My health recovery is incredibly fast.

The only weakness of the Blood Servant is the trace of spiritual ocean within its body.

This flaw is no longer a problem here. Unless Xia Zuo personally exposes the Blood Element servants to outsiders, there is no need to worry about anyone discovering their existence.

However, this will not make Xia Zuo complacent, overstep the discipline he has set for himself, or risk exposure.

He will remain cautious as always.

Xia Zuo jotted down the approximate location of the base in his notebook, planning to explore it more thoroughly later.

From the perspective of Servant No. 5.

Doom tightened the accelerator, kicking up two trails of dust and billowing black smoke behind the wheels, and sped through the gates of Stillwater. He blasted the horn to disperse the civilians blocking his way and drove straight toward the Beast Arena.

He parked his motorcycle in the backyard of the arena, then went up to the second floor of the arena, pushed open the door of an office, and met the boss who was smoking a cigar.

“Mr. DeShawn, I have brought Master Aganna’s instructions. He wants me to immediately take men to hunt down the detectives of the Alien Group,” Doom said, grinning and revealing his tan fangs.

"I heard about the lumber mill and reservoir from the thugs downstairs."

DeShawn leaned back in his chair, waved his right hand in front of him, and said:

"Sending Scarface to the lumber mill to deal with acorn worms was a task assigned by the branch."

"And it was your plan, Doom, to have him defect into the Mogus Mountains as 'Sid' and then drop the disguise to return to town from the reservoir."

"Now you're telling me to go after those two detectives? What? Do you want to start a war between Mishima and the Alien Corporation?"

“They killed Scarface, Mr. DeShawn,” Doom said, clenching his fist and lowering his voice, his eyes fixed on DeShawn.

Ultimately, the dark-skinned, fat man in front of him was his boss.

As for that monster alchemist known as Aganna…

Xia Zuo felt that he was more like an advisor, similar to Rexor's situation in the Category 3 Disaster Emergency Response Department.

Just as Shazzo needed a manager from Vickers to arrange his work, Doom could only mobilize manpower and motorcycles to pursue Andrew and his companion after obtaining DeShawn's permission.

"Do you have any evidence, Doom?" DeShawn tapped his finger on the table.

Doom fell silent.

DeShawn stared at Doom, whose eyes were bloodshot, for a moment. "Did Master Aganna give you the potion he made?"

“Yes, that’s right. I can sense the location of the bone sac. It’s far to the north, but it’s definitely not far from the Mogus Mountains.”

Doom hesitated for a few seconds. "I want to make amends for my mistake, Mr. DeShawn. My plan went wrong and affected the whole situation."

He bowed deeply, saying, "Please give me another chance."

“I’ll give you a chance…” DeShawn took a puff of his cigar, looked up at the ceiling, and exhaled the smoke from his lungs. “Alright. I’ll give you one last chance. You can take a team and go after them. But if those two detectives enter the Ossie family’s territory in the north, you absolutely cannot make a move; you must return immediately.”

“Yes, Mr. DeShawn,” Doom said loudly.

“Also,” DeShawn looked them up and down, “you must change your clothes before setting off on horseback, not on motorcycles, so that no one can discover your secret.”

"Yes." Doom bowed again and then walked towards the door.

It was 4 a.m. in the Silvermoon Federation.

Xia Zuo glanced at Doom's team and then sensed the positions of Andrew and the other two.

Doom was more than 50 kilometers away from Andrew and his companion at this point, and it would take at least 6 hours to catch up on horseback.

Xia Zuo rubbed his swollen eyes, closed the book, put the newly made elemental bottle into the metal box, and then went to his bedroom to meditate.

Chapter 18 Copying the Magical Alchemy

December 28th, only two days left of the holiday.

He had been staying up until 4 a.m. for several nights in a row, and during the day he still had to train his body at a high intensity. His current willpower and endurance attributes were not enough to support him to continue like this.

When Xia Zuo woke up at 9 a.m., he smelled his own scent and realized that after taking his textbooks home from the academy last night, he went straight to the study without showering... He changed into his pajamas and went to bed.

Anru thoughtfully placed a clean set of clothes and a bath towel on the bedside table.

After Xia Zuo finished showering and was drying his hair, An Ru'er pushed open the bathroom door a crack and poked her head out from behind it, saying, "I'll be going back to work in two days."

"Mmm." Xia Zuo gently rubbed her cheek. "I need to adjust my sleep schedule. If this continues, I'll soon lose the ability to distinguish between day and night."

Anru laughed. "It's good that you know. I'll go make you some milk."

Last night before bed, I asked Rexol for half a day off.

After finishing breakfast, Xia Zuo sat down at his desk and pondered his future plans.

The arrival of Blood Essence Servant No. 1 in Stillwater Town brought him a strong sense of novelty, prompting him to explore the local culture and natural environment in depth.

This led them to learn about monster alchemy and the existence of the Mishima Group, the Alien Group, and the Sword of the Gold Merchant.

His goal gradually became clear—to use the Blood Elemental servants in Stillwater to increase experience gain efficiency.

The measures taken, such as equipping Servant No. 6 with shooting devices and researching bone magic and monster alchemy, are all aimed at improving the efficiency of the Blood Element Servants.

This is a one-time solution.

Once the Blood Elemental Servant monster-hunting system was established, Xia Zuo would spend many years reading books and going to work during the day, and hunting monsters with his Blood Elemental Servant at night. Apart from the five hours of deep meditation, he would spend almost all his time gaining experience.

