Monster Girl Development Master.

"So, my dear sister," Zhuang Sen winked at An Jie, "what's the use of this?"

Ange received Zhuang Sen's hint and felt a surge of joy. She proudly introduced her most amazing reward. It was actually the song the hobbits sang in the inheritance, but unlike the others, it could trap listeners in a dream world, allowing them to see their deepest desires or fears, all without consuming bloodline power! It didn't even have to be sung; playing an instrument would suffice!

In short, it's a zero-cost, high-control system, and it can be used on a large scale.

No wonder it's a treasure on the same table as the [Dwarf Rune]; inheritance really does give you good stuff.

Zhuang Sen stroked Ange's little bottom, which was tense from looking up proudly, and suddenly asked, "Ange, where do you think the inheritance will attack Lydia?"

Ange paused for a moment before realizing that there was still a headless knight who hadn't passed on his skills, so she stroked her chin and said, "You're questioning my loyalty?"

Mira couldn't help but ask, "Perhaps we didn't protect Zhuang Sen well?"

Hana cautiously joined the discussion: "Could it be that they're worried about being abandoned by Lord Johnson?"

Nia giggled and said, "I think it's probably because they're worried that my darling is going too far with her games~"

Dantalian, crushing Zhuang Sen, calmly said, "Or perhaps it's about facing your beloved, confronting the crossroads of loyalty and morality?"

Zhuang Sen was speechless for a moment: "What exactly do you take me for?"

"abnormal"

"satyr"

"careerist"

"My dear brother~"

"My Sun"

"..."

The comments were so numerous and chaotic that it was impossible to tell who said which, which was a joke, and which was serious.

"Alright, alright, instead of saying so much, let's go see Lydia directly. We also need to give the prescription to Mother."

After much deliberation, Zhuang Sen decided to brew the potion with Lady Liya. As long as he didn't reveal the main ingredients, it wouldn't be a problem for him to squeeze the juice fresh.

……

"That's how it is. Lydia, do you want to give it a try?"

In Lady Lia's room, Zhuang Sen held Ange and Nia in his arms, looking at Lydia sitting opposite him. Ange's "law of inheritance" had already explained this, so Lydia was clearly a little nervous now.

"Young Master, I..."

"Well, there's no need to say it out loud. Just prepare yourself mentally."

Lydia was interrupted, took a deep breath, and then nodded vigorously: "I understand, I'm ready."

"very good."

Zhuang Sen patted the heads of the two little ones in his arms, and after gesturing for them to get down, he opened his arms and asked, "Want to come here?"

Lydia quickly stood up, and the plate armor on her body immediately made a noise, which made her stop. Zhuang Sen had no choice but to reach out and pull her over.

"here we go."

Before Lydia could say anything, darkness enveloped her, as if she were transported back to the moment of her death, instantly making her tense. Fortunately, the surroundings soon brightened again. Cold, icy blue flames illuminated the hard, gray hall, where headless knights, each holding a severed head, stood silently in the icy cold, clad in different armors, staring at Lydia who had appeared before them.

Unlike the previous races, the headless horsemen's formation truly resembled a military formation, orderly and exuding a palpable killing intent. Behind the standing headless horsemen was a heavy black iron throne, upon which sat a headless corpse clad in jet-black steel armor. A plume of black mist spewed from the cut at her neck, swirling where her head should have been.

As always, Zhuang Sen floated in the void, watching Lydia appear at the forefront of the army formation and observing her performance. After a brief observation, Lydia also took her first step.

In an instant, the headless knights, who had been standing motionless like statues, simultaneously "came to life," drawing their weapons and aiming them at Lydia who was approaching them. The sudden turn of events caused Lydia to instinctively draw her longsword, but her honed willpower prevailed, allowing her to control herself and refrain from launching an immediate attack.

At this moment, the headless knight in the deepest part stood up, and a cold voice rang out: "You villain who stole the bloodline, how dare you trespass into the realm of inheritance? Do you have any last words?"

What the hell?

Zhuang Sen stared in astonishment at the headless knight who had stood up. This was the first time he had ever heard the monster girl from the deepest part of the world speak. And what did she mean by stealing bloodlines? Was it because Lydia's bloodline was bestowed upon her by the system? But wasn't Ange's bloodline the same? Or was it because Ange was originally a bloodline user?

Despite the intimidation posed by the Headless Horseman King, Lydia raised her weapon without flinching. Even if this weren't an illusion, Lydia wouldn't show weakness to her enemy. However, the words "stealing bloodlines" made her bite her lower lip.

Seeing Lydia's resistance, the Headless Knight King seemed displeased. She sneered, "Insolent fool, do you think you're safe just because you're in the Realm of Inheritance? Even if we can't take away your physical body, how can you live if we recall our blood? Warriors! Attack!"

