Back in his room, he saw two large magic circles on the right side. He grabbed an information crystal that Zyra had left behind. “Hi, this is Zyra. I prepared two circles for you, just in case you need more materials to upgrade.” That was great news, and Thalion began placing the vials in the center of the two circles. The circles hummed to life, and a fine mist slowly rose, enveloping the vials and the blood. He immediately sensed the blood growing stronger by the second, and the sanguine thorn almost seemed to hum with desire as it detected the blood becoming more potent.

Thalion wondered, What if I put my sword into one of the circles—or even sat down in one—while purifying my blood? An almost unlimited supply of mana would be an incredible advantage. While the vials were charging, he turned his attention back to crafting weapons, now using his own blood. However, as he prepared to extract some blood, he felt a thrum from the sanguine thorn. He sensed the plant more vividly than ever before, along with the vast blood reservoir it had accumulated.

This newfound connection allowed him to tap into the blood stored by the sanguine thorn for his training. Though the blood wasn’t as potent as freshly purified samples, the sheer quantity—hundreds of liters—made it invaluable. If only I had discovered this earlier, he thought, but perhaps it was due to the plant slowly awakening. Regardless, he began infusing the blood with additional mana to shape it into the desired forms.

To his surprise, he barely needed to add mana. The blood was already infused, and not with ordinary mana—it had a clear affinity, likely for blood. Thalion started shaping weapons and guiding rivers of blood around himself.

The Scroll of Sanguine Mastery contained many advanced skills, but he knew he first needed to master controlling the blood on his own. One skill he aimed for was blood mist. This ability would release a bloody fog over a wide area, which could be enhanced with poison or curses to create a deadly zone. Another advanced technique allowed the blood to develop its own sentience, seeking out and draining the blood of surrounding beings. These higher-stage abilities were powerful, but they would require considerable practice.

Thalion also wondered how skill rewards worked. Would I receive the skill outright, or would it evolve similarly to how my Fireball skill upgraded in rarity? Either way, he needed to improve quickly. This was his last free day to train before facing the shapeshifters. Tomorrow, he planned to return to the mountains, to hunt as eagly, hone his flying skills, and gain levels. He was also eager to test the upgrade he had received from nearly completing the second stage of his body-tempering manual. But first, blood control.

At the moment, he was moving a river of blood around him like a snake, spinning it faster while gradually adding more. Since the blood was already mana-infused by the sanguine thorn, it cost him no additional resources to manipulate. The only potential issue was encountering another blood cultivator. Such an opponent could theoretically steal his blood during combat—a significant risk. Nevertheless, he managed to control almost a hundred liters of blood swirling around him.

Next, he compressed part of the river beneath his feet and stood on it, effectively surfing through the room. It was exhilarating, reminding him of surfing with his friends back on Earth. They used to meet on weekends or after work to catch some waves. He missed those simpler times, but now he lived in a world where magic was real. On the other hand, he could fly, shapeshift, and now even surf on rivers of blood, which more than made up for the downsides in his opinion. And his ultimate goal of defeating time itself remained worth every sacrifice.

Laughing, Thalion pushed the bloody river faster and faster. Could I use this technique to launch myself like a rocket? It might be worth experimenting.

He adjusted the density of the blood and let the river slow to a halt before absorbing most of it back into himself. Only a thin layer remained, coating his body except for his head. This layer was sufficient to let him hover in the air, as though standing on a mana barrier. He began moving experimentally. It worked, but it wasn’t practical yet.

Everything he could currently do with blood control, he could achieve through other means. Landing on the ground, Thalion hardened the blood into armor around his body, only to realize it immobilized him completely. He painstakingly broke down the hardened blood around his joints until he could move again. Testing its defensive capabilities, he slowly sliced at the armor with his mana blade. To his surprise, it resisted well. Overloading the blood with mana made it even more durable, allowing it to reflect the blade entirely without taking any damage.

For the next three hours, Thalion stood in front of a mirror, crafting his own blood armor. The hardest part was memorizing the precise areas where the blood needed to harden for proper coverage and mobility. It took him an additional two hours of summoning and dispelling the armor to get it right. He even managed to create a helmet, though every time he summoned it without the mirror, it looked slightly warped. Still, it was good enough.

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By the time morning arrived, Thalion had intended to begin working toward the blood mist skill. Ironically, it required the opposite technique he had practiced all night. Instead of compressing the blood, he would need to disperse it—a task that would have to wait.

