Chapter 116

Luo En returned to the workshop with a joyful mood; the successful test made his mood exceptionally relaxed.

Being able to skip directly to the third phase of the course meant he could acquire deeper knowledge faster, which was what he had always craved.

"Ailan, I'm back!" he pushed open the workshop door and called out lightly.

The tree spirit stood quietly in the corner; hearing Luo En's voice, she turned slightly, and her leaves lightly depicted characters:

"Congratulations, Master; it seems the test went smoothly."

Luo En nodded and hung his outer robe on the coat rack at the door: "Far exceeded expectations; they let me skip directly to the third phase of the course."

As he spoke, he walked to Ailan's side and carefully examined this peculiar creature that was once a pure plant.

Over these days, Ailan's changes had been quite obvious; her body had completely presented a soft female posture.

The "dress" woven from branches hung to the ground, forming an elegant and mysterious appearance.

However, Luo En also noticed that compared to the previous few days, Ailan's changes seemed to have stagnated.

Her face still maintained a relatively blurred outline; although the positions of her eyes, nose, and mouth could be identified, they were still far from as clear and fine as a human's.

"How do you feel recently, Ailan?" Luo En asked softly, his tone carrying concern.

Ailan's vines trembled slightly: "Very calm, Master. Those dreams... have stopped appearing."

Luo En nodded thoughtfully.

Just as he had expected, Ailan's evolution seemed to have reached a bottleneck.

The energy in the potion waste was no longer enough to push her to further transform into a higher form.

"This is normal," Luo En comforted: "Every evolution requires sufficient energy accumulation. We can try some new methods."

He took a small bottle from the workbench, which contained the waste residue of the Sun Flame Essence just refined; these residues still contained trace amounts of active ingredients.

Although they were already worthless for normal potion users, for Ailan, they might still provide some nutrients.

"Try this," Luo En handed the small bottle to Ailan: "This is the residue of the latest refined Sun Flame Essence; it might fit your needs better than ordinary waste."

Ailan took the small bottle, and her vines carefully poured the waste in the bottle around her roots.

Almost immediately, those wastes were absorbed by her root system, followed by a slight trembling of her entire body's vines and leaves, as if she were enjoying the comfort brought by this energy.

"Feels... warm," Ailan's writing board wrote fluently in the air: "Thank you, Master."

Luo En nodded with a smile and turned to walk toward his experimental bench.

Although Ailan's state was stable, to make her transform further, it clearly required a more powerful energy source and a more precise bloodline activation method.

"When I master the technology of bloodline modulation and activation in the future, I can try to help you awaken further."

Luo En said softly while organizing his experimental equipment: "I believe that a more ancient and powerful bloodline sleeps within you."

Ailan was silent for a moment, then her vines danced again: "Does Master think... I can become more like those existences in the dreams?"

"I believe you can," Luo En answered firmly: "Every creature has its own possibilities; you have already displayed extraordinary potential, Ailan."

The tree spirit's branches swayed lightly, as if expressing a wordless expectation and gratitude.

Luo En turned to the workbench and began to make final preparations for tonight's important ritual.

At the same time, in the temporary duty room of the enforcement team, Andre was mechanically repeating the work in his hands—sorting and organizing various wood samples collected from the edge of the Black Fog Jungle.

His movements were skilled and precise, his fingers flexibly sorting those wood chips into different piles according to their texture and hardness.

However, his mind was clearly not on this task.

"Seventy-eight... seventy-nine... wait, this piece should be placed on the hard category side..."

Andre muttered, picking up a wood chip he had accidentally placed in the wrong position and putting it on the other pile.

The light in the enforcement team's temporary duty room was dim, with only a few magic crystal lamps providing illumination.

Various samples and tools brought back from the forest were piled in the corner, and a detailed map of the Black Fog Jungle hung on the wall, marked with the danger levels and patrol routes of each area.

Norris, on the side, was organizing the patrol report.

He looked up at Andre, his brows slightly furrowed: "This is already the third time you've made a mistake today; focus."

"Sorry," Andre managed to squeeze out a smile: "Something has been bothering me recently."

Norris shook his head, thinking of the other party's background, his tone softened slightly:

"Everyone has their own problems, but when executing a mission, a little distraction can be fatal. That apprentice named Jacob last week was distracted and was almost sprayed by the venom of a three-eyed toad."

Andre nodded, trying to refocus his attention on the task at hand.

However, his thoughts still drifted uncontrollably toward the upcoming bloodline activation ritual.

Ever since he confirmed the details of the ritual with Luo En, his mood had been in a strange mixed state—both expectant and fearful.

Bloodline activation meant he would gain more powerful strength, but it was also accompanied by huge risks.

Thinking of this, Andre's hand slipped accidentally, and a sharp wood chip grazed his finger, leaving a thin bloodstain.

