Chapter 82: A private study session

The first day of the hunt went just as one could expect it to.

It could hardly be called surprising that the C+ maybe even B- team of adventurers ripped through the D rank at most monsters. Still considering the job wasn’t done other than going to the village to inform the village chief of the current situation of the ‘cleaning’ the team decided it was better to stay outside. On the first night that just meant that Fuka slept while Eel & Emily ‘kept watch’ by the fire while studying the different gems to figure out what was what - as surprisingly as it may be even Promicarus helped.

Throughout the night constant giggling could be heard from the three… Well two since the powerful Demon Lord Promicarus wasn’t exactly the giggling type. Still they certainly didn’t seem to hate each other's company even if Fuka who was trying to sleep hated it. Second day the other two members of their party arrived yet they were already killing the {Kobolts} & {Kobalts} so quickly even the inclusion of those two didn’t increase efficiency.

Honestly the only thing of much excitement which occurred was the fact that Eel managed to improve her collection of [Bloodline Gems]. With how diverse the monsters managed to have their ancestors she had quite the diverse group of gems even if they weren’t any particularly impressive bloodlines. Most impressive was that of the dragon though it had to be said the actual number of gems didn’t increase too much from the first day.

Since Eel started making the gems she had long decided to focus more on the quality of the gems than the number of them. Whether better or worse this meant the gems slowly increased in size as time went on till the most impure [Dragon Bloodline Gem] grew to the size of a pinkie finger nail. With night approaching they settled down by the fire once more with each side getting one more member.

With the team being made out of such ‘unique’ races it pretty much just resulted in the three youngest and Alexis around a fire. All the while the gobo & Lyada slept together in the background when they weren’t going at it like a bunny & rabbit would. Each of the people around the fire ended up doing their own thing with Eel simply holding two different gems between her two fingers.

Holding the two gob-stopper sized [Blood Gems] up to the fire to let the glowing gems flicker as the orange light hit them. Unlike what some may expect, neither of the gems contained any traces of a dragon or of a particularly rare race - one being a goblin while the other was the bloodline of some kind of wild dog beast. What she was most interested in was actually the goblin one which glowed with a goblin green hue which presented power that one couldn’t expect from a goblin.

< Hm~ this bloodline is clearly far stronger than any goblin I’ve ever seen before despite coming from small traces of goblin blood found in other monsters. Pretty sure with a few more monsters buried I could make something just as strong in influence as that [Dragon Bloodline Gem] I’ve been working hard on making. Question is why is that even happening if all I’m doing as a low ranked vampire was increase the amount of blood in the gem.

More important than even that…

I need to come up with a cool name for the enhanced [Goblin Bloodline Gem] since I’m the one who made it! Wait, if any vampire can make it, am I really the first to actually kill this many things with goblin blood in them then bother to concentrate it? Probably actually - they are vampires and from what I’ve heard they aren’t actually the type to mingle with ‘lower races. With that in mind what should I do with this particular gem?

Perhaps I should give this to Fuka when we’ve settled down to see what effect it’ll have on her goblin bloodline. There is also Lyada who I can give one to, though I have to then decide which beast bloodline would fit her best from the army of dog bloodlines. Think giving bloodlines to anyone else here would just be a waste…>

Eel first looked towards the [Nine-Tailed Kitsune] who was silently mediating and quite clearly would only suffer with the inclusion of any other bloodlines. The second was Emily who was sharpening the bone spear while happily humming - although her bloodline couldn’t be considered ‘pure’ like Alexis it was a bloodline apparently carefully designed by a goddess on the level of the Pillars.  She knew not to mess with something like that.

Lastly Eel turned to look towards Promicarus who… Well she existed so probably had her own thing going on? She was just silently having a ‘living’ black plate armour make her a pot of tea at the tea table which nobody was quite sure when it appeared. Of course, noticing Eel looking at her she couldn’t help but form that usual arrogant smile which Eel reciprocated.

“Kekeke if thou cannot help gazing upon mine divine countenance then maybe thou ought to produce an illustration instead as it will no doubt last far longer than being stored in thine tiny brain.” <Promicarus>

“Heh~ jokes on you I never forget I just choose not to remember fufufu~!” <Eel>

“That… Kind of makes sense in a certain context so I’ll allow it.” <Promicarus>

“As you should~.” <Eel>

Giving a smug smile only Eel could manage made Promicarus click her tongue before turning back to her tea. Seeing the retreating figure of her rival Eel began to snicker while turning back to her gems yet it was at that moment when something seemed to just ‘click’ within her head causing her to look towards the distracted figure of Emily. Slowly her gaze turned back down to the [Bloodline Gems] she held in her hands.

<Best girl also has dragon blood inside her as a succubus yet doesn’t seem to have any of the same problems as me which would mean… Mil must have developed a core, which she didn’t before, after evolving. As I already know her evolution was due to her bloodline fully awakening so if I could awaken my own…>

Holding her chin while her eyes slowly narrowed; it certainly seemed reasonable that such a method could indeed work. Despite her confidence that she was onto something Eel didn’t just jump into it as she would likely need more ‘buffs’ than her own blood acceleration could provide her else she would have already achieved such a level. Still thoughts about how linking physical buffs could in fact be pushed further in applied to related parts flowed into her mind. Above that though she believed it was something she should discuss with a guardian in case she’s missing something which will result in her becoming a bloody stain on the floor.

