Chapter 522: Examination, Suspected Bloodline Awakener

Very quickly, Padike took his son back from his wife's arms, carefully placed him on the straw mat, and then stepped aside, looking at Xia Duo with an expectant expression.

At this moment, the sun had completely fallen below the horizon, the afterglow had dissipated, and although the sky was not yet pitch black, it had already grown dark.

Xia Duo first cast 【Light】 to illuminate the room, then stepped forward to approach the straw mat, crouched down, and carefully checked the aura state of the little boy's body; when he had just entered the door, he had not discovered any Magic Aura.

Now, checking carefully again, there were indeed no traces of any magic having been used on the child, and as for the bloodline curse that Padike had found out about from the Temple, Xia Duo did not discover that either.

A curse does not come from nothing; a curse is also a type of magic, and it is possible to detect corresponding traces; as for whether it can be dispelled, that depends on one's own methods.

But now, there were no traces at all, as if some mysterious curse had appeared out of thin air, turning this child withered, weak, and on the verge of death.

Xia Duo frowned; he really did not want to believe that an ordinary member of the Temple's Divine Office would be more skilled in the field of magic than he was, but now it seemed there was really no other way to explain it than with that so-called bloodline curse.

"Niya, come over and take a look; I have never seen a situation like this."

While Niya was checking, Xia Duo asked Padike again, "You said before that your child suddenly became like this a while ago; when exactly was it? Who discovered it first? What was the situation at the time?"

"It was three days ago. I came back from work at the docks and found Xiao En collapsed at the doorway. My old woman was still out helping others wash clothes and hadn't returned, so I was the only one who saw it."

"Has it been like this for these three days? Can the child speak, and did he say if anything happened?" Xia Duo asked again.

"It has been like this the whole time; Xiao En is so weak he can't even open his mouth."

"..."

"Then he hasn't eaten anything for these three days?" Xia Duo looked at the withered little boy, Xiao En, and suddenly wondered if he had been starved into this state.

"He ate, he ate," Padike said hurriedly, "I feed him some bread paste every night. Sir, what you mean is—"

"Let's take a look first!" Xia Duo did not draw a conclusion directly, because even if it were starvation, how did it start in the first place? Although Xiao En is young, he is of a certain age; surely he wouldn't not know to eat when hungry!

If that were truly the case, he would have starved to death long ago and wouldn't have survived until now.

Afterwards, Xia Duo asked about some more details.

Soon, Niya finished her check as well. She stood up and glanced at Xia Duo. Xia Duo understood immediately, cast a Soundproof Barrier, and then asked, "Did you find anything?"

"Hmm." Niya nodded, her expression somewhat strange, "Why does it look to me like he was starved into this state!"

"You discovered it too? But Xiao En was still normal during the day three days ago. You should have heard what Padike just said; Xiao En even went to deliver water to him at noon. It's unlikely he would suddenly become this hungry at night, right!"

"It is indeed unlikely, but there are no magic traces on him either. How could he be this weak?" Niya was also very puzzled; she had never encountered a situation like this before.

"Let me try again!"

Xia Duo came to Xiao En's side again. Previously, he had only checked from the outside, focusing mainly on magic traces. He could still further examine the inside of Xiao En's body to see what exactly the situation was.

【Imaging】 is a detection spell Xia Duo mastered a long time ago. Using the principles of sound wave imaging, it can detect various conditions inside an object.

Xia Duo has used this spell very few times, barely a handful, and he basically hadn't practiced it normally, so for a moment, he actually couldn't recall the relevant details of the spell.

However, it was a spell he had created himself after all. From the technical Principles and spell Principles to the implementation of the specific spell, Xia Duo was very clear on this series of research paths. Following this direction to recall, he quickly re-mastered the spell.

—【Imaging】!

Xia Duo extended his right hand, palm facing down, close to Xiao En's face, then moved downward step by step, from the neck to the torso, and then to the limbs, not missing a single part of the whole body.

And because Xia Duo does not have much medical Knowledge regarding human tissue, pathological analysis, etc., even with a spell like 【Imaging】, he could only make some superficial judgments.

But that was already enough!

Finishing the check, Xia Duo squeezed Xiao En's arm, then pressed on his stomach, and finally stood up, lost in thought.

"Xia Duo, how is it? Any new discoveries?"

"Yes!"

Xia Duo weighed his words and, as usual, cast a Soundproof Barrier, "I discovered that he really seems to have been starved into this state!"

"Where do you see that from? Then how do you explain that he was still normal during the day three days ago and suddenly became like this at night?"

"In the check just now, I found that the muscles on Xiao En's body are very firm. Although he looks incredibly withered, I speculate that his strength should be quite great. Additionally, I found that his stomach is churning rapidly, but there is no food inside. In short, I speculate—"

Speaking to this point, Xia Duo couldn't help but slow his tone, "I speculate that three days ago, Xiao En likely awakened a bloodline related to strength and constitution, which made him extremely hungry in a short period of time. Before he could even find food, he starved into a faint!"

"Really?!" Niya showed an expression of surprise. Of course, she didn't follow it up with "I don't believe it"; she knew that Xia Duo had awakened a bloodline related to elements himself, so he should know quite a bit about bloodlines.

"Not certain yet, but it's very simple to confirm; just feed him some meat."

Meat is better at replenishing energy than bread paste; this is a fact. And after Xia Duo discovered that Xiao En's stomach was churning rapidly, he felt that he should be able to digest meat.

Of course, at this time, even if Padike went to buy meat, he might not be able to buy any, and the time spent going back and forth is also an issue. Since Xia Duo had taken the man's Spellbook, he naturally wouldn't be stingy with this bit of meat.

In his Personal Space and Dimensional Bag, he always kept food: bread, steamed buns, roasted flour, and various types of meat.

Taking out a strip of air-dried salted meat, Xia Duo cast 【Crushing Force Field】 from the Paper-making Technique series of spells, mixing the meat and water together to mash it into a meat paste.

Afterwards, he let Padike feed it to Xiao En.

As for himself, he continued to make meat paste for Xiao En. Strip after strip of salted meat was taken out by Xia Duo from the Dimensional Bag, and under Niya's surprised gaze, he cast spells calmly.

"Xia Duo, do you always carry this much food on you?" Niya asked in a low voice.

"Don't you?" Xia Duo asked in return.

"..."

Niya did not speak. She did indeed carry some food in her Dimensional Bag, but not like Xia Duo, who carried this much meat alone; this was just too exaggerated.