Teach Me Blood Rage

Several weeks had passed since that incident, and Kassel College had ushered in its first summer vacation.

The salty, hot waves crashed against the beach, carrying the scent of the sea. Luo Qiusheng leaned back in a lounge chair, letting his mind wander, when the screen of his portable terminal suddenly lit up with a pop-up window, the cold white font shattering the lazy afternoon.

"Autumnraw.Low, you have one unread message!" a new window suddenly popped up on the screen.

Luo Qiusheng, who was vacationing on a beach in Xiamen, lifted his sunglasses.

Autumnraw.Low:

According to your enrollment records, you were born on July 19, 1991, and have just turned 19 today.

On this important day, I, on behalf of Hilbert von Ange, the Academic Affairs Committee, and all the professors, wish you a happy birthday.

Thank you for attending Kassel College and sharing these wonderful times with us; it is an honor to grow together.

Sincerely, Eva.

PS. According to school regulations, students celebrating their birthdays may receive a free cake at the college cafeteria. However, as you are currently on summer vacation in China, the free birthday cake service is canceled. Additionally, the summer short-term session will begin on July 20, 2010. Your transcript from the previous semester shows that you missed two exams, meaning you failed to pass or did not meet the requirements. Therefore, I regret to inform you that you must attend make-up classes and retake the exams during the short-term session. I have already booked your flight back to headquarters; please be prepared to depart at any time.

"Birthday?" Luo Qiusheng recalled the information he usually used; it seemed he had just filled that in randomly back then.

Beside him, lying on a sun chair, Jiu De Mai glanced at Luo Qiusheng. "Whose birthday is it?"

Luo Qiusheng thought for a moment and smiled. "Why, it's your little baby Lu Mingfei, of course."

Su Enxi spoke up at this moment as well. "Did I just hear Eva's voice?"

The "Potato Chip Girl" was wearing a bikini, holding a bag of chips in her left hand while tapping on her laptop with her right, not even looking up.

"Yeah, missed exams, what else could it be? It's boring. I'd rather be applying sunscreen for my sister Mai."

Su Enxi: "...Why don't you apply it for me?"

Luo Qiusheng laughed helplessly. "Next time, for sure. But your little baby might be running into trouble soon. Shall we head back?"

"The ticket is already booked, leaving tomorrow morning. But I'm still curious—how do you manage to predict what Lu Mingfei is going to do every single time? It feels... it feels like you're the tapeworm in his stomach."

It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it meant fewer instructions from the Boss and much simpler tasks. The original workload had been 100%, but ever since Luo Qiusheng joined the team, it had been slashed by more than half.

Su Enxi had even repeatedly pestered Luo Qiusheng about which stocks were rising or falling and who would win the World Cup this year. It could only be said that he was truly the logistics chief of their support team, with nothing but these things in his head.

Jiu De Mai also spoke up. "Luo Qiusheng, can you actually pass your exams? It feels like you never study. Don't get yourself kicked out of Kassel."

Luo Qiusheng pretended to ponder. "That's true. Do you have any ideas?"

"Should I go mess with the projects you need to be tested on?"

Su Enxi almost laughed in frustration upon hearing their vapid conversation. "This guy is someone the Alchemy Department begged to join, and the Equipment Department seems to love following him around too. Based on those two departments alone, Luo Qiusheng won't be kicked out of Kassel College."

"An A-grade bloodline, perhaps even higher, within the Secret Party's investigation scope, plus the ability to foresee the future—he's not failing because he can't, but because he wants to hide his true strength, right?"

After hearing Su Enxi's explanation, Jiu De Mai kicked Luo Qiusheng in annoyance. "Tricking your companions, you deserve that."

In truth, Jiu De Mai knew Luo Qiusheng could pass, but she enjoyed the dynamic because his mind was always so novel. The most interesting part was when he would sit alone on the rooftop in the dead of night, looking melancholy.

It was fortunate that Luo Qiusheng didn't know what Jiu De Mai was thinking, or he would have exposed her on the spot. Was that melancholy? It was clearly just stargazing, enjoying the scenery, and getting some fresh air.

"Sister Mai, how about you come to my room tonight? I'll show you something fun. I recently developed a very interesting new method, though the side effects are a bit..."

Jiu De Mai was stunned at his words, her gaze filled with scrutiny and inquiry, but she ultimately nodded in agreement.

Su Enxi, who was watching the keyboard, choked on her chips. "Do I need to step out?"

Luo Qiusheng thought for a moment and said calmly, "Why don't you come along too? Your ability actually fits a project I haven't fully developed yet."

"???" Su Enxi was full of question marks, looking him up and down with a gaze full of vigilance.

"Don't look at me with those eyes..."

When night fell, Su Enxi and Jiu De Mai walked into Luo Qiusheng's room wearing their work uniforms. The room was neat and clean, clearly well-maintained every day.

"You're here?" Luo Qiusheng hurried to invite them in to sit.

"Sister Mai, your Underworld Reflection Spirit Word has three major flaws. First, it has no defensive bonus; it only acts on the level of light and shadow and cannot mitigate or negate any damage. Once hit, you are no different from your normal state."

"Second: It cannot mask non-visual information. Sound, scent, body temperature, and heartbeat cannot be hidden. You can be precisely detected and located by auditory Spirit Words like 'Kamaitachi' or thermal imaging devices."

"Third, there is visual persistence. When moving, you leave behind black, ink-like afterimages in the air. It is extremely easy to expose yourself in bright environments, though it works best in dim or dark ones."

"So, what if it were Underworld Reflection after Blood Rage?"

Jiu De Mai raised an eyebrow, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the patterns on the hilt of her short blade.

Blood Rage was a forbidden art of the Hybrids. Even within the Secret Party, only the direct descendants of the Lionheart Society possessed the complete manual. Yet, Luo Qiusheng acted as if he had read the most core archives, breaking down even the changes after the advancement of Underworld Reflection.

Luo Qiusheng tapped his finger on the screen of the deduction instrument, pulling up three advancement trajectories marked in red, his tone as calm as if he were stating established facts:

"The essence of Blood Rage is to forcibly suppress the human personality and activate the Dragon Tribe genes, allowing the rules of the Spirit Word to advance in tandem with the purity of the bloodline. In the first stage of Blood Rage, the three flaws you mentioned will be compensated for to varying degrees, but the cost will also increase several times over."

"Teach me Blood Rage!" Jiu De Mai's gaze was firm.

Su Enxi, who had been vigilant at first, felt a bit disappointed deep down, even though she was happy that Luo Qiusheng had called them over in the middle of the night specifically for their abilities.

She used her Heavenly Deduction ability to calculate the load ratio in her mind, and after a moment, she spoke: "Based on your analysis, I did a quick calculation. Under normal conditions, Mai's Underworld Reflection can be stably maintained for over forty minutes. With the first stage of Blood Rage superimposed, the limit is four minutes and twenty-seven seconds. Exceeding this threshold, the bloodline load will break through the safety line, and either the domain will collapse or she will slide directly toward becoming a Dead Servant."