[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-evolution-from-little-devil-to-devil-empress":3,"chapter-evolution-from-little-devil-to-devil-empress-evolution-from-little-devil-to-devil-empress-chapter-174":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Evolution: From Little Devil to Devil Empress",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1079844,1395,"Chapter 174: Hero [9] - Blood","evolution-from-little-devil-to-devil-empress-chapter-174",174,"\u003Cp>Not only would getting such a title not help her achieve her goals, but it would instead become an invisible shackle limiting her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, Liora refused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There’s no need for your help.\", she shook her head:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My current focus is on Knight training and becoming stronger. I’ve already reached the peak of the Great Knight rank. I believe that I might be able to glimpse at the rank beyond it if I’m lucky.\", Liora spoke, and her eyes shone brightly when she mentioned the King of Knights rank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was as if that rank had been her lifelong dream, her only purpose in life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Duchess Lobelia showed no anger even though her offer was declined. Instead, she cast Liora an appreciative look and nodded in approval.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Indeed. For us, a mere noble title is nothing. Our only dream is to advance further. At that time, being a Baron, a Marquis, or even a King would not matter.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Me too... I also had that dream once... I might have achieved it by now if I possessed a...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Duchess didn’t continue her words. Her speech came to a halt abruptly as if she was unwilling to speak further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet, the reluctance on her face revealed that she was greatly pained by her situation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her previous words and current expression would immediately pique one’s interest, as if inviting them to ask further questions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Liora didn’t inquire. It appeared that she really respected the Duchess’s choice of not saying anything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Silence soon shrouded the table, as the Duchess seemed to have fallen into memories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes her face appeared sorrowful, others excited, and others gnashing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was only a few minutes later that she finally recovered, and her attention returned to reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m really sorry. It’s just that I recalled a few unfortunate things...\", the Duchess coughed dryly to hide her embarrassment and apologized profusely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, she continued on as if nothing had happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Since you are planning to continue your Knight training, why don’t you stay at the border for a little while?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Not only can you kill beasts and obtain their corpses to enhance your strength here, but the two of us will be able to communicate.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You know... It’s rare to meet someone who has reached the peak of the Great Knight rank. Much less a female Knight at that.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>--\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A few days later, the journey of the two women ended. Liora and the Duchess returned to Hope City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the memories of what had happened resurfaced in her mind, Liora couldn’t help but show a mocking sneer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She understood very well that appearances were often deceiving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Often, it was only through actions that people’s personalities were truly revealed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hence, Liora was not fooled by Duchess Lobelia’s words and kind attitude. She knew that everything was merely an act.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Less than ten percent of what the Duchess said could actually be trusted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, even though she knew this, Liora ended up taking up on Duchess Lobelia’s offer to stay at the border.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not because she was fooled by her act, but because it matched her future plans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Though our relationship is built on thin ice, it’s ultimately beneficial to me at the moment. Not only can I gain information regarding the Empire through her, but I can also come in closer contact with other Great Knights.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I believe that such a contact will greatly speed up my research.\", Liora thought as her eyes turned to the glass vial on the table before her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The vial was filled with a purple liquid that moved back and forth on its own, seemingly creating the outline of a flower on its surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Liora reached out and uncorked its cap, a sweet smell filled the research room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the smell of flowers, elegant and captivating, as if countless lobelias had suddenly grown and engulfed her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was not a coincidence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The purple liquid inside the vial was the blood of Duchess Lobelia that Liora had secretly collected from the battlefield in Hope City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And, through researching it, she had figured out quite a lot of things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No wonder all my previous experiments ended up as failures. The structure of Great Knights is different from ordinary humans, even if they are True Knights.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Once a person advances to a Great Knight, it can be said that they are no longer humans. They have transcended their species, becoming members of a new race.\", Liora thought as she lightly tapped the vial with her fingers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I saw this mentioned in the Knight Techniques that I previously collected, but I thought that it was just a figure of speech. After all, no such change occurred to me when I advanced.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This explained why her research had yielded no results.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was as if she were trying to create medicine for a human, but rather than studying the human’s body structure, she had gone and observed a bunch of rats.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though one could indeed figure out a few things, it was impossible to truly apply them without really conducting experiments on the real subject.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This realization didn’t disappoint Liora. Instead, it made her excited.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since she had found what was wrong, it had now become way easier to fix it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instantly, she had the impulse to run out of the room, search for a suitable Great Knight, and place them on the operating table before cutting them open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But she quickly restrained that impulse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now was not the time. This could wait for later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She first had to take one more look at the rest of her experiments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Putting the vial with the Duchess’s blood aside, Liora grabbed a different vial from the side and placed it on the table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The vials looked exactly the same as the one before it, except that it was now filled with a pitch-black liquid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just like the Duchess’s blood, this blood also possessed extraordinary qualities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Countless mouths were growing all over its surface, which opened wide and swallowed the air around them as if they were breathing.\u003C\u002Fp>",1008,"2026-06-03T10:39:03.947Z",1,"novelbin.me","f4ee7b216ad4f3207a0313c9f4e6b15bb9e5aacf41183920f922ad13e1570655","evolution-from-little-devil-to-devil-empress-chapter-175","evolution-from-little-devil-to-devil-empress-chapter-173",482,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fevolution-from-little-devil-to-devil-empress-cover.jpg"]