The Blood Saint Clan's Source Blood

Kaimeng City, Red Mist Research Institute. "Shattered Lake Prison has already sent notice regarding your matter. Since that person has already handed down her punishment, the institute naturally will not oppose her wishes." Inside the office, a red-eyed young scholar in a white robe looked calmly at the blood-streaked blue-scaled fishman before him. "Lorence, how did your Blood Embrace progress?" The blue-scaled fishman lowered his head. "I condensed two drops of silver source blood and two drops of gold source blood. But after spending more than a dozen days on the third drop of silver source blood, I couldn't make the slightest progress... That must be my limit, Teacher." "You were only one step away from synthesizing seven-colored source blood. What a shame. But there's no need to despair—perhaps you'll have an opportunity to purify your bloodline in the future." The red-eyed scholar sighed at first, but then his expression hardened. "So you decided to take the risk of peeking at someone else's sorcery procedure because you were certain there was no point staying in Shattered Lake Prison for the Blood Embrace ritual?" The blue-scaled fishman remained silent, offering no defense. "You were lucky this time to run into someone softhearted. You won't have such luck next time," the young scholar sighed. "For the next ten years, stay quietly in the institute and focus on your research. Don't participate in any academic functions. Ten years from now, that person you offended will probably have condensed seven-colored wings. You wouldn't be able to meet her even if you wanted to." "Understood." "Go back and rest. I'll arrange your office tomorrow." The young scholar tapped the wooden desk. "Remember to organize your findings and hand me a report in a couple of days." "Thank you, Teacher. Goodbye, Teacher." The blue-scaled fishman bowed respectfully, left the office, and walked briskly out of the institute. Outside, night had deepened, and the blood moon hung high in the sky. The research institute campus was virtually deserted. Lorence walked faster and faster until, as he passed a tree, he suddenly slammed his fist into it! *Crack!* The tree trunk caved in with a deep dent. The wounds torn open by the finger sharks burst open with blood once more, and even his scales cracked. His hand throbbed with pain, and his entire body ached, but these physical injuries were nothing compared to the stinging ache of the invisible wound carved into Lorence's heart! He was none other than Healer 176, who had been tossed out of Shattered Lake Prison the previous night. His real name was Lorence Teuton, of the blue-scaled fishman clan, a scholar of the Red Mist Research Institute. It had taken him an entire night and day to shake off the hunting finger sharks and return to Kaimeng City. After crawling back onto dry land, he hadn't even bothered to treat his wounds before rushing straight to the institute to ask about his future—if 222 had chosen to pursue the matter to the end, the institute would not only have stripped him of his scholar status, but would even have drained the 'holy blood' from his body! Lorence had contemplated running away. However, the chip check at the security checkpoint had instantly dispelled that foolish notion. Unless he paid an exorbitant price on the black market to have a sorcerer eradicate his chip and lived the rest of his life as an outcast creature in the wild, there was simply no place for a criminal in this era of ubiquitous chips. In the Blood Moon Country, offending the Blood Saint clan left only two paths: beg for mercy with tail wagging, or await trial. Fortunately, 222's punishment for him ended there. Lorence still had a bright future, still stood as the Red Mist Research Institute's most promising scholar, and could still live for a century or two. Yet the very fact that he no longer had to pay any price filled Lorence with an inexplicable fury! Others might consider it mercy. To him, it felt like utter contempt! Then again, she truly possessed the right to look down on Lorence. Just as his teacher had said, ten years from now she would undoubtedly reach the Three-Winged Sanctuary, whereas Lorence might struggle even to attain Two-Winged Gold! Though both belonged to the Blood Saint clan, the gulf between their bloodline aptitudes was like heaven and earth! Yes, bloodline! Lorence had started as an ordinary blue-scaled fishman from a slum rearing institute. However, thanks to his remarkable capacity for learning, he had gained admission to Kaimeng University. Before he even graduated, he had been recruited by the Red Mist Research Institute and granted the privilege to undergo the 'blood-exchange ritual,' becoming a member of the coveted Blood Saint clan! Like the Moon Shadow clan, the Blood Saint clan could not reproduce through ordinary mating rituals. The only way for the Blood Saint clan to expand their kin was to assimilate other species through the blood-exchange ritual. Although different races developed identical