"Damn it!" he cursed in a low voice, quickly taking out a clean cloth to press against the wound.

Norris sighed, stood up, and walked to Andre's side: "You really aren't in the right state; take this."

He handed over a small bottle of healing potion.

"I'm fine, it's just a small wound, I won't trouble you, Lord Norris," Andre waved his hand: "It will stop bleeding soon."

"It's not for this small wound," Norris said seriously:

"It's for your state; if you continue to be so absent-minded, next time it might not be a small wound on your finger."

Andre managed a smile, took the potion, and dripped a drop on the wound.

The wound healed quickly, but the worry in his heart could not dissipate so easily.

Just then, the door was pushed open violently, and a squad leader of the enforcement team rushed in, a nervous look on his face:

"Emergency! The border patrol found a corpse, right on the outskirts of the North District; we need to deal with it immediately!"

Norris and Andre stood up immediately.

"What's the situation?" Norris asked quickly, already starting to pack the necessary equipment.

"Karl, that primary apprentice who often takes outer-rim missions," the squad leader said briefly:

"Looks like he was attacked by a distortion; there are obvious signs of distortion and pollution on the corpse."

Andre's heart sank suddenly.

Karl, he knew this person; among the many fellow countrymen from their Kingdom of Faruk, he was quite familiar with him.

"Distortion?" Norris frowned: "So close to the school boundary?"

"That's right, and looking at the situation, Karl was almost back to the safe area."

The squad leader said seriously: "If it had been a little earlier, he might have been safe. We must deal with the corpse immediately, otherwise, it might trigger more pollution."

Andre quickly grabbed his equipment bag, which contained various tools and potions for dealing with emergencies.

He knew that a corpse killed by a distortion would continuously emit pollution aura into the surroundings.

If not dealt with in time, it would not only cause environmental damage but might also attract or catalyze more distortions.

"Let's go, you come along to help too," Norris was already dressed and signaled for Andre to follow.

Andre followed the team and rushed out of the duty room, but realized in his heart that he would likely miss the time for the bloodline activation ritual agreed upon with Luo En because of this.

………………

As the sun set, Luo En added the last drop of reagent to the beaker, and the solution immediately changed from deep red to an amber color shimmering with golden light, emitting a fascinating fragrance.

"Perfect," he nodded with satisfaction and carefully transferred the solution to a special crystal bottle:

"This is the final version of the bloodline activation potion."

Ailan stood on the side, watching the whole process.

Her leaves danced lightly: "Master's craftsmanship is becoming more and more exquisite."

Luo En smiled and put away the crystal bottle:

"This is my most satisfactory work; theoretically, it should be able to precisely guide the direction of bloodline activation while significantly reducing the risk of distortion."

He looked out the window; the sunlight had turned into a warm red, and the afterglow of the sunset draped a layer of golden-red gauze over the Black Fog Jungle.

"Strange, Andre should have arrived by now."

He looked at the clock hanging on the wall and frowned: "He has always been very punctual."

Luo En decided to relax a little, turned to the bookshelf, took down the book "Alchemy Basics," and began to read.

The knowledge gained from this book last time had already improved his alchemy skills quite a bit; perhaps reading more would gain more inspiration.

"The core of alchemy lies in understanding the essence of matter and rearranging its constituent elements..."

Luo En muttered, his fingers sliding lightly across the pages: "Through specific procedures and media, one can transform the form of matter and even change its basic attributes..."

As his reading deepened, Luo En felt a familiar feeling: knowledge slowly settled in his mind, forming new connections, just like puzzle pieces gradually assembling into a complete pattern.

【Basic Alchemy (Entry) Experience +1】

Potionology and alchemy indeed have many things in common; both focus on material changes and energy flow, only the application direction and specific means are different.

As a professional alchemist who has already mastered potionology, coupled with the 【Broad Knowledge】 trait, Luo En displayed extraordinary learning efficiency when learning alchemy.

Unknowingly, Luo En had been reading for more than half an hour, and the experience value of Basic Alchemy had also steadily increased to (Entry 12/50).

He closed the book, rubbed his somewhat tired eyes, and looked out the window again.

The sky had completely darkened, the magic crystal lamps in the workshop automatically lit up, dispelling the darkness in the room. And Andre, still, had not appeared.

"Something's wrong," Luo En muttered to himself: "Andre is not the kind of person who would easily be late or break an appointment."

Just as he was about to get up and go to the enforcement team to ask for news, Ailan's voice suddenly appeared in the air:

"Master, someone is here. It's Lord Andre."

A moment later, the urgent knocking on the door confirmed Ailan's warning.

Luo En walked quickly to the door and pulled it open.

Andre stood outside the door, his face full of fatigue and worry.

