My health recovery is incredibly fast.

“I know why she’s looking for you,” Anru said with a smile.

Xia Zuo then remembered that the other party had left Janice a secret message ring. "Why are you looking for me?"

"We need you to be our guardian."

"What?" Xia Zuo was taken aback.

“Think back to the federal Guardian Act,” Anru said, pinching her lover’s elbow.

“Janice has no relatives or friends. According to the order of available guardians, it is your turn as the school’s recommender. I asked Janice, and when Yingrui Academy took her for testing and enrollment procedures, she wrote your name in the recommender column.”

"So that's how it is..." Xia Zuo touched his forehead, realizing that there was indeed such a saying.

He looked up, smiled, and gazed out the window on the third floor, waving to the dazed, forlorn little girl.

Janice knew that her sister Anru had discussed the guardianship issue with Xia Zuo.

Seeing that the other party did not object, the sad expression on her face disappeared instantly. She wiped away her tears and opened her arms wide, waving happily.

As Xia Zuo walked up the steps, he pondered, and said to An Ru'er in his heart:

“I’ll give you a copy of her bloodline identification. You can tell her this secret; I won’t get involved. Hmm… if anything happens to her in the future, she can come to you. We’ll both be her guardians. What do you think?”

Anru blinked in confusion at first, but she understood his meaning in just a few seconds and then smiled sweetly.

"Okay~ Leave it to me."

The two went to the Citizens Relations Department on the 3rd floor first.

After going through the entire process of becoming a guardian, Xia Zuo found that guardianship was much simpler than he had thought.

First of all, he is not to become Janice's stepfather or adoptive father or any other elder figure, but only her guardian in a legal sense. Before Janice reaches adulthood, Xia Zuo has the right to discipline her, and at the same time, he will bear joint responsibility for Janice's violations, illegal and criminal behavior.

Once Janice reaches adulthood, the Federation will assess Xia Zuo's guardianship work and award him a one-time bonus.

Secondly, Janice doesn't live with them every day. She spends most of her time eating and sleeping at Yingrui Academy, only going home occasionally on holidays.

After all the formalities were completed, Janice affectionately took Anru's arm and walked out of the room. The two quietly discussed their future life arrangements.

Anru knew that the other person had just experienced the pain of losing a loved one, so she was very careful when she spoke.

Xia Zuo looked at the two whispering to each other, scratched his head, and wondered: They seem to know each other quite well? Do they often chat using the secret communication ring?

Let them be~

Xia Zuo shrugged, asked An Ruer for her citizen card, and went to collect her reward alone, giving the two future best friends ample space to chat.

Anru's reward this month is 370 citizen points, of which 300 points are the basic reward and 70 points are a subsidy for the condensed elemental shell.

Xia Zuo's reward was much higher.

300 base reward points.

Overtime pay for 3 night shifts: 45 points.

The Blood Essence Stone that intercepted Blood Demon No. 13, Kualuowuqi, was rewarded with 600 points.

The action team carried out several field missions, totaling 80 points.

In total, that's a whopping 1025 points!

Much more than expected.

This doesn't even include the compensation for providing the Church of the Otherworld's action plan.

According to Rexol, the intelligence provided by Shazo and the series of events it triggered were of great significance, and it's not yet possible to determine exactly how much he will be paid; a conclusion will be reached after some time.

Xia Zuo wasn't in a hurry, since the reward wouldn't disappear anyway.

Following the exchange list he and Anruer had drafted the night before, he exchanged a large amount of supplies at the counter, spending only a fraction of their savings. He hadn't yet figured out how to spend the remaining 1000 points, so he decided to hoard them for now.

He glanced at Anjou and Janice talking in the corner of the hall, pondered for a few seconds, returned to the counter and transferred a small amount of pocket money to Janice's citizen account, while simultaneously registering it with Anjou through [Bloodline Sensing].

Okay, everything's done.

Xia Zuo patted his bulging alchemy pouch, his only concern being his number one servant.

Its perspective remains completely black.

Volume 3 Summary (This volume is finished, come and take a look!)

Volume 1 contains 7.4 words.

Volume 2 contains 16 words.

Volume 3 contains 37 words.

Volume 4 will have more.

From a creative perspective, I think my control over the plot and pacing has improved significantly.

The price was lost: no more time to exercise, a sudden weight loss of several kilograms, and even less time to play games…

I've gained a lot, including many readers who follow my work, generous donations from my younger brother, the helmsman, and everyone's support and encouragement. Overall, it's definitely worth continuing to create.

