My health recovery is incredibly fast.

After killing the high-ranking pureblood mages led by Bergust, the mediocre pureblood mages devoured their remaining bloodlines, inherited their blood magic, and degenerated into hybrid mages.

Chapter 124 A Small Goal

The series of blood magic spells that Shazo possessed made Christo realize:

Xia Zuo's status in the Western Continent is equivalent to that of Bergust in the Eastern Continent.

That's why Christo took out this booklet.

Having read about Bergust's experience, Xia Zuo figured he probably wouldn't end up being devoured.

Times have changed, after all.

In the Second Era, humanity had no one to rely on but the power of bloodlines, and could only continue down the path of bloodline power.

Nowadays, if a pureblood mage doesn't have Blood Elemental Minions, they can use Elemental Minions instead. If they don't have Blood Weapons and Armor condensed from Blood Magic Attack and Defense, they can use Binding Field.

Apart from the Church of the Otherworldly Demons, no one else is willing to fight to the death over blood magic.

Xia Zuo flipped through the booklet and found a simple table in the later parts.

The pure-blooded mages in the temple volunteered to participate in the test and contributed some basic data about vitality.

Bergust at his peak was used as a reference for statistical data.

According to historical records, Bergust once placed his right hand in a fire for a full minute.

His right hand was unarmored and unenchanted by any blood magic to block the flames; he faced the fire with his bare body.

When he pulled his right hand out of the fire, the skin on his hand was still tender and there were no signs of burns or scalds. He was completely unharmed.

An accelerant has been added to the fire, increasing its flame power to 100 points.

Assume Bergust's blood concentration is 100%.

The bloodline concentration of a pureblood mage is equal to (the length of time his right hand remains unharmed in a fire / 60 seconds) * 100%.

The temple's statistics showed that the pureblood mages in the inner sanctum all had a bloodline concentration of around 40% to 50%, meaning their right hands could remain in the fire unharmed for 24 to 30 seconds.

When Xia Zuo saw this, he mentally calculated his bloodline concentration.

Given that his current maximum health is 1900 points, his health regeneration speed is negligible in the face of fire damage, so it can be disregarded.

When Xia Zuo was experimenting with fireballs at the academy, he often put his hand into the flames and discovered that the flames did not damage his skin.

Therefore, theoretically speaking, he can stay in the fire for 18.99 seconds, which corresponds to a bloodline concentration of 31%, lower than all the pure-blood mages in the temple.

but!

He has only been a pureblood mage for a few years, so it's inevitable that he can't compare to the veteran pureblood mages in the temple.

If we give him another one or two years to get his energy back on track…

"Have you calculated your bloodline concentration?" Christo asked expectantly.

“Uh…yes, Your Excellency.” Xia Zuo touched his nose. “It’s about 30%.”

“Thirty percent,” Christo emphasized, then frowned slightly. “Why isn’t the Crimson Emblem reacting?”

"The Crimson Emblem?" Xia Zuo recalled for a moment, remembering this little gadget that he had long since lost...

He rummaged in his alchemy pouch for a few seconds and pulled out the emblem that had been hidden away in a corner.

The emblem felt hot and shiny in my palm, radiating a vivid blood-red light.

"Have you not been in contact with the Crimson Emblem for a long time?" Christo asked.

“Yes.” Xia Zuo scratched his head. “It must have been a very long time ago. I can’t even remember when I put it away.”

“Well, no wonder it didn’t react, and I didn’t receive any messages either.” Christo took a deep breath. “Do you know what 30% bloodline concentration means?”

Xia Zuo shook his head.

Christo said:

"The awakening of bloodline power has five stages: birth, growth, maturity, peak, and decline."

"Of the first three stages, the birth stage is the shortest, generally referring to the few days after one discovers that they possess the ability to cast blood magic."

"The growth phase lasts up to 20 years, during which the bloodline concentration of a pure-blooded mage increases very rapidly. After that, the growth rate slows down in the maturity phase, eventually stagnating and reaching its peak."

"The peak stage usually arrives 40 years after bloodline awakening and lasts until the bloodline concentration begins to decline and enters the decline stage. Including myself, all the pure-blood mages in the temple have entered the decline stage."

“From the time you awakened your bloodline power until now, only a little over 13 years have passed, and the second stage after awakening is not even over yet. Normally, the peak strength of a bloodline awakener is about three times that at the end of the growth stage.”

Christo rubbed her forehead. "In other words, your bloodline concentration at its peak could very well reach 100%, or even exceed Bergust's highest level."

Krestor pointed to the crest in Shazo's hand, "The Crimson Crest is an alchemical tool that roughly tests bloodline concentration. When your bloodline concentration reaches 30%, it will emit a warm glow like it does now."

Xia Zuo looked at the scarlet emblem, scratched his head, and realized that he had become this strong... No wonder he was a man with a cheat code.

"Your Excellency, this..."

Krestor waved her hand. "Don't call me Your Excellency. Let's address each other as equals. In terms of bloodline concentration, we are now equals. If you didn't possess an elemental body, you would be able to enter the inner sanctum today and formally participate in the monthly Crimson Conference."

Xia Zuo was taken aback, then came to his senses. "Uh, okay. Is there anything I need to be careful about? I mean, what kind of troubles will I encounter from the birth stage to the peak stage?"

"There's nothing particularly noteworthy. Blood concentration has a fixed upper limit, but the advantage is that it's gradual; over time, blood concentration will naturally increase."

