Chapter 44: A Strange Discovery

Ryan now knew a great deal about Bloodline Skills.

Bloodline Skills were special techniques or moves derived from one’s Bloodline abilities.

Based on their functions, they were primarily divided into two categories:

[Bloodline Combat Techniques]

[Bloodline Secret Arts]

Bloodline Combat Techniques primarily focused on offense, while Bloodline Secret Arts focused mainly on auxiliary amplification, defense, and control.

In terms of power, the Bloodline Skills Ryan currently knew about were divided into four major tiers:

[Profound Rank]

[Spirit Rank]

[Earth Rank]

[Heaven Rank]

Each major tier was further divided into four minor grades according to the difference in power:

[Low Grade]

[Medium Grade]

[High Grade]

[Top Grade]

There were several ways to acquire Bloodline Skills.

The most common methods were:

[Sect Inheritance or Personal Instruction]

[Skill Manuals]

[Self-Comprehension and Creation]

[Bloodline Evolution Epiphany]

[Skill Stones]

The first two methods required the cultivator to understand the fundamental principles behind a Bloodline Skill before practicing it repeatedly. Only through extensive practice could one gradually master and successfully cast the skill.

Naturally, this process required a considerable amount of time.

The third method—self-comprehension and creation—had extremely strict requirements.

Without a profound understanding of one’s Bloodline, extraordinary comprehension, and sufficient opportunities, creating a Bloodline Skill from scratch was practically impossible.

The fourth method was even more unique.

When a Bloodline Essence successfully evolved by an entire major grade within the body, it would receive a Heavenly Grace Baptism.

During the baptism, the cultivator would temporarily align with the Heavenly Dao and gain an epiphany that allowed them to comprehend a unique Bloodline Skill.

This method guaranteed the acquisition of a Bloodline Skill.

Its only drawback was the tremendous cost.

Bloodline evolution required the cultivator to absorb and refine a large amount of homologous Bloodline Essence or beast cores. Not only was this extremely expensive, but it was also incredibly time-consuming.

Initially, Ryan’s C-Grade Overlord Body Essence had been advanced by the Creation Furnace after absorbing several drops of D-Grade Bloodline Essence within a Creation Slot.

Therefore, the evolution had occurred inside the Creation Furnace rather than directly within his body.

As a result, Ryan had not experienced the Heavenly Grace Baptism.

However, after sealing and successfully controlling the Overlord Body Bloodline, if he could cause it to evolve by another major grade inside a Creation Slot within the Creation Furnace, Ryan suspected that he would be able to experience the Heavenly Grace Baptism as well.

If that happened, he might obtain another unique Bloodline Skill without having to comprehend it himself.

As for the fifth method—Skill Stones—it was, compared to all the other methods, the most efficient way to acquire Bloodline Skills.

This was because of the unique characteristics of Skill Stones.

One only needed to inject a wisp of Origin Energy into a Skill Stone, after which one’s mind could instantly read and imprint the holographic casting image contained within it.

The skill could then be learned almost instantly. It saved an enormous amount of time, effort, and energy.

The only problem was that Skill Stones were not cheap.

Of course, there was an important limitation.

If one’s strength and cultivation realm were insufficient, then even after learning a profound or high-grade Bloodline Skill, one would still be unable to unleash its full power.

And if someone thought they could simply learn a skill from a Skill Stone, copy it onto another Skill Stone, and sell it to others to earn a fortune in Origin Stones...

They would be sorely disappointed. Skills learned from Skill Stones could only allow a person to instantly reach the most basic level of proficiency:

[Mastery Level]

At this level, one would know how to cast the skill, but they would not truly understand its deeper principles.

For simple skills, this might not be particularly important.

But for complex, multi-layered, high-grade skills, a Skill Stone generally only allowed the learner to grasp the most basic first layer.

Without understanding the underlying principles, one naturally couldn’t teach the skill to others or create a Skill Stone of their own.

Knowing how to cast a skill and knowing how to teach someone else to cast it were two completely different concepts.

Most Bloodline Skills were divided into four proficiency realms:

[Mastery Level]

[Subtlety Level]

[Perfect Level]

[Conception Level]

A cultivator needed to reach at least the third realm—Perfect Level—before they could imprint the skill into a Skill Stone and allow another person to instantly reach Mastery Level and grasp the skill’s basic casting method.

