Looking at the amount of First Order Soul Stones he had left, Bai Zemin hesitated for a moment.
Currently, he possessed 18 First Order Soul Stones within his bag as he had previously consumed quite a few to evolve the passive skill Enhanced Dexterity. Even so, there were about 10 Soul Stones stored in the faction's treasury as there were several other First Order creatures that were defeated in groups by other soul evolvers and armed men; of course, the losses were not small but not colossal either, however, obtaining the treasure-filled corpse of such a powerhouse definitely made up for it.
The reason why Bai Zemin was hesitating was because he did not know what to do next. Although First Order existences were gradually beginning to appear more naturally and although they were still a rarity, it was no longer at the level of a month ago, the First Order Soul Stones were indeed very valuable treasures in Bai Zemin's eyes. So, he didn't know whether he should stop there or continue evolving his passive skills.
"Screw it, let's try one more and then stop there." He finally made up his mind and started looking carefully at his passive skills before finally stopping in one.
First Order Bronze Skin level 5, a skill that not only increased Bai Zemin's Stamina but also turned his skin extremely tough and protected him from external attacks. But the real reason why Bai Zemin chose this skill was because he wanted to check something.
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[Bronze Skin First Order passive skill Level 5 —————> Next Order.]
[Evolution requirements -]
[Stamina stat above 700 points without external support: Complete.]
[Soul Stone: 30/30.]
[First Order Soul Stone: 15/15.]
[Do you wish to evolve the skill to the next stage?]
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Bai Zemin almost spit out two liters of blood when he saw the evolution requirements for the Bronze Skin skill.
To go from level 4 to level 5, the skill barely asked for nine Unclassified Soul Stone and the amount of points needed in the Stamina stat was 300 without external support. However, to go from level 5 to the next stage, the greedy skill actually wanted 30 Unclassified Soul Stone, 15 First Order Soul Stone, and more than twice as many natural Stamina stat points than before!
Even if the advancement between levels and Orders were two different worlds, there should be limits to the insanity!
Just as Bai Zemin was about to evolve the skill, he remembered something he had forgotten and jumped to his feet. His eyes glittered uncharacteristically as he pulled out the small pearl of liquid storage.
"It's not like I lose anything by trying." He muttered as he activated Blood Manipulation and sent a pinch of his Mana to the inside of the pearl.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
There were exactly five thin strands of blood flowing out from inside the small liquid storage pearl in Bai Zemn's hands and under the control of his Second Order Blood Manipulation skill the blood slowly accumulated until a few seconds later there were five balls of blood.
Bai Zemin stopped drawing blood from inside the small pearl when he judged that there should be about half of a liter of blood in each floating ball.
As he carefully observed the blood before him, he easily noticed that although the five groups of blood belonged to Second Order existences, the difference in quality between them was quite obvious.
This blood belonged to five of the seven Second Order existences that Bai Zemin had defeated in combat and killed. The reason why the other two types of blood were not there was because the blood of the Second Order Archaic Bear that had been defeated first after a fierce death fight had already been consumed by him and the blood of the Second Order Poisonous Bloom Spider had left nothing behind after being stricken by Bai Zemin's blood trident.
Without further ado, Bai Zemin did not beat around the bush and slowly controlled the blood of the lowest level creature which if he remembered correctly had the name Abil, that goblin whose upper half exploded after being hit by Bai Zemin's Blazing Scale Greatsword.
The reason he did this was because he didn't want to risk any kind of backlash since the blood of Second Order existences was quite potent. By absorbing small quantities and going from the lowest level to the highest, Bai Zemin's organism would gain some resistance and his stats would be higher.
Soon, the blood of the goblin level 69 named Abil rushed into his organism and began to fight wildly as if it wanted to wreak havoc inside him.
Unlike that time when Bai Zemin drank the blood of the Second Order Archaic Bear and even though the level of the goblin named Abil was higher than that of the bear, Bai Zemin did not feel so much pain as to make his face twitch as it did back then.
A few minutes later, the discomfort disappeared and the information from the absorbed record in the form of a message flashed across his retina.
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[Magic +32, Mana +37.]
[For the next 60 seconds reduce the Mana consumption of the skills used by 10%.]
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"Oh?" Bai Zemin raised an eyebrow with surprise glittering in his eyes.
The second message was something that Bai Zemin was in no way expecting but was certainly a welcome surprise.
As he looked at the approximately eight liters of blood collected from the goblin Abil, Bai Zemin felt his heart flutter lightly at the discovery of what might be a new treasure.
He had just drunk approximately half a liter of blood as from previous experience he knew it was the necessary requirement to absorb most of the power contained in the blood of the defeated creature. While this worked only once, the side effect did not necessarily have to be activated only once.
An idea flashed in his mind and after a moment's thought, he approached the door to his room.
