Chapter 59: The Blood of Dra

When Zhang Ji saw Robo again, he inexplicably felt a surge of lively emotion emanating from him.

Had he researched something special?

Come to think of it, in the game, he also seemed to wear an expression of shock and awe when facing players.

"Is there a problem?" Zhang Ji asked.

"Your physique is special, and ordinary prosthetic effects are quite mediocre. Even if you install them, they will easily be damaged during activity," Robo said.

"Just find something temporary to use for now," Zhang Ji said.

He harbored his own calculations.

If push came to shove, he remembered that in a ruin realm within the Eastern Pole Country, there was a sect called the Silkworm Heaven Sect. Among its arts was a purple-tier (Epic) martial technique called the *Heavenly Silkworm Rebirth Scripture*.

Once practiced to perfection, it could reverse one's state, turning old back into young, and then rapidly grow anew, living a second life while refreshing the original base talent to reach even greater heights.

Never mind losing a leg; even if the internal organs were destroyed, as long as the head remained, successfully activating the technique would allow one to survive.

Sect Master Divine Silkworm of the Silkworm Heaven Sect relied on this method to repeatedly seek life from death, defying mortality for nine lives, and ultimately perished only when his origin essence was insufficient during his tenth transformation.

Even so, he had lived for nearly ten thousand years.

A B-rank martial artist could typically live for about five hundred years.

An A-rank martial artist could live for roughly one thousand years.

According to players' speculations, Sect Master Divine Silkworm was also A-rank, yet he lived for ten thousand years—equivalent to ten times the lifespan of his peers.

Of course, in the hands of players, this skill was not used for increasing lifespan; primarily, it was equivalent to having a second health bar.

When beaten to the brink of death, one could directly trigger the Heavenly Silkworm Rebirth, forming a cocoon on the spot to regenerate health. Previously, if the cocoon wasn't broken, the health bar would be fully restored in ten seconds, and the health bar of that cocoon was five times that of the player's. Even without any counterattack, it took a long time to break through.

...

This momentary leap of thought brought many things to Zhang Ji's mind.

Robo kept him in suspense, saying, "I have another method, which might not require installing prosthetics."

"Speak," Zhang Ji said.

"I have researched an alchemical potion called [Reboot No. 1]. This alchemical potion can reboot flesh and blood, backtracking your cellular memory and returning your cells to their pristine peak state," Robo said.

"Are there side effects?" Zhang Ji acutely perceived something from the shift in Robo's emotions.

"I lack a mediating agent, and there is a tiny possibility of failure. Human experimentation hasn't succeeded yet," Robo said.

"Roughly how high is the failure rate?" Zhang Ji asked.

He didn't care about Robo conducting human experiments.

This fellow wasn't called a mad alchemist simply because he stole a royal tomb.

He completely wouldn't mind using human experiments.

In his backstory, before arriving in the Color Cluster Country, he was rumored to have cost the lives of millions of people in an entire city during a failed alchemical experiment.

Fortunately, at this stage, he shouldn't be that deranged and was still somewhat restrained.

After all, his true descent into madness occurred in the version following the Holy King War.

The reason for his madness was rumored to be because he tried too many possibilities, yet never found a target compatible with the Sun God's bloodline potion.

No living creature could accommodate the Sun God's bloodline, and then he began large-scale, diffuse propagation of the bloodline, ultimately leading to a tragedy.

"In experimental mice, out of about twenty, one might succeed," Robo said tentatively.

"A ninety-five percent failure rate?"

Zhang Ji was amused. Could this be called a tiny possibility of failure?

"What about with the mediating agent?" Zhang Ji asked.

"Then it should reach one hundred percent," Robo said, patting his chest.

This guarantee had not an ounce of credibility.

In Zhang Ji's spiritual perception, Robo's guilty emotion simply could not be masked.

"You'd better tell the truth."

Zhang Ji's palm gently pinched a mechanical arm. A creaking sound rang out, and the mechanical arm deformed directly, Zhang Ji's five-fingerprints clearly imprinted upon it.

"I'm not sure, but you should succeed," Robo was startled and immediately changed his tune.

"Be more specific," Zhang Ji said.

