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Ashen God-Chapter 607 - 606: World Tree Juice (Blood Dilution)
Chapter 607: Chapter 606: World Tree Juice (Blood Dilution)
"How should I put it, if you only look at the beginning of this introduction, it seems somewhat normal, barely considered supportive of the state, but how come I get the feeling that as the story unfolds, it’s gradually heading towards a path of purging the court’s corruption?
Say, is this High Elf Blood obtained from a High Elf who was beheaded by the Elf Queen, or did Azikasa and the others manage to kill that tailor and extract blood from him? Sigh, the story abruptly cuts off and I just can’t figure it out.
Moreover, this introduction is even more preposterous than the one for the Grey Maned Armor. At least that one included some details related to smithing, but the introduction for the High Elf Blood doesn’t mention potions, let alone blood or anything of the sort; it’s all just about High Elves..."
But while it was indeed absurd that the introduction only talked about High Elves, what Zhang Yanhang found even more preposterous was that the little story within the introduction wasn’t even finished before it abruptly ended.
The introductions of the other equipment at least managed to wrap up their stories to some extent, but this time, it left a feeling as if it started off and then finished too soon, when clearly the most important part of the plot development was yet to come.
After reading the introduction, he was extremely curious about what ultimately becomes of Azikasa and the tailor, and of course, there’s that most important two-thousand-year anniversary of the coronation.
"I wonder if there’ll be more stories related to the Elf Queen in the subsequent related items..."
While Zhang Yanhang indeed wanted to see the continuation of the story, the equipment introductions he had seen so far seemed to lean more towards a one-off episode format; each introduction was its own separate tale. So, based on his experience so far, he could only say that the hope seemed rather slim.
Thus, after looking over the introduction, Zhang Yanhang quickly shifted his attention to the usage effect. "One bottle of ’High Elf Blood (Essence Extraction)’ can increase my Life Value Limit by one hundred and twenty points. That’s a lot; it’s no wonder it’s a dark purple item with a maximum score of 260 points.
Moreover, considering there are two bottles as the second prize, I could actually increase my Life Value Limit by two hundred and forty points with ’High Elf Blood (Essence Extraction)’, and additionally, the Life Value Limit increase provided by Indestructible Golden Body can also further amplify my Life Value Limit. Quite nice."
Zhang Yanhang remembered that it had been quite a while since he acquired any items that could increase Life Value Limit, other than the Yellow Medicine Grass. If he remembered correctly, the last time was when he was opening a treasure box from the Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu, where he obtained a bottle of Red Dragon’s Blood that could increase Life Value Limit.
Of course, this refers to the items obtained in the Ashen World, if it includes the Main World, the most recent one was actually from Zhou Muxi, the ’Old Eight Secret Recipe Little Hamburger.’
That ’Old Eight Secret Recipe Little Hamburger’ was also a dark purple quality item but only increased Life Value Limit by one hundred points, which is twenty points less than the ’High Elf Blood (Essence Extraction)’ from the prize pool that can increase by one hundred and twenty points.
"By that calculation, it really has been quite some time, almost a week, before I once again obtained a new item that could increase Life Value Limit. Indeed, my Life Value Limit hasn’t grown for a long time.
I remember I had a small goal of reaching ten times the Life Value Limit and Shield Value Limit of an Ordinary Awakened, but now, it seems there’s not much hope for Second Tier; after all, my current Life Value Limit is just barely over two thousand points, how could it possibly increase by another thousand or two out of nowhere?"
Even though the new item he had obtained this time should help increase his Life Value Limit by quite a bit, Zhang Yanhang still basically had very little confidence in this small goal; after all, the gap was indeed a bit too large, and it was very unrealistic to think of achieving such a long-term minor goal in the short term.
"So, I choose Option Three, the High Elf Blood (Essence Extraction)."
As Zhang Yanhang made his choice, Time Pause instantly ended. Simultaneously, the screen of the Lucky Slot Machine, which had been static, began to slowly spin, then gradually accelerated to a speed where even with Zhang Yanhang’s current dynamic vision, he could only see afterimages.
But this peak speed lasted only for an instant; subsequently, the spinning of the images slowed down and eventually fixed on three identical ’✮’ symbols.
After Zhang Yanhang landed on these three identical ’✮’ symbols, the top part of the slot machine immediately burst into colorful virtual fireworks. After all, he had already emptied three Lucky Slot Machines, so he had become quite skilled at this.