Chris paused, thought for a few seconds, and said:

"There is something I need your help with. It concerns the Essence of Life. Every year, many mages within the temple die because they can no longer extend their lives. Their knowledge and magical skills are widely recognized, and their contributions to the temple throughout their lives are evident to all. But because they lack the Essence of Life of a pure-blooded mage, they are forced to die with regrets and enter their graves."

Krestor looked at Shazo, "If you have surplus life essence and it won't interfere with your cultivation, I would like to ask you to make a deal with the Temple."

Krestor snapped her fingers. "For example, if you want to obtain the bionic silver-eating worms of the Desolate Hammer, the Temple can negotiate the price with the Desolate Hammer, and you can pay the equivalent amount with Life Essence. If you want other alchemical materials, such as Mimar Alloy, tanning agents of level 200 or higher, etc., you can also trade them with Life Essence."

Xia Zuo nodded thoughtfully, appearing calm on the surface, but inwardly he was overjoyed…

He lacked money, materials, and bionic silver-devouring insects, but he had no shortage of vitality... Each essence of life only required 2 points of vitality.

At this point, a vitality level of 500 is undoubtedly a huge treasure trove.

"How is the specific price of the Essence of Life calculated?" Xia Zuo asked.

Christo thought for a moment and said:

“It’s hard to define, Xia Zuo. If an alchemist from this guild dies of old age and is granted longevity because of your life essence, from the temple’s perspective, your life essence is worth at least tens of millions of citizen points. The cost of training an alchemist with the same alchemical skills alone is calculated in tens of millions of citizen points.”

"How about this..." Christo said, pondering.

"You will sign a long-term contract with the Temple to supply Life Essence. You will supply no less than 20 Life Essences each year, and the Temple will deliver to you alchemical materials, spellbooks, alchemical tools, and other supplies equivalent to 10 billion citizen points each year. As long as what you request is not a controlled item, the Temple will meet your requirements."

Dividing 10 billion by 20 coins gives an average of 5000 million citizen points per coin.

Is this price reasonable?

Xia Zuo once did some calculations.

Taking himself as an example, it would cost at least 1000 million citizen points to train a master of poison alchemy.

The cost of training other alchemy masters is roughly the same.

In the outer sanctuary, alchemists who can become teachers undoubtedly possess master-level qualifications in at least three alchemical fields.

3000 million citizen points is the minimum cost to become an alchemy teacher in the outer sanctuary.

Christo's asking price was 2000 million higher than that figure.

From the perspective of alchemy talent training costs, Krestor's price is high, and the fact that she offered a premium shows her sincerity.

From the perspective of the output and benefits of alchemy talents, a price of 5000 million is just right.

Another approach: Xia Zuo's supply of life essence will alleviate the burden on the veteran pureblood mages in the temple. The benefits of this spillover effect are greater, but also more ambiguous and difficult to define.

All things considered, using replacement cost as the benchmark and adding a premium to measure the value of life essence would be more acceptable to both parties. Using output revenue or spillover effects as the benchmark would be a bit too greedy on Xia Zuo's part.

After thinking it over, Xia Zuo felt that Christo's offer was reasonable, so he nodded and said:

“No problem. I can guarantee a supply of 20 per year. Hmm… let’s start signing a long-term supply contract this year. I need a large sum of money to buy alchemical building materials for the Tower, as well as bionic silver-eating worms for the Desolate Hammer.”

Chapter 125 Breaking the Tower

Xia Zuo signed a contract with the temple that very day.

He promised to bring the essence of life within three days.

Back at his home in Poseidon, Xia Zuo locked himself in his study and began creating the Essence of Life.

Xia Zuo prefers to call the Essence of Life "Essence of Vitality" because its raw material is vitality attribute points.

One Life Essence consumes 2 Vitality Points. 20 Life Essences would consume 40 Vitality Points.

Slaying a Frost Dragon has a 10% chance of restoring 50 to 100 vitality points. Eliminating hundreds of Stonejaw Monsters will restore approximately 20 vitality points.

If Xia Zuo finds time each year to fight monsters, he can make up for the loss of life essence.

Two days later at noon, Xia Zuo left his study and went to the temple to hand over the reins to Christo.

Half a day later, he returned to Poseidon City. Instead of going home, he went directly to the academy and rented a spacious magic training room that resembled a warehouse.

Xia Zuo took out 10 metal boxes from his alchemy bag and laid them out in a row on the ground, checking the contents of each one.

"Coolant for energy circuits, node kits for central control energy hubs, injection overload devices and fuses, stress-relief energy storage units, and quick-change U-type, Y-type, and T-type energy pipelines..."

Xia Zuo checked off each box he inspected on his prepared list.

These energy-related alchemical devices all originated from the Temple and are part of this year's 10 billion quota, with a total value of approximately 2 million citizen points.

Xia Zuo will use them to build a tower system based on the [Energy Shield].

Xia Zuo estimates that at least 90% of the components on his tower will be magical artifacts made using beam field and shaping techniques.

This is an extremely exaggerated figure.

It should be noted that any tower mage would use stone bricks, wooden planks, or alloy plates as the tower floor, but Xia Zuo used an energy floor.

Xia Zuo also planned to use magic to create furniture such as beds, sofas, and chandeliers inside the tower. Even the toilet and the waste disposal device that came with it would not be made of physical objects, but rather a magical creation woven from earth-based energy to harmlessly dispose of the waste.

It's fair to say that the only physical things on the entire tower are the control panel, the energy pipeline system, and the food.