My health recovery is incredibly fast.

Xia Zuo, whose eyebrows were the same, was somewhat surprised by the result.

He thought for a moment and then tried a different way to summon the Bloodpoint.

The [Spellcasting Instinct] trait allows him to instantly cast spells by silently reciting them. By adding the power value after the spell name, he can release a spell with the corresponding power.

When casting blood magic, you can also use [Spellcasting Instinct] to adjust the amount of health consumed by the spell.

A blood point has 1 health point and a diameter of 0.5 millimeters.

To create a bloodspot with a diameter of 0.1 millimeters, you only need to consume 0.2 points of health.

Xia Zuo activated [Spellcasting Instinct], staring at the tip of the millimeter blade, silently reciting the spell incantation, and summoning an extremely tiny blood dot.

This time it worked.

The blood spots adhered directly to the blade, about 0.1 millimeters from the tip, and did not affect the cutting of toxins.

The toxin awaiting cutting is a novice-level deadly toxin that depletes health at a rate of 70 points per hour, or approximately 0.02 points per second.

A blood point with 0.2 health will have its health completely depleted and disappear into the air after 10 seconds of contact with the poison.

Xia Zuo can help Bloodpoint recover health by transferring life force to it, keeping its health at full level.

With his total health of 380, he should be able to hold out until the cut ends.

Xia Zuo recalled the template for the blood point in his mind, while monitoring its blood volume changes and cutting the toxin according to the standard answer in his notebook.

About an hour later, Xia Zuo, who had been multitasking, wiped the sweat from his forehead, let out a long sigh, and released a detection spell on the cut product.

...

[Quality] Completion rate 85.5%, Excellent

...

Only when the completion rate exceeds 90% is it considered bait; otherwise, the cutting is not considered successful.

Xia Zuo glanced at the wall clock.

7:46pm.

I'll try one more time at most, then I'll have to go back to my dorm and prepare for bed.

Xia Zuo stood up, walked around the alchemy room for a while, and then sat back down in the observation chair to continue cutting the toxin.

With the experience from the previous two attempts, this time the completion rate reached 92%!

The message from the cheat system then came to my mind:

"Host reference standard answer detected. Successfully produced one bait. Reward: 20 experience points and 0.0020 perception attribute points."

"【Identity 2】has changed, and the character template has been updated."

..

[Identity 2] Poison Alchemist

(New) [Identity Bonus 4]

Successfully developing a previously unlearned bait substance will grant a large amount of experience and perception attribute bonuses.

When making bait according to the standard answer, you will receive the full reward on the first successful production. Subsequent productions will receive half the reward.

..

Xia Zuo read through the information from the cheat code, then tidied up the alchemy room with satisfaction. He put the bait he made into a separate glass container, preparing to hand it in to his mentor as tomorrow's assignment.

He flipped through the learning manual. The learning tasks for the next ten days or so were all about identifying and making bait that had been discovered by the alchemy school. The difficulty gradually increased, eventually approaching the difficulty of developing bait on his own.

According to the learning schedule in the manual, Xia Zuo will begin developing the unknown bait on the 20th day.

With the help of Bloodpoint, his learning progress will be very fast. I estimate that he will be able to enter the self-development stage in about 10 days.

Xia Zuo cleaned the alchemy room, took a shower, changed into a robe, and strolled through the empty corridor.

The teaching area was quiet and deep at night. The alchemical lamps only illuminated the corridors, and the elemental servants responsible for sweeping the floor were resting on the supports by the wall.

As Xia Zuo ascended the spiral staircase, he gazed at the forest shrouded in night and tried to connect with his Blood Element servants. It was still a very difficult experience; he couldn't sense the location of the temple through his Blood Element servants, nor could he control them.

Xia Zuo shook his head helplessly and continued walking uphill.

A figure stood at the end of the stairs. Seeing Xia Zuo approach, he said:

"As expected, you've been staying in the alchemy lab doing experiments."

Xia Zuo looked up and asked, "Senior Mars, have you been waiting for me all this time?"

“No, that’s not it,” Mars said, standing at the top of the stairs. “I just finished studying and wanted to go talk to you, but I found you weren’t in your dorm. When I was at Xingye Academy, I heard about your self-discipline and hard work. I didn’t expect that after all these years, you haven’t changed at all.”

Xia Zuo walked up the last step and walked side by side with the other person toward the dormitory. "Imparting knowledge has indeed made things much easier, saving me the steps of previewing and reviewing. I just finished tomorrow's homework in the alchemy room."

"Oh? So fast? You've already replicated erox?" Mars asked, somewhat surprised.

"How many times did you try in total?"

“Three times.” Xia Zuo concealed the presence of the blood spots and briefly recounted what had happened.

After listening, Mars fell into a brief moment of contemplation, then asked:

"Back when you were at Starry Night Academy, what was your score in the Giant Creation Studies exam?"

"It should be a perfect score..." Xia Zuo recalled that the head of the department only announced the total score, and he got a perfect score... so the individual subject also got a perfect score.

"So, you have a very good sense of space. No wonder you were able to replicate your first bait in just a few hours." Mars seemed to have found an explanation he could accept.