As proficiency increased, the cultivator could gradually increase the skill’s intensity, accelerate its casting speed, reduce its Origin Energy consumption, and achieve various other improvements.

For example, at Mastery Level, a cultivator could unleash 100% of a Bloodline Combat Technique or Secret Art’s basic intensity.

Every subsequent increase in proficiency would raise the basic intensity by another 10%.

At the highest Conception Level, a cultivator could unleash an astonishing 130% of the skill’s basic intensity.

However, increasing proficiency was not something that could be accomplished overnight.

Frequent use and practice were necessary, but that alone wasn’t enough.

A cultivator also needed to invest a tremendous amount of time into deep comprehension, continuously analyzing and refining the skill until they understood its fundamental principles.

Only then could they gradually advance toward higher levels of proficiency.

Normally, one needed to thoroughly research and refine a skill through years of practice, or comprehend and create a skill themselves, or experience a Heavenly Grace Baptism and gain an epiphany, before they could reach Perfect Level and satisfy the requirements for creating a Skill Stone.

Among these methods, Self-Comprehension and Creation and Heavenly Grace Baptism were undoubtedly the easiest ways to reach Perfect Level or even higher.

When a skill was created entirely through one’s own comprehension, every aspect of its creation originated from the cultivator’s understanding.

Therefore, it was relatively easy for the creator to reach Perfect Level proficiency in a short period of time.

As for Heavenly Grace Baptism... That was a gift from the Heavenly Dao.

After receiving a Bloodline Skill through such an epiphany, there was a high probability that the cultivator would directly reach Perfect Level or even higher.

Creating a Skill Stone was also fundamentally different from creating ordinary record stones containing data, text, or images.

The latter merely recorded static information.

A Skill Stone, however, contained a dynamic and realistic holographic representation of the entire casting process.

The difference in complexity was enormous.

To create a Skill Stone, the cultivator needed to completely imprint the Bloodline Skill from beginning to end.

They also needed to continuously inject large amounts of Origin Energy and use their Mental Awareness to guide the process day after day, slowly constructing and sculpting an extremely realistic, dynamic image of the skill being cast.

Only then could the learner quickly comprehend the skill and successfully reproduce its basic casting method.

A single moment of a dynamic image was usually composed of twenty-four superimposed static frames.

If the entire casting process of a skill consisted of five instantaneous movements, then a total of 120 superimposed static frames would be required.

The workload could easily be imagined.

In general, creating a Skill Stone was an extremely tedious process.

For a simple Low Grade skill, it usually took seven to fourteen days to barely produce a usable Skill Stone.

For a high-grade and complex skill, it could take at least thirty days—or even several months—to successfully create one.

Therefore, for Bloodline Fighters who specialized in selling Skill Stones to earn Origin Stones, this business was anything but easy.

Creating Skill Stones was extremely time-consuming and mentally exhausting.

Unless it was a rare, high-grade Skill Stone that could guarantee a substantial profit, selling Low Grade Skill Stones did not actually earn very much.

If one ignored the advantage of not having to fight and the relatively low level of danger involved, this business might not even be as profitable as hunting exotic beasts in the wilderness.

It was, in the truest sense, hard-earned money.

Nevertheless, despite their difficult production process and the fact that using a Skill Stone only allowed a person to reach the basic Mastery Level, Skill Stones remained the fastest method of learning Bloodline Combat Techniques and Secret Arts.

There was simply no comparison.

Of course, if one wanted to unleash greater power from a Bloodline Skill, reaching Mastery Level was only the beginning.

After that, one still needed to spend a great deal of time practicing, researching, and comprehending the skill until it was refined to a higher level of proficiency.

With this understanding in mind, Ryan quickly scanned the other wooden slips displayed at Stall No. 081.

He soon discovered that this was a stall specializing in selling Skill Stones.

The functions and grades of the various Skill Stones were immediately revealed to him, causing his eyes to widen.

[Profound Rank Medium Grade Secret Art: Spiderweb Cage]

[Profound Rank Low Grade Combat Technique: Mountain Cleaving Palm]

[Profound Rank Top Grade Secret Art: Ethereal Steps]

[...]

