After witnessing this scene, rather than looking relieved, Leilin's expression grew even more grave. "The evolution of the True Spirit?"
He touched his forehead again, and suddenly a searing pain shot through him, forcing his eyes shut in an instant. When he opened them once more, he found that at the center of his forehead, a thin red line had appeared without his noticing!
Splash!
Water droplets scattered outward, revealing Leilin's somber face.
"The Nightmare Energy-Draining Constitution... the bloodline power?"
Leilin touched his forehead, falling into a long, silent contemplation...
...
[Chip! Check my bloodline!]
Inside the
Leilin had already secretly returned to the family's Wizard Tower. Before that, he had spent some time with his cousin
He had handed over full control of the Wizard Tower to the Chip. Drawing on the power of the entire tower, he began probing the anomaly within his own body.
[Ding! Task established! Scanning in progress! Subject's bloodline is 99.99999% pure human!]
"So it did find something after all. Authorizing deployment of the atomic microscope and second-tier antimatter observation macros — continue scanning!"
Leilin's voice was heavy.
[Ding! Subject's blood sample obtained. Magnification analysis underway...]
The Chip immediately projected a screen displaying Leilin's blood sample, which began to magnify slowly.
Ten thousand times! A million times! The magnification kept climbing — ten million times...
It continued until it reached the atomic level, then broke past even that barrier to the smallest unit Leilin had known in his previous life — and only then did the problem reveal itself.
"This is..."
Leilin's pupils widened slightly as he spotted several peculiar black dots among the myriad of drifting photons.
"Lock onto one and magnify!"
The black dots were fast, but the Chip managed to capture one eventually. Slowly, the full silhouette materialized before Leilin — a strange hexagonal prism-like structure covered in eerie patterns.
The dark-red patterns twisted and convoluted, gradually morphing into the form of a three-eyed, scale-armored giant. The central blood-red eye seemed to possess its own consciousness, gazing at Leilin with cold indifference.
Step! Step! Step! Leilin stumbled backward several paces, the shock on his face deepening.
"Just as I suspected... back in that three-layered dream lock, my body was implanted with the bloodline power of a Nightmare Energy-Drainer?"
His original self was already a half-seventh-tier Bloodline Warlock. He was no stranger to bloodline power.
"All I wanted was a portion of the inherited data — why give me bloodline power?" Leilin felt as though he'd been struck senseless.
It was as if a beggar had gone out to ask for a single pie and ended up receiving an entire mountain of gold.
What kind of constitution was the Nightmare Energy-Drainer? It was one of the most powerful bloodline forces in existence! After awakening this constitution, the Nightmare King had slain all who stood in his way, received the infusion of the Dream World's primordial power, and ascended to become one of the most supreme Wizards of the ancient era!!!
But faced with this windfall dropping from the heavens, Leilin felt only intense wariness!
"This is too surreal! When things are abnormally favorable, something sinister must be behind them! Even if the Twisted Shadow needs to use me and wants to give me benefits, this is far too much!"
Leilin never hesitated to assume the worst about his enemies. Being given such an enormous benefit out of nowhere could only mean equally enormous danger!
"But... I didn't expect that the Nightmare Energy-Drainer constitution wasn't merely a flesh-and-blood physique. It could even influence the True Spirit from the very beginning... and even my original body in the Wizard World..."
As a top-tier Bloodline Warlock, Leilin could sense that this bloodline power had not only fused completely with his soul, becoming inseparable, but had also begun radiating toward his original body in the Wizard World through some mysterious channel.
"The power of dreams can cross the barriers of the Crystal Plane? Even if it's just a temporarily opened energy transmission channel, that's still terrifying..."
"This power! I must master it completely!"
The dream force that could bridge two great worlds ignited an unyielding determination in Leilin's heart.
"I can swallow the bait, but I'll toss the hook right back. Try to scheme against me?"
Leilin stroked his chin, a faint smile playing at the corner of his lips. Not even the Twisted Shadow could have guessed that he possessed the Chip — which had allowed him to detect the problem right away.
This, inevitably, would become a massive flaw in the other party's grand design!
Of course, it was also possible that Leilin was overthinking it and this was all merely a lucky coincidence. But Leilin had always preferred to be prepared.
"Chip! Set up a research project and study this bloodline power!"
A fierce look crossed Leilin's face. Even if this delayed his progress in analyzing the Magic Network, he didn't care!
...
Months passed in the blink of an eye.
