Chapter 24: A Talent Worthy of the Gods
Lucien reached for the Divine Crystal.
The moment his fingers touched it, it didn’t dissolve like the last one.
Instead, it melted into crimson-gold liquid, flowing straight through his skin and into his chest.
Then everything went silent.
No sound. No light. Nothing.
’Okay, very different from last time.’
---
The Mythical evolution had felt like a warm massage.
This felt like something reaching into the actual concept of his soul and rebuilding it from the ground up.
His heartbeat slowed until he couldn’t feel it anymore. His consciousness stretched outward, wider, further, past the walls of the estate entirely.
Suddenly he could hear things a thousand tiny heartbeats, insects in the garden, birds roosting somewhere on the roof, and further still, the slow, steady heartbeats of three women sleeping in their rooms down the hall.
Hell even his own blood flow and heart beat could be heard.
’I can hear them,* he thought, distant and awed. ’All of them, even from here.’
The sensation kept building, expanding, and instead of pain, it felt almost euphoric his soul stretching to accommodate something vast, like it could hold oceans of blood and still have room left over.
’Infinite,’ he thought. ’That’s the only word for this.’
Then, slowly, everything settled.
---
[Ding!]
[Talent Successfully Evolved.]
[Talent Evolution Complete: Crimson Origin Furnace (Mythical) → Sanguine Genesis Crucible (Divine)]
Lucien grinned in the dark. "...Now we’re talking."
He pulled up the full description, and let it wash over him.
[Sanguine Genesis Crucible (Divine)]
["The cosmos is but blood and bone; you are the final destination of all that bleeds."]
[A Divine Crucible capable of refining every aspect contained within blood. To the Sanguine Genesis Crucible, blood is not merely life—it is a record of lineage, evolution, memories, instincts, and potential.]
[Sanguine Crucible (Active)] 1
[Consumes blood and refines it into one of the following:
• Cultivation
• Mana
• Life Force
• Soul Essence
• Vitality
Refinement efficiency is 100%, completely eliminating impurities. Higher-ranked blood yields exponentially greater returns.]
[Sanguine Rebirth (Active)]1
[Refines stored blood to heal injuries, restore mana and stamina, mend minor soul damage, even cure curses and poisons. Higher-quality blood dramatically scales the speed, making healing faster.]
[Crucible Overdrive (Active)]1
[Ignites refined blood within the crucible. Depending on the blood consumed, Lucien temporarily gains:
• Combat memories/instincts
• weapon mastery
• elemental resistance
• Physical adaptations
• racial instincts
Using his own blood multiplies all attributes by a factor, deferring Blood Exhaustion into a manageable, slow-decaying spiritual debuff.]
[Infinite Sanguine Cosmos (Passive)]1
[An internal blood crucible acting as a pocket dimension.
• Massive storage capacity for all blood types.
• Automatic self-purification over time.
• Nullified decay, keeping high-quality blood fresh indefinitely.]
[Sanguine Perception(Passive)]1
[Awareness of every heartbeat, every pulse of blood, every hidden injury or weak point within his perception range, scaling as his cultivation grew. ]
[Blood Traits (Passive)]1
[Extracts fragments of racial characteristics from blood. After consuming enough blood from a particular race or bloodline, Lucien permanently awakens one of its inherent traits.
Traits are categorized into Levels 1–10. Each additional refinement of compatible blood increases the trait’s level until it reaches Level 10(the best possible for that race or bloodline). Duplicate acquisitions strengthen the existing trait rather than creating another copy.] 1
Lucien sat with it a long moment, letting the weight of it settle.
’Damn! This isn’t just a power boost,’ he realized slowly.
’This is an entire cultivation path built around blood itself. Everything I do from here, every drop I take, every trait I collect, builds toward something bigger.’
’Eighteen years of nothing,’ he thought, ’and now I’ve got a Talent that could theoretically become a god’s power given enough time.’
’Absolutely wild, ten out of ten, would be kicked again.’
---
Curiosity tugged at him before he could get up, and he pulled up his wives’ statuses instead, one at a time.
[Aurelia Astrax.]
