With extreme perception, Jacob completely focused on his pinky finger and the blood in it. Using the cursed heart, he turned the blood in his finger into countless blood threads!
The skin around his pinky finger suddenly turned bright red, and Jacob felt cold chills just by turning his blood into threads. From the second blood glyph, he had learned to control the life force and magic force within the blood, and he found that these two were the key to the Cursed Bone Marrow Amalgamation!
Without any control over the life force, he couldn't spread the blood into extremely thin fibers, and without the magic force, sculpting them on his bones was just a pipe dream.
Furthermore, his cursed blood was different. It was filled with extremely powerful life force and an unknown magic force, which were very similar to his hex mana but far more potent. So, he needed even more control to manipulate it.
After the blood within his pinky finger turned into fine fibers, Jacob used his eyes to see through the skin, started controlling the fibers, and started the sculpting process.
Even though those glyphs were extremely fine, like hair, Jacob felt excruciating pain just trying to carve that tiny glyph on his bone. But he didn't dare to let that pain affect his focus and continued.
After the first glyph, Jacob got used to the pain and continued, but he soon started to feel mentally exhausted and hungry. The first runic line was made with 9 glyphs, and despite feeling extremely exhausted and uncomfortable, he didn't dare give up and persisted.
Half an hour later, which seemed like years to Jacob, the first runic line was finally completed. The moment the final glyph was sculpted in its place, Jacob suddenly felt a strange current running through his bones, and the fatigue and pain suddenly vanished!
Jacob was bewildered for a little while before he realized, 'Could it be that the pain and fatigue only exist while I sculpt those runic lines? Furthermore, I had forgotten that this process was supposed to empower me. So, the more progress I make, the more powerful I'll become…'
Without wasting more time, Jacob quickly started to carve the second runic line. He wanted to test this theory. Just like before, the moment he started to carve the glyphs, the pain and exhaustion returned.
But Jacob didn't care about it anymore and continued no matter how much his mind wanted him to give up. This was like a trial, and he started to understand why Immortika only gave him that single piece of advice.
Soon, the second runic line made with 11 glyphs was completed, and again, Jacob felt something suddenly stirring into his bones, and he felt invigorated again. After his doubts were answered, Jacob had no more misgivings, and he continued.
Unknowingly, Jacob was completely immersed in sculpting the Longevity Schema as he completed the runic lines on his entire right hand. But what he failed to notice was his complexion was extremely pale, as if there was no blood in him.
Furthermore, as he started sculpting the Longevity Schema on his forearm, he became even paler, and his skin began to sink as he turned bony. But he was filled with boundless energy and power, so it went completely unnoticed by him.
But just after he completed his forearm, Jacob suddenly stopped as his eyes went wide, 'What the hell?! I don't have any blood in my body!'
Jacob finally noticed that he could no longer tap into his blood anymore because his body was completely empty, and he finally paid attention to his skin, which was pale white and even withered.
For some strange reason, he was not only alive but filled with boundless energy, and he could feel that he was at least three times stronger than before. However, the lack of blood completely spooked him, and he found that his heart was no longer making blood!
Even if he wants to continue, he can't without the cursed blood. Yet it wasn't the end of Jacob's nightmare because the moment every drop of cursed blood vanished from his body, something unimaginable happened.
Jacob felt his entire forearm suddenly start to burn as those runic lines on his bones lit up, releasing crimson light. Under Jacob's flabbergasted eyes, the muscles and skin on his forearm started to skin deeper into his bones until everything was absorbed by those runic lines!
Thereby, Jacob's bone arm was completely exposed, and his forearm bones were now gray with menacing crimson runic lines of the longevity schema. But the strangest part was his elbow, which still had its skin and muscles completely fine, and the wound was enshrouded in a crimson mist.
But besides feeling that burning sensation that was now gone, Jacob felt nothing wrong. He could still feel his forearm like before like nothing had happened. It was just that the strange sensation of touching the cold water with his bare-bones was quite unique.
Nonetheless, he was still horrified, so he quickly turned the page and agitatedly questioned, "What the hell is going on?!"
"Hahahahaaha!" Immortika's maddening laughter suddenly filled the page at this moment, as if it was enjoying Jacob's reaction and even looking for it for a long time.
"Do you think I'm in the mood for your shenanigans?!" Jacob's eyes were cold and rageful.
However, Immortika didn't reply but instead questioned, "Why are you so angry? Don't tell me you like your skin so much that you're reluctant to discard it. Was your undying determination for immortality finally wavering?"
"I…" It finally struck Jacob at this moment. As he looked at his gray bone hand again, his anger and horror suddenly subdued.
Although this fact was harder to accept, when he thought about his goal, he found himself calming down. So, what if he turned into a mere skeleton? Wasn't he still alive and completely fine? In fact, he was more than fine, for power was coursing through his entire body.
Taking a deep breath, he coldly asked, "You could've at least warned me about it. Now what? Would I be turning myself into a dark being now?"
"Haha… there he is!" Immortika chortled in approval, "Well since you've reached this point, there's no need to keep you in suspense anymore. You see, the Cursed Bone Marrow Amalgamation is about turning your bone marrow into cursed bone marrow, which will awaken your cursed immortal bloodline.
"The Heart and Blood are the foundation of any living being. Every being has a heart and blood in various forms. Snuff even one of them, and you'll be left with a corpse. This is also the foundation of the first phase.
"Once you have the cursed heart and the cursed immortal bloodline, this will mark the succession of the first phase completion of the Body Transformation, and it will also be the start of reconstructing your entire body from scratch, which requires both the heart and blood.
"You should be aware of the concept that to build something new, you must first discard the old one. I think this should be enough for you to understand what's going on, right?" Immoritka wrote.
Realization dawned on Jacob at this moment, and he finally understood what the three stages of the body transformation phase meant. He calmed down and had no more misgivings.
But there was still something he was worried about as he asked, "You still didn't tell me; would I be like dark beings now? And what's the deal with the cursed blood depletion? Why isn't my heart making any more blood?!"