But he had needed only one year to go from level seven to the peak of level seven, and he could break through to level eight at any moment!
However, after level seven, the barriers between each level were no longer as easy to overcome as before. He wasn't sure when he would break through to level eight.
After spending a week in the cultivation room without managing to break through to level eight, Lei Lin finally gave up on the idea. He made a few bottles of potion, then set off for Wushan Town.
After all, breaking through required steady effort over time. There was no point in rushing.
But if his estimate of the timing was wrong and he failed to rescue Hogg in time, his investment in Hogg would essentially go down the drain.
Once he arrived in Wushan Town, Lei Lin went straight to the Baruch Family estate. He had been here plenty of times and knew his way around.
When Hillman saw Lei Lin, he immediately declared a day off for the youngsters who were training, then personally led Lei Lin to see Hogg.
Hogg looked at Lei Lin, who had grown increasingly heroic, and set down the book in his hands. "Lei Lin, you're here. Have you made another breakthrough in your experiments?"
"Hillman, tell the kitchen to prepare a lavish lunch. Roast a couple more sheep, too. Lei Lin has a big appetite!"
With help from the Zi'ao Family, Wushan Town had developed, and the townspeople's lives were steadily improving.
As the lord, Hogg's standard of living had gradually returned to that of an ordinary noble.
Lei Lin grinned. "Uncle Hogg, you know me so well. But two sheep aren't enough to fill me up anymore."
"Add another one, or make it a whole cow!"
As his strength improved, Lei Lin's appetite grew larger and larger. And given his relationship with Hogg and Lin Lei, there was no need for him to stand on ceremony.
"Also, Uncle Hogg, I've come up with the seventeenth version of my Dragonblood Potion. This one should work even better. Trying it tonight should give you a pleasant surprise."
Hogg smiled when he heard that. "Oh, that's wonderful!"
"Every time I take one of the potions you develop, I feel a little stronger. If you keep at it, you're sure to succeed!"
"Our Baruch Family will awaken once more, too. I... I don't even know how to thank you!"
As he spoke, this man, who strictly observed noble etiquette, grew so emotional that his voice held the faintest trace of a sob.
After all, if Lei Lin's research succeeded, the Baruch Family would never again have to worry about being unable to cultivate the Dragonblood Secret Manual because their bloodline concentration was too low.
The name Dragonblood Warrior would once again resound across the continent!
Thinking of how the territory had grown better and better over the past few years with the Zi'ao Family's help, and of how the family might flourish again in the future, Hogg couldn't help but feel excited!
Lei Lin understood. Compared with Lin Lei, Hogg was even more deeply attached to the family.
He immediately cut Hogg off. "All right, all right, Uncle Hogg. There's no need to thank me."
"I'm doing this research for my own sake, too!"
As he comforted Hogg, Lei Lin thought to himself, Sigh, although I'm mainly researching this for myself, there's no doubt it'll be a huge help to you Dragonblood Warriors, too.
So even if I deliberately hide my results and keep you from awakening, Uncle Hogg, you won't blame me when you find out someday, right?
That was right. Although the first version of the Dragonblood Potion had been a complete failure,
with Hogg and Lin Lei's cooperation, the Dragonblood Secret Manual as a guide to the bloodline, and Warton's bloodline samples,
Lei Lin had already developed, by the sixth version, a potion that could turn dragon blood that had been outside the body too long into a potion capable of awakening the bloodline of Dragonblood Warriors whose bloodline concentration was insufficient.
That was because he had already understood the essence of how drinking Living Dragon Blood triggered the Azure Dragon Bloodline!
In Lei Lin's view, this didn't count as activating the Azure Dragon Bloodline.
True activation should be like the Dragon Transformation Pool: it would let a Dragonblood Warrior master the innate divine ability Dragon Roar and comprehend a water-type Law mystery.
Only then could it be considered proper activation!
A better way to describe this method of activating the bloodline with Saint Realm dragon blood was that it stimulated the Azure Dragon Bloodline to display a trace of the Azure Dragon's divine beast might, allowing it to control the corresponding dragon blood.
After all, compared with the Azure Dragon, which should more accurately be called a super divine beast, Saint Realm dragon blood was far too weak.
What did drinking just a little dragon blood amount to? Even if someone swallowed an entire Saint Realm dragon whole, what would that mean to the Azure Dragon Divine Beast?
Saint Realm dragon blood was truly nothing to write home about!
The so-called activation of the bloodline by drinking Living Dragon Blood was, in essence, the Azure Dragon Bloodline reacting to a stimulus and displaying a little of the might of a dragon divine beast, thereby gaining control over the corresponding dragon blood.
That was also why using a particular type of dragon blood caused the corresponding dragon characteristics to appear after transforming.
After studying bloodline samples several times and discovering this, Lei Lin finally understood why Lin Lei had drunk the blood of a Spine-backed Iron-Armored Dragon in the original story and even swallowed its Dragon Crystal,
yet his own attributes hadn't been affected by the Spine-backed Iron-Armored Dragon, and he hadn't gained a dark attribute.
It was important to know that when ordinary people survived bathing in dragon blood or drank a Dragonblood Potion, the most obvious effect of the bloodline mutation was often not an improvement in physique.
Instead, they gained the attribute of the corresponding dragon race, such as the fire attribute from red dragon blood, the water attribute from green dragon blood, or the light attribute from Silver Dragon Blood.
That was the most direct sign that their bloodline had been affected by dragon blood!
That was why tales and novels so often made dragon-slaying and bathing in dragon blood their climaxes!
Lei Lin also realized why Living Dragon Blood was necessary. Once dragon blood had been outside the body for too long, it lost the breath of [life] and could no longer provoke a reaction in the Azure Dragon Bloodline.
To the Azure Dragon Bloodline, this dragon blood went straight from being an [enemy] to being [food]. Naturally, it could no longer provoke a reaction!
This had nothing to do with the dragon blood's freshness or vitality. That was also why Lei Lin's first bloodline experiment had failed so completely.
Once he understood these fundamentals, he knew how to make Dragonblood Potion.
It was simple: he just had to bring out the concept of [life] associated with dragon blood!
Putting aside his disdain for [classical] potion-making, Lei Lin followed several magic arrays the Holy See had provided him. Death Alchemists used dead mice to extract the concept of [death], venomous fangs to extract the concept of [evil], and the blood of infants to extract the concept of [life].
That was how Lei Lin made the latest Dragonblood Potion.
Then he tested it on blood samples from Lin Lei and Hogg. When both samples showed the bloodline reaction he had hoped for, he knew he had succeeded!
However, he later deliberately weakened the potency of the dragon blood, using mostly level-eight and even level-seven dragon blood as the main ingredient, which made the stimulation insufficient.
That was why Hogg and Lin Lei still hadn't [awakened]!
Before you continue