characteristics after the exchange—such as scarlet eyes—in theory, the Blood Saint clan was not a racial concept, but a cultural one: everyone identified as a higher race that had broken away from the lower races. Becoming part of the Blood Saint clan offered numerous advantages, the greatest of which was that one's physical body completely transcended mortal lifespan limits. Never aging, perpetually youthful, they were essentially an immortal race. However, while the flesh did not age, the soul still withered. Every race's soul possessed a lifespan limit; a human Blood Saint, for example, would suffer soul collapse around the age of one hundred and fifty. Beyond that, the Blood Saint clan possessed another benefit that sorcerers clamored for: blood healing! By consuming blood, the Blood Saint clan could accelerate both physical and soul recovery! The reason sorcerers required several days of cooldown after dying in the Void Realm before entering again was to replenish their soul energy. Blood Saints, who could replenish soul energy through blood healing, could drastically reduce their death cooldown and increase the frequency of their Void Realm explorations. Blood healing and ageless immortality were the racial advantages that established the Blood Saint clan's dominant rule in the Blood Moon Country. Yet, alongside such extraordinary racial advantages, the Blood Saint clan bore a grave flaw. Aside from having to observe many taboos, the Blood Saint clan's biggest flaw was this: their sorcerers could not absorb sorcery power in the Void Realm. Indeed, they could not absorb sorcery power! The blood-exchange ritual was fundamentally a miracle that deeply fused soul and blood, which was why the physical body gained ageless immortality, and why drinking blood could heal the body. Yet for that very reason, an incomplete soul could not absorb sorcery power in the Void Realm, effectively ruining a sorcerer's future prospects. Blood Saint sorcerers had long since devised a solution, which was why Lorence had gone to Shattered Lake Prison as a healer in the first place—newborn bloodkin used condemned prisoners as sacrifices in the 'Blood Embrace ritual' to condense source blood! Source blood served as the medium to absorb sorcery power in place of the soul. Divided into tiers from low to high, there was silver source blood, gold source blood, seven-colored source blood, and colorless source blood, corresponding to the four kinds of sorcery power in the Void Realm. Every three drops of lower-tier source blood could be synthesized into one drop of higher-tier source blood, and a Blood Saint had to possess the corresponding or higher tier of source blood to absorb that specific sorcery power—for example, silver source blood to absorb silver sorcery power, and gold source blood to absorb gold sorcery power. If one wished to summon a higher-rank sorcery spirit, one had to possess a higher tier of source blood! A Blood Saint without gold source blood could not summon a two-winged sorcery spirit at all, and thus had no way to advance to Two-Winged Sorcerer. This was why his teacher considered Lorence's situation such a shame—had he condensed just one more drop of silver source blood, he could have synthesized seven-colored source blood, and the gates to the Three-Winged Sanctuary would have swung open for him! Now, possessing only gold source blood, Lorence's future would halt at Two-Winged Gold. Only if he purified his bloodline and condensed seven-colored source blood would he ever stand a chance of stepping into the Three-Winged Sanctuary! Furthermore, the higher the tier of source blood, the greater the efficiency of absorbing sorcery power. In the Sea of Knowledge, compared to normal sorcerers, a single drop of silver source blood had a base absorption efficiency of only 30%, with each additional drop increasing it by 10%. This was why his teacher said Lorence only needed to hide for ten years: Lorence had two drops of gold source blood and two drops of silver source blood, amounting to 3 + 3 + 2 = 8 drops of silver source blood, granting an absorption efficiency of 100%. Meanwhile, new scholars from the Four Major Institutes could condense at least one drop of colorless source blood, synthesized from 3 × 3 × 3 = 27 drops of silver source blood, granting an absorption efficiency of 290%! A full threefold difference. Even if this was only a temporary advantage in the Sea of Knowledge, after ten years of accumulation, it would be enough for her to become someone Lorence could only gaze at from afar. To her, Lorence was nothing more than an inconsequential fart, unworthy of attention. How could a future Three-Winged Sanctuary ever care about the resentment of a Two-Winged Gold? Nothing infuriated Lorence more than this. It might be worthless, no one else might care, and others might ridicule him for it, but for a blue-scaled fishman who had fought his way from the slums to the research institute, dignity was the only wealth he possessed. Without his dignity, he truly had nothing left.