My health recovery is incredibly fast.

It struggled against the surrounding wind walls, but could not escape. The tornado that was supposed to protect it became an unbreakable cage.

Two other purplish-black tornadoes arrived to support their trapped companions.

Two arcane mages rushed forward, using their own bodies to block the two purplish-black tornadoes, buying Rexor time.

Rexor held the chainblade hilt in his left hand and drew his blood magic longsword from behind his back with his right. The longsword's scabbard was filled with crimson special effects oil, constantly soaking the blade.

Rexor gripped the hilt of his sword, gathered his strength briefly, and then stomped forward with his right foot. The sharp tip of the sword trailed a scarlet light, pointing directly at the chaotic black shadows within the tornado.

At that moment, two gray shadows emerged from the other two tornadoes.

They used Shadowstep, leaping rapidly with the help of shadow energy in the environment, and in an instant arrived above Rek'Sorcerer's head and back, thrusting out insidious daggers.

Rexor seemed unaware of the attack from the shadows.

He completely ignored the church assassin's sneak attack and continued thrusting his longsword.

The sword tip easily pierced through the wind wall of the tornado and penetrated the dark shadows inside.

The moment the crimson oil on the blade touched the shadowy figure, it ignited a burst of purplish-black flames. The next second, the tornado dissipated, the chain of the chain blade fell to the ground, and the church assassin's dagger pierced Rexor's body.

"Thud." Two dull thuds rang out as the assassin's dagger struck the suddenly appearing blood magic shield.

The little red vest that had been hiding its strength has finally been activated by Rek'Sorrow.

In the previous battle, he and the two arcane mages deliberately did not use the red vest to block damage, making themselves look very disheveled. This was so that they could use the red vest at a critical moment to maximize its protective effect and catch the enemy off guard.

"Ha." Rexol chuckled mockingly.

With a flick of his left hand, he unleashed a blood-red chain blade before the church assassins above could retreat, binding the gray shadow and dragging it to the ground. Then, with his right hand gripping the blood magic longsword, he thrust it downwards with deadly force.

After being pierced by the slender blade, the gray shadow burst open like a balloon, scattering countless gray particles that quickly vanished.

Killing a Shadow Fiend and a Church Assassin in a short period of time is already the limit.

Rexor drew his longsword, glanced at the few remaining streaks of red oil on the blade, and then at the chain blade in his hand. Both of them had their special oils completely used up, which was truly frustrating.

Perhaps it was the killing of two demons that instilled fear in the remaining demons, or perhaps it was the protective capabilities of the red vest and the effects of the special oil that alerted the demons.

The two Shadow Fiends and one Church Assassin, who were still able to move freely, stopped launching attacks. Their figures disappeared into the purplish-black environment, and they crept furtively along the edge of the stone house, waiting for the best opportunity to attack again.

This is the most troublesome situation, and the one Rexor most wants to avoid.

The pseudo-blood mage has many weaknesses—insufficient vitality, limited blood mana, and insufficient means of combat, etc. These can be compensated for with potions and oils. However, the inability to detect invisible units in a high-concentration shadow energy environment is an unavoidable flaw.

Rexor discussed the matter with the two mages, and they agreed that the two of them would repair the stone house, while the bald man himself would be responsible for guarding it.

Xia Zuo sat outside the dome, watching the busy Rexor and the other two, his brows furrowed and a thoughtful look in his eyes.

Just as Rek'Sorcerer killed Shadow Fiend and the Church Assassin, the cheat code sent two messages:

"Blood relative Rexor detected. Successfully killed a cube-level Shadow Fiend. Drawing rewards for the host... Drawing complete. Rewards to the host: 130 experience points, 0.16 Willpower attribute points, and the Shadow Magic [Perceive Shadows]."

"Blood relative Rexor detected. Successfully killed an Executor-level Church Assassin. Initiating the extraction of rewards for the host... Extraction complete. The host is rewarded with 110 experience points, 0.11 agility attribute points, and the Shadow Magic [Shadow Container]."

This should be the first time I've received a spell reward other than blood magic, right?

Why haven't I acquired Shadow Magic before?

Xia Zuo pulled up his past kill information and nodded slowly.

It turns out that he had never killed any other demons other than the hybrid mage before—the hybrid demon who died from an internal explosion. The cheat system determined that Xia Zuo killed the hybrid mage inside the hybrid demon, not the hybrid demon itself or any other demons inside the hybrid demon. Therefore, under the effect of the [Pureblood Mage] identity trait, he only received experience and vitality attribute rewards, and no blood magic rewards.

(Note: [Pureblood Mage] Identity Trait 2: You can no longer obtain new blood magic or upgrade existing blood magic by killing hybrid mages. Instead, you use blood runes to upgrade blood magic.)

Xia Zuo has now confirmed two things:

First, the Shadow Fiend and the Church Assassin may not possess any life force within their bodies; these two types of demons rely on shadow energy to sustain their lives.

Secondly, killing demons by blood relatives will also bring him rewards, although the reward value will be much smaller, but the random spell rewards will still be given.

Based on the above facts, Xia Zuo had some guesses in his mind.

He previously held the position of [Pureblood Mage] simply because he met the requirements for the position, not because of his bloodline power.

So, after he has roughly collected the shadow magic and met the job requirements for the shadow magic-related identities, can he take on these identities concurrently?

Xia Zuo's memory returned to the night he became a pureblood mage.

He clearly remembered that it was only after he received the crimson emblem from Christo that Goldfinger sent him the job inquiry message.

In other words, after acquiring sufficient shadow magic, he needs to find a small group of shadow mages in the temple and gain their approval before he can officially possess the identity of a shadow mage.