When he opened the door, a beautiful woman with a strikingly seductive body immediately bowed and smiled beautifully at him as she said in a polite and respectful voice:
"Lord, do you need anything?"
This person was Qin Ming, Bai Zemin's housekeeper and the first woman to stand up when he and his group took control of this village after defeating the four previous leaders who ruled with an iron fist and oppressed everyone while doing whatever they pleased.
The current Qin Ming no longer had that burn around her mouth, a wound that had been caused by one of the four previous leaders of the camp due to her unwillingness to become his plaything. Under her maidservant dress, even the bruises that plagued her skin had completely disappeared after consuming First Order mutant beast meat, and her skin had become much silkier, shinier, and her overall beauty had increased by several folds.
"Qin Ming, look for…." Bai Zemin paused for a moment as he was about to say Shangguan Bing Xue and instead said, "Tell someone to find Wu Yijun and tell her to come, it's important."
Qin Ming's eyes flashed in a strange way and without a word she bowed and left.
Seeing her go, Bai Zemin returned to his room to continue absorbing Second Order blood.
The reason why he preferred to call Wu Yijun instead of Shangguan Bing Xue was to avoid unnecessary trouble with some people. Besides, Wu Yijun's position was more suitable for what he was about to do.
Soon, Bai Zemin absorbed 500 ML of blood belonging to the Second Order Explosive Flame Ape level 71. The current was much more powerful compared to when Abil's blood entered his body and Bai Zemin felt as if his soul was going to burn for a brief moment. Fortunately, he had gone slowly and gradually or else it could have been extremely painful to directly consume the blood of a fire-type beast without cooking it or mixing it with other foods to reduce its effect; which Bai Zemin did not want. He aimed for the maximum benefit even if he had to go through a great deal of pain, he was willing to bear it.
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[Strength +24. Magic +25.]
[For the next 30 seconds increase Fire Resistance by 15%.]
———————————-
Bai Zemin's eyes lit up again and his lips curved slightly upward. Without saying a word, he proceeded to drink 500 ML from the female goblin whose name if he remembered correctly was Kurano.
Kurano's blood was much easier to absorb. Bai Zemin didn't even frown once during the whole process and about 5 minutes later he was done.
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[Agility +28.]
[For the next 10 seconds, the chances of being sent flying by an enemy are reduced by 10%.]
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"Reduces the chance of being sent flying?" Bai Zemin was startled when he read the second message.
Did that mean that if he reached 100% his feet would always be steady as Mount Tai and not move at all even if a Fourth Order existence were to strike? Although it sounded a bit crazy, it really seemed to be so. Of course, whether he survived the strike or not was another different matter.
However, Bai Zemin was simply surprised to see a new non-trackable statistic and that was all; he was fully aware that reaching 100% in anything was no simple task. Even Lilith had pointed that out earlier when he said that his chance of causing critical hits with his attacks was steadily increasing.
After drinking some of the blood of the female goblin Kurano, Bai Zemin went on to drink the blood of the Second Order Ice Light Tiger level 73.
The first moment the creature's blood flowed into his body, Bai Zemin felt his veins freeze slightly and his whole body shuddered. He hurriedly controlled his blood flow and as the speed increased the light mist of frost began to give way until it gradually merged with his flesh and blood.
The whole process of absorption and assimilation took approximately 10 minutes.
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[Agility +30. Stamina +30.]
[For the next 60 seconds increase the power of light and ice type attacks by 15%.]
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"It's a pity to waste the temporary power increase, but I really need the stats…" Bai Zemin lamented quietly.
Moreover, seeing the +30 Stamina, a satisfied smile appeared on his face. One of his stats had finally broken the 1000 point mark.
Just as he expected, a message from the Soul Record flashed across his retina. However, before he could focus on it, the door of his room was knocked softly followed by Qin Ming's voice.
"Lord, Miss Wu Yijun is here."
Approximately 20 minutes had passed since Bai Zemin gave the instruction for someone to bring Wu Yijun and considering that the two's villas were not that far apart, he judged that she was probably busy with something important.
Without thinking too much about it, he calmly said, "Let her pass."
The door of his room opened smoothly as those words left his mouth and a moment later it closed again.
This was the first time Wu Yijun had entered Bai Zemin's room and as she looked around she noticed that while it was somewhat messy due to the number of Soul Stones, treasure orbs, and other things on the bed; the room in general smelled extremely good.
It was a smell she knew and longed for very much. Realizing this, she blushed slightly, and realizing that she was alone in his room, she blushed even more. Her mind went a little crazy and she had to try very hard not to let too wild thoughts pop into her imagination.
While it wasn't the first time she had been in a room alone with Bai Zemin, it was the first time they had been alone together since she had become fully aware of her feelings. As if that wasn't enough, a bed was there!
* * * * * * *
Thank you very much to everyone who voted for Blood Warlock with Golden Tickets! <3
