In his quest to obtain more ancient creature bloodlines, Leilin Farell had conducted numerous experiments, but unfortunately, none of them had been successful.
The best result was essentially the same as what he already had — an essence carrying the faint aura of some ancient creature's bloodline. To an ordinary Wizard, this might be considered a priceless treasure, but in Leilin's eyes, it was far from sufficient.
"Ding! After 124 actual experiments and 9,718 simulated experiment comparisons, the hypothesis is that the subject's original bloodline concentration is insufficient for further purification operations. It is recommended to seek blood samples from creatures of Third-rank Wizard level or above for bloodline purification…"
The Chip quickly delivered its response.
"As expected…" Leilin had already harbored certain suspicions about this outcome, and now the results aligned closely with the Chip's conclusion.
After the vast stretch of time that had passed, the miraculous species surviving on the South Coast carried ancient bloodlines so diluted they were practically negligible. If the Chip's capabilities weren't so formidable, Leilin wouldn't even have been able to purify this trace-laden impure bloodline.
To obtain a truly pure ancient bloodline, he would need to take blood samples from far more powerful creatures.
And the Chip estimated that Third-rank was the optimal threshold.
In other words, only by obtaining large quantities of blood from creatures comparable in strength to a Third-rank Wizard could the Chip possibly extract a perfect ancient creature bloodline.
"Just… creatures as powerful as a Third-rank Wizard?" A bitter smile tugged at the corner of Leilin's mouth. "I'm afraid a single breath from them would kill me. Last time, obtaining a Holalar Black Snake that had originally been Third-rank Wizard level but happened to have degraded to apprentice strength — that was something you can only hope to stumble upon by sheer luck! It was practically a gift dropped from the heavens!"
The Komoin Giant Serpent bloodline currently residing within Leilin's body had been purified from that Holalar Black Snake found in the Dreamy Garden last time.
And the Holalar Black Snake was a formidable creature that could reach Third-rank Wizard strength upon reaching maturity!
The Holalar Black Snake Leilin had observed had clearly already been an adult, but due to the seal of the secret realm, it had been unable to feed for an extended period. Combined with whatever other methods the Crimson Great Wizard had arranged, the snake had been trapped in a state of continuous dormancy and degradation — which was precisely why it had ended up being miserably slain by a group of Third-rank Apprentices.
This was obviously a gift left behind by the Crimson Great Wizard for future generations — a deliberate, intentional arrangement, not some coincidence.
And the Crimson Great Wizard had been a powerful Bloodline Warlock who had reached the Fourth-rank, making the difference between him and Leilin as stark as that between the sun and a firefly.
"There's nothing to be done about this except rely on luck. At most I'll keep an eye out for opportunities in the future — no point dwelling on it now!"
Leilin instinctively glanced at his status panel.
"Leilin Farell — Warlock, First-rank. Bloodline: Komoin Giant Serpent. Strength: 7.1, Agility: 6.7, Constitution: 8.5, Spirit: 58.9, Mana: 58 (mana determined by spiritual power synchronization). Spiritual Elementalization Progress: 70%. Status: Healthy."
Over the past year or more, he had maintained his trade arrangement with the old witch, using the processed souls he received from her to obtain vast quantities of an ancient spiritual power potion — Maria's Tears!
Under the powerful boost of this ancient potion, Leilin's spiritual power had surged forward at a breathtaking pace.
Though he had spent so long in the Four Seasons Garden and had managed to obtain some spiritual power potion formulas useful for official Wizards through exchange, after comparing them, he found that none of these potions came close to the effectiveness of the ancient potion.
With the ancient potion's help, Leilin's spiritual power had broken through at a terrifying, almost shocking rate — as if there were no bottlenecks at all.
But by now, he had been forced to use the Mimicry Spell every single day to conceal the enormous fluctuations of his spiritual power. He also tried to stay out of sight as much as possible, avoiding the vicinity of several Second-rank Wizards so as not to arouse any suspicion.
And even now, the Mimicry Spell that the Chip had refined multiple times was barely able to contain it.
Leilin could only flee back into Nevernight City to hide whenever he had time off, doing his best to decline social engagements and the like.
Furthermore, once his spiritual power had reached a certain level, Leilin had once again used his stockpiled Dark System energy particle crystals to push his elementalization progress up to 70% in one fell swoop!
However, after his spiritual elementalization reached 70%, the Chip had issued him a warning — his body and spirit had developed a resistance to those crystals. From now on, unless he could find even rarer resources to improve his degree of elementalization, he would have to rely on meditation and time to slowly grind his way forward.
"Ancient potions — truly worthy of being the specialty of ancient Wizards!"
A look of satisfaction appeared in Leilin's eyes. "The trade with that old witch cannot be allowed to fall through. And finding a new method to conceal my spiritual power has become an urgent priority…"
Speaking of which, collecting souls was the kind of task best handled by one's own people — ideally, servants branded directly with a Soul Brand who could keep the secret.
But unfortunately, the preliminary steps in obtaining Maria's Tears required at least a First-rank Wizard's strength, along with expertise in soul manipulation, to carry out.
Given Leilin's current level of accomplishment in spiritual power and the soul, the most he could do was control servants up to Third-rank Apprentice level with a Soul Brand. Enslaving an official Wizard was simply out of the question.
Besides, the old witch had also sworn an oath under the Eye of Judgment, so she was trustworthy for the time being.
"However, the old witch has recently been offering fewer and fewer spiritual bodies. During our last few trades, she seemed distracted as well, and she hasn't been participating in some of the Dark Wizard organization's activities either. It seems like something extremely important has come up. I should go check on her tomorrow — hopefully nothing has gone wrong…"
This ally's recent abnormal behavior had stoked Leilin's concern.
"My lord! Dinner is ready!"