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Solar Blood Masters (61)
🕑 Added 2024-10-27 18:11:25 +0000 UTCChapter 61 - Fermented Blood Tier
“Huff! Huff!”
Raphael stood in the training grounds with sweat dripping from his golden hide. Over a dozen Gold Eagle Winged Warriors lay scattered around him. It was carnage!
His horns, those magnificent conduits for his ‘Helios Stream’, they buzzed and crackled as they cooled down. His latest training session had been fruitful. He'd tested every aspect of his inherited Golden Bull Thork abilities, pushing them to their limits. But a grim realization was settling in.
His 'Helios Stream'… it wasn’t as powerful as it had been prior to the 'Devil Star Fruit' backlash.
“Hmmm, that damn fruit… Its after-effects, I'm still paying the price.” He’d regained a little of his strength and then some, thanks to Qi Hawk’s healing techniques, but a part of Shao Jin's ancient power was missing.
“How can I restore my ‘Helios Stream’ to its former glory? If I’m going to survive this chaotic realm, I need that power!” He flexed his hooves, but that terrifying, destructive warmth that had turned those bronze serpents to ash, it felt distant.
“Hmm…” He pondered, desperately seeking a solution as he glanced around the empty training ground.
"Wait a minute. There were other essences. Potent ones!”
He remembered the crates filled with bull hearts and their Solar Consciousnesses that Lu Ruby had presented to her father. He’d forgotten about them, those treasure-filled crates that Kong devoured.
"Hm… my own lineage’s essences? Why didn’t I think of that before?!”
Shaking his massive head, he gathered shadows around him, warping them. Within moments, a swirling vortex appeared before him and four crates appeared.
"Hm… Such ease!”
Raphael smiled. This spatial warping technique ‘Black Pool’ was quite useful.
He wasted no time opening the crates. Three were occupied with bull hearts, while the other housed eight orbs of Solar Consciousness trapped inside a transparent cube. He inspected the cube closely, his gaze lingered upon the orbs that seemed to be screaming and pleading for him to simply let them go.
“Hmm, Early Nightmare Stage souls. They are nothing compared to those ancient beasts I devoured back at the ice cave, but Lu Ruby’s presentation was quite impressive. If I didn’t know better, I would have assumed they were powerful! Ahaa! The irony.”
“Well… These will have to do.”
He addressed his shadow generals, "Kong, Melissa. You know what to do.”
"MASTER! You are so generous!"
"YES! MASTER! WE'LL FEAST UPON THOSE TASTY HEARTS!"
The Shadow Bat horde, who’d also been summoned moments before, rushed towards those juicy bull hearts with uncontrolled enthusiasm, while praising their emperor for his kindness. Their wings beat with a terrifying intensity as saliva dripped from their mouths.
Melissa didn't join in. She slithered gracefully toward Raphael and coiled her long tail. "Master. Perhaps after you are done, my tongue can attend to those crevices beneath your scales? Fuhuhu…”
Raphael felt a chill on his backside. He quickly moved towards the other crate.
He'd deal with her later.
"Concentrate!"
He focused his attention on the cube and using spirit energy, pulled out the orbs. His jaws opened wide, and those potent souls trembled before entering his maw. He then spent the next few hours refining them. The process was long and arduous, but worth it.
Two hours later…
Raphael’s eyes snapped open, but before he could enjoy the sensation of increased power and essence flowing through him, a soft warm, moist sensation shocked him. It was a tail. It brushed against his jaw, leaving behind an aroma he couldn’t ignore, that of fragrant perfume and lilies.
“Master? Master…? Are you well? I was just…”
Melissa’s pink eyes widened with a flicker of embarrassment. Her tail recoiled swiftly as Raphael glared. Had she been trying to kiss him while he was in deep meditation? Those possibilities…
Shaking away these unsettling thoughts, he commanded his Sagewood Script to display his new techniques.
"Zhu Jian… what are they?" A glow from his forehead entered the script.
