Chapter 95: Bloodline Evolution, Rainbow Sea, and the Underground World

Chapter 95: Bloodline Evolution, Rainbow Sea, and the Underground World

Coming to his senses, Su Nan found himself back in the meditation room, the key still in his palm. However, the key had become unusable.

Putting the key away, Su Nan took out everything he had traded for at the gathering.

Over three hundred books of wizardry, more than five hundred gems, three types of rare metals, a Flame Heart Elixir, over a hundred Mandrake seeds, the skeleton of a Spined Wingless Dragon, a vial of Wyvern blood, and over forty Red-eyed Crow eggs.

There was no doubt that this trip to the Trading House had been a resounding success!

"Even though other wizard apprentices don't have the Synthesis Cube to create resources, they all have their own channels for obtaining resources. Trading with them can yield many rare items that are hard to come by otherwise."

"Joining the Forest Lodge was indeed the right decision."

Taking a deep breath, Su Nan began to sort through his haul.

Among the over three hundred books of wizardry, there were twenty-one spellbooks.

Five of them contained zero-level spells, eleven contained first-level spells, and five contained second-level spells, greatly enriching Su Nan's spell library.

With the player interface, Su Nan could master all the spells given enough time, unlike other wizard apprentices who specialized in only a few.

"The more spells I know, the better I can adapt to unexpected situations."

"However, I should prioritize mastering the second-level spells first. I'll learn the others when I have more time."

As for the five hundred gems, Su Nan planned to use them to create Stone Golems and synthesize High-Grade Runestones.

The Stone Golems would primarily be used to guard the new Magic Plant Garden he was about to establish.

The High-Grade Runestones had also undergone some changes.

After advancing to a Third-Class Wizard Apprentice, Su Nan's energy control had significantly improved, allowing him to increase the number of Runestones he could synthesize from eighteen to twenty-three.

This also greatly increased the power of the High-Grade Runestones.

Su Nan had tested this with his Ring of Protection, and a single Thunder High-Grade Runestone had reduced the defense by over 700 points.

The power was roughly equivalent to eight second-level spells hitting simultaneously!

Such astonishing power could only be fully resisted by Glowing Tier defensive magic items; no second-level defensive spell or Alchemical Tier defensive magic item could withstand it!

Moreover, as his mental strength grew, the power of the High-Grade Runestones would continue to increase.

In other words, for a long time to come, High-Grade Runestones would serve as his trump card.

"At least until I advance to a full Wizard, the High-Grade Runestones will remain my ace. I can't afford to lose this trump card."

"I'll start by creating five High-Grade Runestones and save the rest of the gems for later use."

Next, Su Nan looked at the Flame Heart Elixir. After some thought, he picked up the elixir and drank it down in one go.

The scorching liquid exploded inside his body, spreading a wave of heat throughout. For a moment, he felt as if he were soaking in boiling water, his skin turning visibly red.

Having experienced the pain of the Hallucination Elixir before, the discomfort from the Flame Heart Elixir was negligible, and Su Nan easily endured it.

Once his body returned to normal, he immediately checked his interface and found that his Constitution had increased by 1.82.

"Excellent."

Su Nan was very satisfied.

After all, the Flame Heart Elixir was only a first-tier elixir, and it also provided a slight enhancement to fire resistance.

A Constitution increase of this magnitude was quite impressive.

In fact, among first-tier elixirs, the Flame Heart Elixir was slightly more effective than the Dragon Blood Elixir.

"Unfortunately, the main ingredient for the Flame Heart Elixir seems to be Flame Heart Bamboo, which is only found in the Thistle Kingdom and is much rarer than Blackscale Lizard blood."

Su Nan shook his head. Synthesizing Dragon Blood Fruits to enhance his Constitution was much simpler.

He decided to allocate a portion of each batch of Dragon Blood Fruits to strengthen his own body.

"Considering the three rare metals and the two substitutes I've recently developed, I now have sixty-five of the metals needed to create the Magic Pattern Core. I still need twenty-four more."

"The Mandrake seeds will be planted once the new Magic Plant Garden is set up."

"As for the Red-eyed Crows, I need to hatch them as soon as possible."

Su Nan planned to hatch the Red-eyed Crows himself.

After all, these crows would be responsible for the base's security, and he couldn't trust this task to Xie Man and the others.

The Spined Wingless Dragon's bones and blood, of course, would be used to enhance the Hidden Dragon's bloodline.

Overall, Su Nan was very satisfied with his trip to the Forest Lodge.

He was even looking forward to the next gathering.

