My health recovery is incredibly fast.

Xia Zuo then looked at the wall clock whose hands had slowed down. "Did you adjust the flow of time here? This is truly an extraordinary spell... What school of magic is this, or is it a type of blood magic?"

"What a curious little guy."

Christo chuckled and swept her right hand to her side. The desk, chair, and walls around her were pushed outwards, instantly making the space much larger. Two clouds of blood mist rose from the ground and condensed into two single sofas facing each other.

Xia Zuo looked around at the changes, his eyes widening involuntarily. He was certain that the room had changed from 20 or 30 square meters to 50 or 60 square meters.

Krestor can not only control the flow of time, but also change spatial parameters?

Is this the power of a pureblood mage, capable of simultaneously wielding authority over time and space?

Indeed, as long as one can live long enough, controlling time and space will not be a problem.

Xia Zuo glanced at the faint blood-red light in the air. The light came from blood-red lines that were vertically suspended in the air in the shape of strips. Upon closer inspection, one could see the edges and corners of the blood-red lines, which seemed to be a kind of slender blood-red crystal.

I feel like I've seen something similar somewhere before...

Xia Zuo recalled for a few seconds, and a word came to mind:

Bloodstained Domain.

On the night that the Blood Demon Kwarovich was prevented from escaping, the high-ranking Blood Demon who came to rescue him sacrificed a half-blood mage in Poseidon City, as well as part of his own blood runes, forcibly unleashing a blood-red Blood Domain over the Bosing Building, in order to supply the fragile Kwarovich with blood runes and help it break free from its restraints.

Perhaps Krestor indirectly gained control of this space by using spells similar to the Bloodstained Domain.

Xia Zuo felt he had found a convincing answer.

Chapter 45 Equilibrium

A light emanated from Christor, and her mage robes transformed into a long, off-the-shoulder dress. Jewelry adorned her fair shoulder blades, suggesting this was her usual attire.

“Sit down and let’s talk. I know you have many questions, and we have plenty of time to discuss them.” Christo walked to a single sofa, smoothed out the hem of her skirt, and sat down.

Xia Zuo used a detection spell on her, planning to check the feedback after leaving the area, before sitting down on the sofa opposite her.

The back of this sofa is quite far back, so it's more comfortable to sit against the back. Sitting upright and stiffly would be uncomfortable. Xia Zuo simply leaned back in a relaxed posture and rested his hands naturally on the armrests.

Christo, seeing his composed demeanor, smiled and said, "You've adapted quite quickly. Let's get down to business. Do you remember the words you heard when you first received the Crimson Emblem?"

“I remember.” Xia Zuo looked directly at the other’s face and nodded. “Once I have enough blood runes, I will know how to use the Crimson Emblem. At that time, I can come to the temple to study blood magic.”

"Then do you understand the meaning of bloodline quality? It is clearly defined in the bloodline language that has been instilled in you." Christo bent her right arm and rested it on the armrest, resting her chin on her hand as she asked.

In the character templates provided by the cheat code, the Bloodline quality is explained as "the sum of the three lowest values ​​among the character's eight attributes".

This is a data-driven statement, which Xia Zuo obviously cannot take as a response.

He opened his [Knowledge Reserve] in his mind, found the entry related to bloodline quality in the bloodline language, and after thinking for a few seconds, said:

"The quality of bloodline is related to a creature's weaknesses and flaws, rather than being determined by its strengths and advantages."

“Your wording is exactly the same as everything we’ve instilled in you,” Christo said with a slight smile, raising her chin slightly.

"Your mentor must have mentioned the Shamanic Society's [Balance Mystery] to you, right? Have you noticed many similarities between Bloodline Quality and the Balance Mystery?"

"Huh?" Xia Zuo paused for a moment, blinked, and fell into thought.

Adanavardos did not elaborate on the mysteries of equilibrium, but it is not difficult to understand the meaning of these four words literally.

Equilibrium, that is, equality and balance.

Equality is a numerical concept, meaning that the values ​​are equal.

Balance is a categorical concept, meaning that all the necessary categories must be present.