Secondly, people like Andrew, Ross, and Doom, who live deep inland, may have occupied too much of his time, affecting his daily activities such as physical exercise, reading, and meditation.

Therefore, we need to figure out what position these people should hold in Xia Zuo's heart, and what attitude to take towards them.

After all, once the Winter Veil holiday is over, there certainly won't be much free time to spend observing these people.

Xia Zuo thought for a few minutes and decided to take gaining experience as the starting point when dealing with these people.

Just like shooting Scarface with Minion #6, killing the enemy is the primary objective, while rescuing Ross is an additional objective—though it doesn't grant experience, it makes one's conscience clear.

If you follow this approach to deploy Blood Element minions...

The No. 4 servant attached to Andrew and the No. 5 servant attached to Doom can return to Stillwater.

After they return, they will work with Servant No. 1 to help Servant No. 6 acquire knowledge of monster alchemy. By comparing this knowledge with what the alchemy school teaches, they may gain new insights.

Xia Zuo finalized the layout plan for the Blood Elemental Minions and brought up the perspectives of Minions No. 4 and No. 5.

Andrew and his companion were still traveling through the deep mountains, while Doom was about 40 kilometers behind them. It would be very difficult for Doom to catch up with them; it would take him at least another day and night.

From Andrew and Ross's conversation, Xia Zuo learned that they were only 20 kilometers away from the Ossie family's territory.

The effort led by Doom was destined to be in vain.

However, their affairs have nothing to do with Xia Zuo anymore.

Xia Zuo had his fourth servant place a blood mark on Andrew, then flew out of Andrew and his companion's carriage and headed towards the direction of the fifth servant.

He planned to have the two blood element servants attach themselves to Doom, and then return to Stillwater Town with the group when Doom returned empty-handed.

noon.

Servant No. 4 and Servant No. 5 met up, and Xia Zuo had just finished lunch. With a full stack of satiety and [Full of Energy], he headed to the manor in the suburbs for training.

...

It was 10 p.m. that evening.

At home in the St. York community.

Xia Zuo read a book all night. After running the water in the bathroom, he carried a hot book back to his desk and sat down.

He took an empty elemental storage bottle from the drawer, intending to make an elemental bottle before going to meditate.

From the perspective of minions #4 and #5 at this moment.

Doom, bound by a lasso, was escorted to the catfish forest by several thugs.

Something interesting happened before that.

After realizing he couldn't catch up with Andrew and Ross, Doom attempted to ride into the trails of the Mogus Mountains to bid farewell to his henchmen and escape the territory of Stillwater.

However, the thugs seemed to have received instructions from DeShawn and had anticipated that Doom might escape.

They immediately drew their bolt-action rifles, threatened Doom to stop, then used lassos to restrain him, tied him to a horse, and brought him back.

That's how we ended up with the scene we see today.

Doom was carried into the alchemy chamber of the bearded alchemist Aganna.

Shazo let servants number 4 and 5 leave Doom's collar and go to different corners of the monster alchemy room.

Servant No. 6 was already waiting there, hoping that Servants No. 4 and No. 5 would come to keep watch so that they could find an opportunity to peruse the monster alchemy tome.

Aganna put down the medicine bottle in his hand, turned around to look at the writhing figure on the floor, picked up the cane leaning against the table, and slammed it hard into the other person's spine.

“You’re in trouble, Doom! That high-level bone sac that the Alien Group took away was a treasure I painstakingly transported from the east! I also invested so much monster essence, helped you prepare the materials for the coupling ritual, found the ritual array and prayers, and searched for suitable fodder. And now, you’re telling me the bone sac is gone…”

Aganna used his cane to strike Doom, venting his anger, until his arms ached and went numb before he stopped.

Doom, lying on the ground, had a piece of burlap torn from somewhere stuffed in his mouth, and his mouth was also bound by two layers of cloth strips. When he was whipped, he could do nothing but twitch like a shrimp on a hot plate and let out whimpering screams.

Aganna, panting, sat down in a chair, picked up the bell on the table, shook it to mark the sound, and said to his subordinates who came in at the sound:

"Phew... Take this guy to DeShawn. Also, prepare a carriage for me; I'm going east."

After his men carried Doom away, Aganna picked up the wine jug on the table, took a sip, and muttered, "Damn the Alien Group...it makes me have to go to the east again. What a waste of my time. I need to pack up and get going."

He locked the door to the alchemy room, glanced at the shelves piled high with potion bottles, and seemed to be considering whether to take them all with him.

Xia Zuo frowned. If Aganna really managed to pocket all the monster potions and tomes, he would once again miss out on the knowledge of monster alchemy that was right in front of him.

Fortunately, Aganna didn't have any storage space or anything like that, and he himself found moving large quantities of potions and books troublesome.

He took several metal potion bottles from the shelf, stuffed them into the pocket under his alchemist's robe, then went into the secret chamber and stuffed the tomes of bone sac alchemy and flesh alchemy, as well as his alchemy diary, into a leather pouch.

There are still a few books left on the desk.

But the space covered by the animal hide was already filled.

Aganna sighed helplessly, braced his arms on the edge of the bed, bent down, lifted the sheet, and pulled a metal box out from under the bed.

He stuffed the books on the table into the box, found three locks in the desk drawer, fastened them to the box, and pushed the box to the deepest part under the bed to hide it.

Finally, Aganna, carrying a heavy pack of animal hides, picked up his cane leaning against the wall and sealed the door to the secret chamber and the windows of the alchemy room tightly. After solemnly instructing the guards at the door not to let anyone in, he left with uneven steps.

Does this mean that no one will come to the alchemy room for many days to come?