Bloodline Transplant: Withered Wood Guardian

"Interesting little bastard. I just so happen to have not opened for business this month. Hand over your identity badge!"

A bald apprentice said it in a sinister tone.

Ahab kept up the persona he had chosen for the day and tossed the badge over with defiant arrogance.

"I want to borrow thirty. I'll pay it back within half a year."

The mutated bald apprentice pinched the badge, clicked his tongue, and said with no interest, "Spiritual power 6, second-class meditation talent? We don't lend Magic Stones to consumables."

"What are you using as collateral to prove you can pay it back?"

Ahab raised both middle fingers in a "piece of cake" gesture.

"Look closely. I'm the leader of our group. I get a subsidy of ten a month."

The moment Ahab finished speaking, he heard a swish.

At the very back of the little black room, an apprentice who looked very mysterious suddenly stood up.

"I'll receive this person myself."

The bald apprentice turned back in surprise.

"President Lola?"

As the apprentice in the dark corner walked closer step by step, Ahab got a clear look at her.

She was a female apprentice whose every movement seemed frivolous.

At the same time, there was something unnerving about her.

Beneath her black wizard robe, around the area of her stomach, a tube was connected externally.

It seemed her esophagus had been damaged and she could not eat, so she had to rely on this method.

And as the female apprentice lifted her legs to walk, Ahab noticed the urine bag hanging from her thigh.

She looked like a woman with quite a few stories.

"Hello there, handsome. I'm Lola, president of the Newcomer Mutual Aid Society."

"How much do you want to borrow? I'll personally handle your business."

As Lola spoke, her gaze swept inch by inch over Ahab's face, neck, and body.

That look seemed to carry invasion, destruction, humiliation, and other such meanings.

Whatever your deal is, just hurry up and lend me the Magic Stones!

Ahab stretched out five fingers and gestured.

"Fifty Magic Stones, borrowed for half a year."

"Nine in, thirteen out. That's always been how the Mutual Aid Society lends Magic Stones, and the interest compounds."

The female president Lola frivolously licked her fingernail and smiled with exaggerated winks.

"If you keep refusing to pay, big sister will personally come collect."

As she spoke, Lola toyed with the "second-class wizard apprentice" badge on her chest.

Together with the external tube and urine bag on her body, it fully proved that this female president was not someone to mess with.

Ahab did not say anything else. He smoothly signed the IOU.

Then he took away forty-five Magic Stones.

Yes, forty-five.

"President Lola, even if he's a group leader, so what if he gets a subsidy of ten Magic Stones a month?"

"Why did you have to handle it personally?"

One of her subordinates asked President Lola this.

"That person has such poor aptitude, yet he still managed to become a group leader. He must have some exceptional ability."

"I played some word games in the IOU. I'll make sure this Ahab can't pay it back."

"When the time comes, our Mutual Aid Society will have another talented person."

After saying that, Lola lowered her head again and glanced at the tubes on her body.

She herself was like this because her aptitude was poor. Even though she had worked so hard, in the end, she still had to make this kind of sacrifice.

But—

Who said a mount couldn't have a mount of its own?

In the dormitory, Ahab sat cross-legged on the wooden plank bed.

Opposite him lay a syringe two fingers wide and a palm long.

Inside was a dark-green concentrated liquid that looked disgusting at first glance.

After careful consideration, Ahab decided to transplant the "Withered Wood Guardian" bloodline.

After transplanting the "Withered Wood Guardian" bloodline, his physical constitution would increase severalfold, his skin would turn into dry bark, and he would also gain the ability to manipulate withered vines to entangle enemies.

And if he used it skillfully, the recipient could voluntarily suspend his breathing and heartbeat, just like an old tree in hibernation.

The downside was that because of the skin mutation, his weight would increase drastically, and his agility would drop somewhat.

Moreover, the highest life level a creature like the "Withered Wood Guardian" could reach was equivalent to a first-class wizard apprentice.

This was already the limit of what fifty Magic Stones could buy.

A better bloodline, or one with a higher ceiling, would double the potion's price.

At the very least, before advancing to an official wizard, he would not have to worry about his upper limit being locked by the bloodline transplant.

This was something Ahab had asked Gray to help him buy that afternoon.

With shared interests between them, the chances that Gray would give him a fake potion were almost zero.

After all, by nurturing a Demon Hunter Wizard, Gray could obtain additional contributions.

"Then, let's do it!"

Ahab picked up the syringe, found the vein, and stabbed it into the crook of his arm.

The dark green liquid was pushed in until the syringe was empty.

A nauseating sensation surged through his body, accompanied by retching, difficulty breathing, and a burning pain across all his skin.

Clatter.

The emptied syringe fell onto the wooden floor.

Ahab clutched his chest with both hands, his eyes squeezed shut. Beads of sweat slid down his temples one after another, and his back was completely soaked.

At the same time, Ahab's skin began to gradually shift from yellowish white to dark brown.

Patterns like withered wood even appeared on it.

Under the wavering candlelight, Ahab's reflection clearly appeared in the empty glass syringe lying on the floor.

Ahab, sitting cross-legged on the bed, was bent over in pain, but the reflection inside the syringe did not match his movements.

In the reflection, Ahab clenched his left hand into a fist, placed it before the corner of his mouth, and gave two dry coughs.

On the bed, Ahab also dry-coughed twice, his movements completely identical to the reflection on the glass syringe.

A bloodline transplant would bring all sorts of discomfort, so coughing was perfectly reasonable.

At the same time, the instant Ahab dry-coughed, all the abnormalities on his skin vanished, leaving it as ruddy as before.

In that instant, whether it was Ahab's movements, Ahab's state, or Ahab's skin, everything remained perfectly consistent with the reflection on the glass syringe!

About ten minutes later, Ahab had regained quite a bit of clarity.

He could clearly feel that his strength had increased.

It was as if with just a slight clench of his butt, he could sit the bed straight into collapse!

This was the normal enhancement brought by transplanting a bloodline.

But—

"My skin didn't mutate?"

Ahab raised both arms and studied his skin.

On the floor, on the glass syringe, Ahab's reflection moved in sync with Ahab himself. Nothing unusual could be seen.

"Are you that impatient?"

Ahab lifted his head and said this toward the empty air.

While Ahab raised his head, on the glass syringe, Ahab's reflection moved its lips slightly, but no sound came out:

"Now that's what I call locking onto an enemy through the void."

"Vivian has already left the Academy Archipelago and landed on the Wizard Continent. She's currently in a primeval rainforest roughly a hundred kilometers away."

In the laboratory, Instructor Gray said this.

The three days were up.

It was time to set out and hunt demons!

"Vivian herself does not possess the ability to move that quickly. Clearly, a stronger Void Cultist is helping her."

"But based on a comprehensive analysis, it won't be a first-turn Void Evil God. At most, it will be at the believer level."

Gray gestured with his fingers and spoke methodically, with complete confidence.

Today, Gray seemed like a different person, looking especially reliable.