If a person has three elemental resistances of equal value, he cannot be said to have achieved balance, because there are four elemental resistances, and he is missing one of them, so he has not achieved balance.

Bloodline quality is a term related to the eight attributes.

If we apply balance to the quality of blood patterns, it means having 8 attributes with equal values.

Xia Zuo roughly guessed what the other party wanted to say...

"Your Excellency, the most effective way to improve the quality of blood patterns is to make up for one's own shortcomings, which is in line with the profound meaning of balance."

"We should try to achieve balanced growth in all aspects so that we can improve the quality of our blood patterns as quickly as possible. Is that what you mean?"

Xia Zuo's words were actually just explaining the free attribute point mechanism of the cheat system in layman's terms.

Christo smiled, snapped her fingers, and said:

“Excellent. It seems your request to Rexor for body training wasn’t accidental. You’ve already grasped the true essence of bloodline quality, which saves me the trouble of persuading you. Most pure-blood mages meet a tragic end because they excessively pursue improving their physical vitality.”

“An excessive pursuit of physical activity…” Xia Zuo muttered to himself.

If he hadn't chosen to become a pure-blooded mage that night, he wouldn't have received the information about free attribute points from the cheat code. In that case, Xia Zuo could almost be certain that he would have continued to allocate his free attribute points to vitality.

Because before that, he had discovered many wonderful uses for [vitality].

First, 1 point of vitality equals 1 year of lifespan, so increasing vitality is like extending lifespan.

Secondly, he can enhance the power of his spells through [Blood Sacrifice Spellcasting]. More health and faster health regeneration indirectly equate to higher spell power.

With so many favorable conditions combined, there is simply no reason not to add vitality.

He would even actively seek out items, potions, and spells to increase his vitality attribute value in order to improve his vitality more quickly.

Isn't this the "pureblood mage who excessively pursues physical vitality" that Krestor mentioned?

For Xia Zuo, focusing too much on [Vitality] will result in very few free attribute points gained from leveling up.

What harm would it cause to a pure-blooded mage born and raised in this world to pursue physical vitality?

Xia Zuo was a little confused and asked:

"Your Excellency, please forgive my intrusion, but I have come to understand the essence of bloodline quality. However, I am not clear about the tragic consequences of blindly pursuing physical vitality. Could you tell me about them?"

Christo ran her left hand across her collar and pulled out a small black glass bottle, about the size of a finger, from somewhere. "You've learned about the Crimson Poison Curse, so you probably know that special curses can be used to suppress bodily activity. But none of them are as effective as this. Try it; pour some of the powder from this glass bottle into your palm."

Xia Zuo took the glass bottle that floated over and used his detection spell on the black powder inside.

The item name, item type, grade, and quality are all "unknown".

There's only a line of predictions made by the cheat system regarding the item effects:

"It is predicted that after contacting this item, you will gain 5 stacks of reduced healing effect. Each stack will reduce the real-time healing speed by 10%, and the effect will last until you are no longer in contact with this item."

Reduce the effectiveness of the response!

This is the only effect it has, and it's so efficient and effective that it's a great counter to Blood Mages!

Xia Zuo activated [Toxin Sensing], but there was no toxin light in the glass bottle, indicating that the reduced recovery was not due to the effects of poison.

He poured a pinch of powder into his palm, and the character template immediately updated its information, with a new effect status appearing next to [Health]. At the same time, the skin on his palm began to wither and wrinkle due to the powder, like a withered tree ravaged by time.

"Your Excellency... what is this powder..." Xia Zuo's face darkened; anyone would look like this upon seeing a tool that could restrain them.

"What you see now is the [Dark Chamber Flame] after alchemy treatment. Originally it would burn like a black flame, but after being processed into powder, it can exist for a long time outside the dark chamber space and still has the effect of inhibiting bodily activity."

Christo flicked her wrist, and the powder from Shaza's palm floated into the glass bottle, which then disappeared after slipping into her collar.

"You must have felt its power. No pure-blooded mage who only focuses on physical vitality can escape the trap set by the Dark Chamber Fire. They will be captured by the Church of the Otherworldly Demons and transformed into Otherworldly Demons in the depths of the Dark Chamber, or become the placenta for nurturing hybrid mages and alchemical implants, thus falling into an abyss from which there is no escape."