It feels like we've gone a bit off-topic... There's no need to prove anything to others just for an identity... Besides, doing so would attract attention... Xia Zuo thought about it carefully and decided it would be better to quietly collect new spells and use them discreetly, without pursuing the extra bonuses brought by the identity characteristics for the time being.

He brought up his character template to check the Shadow Magic he had just acquired.

The effect of [Perceive Shadows] is just like its name suggests: it consumes stamina to view the shadow energy status within a one-meter radius.

This shadow magic is classified as a detection-based spell, and its associated attribute is [Willpower], not [Perception] or [Spirit].

The higher the Willpower attribute value, the longer the duration of [Shadow Perception] lasts. The higher the level of [Shadow Perception], the larger the perception range, making it a pretty good detection method.

The description of the Shadow Container is even simpler, just two lines.

..

Feature 1: Currently, a maximum of 100 Shadow Energy can be stored.

Feature 2: Flesh and blood cannot contain shadow energy; shadow energy will erode flesh and blood. For every point of shadow energy you store, your health regeneration rate decreases by 1 point per hour.

..

That's all.

Xia Zuo soon discovered an embarrassing situation…

The [Shadow Container] spell can only store shadow energy; it cannot absorb shadow energy... It's essentially a useless skill—you can only look at it, not use it...

To obtain the spell to absorb shadow energy, we'll have to rely on Rex's Shadow Fiends.

The bald man did not disappoint Xia Zuo.

Just as the test was halfway through, the demons lingering near the stone house could no longer contain themselves.

Two sorcerers used alchemical adhesive to repair the broken stone wall, reattaching the shattered stones to the collapsed structure. Standing at opposite ends of the wall, they used their blood magic to lift the fallen stone wall, putting it back on its feet.

The distance between them was the widest since they entered the testing area, making it the perfect opportunity for the demons to attack.

Rexor had applied a special oil to his chainblade beforehand, and he stood between his two teammates, wary of a sneak attack.

Just then, the figure of the Church Assassin appeared faintly behind the arcane mage to Rexor's left.

The church assassin was shrouded in a hazy gray mist.

It has a half-meter-long dagger in each of its left and right hands.

The long dagger was purplish-black, resembling a mysterious rhomboid gem, with intense shadow energy swirling around its blade. The detection spell indicated that the dagger in the church assassin's hand was a shadow demon in disguise.

The church assassin, wielding two daggers, lunged at the arcane mage's lower back, but Rexor's crimson chain blade swept across.

The church assassin's figure blurred for a moment and then disappeared without a trace, dodging the attack of the chain blades. Immediately afterwards, it appeared behind the sorcerer on the other side.

Rexol instantly pinpointed the Church Assassin's movements. He reached for the scabbard behind him with his left hand and threw the Blood Magic Longsword in a tenth of a second.

Thanks to the tight connection between the blood magic longsword and the caster, this somewhat hasty throwing attack was very accurate. The longsword quickly adjusted its direction in flight, and the tip of the sword was aimed precisely at the church assassin's chest.

As the church assassin was about to be struck by the longsword coated with special oil, the assassin's purplish-black dagger in his left hand transformed into a round shield, attempting to block the fatal blow for the church assassin.

The longsword pierced through the round shield that the Shadow Demon had transformed into, triggering a massive explosion of shadow energy. The violently erupting purple-black flames exerted a powerful impact, pushing aside the church assassins and arcane mages, and blasting the blood magic longsword away.

A blood magic shield appeared around the sorcerer, protecting him from the impact of the explosion. The church assassin used the shockwave to escape the battlefield, disappearing into the purplish-black environment.

After Rek'Sorcerer used his red vest to block the attack, another arcane mage revealed his red vest.

As long as the red vest is there, the Church Assassins and Shadow Fiend alone cannot defeat Rek'Sorcerer and his allies.

Faced with the formidable defense of the red vest, the remaining two demons could only manage minor skirmishes to disrupt Rexor and his companions' establishment of their base, and would no longer launch fearless attacks.

This also means that Rexor's team will pass the test and achieve excellent results, but will also lose a lot of points because they failed to kill all the Otherworldly Demons.

While watching Rexor and the other two set up their base, Xia Zuo checked the information about the cheat code.

This time, the cheat code rewarded me with a shadow magic spell called [Shadow Siphon].

..

【Name】Shadow Siphon

[Type] Shadow Magic, Evocation Style

[Level] lv.0

[Current effect]

Absorb shadow energy from a designated location or target.

If the designated location or target possesses more Shadow Energy than you, casting this Shadow Magic requires no Energy and has no upper limit on absorption speed. Conversely, it consumes Energy equal to the amount absorbed per hour, and the absorption speed is capped at 100 points per hour.

[Upgrade Effect]

Each level increases the absorption rate by 10%.

[Spell Description]

The physical body is susceptible to the corrosive effects of shadow energy. Health regeneration decreases when absorbing shadow energy.

..

"Siphon" is a term used in both science and alchemy to refer to the flow of liquids or gases from a place of high pressure to a place of low pressure until the pressures of the two places are equal.

"Shadow Siphon" means something similar: Shadow energy flows from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration.

During this process, Xia Zuo does not need to expend any energy.

Therefore, there is an obvious way to cheat.

First, place yourself in an area with a high concentration of shadow energy. Then, use Shadow Siphon to continuously absorb shadow energy for free, and then weave it into shadow magic to cast, achieving an infinite mana bar and infinite spellcasting—a truly overpowered, cheat-like operation.

The demons within the anti-magic field of the Church of the Otherworld are currently in this state of being infinitely overpowered.

Chapter 93 Riddle: The Predeterminism of Natural Evolution

The test results for all testing teams are out.