"Your bloodline is very special and has strong inclusiveness. As long as there is that single mediating agent to delay the potion's onset speed, you can definitely withstand it," Robo explained with reservation.

"Find a mediating agent? Strong bloodline inclusiveness? Why does this sound so familiar?"

Zhang Ji muttered to himself softly.

He felt this was extremely similar to the quest Robo issued in the game.

"Bloodline transfer?" Zhang Ji suddenly asked, translated via his phone.

"You also understand bloodline alchemy?" Robo was startled, asking Zhang Ji in a low and cautious voice.

"I understand a little. That so-called [Reboot No. 1] of yours achieves its effect by relying on a certain bloodline?" Zhang Ji said.

"Well, that was just a name I made up. Actually, I am researching a special bloodline. Its origins are massive. If it can be successfully transplanted into the human body and awakened, it will definitely greatly enhance cellular activity and various other attributes, returning cellular state to its peak and regenerating severed limbs—those are just some of its effects!"

Seeing that Zhang Ji knew his stuff, Robo couldn't help but spill a bit more information.

"What bloodline is it?" Zhang Ji pursued.

He wanted to confirm whether Robo was truly like the person in the game, using him to complete the experiment of transplanting the Sun God's bloodline.

"Just a very special bloodline..." Robo said vaguely.

"Make it clear!" Zhang Ji closed the distance slightly.

Before understanding the specific information, he didn't want to become a test subject.

However, Robo's quest chain in the game provided quite a significant comprehensive boost to players.

Zhang Ji's spiritual aura oppressed Robo, making him involuntarily shiver.

Although Robo had achievements in scientific research, he had not dabbled in the field of martial arts.

Therefore, his physical body was quite ordinary.

At least at this stage, he was still an ordinary person.

According to the information Zhang Ji knew, it was only after he researched alchemical technology to transplant the Sun God's bloodline through players that he began to gain a bit of combat capability.

"The Blood of Dela!" Robo said. "Dela, the God of War of the Ancient Ning Kingdom!!"

Dela was the king who established the Ancient Ning Kingdom more than three thousand years ago.

He was also known as the God of War and the Sun God.

An authentic A-rank martial artist.

His bloodline, known as the Blood of the Sun, was circulated exclusively within the royal family of the Ancient Ning Kingdom.

To consolidate their rule, the Ancient Ning Kingdom's royal family did not allow the Blood of the Sun to flow outward, nor did they wish to see the bloodline concentration change. For thousands of years, they only practiced internal marriage to pass down the power of the bloodline.

Once they discovered a royal family member mingling with a commoner and the bloodline leaking outward, they would dispatch imperial guards to hunt them down until death.

After players transplanted the bloodline and stepped into the territory of the Ancient Ning Kingdom, the favorability of the Ancient Ning Kingdom faction would also directly drop by twenty points without question.

As for the side effects of consanguineous marriage?

Whether they found a way to solve it or simply didn't care at all, they had passed it down this way for over three thousand years.

Having confirmed his conjecture, Zhang Ji took half a step back, releasing the spiritual oppression, and Robo began to gasp heavily.

"I'm curious, as a doctor at a roadside clinic, where did you get the blood of the Ancient Ning Kingdom's God of War?" Zhang Ji asked knowingly.

"Some things from the past..." Robo said. "Does that matter? Judging by your reaction, you've also heard of Dela's name!"

"I've studied a bit of world history; naturally, I know such a famous figure," Zhang Ji nodded. "Mind letting me take a look at the goods?"

"If it's real, can you cooperate with my experiment? Rest assured, once the experiment succeeds, I only want a little bit of your blood after the successful bloodline transplantation!" Robo said to Zhang Ji.

He revealed his true purpose!

Even at this very moment, the initiative rested entirely in Zhang Ji's hands, and Zhang Ji could take his life at any time, he was still thinking about completing his experiment.

He had grown up listening to Dela's stories since childhood, though many people said they were fictional. Through his research, however, he knew they were definitely not fictional.

Therefore, deep in his heart, he had always wanted to witness such mighty power once more.

This was his dream, his obsession!

He wanted to see a God of War who relied on his own strength to suppress an entire country appear once again!!

"Show me the goods first," Zhang Ji said.

"Follow me," Robo said.