Skilled as he might be, he still couldn’t help feeling happy when he saw the colorful virtual fireworks. After all, a big prize won by cheating was still a genuine big prize and indeed very worth celebrating.
Of course, it was mainly because he did not pay much of a price—with only nine Soul Points, he had obtained a Dark Purple Quality Item. Presumably, no Awakener could resist such a temptation.
The colorful virtual fireworks came quickly and left just as fast, vanishing in a blink of an eye. What followed was a transparent Egg popping up from the dispensing slot, gently and automatically opening to reveal a bottle of High Elf Blood inside, which was vivid red in color but slightly green in appearance and emanated a faint light gold hue.
Zhang Yanhang immediately picked up the bottle of High Elf Blood and skillfully pulled the lever again, quickly drawing another bottle of High Elf Blood and a bottle of World Tree Juice.
However, even though he had drawn both the first and second prizes, Zhang Yanhang was not in a hurry to use them. Instead, he put them into his Waist Bag. He prepared to first clear out the Third Tier prize pool in the slot machine, consisting of a hundred Demonized Maned Tooth Beasts, so he immediately pulled the slot machine’s metal lever again.
...
[Successfully killed a First Tier Three Star Monster ’Demonized Maned Tooth Beast (Ordinary)’ ×1, Soul Points +9.]
[Successfully killed a First Tier Three Star Monster ’Demonized Maned Tooth Beast (Ordinary)’ ×1, Soul Points +9.]
[Successfully killed a First Tier Three Star Monster ’Demonized Maned Tooth Beast (Ordinary)’ ×1, Soul Points +9.]
...
After pulling the metal lever a hundred times, Zhang Yanhang relied on a burst of Death Wave to efficiently kill off the hundred Demonized Maned Tooth Beasts that were, like a virus infection, successively activating Half-demonized Skills and entering a Demonized State.
"I remember last time I was only two Gray Maned Arm Guards short of being able to synthesize a Gray Maned Arm Guard +4, but this time there should definitely be no problem." After waiting a few seconds on the spot, Zhang Yanhang picked up five Green Quality Drop Treasure Boxes from the ground and put them into his Waist Bag.
"Next, it seems that we still need to clean up the Lucky Slot Machines in Raccoon City and Goblin Plain, but even though they do need cleaning, there’s no urgency,"
Having just obtained High Elf Blood and World Tree Juice from the Lucky Slot Machine in the Demonized Swamp, Zhang Yanhang decided to drink these two items first before going to clean up the Lucky Slot Machines in Raccoon City and Goblin Plain.
Since the ground around him was covered in dark red blood and the bodies of demonized maned beasts, Zhang Yanhang simply sat down cross-legged on the spot and took out the three alchemy potions from his waist bag that came from the High Elf Empire, which could also be called magic potions, according to their custom.
Zhang Yanhang first picked up the bottle of High Elf Blood, which was red mixed with green. Although it didn’t look appetizing, Zhang Yanhang thought he should trust the High Elves’ pursuit of art. Given their fancy aesthetic sense, they probably wouldn’t make a potion that tastes bad.
He opened the potion bottle and downed it in one gulp. Well, unlike the Scroll Dragon’s Blood, which was like drinking air, this potion at least had a taste. It couldn’t be called delicious, but it wasn’t bad either, mysteriously having a hint of green apple flavor.
"Could it be that High Elf Blood naturally has a fruity fragrance? If so, it may be perfect for developing into natural beverages, though I guess only vampires would be interested,"
However, compared to the idea of High Elf Blood having a natural fruity scent, Zhang Yanhang was more inclined to believe that the High Elf who made this potion had added flavoring agents. This is a very common technique in potion making, and is basically included in all potion systems.
For instance, the sugar coating on synthetic pills, the honey added during the process of making Chinese herbal elixirs, and based on Zhang Yanhang’s alchemy level, he felt there was at least a 70% chance that the green apple taste was from late-stage synthesis.
After briefly experiencing the taste of the High Elf Blood, Zhang Yanhang quickly downed another bottle of High Elf Blood, but this time he paid closer attention to the green apple taste.
Since it was his second time drinking it, many details that he hadn’t noticed before began to emerge. He started to think that this flavor was added to suppress the mild astringency in the High Elf Blood, because what kind of normal biological fluid would naturally have a fruity fragrance?