He had managed to construct his armor and had significantly improved his blood control. All in all, it had been a highly successful night, he thought as he left his room and made his way outside. There wasn’t much time left to hunt as Eagly because Kael had requested a meeting later in the day. Furthermore, the flight back from the mountains would take at least two hours. There was no time to waste.

The moment he stepped outside, he transformed and shot into the air, heading toward the mountains. Almost immediately, he fell into meditation, focusing on the first stage of wind body-tempering for Eagly.

The second layer of this technique required withstanding strong winds, which was supposed to harden his bones and muscles, according to the body-tempering manual. Thalion had already perfected his flying to a point where further improvements were marginal, which made him confident he was ready to advance to the second layer. To build resistance against strong winds, he used his whirlwind skill, creating turbulent winds in front of him, and then propelled himself straight through them.

Passing through the whirlwind at full speed felt like being struck by a hammer. The sheer force threw him off course repeatedly, making him spiral wildly. Anyone observing him would likely think the bird had lost its mind.

As he sped toward the mountains, he continued summoning whirlwinds in his path and crashing through them. Now, he understood what the body-tempering manual had meant. His bones and muscles ached, and it felt as if his feathers were being torn from his body, but he knew it was worth it. Each time he forced himself through a whirlwind, the pain lessened, and he began to retain his trajectory more effectively.

Although he couldn’t yet articulate the changes in his body, he could feel them. It was as though his body had begun to ignore the wind’s force or had grown strong enough to resist it outright.

With that determination, Thalion pressed on toward the mountains, where the flying creatures resided, summoning and crashing through whirlwinds all along the way.

<–

Jakob had trained with the guards almost the whole day. He liked the long sparring sessions, and he also liked to make new friends. He met a guard named Brennan, who told him the story of how Sylas and Thalion had saved them and how easy it looked when Thalion had killed spider after spider. The man looked a bit sorrowful when he told the story. He probably blamed himself because he was not strong enough to save his teammates. To make the man a bit happier, he told him that Thalion had saved him and Annie too.

He also told the guard that Thalion was looking out for them when they hunted beasts. When he saw how the man’s face lit up, he continued and told him about how Thalion had saved Kael, Kai, and Sylas, and the bits he heard about how Evelyn and Kargul first met Thalion. Of course he left out all the details about Thalion being the umbral predator or shadowstalker at the time. The guard now even started laughing, and they began another sparring session. Jakob didn’t even use a weapon in the sparring session; his skin was hard as stone, and his patron had given him many tips on how he could get stronger.

His fighting style switched between absolute defense, where he hardened his body even more, and attack, where he fired rock spikes at the enemy or punched them with bone-breaking force. It was very difficult for most to fight against him since he could almost tank any blow without taking damage. This often created an opening for a counterattack, which he gladly used.

Until now, none of the guards had truly defeated him. If he lost a sparring match, it was mostly his fault because he wanted to try something new, like whether he could block a swing of a giant hammer with his head. It turned out he could, but it knocked him out for a few minutes. The alchemists were also helping him out greatly by enchanting stones he then swallowed, which made his body harder and stronger. Another thing he did nowadays to become stronger was letting the guards hit him so his body would learn and grow stronger. It hurt, but it was worth it.

The guard he was fighting now was a light warrior, which was a very good matchup for him. Heavy warriors could be dangerous since their swings sometimes went through his defenses. Light warriors didn’t have a chance in that regard. The sparring started, and the guard rushed at him with two short swords. Jakob held back from using a skill that would make the earth rumble and throw the man off his feet. Instead, he took a step back and entered a defensive stance, as a scroll from his patron had told him. So, Jakob blocked every swing of the blades with his bare hands or with another part of his body, trying to find out how to best block the weapons.

When the guard became careless and just started swinging, he stepped forward and slammed the man so that he flew a few meters back. This continued for a few rounds until the guard gave up and left for one of the magic circles that would help with recovery. Jakob also left, he wanted to get some new stones from the alchemist. He really liked how life was now: he trained with his friends, sometimes went out, and helped hunt down strong beasts that were preying on the weaker ones in the base. In his free time, he went out to eat in this new bar that made absolutely delicious food from beast meat. He also was looking forward to seeing the whole group again tonight. Jakob wondered what they all had been up to in the meantime.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep