CH143
The castle looked ancient, and its style dates back at least seven or eight hundred years.
Spanning over 6,000 square meters, the castle was vast yet eerily quiet, with no signs of activity.
"This castle belonged to the noble family who originally owned Kent Valley. No one lives here now; it's always been empty. The apprentices and servants aren't worthy of living here, and I wouldn't say I like it—it's too big. What do you think?" Brack asked.
Helag was pleased. "It's quite nice. I like it."
For others, the castle might feel too empty and quiet, unsuitable for long-term living. But for Helag, it was perfect. He enjoyed solitude without interruptions.
Being alone made many things more convenient.
"Let's take a look inside," Brack said, leading Helag into the castle.
The castle had many buildings. Helag chose the innermost part as his bedroom and laboratory.
"I'll arrange for two servants to help with daily chores. They'll live in the gatehouse at the entrance," Brack said.
"Thank you. I really like this place," Helag replied.
Brack smiled. "I was worried you'd find it lifeless. I'm glad you like it. I'll be in the courtyard to the east. If you need anything, just come find me. The servants will handle food, clothes, and other necessities."
After Brack left, a man and a woman arrived.
The man, Lennon, was forty, skilled in driving and horse care, responsible for errands and messages.
The woman, Mary, in her thirties, handled cooking, laundry, and cleaning.
"Just do your jobs, and don't enter the inner castle without my permission," Helag instructed.
They bowed in acknowledgement.
Helag noted their physical state. They seemed fine, but their appearance didn't match their age.
Both were in their thirties or forties, yet their hair was already greying.
In Kent Valley, only wizards or apprentices lived there. Ordinary people suffered from radiation, shortening their lifespan.
Servants were expendable to the Terchy family, and no one cared about their longevity.
Only someone like Pete, a Grand Knight, could withstand the radiation due to his physical strength.
This was because there were few formal wizards in Kent Valley, mostly apprentices.
If Pete were in a place like Moonlight Forest, full of formal wizards, he'd need anti-radiation potions to avoid a shortened lifespan.
Lennon returned with a carriage, now Helag's, for travel.
He unloaded many items, including bedding and other essentials.
The castle had been cleaned, but Mary meticulously tidied every corner of the inner castle.
She dared not slack off, picking up even a single hair to throw away.
Mary had more tasks ahead. Lennon would bring vegetables, some for storage in the cellar, others for pickling and drying.
There were also meats and smoked fish to store. Helag might not eat much, but it was essential to have supplies.
Helag explored the castle, checking each room and planning its future use.
Finding a spacious basement, he decided to set up his lab there, as it was more secluded and soundproof.
He took out some lab equipment from his space ring, quickly organizing the basement into a makeshift lab.
***
A few days later, in the basement.
Helag was now fully familiar with the castle and had discovered two hidden rooms, though they were empty.
The castle was running smoothly. Mary placed meals on the designated table at mealtimes.
Tonight, Helag would begin the most crucial step: practising Great Dark Heaven.
Before him, a glass container held a potion-soaked black leg.
In the past, practitioners of Great Dark Heaven consumed the flesh of their target to absorb its bloodline power.
Helag didn't need such primitive methods. With his lab equipment and Deep Blue's help, he could extract the bloodline without eating the limb.
The black creature's leg remained active, not decaying.
Helag extracted it, infused it with magic, and drained the blood into a beaker.
The next step was tedious: removing impurities from the blood with magic.
With Deep Blue's assistance, Helag slowly eliminated the impurities.
An hour later, only pure red blood remained in the beaker.
Helag channelled magic into the Great Dark Heaven spell model, a stone tablet's phantom appearing behind him.
With a thought, the blood was absorbed into the stone tablet's phantom.
The bloodline power spread from the tablet, merging with Helag's own bloodline.
Helag felt pain throughout his body, indicating the bloodline power was being absorbed and integrated.
An hour later, Helag opened his eyes, a spark of electricity flashing within them.
"Deep Blue, analyze my body."
[Helag Merlin:
Strength 16.5
Agility 17.3
Constitution 17.4
Spirit 42.2
Mana 100%.]
All his stats had improved significantly, especially agility, which rose to 17.
This was just the physical enhancement from absorbing the bloodline power, without using the power itself.
After absorbing the black creature's bloodline, Helag gained a new innate ability: control over lightning, called Lightning Mastery.
Through bloodline power, Helag could stimulate his muscles with lightning, greatly enhancing his speed, defence, and strength.
He also learned that as his bloodline power grew stronger, he could cover his entire body with lightning, further boosting his speed and strength.
There were two ways to enhance bloodline power: absorbing more of the same type of bloodline or increasing his own strength, which would gradually reveal the hidden power within his bloodline.
CH145
[Special mark detected,] Deep Blue suddenly alerted.
Hearing the prompt, Helag glanced at his chest, noticing a black mark.
The mark resembled a humanoid figure with wings, though the details were unclear, showing only a simple shape.
"Deep Blue, what is this?" Helag asked.
Deep Blue responded, [Retrieving data, searching for related information…]
Ten seconds later.
[Based on data analysis, there is a 97.7% probability that this is a bloodline mark. Typically, a bloodline mark is found only in the most original and pure bloodline of a lineage.]
[Since the subject absorbed a black creature with a trace of the Primordial Thunder God's bloodline, it is hypothesized that the subject awakened the true Primordial Thunder God bloodline during absorption.]
