Mordred denied the Lifespan Extension Potion provided by Adraste, which was a commodity highly sought after by every high-rank cultivator in the world. A single dose of that golden nectar would add a flat ten years of lifespan without any consequences whatsoever, so even Sovereigns would be interested. In other words, that potion is a strategic commodity that can’t be bought with money alone. “That would be a waste. This body is a living corpse, just give me some bloodline crystals or concentrated blood essence, and I’ll think of something.”
Andraste was shocked for a moment there, yet she refrained from delving too deeply into the intricacies of Der Führer's machinations, for they extended further than the abyssal ocean's depths and soared loftier than the nine-tiered heavens. Her job is to do whatever the young master that Der Führer had chosen, not to think. Unless of course, if the young master told her to think.
In any case, she rummaged through her dimensional storage and found an alternative. The bottle is the size of a distal phalange, but the viscous blood-red liquid within it is pulsing with energy.
Taking the concentrated blood essence presented by the gray elf, he telepathically whispered to his Soul Phylactery. < Astaroth. >
< Understood, Your Majesty. > The Demon Great Duke immediately recognized what Mordred wanted.
The presence of a gray elf of Galatreon is a veil that repels investigative methods, a ‘racial trait’ that is inherited when we are still the dark elf, so he wasn’t too worried about the leak of information even if there are no layers upon layers of information-path method protecting him.
Astaroth activates the blood-path killer move, [Blutopfer]. Since Astaroth is a blood-path and fire-path cultivator, this pure energy has the form of bloodline energy, it is extremely efficient when used to activate blood-path and fire-path methods, while suffering from bad efficiency when used for other paths.
< Your Majesty, the concentrated blood essence yields higher bloodline energy than anticipated. With this, not only I can ‘restore’ some of the lifespans that you’ve thrown away, but also unlock another bloodline ability. >
< Oh? > Mordred’s thoughts paused. < As expected. Galatreon’s stuff is always high quality. What are my options? >
< Blastscale Wyrflake wyvern is a species of Tyrant Wyvern, but they are biologically connected to the ancestral lineage of Armor Wyverns. This species of wyvern has two primary abilities: Blastscale and Wyrflake. You already have elementary mastery upon the first despite barely a month since you’ve started cultivating that bloodline, so if you were to unlock the second primary bloodline ability at this very moment, it’ll give off warning signs to those who are watching your every move. >
< I’ll listen to your arrangement. What should I choose? > Mordred didn’t feel it was beneath him to listen to her words. After all, in terms of blood-path attainment, he is way behind the real Bloodline Warlock.
< I’d suggest unlocking one of the many Secondary Bloodline Abilities. >
If ‘primary’ bloodline abilities are what makes a Species unique, then the secondary ones are bloodline abilities that are shared among the same Genus. Since Blastscale Wyrflake is biologically in the genus of Armor Wyvern, it would be a secondary trait that all Armor Wyverns share. While most secondary bloodline abilities are passive ones, when combined with the primary bloodline abilities of certain species, they might produce a fundamental change.
Astaroth telepathically sent an array of information regarding the secondary bloodline abilities that Armor Wyvern shared. There were a few hundred of them, but Mordred quickly chose one that fit his situation the best.
< I choose [Metabolic Boost]. >
It was a simple passive bloodline ability that increased the rate at which his cells metabolized. With an efficient metabolic system, he could convert food into energy better, thus increasing his recovery rate as long as there are energy reserves in his body. With this, he could upscale his parasitic Enslaving Blastscale production in times of need.
< Very well. > The moment Astaroth activated her method, Mordred felt his blood churn, they were boiling. The awakening of bloodline abilities typically involved special resources relating to their bloodline origin serving as the ‘key’ to unlock certain genetic sequences, but Astaroth’s blood-path attainment that reached the apex and the fact that she had experience in creating wyvern species meant she could do it from scratch.
It’s like assembling computer parts from raw ore. She could cheat: bypassing the necessary steps to refine those raw ores into useful intermediary products by reassembling the atomic structure of each particle. Though, she still could not ignore the laws of causality.