…
Gold Press Blizzard – those terrifying, golden spectral hooves had received a significant power boost! He was no longer limited to a handful. Now, a hundred golden hooves could be summoned at once, and the area they covered had increase from ten meters, to a hundred.
“WOW! This is insane!”
Heliosphere Hazard – he could now conjure up to five ‘Helios Spheres’ simultaneously, sending those who dared to challenge him into a panic.
Raging Bull Roar – a sonic attack meant to temporarily stun enemies. Depending on the opponent's cultivation, those fools would be frozen for a few seconds, giving him time to charge even stronger techniques. Such efficiency!
Gold Carnage Upgrade – Six monstrous golden bulls could now be conjured from his molten essence. And to amplify their brutality, he’d boosted their power twofold.
Midas Touch Upgrade – turn any organic and inorganic material into gold instantly, with a mere touch. Such decadent power.
…
The sheer magnitude of these amplified powers left him smiling broadly. Anyone who had the misfortune of witnessing it firsthand would probably run and hide forever.
He smiled. This was his new path!
“Now… Time to test these new abilities.”
He moved towards the training ground’s golden orb with the glee of a kid entering a toy store.
…
BOOM! BOOM!
"Hmph! Five at once! Truly something. But it's still… lacking.”
Raphael watched with a mix of satisfaction and frustration as his 'Heliosphere Hazard' obliterated a group of training warriors in a collage of golden explosions. The attack was devastating, it covered a much wider area than his 'Helios Stream', capable of engulfing multiple enemies in a sea of fire.
But deep down he knew, that raw, concentrated power he'd wielded before wasn't there.
The Devil Star Fruit's power boost might have been a blessing back then, when it saved him from the Bronze Serpent Emperor's wrath, but now…
"I need to regain that edge."
He called upon the Sagewood Script.
“Zhu Jian!”
The bamboo strip flew out of his forehead as energy before it materialized and unfurled in a display of emerald-green runes.
"Tell me about the Bloodthorns. About their blood arts. Specifically, how can I take my own abilities to the next level?”
As the script rustled, searching its vast database, a memory came flashing into his mind.
…
He was back in the Bloodthorne Empire as a mere ‘slave’ to the spoiled Princess Tajmani.
One afternoon, she had insisted on riding his back, giggling with glee as she whipped his hindquarters with a jeweled riding crop. "Faster! Doggy, faster!"
“Alright, alright. I’ll go faster.”
But in his haste, he'd tripped over a stone which sent Tajmani sprawling onto the ground.
“WAAAA! MOTHER!”
She lay on the grass. There was a small cut on her forehead oozing blood.
Moments later, a cold presence engulfed him. The air crackled, those servants around them scattered. It was Queen Ewa Nier, and her rage was potent!
“You pathetic DOG! You DARE injure my daughter?!”
The moisture in the air around her began to vanish as she glared at her prey.
He watched, terrified, as the air itself warped, and then countless tiny Blood Stars, each encircled by a spiraling rune, appeared. They buzzed with destructive energy as they surrounded him.
“MOTHER! MAKE HIM PAY!”
BOOM!
One Blood Star streaked towards a nearby rock, striking it with the force of a meteor. The rock shattered. But what emerged from those shattered fragments had him shivering with fear. A bloody monstrous creature, towering over him. Its claws were crimson and its eyes burned with a malevolent glow.
And it wasn’t alone. The grasses swayed and writhed as those potent Blood Stars touched them, each stalk transformed into a grotesque monster that was eager to tear into his flesh.
He was trapped, surrounded, and he braced himself for a painful death.
Suddenly, he felt a powerful wave of energy.
Butler Long appeared before him with an unwavering aura. He easily deflected the incoming blasts and the creatures exploded into dust.
"Quell your anger, my queen," he said calmly.
…
Raphael shook those terrifying images away. His focus wasn't on the terror of that encounter now. Rather, it was the mechanics of that Blood Star technique. Could he replicate such potent magic?
Zhu Jian buzzed. His inquiry was ready.
“Here is the information you seek, Master!”
