The Latter Half

After threatening Taifas, Taylor finally dispersed the several flickering fireballs in his hand, leaving only a faint residual warmth lingering in the air.

With the fireballs gone, Taifas grinned and sidled up to Taylor again, speaking of his own accord.

"You Elemental Wizards really look boring—flashy but impractical. You're not nearly as straightforward as me. In fact, all elemental attacks originated from magical beasts before eventually developing into elemental sorcery, becoming our supernatural means."

"Why don't you join the Flesh Wizard modification school with me? Stop learning all that messy sorcery. Just modify your body directly, use your own flesh to adapt to and analyze the structure of magical beasts, then manifest their organs in our own bodies and skip all the steps to wield their power."

Listening to Taifas's persuasion, Taylor did not even raise his eyelids. He had no desire to turn himself into some grotesque mess. Taifas's hands had looked like a pile of tentacles just now—disgusting.

Seeing that Taylor remained unmoved, Taifas changed his approach and continued explaining.

"Maybe your attacks are powerful, but as Wizards, the bodies of Elemental Wizards and Knowledge Wizards like you are far too fragile. Look at me. My regenerative ability is extremely strong. I can already cut off certain organs and have them slowly grow back."

"That kind of ability is still very difficult for you to achieve, unless you're one of those freakish Bloodline Wizards. Those people are truly blessed by nature, but we can forget about it. Any ranked magical beast with even a trace of supernatural bloodline is not something we can afford to offend—or even find."

At this point, Taifas grew irritated again. As a Wizard who focused on his own flesh, he yearned deeply for all kinds of bloodlines.

But he also knew that high-quality bloodlines were simply unattainable. Low-quality ones were utterly useless to him.

"Are high-quality bloodlines really that rare?"

Taylor suddenly asked. Taifas immediately replied.

"They're incredibly rare. Only the bloodlines of ranked magical beasts are useful to us. And bloodlines can only be implanted during the advancement ritual when one becomes a Rank 1 Wizard, because that is the first leap in one's life level. It's also when your body is at its most open, most accepting, and most capable of taking in an external bloodline—the only opportunity."

"Whether it's implantation or awakening, advancing to Rank 1 Wizard is already dangerous enough. The bloodline imprint will also attack and interfere, so you have to wear down that imprint. In other words, you face a double crisis during advancement. One reason Bloodline Wizards are so rare is that dividing your attention during advancement is practically gambling with your future, and the odds of losing are enormous!"

"Most Bloodline Wizards in the Wizarding world awaken naturally. They already have more or less some bloodline within them, and all they need to do afterward is continuously purify it and awaken more bloodline sorcery. Those people are simply far stronger than ordinary Wizards."

Taifas grew increasingly animated, even waving both hands around as he gestured wildly at Taylor.

"When a bloodline is raised to its peak, some lucky people can even trace it back through ancestral regression to its most primordial level. And there are even geniuses—like the founders of many bloodline families—who completely transcend their own bloodlines and develop bloodlines unique to themselves."

Taylor thought for a moment, then asked, "Do bloodlines limit Wizards?"

Taifas shook his head and said,

"A Wizard's growth in strength ultimately depends on mental power, magic power, and accumulated knowledge. So-called bloodline limits are complete nonsense. If bloodlines could restrict a Wizard's development, then wouldn't ordinary people like us be unable to become Wizards for our entire lives?

"A bloodline is part of oneself, just like an organ. How could it hinder you? Even bloodlines introduced during advancement to Rank 1 Wizard are the same. At most, there may be some bloodline conflict syndrome. After all, once the imprint is gone, it will eventually become your own.

"Put simply, as their strength increases, the benefits their bloodlines provide become too insignificant. They feel that their rate of improvement has slowed, so they call it a 'limit.' Their true potential was never determined by their bloodline in the first place. Those damned Bloodline Wizards."

By the end, Taifas could not help but become dejected. He possessed neither such extraordinary talent nor such good fortune. He was merely an ordinary person with a bit of Wizard talent.

"Don't even think about obtaining the bloodlines of those ranked magical beasts. It would harm the magical beasts themselves, and we can't kill beings like that anyway. Besides, apprentices like us have nothing valuable enough to move them."

"But honestly, human bloodlines are the noblest. They have limitless possibilities and the greatest compatibility. Many Wizards become very powerful without using bloodlines... in the end, where would an apprentice even get a high-level bloodline? Some trash Rank 1 bloodline would only hold you back, and there's a high chance you'd lose your life during advancement. Even Rank 2 bloodlines are highly sought after by Wizard lords. They can't implant them, but they can use them for research. They're simply beyond the reach of apprentices."

"There are pitifully few newly emerged Bloodline Wizards. Most only have mediocre Rank 1 bloodlines, or even bloodlines that drag them down. Even that requires a good teacher and good luck, so we should forget about it."

Taifas lost interest and ended the conversation. Taylor did not disturb him, continuing along the narrow path with him as they patrolled the southern region of the Monster Forest. Yet other thoughts had arisen in his mind.

If he could not obtain powerful bloodlines in this world and become a stronger, more versatile Bloodline Wizard, then perhaps when his ability recovered and he explored other new planes, he might encounter better targets. He could implant powerful bloodlines and use them to aid his path as a Wizard.

If what Taifas said was correct, then bloodlines could indeed assist him without restricting his potential as they did in the novels from his previous life. That made them an excellent means of growing stronger.

The latter half of the patrol mission took them into a relatively dangerous area. This region had no sorcery rune roads designed to protect against magical beast attacks.

Instead, it was filled only with irregularly placed sorcery data-collection devices, each concealed by camouflage.

Some looked like rotten logs, some like strange stones, and some like lifelike trees. The purpose of these countless devices was to gather all sorts of data from the area—such as dryness, humidity, sunlight, fog density—as well as images of magical beast habitats. For the White Wizards, this was also knowledge for studying magical beast behavior.

The purpose of the latter half of the patrol mission was for apprentices to inspect these sorcery devices and prevent them from shutting down or being damaged. Once any abnormality was discovered, it had to be reported to the Miscellaneous Affairs Office immediately.

Taylor could not help but sigh. Wizards truly were a highly multifaceted profession. These White Wizards were practically like biology researchers now.

Swish, swish, swish...

The two left the seemingly safe path and walked directly into the Monster Forest. Dense fog hung overhead as they tread across the somewhat damp ground, weaving through clusters of shrubs.

Taifas walked at the front. His appearance had changed drastically by now. Both his hands had become tentacles, his back was raised high, and he looked like a crocodile standing upright in human form, with crocodile scales covering his back and a tail growing from his rear.

His nose twitched constantly as his sorcery-enhanced keen sense of smell distinguished the pheromones permeating the air, preventing accidents or ambushes by magical beasts.

"I wonder which Wizard lord was so bored that they placed so many sorcery devices in the Monster Forest, studying magical beast habits every single day."

The grotesque Taifas walked ahead, speaking in a muffled voice.

How would I know why? Who knows what Wizards research?

Taylor followed behind without speaking. A pale red membrane had already enveloped his entire body, and the magic power within him had been fully mobilized. If anything unexpected happened, he would hurl fireballs and wind blades straight at its face.