Kobold Wizard's Journal

Chapter 197 Seeing and Speaking

Ruger didn't voice his question, and it was clear that the old dog, Lunser, was also troubled, or rather, everyone here would be in a state of fear and confusion all night.

Can a city grow?
Ruger looked up at the dim, blood-red sun in the night.

He thought of the old table in his small refining room, the old refining table whose surface could be partially opened as needed.

If we compare the City of Burning Blood to an experimental platform, then it exists for the Blood Sun, for the messenger wizard and the "master" mentioned by the blood-robed wizard, and for that master's top-level experiment. The people who gradually move into the city are part of the experiment, donating their different blood year after year to invisibly assist the experiment, which is of unknown origin. At the same time, they also use this place to conduct their own small experiments to try to save themselves, just like Mr. Newton and Old Lenser next door. The blood-robed wizard, the ancestor of the Blood Fortress, is considered a medium-sized experiment.

Standing on the experimental platform, with the help of the stage built by that great man, everyone became a part of the experiment over thousands of years, conducting their own experiments of different levels and sizes.

This is a wonderful place, Ruger thought.

The unspoken understanding is more like the unspoken rules among wizards.

Old Lenser and Ruger stood quietly by the window for a long time. No more strange phenomena appeared outside, and no more blood rain fell.

"I'm going back to meditate."

Ruger chose to return to his attic to meditate, not intending to waste any more time there.

Old Lunser nodded: "I'll call you if anything happens."

Looks like I can't go to the Abyss Bedroom Space today, Luger thought to himself.

This night will be a sleepless one for most people in the City of Burning Blood.

Ruger maintained his own pace, doing what he was supposed to do.

He practiced meditation and even took a nap.

Silent all night.

The next morning, the blood-red sun shone as brightly as ever, as if nothing had happened.

But the City of Blood has clearly changed, and it's not just about expanding its area.

Old Lunser frowned, standing under the blood-red sun like that old gentleman, feeling the sun's rays with his heart as a long-time resident.

Ruger stood to one side.

The old statue of the gentleman diagonally opposite the door smiled as he looked at the uncle and nephew.

“There have been changes, definitely changes,” old Lenser affirmed. “The results are better than before.”

Ruger looked at his scales but didn't feel anything. The comfort under the blood-red sun was still there. Perhaps it was because he didn't have the so-called bloodline collapse problem, so it was too much of a stretch to perceive the change based solely on comfort.

"So yesterday's tremors were a good thing?" Ruger asked.

Old Lunser hesitated before nodding.

The old statue suddenly spoke.

"Sometimes there's a bad side to good things, and sometimes there's a good side to bad things..." the old man said, looking at them.

The two exchanged a glance, then turned around and bowed respectfully.

This is a second-circle wizard certified by the old vampire wizard. Old Lunser once said that the other party introduced himself as a first-circle wizard. I don't know if the old dog head misheard or what. It was really rude, Luger thought to himself.

The scene at the door today, with the uncle and nephew sunbathing, was also something the two of them came up with. It all stemmed from old Lenser's guess that the old man might know something.

The uncle and nephew's intention was to extract some information to put their minds at ease, but the old man with the statue's words left Ruger even more confused.

Old Lenser looked thoughtful.

The two returned to the shop.

Ruger began to learn how to handle the materials for the bubble potion.

"Uncle, did you understand? What was that old wizard saying?" Ruger asked.

“Look closely at the way I’m handling the roots,” old Lenser said. “How would I know what he’s talking about?”

"Then you..." "I nodded as I walked, simply because I was satisfied with the answer. I initially just wanted to confirm whether there was any major danger. How could I possibly find out the specifics from someone else? You're too stupid, kid." Old Lunser mocked mercilessly.

Ruger rolled his eyes. He understood the old man's unspoken meaning that there wouldn't be any major problems. He asked the question simply because he thought old Lunser could see more.

However, at least Blood Sun has become stronger, which is also beneficial to Luger.

The ten portions of materials were quickly processed, and Ruger carried them into his small refining room.

According to Old Renser, six finished products would be considered acceptable. However, judging from the materials he had just processed, Old Dog Head did not believe that he could achieve his goal in one or two attempts. Therefore, Luger decided to keep two bottles even if he succeeded, so as not to provoke Old Renser, who had not slept all night. He also decided to give Big Fool Heng and Aiskin a bath to detoxify them.