The titles of Volumes 1 through 3 are Fire Breather, Poison Maker, and Blood Mage, respectively.

There are two fire-breathing characters in Volume 1: one is the drug-addicted Vans, and the other is our protagonist, Shazo.

There are also two poison makers in Volume 2: one is Professor Kurov, who is also a professor of poison alchemy, and the other is the male protagonist, Shazo.

In Volume 3, the term "blood mage" no longer refers to two specific individuals, but rather to two opposing and deeply antagonistic schools of magery—pureblood mages and hybrid mages.

The main storyline of Volume 3 is still quite clear.

The first main storyline is to conclude the Blood Demon storyline that extends from the Western Continent to the Eastern Continent.

The second main storyline involves the male protagonist awakening important blood magic in turn.

The third main storyline drives the development of a certain underlying storyline.

This volume contains the most foreshadowing.

For example, the reasons for the change of eras, the origin of artificial bloodlines, and why bloodline power appeared in the Western Continent, etc.

These foreshadowing elements will be resolved one by one in the second half of this book.

In addition, each character in the book will have a corresponding fate.

Characters like the fat mage, Wilson, Thales Meso, and the big-wave Teresa, who only appeared once or twice in the Starry Night Kingdom, will also appear in the future.

Popular characters like the boss lady Audrey and the sophisticated and mature head of the hospital, Beatrice, will also be present.

We'll elaborate on that later.

This volume is the one I found most challenging to create.

Its title is: Blood Dawn.

I originally wanted to name it "Blood Cross", but then I felt that the name was too extreme, so I changed it to something like "Crimson Dawn" or "Silver Dawn", which is more positive and uplifting.

This volume will be written in a different style, building upon the foreshadowing laid in the first three volumes to reveal another side of this world.

Finding a starting point for Volume 4 is quite difficult.

I first wrote three different openings, and then chose the one that best matched my current writing style as the official opening of Volume 4. Only then did I start writing the ending of Volume 3.

I released the day's update early tonight so that I could better create Volume 4 during the day.

So without further ado, let's go to bed early and get up early to start writing.

Thank you all for your support. I bow to you!

A little heads-up: the female lead's role will be revealed at the beginning of Volume 4.

Chapter 1 Bone Magic

1913 12 Month 22 Day.

The Winter Veil Festival celebrations were successfully held.

The song and dance parade that started in the afternoon ignited the city's passion.

The grand parade stretched out in long lines, starting from the Civic Center in the central city and slowly proceeding along the main thoroughfares of each district.

Colorful ribbons fluttered in the wind, and joyful, celebratory music resounded throughout the city. People lined the streets and waited for the performance troupe to pass by.

The 800-meter-long parade is enough for each spectator to stand still and watch for more than half an hour without having to follow the procession to see the show.

Even amidst the commotion, the city's guardians remained vigilant, with action teams scattered throughout the city on standby.

Their tasks at this time of year are much lighter than usual; it's almost like they're taking it easy.

The cost of the Church of the Otherworldly raids far exceeded expectations.

They not only consumed all the personnel within the state of Machina, but also drew away the hybrid mages and shadow demons lurking in other states of the Federation.

The Silvermoon Federation thus entered a very rare "peaceful period".

The worst thing for the Church of the Otherworldly Demons was that the Via and Vii types of the Hidden Tail Serpent were intercepted by the Temple of Mages.

It will be even more difficult to send a large number of hybrid mages to infiltrate the territory of the Mage Temple in the future.

The Mage Temple immediately cracked the Alchemy Armor of the Serpent Tail upon obtaining it.

According to Rexor, the entire territory is now searching for people equipped with these two types of alchemical suits, and they have also uncovered many illegal alchemical suits in the process.

After the cunning and ruthless blood demon Upharis returned to the Church of the Otherworldly Demons, Shazo secretly activated the [Blood Curse] in an attempt to locate it…

Unfortunately.

The golden finger reminded:

"Due to unknown effects, the activation of [Blood Curse] has failed."

It seems that the location of the Church of the Otherworldly Demons is somewhat special.

Xia Zuo couldn't help but feel fortunate that his bloodline servant hadn't followed the elemental puppet into the enormous black hole in the purple sky; otherwise, the outcome would have been truly unpredictable…

He exhaled a puff of white mist towards the sky and looked at the two figures walking ahead.