My health recovery is incredibly fast.

About 40 kilometers to the northwest.

Where is that?

Xia Zuo found a piece of white paper on his desk and drew a rough map of Magina State based on his memory.

It seems to be a city called Hakansen, which is only 20 kilometers away from Polis.

Xia Zuo recalled the conversations he had overheard during the day and became increasingly certain that the Mage Temple had made some arrangements without his knowledge, shifting the Blood Demons' focus from the nine Blood Demons sealed in the Bosing Building to the city of Bolis.

First, examine the pieces of meat, then go and ask the bald man.

Xia Zuo made up his mind, moved to the control panel and sat down to identify the toxins using conventional methods.

...

0:50 PM.

It's a new day again.

Today is Friday, December 5th, 11 days before Winter Veil.

Xia Zuo brought the complete identification report to the large laboratory on the 7th basement floor.

The workbench, which had been contaminated by the Blood Demon's blood patterns, was cleaned.

The researchers resumed their work.

Iboik's culture tank was refilled with antidote, and Red Sand enjoyed the "pleasure" of his body being dissolved inside.

Rexol sat in a chair, looking slightly tired, and chatted with Vickers.

Xia Zuo walked over and handed over the report, "Supervisor, the drug testing results are all here."

Vickers flipped through the pages, stood up, waved goodbye, and said, "You continue monitoring the Blood Demon. I'm leaving now."

After the other person left, Xia Zuo sat down next to the bald man and said in a low voice, "Master, I have a question."

Rexol understood and set up several soundproof barriers. "Ask away. Your level of confidentiality is higher than Vickers'. There's no need to hide most things from you."

Xia Zuo organized his thoughts and decided to skip the roundabout methods, asking directly:

"Master, did you set up an elemental puppet similar to me in Polis City?"

"How did you know?" Rexor was startled, the weariness on his face fading considerably. After a few seconds of contemplation, he said:

“You’re right, but not entirely accurate. We haven’t deployed any elemental puppets to confuse the Church of the Otherworld in either Polis or Hakansen. They have the same daily routine as you, similar appearances and identities, and even similar bloodline features.”

Rexor set up several more layers of barriers to prevent any sound or sight of the two conversing from spreading.

His voice became low.

"Xia Zuo, you may not realize what it means to be a pureblood mage."

"As I told you, no one with awakened bloodline power has appeared in the territory of the Mage Temple for over a thousand years."

"You are from the Western Continent."

"As you and I both know, there are no naturally occurring monsters or otherworldly beings in the Western Continent."

"But...you awakened your bloodline power there."

“This is extremely important for the Temple of Mages—we have regained our source of bloodline warlocks.”

Xia Zuo stared wide-eyed and covered his forehead.

This is a huge misunderstanding! He's a cheat code user; he only became a so-called pureblood mage because he had a cheat-like ability.

"Master... I'm just an isolated case... It doesn't mean that bloodline sorcerers will be born in the Western Continent..." Xia Zuo tried to clear up the misunderstanding and prevent the Mage Temple from needlessly investing a lot of resources in the Western Continent.

“No, Shazo, you’re not an isolated case.” Rexol shook his head.

Xia Zuo was stunned.

Could there be other bloodline sorcerers appearing in the Western Continent?

“You and Dim tracked down Fritz the Transformer to the great canyon west of the Starry Night Kingdom. At that time, I had Dim bring back an alchemy pouch. Do you remember that?” Rexor said.

“Of course.” Xia Zuo nodded.

"Deep within the Western Continent, the expedition team discovered signs of awakening bloodline power. The items in that alchemy pouch are several unique bloodlines that the expedition team collected."

Rexol pointed in the direction of the culture tank.

"Blood Demon No. 13, Kaluo Wuqi, has been wandering the Western Continent for more than a decade and has also noticed the signs of awakening bloodline power. But we used a little trick to make it mistakenly believe that these naturally awakened bloodlines were created by our Mage Temple."

"There is only one thing we failed to fully prepare for at the very beginning."

Rexor pointed at Shazo, "It's you. We didn't expect you to actually be a pure-blooded mage. Because the bloodlines that awaken deep in the Western Continent are all relatively rudimentary bloodlines—this has somewhat influenced our judgment of you."

"Fortunately, we took remedial measures in time after confirming your identity."

Rexor held up one finger. "First, we arranged your loyalty ceremony in advance to ensure you wouldn't spontaneously join the Church of the Otherworldly Demons. I think you should be quite satisfied with this arrangement, right?"

“Yes, Master.” Xia Zuo listened intently and nodded in response.

Hmm... I'd be even more satisfied if we could get a few more light elements.

"Secondly, we created two elemental puppets that are very similar to you and placed them in two other cities to mislead the Church of the Otherworldly Demons."

Rexol raised his third finger.

"After we learned that the 'Kwa' bloodline of the Church of the Otherworld was extinct, we came up with a very good plan."