The script showcased secrets. It explained that the Bloodthorne’s were masters of blood arts. They wielded potent essences and techniques, capable of shaping and manipulating their very life force into weapons, defenses, and even monstrous creatures. It revealed their weakness too.
“Those fools, they are fragile indeed.” Raphael laughed at the irony of how their mighty lineage relied on external objects to empower their souls.
He’d witnessed their arrogance and their might firsthand, yet he, a Golden Bull Thork, a Calamity was more powerful even at a lower stage of cultivation.
And then he read about the essence of those techniques. It all boiled down to one thing…
Refined blood.
‘The purer the Blood Essence. The greater its potency, its applications.’ He understood this fact clearly now.
The script then showcased tiers. Each tier was a representation of an individual's ability to manipulate their blood essence.
…
Fermented Blood Tier 1: Crimson Blood – those at this level can materialize their blood into simple weapons, or defensive barriers with limited duration, potency and reach.
Fermented Blood Tier 2: Blood Emerald – at this tier, users could shape their blood into more complex weapons and create rudimentary beasts, however they were easy to control by others of stronger essences.
Fermented Blood Tier 3: Azure Blood – they can now conjure blood constructs, imbued with their very will, capable of independent actions and thought processes. These beasts could last for days, if their creators were powerful enough.
Fermented Blood Tier 4: Obsidian Blood – at this stage, a practitioner’s touch can turn anything they desire into a blood weapon, but it’s usually limited to small objects that they have a connection with.
Fermented Blood Tier 5: Diamond Blood – those at this stage are said to be legends. They are capable of teleporting via blood droplets, their every thought a bloody reality! They could control any entity that has blood within, their potential is terrifying!
…
“So that’s how those Blood Knights moved so swiftly and created those crimson traps back in the Blood Forest…" Raphael murmured. “But my technique that day. When I was confronted by Lu Lingxue…” he recalled how easily his Blood Sword had manifested. He then asked for clarification.
"Zhu Jian, what’s the best method for refining my blood?"
"Three methods are commonly employed.." The script flickered and revealed the paths he could take:
…
Sanguine Meditation
Blood Essence Consumption
Blood Refining Treasures – Such as Xinxue Sink or a Buddhist Pill Gourd
…
The last method caught Raphael's eye. He’d never heard of this artifact.
“Buddhist Pill Gourd…” he whispered while picturing an ordinary gourd. But it was much more than that, he realized after further inquiry.
Zhu Jian explained, ‘The 'Buddhist Pill Gourd' is a fruit that is cultivated for millennia by a sentient tree known as ‘Almeez'. These trees are rare! Powerful! And possess great wisdom! Their fruits can accelerate the blood refinement process and awaken hidden bloodline potential. But to pluck a ‘Buddhist Pill Gourd' is no easy task! For Almeez despises greed, and they are easily offended.’
“Hmm? Sentient tree? But where can I find such a rare, talking plant?"
A map materialized above the script. It zoomed into a specific region, the Dark Swamp Gorge.
"Such a dreadful place..." Raphael murmured.
It was on the fringes of Yama Yaguai and teeming with potent dangers – monstrous insects, vicious plants, a land where even the Emperor Calamities dared not venture lightly.
He was now pacing the training grounds with hooves clicking and horns twitching nervously. He wasn’t exactly a fan of unknown territories, especially swampy ones that were guaranteed to have slimy insects!
However, as thoughts of the upcoming Great Divine Tribulation consumed his resolve, those dangers paled in comparison.
“If I refine my blood and unlock my full Bloodline powers. Maybe… maybe then… I can contend with those Nightmare level Calamities that will be present. Lu Ruby… her father won’t let her enter those Trials empty handed, right?”
These possibilities and questions demanded a clear head.
“It’s a risk I HAVE TO TAKE! My freedom and my very essence depend on it! It’s either refine my blood or become a chew toy! A gamble indeed, hahaha!"
He had made his choice.
The Dark Swamp Gorge, and those treasures waiting to be plucked,
They called to him!