With this experience, he believed that Night Owl and the others would bring even more of the items he needed to the next gathering.

In the following days, Su Nan began researching how to extract the essence from the Spined Wingless Dragon's bones and blood to enhance the Hidden Dragon.

After much effort, he finally managed to integrate all the extracted essence into the Hidden Dragon's body.

The results did not disappoint Su Nan.

After three days of slumber, the Hidden Dragon's bloodline finally advanced to the Sub-Dragon level.

Boom!

In the magic training grounds, the Hidden Dragon charged around, smashing through the stone pillars Su Nan had created, excitedly testing its newly enhanced physical strength.

Su Nan stood at the edge of the grounds, watching the Hidden Dragon with a smile on his face.

After advancing to the Sub-Dragon level, the most noticeable change in the Hidden Dragon was the exponential increase in its physical strength.

Now, its physical strength alone could match that of a 1st Circle Legendary Knight! This level of power surpassed many Sub-Dragons!

Additionally, the Hidden Dragon had awakened a breath weapon similar to a dragon's, capable of spewing flames.

Although the power of this ability was not as strong as a true dragon's breath, it was still comparable to a 2nd Circle spell.

With its formidable physical strength, invisibility, the ability to shift between solid and ethereal forms, and its new flame breath, the Hidden Dragon's true combat strength was undoubtedly on par with a 2nd Circle Legendary Knight.

If it were to face Hebe's giant bear familiar again, the Hidden Dragon would crush it in a single strike.

As he was thinking, the Hidden Dragon finished its exercises and ran up to Su Nan, stopping in front of him and letting out a pleading call.

After the bloodline evolution, the Hidden Dragon had gained more dragon-like features.

It now had two curved horns on its head and a row of blade-like spikes on its back.

The only downside was that it had not evolved wings.

If it had, a Sub-Dragon with flight, invisibility, the ability to shift between solid and ethereal forms, and a flame breath would be a formidable opponent even for a 3rd-Class Wizard Apprentice.

"Hisss!"

The Hidden Dragon hissed again, its affectionate and pleading gestures contrasting sharply with its fierce and intimidating appearance.

Su Nan's mind suddenly became hazy, and in the next second, his vision split into two.

One was his original field of view.

The other showed a familiar figure, much smaller than himself.

It was his own appearance, but with black and red scales and sharp claws.

Vision Sharing!

This was a new ability that the Hidden Dragon had awakened after the bloodline evolution.

It was not a spell-like ability but one that all familiars would develop after reaching a certain level.

The timing of this ability's awakening varied based on the familiar's potential and species.

With this ability, Su Nan could now connect with the Hidden Dragon's vision at any time, even if they were hundreds or thousands of kilometers apart.

Another similar familiar ability was Spell Sharing.

When a familiar awakened this ability, the owner could choose to share the effects of spells cast on themselves with their familiar, as long as they were within a certain distance. The effect would last until the spell's duration ended or the distance between them exceeded the limit.

For example, when Su Nan cast a Lightness spell on himself, he could also apply the Lightness effect to his familiar.

"From the looks of it, Spell Sharing will likely awaken during the next bloodline evolution."

Su Nan stroked the Hidden Dragon's head.

Now, the Blackscale Lizard blood had little effect on the Hidden Dragon.

To further enhance its bloodline concentration, there were two methods.

One was to continue blood transfusions, extracting his own blood, synthesizing it into dragon blood, and then infusing it into the Hidden Dragon.

The other was to collect genuine dragon blood and infuse it into the Hidden Dragon.

The former was the most straightforward, but the progress was slow.

The latter was faster, but the main issue was finding genuine dragon blood, which was extremely difficult.

"Fine, I'll just take my time. Sub-Dragons have long lifespans, so the Hidden Dragon will definitely evolve into a true Dragon in its lifetime."

Su Nan thought to himself.

"Meow!"

Amy suddenly appeared on the Hidden Dragon's back, twitching her nose and sniffing the air.

"The scent of a Sub-Dragon. The big guy's bloodline has evolved."

Thanks to Su Nan's teachings, Amy's knowledge of the wizarding world rivaled that of many 3rd-Class Wizard Apprentices. She immediately recognized the Hidden Dragon's change and called out in surprise.

Seeing Amy, Su Nan's expression changed, and he asked, "Amy, do you know where I can find dragons?"

Although the Starlight Continent had changed significantly over the past thousand years, it was still the same land. Knowing the places where dragons roamed a thousand years ago could provide valuable clues.