Nevertheless, Mordred feels that ‘Satoru’ has progressed by leaps and bounds.
“I’m sure you’re aware that you shouldn't speak of anything that has happened here?” Mordred stared at Adraste after finishing his recovery.
Nodding as if it were natural, she replied, “What are your plans from henceforth, young master? I shall help you to the best of your abilities.”
There was nothing to hide, but some karma-heavy subjects still can’t be easily said for fear of the consequences. “I’m planning to unlock more bloodline abilities while collecting lesser dragon slaves. It can start with kobolds, before moving up to wyverns. As long as the mission content has any relation with lesser dragon races, I will take them, and I want you to help me with nurturing them in the future. You can perform some life-alteration surgeries to permanently increase their strength. Even if they died in the experiment, we can always find more.”
“Understood. I shall await your arrangement.” She faithfully declared. As a Medic, she is fully capable of performing life-alteration surgeries. It's just that, since she’s specialized in healing rather than improving biological structure through surgeries, it’ll take some time for her to get used to it.
…
When Mordred’s two team members saw him being followed by Adraste, their jaws dropped. Nagata even rubbed his eyes, not believing what he had seen.
Mordred smiled as he unlocked the door to his flat.
“You crazy son of a bitch, you actually did it,” Nagata commented.
“Come, let’s discuss our plans inside.” Mordred led them to his residence. After Mika served them some beverages and made them comfortable, he began the meeting. “Our team composition consists of a vanguard, a support, a control tower, and a medic. We are severely lacking in the aspect of DPS, Defender, and Specialist, but fret not, for I have a solution for that.”
Mordred slapped some papers onto the table, showing them his detailed plan.
“On my recent solo adventure, I have finished a few difficulty 3 gathering missions while experimenting on my bloodline abilities. The breakthrough that I mentioned earlier is the unlocking of my primary bloodline ability’s variant. I can now produce an alternate form of blastscale that allows me to enslave lesser dragon species. For the immediate future, I am planning to fill the DPS role with kobold cannon fodders, while filling the Defender roles with wyverns. The details can be altered according to the need. Do you have any objections?”
Kaishin took the papers that revealed potential species of lesser dragon races, such as kobolds, wyrm, and wyverns that he wanted to enslave. “You’re no longer limited to enslaving wyvern?” She was shocked. “This will increase our options…”
“None at all.” Meanwhile, Nagata was impatient. “When can we start taking missions?”
“Tomorrow.” Mordred paused, “But that’s only if both of you have fulfilled your homework.” He sternly warned.
The Hunter Academy is fully aware that youths are incredibly impatient, they want to directly take on missions instead of attending classes. Therefore, attending classes is optional. However, that does not invalidate the student’s obligation to study the materials presented in the class. Instead of attending classes, the students are allowed to take on missions or enter closed-door cultivation for an extended amount of time as long as the graded assignments or tasks are fulfilled by the end of each month.
“I have fulfilled my graded assignments and tasks for the next two months, so I can take on missions freely. What about the two of you?” Mordred asked.
Nagata scratched his head, blushing. The same could be said with Kaishin. “Heheh…”
“I don’t care how you do it, just finish this month’s graded assignments and tasks before next week. Only then, we can start taking on team missions. In the meantime…” Mordred nudged at Adraste who sat next to him, “I’ll be taking on some missions with her.”
He turned serious. “Remember, this is the Royal Academy. In other Hunter Academies, it is common for students to become a rank 1 Official in their fourth year, but most students here are eligible to have their Official Ascension in their second year. The only reason why they waited until their fourth year was to complete the superlative height of rank 0, a secret cultivation realm between the peak-stage of rank 0 and early-stage rank 1. Doing so takes a significant amount of resources, far more than the typical people of your caliber, so you’d better catch up. Otherwise, you cannot earn the resources that you need.”
Mordred took out some notes, “So, for today… Adraste and I will make you finish this month’s graded assignment and tasks before the end of this week.”
