Dretch Ancestor Aspect

Flame-Burners Association, Exchange Building.

Anthony Silvercoin was unexpectedly absent, and the receptionist had been replaced by a female Rank 0 sorceress.

Dressed in a sexy, furry outfit, her extraordinary bloodline corrosion maintained her partially beastified form. In a soft, syrupy voice, she asked, "Scholar Eno, how may I assist you?"

"This... wasn't it always Anthony before? Why had the service suddenly improved?" Yin Ming asked in surprise.

"Scholar Eno receives the same treatment as a Rank 1 wizard, which is why the chairman personally received you. The chairman happened to be absent today, so I got the chance to serve you." The rabbit-eared sorceress replied with a faint smile.

Yin Ming: "..."

For a moment, he had no idea what use such treatment was.

Without looking at the sparse display shelves, Yin Ming said directly, "I need a Rank 1 Devouring Snake stomach pouch, a storage wizard artifact. Rank 0 magical plant Maple Spirit Tree seeds. Then I'll need a Rank 1 Dretch True Name Totem, three Crimson Blood Crystals, some adamantine, and Starmithril Mercury."

The Devouring Snake Bag was a storage item with only three cubic meters of internal space, yet it was the Exchange Building's sole Rank 1 item.

Its price was steep: 300,000 merit points, equivalent to 3,000 Element Crystals. The Scavenger Gourd would need nearly a year to produce that much.

The materials for the External Core were adamantine and Starmithril Mercury.

Yin Ming only exchanged enough to refine three.

Even after enhancement by the gourd, these two materials could only bear extraordinary bloodlines up to the Second Ring.

At the Second Ring, he already had the elemental creature Lava Troll, the extraordinary plant Twisted Treant, and the extraordinary creature Winged Serpent.

Although he had yet to obtain the Second-Ring True Name Totem Mystic Runes for the treant and the Winged Serpent,

without obtaining the Nourishing Chapter rune of the Eight-Nine Mystical Art, there was no longer any meaning in continuing to add bloodlines with a Second-Ring limit.

"..."

He returned to his residence.

Yin Ming used the Crimson Flame Ring to refine three Primordial Elixirs, then perfected them through the gourd's optimization.

His life became regular once again. Every day, he sat in meditation and cultivated, nourishing the three Primordial Elixirs.

In his spare time, he tinkered with extraordinary magical plants, went to the scholars' Ember Building to read, and sat in on the public fishing lectures given by other scholars.

At night, he entered Nightmare Space, familiarizing himself with the External Core Dharma Aspect and practicing his spear techniques.

If he was lucky, Rank 0 Wizard Apprentices would even come knocking on their own. He would casually hunt them and extract extraordinary knowledge. However, the extraordinary knowledge mastered by Rank 0 apprentices was repetitive to no ordinary degree.

"The External Cores have been nurtured! Time to condense the fourth Dharma Aspect!"

One month later.

Inside the meditation chamber.

The metal spheres had begun to feel as though flesh and blood were blending with them, so Yin Ming began concocting Bloodline Potion 2.0.

The quasit "blood source" could not be stored in the gourd, so he could only prepare the other materials in advance before tossing the Blood-Origin Crystal into the prepared potion.

As the Blood-Origin Crystal gradually melted, Bloodline Potion 2.0 was complete.

It was resin-like and gelatinous, radiating abyssal gloom. Somewhere between solid and liquid, it was vastly different from the Bloodline Potions he had refined in the past.

"Sizzle..."

As the Gold-Eroding Water reacted, totem Mystic Runes took shape across the surface of the External Core.

Yet the Bloodline Potion did not fill in the gaps. Only when the complete Rank 1 rune had been inscribed did the reaction instantly finish, fusing it into one with the Metal External Core.

[Rank 1: False Dretch Ancestor.]

Yin Ming lightly tapped it with a finger, continuously injecting magic power and spiritual power.

The totem Mystic Runes on the External Core shone brightly as elemental energy continuously gathered, constructing a Monkey Quasit Dharma Aspect.

"What... is this?"

