His eyes swept across the numerous Magical Items and rare materials, and Leilin's gaze settled directly on a pile of crystals.
They were all pure Spiritual Power crystals, with a ring of elemental particle fluctuations along their outer edges.
Crystallization Wizards could store their Spiritual Power crystals during normal times, then swallow them directly when the need arose or even use them as currency.
This time, Leilin had moved too swiftly, leaving his opponents no chance to even deploy such items.
Compared to the Spiritual Power crystals Freya had gifted him, these crystals still clearly had their personal imprints unrefined and would require processing before use.
"Crystallization Wizard crystals!"
Leilin rubbed his chin, and a vial of golden blood appeared in his hand.
"I can't believe I've gathered both of these. I'm afraid that Hourglass experiment will have to be carried out!"
Leilin sighed, a deep, inscrutable light flickering in his eyes.
His gains from the Hourglass ancient castle last time had been far more than just the serpent woman's bone joints.
The vast amount of experimental data he had originally obtained, after Leilin's decryption, had all become the most precious bloodline research materials. Over the long span of more than a century, Leilin had absorbed them all, even making numerous improvements along the way. The technique for preserving one's life seed was merely the most peripheral part of it all.
In fact, Leilin felt that his level of bloodline research had likely already reached the pinnacle within the Ring of the Ouroboros, on par with the several Elders.
Among his research, there was a method involving the burning of ancient bloodlines to enhance one's own power.
This experiment had been kept strictly secret by Leilin — he hadn't even brought it out when advancing to Crystallization, because the first bloodline burning yielded the best results, followed by diminishing returns. And Leilin's plan was to use this bloodline burning technique to push himself through the bottleneck of Morning Star!
Of course, to reach the Morning Star realm, a single bloodline experiment was far from enough. Leilin himself was currently only at the early stage of Crystallization, without even the qualifications to attempt a breakthrough to Morning Star.
Moreover, the fourth-rank Morning Star realm was an enormous chasm compared to third-rank Wizards. The Wizards of the entire Central Continent were countless, yet Morning Stars were forever only a scant few, always occupying the highest positions.
While bloodline burning could enhance one's strength to a certain degree, the likelihood of breaking through the Morning Star barrier was still not great.
But the cards in Leilin's hand were not limited to the ancient bloodline experiment alone.
"My third-rank accumulation is nearly complete. From here on, I must keep Morning Star in mind..." Leilin rubbed his chin.
The situation across the entire Central Continent was far from favorable, especially for the Ouroboros Circle. Whether it was disturbances along the borders, the destruction of numerous families, or even the disappearance of core members — all of it seemed to herald a very grim future.
And amid this chaos, only one's own strength could serve as the best reliance!
"Master Gilbert and the other two elders should have noticed these developments as well, so why haven't they made any moves…"
Leilin mused for a moment, then suddenly thought of his own appointment. "Perhaps they have noticed, and are taking covert action — it simply hasn't come to my attention…"
In the quiet of his waiting, time trickled by little by little.
Leilin also received his escort detail. Only after all his subordinates had assembled did he feel he had a measure of confidence, and he sought out Lucy.
"You really want to do this?" Lucy looked at Leilin before her, an unconcealable note of surprise in his voice.
Especially upon learning that the other had already advanced to crystallization and now stood on equal footing with him, Lucy felt a pang of sentimentality inside.
This junior brother had taken only a hundred years to catch up to his pace, surpassing those Morning Star seeds whom the entire organization had to pour resources into cultivating.
Moreover, compared to Robin, whose temperament had drastically changed, Leilin now not only possessed greater potential but displayed a humility and composure that Lucy admired even more.
"If you keep investigating like this, the scope of what you'll be entangled in will be far too wide… Although Master ordered me to provide you with assistance, still…"
In Lucy's view, what Leilin ought to be doing right now was devoting himself entirely to secluded cultivation, seizing the opportunity to charge at the Morning Star bottleneck. These matters were trivial by comparison — he truly couldn't fathom what Master was thinking.
At the mere thought of Gilbert, even Lucy couldn't help but let out a sigh.
For high-ranking warlock-serpents like them, the allure of the Infernal World was simply far too great to resist sinking into.
Coupled with the recent state of affairs, and Leilin's terrifying combat prowess from before, Lucy sighed again.
"I'm in charge of intelligence operations for the Ouroboros Circle — I can hand all of these materials over to you! I just hope you won't get swallowed up by it!" Lucy said with a bitter smile, passing a translucent crystal ball to Leilin.
"As an enforcer, it is my duty to root out those hostile elements and hidden threats lurking within the Ouroboros Circle!"
Leilin smiled faintly, seemingly unconcerned by Lucy's words. But the moment his Spiritual Power probed into the crystal ball, his expression shifted.
"Our situation has actually deteriorated to this extent?" He looked up at Lucy with a measure of disbelief.
"…Yes!" After a heart-chilling silence, Lucy nodded, his expression heavy.
"There has been much unrest along our borders, and even within our own ranks, there are unknown forces causing trouble. Several families, in particular, have been confirmed to have betrayed us…"