Niss's voice was gentle and measured. "The current patriarch of the Trier family has also come here to wait. Would you like to receive him?"
"No need!"
He then fell silent again. Niss, sensing the situation, quietly withdrew.
After a long while, Leylin let out a deep sigh.
"Ni Lan was indeed a clever woman.
He had always known Ni Lan's character — she was very practical, knew when to advance and retreat, so it was only natural that she would find a good end.
Anna's forces had merely been a fallback plan he'd prepared back when he was still an apprentice. It was understandable that they couldn't withstand the test of time.
What puzzled Leylin most was Biji. Given her personality, she clearly wasn't the type of
To Leylin, all three of them were good friends, and he had even shared intimate relations with them at one point. If he could see them again, he would naturally do his best to help them.
But since meeting them wasn't possible, so be it.
After indulging in a brief moment of reminiscence, Leylin left the cemetery and returned to the lavish chamber that Black Bone Forest had prepared specifically for him.
"Ancestor!" Krupp bowed respectfully, though he looked vastly different from before.
His original hair color and pupil color had both changed, shifting toward a pure black hue. The lines of his face had softened, and he appeared far more handsome overall, exuding a unique charm.
"Mm! How is the body? Are you adapting well?" A blue luminescence shot from Leylin's eyes, scanning Krupp's entire body.
There were many methods to boost someone's strength in a short time, but the most suitable approach for Krupp was bloodline modification.
Over this period, Krupp had been undergoing bloodline transplantation from Leylin — or rather, the contamination of a lower being by a higher organism!
Although Krupp's path as a Wizard had already been set, it would have topped out at most at Tier 1. With Leylin's current capabilities, redirecting him onto the path of a bloodline warlock was simplicity itself.
At this moment, Krupp's body radiated not only the aura of a bloodline warlock, but his energy fluctuations had also silently crossed the boundary, entering the rank of a Tier 2 warlock.
"It's manageable, but I keep feeling uncomfortable. Even my marrow feels like it's being burned…"
Krupp was, to be precise, still overwhelmingly excited. For a Wizard, the opportunity to obtain tremendous power at the cost of nothing more than a somewhat painful bloodline modification was simply the kind of blessing one could never even dare to pray for.
In truth, after crossing the threshold of Tier 2 with the aid of the bloodline's power, he had become completely and utterly devoted to Leylin's methods.
"Mm! This is a normal phenomenon from the bloodline transplant. When you get back, remember to meditate on the Comorin Eye of the Serpent several times!"
The Chip, at that moment, also fed the data it had collected back to Leylin, causing him to nod secretly in approval.
The modification of Krupp was a plan he had laid out well in advance. After all, the Farrell family on the South Coast still needed a powerful guardian.
And once Krupp received the Comorin bloodline, given the Serpent Emperor's dominion talent, Leylin's control over him would inevitably rise to an entirely new level.
"The boost from a Tier 5 Serpent Emperor bloodline is truly extraordinary. Krupp stepping into Tier 2 warlock is only natural — there's even a very real possibility he could advance to Tier 3 within fifty years based on the bloodline alone, and in the future, the chance of breaking through to Dawn Star is there as well…"
A glint of sharp light flashed through Leylin's eyes.
What Krupp had received was, naturally, the Tier 5 Comorin Serpent Emperor bloodline — but not Leylin's own blood.
Leylin's bloodline was far too powerful now; a single drop would have been enough to burst Krupp apart from the inside. The bloodline of a first-generation warlock was simply too much for Krupp to bear. Therefore, what Leylin had used for Krupp was the umbilical cord blood he had collected at the time of Sirey's birth.
Although a second-generation warlock's bloodline was not as potent as Leylin's, it was nonetheless authentic Tier 5 Serpent Emperor blood. And since it had been diluted by half and was still in its nascent stage, it was perfectly compatible with Krupp's body.
Having inherited that blood, Krupp could now properly be called a third-generation warlock — in Leylin's lineage, his grandchild generation.
[Beep! Bloodline degradation chart complete. Estimated degradation of subject's descendants: Comorin Giant Serpent bloodline by the 15th generation; further degradation by the 34th generation…]
The Chip's mechanical voice rang out once more.
For warlocks, bloodline degradation was an unavoidable problem. In order to preserve the purity of their family's bloodline, they even resorted to incestuous marriages and darker rituals still, all in the hopes of pushing back the timeline of degradation. Yet even after paying such a steep price, in the end they could only delay the process by less than a century.
"So what you're saying is, before the fifteenth generation, the probability of the Farrell family producing another Tier 5 warlock is still quite high?"
Leylin stroked his chin, pondering slowly. Simply possessing a Serpent Emperor bloodline did not guarantee one could advance to Tier 5.