“Based on your bloodline characteristics, we made adjustments to the elemental golems. We infused them with a trace of the bloodline of a second-generation blood mage, disguising them as pure-blood mages in the process of awakening, to lure the Church of the Otherworldly Demons into seizing them.”

"The Church of the Otherworldly Demons will definitely not be able to resist. Because they have just lost a bloodline and desperately need fresh blood to fill the void."

"Now, I think the Church of the Otherworldly Demons has taken the bait. The elemental golems in Polis City used the power of their bloodline in last night's battle, unleashing powerful fire magic and reversing a seemingly insurmountable predicament. Only the power of bloodline can help a mage do this, and the Church of the Otherworldly Demons knows this very well."

"As expected, the Blood Demons of the Otherworld Church, who are lying in ambush in Magina, are adjusting their strategy. They are pretending to rescue the nine sealed Blood Demons, but in reality, they want to kidnap the Elemental Golems of Polis City."

"Click, click..." Rexor's cipher ring clicked.

He glanced down at the message and grinned:

"Ceretus has created a tool to track the Blood Demon."

"The one who supplied the blood runes to the blood demon in the cultivation tank this time was our 'old friend' Ufaris."

"It is hiding in Hakansen City, only 20 kilometers away from Polis City. Its intentions are obvious: to draw away the defense forces of Hakansen and Polis City, or to wait for the right time to go to Polis City and kidnap the elemental puppet itself."

After hearing these words, Xia Zuo truly felt that the Demon Hunter School and the Mage Temple were really amazing. Just by understanding the Church of the Otherworldly Demons and the hybrid mages, they had figured out the enemy's movements and plans.

Unlike him... he needs a cheat code to know even a fraction of these things...

It's not hard to tell from the conversation with the Blood Demon that we overheard today that the Church of the Otherworldly Demons has indeed changed its objectives for the next few days, no longer prioritizing the rescue of the sealed Blood Demon.

In other words, the trouble has moved to Polis City's territory, and Poseidon City is probably safe now.

"Master, what should I do now?" Xia Zuo asked.

Rexor spread his hands. "Just keep working and living normally. The worst outcome is that the Church of the Otherworldly Demons will send Blood Demons to besiege you and test your true situation. If that happens, we'll have no choice but to send you into the Temple. You won't be released until you become an Archmage."

The bald man paused, looked Xia Zuo up and down, and asked:

"Your innate spell won't expose you, will it? You know the name of Khaluoqi, the location of the Transformers lurking in Polis, and you also know what happened last night and the elemental golems. Hmm... I don't want to guess what your innate spell is..."

Rexol emphasized the point.

"I can only remind you not to let your guard down. The Church of the Otherworldly Demons is not as simple as you think."

"I've summarized my experience in dealing with the Church of the Otherworldly Demons, and it's perfect for you:"

"'It's best to imagine your enemy as more powerful and cunning than you, or you'll suffer.'"

Xia Zuo swallowed hard... thinking that the bald man was right.

The Church of the Otherworldly Demons is, after all, a heretical organization capable of rivaling the Temple of Mages, and it has also mastered the path to becoming a hybrid mage.

Controlling Servant #1 to track the Converter was indeed a bit reckless... If it had been a trap and Servant #1 had stepped into it, and been caught by the hybrid mage, that would have been disastrous.

“Alright, I need to meditate now.” Seeing that Shazo had no more questions, Rexol patted him on the shoulder. “Get back to work, Shazo. Don’t worry too much if anything happens. Even if Poseidon is destroyed, the Crimson Emblem will keep you safe.”

"Bald guy, can you stop planting flags?" Xia Zuo forced a smile and nodded, his eyes gleaming with a bright green light as he looked at the culture tank.

He had intended to use Servant Number 1 to stroll through the night market in Polis City...

For now, let's just let it stay quietly next to the Porras Building.

Shazo activated [Bloodline Sense] and selected the bloodline marks of Iboyik and Ufaris, hoping to have some fun during his boring time.

It was a little after 6 a.m. that day.

In the bleak winter wind.

Xia Zuo dragged his tired body home. After finding some warmth in An Ru'er's delicate body, he took a bath and meditated.

---Aside---

There might be another chapter later. I'm currently writing Volume 4. Weekends are always busier than weekdays...it's really tough.

Chapter 77 [Flesh and Blood Enhancement]

Two days have passed quietly.

Today is Sunday, December 7th, and there are 9 days until Winter Veil.

The blood demons seemed to fall silent, and Xia Zuo was unable to overhear their conversation through the bloodline mark.

Unless he is in a deep meditative state, his curse of decay hangs on that fool Ufacas.

After breakfast that morning, Xia Zuo had to shut down the [Blood Curse].

I only need 3 more experience points to level up, so I need to quickly increase my strength, agility, and stamina.

Anru plans to make an elemental bottle in her bedroom.

After Xia Zuo helped her decorate the bedroom, he took a break and sat down in the study, recalling his own character template in his mind.

..

[Character Name] Xia Zuo

【Age】24 years old