“Momma~ can I get some private wisdom on the spiritual arts~.” <Eel>

Shooting a hand up with a somewhat childish smirk she called out to Alexis who instantly looked up from her meditation. Eel saw no problem with this since technically this whole ‘buff to the point of evolution’ idea would likely need the aid of the spiritual arts - make sure her ‘meridians’ and such didn’t just shatter which was something normal buffs may struggle with. Against Eel’s words Alexis seemed shocked for some reason but soon that gentle smile appeared on her face as she stood up from her position.

“Sure~ we can just go behind that tree over there~.” <Alexis>

“Huh… Must be nice…” <Promicarus>

Promicarus muttered to herself while lifting a hand up where a rift would form on her palm, a tiny little bug no bigger than the eye of a needle flew out. Before anyone noticed the silent flying bug she casually chucked it into the grass behind her. Although the  bug was flying it never rose above the tall grass.

Deciding to ignore that victory of her rival Eel hopped up before heading a bit away from the group in a way reminiscent of a playboy prince with Alexis gracefully following behind. With regal grace Eel twirled to rest her back on the hard bark surface of the tree while Alexis clapped her hands out as soon as she two was there. In response to her casual action Eel instantly felt a barrier of some kind form around causing her to curiously study it.

“Ah~? This is a… Sound isolating formation~?” <Eel>

“Seems like you’ve been studying the spiritual arts well my little apprentice~.” <Alexis>

“Well it seemed like it would come in useful for hunting considering how it can isolate sound in a specified area~!” <Eel>

“As usual nothing can distract you from your hunt hohoho~!” <Alexis>

“Fufufu~!” <Eel>

While speaking Alexis placed a hand upon Eel’s head to gently pet her causing her to nuzzle into it while closing her eyes just like a little animal.

“Now… What trouble are you planning to start this time~?” <Alexis>

Eel’s nuzzle paused.

“... None?” <Eel>

“Usually that’s not a question Elizabeth Jr. Bloodleaf.” <Alexis>

Gently lifting her hand up, turning it slightly, before delivering a chop onto Eel’s head causing her to pout.

“I like to think I’ve learned quite a bit about you from the time I’ve spent with you. For a child as patient as you - who would wait in a tree days on end just to succeed in an ambush on a prey that interests you - to personally rush to ask for wisdom means you either are annoyed by failure or plan to do something dangerous. Quite clearly your not annoyed since you would be handsy with little Emily wouldn’t you, which must mean your planning to create some trouble even if you haven’t done so yet. I’ve never witnessed you do it yet but am I wrong~?” <Alexis>

“... Well~ when you put it like that~!” <Eel>

Unsurprisingly Alexis’ hand came down on her apprentice's head once more causing a cute yelp to escape from Eel. Still she followed it up with a head pat to balance it out while sighing while waiting for Elizabeth to explain her idea. Of course she didn’t have to wait long for the little cub to express her genius yet instead of denying it even Alexis’ look became quite inquizical as her aura changed from just a kind princess to a wise one.

“So the plan is to enhance the body through techniques in order to cause a forced awakening which should hopefully result in an evolution?” <Alexis>

“Indeed~!” <Eel>

After thinking for a second Alexis closed her eyes before shaking her head.

“Although it would certainly help massively you’d require a massive amount of spirit to abruptly create such a change. If it was so easy to induce a change there would be no bigotry against dragons birthed in humanoid form - then again considering it requires [Blood Magic] on top of help from other people it would likely still exist. If we could get some [Spirit Stones] it would be easy enough yet since I find them pointless I ended up leaving mine behind in our country yet if I were to quickly run while stuffing my {Divine Realm}...” <Alexis>

Contrary to what some may expect, instead of calling it hopeless Alexis turned towards the west as if she was working out how far the distance between here and {Voluptas} was. Still the little pup didn’t want to put such a burden on the fox who was already so excited to go to a country filled with goblins. Plus…

She had a better idea.

“So~ spirit is also what the system uses to create experience and levels right~?” <Eel>

“Hm~? Indeed yet it would be difficult to take it back out from its ‘xp’ form and may cause you to regress with how much spirit would be required to facilitate an evolution of your rank. Even if we didn’t kill some monsters and instead used monsters I think it would take hundreds of them at the level of these countries. Perhaps if we went to {Moolesh Mountain Range} or {Evergreen Forest} we could find something more powerful.” <Alexis>

Yet Eel just gave a smug smirk while lifting up her nose.

“Don’t you realise that we’ve already got hundreds of monsters to kill and we’ll even get paid for it~!” <Eel>

“Ah~? Clever but we’d need to round them up - I suppose for an expert hunter like you setting up a good trap wouldn’t be a problem now would it~!” <Emily>

“Setting a good trap is the basics, I even have the perfect bait, simply set my high quality bloodline as a dragon plus yours as a fox and they’ll come running~!” <Eel>

“Hm~ yours alone would probably be enough… It’s still dangerous to try this manoeuvre since it’s unknown how well your body would be able to handle the forced awakening. The suppressive power of the Venus bloodline is probably what is keeping everything back so it probably can’t handle the regeneration by itself - it’s thus very risky since you’ll need to rely on other factors of regeneration.” <Alexis>

“Hm~ well then let’s just keep it between us for now please~?” <Eel>

“But…” <Alexis>

Seeing that Alexis wasn’t convinced Eel turned up the puppy dog eyes.

“Pretty please~?” <Eel>

It was clear that Eel had no intention of giving up on the risky plan nor informing the rest of the group about her little ploy.

“*Sigh* Fine…” <Alexis>

Meanwhile, back at the camp…

“Idiots.” <Promicarus>