Christo placed her hands together in front of her and said:

"Reality is very cruel. In the past, almost all pureblood mages focused on physical vitality. Only a few—like me—changed their views on bloodline quality after coming into contact with the Shamanic Society and embarked on the path of improving themselves in a balanced way, which allowed them to escape ambushes time and time again and survive until now."

"Since the beginning of the Fifth Era, after the establishment of the Temple of Mages, my companions and I decided to completely abandon our previous understanding of the quality of blood runes and only focus on making up for shortcomings and deficiencies."

"We jointly developed a new Bloodline Language that is compatible with the existing Bloodline terms, adds new vocabulary, and gives new meanings to the old terms."

"You could say you're our first student. So far, you've performed very well, and the new bloodline language has provided sufficient guidance. Of course, the main reason is your good character and talent, which has enabled you to grasp the new meaning we've given to the bloodline characteristics."

…Xia Zuo was so embarrassed by the compliments that he became a little shy…

To be honest... when he was instilled with the bloodline language, he didn't listen carefully... because it was directly added to his [knowledge reserve] by his cheat system, and he didn't even have to spend experience to transcribe it.

Moreover, the definition of bloodline quality was summarized by the cheat code based on the content of the bloodline language and presented to the host. As a lazy bum, Xia Zuo didn't bother to understand the connotation at all... he just used it as is.

"Ahem..." Xia Zuo coughed lightly, intending to brush aside this embarrassing matter. "Your Excellency, is there anything else you require?"

"No, that's not it. I just heard that you achieved a balanced state of elemental aura, so I came to check on your condition in person."

Krestor tossed a ring to him. "You can use this to contact me if you have any problems in the future. Rexor is, after all, a member of the Witcher School and it's not appropriate for him to get involved in the affairs of the Tower Mages."

Xia Zuo caught the uniquely designed ring, which used a variety of materials. From the inside out, it consisted of a turquoise gemstone with leaf patterns, a flawless white gemstone, and an outermost silver-gray gemstone that looked like metal.

The cipher text on the ring is written in the Bloodline Language, not the common language, and can only be used by pureblood mages.

Xia Zuo put the ring into his alchemy pouch and asked:

"You mean, I am now, in some way, a member of the Tower Mage?"

“Yes.” Christo nodded slightly. “Once you become a high-ranking mage, you will be able to join the Tower Mages without any hindrance.”

Speaking of high-level mages... Xia Zuo thought of a question.

“Your Excellency, I have something I would like to ask you.” Xia Zuo carefully considered his words. “It is like this, after I obtained the Light Element, the efficiency of expanding my spiritual ocean became very high, and the improvement of my physical qualities was also more obvious. I may be able to obtain a sufficient spiritual ocean even faster. In other words, in less than ten years, I will meet all the conditions for advancing to the Tower Mage.”

Christo seemed intrigued. She shifted her posture, crossing her left leg over her right, her long skirt outlining a beautiful curve, and asked:

Are you sure it was caused by light?

“Hmm… I’m not entirely sure, Your Excellency. In fact, I only discovered this after I consciously underwent physical training to make up for my deficiencies in strength and other areas,” Xia Zuo said frankly.

“I think I know why.” Christo snapped her fingers.

"What?" Xia Zuo was taken aback. Had he stumbled upon another coincidence?

"The light elemental you possess likely possesses the elemental attribute of [Balance]," Krestor said with a smile.

"As long as you can maintain a balanced state, the effects of practicing basic meditation or exercising your body will be more pronounced. The probability of this elemental trait appearing is extremely low, so I must say, you're quite lucky."

Does the element of light have a property called "balance"?

Xia Zuo felt somewhat confused.

Why do people have this trait?

He once thought that the properties of the light element were related to the chivalrous virtues of his previous life, or more precisely, to the paladins.

(Note 1: Actually, "paladin" should be used, because people who believe in the Holy Light don't necessarily ride horses...)

In the game, paladins follow something called "Holy Light," are inspired by a supreme faith, become the embodiment of justice, fight against evil, and dispel darkness.