The instant the Monkey Quasit's body solidified,

Yin Ming's gaze blurred. He suddenly felt as though he were plummeting from a great height, and half his consciousness was drawn into the Metal External Core.

His consciousness controlled the quasit Dharma Aspect's movements, and he could even share its vision. He could control the quasit Dharma Aspect as he pleased, just as if he were controlling his own body.

It was as though he possessed two bodies at once, yet also as though the two bodies had been linked into one by some mysterious power.

This was fundamentally different from his other Dharma Aspects. Though the others could also be controlled by thought, it felt more like using thought to manipulate a giant mech; they lacked that sensation of possessing a body.

"This quasit Dharma Aspect body has a phantom hidden rune."

Yin Ming sensed the quasit's sea of consciousness between its brows and, sure enough, discovered a profound rune hidden there.

A mass of mysterious fog concealed most of the rune. The exposed portion did not form a closed energy circuit joined end to end.

Yet this seemingly incomplete rune existed in defiance of all reason, and it performed the function it was meant to perform.

That was because the rune was whole and flawless. It merely ignored the distance of space, forming a complete rune.

"This is the Monkey Quasit's ancestral blood-source rune. A small half belongs to me, while the greater half belongs to the Abyssal Will."

Yin Ming's consciousness sank into the Monkey Quasit's Source Rune, where he sensed 962 bloodline threads.

Two of them had broken and returned to the blood crystal, meaning that two Monkey Quasits had unfortunately died in the Abyss. Yet their True Name imprints had not been reclaimed, and Yin Ming could still recreate their bloodlines.

"This is— a Dretch True Name Rune?"

Yin Ming was suddenly startled. The power fed back from the bloodline into the Dharma Aspect contained a mysterious mighty force, which actually dispersed the fog surrounding the True Name.

Besides the originally complete Rank 1 True Name, a Rank 0 True Name Rune was revealed as well.

That meant this quasit Dharma Aspect could break through its Rank 1 limit.

Moreover, as long as the 962 Monkey Quasits multiplied into a vast clan—or as its own strength increased—this Dharma Aspect could even break through to the Second Ring.

"Thud..."

Suddenly, his magic power and spiritual power were exhausted.

The Metal External Core fell to the ground, while the Monkey Quasit burst like a bubble and scattered into countless elemental motes of light.

Yin Ming memorized the Rank 0 True Name Rune, but one problem remained: where was he supposed to find Blood-Origin Crystals to make Bloodline Potion?

"Hiss..."

He bent down to pick up the Dharma Aspect External Core.

Yin Ming suddenly sucked in a breath of cold air.

At some unknown moment, a Rank 0 True Name Rune had appeared on the External Core's surface.

"This thing can even derive runes on its own? Self-growing equipment?"

"Luckily, it's only an External Core. If this were branded onto my body and condensed into a true body, wouldn't that be a disaster?"

Although it was developing in a beneficial direction, Yin Ming usually kept a respectful distance from anything beyond his control.

"..."

[Name: Yin Ming (Asum Eno).]

[Method: Vast Sea Meditation Method.]

[Realm: Junior Wizard Apprentice (Mirror Reef, Second Layer).]

[Lifespan: 18/97.]

[Physique: 31.]

[Magic Power: 4/20.]

[Spiritual Power: 4/24.]

[Baseline Brain Optimization: 6%.]

[Wizardry: Crimson Flame Ring, Wizard's Hand, Flesh Strengthening, Shadow Touch, Touch of Corrosion, White Phosphorus Flame...]

[Runes: Soul Severing, Abyssal Summoning, Abyssal Sacrifice, Nightmare Spirit (Rank 0 Authority).]

[Immortal Arts: External Elixir Art, Seventy-Two Forms: 4/72 (Second-Ring limit).]

[Knowledge: Demon Tongue, Wizard Script, Potion Studies, Magical Plant Studies.]

[Potions: Healing Potion, Bloodline Potion, Element-Revealing Potion.]

[Items: Pure Character Law Fragment, revolver,...]

"..."

Yin Ming stored himself inside the gourd.

He carefully inspected himself from head to toe. Only after confirming that he had not been affected in any way did he finally set his mind at ease.