"Do we have anyone capable of making potions or brews like that?"
After those words left Bai Zemin's mouth, he fell silent and looked at Wu Yijun as he waited for a response from her.
However, even after several seconds, the room remained silent as neither of them said a word.
Just as Bai Zemin was about to ask if something was wrong, she said with wide eyes, "E- Excuse me? Potions or brews?"
"Yes, potions or similar brews." Bai Zemin repeated somewhat confused by the surprise expressed by the beautiful girl in front of him and patiently explained, "Just like in role-playing games and the like, magic potions with amazing effects, brews capable of assisting the consumer in combat, stuff like that."
"N-No… I do understand what you mean by potions or brews. It may not seem like it but I also played a few games in my life so I am aware of the similarity of our status window to that of a video game character." Wu Yijun shook her head gently, and seeing that Bai Zemin didn't seem to be joking, she said somewhat puzzled, "But even if our faction had someone capable of doing such stuff, how are we supposed to craft a benign potion and not a poisonous one? Even though our botany team has already studied roughly a hundred mutant plants, it's still not enough to create something so mage-like. Besides…"
Wu Yijun seemed to have more to say but Bai Zemin raised a hand to indicate her to stop for a moment, something she obediently did while nodding in a sweet and cute manner towards him.
"I understand what you mean."Bai Zemin said calmly before adding, "However, the potions I'm talking about shouldn't be that complicated to make since investigators won't have to go around experimenting with different combinations or testing the effects."
"… I don't get it." Wu Yijun shook her head as her shoulders slumped in defeat.
Bai Zemin knew that it was not easy to explain what he had in mind with words so instead of wasting time he sent several drops of blood floating towards Wu Yijun.
"That blood belonged in the past to a Second Order existence I defeated not long ago." Bai Zemin explained as he pointed with his right hand, "If you drink it, you will understand what I mean."
Wu Yijun looked at the blood in front of her curiously before opening her mouth slightly. Her full red lips parted slightly and under Bai Zemin's control, the red blood gently fell onto her small pink tongue.
This was not the first time Wu Yijun tasted Second Order blood, she had consumed the blood of the Second Order Archaic Bear when she finally evolved to First Order. While the number of statistics and benefits she obtained was not that great as she was barely able to drink around 50 drops before she had to stop due to her own mortal body's incompetence, it was enough for her to know for sure how precious that blood was.
At the same time that she knew that Second Order blood was a treasure, Wu Yijun was also aware of the pain and inconvenience one must experience. However, for the sake of becoming more powerful, she was willing to do practically anything. Not only did she want to become stronger for herself and her family, she now had another goal to fight and strive for.
Wu Yijun gritted her pearly teeth as she felt as if her body was going to explode at any moment. Despite the wrenching pain, her black eyes were incredibly steady as she looked at the man sitting a few feet away.
As Bai Zemin looked into her eyes without averting his eyes and his black eyes met her black eyes, he could not deny that he was secretly shocked when he noticed the girl's resolve before him. Wu Yijun had lived a cosseted life since birth, she had probably never experienced real physical pain other than a few scratches and even the apocalypse did not change this as so far she had never been in a battle even remotely close to the battles he or Shangguan Bing Xue had previously faced.
However, she endured. She did not even let a sound escape from her mouth even though her body was shivering uncontrollably as if she was a small boat in the middle of a raging sea.
Even if the blood Bai Zemin was giving her was the blood of that female goblin named Kurano since despite its higher level it was much lighter than the blood of the goblin named Abil, Wu Yijun's stats were not monstrously high as Bai Zemin's were; they were both two completely different beings inside even though they were both humans born in the same world.
Therefore, Wu Yijun was currently suffering pain that should be intolerable for a little princess like she had been all her life. However, she endured like a true queen.
Approximately ten minutes later, Wu Yijun's body finally stopped shivering and she received two messages in her retina.
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[Agility +8.]
[For the next 10 seconds, the chances of being sent flying by an enemy are reduced by 10%.]
—————————————–
Wu Yijun gasped at the second message. She could clearly feel her body becoming firmer than before, just like a mountain that could not be knocked down by normal forces.
After ten seconds, that strange sensation disappeared, awakening her from her shock. She raised her head and even though some small beads of sweat were falling down her face she still looked incredibly beautiful as she said with a smile, "Now I finally understand what you were talking about before."
Bai Zemin just stared at her without saying anything for a couple of seconds, no one knew what he was thinking.
Seeing him silent and looking at her so intently, Wu Yijun again felt anxious and inadvertently started playing with her hands.
"W- what's wrong?" she asked almost in a whisper small enough that had it not been for the silence of the villa it might not have reached the desired ears.