The headless knights, who had already drawn their weapons, immediately launched an attack. And it wasn't one by one; they all rushed forward, forming an endless torrent of steel that charged directly at Lydia! Lydia had no chance to fight back. After barely managing to take down the first two enemies, she was struck on the shoulder armor by a hammer blow from the side.

With a thud, a dent appeared on the gleaming steel plate. Normally, this attack should have ended there, causing no harm to Lydia. But Zhuang Sen saw it clearly, and Lydia understood it even more acutely—her power had been weakened.

Or, as the Headless Horseman King said, she is taking back Lydia's bloodline!

This astonished both Johnson and Lydia. They had initially thought this was merely part of the inheritance trial, like Dantalian's duel with the Lamias. But now it seemed that wasn't the case? It seemed they were truly going to reclaim the bloodline from Lydia!

Lydia was extremely nervous, even panicked. She had lived as an ordinary person for many years, and had seen many bloodline users, strong and weak, good and bad, but none of them paid any attention to her. She never dared to aspire to become a bloodline user herself, much less dream of obtaining the treatment that only bloodline users could enjoy.

Just like Lady Lia had tried to match her with Zhuang Sen long ago, the loyal guardian knight didn't think she could do it, because she was just an ordinary person, not a bloodline member, how could she be with the young master? She had never thought about this question, nor had she taken any action.

Until she suddenly gained the bloodline and won Zhuang Sen's favor. She was excited, thrilled, happy, and cherished it all, but she was also terrified. Terrified that it was all just a dream, that when she woke up, she would still be that ordinary female knight, unable to defeat even a single level one bloodline user, no matter how beautiful and virtuous she was. She wouldn't deserve to be a bloodline user's wife, or even a mistress.

She feared this even more than she feared being abandoned by Zhuang Sen, more than she feared being unable to protect her master, more than she feared being at odds with the world!

Even in the face of death, her hands trembled violently, and the breathing she no longer needed after becoming a headless knight returned, rapid and labored. Lydia began to dodge the attacks, but the surging tide of headless knights left her with little room to maneuver; each attack struck her, weakening her with every blow.

She regained her breath, her warmth, and her heartbeat...

She wanted to leave this illusion, but no matter how much she cried out in her heart, the illusion did not shatter as others had described; it remained as real as ever, as if her cries had been rejected. No one cared about her, just as no one cared about an ordinary female knight.

……

In the void, Zhuang Sen gazed at Lydia below, his feelings complex. He looked at the system panel; Lydia's bloodline had not been stripped in any way, nor could it possibly be. The inheritance was risk-free—to put it bluntly, everything at hand was merely a test.

The Headless Horseman King's lines were just one part of the test, much like the monster girls in the other legions who captured and exploited Zhuang Sen. However, Zhuang Sen now missed those exploitative legions, since he didn't have to undergo a psychological test.

I never expected that Lydia's biggest worry was losing her bloodline... How to put it, Zhuang Sen was a little disappointed. He also thought that Lydia's weakness would be him. Thinking about it, he was just being presumptuous. After all, he and Lydia hadn't known each other for long and had very little contact, including now, because she still needed to protect Lady Lia.

But since the inheritance isn't over yet, I'll take advantage of any opportunity to make a profit and just watch her performance.

Just as Zhuang Sen was getting ready to watch the drama unfold, a sudden pull came over him, and he found himself next to the Headless Horseman King, with a large, black sword appearing at his neck.

The cold, merciless voice of the Headless Horseman King continued: "You are the mastermind behind the theft of our bloodline, aren't you? I will cut off your head first to atone for the sin of defiling our bloodline!"

???

While Zhuang Sen was still full of questions, he was forced to kneel down by several headless knights who were nearby, facing Lydia, while the King of the Headless Knights raised his greatsword behind him.

Lydia, who was making a futile struggle, witnessed this scene. After a moment of stunned silence, her retreating movement abruptly changed. For the first time, she charged towards the headless knights. Her riddled armor was covered in ice, and her gleaming longsword glowed with an eerie blue light as it pierced through the armor of the headless knights blocking her path—[Death Charge], [Frost Spirit Armor], [Soul Strike]

"Let go of my master!!!"

[Fear Cry]

The young guardian knight charged into the enemy ranks like a whirlwind, leaving frost everywhere he went and causing all the enemies to fall—then, he crashed into an invisible wall.

"Hehehe."

A burst of mocking laughter rang out, and the Headless Horseman King picked up the released Zhuang Sen, put his arm around him, and sat back on the throne. Then the illusion shattered.

Only Johnson and Lydia remained, staring at each other blankly.

