"This, this feeling..."
Ciel's eyes widened. Veins bulged all over his body. Clearly [Hematopoietic Enhancement] had just reached the Gold tier. But the sensation it brought was unprecedented in intensity.
Power. Tremendous power surged through his blood flow. He felt like a giant had been squeezed into his body!
His gaze fell on the system panel. What he witnessed made his heart race. When Hematopoietic Enhancement reached the Gold tier, both Legendary Vitality and Legendary Strength... these two legendary abilities... suddenly brightened as if stimulated. Their radiance slowly increased.
Though the magnitude wasn't exaggerated, in just these brief moments, the improvement in these two abilities had already exceeded the total gains from all those days of tireless training with trolls!
His eyes burst with terrifying brilliance. He couldn't help but laugh aloud.
Previously, he had only speculated that blood related to life constitution and strength. So perhaps improving hematopoietic ability could enhance Legendary Strength and Legendary Vitality. Making them advance toward the mythical tier beyond legendary.
Now his speculation was confirmed. Just Gold-tier [Hematopoietic Enhancement] had caused reactions in both legendary abilities. This was the second piece of the puzzle toward mythical abilities that he had confirmed, beyond external tempering!
He took a deep breath, his eyes full of anticipation. "Advance hematopoietic ability to legendary tier too. Or gather several more legendary abilities related to strength and vitality. Perhaps then I could advance one ability to mythical tier in one go."
Mythical abilities were completely different from legendary tier. If any ability could reach mythical tier, it would be entering another dimension entirely. So what if he couldn't use magic? Mythical strength could shake mountains like the Titans of myth. What magic could accomplish that?
Mythical vitality could probably easily bring thousands or tens of thousands of years of lifespan. The accompanying recovery and defense would probably make it nearly impossible for any magic to kill. The immortality Voldemort pursued through various means could be easily achieved with mythical vitality.
Thinking of such scenes, he couldn't help but feel stirred. But after a moment, he calmed down.
"Stay calm. From legendary to mythical tier seems just one step away, but the path between is ten times more distant than advancing from Black Iron to Legendary combined. Never mind gathering other puzzle pieces... just advancing hematopoietic ability to legendary tier alone would take who knows how long. Build steadily, step by step."
Then his gaze fell on the system panel again. Another line of new text was gradually forming. It was the [Bloodline Purification] ability.
Compared to the rapid improvement of hematopoietic ability, this ability was slow as a crawling turtle even with continuous reward orb infusion. That faint iron luster slowly became richer. Until finally, it didn't even advance to the Bronze tier. Just showing a few dim bronze specks.
But this still made his face show anticipation. After all, this reward might slightly improve his talent. Currently, his magical strength and magical perception had exceeded the limits his original talent allowed. Because of this, further advancement was extremely difficult. Even reward orb effects would gradually diminish.
What one reward orb could previously improve now might require five or even ten orbs. Later, it might even require twenty or thirty orbs! The diminishing effect would be extremely dramatic.
But if he could slightly improve his talent ceiling through bloodline purification, this diminishing would be reduced somewhat. This could indirectly save him vast resources.
Now, after the [Bloodline Purification] ability's growth stagnated, he also closed his eyes to carefully sense changes in his body. But after sensing for a long time, he felt no particular changes in his body.
Unlike certain novels from his past life that described special sensations from bloodline purification, he felt nothing at all. Even after repeatedly waving his wand and casting over ten familiar spells, he only vaguely felt something.
"Probably, magical perception improved just a tiny bit?" He smiled bitterly. "This magnitude... probably doesn't even count as better than nothing."
He thought about it... that made sense. Improving talent through bloodline purification wouldn't necessarily have great magnitude to begin with. Plus current bloodline purification hadn't even reached the Bronze tier. Expecting major changes was indeed too optimistic.
"From this perspective, probably need at least the Silver or Gold tier before seeing relatively obvious improvements."
He didn't dwell on this. There's no point in rushing anyway. Take it slowly.
Just then, he suddenly felt his throat itch. He couldn't help but start coughing. This left him somewhat stunned. Since gaining the Legendary Vitality ability, never mind coughing... he hadn't even felt drowsy. Every day he was in peak condition, capable of working tirelessly.
What was happening today? The next moment, he couldn't help but cough again. And this cough actually spat out a string of sparks?!
He himself was stunned, his expression becoming suspicious. "Wait, this couldn't be..."
The effects from harvesting Blood Jade were nearing their end. On the system panel, the last two abilities were forming. One of them was [Dragon Fire]!
Though the Dragon Fire abilities from Blood Jade reward orbs were all Black Iron tier, they were clearly advancing much faster than bloodline purification. When growth stagnated, it had steadily reached the Bronze tier with even some silver sparkles.
As Dragon Fire's ability improved, the itch in his throat intensified. His coughing became more severe. Increasingly dense streams of sparks spewed from his mouth and nose.
Until finally, he couldn't help but sneeze loudly. Suddenly, a fine orange-red flame burst from his mouth. Scorching heat waves rolled forth. At first glance, it looked like a young dragon breathing fire.
After the flames subsided, his expression was quite spectacular. The Dragon Fire ability actually let him breathe fire like a dragon, just as the name suggested?
But after recovering from this ability's strangeness, his eyes lit up. Used well, this ability could definitely catch enemies off guard. After all, who would expect a wizard to spew dragon-like flames from his mouth? Even real dragons would probably be dumbfounded if they encountered this!
Plus it required no wand or spells. This ability could completely serve as a trump card. His mood immediately improved. Dragon Fire was definitely a pleasant surprise.
Then his gaze fell on the last ability [Toxin]. Like Dragon Fire, the Toxin ability had also reached the threshold between Bronze and Silver tiers. But after trying several times, he was quite disappointed with this ability.
He had originally thought this ability would let him poison enemies through contact. Or even more dramatically, perhaps make his spells carry poison. That would be a divine skill for underhanded tactics. Who would expect a Lumos charm to be poisonous?
But actually, the Toxin ability was far from his expectations. "I can use this ability to freely control toxin intensity and onset time. But currently, this toxin can only exist in my blood."
He was speechless about this. What use was this? Would he need to bleed on enemies? But unless enemies drank his blood, the Toxin ability couldn't take effect. This was too useless.
He shook his head in disappointment. "Except for vampires, who would be sick enough to come drink my blood?"
Just then, outside the little greenhouse, Quirrell's figure was approaching. Then Voldemort's voice suddenly rang in Quirrell's mind. This voice carried heat and greed, like a long-starved gourmet seeing a table of sumptuous food.
Voldemort said urgently, "Quirrell. In there, Ciel's scent... so fragrant. How can this little Hufflepuff smell so good? Blood, his blood! His blood would be even more effective for me than unicorn blood! Go, use every means possible to get Ciel's blood!"
(TL NOTE: Unfortunately, my LOTR: Playing Minecraft in Middle-earth book was mistakenly flagged as spam on Webnovel and removed. I'll re-upload it under a different title by today at the latest. Thank you for your patience!)