Mass Production

"There were still enough Quasit True Blood in the warehouse to refine 1,000 portions of Bloodline Potion. Each portion exchanged for 140 Merit Points. I, Anthony Silvercoin, always kept my word—I won't earn a single point of commission from Scholar Eno. A fair price: 120,000 Merit Points." Anthony Silvercoin took out one hundred sealed glass test tubes containing crimson blood.

True Blood from transcendent creatures had a shelf life. For ordinary First-Ring Transcendents, its rune-inscribing properties vanished within minutes, while its bloodline properties disappeared within a month.

If the Exchange Building's Quasit True Blood had not remained unsold for so long, there would never have been a stockpile of 1,000 portions.

"Fine! One thousand portions it is. I also need 500 Zero-Ring Scarlet Blood Crystals, a map of the Landon Duchy, and ten Alchemical Bombs." Yin Ming looked reluctant as he paused before speaking.

"Five hundred Scarlet Blood Crystals cost 50,000 Merit Points, and the Alchemical Bombs cost 10,000 Merit Points. The map of the Landon Duchy is a complimentary gift. Whatever places are marked as forbidden zones, do not go there. Even Official Wizards could face mortal danger." Anthony Silvercoin said.

Yin Ming left with his things, while Anthony Silvercoin wore a suspicious expression.

Even for practicing Bloodline Potion refinement, there was no need for 1,000 portions of materials.

And he had even chosen the Quasit, the shame of First-Ring creatures. Its combat strength was abysmal; if they had any other choice, no one would become a Quasit Warlock.

Finished Bloodline Potions were unsellable goods as well.

[Store...]

Yin Ming stored all the materials in his gourd and synthesized them according to the Original Bloodline Potion formula.

[Name: Bloodline Potion (First Ring) x1000.]

[Ingredients: Quasit Essence Blood: 30%, Scarlet Blood Crystal: 31%, Blood-Melding Vine: 31%, Catalyst: 8%.]

[Note: Upon consuming this potion, you will completely transform into an Abyssal Quasit King hatchling. Method of consumption: Oral.]

[Mutation: 96%.]

"..."

"The potions are ready! Next, I just need to find some monkeys."

Yin Ming left the Flameburner Undercity and unfolded the map. The entire Landon Duchy lay before his eyes.

Half the duchy's territory belonged to the Green Forest Mountains. They not only enveloped all of Green Forest City, but even half the territory of the Landon Royal City lay within their range.

At the center of Green Forest, two words were marked in blood-red lettering: "Forbidden Zone."

"What an enormous forest..."

An hour later, Yin Ming entered the forest's outskirts.

As ordinary beasts, monkey troops generally lived along the outer edges of the Magic Beast Forest.

Moreover, as territorial creatures that lived in groups, finding one meant finding dozens, perhaps even hundreds.

If he found a hunter familiar with the forest nearby and asked around, he would most likely learn the monkey troop's territory.

"Before that, I need to deal with... the tail behind me."

Ever since leaving the Flameburner Undercity, Yin Ming had noticed someone following him.

Leaving aside the profits from Golden Sore Medicine, a scholar's monthly 3,000 Merit Points was already a considerable fortune for an ordinary Zero-Ring Wizard Apprentice.

And the person controlling that fortune was merely a Junior Wizard Apprentice. How could that not tempt people?

"Why did he suddenly stop? If he went a little deeper, we wouldn't even need to wait until dark to make our move."

Several figures hid in the jungle. When they saw Yin Ming duck behind a large boulder rather than continuing deeper into the forest, one of them said resentfully.

"Wait until dark! When you keep your eyes on him, don't reveal any killing intent. Treat him as part of the scenery. A wizard's spiritual perception is troublesome as hell." Another man wiped his musket as he issued orders.

Before becoming First-Ring, Warlocks could only partially beastify and could not completely transform into transcendent creatures. If they did not want to use their bodies to withstand a wizard's spells head-on, they could only rely on nimble reactions and muskets for long-range attacks.

[Zero Ring: Lava Demon.]

Yin Ming took out the metal External Core and activated nine Zero-Ring True Name Runes. A Lava Giant over ten feet tall appeared.

Then, he took an Alchemical Bomb from his gourd. His palm condensed into cooled black lava, and he gripped the bomb in one hand, aimed at his target, and hurled it like a cannonball blasting from its barrel.

The explosion from an Alchemical Bomb was not concentrated enough to effectively kill a First-Ring Warlock, but against Zero-Ring Apprentices, it was sheer firepower suppression.

Still, anyone capable of throwing an iron ball weighing dozens of pounds more than five hundred meters in two or three seconds could hardly lose to a Zero-Ring Apprentice. For Yin Ming, Alchemical Bombs could effectively conserve spiritual power and magic power.

"What is that? An Alchemical Bomb..."

A tiny black dot arrived in an instant. The group realized that it was an Alchemical Bomb.

Their bodies rapidly beastified, but it was already too late to escape. Blinding firelight completely swallowed them.

"Boom..."

With a deafening roar, everything within five hundred meters was razed to the ground.

The land was devastated. The shockwave from the explosion snapped even massive trees as thick as millstones in half.

Severed limbs and shattered corpses were scattered in every direction, only to be buried beneath the dust kicked up by the blast. Yin Ming merely glanced over them before abandoning any thought of collecting spoils.

"Done..."

Protected beneath his Dharma Manifestation, he had not been affected by the explosion's aftermath.

Yin Ming put away the External Core. He had only consumed 4 points of magic power and spiritual power.

[...]

Windneighbor Town, Landon Royal City.

Following the map, Yin Ming found signs of habitation. He was just about to find an old hunter and ask about monkey troops near the forest's outskirts.

Yet he discovered that the entire town was eerily silent. No serfs worked in the estates, no freefolk wandered the streets, and no knight guards patrolled the castle.

"Hey... you there..."

After much difficulty, he finally encountered a bald middle-aged man.

The moment the man saw someone, it was as though he had seen a ghost. He decisively turned around and hurried home as if his wife were about to give birth.

"Ding..."

A gold coin rang crisply.

It kept spinning through the air before landing precisely half a step beside the middle-aged man.

After a brief inner struggle, Lucas picked up the gold coin with nimble movements.

He bent at the waist in a standard salute and forced out a smile. "Honored sir, what can I do for you?"

Like most wizards, Yin Ming spent long periods alone researching magic and was poor at socializing, especially with strangers. Still, the principle that courtesy invited no blame applied in both worlds.

"Why did you run the moment you saw me? And why is this town so deserted?" Yin Ming asked.

"You may not know this, sir, but something strange happened in Windneighbor Town two days ago. Viscount Roland's knight order, along with every adult male in his household, all died overnight! Their deaths were horrific. Something unknown drained them of all their blood and turned them into dried corpses." As Lucas described the knights' deaths, lingering fear filled his heart.

Dried corpses! Nothing unusual.

Over the past two years, supernatural incidents had become rather frequent. The Association's explorers had never been responsible for saving people; their duty was to investigate the source of supernatural incidents.

For ordinary people in the transcendent world to be absolutely safe, they needed to avoid greed, lust, gluttony, killing, and...

They also needed incomparably steadfast willpower to resist the temptations of Abyss Demons, and enough luck not to be swept into the aftermath of a powerful being's battle.

"Is there a hunter familiar with the forest's outskirts? Hmm... one who is still alive." Yin Ming was a scholar, not an explorer, and did not continue delving into the supernatural topic.

"Uh! Yes, Old John is still alive." Lucas, who had just organized his thoughts and was ready to launch into a lengthy account of the supernatural incident, froze before answering.