Within the Ouroboros Ring, there had been no shortage of Comorin warlocks over the years, yet those who had ultimately succeeded in advancing to Tier 4 Dawn Star numbered only the three grand dukes,
Even Beevis, who held a Tier 6 bloodline, could not be said with certainty to break through to Tier 6 and reach the Radiant Sun Throne — only that he had the potential to do so.
Therefore, for Leylin's descendants who had inherited the Tier 5 Serpent Emperor bloodline, as long as they were willing to put in the effort, reaching Tier 4 Dawn Star would be no obstacle at all — but whether they could advance to Tier 5 remained something profoundly uncertain.
As someone who had been through it all, Leylin understood all too well that a warlock's advancement required not only vast resources and relentless effort but also, at times, a measure of luck.
Other warlocks did not have the convenient conditions that Leylin enjoyed — the ability to use the Chip to simulate and predict probabilities during advancement.
"By your command, my lord!"
After undergoing the modification of the Tier 5 Serpent Emperor bloodline, Krupp now felt toward Leylin not only the reverence he had always harboured but also a deep-seated dependence and respect that sprang from the very depths of his heart and soul.
This was the humility embedded in the blood of the Comorin Giant Serpens toward their natural king — etched so deeply into the genes and the bloodline that it could never be changed.
"This feeling... is truly intoxicating..."
Leylin's eyes flashed briefly, his thoughts continuing to race. "At this point, if I ordered Krupp to kill everyone he held dear and then take his own life, he would likely not refuse — he would even give his utmost to carry out the task. By the same token, the Mother of all Snakes exercises precisely this kind of control over the serpent clans beneath her. And I, I fear, am the only anomaly in that equation!"
Leylin's fingers traced involuntarily across his cheek. His forehead was covered by the cold mask, and the Mark of Ten Thousand Snakes lay as still as death, showing not the slightest movement.
Yet Leylin could still feel it — fine, hair-thin threads of bloodline power emerging from various parts of his body, being drawn in and absorbed by the Mark of Ten Thousand Snakes, strengthening its power.
Though it had no significant effect on him for the time being, at this rate, it would take only a little over two years for the Mark to strip his bloodline power completely, dropping him back to the rank of an ordinary person.
From Krupp's behaviour alone, Leylin could tell that his Comorin Serpent Emperor's dominion gift was already posing a challenge to the Mother of all Snakes' authority.
Moreover, if he were to break through the bloodline's shackles, every Comorin Giant Serpent across all worlds might well break free of the Mother of all Snakes' rule — something she would absolutely never tolerate.
The conflict with the Mother of all Snakes was, therefore, entirely unavoidable.
"Also! Headmistress Niess is waiting outside, hoping to be granted an audience!" During Leylin's meditation, Krupp had been standing respectfully to the side like the most loyal guard and attendant. It was only once Leylin showed signs of stirring that he stepped forward and reported in a soft voice.
"Niess? What business does she have?" Leylin's brows furrowed slightly.
"It should concern a number of other visitors. Ever since word spread that my lord is lodging at the Black Bone Forest Academy, a great number of dark warlock factions have dispatched envoys — some have even sent their leaders in person. Among them is the President of the Night Watchtower."
Krupp felt a quiet twinge of emotion deep down.
For someone like his former self, the Night Watchtower — that colossal power among dark warlocks — had been an existence one could only gaze up at in awe. Yet now they had come in such humility, waiting to be received by his master. It filled him with a vicarious sense of pride.
"Furthermore, several light warlock factions have also sent envoys in secret..."
Krupp glanced at Leylin's expression, and seeing that his master remained perfectly composed, ventured to continue: "My lord, what would you have us do..."
"Find me some time, and I'll meet with all of them at once!"
Leylin waved his hand dismissively.
……
"I never imagined the Tower Master himself would grace Black Bone Forest Academy with his presence — it is truly an honour for all our professors and students!"
On the other side, Niss was strolling along the paths within Black Bone Forest, escorting a figure shrouded entirely in a black robe, from beneath whose hood only two points of eerie green flame flickered where eyes should be. He was none other than the master of the Night Watchtower — the leader of the greatest dark wizard organisation.
"As an academy that produced a genius of Lord Leylin's calibre, the systems here clearly have much to recommend them!"
The black-robed figure was, in fact, the head of the Night Watchtower, the supreme leader of all dark warlocks.
It was precisely because his organisation's reach was so vast that he had been able to obtain the astonishing details of Leylin's recent exploits and specific intelligence faster than anyone else — so fast that even he himself could no longer sit still.
After all, this Lord Leylin was a Grand Wizard who very likely had the potential to step into the Morning Star realm!
Setting aside everything else, even receiving a few scraps of guidance on his own path of advancement would be more than enough to fill him with endless gratitude.
"Lord Leylin's achievements are entirely thanks to his own talent! Black Bone Forest was merely fortunate enough to be the place where his potential was first awakened…"
On this point, Niss did not dare to claim more credit than was due. She spoke nothing but the plain truth.