Chapter 124: Bloodline Awakening

Today, Xia Duo went outside the Mage Tower. Although he initially wanted to witness the so-called Elf Hot Dance, and while the dance did not disappoint him, what truly caught his attention was that Jianaer had cast a 【Soundproof Barrier】 right in front of him without any attempt at concealment, which brought him no small gain.

Although it could not directly accelerate his research progress, its contribution to expanding his spell vision was quite good, and it could be considered as indirectly accelerating his research progress.

Xia Duo had no intention of interacting with Jianaer, this newly promoted Official Mage, regarding Magic, but he definitely had ideas about that 【Soundproof Barrier】.

After putting away the two Fuwu diagrams and the map he had copied to carry with him, Xia Duo locked the door and left the dormitory; the Spell Laboratory was his constant choice.

……

As time flowed, the ice and snow in the Savile Territory had gradually melted. In the Mage Tower, besides Jianaer, two more Apprentices had successfully become Official Mages, which added some vitality to the entire apprentice circle.

With the temperature outside warming up and the ice and snow melting, the Official Apprentices who had waited bitterly for months began to frequently accept Territory Tasks, to the point that the Mage Tower was short-staffed, forcing all Apprentices to undergo another work adjustment.

In this adjustment, Xia Duo remained in the Arcane Garden. Perhaps the apple tree really was his lucky spot; during a routine discussion of the Study Group, Xia Duo suddenly figured out a problem.

The experimental method improved based on this directly boosted his research progress by a significant margin. If nothing unexpected happened, he should be able to become an Official Mage before the Midsummer Festival.

Looking back at the past, the time he joined the Mage Tower was exactly last year's Midsummer Festival!

Exactly one year. Although he could not compare to Aideliqi's older brother Aidelian, Xia Duo had no one to rely on and had reached this point solely by relying on his initial Permission Level for ten Ring Spell Learning Scrolls.

From this perspective, he was even stronger than Aidelian. The only pity was his age; he was already 25, while Aidelian was just 19.

Xia Duo also wanted to become a student of the Lord. If he were 17 now, he would be a carbon copy of Aidelian, and perhaps the Lord would have accepted him too. But at 25, just how much possibility there was, he was somewhat uncertain.

……

This day, while in the Arcane Garden in the morning, Xia Duo was discussing the geometric Principles of Ring Spells with the members of the Study Group. Just as the discussion was getting lively, Xia Duo suddenly received a warning from the Tower Spirit—

"Apprentice Xia Duo, you have violated the Tower of Time apprentice ban by casting a Spell in a non-permitted area. You are limited to three days to go to the Material Requisition Office on the Public Level to pay a fine: 15 Gold Coins."

"Huh?!"

At this moment, Xia Duo was completely bewildered. What had he done? He was just discussing spell problems with his group members and wasn't casting any Spell at all. Could the Tower Spirit also have bugs?

And just as Xia Duo was preparing to ask the Tower Spirit about the specific situation, he suddenly felt a sense of emptiness in his body, followed immediately by intense pain. His internal organs felt as if they were fighting, and the pain spread from his flesh all the way to his spirit.

Xia Duo gasped. At this moment, he was sitting under the tree, leaning against the trunk, his left hand clenched into a fist resting on the notes on his knees, while his right hand gripped the Mithril Pen tightly.

This pain, coming from nowhere, made him almost unable to control himself. It was only through sheer willpower that he kept himself from rolling on the ground in agony.

Yet the impact of this pain was continuous, like an enemy determined to make him make a fool of himself. But Xia Duo stubbornly endured it, even having to respond in time to the exchange with Aideliqi and the others.

"From the spell structure of the 【Arcane Mark】, the openness of the structure has no direct relationship with whether the spell is constant; rather, it is the cyclic logic implied by its elements that is worth our attention."

"Hmm!" Xia Duo nodded approvingly. Dien had actually reached this step. Although Xia Duo had understood this problem months ago, for the Study Group, it was a major breakthrough.

"Dien, you raised this question very well, I think—" The rest of his words were swallowed back by Xia Duo. Another wave of intense pain had just struck, making him almost unable to speak.

At this time, Xia Duo's abnormality was finally noticed by the members of the Study Group. Seeing Xia Duo with his brows tightly locked and his forehead covered in dense, fine sweat, Dien couldn't help but ask: "Xia Duo, what's wrong with you? You look terrible!"

"I'm fine, maybe the Positive Energy in the Arcane Garden is fluctuating a bit today, it's hot!" Xia Duo said lightly, lifting his sleeve to wipe his forehead.

The evasive nature of Xia Duo's excuse was quite obvious. Seeing that Xia Duo didn't want to say more, Dien and the others had no choice but to drop it and continue discussing spell problems.

It was strange to say; Xia Duo had been in agonizing pain just a moment ago, but now he felt nothing at all. If it weren't for his back and sleeves still being damp and his consciousness remaining clear, he might have thought the intense pain from just now was all a hallucination.

While dealing with the exchange with Dien and the others, Xia Duo pondered the source of this pain. After ruling out all unrealistic possibilities, Xia Duo felt that it was very likely his Bloodline Awakening again.

Although this possibility was also a bit far-fetched—having suddenly awakened without experiencing the dream of becoming a dragon-blooded being—he himself was half-doubting it.

Soon, after the routine exchange ended, the Study Group began their collective physical training. After several months of grinding, they had long since become accustomed to the feeling of physical exhaustion followed by improvement.

Over these past few months, each of them had become much stronger, and the impact of physical strength on Spellcasting ability was like drinking water—one knows it for oneself. However, judging by how they enthusiastically started training every day on time, it was indeed having some effect.

Although Xia Duo had already verified this result on himself, seeing it verified on others still made him very gratified. After all, the more samples a conclusion has, the more accurate it is.

After the training ended, it was the Q&A session. The other Apprentices in the Arcane Garden all gathered near the apple tree forest, and it was still the five of them taking turns answering questions.

But except for Xia Duo, the other four were all a bit impatient. After all, after such a long time, the benefits they could gain from these Ordinary Apprentices were already very few.

They couldn't even squeeze out many Gold Coins anymore.

"Sami, you do the Q&A today."

"Alright."

Although somewhat reluctant, Sami accepted. Once the Tower Spirit's "off-duty" reminder arrived, Xia Duo couldn't wait to leave first.

He had a feeling that perhaps the intense pain from earlier would strike again, and it was very likely what he had guessed: Bloodline Awakening.

This feeling was very mysterious. Even though he hadn't felt an improvement in his physical fitness during the physical training just now, he had this inexplicable confidence.

To avoid the Tower Spirit misjudging him as casting a forbidden spell again, and also to try not to attract attention, Xia Duo went to the Library Layer and rented a Spell Laboratory.

Here, no matter how his bloodline went crazy, there would be no more fines. Perhaps the calm environment of the Magic Net could even alleviate some of the pain!