Chapter 111: Temptation

"Ledya, aren't you afraid of really being stripped of your bloodline?"

"Young Master, didn't you say that we should stay inside as long as possible?"

Zhuang Sen and Lydia stared at each other, then burst out laughing, leaving the onlookers completely bewildered. What had happened in the inheritance? Ange was especially curious, as this concerned the accuracy of the patterns she had summarized.

So Zhuang Sen briefly described what had happened in the inheritance, making Ange smug. Her theory seemed to be correct, after all, in order to "intimidate" Lydia, those headless knights had given up on exploiting Zhuang Sen. However, the others were more concerned that Lydia had actually managed to withstand what she feared most and even broke through to the current limit of the inheritance's progress, making her even more superhuman than Nia.

"So, what reward did you get?"

Nia asked curiously, and Lydia answered honestly, "There's no physical object, but my bloodline has improved a lot, and I'm not far from the second awakening. I've also gained two new abilities."

As she spoke, Lydia stood up, and a layer of solid ice appeared on her armor.

"This is the Frost Spirit Armor, which lasts for an hour. During this time, I am immune to frost damage and it's like wearing an extra layer of weightless armor. However, its actual defensive capabilities need further testing. The other one is called Vampiric Strike, which is said to allow you to absorb the enemy's life force to replenish yourself when you hit them."

The others were fine, just congratulating Lydia. Only Mira, who knew the bloodline best, was once again shocked – adding new skills to the bloodline besides awakening? What's the difference between this and giving a human an extra set of equipment?

Zhuang Sen noticed the shocked scholar, leaned over and pulled her into his arms: "What's wrong? Are you still upset because you didn't solve the problem? Or are you starting to feel useless again?"

Mira lowered her head dejectedly and snuggled into Zhuang Sen's arms: "Your bloodline is so strange! I feel like all my years of studying are completely useless!"

Furthermore, her bloodline limited her time outside the home and the amount she could demand from Zhuang Sen. It always felt like among Zhuang Sen's women, she ate the most and did the least. According to An Jie's theory, this was probably why she faced the "problem-solving" test—she worried that she had lost her strongest abilities in learning and research, which would lead to losing Zhuang Sen.

"Then let's start researching now." Zhuang Sen stroked Mira's cool face. "I thought scholars would get excited when they see the unknown. Or do you think I would give up on you?"

Zhuang Sen looked up at the crowd who had stopped their discussion and were looking over, and ruffled Hana's green hair with his other hand: "You too, once you're in my hands, you won't be able to escape even if you die."

"Can't you say something a little sweeter now?" Nia jumped up and kissed Zhuang Sen. "You used to say that all the time when we first met."

"Are you shy?"

"Young Master is so cute."

"Brother has this side to him too..."

"How about I make you some honey bread tonight to help you recover?"

Although he was joking, Zhuang Sen could clearly see the blush on their faces, so he forgave their teasing. He wasn't really feeling shy at all—it seems he still needs to work on his thick skin.

Zhuang Sen turned to Lady Liya, who was sitting alone opposite him, and began to change the subject: "Mother, do you think you can brew this potion?"

Lady Lia smiled and nodded, saying, "No problem, it's not particularly difficult. The materials are all available at the materials guild. I'll have someone deliver them in a bit. But why isn't the main material listed?"

Apart from Lydia and Johnson, the others pursed their lips, suppressing their laughter to avoid angering someone.

Zhuang Sen could only give him a vague answer: "I'll give it to you when I start making the medicine. Just follow the steps on it. We won't disturb your rest any longer. Goodbye."

Watching Zhuang Sen flee as if his life depended on it, Lady Lia's eyes flashed with doubt, and her heart sank even further. Dantalian and the others clearly knew, so why couldn't they tell her? It seems he's forgotten his mother once he has a wife, especially since she's not his biological mother…

Ok?

The melancholy Lady Lydia belatedly realized that there was a third person in the room besides herself and Lydia who hadn't left with Johnson: "Priestess Dantalian, is there something you need?"

Dantalian slowly sat down in the spot where Zhuang Sen had just been sitting. Her large, round buttocks greedily absorbed Zhuang Sen's warmth, making her smile even more serene and her demeanor even more graceful: "Lady Leah, I just wanted to talk to you a little about Zhuang Sen—you like him, don't you?"

Lady Leah's heart skipped a beat, but she forced herself to remain calm and said, "Of course I love my son."

Dantalian smiled and suddenly changed the subject: "Did you know that Mira's bloodline is very sensitive to blood? It can even distinguish the closeness of two people's bloodlines."

? !

Lady Lia was deeply shaken, but on the surface she remained even calmer: "What an amazing ability! Bloodline users are indeed powerful."