Xia Zuo didn't dwell on this topic much, instead asking:

"By the way, senior, where will you be working after you finish your studies? I'm a toxicology researcher at the Category 3 Emergency Disaster Response Center in Poseidon, Mackinac. After my studies, I'll also be a researcher in the biological laboratory."

“I’ll go to Tambus State and join the local Category 3 Disaster Response Department. I heard there’s a big project there, and I’ll be a blueprint designer, and I’ll also be on-site to supervise the construction,” Mars replied without hesitation.

Uh… architect + foreman? White hat + red hat? …Xia Zuo blinked… imagining what the other person would look like wearing a helmet, suppressing a laugh.

Mars gave him a strange look and continued:

“If you’re in Poseidon, you must know what happened before Winter Veil. Can you tell me the specifics? The big project in Tambus State is closely related to that.”

Chapter 35 Secret Ritual in the Dark Room

The Silvermoon Federation does not have television, and therefore lacks a media channel like live news broadcasts that can transmit information extremely quickly.

People usually learn about major events in a place through newspapers or rumors.

Aside from these two avenues, the only way to learn about other regions is through work. The higher one's alchemy aptitude, the more real-world information one can access, but this is limited to non-core aspects.

During the Winter Veil period, Shazor went to Rexol's place for training every day, and the latter had given him some advice on this matter:

To maintain consistency with the Poseidon City Category 3 Disaster Response Department, we must only disclose information that is officially permitted.

At this moment, Mars probably wanted to ask about the details of the event, such as which blood demons appeared and how many alien demons participated in the exhibition.

Unfortunately, Xia Zuo, one of the main characters, cannot tell him the truth, otherwise his own secret will be exposed.

Xia Zuo shrugged and said casually:

"I was taken to a safe house and spent two days in deep meditation. When I came out, the northern part of Poseidon was being rebuilt. It was said that the Church of the Otherworldly had brutally murdered civilians in the northern part of the city and destroyed several buildings with bombs."

Mars asked, "And then they escaped through the dark room?"

“Yes, that’s right.” Xia Zuo nodded, acknowledging the official statement.

"Hmm..." Mars pondered, "It seems there really is such a thing. I will be going to Tambus State in ten days to reinforce the barrier of the isolation chamber."

"What exactly is a darkroom?" Xia Zuo asked, puzzled.

He had been itching to investigate this matter for a long time, especially after discovering that the dismembered weapon was related to the dark room, which fueled his growing curiosity.

Mars's eyes were somewhat blank.

"Actually... I'm not too sure either. With my qualifications, I don't yet have access to the secrets of the secret room."

"However, my mentor, Master Tyson, said that dark chambers existed in the previous era."

"At the time, almost all mages and warlocks used it as a transit plane for teleportation spells. Later, a shadow mage found the key to that plane and took the entire plane for himself. After he joined the Church of the Otherworld, the Church of the Otherworld transformed that plane into a secret chamber to house the Limb-Splitters and the Church of the Otherworld's instructors."

Marston paused for a moment, "You should know what a plane is, right? It's mentioned in 'An Introduction to Spell Schools'."

Even without reading "An Introduction to Magic Schools," Xia Zuo knew what a plane was... After all, he had played so many games in his previous life, so he must have some understanding of this.

Teleportation is an extremely complex spell, involving several schools of magic, the most crucial of which is the intermediate plane.

Simply put, a plane is a vast space that can exist stably outside of the natural world.

If the storage space in a storage pocket is several thousand cubic kilometers in size, it can also be called a dimension.

Xia Zuo recalled what he had learned and nodded in response.

Mars continued:

"Ever since that plane was transformed into a dark chamber, the scholars of the Tower have been searching for a new plane to serve as a transit plane for teleportation. They eventually found a suitable plane, which is the one we are using now. I don't know the specific location or characteristics of the plane, but I do know that as long as we reinforce the connection between the new plane and nature, we can prevent the dark chamber from invading."

The two chatted as they arrived at the dormitory entrance.

Mars stopped in his tracks. "The point of contact between the Silvermoon Federation and the new plane is in Tambus State. The Winter Veil invasion caused the protective barrier at the point of contact to weaken."

Xia Zuo pondered for a moment and asked:

"Senior, is it really okay for you to tell me all this?"

Thinking back carefully, it seems that Mars really trusted Xia Zuo a lot. He had revealed the inside story of the general education exam to Xia Zuo back in Xingye Academy.

“It’s no secret,” Mars chuckled. “Haha, it’s just that you’re too focused on alchemy and don’t talk to others, so you don’t know.”

"I see..." Xia Zuo gave an awkward laugh. He guessed he would never be able to get rid of this bad habit of being "introverted".

“In fact, even if I didn’t say it, you would already know,” Mars said.

"When entering the protective barrier of the intermediate plane maintenance connection point, an archmage will lead the team, and each team member will carry many elemental golems. As you know, elemental golems use an alchemical bionic system. Perhaps, I will use the bait and raw materials you made in the future."

Mars patted the other person's arm, "Your mental medium should contain this knowledge, you may not have read it yet."

He took out his pocket watch and glanced at it. "Alright, let's stop here. Lights out."

"Goodnight, senior." Xia Zuo unlocked his room door with the pendant, said goodbye to the other person, and went into the dormitory.