"Dragons?" Amy tilted her head, hesitating. "Those big guys fly all over the continent, and no one knows where they build their nests."

After a moment, she seemed to recall something and added, "But the Rainbow Sea and the Underground World definitely have dragons."

The Rainbow Sea and the Underground World?

Su Nan's heart raced.

He knew about these places.

In the previous life, after the elements had awakened, the Rainbow Sea and the Underground World became primary destinations for many wizards and apprentices due to their abundant resources.

The Rainbow Sea was a famous and well-known body of water.

The Rainbow Sea is renowned for its vibrant underwater world, filled with colorful corals and a myriad of exotic marine life. However, this area is also incredibly dangerous, teeming with highly venomous and ferocious sea creatures, as well as significant populations of sea witches.

Ordinary people, if not wizards or apprentices, would only venture into the shallow waters. Su Nan remembered that the Rainbow Sea was on the opposite end of the continent, a vast distance from Glowing City. Unless he could tame a flying beast, riding the Hidden Dragon would take him about half a year to make the round trip. The Starlight Continent is vast, after all.

As for the Underground World, it is a vast subterranean realm as the name suggests. It is shrouded in perpetual darkness and inhabited by countless vicious monsters, including ferocious beasts, demons, insectoids, Heart Splitters, mutated spiders, undead, mushroom people, worms, minotaurs, and slimes, among others. Of course, it also includes the dragon clans that Amy mentioned.

Many dragons prefer to build their nests in the Underground World, primarily because of the rich mineral deposits. Finding a silver or gold mine, capturing a group of slaves to mine it, and then waiting for the treasures to flow in is a dream life for many dragons.

However, after a thousand years of elemental desertification, Su Nan estimated that the resource richness of the Rainbow Sea and the Underground World would be far less than it used to be. This would raise the question of whether any dragons still inhabit those areas.

On a deeper level, the current Starlight Continent is no longer a suitable place for dragons to live. The presence of dragons on the continent is highly questionable.

"Fine, if I can't find dragon blood, sub-dragon blood will do. If all else fails, I can use the Synthesis Cube to create dragon blood."

"The Rainbow Sea is out of reach for now, but the Underground World is a viable option."

"However, the entrances to the Underground World are usually very well hidden, making them difficult to find."

"I'll ask the others at the next Forest Lodge gathering."

With this plan in mind, Su Nan put the matter aside for the moment. He let Amy and the Hidden Dragon go out to play while he continued his training in the magic practice grounds.

Focusing on the humanoid target in the distance, Su Nan murmured a single syllable, and six magic missiles instantly appeared, piercing the air like lightning and exploding the target into pieces.

"Spellcasting speed has tripled compared to before."

Su Nan nodded in satisfaction. Just two days ago, he had successfully mastered the technique of casting spells with abbreviated incantations. Now, he could cast spells with just a few syllables, greatly enhancing his combat capabilities.

"Next, I need to practice silent spellcasting."

With a thought, a line of text appeared in front of him.

["Silent Spellcasting Training Progress: 0.16%"]



"Only 0.16% progress in two days. At this rate, it will take two to three years to fully master it."

Su Nan had anticipated this. True metamagic techniques are much more difficult to train than abbreviated incantations. In fact, being able to master silent spellcasting in just two to three years is already very fast. Many wizard apprentices never learn this technique in their entire lives. Most only manage to learn it after advancing to full wizards, when their mental control significantly improves.

Those who can master metamagic techniques as apprentices are considered geniuses. If other wizard apprentices knew that Su Nan could learn silent spellcasting in just two to three years, they would be flabbergasted.

"Once my mental strength improves, the training progress should accelerate. I might be able to master it in less than two years."

Su Nan maintained a calm and patient attitude. Unlike skills like potion-making and magic item creation, which can be rapidly advanced with resources, metamagic techniques require consistent and methodical practice. Mastering all seven metamagic techniques would likely take at least two to three decades.

This is a long-term process.

"Thanks to the player interface, I just need to keep at it."

Su Nan took a deep breath, cleared his mind, and continued practicing silent spellcasting.

---

The Forest Lodge is an organization with members spread across the entire Starlight Continent, which is much larger than just a few countries. Su Nan's advancement is slow because he has only been training for a short time. Extending his training to over a century, with a population in the billions, it's not unusual for a small number of Third-Class Wizard Apprentices to emerge. There are always geniuses and prodigies, like the previous Ang MacLean. The story is just beginning, and many settings, such as the formal wizard rank, have not been fully revealed yet. I understand the concerns, but please bear with me. Insomnia thanks you for your patience.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end