There were some stains on his clothes, and he looked like he had just experienced some unpleasant things.

"Very sorry, Luo En," he started apologizing as soon as he entered: "There was an emergency, and I had to deal with that matter first."

"What happened?" Luo En asked with concern, pouring a cup of hot tea for Andre: "You look very tired."

Andre took the teacup and took a deep breath: "Karl is dead."

"Karl?" Luo En searched his memory, recalling the intelligence Mira had once exchanged with him:

"I seemed to have heard last time that he and his companions went missing in the edge forest; so it really was..."

Andre nodded, a trace of sadness in his eyes:

"Yes, he came back from the edge forest today and was almost at the school's safe range, but he was still attacked by a distortion. Our enforcement team set out immediately after receiving the news, but it was too late."

He took a sip of tea and continued:

"The corpse had already started to show signs of distortion and pollution, and we had to deal with it immediately, otherwise it would cause pollution on a larger scale and might even breed new distortions."

Luo En listened silently, and the twisted, ferocious body of Davod and that battle that almost took his life appeared in his mind.

He was indeed very lucky at that time, not being left with pollution in the battle; he didn't have a pocket watch to purify pollution back then.

"The activity of distortions around the school has indeed become more and more frequent recently."

Andre continued: "The patrol missions of the enforcement team are also becoming more and more dangerous; some say it's because of the leakage of some secret experiments, and others say pollution is spreading..."

He shook his head, seemingly not wanting to continue this heavy topic:

"Anyway, the enforcement team finished dealing with the corpse and did a simple purification, and only then was I able to rush back; sorry for keeping you waiting."

"It's not your fault; this kind of emergency is force majeure."

Luo En patted Andre's shoulder, expressing understanding: "The ritual is not urgent at this moment; you can rest a little, and then start."

Andre nodded gratefully, but the fatigue in his eyes did not decrease: "Thanks for understanding, I'll go take a nap first."

Originally, Andre was still asking him if they should start tomorrow at noon, but Luo En thought about it a little; he believed the energy stimulated by the bloodline was already too strong.

If the noon bonus were added, I'm afraid the activation ritual would directly turn into a suicide ritual...

As time passed, the sky turned completely dark, but the atmosphere in the workshop became increasingly tense.

Luo En and Andre stood in the center of the specially prepared ritual place, surrounded by seven special candles; the candlelight swayed lightly in the breeze, shrouding the entire space in a mysterious atmosphere.

A complex magic array was drawn on the ground, which Luo En had carefully designed based on the records in "The Complete Book of Bloodline Activation," combined with the details of the royal secret ritual provided by Andre.

The magic array presented a sun shape, with seven main lines extending from the center outward; special runes were carved on each line, symbolizing life, strength, balance, purification, stability, guidance, and awakening.

"Are you ready?" Luo En asked softly, holding the bottle of bloodline activation potion shimmering with golden light in his hand.

Andre stood in the center of the magic array, his upper body bare, his skin showing a healthy luster under the candlelight.

He took a deep breath and nodded: "I'm ready; this is also the moment I've been looking forward to for a long time."

Luo En could feel the tension in his friend's tone, but he chose not to mention it.

Instead, he began to execute the ritual step by step according to the predetermined procedure.

"According to the procedure you gave me before, start the magic array first."

Luo En said, taking seven special small energy crystals from his waist bag; these stones had been soaked in the essence of Sun Grass and could guide the flow of yang energy.

He placed the energy crystals one by one on the seven key nodes of the magic array; as the last stone was placed, the entire magic array began to emit a faint golden light, which was the sign that the yang energy had been activated.

"So now is the second step."

Luo En glanced at Andre with some worry; the other party's teeth were already starting to chatter, clearly tense to the extreme:

"Runes are not just on the magic array; they also need to be temporarily drawn on your body to guide the potion's energy to flow to the correct meridians and bloodline nodes."

He took out a bottle of special silver ink and began to draw runes on Andre's body.

The ink was cool, and when it touched the skin, it produced a slight stinging sensation; that was the trace amount of active ingredients contained in it taking effect.

Luo En's technique was skilled and precise, and every rune landed just right on the key acupoints.

Andre felt a strange sensation, as if those runes were not just drawn on the surface of the skin, but more like they had penetrated into his flesh and bones.

"Finally, the most critical step."

After Luo En finished drawing the runes, he took out the bottle of bloodline activation potion: "Drink it, keep your will clear, guide it, instead of being guided by it..."

Andre nodded and took the potion bottle.

The light shone through the crystal bottle wall, illuminating his face and reflecting a golden ocean in his eyes.

"Lu... Luo En, if... if the ritual fails, if you return to the kingdom in the future, can you help me take care of..."

He suddenly asked, his voice full of unease, and the light in his eyes dimmed along with his words.

(End of chapter)