Deep Blue provided the data-driven conclusion.
"The true Primordial Thunder God bloodline?"
Helag suddenly understood. The black creature had only a faint trace of the Primordial Thunder God's bloodline, which was already very diluted.
Typically, even if he absorbed the black creature's bloodline, most of the power would be from the creature itself.
However, Helag had awakened the Primordial Thunder God bloodline, meaning he was now a direct descendant of that lineage, a true bloodline holder.
"What does this bloodline mark do?" Helag continued to inquire.
Deep Blue provided the information: [A bloodline mark generally conceals more core bloodline power. The holder can activate the mark to gain stronger bloodline power.]
"Activate?"
Helag focused his thoughts, connecting with the Primordial Thunder God mark on his chest.
The mark quickly reacted, emitting a black glow.
Starting from the mark, his skin began turning black, seemingly spreading to cover his entire body.
Helag patiently awaited the transformation, but unexpectedly, the blackness was suppressed by some force, retracting back into the mark.
At that moment, he felt a strange sensation, as if the world around him was rejecting him—a completely new experience.
Once the blackness fully retracted, the sense of rejection vanished.
"I see… I understand now."
Recalling his experiences in the Abyss Plane, Helag realized.
The Primordial Thunder God's bloodline power belonged to the Abyss Plane, which was suppressed and rejected by the world will in the wizarding world.
In other words, Helag found it difficult to use the true Primordial Thunder God bloodline power in this plane.
After two more attempts, he confirmed that an unknown force was suppressing him, preventing the activation of the bloodline mark.
"It seems I'll have to wait until I return to the Abyss Plane to test this bloodline's true power."
With no success after two attempts, Helag temporarily abandoned activating the mark.
Unable to activate the bloodline mark, Helag began testing his existing bloodline power.
With a thought, he channelled the bloodline power, causing sparks of electricity to flicker across his skin.
[Strength +1.2,
Agility +2.3,
Constitution +1.7]
Deep Blue synchronized the data on the bloodline power's enhancements.
Helag continued channelling the bloodline power, the electric sparks increasing, even making his hair stand on end.
[Strength +5.3,
Agility +5.7,
Constitution +5.5]
This was the current enhancement the bloodline could provide, though the improvements weren't substantial.
Helag needed to continue absorbing the Primordial Thunder God bloodline or further enhance his strength to unlock more bloodline power.
However, he wasn't limited to absorbing only the Primordial Thunder God's bloodline. Great Dark Heaven could absorb any bloodline power.
After verifying the bloodline power, Helag began casting other spells, recording the data.
He started with various zero-level attack spells.
[Small Fireball: 2.5 units]
[Magic Missile: 1.7 units]
[Ice Spike: 2.9 units]
[Ice Arrow: 1.5 units]
.
.
Each zero-level spell showed significant improvement in attack strength.
Helag still lacked first-level attack spells, but that couldn't be rushed. It would take time.
He planned to ask Brack to contact the Terchy family's channels to see if he could purchase some suitable first-level spells.
He currently had over 2,000 magic stones, which seemed like a lot, but first-level spells were expensive.
Helag couldn't spend it all on spells; he needed to keep some reserves.
Now that he had left Moonlight Forest, many things weren't as easy to obtain.
Rare potion and casting materials, if they suddenly appeared, would be gone in a flash if he didn't have enough magic stones to buy them.
So he needed to maintain a certain amount of magic stone savings for emergencies.
"Absolute Defense!"
After testing all the attack spells, Helag moved on to his strongest defensive spell.
As a third-level apprentice, it had a defence strength of 18 units. Now, he wondered how strong it was.
"Deep Blue, calculate the strength of Absolute Defense."
[After calculation, the estimated strength of Absolute Defense is 45 units]
"45 units… I can withstand Malcolm's Blood Hand spell twice now." Helag was satisfied with the result.
Malcolm was a first-level crystallized wizard, and the Blood Hand spell seemed to be his commonly used first-level spell.
In terms of attack strength, Blood Hand wasn't Malcolm's strongest attack spell.
But it indicated that a first-level crystallized wizard's normal spell attack strength was around 20 units.
Helag's zero-level attack spells were all below 3 units in strength.
"I wonder what strength my first-level spells would have?" Helag guessed that even with first-level spells, his strength wouldn't exceed 10 units.
After verifying Absolute Defense's strength, Helag applied some blood to his palm: "Rage of the Blood Bull."
He continued testing various enhancement spells on himself.
With each enhancement spell applied, Helag monitored the changes in his stats.
[Helag Merlin:
Strength 26.1(3.1)(3.3)(3.2)
Agility 24.5(2.1)(2.2)(2.9)
Constitution 26.3(4.3)(4.6)
Spirit 42.2]
With all the enhancement spells stacked, Helag's stats reached an impressive level.
He believed that with these stats, Malcolm would find it much harder to kill him.
The only drawback was that while his physical stats were high, they might not counteract all the strange spell techniques.
At least Malcolm wouldn't engage him in close combat.
"Not enough, let's add the bloodline power."
Helag closed his eyes, channelling the Primordial Thunder God bloodline power.
As electricity coursed through him, his stats rose again.
[Strength 31.4
Agility 30.2
Constitution 30
Spirit 42.2]