Luger first meditated briefly to recover his composure.

Then they quickly entered a state of focused refining.

This process of understanding the properties of pharmacology and materials, using mental perception, and employing different refining techniques to cope with changes, was like solving a series of unpredictable problems. Gradually, he became engrossed in it, experiencing a pleasure second only to meditation.

Before they knew it, seven bottles of bubble potion of varying quality were neatly arranged on the refining table.

Ruger breathed a sigh of relief. It felt like it took him much longer to make these ten potions than he did to make thirty purification potions, but he knew that in reality it didn't take much longer.

Ruger waved his hand and put away the two bottles of the best quality bubble potion.

I'm sure the two dragonborn kobolds will love this little gift tonight.

Ruger went downstairs.

Old Lenser was trading with a man in a dirty gray robe. They were buying and selling, and seemed to be old acquaintances. Ruger watched them haggle for a while before they finished.

After everyone left, old Lunser raised his droopy eyelids and glanced at Ruger, saying, "A little faster than I expected, my good nephew. I hope it's not an increase in speed due to a series of failures."

"How could I disappoint my wise uncle? I think that would be a sin that even God could not forgive."

As he spoke, Ruger laid out the five bottles of potion in a row in front of old Lenser, waiting for him to examine them.

Old Lunser scoffed: "God? That kind of thing is not qualified to forgive wizards. It is just experimental material for great wizards, or faith-collecting puppets for those who try to follow the path of faith wizards."

Luger laughed and pointed to the top of his head.

Old Lenser rolled his eyes and slapped Luger's hand away.

“Gods are not all the same, and that applies to powerful wizards. For us… there’s probably no difference,” Old Lenser said, checking the five vials one by one. “Besides, we’re right under that guy’s nose, so it’s best not to do anything stupid. Don’t think about it, don’t look at it, and don’t talk about it.”

“Unless you also want to become a Bloodline Infected,” Old Lenser added, putting down the last bottle of potion. “Very good. With the quality of these five bottles, you can barely pass the test. You don’t need to wait to complete six bottles. However, I have already prepared those materials, so we can’t waste them. Therefore, you will continue for another day tomorrow.”

"Is this the reason for bloodline? Overemphasis?" Ruger said.

"Probably." Old Lunser said, looking down at the accounts.

Ruger nodded. He had originally planned to continue talking about what kind of god it was, as such things were just too intriguing.

That's a god.

His mind was far from calm as it appeared. After all, the word "god" and the concept of it were still too much of a shock to him. What he had just done was merely a spur-of-the-moment attempt. In recent days, he had been thinking about what that thing above could be, considering many possibilities. He never expected that the one he thought was the least likely to be true. Moreover, judging from Old Lenser's attitude, it was clear that the wizards shared a fairly consistent view on the concept of a god.

It all stems from our understanding of the world and the transformation that leads us down the path to the extraordinary.

As the Seeker of Law, Grimm, said, at the very edge of the wasteland outside the City of Burning Blood, the special power of the Blood Sun is at its lowest, only enough to illuminate the area. There are some ordinary villages and towns there, where people kneel and worship the bloodline modifiers from the City of Burning Blood as if they were gods. They do not only submit to strength, but in their legends, it was these ugly guys who lit up the Blood Sun, allowing them to have light here for generations.

Ruger thought of that blood-robed wizard who couldn't die.

To the vampires in Blood Castle, or to most of the wizards and wizarding apprentices in the city, that blood-robed wizard was no different from a god.

Ruger still often recalls the extraordinary abilities of that blood-robed wizard.

With his wounded body, he slumbers within the bloodline of each of his descendants. The craters created by his dripping blood can trap powerful individuals above the level of a formal wizard. He not only flows with the propagation of his descendants' bloodline, but he can even find time to think about the experimental materials of other wizards.

Ruger recalled that the long-lived vampire race, whose population was not large, was inexplicably prone to having offspring with infected bloodlines. He suspected that this was intentional on the part of the sleeping ancestor. Although he did not directly affect the development of his descendants, he clearly intended to create more mixed-race offspring.

(End of this chapter)