Upgrade
Out in the wilderness, the night was freezing cold. Even the blazing bonfire was unable to dispel the chill in the air.
Inside the tent, however, it was much warmer — enough to make one feel slumberous.
Leylin waited for a few minutes and saw Ivy’s silhouette shivering as she slowly got into the tent.
You could tell she was very nervous, her hands clutched tightly to her skirt hems, exposing her pale white ankles.
Fear was inscribed on a pair of beautiful eyes.
But it was as if her body was controlled by someone, as she advanced towards Leylin, step by step.
“Don’t worry! It’s very simple to take a sample, and it will not cause you any harm!” Leylin said, to try and pacify her.
“Please pull up your sleeve!”
Upon hearing Leylin’s words, Ivy hesitated for a moment. She then pulled up her sleeve, revealing a length of her jade-white arms.
“It’s going to hurt a little, but don’t be afraid!”
Leylin took out a huge needle-like item from behind him and spoke gently to comfort the little girl.
Unfortunately, the little girl started to tremble even more severely.
With the girl’s arm in one hand, Leylin stuck the needle into the exposed vein on her arm.
Ivy’s face winced when the needle entered her vein as if she was about to cry but still forced herself to stay strong.
After drawing enough blood from Ivy, Leylin sent chased the little girl back to her own tent.
“Why does it feel like I was bullying a little girl?”
Leylin rubbed his chin as he looked at the needle in his hand.
No matter what, it was unsettling being on the receiving end of a “You bullied me” look given by a little girl.
“A.I. Chip, begin the experiment, and prepare the microscope…”
After being in a daze for several seconds, Leylin came to his senses and his expression turned solemn. His slender hands began to move expertly like butterflies treading and dancing through flowers.
Next morning, Leylin saw a pink liquid within the vulcanised tube and his expression looked unclear.
“A.I Chip, scan!” A blue light glowed within Leylin’s eyes, falling onto the test-tube.
[Beep! Detected a trace of ancient creature’s bloodline in the drop of blood. Pala Night Hawk! Unable to purify further!]
The A.I. Chip ended its feedback, turning Leylin’s face darker.
Ivy did carry a trace of an ancient bloodline, a pity that the inheritance of the Pala Night Hawk bloodline ends with her. The traces had already thinned to the absolute minimum and only a bit of aura could be extracted from her blood but it did not have many uses.
“From this density, even if Ivy was completely exsanguinated, or made to bleed some blood from time to time, it wouldn’t be enough to even purify a single drop of the pure ancient bloodline.”
However, Leylin did not feel particularly disappointed or anything similar to disappointment.
It wasn’t that he would be successful with every single experiment of his. However, if one doesn’t even try, there will be no chances of success.
He had learnt this lesson back in his previous life.
“Moreover, this bloodline that carries a trace of the ancient creature’s aura, adding on with some of the broken magic artifacts pieces I’ve gotten in the secret plane, they could aid in the modification of the Fallen Star Pendant…”
A notion rose in Leylin’s mind.
The Fallen Star Pendant was only a low-grade magic artifact which was useful back in his days as an acolyte. However, for Leylin now it was somewhat of little value.
The A.I. Chip had been given the task of researching the possibilities of upgrading the Fallen Star Pendant, and now it seemed to have borne some fruits.
However, Leylin was a Warlock now, if he was able to add some power of the bloodlines on top of the other ingredients needed for the upgrade, it would definitely achieve a better potential!
“A.I. Chip, establish this mission as a subtask: calculate the possibility of adding Ivy’s bloodline into the Fallen Star Pendant!”
[Beep! Mission established, classified in a subfolder under the mission of upgrading the Fallen Star Pendant!]
The A.I. Chip intoned promptly.
Although he was unable to purify the ancient bloodline, but he had obtained an ingredient that could complement the upgrade of the Fallen Star Pendant. So Leylin felt that he had reaped a huge benefit and hence his mood was uplifted, too.
The next morning, he even greeted Ivy during breakfast, which was something that he seldom did. This caused the little girl to be confused and out of sorts. Seeing this scene, Leylin laughed inwardly.
After eating breakfast, Leylin brought the little girl and carried on with the journey.
He even bought a horse carriage while making a stop at a town, putting out the misery of the little girl, who had had to walk all along.
The reason why he did this was not because of kindheartedness. It was because the little girl provided him with blood every day, and while Leylin brewed some potions to replenish the blood, her mental state did not seem very well as her face was as pale as dead people.
After purchasing the horse carriage, Leylin led his life even more leisurely. He would journey when the sun was up, and at night, he would continue to extract the essence from the Pala Night Hawk bloodline to upgrade the Fallen Star Pendant.
“Dawn’s Peak! According to our speed, we should be able to reach the Great Canyon Margaret tomorrow!”
