The Latter Half

After threatening Taifas, Taylor finally dispersed the few wavering Fireballs in his hand, leaving only a faint residual warmth lingering in the surroundings.

With the Fireballs gone, Taifas grinned and sidled up to Taylor again, speaking without waiting for a response.

"You Elemental Wizards really look boring—flashy, but nowhere near as straightforward as me. In truth, all elemental attacks originated from certain Magical Beasts before eventually developing into elemental sorcery, becoming our supernatural methods."

"How about joining 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 on our bodies and skip all the steps to directly master their power."

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

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

"Your attacks might be powerful, but as Wizards, the bodies of Elemental Wizards and Knowledge Wizards like you are simply too frail. Look at me. My regenerative ability is extremely strong. I can already cut off certain organs and slowly grow them back."

"That kind of ability is still hard for you to achieve unless you're one of those freakish Bloodline Wizards. Those bastards are truly blessed by nature. But people like us should forget about it. Any Magical Beast with even a trace of supernatural bloodline is not something we can offend—or even find."

At this point, Taifas became irritated again. A Wizard like him, who focused on his own flesh and blood, naturally yearned for all kinds of bloodlines.

However, he also knew that such high-quality bloodlines were simply unattainable, while low-quality bloodlines were useless to him.

"Are high-quality bloodlines really that rare?"

Taylor suddenly asked. Taifas immediately replied.

"They're incredibly rare. Only Magical Beasts that have reached a level possess bloodlines useful to us. And bloodline implantation can only be done during the advancement ritual when becoming a Level 1 Wizard, because that is the first leap in one's life level. It is also the only time when your body is at its most open, most accepting, and most capable of taking in an external bloodline."

"Whether it's implantation or awakening, advancing to a Level 1 Wizard is already dangerous. The bloodline imprint will attack and interfere as well, and you have to wear down that imprint. That means facing a double crisis during advancement. One reason Bloodline Wizards are so rare is that dividing your attention at such a time is practically gambling with your future. The odds of losing are enormous!"

"Most Bloodline Wizards in the Wizarding World awakened naturally. They already have more or less some bloodline within them. 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 at Taylor.

"When a bloodline is raised to its peak, some lucky people can even reverse it back to its most ancient origins. And the truly gifted ones, such as the founders of many bloodline families, can even completely transcend their original bloodline and develop one uniquely their own."

Taylor thought for a moment before asking, "Do bloodlines limit Wizards?"

Taifas shook his head and said,

"A Wizard's growth in power ultimately depends on mental strength, magical power, and accumulated knowledge. So-called bloodline limits simply do not exist. If bloodlines could restrict a Wizard's development, wouldn't ordinary people like us never be able to become Wizards in our entire lives?

"A bloodline is part of yourself, just like an organ. How could it hinder you? Even a bloodline introduced during advancement to Level 1 Wizard is the same. At most, there might be some Bloodline Conflict Syndrome. After all, once the imprint is gone, it will eventually become your own.

"To put it plainly, as their strength increases, the benefits their bloodline offers become too little. They feel that their rate of improvement has slowed, so they call it a 'limitation.' Their own upper limit 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 had neither exceptional talent nor particularly good luck. He was merely an ordinary person with a bit of aptitude for wizardry.

"Forget about acquiring the bloodlines of those levelled Magical Beasts. It would harm them too, and we cannot kill beings like that. Besides, apprentices like us have nothing valuable enough to move them."

"But honestly, human bloodlines are the noblest. They possess limitless potential and the strongest adaptability. Many Wizards can become very powerful without bloodlines... In the end, where would apprentices even get high-level bloodlines? A trash Level 1 Bloodline would be bad enough if it only held you back, but it would probably get you killed during advancement. Even Level 2 Bloodlines are sought-after goods in the eyes of Wizards. They cannot implant them, but they can use them for research. They are not something apprentices can come into contact with at all."

"New Bloodline Wizards are pitifully few. Most only have barely passable Level 1 Bloodlines, or even bloodlines that hold them back. Even for that, you need a good teacher and good luck. We should stop dreaming about it."

Taifas listlessly ended the conversation. Taylor did not disturb him and continued walking along the path with him, patrolling the southern region of Monster Forest. Yet other thoughts had already formed in his mind.

If he could not obtain a powerful bloodline in this world and become a stronger, more well-rounded Bloodline Wizard, then perhaps once his ability recovered and he explored other new planes, he would encounter better targets and implant powerful bloodlines to aid him on the path of wizardry.

If Taifas had been right, then bloodlines could indeed serve as an aid without limiting his potential as the novels from his previous life had described. That would make them an excellent means of growing stronger.

The latter half of the patrol mission brought them into a relatively dangerous area. This region had no sorcery rune paths meant to defend against Magical Beast attacks.

Instead, there were only irregularly placed sorcery data-collection tools disguised to blend into their surroundings.

Some looked like rotten logs, some like strange stones, and some like lifelike trees. The purpose of these countless tools was to collect all kinds of data from the area, such as dryness, humidity, sunlight, and fog density, as well as footage of Magical Beast habitats. For the White Wizards, this was also knowledge for studying Magical Beast habits.

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

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

Swish, swish, swish...

The two left the seemingly safe path and entered Monster Forest directly. Dense fog hung over their heads as they stepped across slightly damp ground and moved through patches of shrubs.

Taifas walked at the front. He had changed drastically in appearance. Both 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 continuously, using his sorcery-enhanced sense of smell to distinguish the pheromones drifting through the air and avoid accidents or surprise attacks by Magical Beasts.

"I wonder which Wizard has so much free time that they set up so many sorcery tools in Monster Forest just to study Magical Beast habits every day."

The bizarre-looking Taifas walked ahead, speaking in a muffled voice.

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

Taylor followed behind without speaking. A pale red membrane had already enveloped his entire body, and the magical power within him was fully mobilized. If anything unexpected happened, he would immediately smash them in the face with Fireballs and Wind Blades.