Even if High Elves solely consumed fruits and vegetables and their blood took on the flavors, it should have been a composite fruit scent, not purely green apple, unless that particular High Elf was an eccentric that ate nothing but green apples.
Having finished the two bottles of High Elf Blood, Zhang Yanhang then picked up the bottle of World Tree Juice. The color of the World Tree Juice was also a strange mix of red and green.
However, this time green was the dominant hue, and it gave off a vibe of vigorous life force, with only a small amount of red visible. As for the source of the red color, Zhang Yanhang thought its name explained everything, "World Tree Juice (Blood Dilution),"—it was likely that the High Elf alchemist who made it had cut corners by mixing in some Elf Blood.
After briefly examining the appearance of the World Tree Juice, Zhang Yanhang quickly started checking the attribute list of this bottle, which was the most important part.
"World Tree Juice (Blood Dilution)"
"Quality: Light Gold"
[Type: Artifact]
[Origin: Ashen World, High Elf Empire, Supreme Forest, Elf Court Avando.]
[Usage Effect: Increases Life Value Limit by 180 points.]
[Usage Requirements: Constitution lower than 75 points.]
[Score: 350 (Light gold items score between 261 to 350)]
[Introduction: My name is Azikasa Baofeng Saint Silvado, a war hero of no particular distinction, but recently my dreary retirement life turned tumultuous, due to the failure of the first joint petition, I organized a second, more massive joint petition with others.
I thought the Queen would surely come to her senses during this joint petition, punishing that new tailor by casting him out of the palace, but perhaps I underestimated his importance to her. Faced with our second petition, the Queen not only tore it up without hesitation but also stomped on it twice and spit on it, showing even more disdain.
This result was terribly upsetting for me; I felt that the Queen, who used to be so kindly and supportive, had changed into someone else. But I was powerless in the face of this situation. Just as I was disheartened and ready to return to my dull retirement, things took an unexpected turn.
The Queen’s Two Thousand Year Coronation Anniversary was about to commence, and, as an Imperial War Hero, I was invited as well. Considering the new tailor was brought in to prepare the coronation attire, I thought perhaps after the event, the Queen might dismiss this worthless tailor.
With such thoughts, I joined the other ministers and nobles in attending the event and was fortunate to stand at the very front. The ceremony proceeded exactly as planned by the ministers, except, when the Queen made her appearance, the festive scene turned eerily silent, everyone looking at the Queen with shocked eyes.
I knew why they were shocked, for I too was astonished that the Queen attended her own Two Thousand Year Coronation Anniversary in nothing but a black lace undergarment. However, apart from the shock, I was also moved by the Queen’s perfection; truly, the most powerful of the High Elf Empire was also in top form physically.
As the venue remained silent, the Queen quietly explained that she wore an exquisite gown visible only to the strong, made by the new tailor. Despite her explanation, the silence persisted and the eyes of the others slowly shifted from shock to a familiar expression.
I recognized it as admiration, the same look other High Elves often gave me as a war hero. They must have assumed the Queen’s strength justified her invisible attire. Oddly, they all appeared hesitant as if they wanted to say something.
While others remained silent, I broke the silence. I loudly praised the Queen’s courage for boldly addressing the High Elf Empire’s birth rate by leading by example and breaking the feudal etiquette that oppressed female High Elves, showing why she is the helm of the Elf Empire, and always at the forefront of guiding her people towards new thoughts.
Although some ministers and nobles might naively believe the Queen was actually clothed, I, as a wise and brave war hero of the Empire, believed that the Queen wore nothing, wanting to celebrate universally and share her joy by providing a treat on this grand occasion, so she deliberately went without clothes.
But for some reason, after I finished my praise, others looked at me strangely, and the Queen’s face blushed. Without a word, she walked up to me, raised her fair long leg and kicked me in the stomach. Because her Attack Speed was slow, and the kick seemed soft, I did not dodge.
I assumed the Queen wanted to kick me a few times symbolically, as before. However, upon landing the kick, the Queen unscrupulously triggered a Magic Power Burst and Divine Power Impact. In a bewildering shake, I flew at speeds multiple times the speed of sound, crashing through the palace’s walls, thick as hundreds of meters, breaking countless trees, before finally coming to a halt against the trunk of the World Tree.]