[Race: Demon (Asura)
[Age: 25]
[Bloodline: Heavenly Carnage Bloodline]
[Talent: War Heaven Manifestation (Divine Rank)]
[Rank: Beginner D-Rank ]
[Current State:
Mana Core destroyed.(85%% → 76%)
Mana Veins shattered.(100% → 81%) ]
’Mana Core damage dropped from 85% to 76% and Mana Veins from 100% to 81%.’
He smiled, remembering the woman he’d first met rigid, wheelchair-bound in spirit if not in body, utterly convinced her fighting days were over but still unwillingto give up.
’Slow,’ he thought. ’But steady. She’s actually healing.’
"One day," he murmured to the empty room, "you’ll hold a sword again, a real one."
[Seraphina Lilith.]
[Race: Demon (Succubus)]
[Age: 23]
[Bloodline: Abyssal Desire Bloodline]
[Talent: N/A]
[Rank: Peak D-Rank ]
[Current state:
Bloodline rejection.]
’She has no talent meanwhile her own bloodline is instinctively rejecting her for some reason.’
His chest tightened at that. Still nothing. Still fighting her own body every single day, smiling through it like it cost her nothing.
’You’re always so gentle,’ he thought. ’And you’ve probably been in some degree of pain since the day you awakened your bloodline.’
His hand curled into a fist.
"I’ll fix it," he said quietly. "Whatever it takes."
[Evelisse Noctis.]
[Race: Half Human/Half Fallen Angel]
[Age: 21]
[Bloodline: N/A]
[Talent: Final Judgment (Divine Rank)]
[Rank: Mid F-Rank]
[Current State:
Just Awakened a Talent.
Her body is sucking in mana to increase and stabilize her Rank.]
He actually laughed out loud. "Still weaker than a goblin," he muttered.
Then immediately felt guilty about it.
"...Not for long," he added, softer. "Give it time and ilk find a way to get you a bloodline."
---
With the statuses checked, he turned his attention to the seven months of stored cultivation still waiting in his inventory.
’Might as well use it now, no better time.’
He released it all at once, mana flooding through his meridians in a steady, controlled surge.
Hours passed as it circulated, refining, compressing, his rank climbing steadily upward through the night.
By the time the first hint of dawn crept through the window, he’d settled into Peak D-Rank, solid and stable.
’The system cultivation progress reqard is good, I dont even have to worry about rushing as it stabilizes fast over time,’ he thought, stretching stiff muscles.
’But I can’t be rushing more than this, gotta build a proper and stable foundation.’
---
Far away, in a hall carved entirely from black crystal, a figure sat upon a throne shaped from the same dark stone, face lost entirely to shadow.
A subordinate knelt before him.
"My Lord," the subordinate said.
"The crippled girl has survived again, there’s also been no word from the assassin, with him likely being dead."
Silence stretched long enough to feel deliberate.
Then a single finger tapped against the armrest.
"So," the figure said, voice quiet and unhurried. "The cripple survived after all."
The subordinate swallowed hard. "Shall we send higher ranked assassins, my Lord?"
A faint chuckle rippled through the chamber.
"No," the figure said. "Send the letter instead."
The subordinate hesitated. "And if the husband refuses?"
"Then Thornfield Estate," the figure said, calm as still water, "becomes their grave."
The subordinate lowered his head. "As you command."
---
Elsewhere, across the sprawling expanse of the Demon Continent, dungeons stirred restlessly in their depths, noble houses maneuvered quietly against one another over dinner tables and sealed letters, and in certain circles the kind who paid very close attention to things that ordinary people didn’t a quiet rumor had begun to spread.
Something about a disgraced vampire.
Something about a crippled Asura princess who wasn’t supposed to be recovering.
Something about assassins who kept failing.
Nobody important had noticed yet.
Nobody but one.
***************
[A/N: Loving the story so far?
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Upgraded from Furnace Ignition.Upgraded from Scarlet Perception.New ability.Upgraded from Blood Rebirth.For example: Drinking Orc Blood grants [ Increased Libido (Lv. 1)]. Continual consumption stacks and levels the trait up to a maximum of [Lv. 10].Upgraded from Crimson Reservoir.Upgraded from Crimson Refinery.