When Lucien lowered his killing speed to make sure he had time to scour the area for Herbs, from killing three Rank 1 Beasts in couple of days, it became killing five Rank 1 Beasts in two weeks. Even then his Existence Points were amassing at the speed of Light.
He preferred killing ones that were barely Rank 1 to make sure they were master-less, so they yielded around 8000 - 10000 Existence Points per Beasts.
Three weeks passed like that before Lucien had the points for his Lightning Clone. He didn't waste time and created it the same night he had enough. This time the cocoon that was shot out of him wasn't pulsing with Darkness, but Lightning flashed all around it.
It seemed out of the world. Soon the cocoon started cracking and a hand shot out just like the previous time. This time the hand was not as pale and didn't look like it belonged to Death itself, it had a special vigor to it. Once the clone climbed out, he was surrounded by Lightning and looked like a God of Thunder.
It took it a minute or two to gain full control after it was born. Donning a blue robe the clone left the Mountain Range, Lucien didn't need help so he sent it to the stronghold where all the kidnapped families were kept. It would practice towards Rank 3 and guard the place, after all it was really important to Lucien that those families stayed where they were.
Lucien continued his routine and was quickly gaining deeper understanding of the Mountain, since it looked like a Y on the map, it was not hard to deduce that going to the center point was a suicide and it was where probably all the higher ups of the Beasts resided.
'I wonder if the Ancestral Arena where the elimination round was held is really in the center. It seems the Beast wouldn't allow such easily.'
The only section that didn't have an outskirt and everything was treated as a zone of death was the central point of the Mountain Range. Anyone that entered, died. Truth to be told the rest of the Mountain didn't truly have and outskirt that humans could survive in, it was just that stronger Beasts preferred to be deeper inside the Mountain, thus forming this phenomenon.
They treated the center as their Sacred Land, so even the outskirts of that Sacred Land contained tons of Rank 3 Beasts. They felt it was better to be in the outskirts of the Sacred Land than in the inner area of the other sections.
Since he kept to the outskirts he couldn't really understand the distribution of Beasts in the inner area, but he was sure that in each section of the Y, excluding the center, wouldn't have more than one or two Rank 4 Beast.
'And the only reason they are here and not at the center, is because they were sent to govern the area and be the local tyrants.'
The more Lucien thought the more it made sense. He still had some doubts in his heart even when everything sounded pretty logical.
If there were more, the Beasts would have already invaded the Empires. After all Rank 5 Beasts existed for sure, unless...
'Could it be that the Ancestors are ignoring the Beasts and killing the Rank 5s that rise from their Ranks, treating them like livestock?'
Both ways were possible as the royal family needed the resources, so the stock of meat had to be kept. As for the commoners, he doubted the Ancestors cared even a bit.
Another month passed and Lucien was back to 100 000 Existence Points, by this time he had 18 liters of Rank 2 Blood, so not giving the opportunity a chance to slip.
'I want the Manual that is needed to progress the Blood Count.'
Lucien was a bit worried the price would be changes as the rarity of the Manual was higher, but the prices that All Existence set for the Manuals seemed absolute. From Rank 1 to Rank 2 it was 10 000 and from Rank 2 to Rank 3 was 100 000, no matter the Path.
Thinking further, it was already giving him Manual that were a tier above the ones he could get from the royal families, so it didn't categorize them by rarity, as they were already something he couldn't find in this world. Judging by the prices for the Devil Armor and the description of being Devil, if it was categorizing the manual by rarity, he wouldn't be able to afford a page.
100 000 Existence Points split from the crimson lights and delivered the knowledge to Lucien, who then proceeded to see the requirements.
It took him only a moment to read through the Manual and what he found left him shocked to his core.
'It's impossible. What the hell?'
Lucien had found that the requirements were completely insane. He would need years to meet the requirements to even try to breakthrough.
The first requirement was to alter his Rank 2 Blood. He needed to use blood of the same Rank to evolve his own. Once his blood was golden, it would mean he met this requirement. Even if it sounded easy, Lucien had a grim look on his face.
A drop of Blood weighted about a gram give or take. But to evolve that one drop he needed 10 grams of neutral blood of the same Rank. Average 70kg humans had 5.5 liters of blood in their body, which translated to about 5500 grams. If he wanted to evolve all his blood into the golden state that was mentioned in the Manual, he needed 55 liters of peak Rank 2 Blood.
The 18 liters he currently had were compressed from the barely Rank 1 Beasts he killed, which meant that after condensing it was barely Rank 2. He would need to further condense them reducing the amount to half, or in this case 9 liters of peak Rank 2 Blood. Even through it had taken him two months to get 9 liters, it wouldn't translate to years, but the second requirement finished off the job.
After he finished purifying his trashy blood to the requirements of a normal Blood Practitioners, he would need to first elevate it to Rank 3, before making his own advancement.
The main reason for this was that once the Blood was of high enough Rank it could nourish the Soul this increasing its overall quality. Breaking through Rank 3 in a Middle Path with a 1000 stat points in Soul was impossible, so the quality had to be increased.
'Even through my Soul is already Rank 3, there is no way other people couldn't have thought of first breaking through in a Lower Path and then use that to help the Middle Path, why would this be still in the Manual.'
Lucien kept frowning and thinking for a long time. The requirements to evolve the blood to Rank 3 were harsh to say in the least. He needed Rank 3 Blood for that.
'It's insane. To practice a Middle Path, a Practitioner without the ability to condense materials like me, would have to fight a Rank 3s to get their Blood.'
And even then the amount was not small. The increase in stats between ranks was always 5 times, so Lucien made an educated guess that he would need at least 5 times the amount of his Blood, but in Rank 3 quality.
It took him awhile, but once he opened his eyes, only determination was visible.
'Since it's meant to be this way, I'll just follow the manual. It's the best way to avoid mishaps.'
Lucien already planned to spend the rest of the time he had before the competition inside the Mountain.