Bloodline Purification Art

Kenna pulled a thin booklet from inside his clothes.

"Ian, I've done what you asked. Here's the Bloodline Purification Art, though it was a little pricey—60 magic stones."

Ian was overjoyed. He didn't mind that it wasn't a Memory Crystal. Other apprentices would have a hard time learning from a book, but with his Status Panel, that wasn't a problem.

Ian paid Kenna an extra potion, carefully put the booklet away, and didn't open it right away.

Kenna put the potion away, then suddenly remembered something.

"Ian, do you remember Leica? Somehow, he heard that you'd become a Potion Master and wants to meet you."

The Leica Kenna mentioned had also been one of Ian's neighbors back when they lived together.

Ian had rarely interacted with him. All he knew was that Leica had been there for a long time and was, more or less, the leader of the neighborhood.

He still hadn't broken through to Advanced Apprentice, so it seemed he was getting anxious and wanted to acquire resources from Ian.

"Maybe another time. I don't want to take on too many private orders right now."

Ian didn't mind having another source of income, but cultivation still had to come first. Too many private orders would take up a lot of his time.

"Wade, has anything been happening with the Shadow Society lately?"

He was a little worried. Ten days had passed; there was no way they hadn't noticed anything.

"I've only heard rumors. The Shadow Society seems to be planning something big lately. They're trying to take over some ruins."

Wade wasn't sure either. It was all hearsay and might not be accurate.

Ian understood. It seemed the rumors about the ruins probably weren't baseless.

He had also quietly gathered some information about Nolan. Nolan was one of the Shadow Society's founders, and many apprentices worked under him.

After Kenna and the others left, Ian took out the booklet and read it carefully. Once he finished the last page, the Status Panel recorded the witchcraft.

[Bloodline Purification Art: Not Initiated (0/100)]

Ian took his magic stones and headed out to the town's Beast Trading District, planning to buy the blood of some other beasts to practice with first.

The blood of magic beasts had many uses. It was needed for Enchanting, Alchemy, and more.

After walking down several streets, he saw black, filthy water flowing across the ground, and a foul stench wafted into his nose.

On either side, the display boards at the stalls were propped up haphazardly on piles of stones, showing off all kinds of goods for sale.

"Freshly butchered Four-Horned Antelope, going cheap!"

"Fresh Wind Demon Wolf hearts! The best medium for practicing wind-element witchcraft!"

"Blood from a mid-level Bloodthirsty Wild Boar, ten magic stone fragments per pound!"

Ian stopped in his tracks in front of the stall.

"I hunted this Bloodthirsty Wild Boar this morning. The blood's still fresh. How about buying some?"

The stall owner was a burly, bearded Intermediate Apprentice who enthusiastically pitched his wares to Ian.

"I need a lot. Give me a discount, and I'll buy the whole lot."

Ian wasn't familiar with haggling, so he decided to get straight to the point.

"Sir, I've got over a hundred pounds here. You can have it all for ten magic stones."

The bearded man seemed sincere, so Ian readily agreed to the deal.

After paying, he easily hefted a large leather sack. All he wanted now was to get home as quickly as possible and initiate the art.

Back home, Ian put the blood away and went to the potion room.

At the clean workbench, Ian carefully dripped a small amount of blood into the Resonance Crystal Vessel.

The Resonance Crystal was an auxiliary device in the potion room that could amplify bloodline fluctuations.

Following the first stage of the Bloodline Purification Art—Bloodline Perception—I began his practice.

It took a long while before his mental power finally managed to guide the witchcraft, clumsily extending into the crystal vessel.

As soon as it made contact, his control over his mental power proved too imprecise. A moment's inattention caused the Fluorite Plate supplying the energy to dim, and the faint resonance came to an end.

[Bloodline Purification Art Proficiency +1]

Looking at the blood inside, now noticeably dimmer, Ian furrowed his brows.

"That takes a lot of resources!"

He hadn't felt anything at all before the fluctuations in the crystal vessel stopped. Fortunately, the Status Panel helped him, and a little experience trickled into his mind.

"Guess I'll keep grinding. I can always spend a few more magic stones."

Five days later.

Ian's hair was disheveled, and his face was exhausted as he stood in the potion room.

This Bloodline Purification Art was way too difficult, and it consumed an especially large amount of magic stones. Over the past five days, he'd bought blood from magic beasts four more times, each batch larger than the last, spending a total of 120 magic stones.

"No wonder Kenna never learned it. He probably couldn't afford it either!"

Ian had initially wanted to find a loophole and practice with the blood of ordinary beasts.

It wasn't completely ineffective, but the blood contained too few transcendent genes, making his progress as slow as a tortoise. He had no choice but to give up.

After all, this was the Bloodline Purification Art.

He could now cast the witchcraft fairly completely and sense the information in the bloodline.

The next step was to use his mental power to guide the purification art and extract the transcendent genes from the Bloodthirsty Wild Boar.

Ian's mental power was like a pair of clumsy hands, trying to grasp the transcendent bloodline revealed within the vessel.

He'd gone through this process countless times over the past few days.

Suddenly, the crystal vessel on the workbench began to tremble slightly. The Energy Supply Module beneath it rapidly consumed magic stones, and the temperature in the room began to rise.

"Hum..."

An unnatural flush spread across his face. It was as if he were wrestling with the Bloodthirsty Wild Boar. Sweat beaded on his forehead, only to evaporate into mist before it could drip.

"Stop... I have to stop!" Ian realized he was on the verge of losing control.

But the violent bloodline energy was already like a flood bursting through a dam.

"Bang!" The blood exploded, and a cloud of crimson smoke billowed above the vessel.

[Bloodline Purification Art Proficiency +1]

"Phew..." Ian wiped away his sweat and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

[Bloodline Purification Art: Initiated (0/200)]

"Though I failed, I finally initiated it. That wasn't easy!"

Ian didn't know that an Ordinary Apprentice would need at least a year or two just to initiate this special witchcraft.

He poured all the Bloodthirsty Wild Boar blood he had left into the vessel.

This time, it was as if his mental power had been lubricated. It guided the witchcraft with effortless fluency, slowly extending toward the blood in the crystal vessel and enveloping it...

A little while later, with a whoosh, a bright red Blood Essence shot out.

Ian snatched it out of the air and held it up under the light, examining it carefully.

The Blood Essence was crystal clear, about the size of an egg, and shaped like an irregular polyhedron. Magnified, countless fine threads could be seen drifting gently inside.

This was only the initial purification; it still contained many impurities. Aside from making potions, it couldn't be used for bloodline transplantation.

The next stage of refinement was the crucial part. The Rock Bear was a high-level magic beast, and refining its bloodline was even more difficult than refining the Bloodthirsty Wild Boar's. It was also much slower.

Ian refined all the Rock Bear blood he'd stored into Blood Essence.

Fortunately, with the Status Panel's help, he still didn't fail once. In total, he obtained eight Blood Essences, each about the size of a goose egg.

"One portion of Blood Essence can make ten portions of Rock Bear Potion. I wonder if that'll be enough to initiate it."

He had long yearned for the Rock Bear Potion. Now he could finally start making it.

"Let's begin!"

First, he heated the potion's base solution, Oak Distillate, until it boiled, then turned the heat down to a simmer.

He added the Thornbark, which he'd already ground into a powder, and simmered it for fifteen minutes until it turned dark green.

Then he added the Magic Catalytic Powder and stirred gently until it was evenly mixed.

He added the Blood Essence, cut into pieces...