Inside the Wizard Tower. Leilin sat cross-legged on the ground, all surrounding doors sealed tight, containment runes flickering around him.
If an outsider had seen his current form, they would likely have collapsed in terror — or mistaken him for a monster.
Leilin had transformed into a small giant nearly three meters tall, his body covered in red scales and strange patterns, his hideous face enough to make a child burst into tears. Most striking was his forehead, which had slightly split open along a fissure, emanating a faint blood-red glow.
Invisible forces from the void were drawn toward that blood-red radiance, converted into dark-red mist, and absorbed directly through the skin into every part of Leilin's body, transforming into immense power.
"These forces are..."
Leilin's consciousness traced back along the invisible ripples of power, and a series of images appeared before him: — At Dawnstar Port, old butler Lane beamed with pride. "Our young master Leilin, why, he's..."
— At Pirate's Port, an old pirate was lecturing a dozen new recruits. "When you're out here, a sharp eye is everything. On our Crimson Tiger Pirate Crew, there's someone even more fearsome than the Crimson Witch..."
But most of the images came from the northern regions and the Kingdom of Dambress — a great number of devil worshippers gathered under the name
"This isn't faith — it's an emotional force even lower than faith... How is this possible? Why can I absorb this power now?"
Even absorbing faith energy was something only Legendary-tier beings could do, let alone this low-level emotional force.
But Leilin discovered with a shock that in his Nightmare Transformation state, he could easily absorb and convert these emotional forces to enhance himself.
"Could it be..." Leilin pondered for a moment, then closed the third vertical eye at his brow. The flood of images vanished, and the channel of emotional force shut down.
"Just as I thought... this is the power of the Nightmare Energy-Drainer. It can absorb all emotional energy directed at me, and its efficiency and conversion rate surpass even the gods. What's more... I'm not even a demigod yet..."
At this moment, Leilin truly grasped the terror of this ancient constitution.
"Chip! Have you found anything?"
[Ding! Operational data model for the subject's bloodline power has been established. No anomalies detected. No residual spiritual imprints found!] the Chip reported faithfully.
"Still nothing? No abnormalities in the bloodline either? Could it really be a genuine gift?"
Leilin shook his head and dismissed the Nightmare Transformation.
The three-meter-tall giant shrank in an instant, returning to Leilin's original appearance.
With the Chip's assistance, his mastery of the bloodline power far exceeded anyone's expectations, and he could now switch smoothly between the two forms.
"The Nightmare Energy-Drainer is a special constitution originating from the Dream World. It seems I'll have no choice but to visit that world several times in the future..."
Leilin mused, "Moreover, at the rate the Nightmare constitution absorbs emotional force, I should be able to raise my Arcane Master rank again before long..."
"Master! Bishop Zorna requests an audience!"
The tower spirit's crisp voice interrupted Leilin's contemplation.
"Zorna? Have her wait in the sitting room!" Leilin shook his head and wrapped a white robe around himself.
"However, the form from the second transformation is far too conspicuous. Best to use it sparingly in the
Moments later, having tidied himself up, Leilin met with Zorna, the Gold Coin Bishop of the Goddess of Wealth, in the sitting room.
"Mage Leilin, you really made me wait. It's been two years since we last parted..."
Zorna stared at Leilin, displeasure evident on her face.
"Ahaha... My apologies! I was completely absorbed in an experiment. Besides, the trade in magical items for detecting devils and demons can still be handled through Master
Leilin laughed it off and steered the conversation elsewhere. "I wonder what brings the Bishop here today?"
"You're in serious trouble!" Zorna took a deep breath and spoke with utmost gravity.
"Oh? Has the Church of the Murder God made its move?" Leilin guessed correctly on the first try. After all, there were only a handful of major powers he had truly offended.
"Yes! One of their Legendary powerhouses — the Corpse Collector, Sorthos — has finished his experiment and is preparing to come to the outer seas..."
Zorna's voice was incredibly grave. A Legendary-tier powerhouse was a heavyweight force no matter where they went!
She was genuinely worried about whether the talented mage before her could survive this crisis.
"However... judging from his previous actions, he's inclined to suppress devils and demons. Our temple has an agreement with him — this intelligence support is proof of that. But who knows what he'll do in the future..."
Honestly, Zorna held very little hope for Leilin's future. After all, they were talking about a Legendary-tier powerhouse!
In the outer seas, where not even half a Legendary existed, a single Legendary powerhouse was enough to suppress everything.
And the presence or absence of Legendary combat power was also an important standard by which the Prime Material World judged the strength of a faction!