Chapter 775: Got to catch them all

Damon awkwardly cleared his throat as he saw the ridiculous scene in front of him. He had only just now heard how beings who carried his bloodline had high chances of becoming mindless monsters, and the thing in front of him... was just that. Except very, very pitiful.

It was a lizard of sorts, but plump and round in the middle, and the damn thing was stuck in the bottom of a big chasm, repeatedly trying to climb its way out.

Damon awkwardly cleared his throat as he took in the absurd sight below. The chasm was steep, jagged, and far too deep for something like that to ever climb out of. And yet... it kept trying.

The lizard, if it could even be called that, was a tragic contradiction. Its limbs were too small for its swollen, rounded body, its claws scratching uselessly against the stone as it pushed upward with all the determination of a creature that simply didn’t know when to stop.

It slipped and tumbled, landing with a soft, pathetic thud. Then immediately started climbing again.

Damon stared for a few seconds longer than necessary. The lizard finally noticed him. It froze mid-scramble, its tiny head slowly tilting upward. Its eyes, dull, unfocused, yet faintly tinged with crimson, locked onto Damon.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, it wagged its tail excitedly.

Damon blinked. "...it’s wagging its tail."

Little Red sounded deeply uncomfortable. "It seems... happy to see you."

The lizard let out a strange noise, somewhere between a squeak and a growl, and tried to climb faster. Its short limbs flailed wildly, its entire body jiggling with effort. It slipped again. Tumbled again. Thud.

Then it looked up at Damon again and wagged its tail.

Damon exhaled slowly. "Right. Sorry, bud, I am not exactly a lizard person." He stepped forward and vanished, reappearing at the bottom of the chasm. The lizard froze the moment he got close. However, Damon did not kill it instantly.

There was no need for him to kill it immediately. It was a small, harmless beast he could completely control. If he killed it and integrated the bloodline fragment with his, then his bloodline would become stronger, and he might show up on the radar.

But if he did not kill it, then he could save it as a surprise bonus for later. So he bent down and picked it up instead.

The lizard struggled in his hand. This little reptile probably did not carry anything heaven breaking. Damon was pretty sure its bloodline fragment was another stability piece. He didn’t exactly count on it but something was better than nothing. He examined it for a while when surprisingly even a new notification popped up.

[Ding! You have acquired a new type of poison]

[Ding! You have made small progress in the third cycle of the Nine Million Poison Body Refining Technique]

"Heh. Interesting. You have got a cool new poison on your skin. I touched you only for a second, and you managed to poison me. Good boy. You might have grown into something incredible if not for this big pit, huh. Well, life happens, buddy. We lose some, and we win some."

Damon then tossed the guy into his soul space. "Blood Reign, keep an eye on him for me. I will take care of him later. There is no need to get this bloodline just yet. In fact, I think we might have a new plan in our hands."

"Understood, my liege."

Without wasting time he immediately tapped into the bloodline network again. A new plan was quickly forming in his mind. If he could somehow find more of his blood brothers like this lizard, then he can amass a lot more bloodline fragments without drawing anyone’s attention.

At most they would see a bunch of weak bloodline threads clustered together like the ones in the slime world and that probably wouldn’t raise a flag so soon.

Damon knew once again he was gambling but he had to go for it. This was the time to take as much risk as possible. If he let this chance slip by, he will never get another chance like this.

He quickly identified his next target and teleported over. This time he arrived smack dab in the middle of what looked like an endless ocean.

There was darkness all around him and the pressure was suffocating. But the environment didn’t really pose any threat for Damon. He was able to breathe and move freely. His vision was not hindered by the darkness so he could see clearly despite being several kilometers under the surface.

He was just about to get a sense of this world when suddenly a huge presence appeared behind him. It was a massive gigantic whale, except it had three heads and sharp serrated teeth. The whale shark hybrid was only C rank and surprisingly he did not sense his bloodline inside this huge monstrosity.

"Hmmm... its in here definitely. If its not the whale, then..." Damon’s gaze landed on a small fish clinging onto the whalesharkosaur on the underside. It was a tiny fish, only F rank, but Damon could unmistakably detect his bloodline inside it. He continued observing for a couple of seconds but the little thing did not even sense him.

"You are worse than the lizard, aren’t you..." Damon let out a sigh and appeared as a blur under the whalesharkosaur. He then ripped it out the next second without any issue. But the moment he did, the fish started losing its health rapidly and was about to die.

Damon was tempted to see if he could take out the blood essence and save it as an essence inside his soul space without integrating it with his bloodline just yet. However, he remembered how the process went the first time around and decided against it.

The little fragments acted like a magnet and he was not confident if he would be able to keep them apart. The bloodline was simply too powerful and even as a B rank he did not have the ability to control it all that much.

Then Damon had an idea and stuck the fish onto his body. The next second a notification popped up.

[Ding! You have lost -1 health]

"Heh. Interesting. So you have no problem taking my health despite all of my physical defense. You should have a pretty good skill." His eyes gleamed in anticipation to see what that skill was. He was also pretty sure this bloodline fragment was something powerful.

The small fish which was only F rank and the bloodline was probably not even awakened, but it still managed to use its devour ability to such an extent. Just how powerful would its devour ability be if its potential was fully unlocked.

There was a high probability for this fragment to come through big time. However, it was not the time just yet to test it out. He needed more.

With the matter of the fish resolved, he quickly logged into his bloodline network again and picked out the next target. Even though collecting the bloodline fragments this way seemed less risky, he still did not want to push things too much.

"Three more times and then I am out." Damon told himself as he teleported to the next location.