Chapter 809: Bloodline Magic Research
After a year and a half in Lavender Harmony Plane, the large-scale capture of enslaved creatures was still underway.
However, with the subgorilla army effectively dismantled, the resistance faced by the Magus World Army diminished with each passing day.
To meet Master Feylis’ directive to conclude the war across the two low-level planes within three years, Lorianne delegated the task of managing the continued capture efforts in Lavender Harmony Plane to Fenrir, the two-headed giant wolf, and the white-feathered pelican.
Lorianne herself, alongside Black Oblivion and Milena, led the main forces to another assigned low-level plane—the Sandstorm World.
Sandstorm World’s native population and its resistance were considerably weaker than those of the Lavender Harmony Plane.
However, what set this world apart was its wealth of aero elemental crystal veins.
Moreover, the Sandstorm World was surrounded by three resource-rich demiplanes of significant value.
During their inspections, the mages Lorianne deployed discovered that these demiplanes contained substantial amounts of special metal resources.
These discoveries of the Sandstorm World and these surrounding demiplanes greatly excited Lorianne, Black Oblivion, and the other magic beast kings.
Since their space fortress was already away to engage in the trade of enslaved creatures at the Magus Alliance, there was no rush for full-scale resource extraction yet; initial preparations could be carried out for the time being.
“There are many enslaved subgorillas in this star domain; we could employ them as miners to help extract these minerals.”
Despite his usual ruthless mindset, Black Oblivion actually made a surprisingly good suggestion to Lorianne.
“That works,” Lorianne replied, nodding in agreement.
***
The Sandstorm World, abundant in aero elemental energy, reminded Sein of the Yellow Sand World, a demiplane he had stayed in during his early years.
Compared to the Yellow Sand World, the Sandstorm World had a better environment.
Here, patches of low-grade plants and wildlife thrived, sustaining a good ecosystem complete with oases and freshwater sources, unlike the lifeless, barren landscape of the Yellow Sand World, where not a blade of grass could survive.
The oases and water sources of the Sandstorm World became Tourmaline’s favorite haunts.
Though there was an ocean within this world, it was literally a bitter sea.
The high levels of heavy metals in its waters deterred Tourmaline from soaking in it.
Instead, she found joy chilling in the large freshwater lakes, basking in the sun while half-submerged.
During these two years, Sein occasionally joined Tourmaline at the oasis but devoted most of his time and energy to magic research.
Despite hitting a bottleneck in his studies on pyro elemental magic, Sein continued to delve into body tempering and other knowledge areas.
Lorianne’s guidance echoed in his mind—to become a Rank Three grand mage, he needed more than a singular focus.
Mastery in elemental energy transformation was essential, but so was cultivating a breadth of knowledge across various disciplines.
Every Rank Three grand mage was a paragon of “erudition”, and being specialized in one knowledge area alone would not work.
The saying, “When one door closes, another opens”, seemed to find its place even in magical and scientific principles.
Though not one for superstition, Sein, a mage devoted to seeking truth and knowledge, found that his research setbacks in pyro elemental energy transformation unexpectedly led to significant breakthroughs in his body tempering experiments.
Over the past two years in Sandstorm World, Sein’s constitution had soared to an impressive 7,800 points.
As he edged closer to the 8,000 points, he discovered a new combat ability by chance.
This revelation was inspired by his studies of Natalya and Reina’s bloodline transformation powers.
If the knights of Magus World could choose to absorb the bloodlines of powerful creatures at the Rank Two stage to bolster their physical strength and capacity for battle energy, why couldn’t mages do the same?
As a Rank Two mage, Sein had already mastered the Elemental Body ability.
Yet, after meticulous research, he concluded that his formidable physique did not preclude him from absorbing a more potent bloodline.
This area of study had significant overlaps with the practices of the Bloodline Warlocks, which Sein had come to learn about in his knowledge explorations.
When it came to choosing which type of bloodline to incorporate, Sein was thorough.
After careful consideration, he settled on the blood of Flame Devils, renowned for their unparalleled affinity with pyro elemental particles among all known creatures in Magus Civilization.
Another promising option was the bloodline of the “Burning Sanoras”, a strong contender with notable pyro elemental properties.
However, acquiring this bloodline was nearly impossible; the Sanoras, being part of the Magus Alliance, fiercely guarded the bloodlines of their strongest members.
Obtaining the blood essence of a Rank Two or higher Sanoras was simply beyond Sein’s reach.
On the other hand, the Flame Devil’s bloodline was more accessible to him, thanks to an unexpected source—Sia, his mother-in-law, with whom he had once shared a rather frosty relationship.
Sia’s lineage was known for absorbing potent devil bloodlines.
In fact, when Natalya was advancing to Rank Two, Sia and her husband had gone so far as to capture a live Baator Devil to extract its blood.
Sein had casually mentioned his experimental idea to her once, but Sia had not given much feedback at the time.
To his surprise, months later, during a dinner gathering, Sia presented him with a small bottle of Flame Devil’s blood essence.
It was a concentrate extracted from the entire being of a peak Rank Two Flame Devil.
The value of this blood essence was immense, easily exceeding a thousand magicoins, and not easily obtainable by just anyone.
The devils, known for their brutal and violent nature, were infamous throughout the star domains surrounding the Magus Alliance.
Sein was rendered momentarily speechless at his mother-in-law’s unexpected and generous gesture.
Before he could find the right words, Sia’s face turned slightly flushed as she reprimanded him, “Next time, don’t even think about dragging me into your lab. I will never help you with those boring experiments like Natalya.”
Her chiding made Sein, who was usually stoic, blush deeply.
That entire incident was a misunderstanding.
Half a year ago, when Sein was conducting body tempering experiments, Sia had come to visit her daughter.
The resemblance between mother and daughter was uncanny—they had similar body figures, hair color, and even aura!
Distracted by a whirlwind of experimental data, Sein mistook Sia for Natalya as she stepped out of the gravity training room.
Without realizing his error, he called out to her, instructing her to prepare for the lab session.
Sia curiously followed Sein into his laboratory and saw the experimental table in the center of the room, outfitted with iron bars and metal handcuffs.
When Sein absentmindedly urged her to remove her tight training attire and lie down on the table, the situation escalated from awkward to disastrous.
Sia’s reaction was understandable.
With the strength befitting her Rank Three status, she bolted through the wall, leaving behind a human-shaped hole as she made her hasty escape from the laboratory.
The loud noise drew Natalya out from the adjacent training room, looking around in confusion and completely unaware of what had just transpired.
That mishap left another layer of awkwardness between Sein and Sia ever since.