"It's nothing." Bai Zemin shook his head and said slowly, "I simply wanted to compliment your courage. Not only did you just unhesitatingly take something I gave you even though we've barely known each other for less than two months, but you even endured the pain like a true female warrior even though your whole life was probably smooth and prickle-free. I think such an attitude is worthy of praise."
Bai Zemin was being really honest here.
A person who ran every day might be able to run twenty kilometers without rest, but a person who had never practiced sports or stamina exercises would definitely fall down a lot sooner.
What Wu Yijun had done had really surprised him a little.
Wu Yijun smiled gently at the honest tone from him and said quietly, "Well…. I think you will always get somewhere if you walk far enough."
You will always get somewhere if you walk far enough….
"…. That's an interesting way of looking at life and saying never give up." Bai Zemin closed his eyes for a second and smiled as that phrase was imprinted in his heart.
"My grandfather always said I should never give up once I set a goal." Wu Yijun looked at Bai Zemin with steady eyes and said with a smile a hint unusual, "Who knows, if I give up I might regret it the next second…. Because maybe, at the next second I will get what I want and what I fought so hard for. Wouldn't it be a pity then?"
Bai Zemin was slightly dumbfounded at her words. The next instant, however, he forced a bitter smile into his heart.
How could he not understand what she was figuratively saying to him?
"I think… That your grandfather is quite an optimistic person."
In the end, he could only say that.
Wu Yijun smiled sweetly and her eyebrows curved into a crescent shape, looking extremely cute.
"So, regarding the records you just absorbed." Bai Zemin took the opportunity to slide the topic to what really mattered to him and said matter-of-factly, "Can you read the second message to me?"
"Of course I can, just give me a second." Wu Yijun also did not continue with the previous topic. She believed that when things had to happen they would definitely happen. Another phrase her grandfather always told her was: not before, not after, everything comes when it has to come.
After hearing that Wu Yijun also received the same bonus as him and its duration had not been shortened at all while the potency of the effect also stayed intact, Bai Zemin was surprised.
She had absorbed far less blood than he had!
When he brought this up to Wu Yijun she was also surprised. However, she soon seemed to understand something and said somewhat uncertainly: "Isn't it…. Isn't it that the effect is always the same regardless of whether it's one drop or two liters?"
"Yeah… I was also thinking the same thing just now." Bai Zemin nodded.
Since that was the case, then everything was easier.
"I was thinking of using this blood and dissolving it in water." Bai Zemin explained his thoughts to Wu Yijun slowly. "My idea is to use just about one drop of blood and dissolve it in small five hundred milliliter bottles. If the side effect works well, then we can try dissolving one drop of blood in a one-liter bottle, and so on until the effect no longer works. When the effect stops working we will simply use the option before failure."
Wu Yijun's eyes lit up when she heard his idea.
"That's a really great idea! If only one drop of Second Order can be dissolved in a five hundred milliliter bottle, then we can find or make small containers of about fifty milliliters and give one to each soul evolver before going into battle. That way, a single drop of blood will be enough to form ten brews which is equivalent to ten soul evolvers boosted! And if a single drop of blood can be dissolved in a larger amount of water, then the result will be even more brilliant!"
This time it was Bai Zemin's turn for his eyes to light up. He had not thought about what she had just said, but after thinking about it for a moment, he realized that Wu Yijun's words were indeed true.
After all, how much liquid could a person drink? It wasn't as if a normal human could swallow 500 ML of water in one gulp anyway. Since the effect was activated by swallowing the blood and assimilating it, a large amount wasn't necessary!
"Look at this." Bai Zemin drew out a few more drops of blood and sent them floating gently towards Wu Yijun for her to consume one by one.
Approximately 40 minutes later, Wu Yijun had received several stat points. Although she was only able to consume only a few drops of blood and barely a single drop of Geminder's blood due to the abysmal power difference between the two, she was satisfied with the result.
"My god… Six different effects, which is equivalent to creating six brews capable of empowering our troops on the battlefield." Wu Yijun covered her mouth with both hands as her eyes flashed with disbelief.
She was fully aware that while it seemed that effects that barely increased X stats by 5% or 10% was little, in a battle between beings with equal or similar power, that difference would mark the victory and decide who would live or who would die!
"Second Order blood information should be kept as a highly classified secret. Make sure the entire investigation team knows the consequences of opening their mouths. As much as possible that all of them have family." Bai Zemin looked at Wu Yijun and his eyes flashed with a hint of imperceptible coldness.
"Don't worry, I understand. I know what to do." Wu Yijun said nodding towards him.
She naturally was no fool, she understood the importance of this matter.
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Thank you very much to everyone who voted for Blood Warlock with Golden Tickets! <3