Immediately, Robo led Zhang Ji to his sample depository.

Inside were many materials, all gathered from various biological bloodlines Robo had collected.

Yet none of these mattered.

Robo walked to the very back, opened a safe, and inside lay another box.

Opening the box, it contained hundreds of index-finger-sized test tubes.

Inside each tube was a varying amount of crimson-gold blood.

Robo carefully took out one of the test tubes. After opening the stopper, the blood inside began to react and boil, the surrounding temperature rapidly rising until it quickly reached a degree hot enough to make people feel sweltering.

"See that? The genuine article," Robo quickly secured the lid and said. "The Blood of Dela. Inside is the pure power of the Sun God. If the transplantation succeeds, you too can gain this power!"

Memories flashed in Zhang Ji's eyes.

This was indeed identical to what happened in the game.

However, when he met Robo in the game, the test tubes in his possession had already been reduced by more than half, leaving only the last one.

Perhaps the scriptwriter did it to instill a sense of fatalism.

And now, there were at least two hundred tubes of the Blood of Dela left in here.

A rough estimate showed that producing dozens of bloodline potions wouldn't be a problem.

After all, the bloodline potion itself was merely a catalyst and wouldn't require much blood.

As long as the transplantation succeeded, that tiny spark would rapidly spread, gradually transforming the host until their entire bloodline underwent a transformation.

"Do you have a channel to acquire the mediating agent?" Zhang Ji asked.

The mediating agent was indispensable; even a player could not bear the bloodline potion created by the Blood of Dela.

Because this was a first-generation bloodline—the bloodline power of an A-rank martial artist, rather than a bloodline whose descendant transmission had been diluted countless times.

Without the mediating agent, the player would also be burned to death and would have to restart the quest.

"Yes, I can get the raw materials for the mediating agent, it just costs a bit more money," Robo said. "Thirty million New Furs for a single portion!"

"A flower can sell for thirty million New Furs?" Zhang Ji widened his eyes and said.

"You know of it too?" Robo was startled for a moment, then spoke on his own accord, "No choice, the royal family of the Color Cluster Country guards the 'Divine Flower' very tightly. I only got this channel because I met a collateral royal family member at a banquet; normally, you simply can't get it."

The Divine Flower was a botanical medicinal herb used by the bloodline martial artists of the Color Cluster Country to purify their bloodline.

It also possessed the function of moderating bloodline power, preventing those bloodline martial artists from dying due to the side effects of bloodline awakening.

In the version of the game Zhang Ji played, Robo had players go to the royal family's medicine garden to steal the Divine Flower.

They even had to fight a B-rank elephant to acquire three flowers.

"Fine then, when can you afford to buy it?" Zhang Ji asked.

"My money is currently a bit insufficient..." Robo said, looking somewhat awkward.

"How much do you have?" Zhang Ji looked at Robo with a strange expression.

"Fifty thousand New Furs..." Robo said sheepishly, then explained of his own accord, "You're an insider too; you should know how expensive it is to get these equipment in an unfamiliar place, and how troublesome it is to carry out experiments. Alchemical research is inherently costly, and it wasn't easy for me to save up even this much..."

"With such a huge gap, how long will it take for you to earn enough money to complete the experiment?" Zhang Ji shook his head and said, "Forget it, I'd better just casually replace it with a temporary leg for now!"

"Don't rush! I have a way!" Robo said. "You're a grandmaster, your strength is definitely strong enough! Go fight in the ring! Dean Gang has built an underground arena in the undercity, and there's also online streaming where people can participate in gambling. Many tycoons squander money inside, and the turnover every time reaches hundreds of millions. As long as you win four matches in a row, the odds will definitely be enough. Throw a match intentionally, and we'll have the money to buy the flower—even extra!"

"Risk?" Zhang Ji asked.

"Basically no risk. Those martial artists are at most professional sixth or seventh grade, average in strength. Besides, if you win too much, the organizers will also pay you to throw a match. We just need to know in advance, then bet on the loss and make money together with the organizers. The only risk is, don't act too fake, or else people will lose face." Robo said.

Zhang Ji didn't sense that Robo was lying. After pondering for a moment, he nodded and said, "I'll go take a look later and decide."