Leylin pointed to a mountain which peak was amongst the clouds as he spoke to Ivy behind him.
“… ”Ivy looked at the landmark in front of her and clutched her knees in silence.
His eyelids hung low, not knowing if it was because of the fears of what the future would bring, or because of bewilderment.
“The ingredients gathered are now sufficient. I will upgrade the Fallen Star Pendant tonight!” thought Leylin.
Naturally, he controlled the pace of the journey, so he was able to obtain enough blood right before reaching the Great Canyon Margaret tomorrow.
In the middle of the night.
The surroundings were dark and serene, and from time to time the sounds of insects and howls of wolves could be heard.
Ivy was in a deep sleep within the tent beside the horse carriage.
As for her who was in deep slumber, her eyelids twitched continuously, as if dreaming of a nightmare.
Seeing her in this manner, Leylin heaved a sigh of relief and returned to the horse carriage.
“A.I. Chip, simulate the start of the experiment!”
Leylin set up an illuminating spell and lit the interiors of the horse carriage.
In the middle, several wood boxes were set up in a flat platform with some apparatus displayed on it.
In the middle of all was a silver grey cross, with several fragments of jewels on it.
This was the original shape of the Fallen Star Pendant. Ever since he had advanced into a rank 1 Warlock, he had rarely used it.
The Fallen Star Pendant’s physical and magic defense were both valid for at most 20 degrees. As for any rank 1 spell cast by an official Magus, it would exceed these limits.
Hence, Leylin would think of methods to raise the capabilities of the Fallen Star Pendant, hoping for it to be of use again.
[Simulation for experiment over, success rate to be 87.9%.] After a flash of blue light, the A.I. Chip reported a string of data back to Leylin.
Right now, the A.I. Chip could simulate most parts of the experiment and produce the success rate. This meant that as long as Leylin followed the steps given by the A.I. Chip, he could attain the same success rate that was indicated.
As for those magicians who painstakingly gathered ingredients yet not knowing their success rate, the A.I. Chip’s capabilities showed that it could save Leylin a huge amount of resources.
So much so that this capability could even be employed during an advancement.
If the A.I. Chip’s success rate was too low, Leylin could give up on the advancement and amass more resources before trying to breakthrough. This was much better after comparing this with other magicians who try to breakthrough in the dark and even suffer from a backlash.
“First of all, it’s to separate the ingredients for the magic artifact!”
Leylin looked at the other items placed on the platform.
There was half a dagger and a broken arm. These spoils of war were obtained by Leylin during the bloodbath in the secret plane. Although some time had passed, the arm still shone with a silver light, completely concealing the fact that it was a human arm made of flesh.
“Silver-Claw Saurun actually imbued his magic artifact into his own arm, what a crazy fellow!”
Leylin picked up the silver arm and placed it within a golden funnel, setting it alight at the bottom.
A golden yellow flame continued to swirl in the funnel, turning the funnel red.
The blazing temperature continued to radiate from the hand. Once Leylin noticed the change, he began to drip some blue fluid, drop by drop, onto the arm.
The blue liquid fell onto the arm, turning into red immediately, extending it towards the whole arm.
The temperature increased yet again.
Leylin was ecstatic as he placed a transparent beaker below the funnel.
*Pitter-patter**Pitter-patter* Droplets of silver liquid continued to drip down.
Very soon, this liquid filled up half of the beaker.
Leylin’s right hand rapidly gathered some powder and jewels and tossed it into the beaker, while his left hand reached for a metal wire and stirred the beaker.
The powder and jewels melted immediately upon entering the beaker, and the silver liquid began to turn muddy.
A dozen minutes later, there were two obvious layers in the beaker. On top was a liquid the colour of flesh, and at the bottom, it was a layer that was pure silver in colour.
……
After being busy for a while, Leylin looked at the several ingredients laid in front of him with a gleeful expression.
The formerly mentioned dagger and silver arm had not turned into two blocks of black and grey metal as they shone with lustre.
As for the Fallen Star Pendant, it was now submerged within a beaker. The beaker was half filled with pink blood with the scent of orchids
“Keliesiding Guraweier Alongsuo….”
Leylin chanted an incantation as he made a cut on his finger, dropping a dark red drop of blood into the beaker.
*Bang!*
Once the dark red blood entered the beaker, it immediately had a chemical reaction.
The pink coloured gases continued to rise and the blood began bubbling.
Threads of red liquid continuously climbed onto the Fallen Star Pendant, turning the original silver-grey colour into a dark red colour.
After the blood in the beaker completely evaporated, the Fallen Star Pendant turned into a dark red cross.
“What’s next is to modify the runes inscription!”
Leylin’s expression turned extremely solemn. This was the most crucial step to upgrade the Fallen Star Pendant!