There were as many as eight or nine Bloodline Skill Stones on the entire stall.

And at least half of them were suitable for Ryan.

"This Bloodline cultivator, are you interested in buying some Skill Stones?"

The stall owner, a young man in his twenties, noticed that Ryan had been browsing for quite some time and immediately became enthusiastic.

"All of these Skill Stones were personally imprinted by my master after spending a great deal of time and effort. My master is a Origin Ascendant Realm expert!"

Ryan’s expression showed a hint of hesitation.

"Sigh... I want to."

He picked up one of the wooden slips, looked at it reluctantly for a moment, and then slowly placed it back.

"But unfortunately, I can’t afford it." His voice was filled with helplessness.

Even the cheapest Profound Rank Low Grade Skill Stone cost nearly 300 Lower Grade Origin Stones.

The meager amount of Origin Stones Ryan possessed was nowhere near enough.

Hearing this, the stall owner immediately pouted.

He no longer paid attention to Ryan and turned around to enthusiastically solicit other passing Bloodline Fighters.

Ryan’s eyes darkened. He quickly left the stall and walked toward the other stalls, his expression slightly gloomy.

He had just experienced the unpleasant feeling of seeing something he desperately wanted but being completely unable to afford it.

It was truly unbearable. Fortunately, Ryan quickly composed himself.

He silently browsed through the other stalls, rapidly scanning and filtering through the various items.

At present, he had only twenty Lower Grade Origin Stones remaining.

Most of the treasures displayed at the stalls were simply too expensive for him.

There weren’t many things he could afford.

Therefore, Ryan could only hope to find some discarded treasures or perhaps stumble upon a bargain.

Just as he was walking past another stall, a loud argument suddenly reached his ears.

"These three things of yours are nothing but a pile of dead eggs! How could they possibly be worth fifteen Lower Grade Origin Stones?!"

Ryan’s footsteps paused. His attention was immediately drawn toward the commotion.

He quickened his pace and approached the source of the argument.

At Stall No. 129, a burly Bloodline Fighter was squatting in front of the stall.

He frowned while pointing at a small bag of items displayed on the stall.

"They’re worth three Lower Grade Origin Stones at most."

He snorted. "Even if they’re dead eggs, I can still feed them to my pet beast. At least they can provide it with some nutrition."

Several Bloodline Fighters had gathered around the stall, watching the argument with expressions of curiosity and amusement.

"Three Lower Grade Origin Stones? Absolutely impossible!"

The stall owner appeared to be a young man not even twenty years old.

He rolled his eyes at the burly Bloodline Fighter and spoke irritably.

"These aren’t dead eggs. They’re just a little weak right now. There’s still a trace of life inside them!"

He pointed toward the bag. "My brother told me that although we don’t know what species of beast eggs they are, they absolutely cannot be sold for less than fifteen Lower Grade Origin Stones."

He paused before adding: "If you buy them and raise them properly, and they successfully hatch into powerful exotic beasts, you’ll make a huge profit!"

The stall owner clearly had no interest in dealing with someone who was simply trying to drive the price down.

These beast eggs had originally been priced at fifteen Lower Grade Origin Stones.

His brother had specifically instructed him when they switched shifts that the eggs could not be sold for less than thirteen.

But this customer had immediately tried to slash the price all the way down to three.

How could he possibly agree?

These beast eggs had been obtained at considerable cost by the mercenary group his brother had established.

They had discovered them deep inside a mysterious ancient forest.

Although their origin was unknown, his brother had been unwilling to sell them cheaply.

Unfortunately, the eggs had looked almost lifeless when they were discovered.

Because of that, even the mercenary group wasn’t confident that they could successfully hatch them.

Fearing that the fifteen Lower Grade Origin Stones might ultimately go to waste, they had decided to sell them as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, they would never have brought them to the market in the first place.

"Beast eggs?" Hearing their conversation, Ryan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

His curiosity was immediately piqued.

He quickly walked toward Stall No. 129 and crouched down, turning his attention toward the bag.

What caught his eyes was a small brocade pouch roughly half a palm in size.

The pouch emitted a faint white glow. It was bulging slightly.

And every so often... It moved.

As though something alive was struggling inside.

"This is..." Ryan’s heart stirred. "A beast pouch?"

His gaze sharpened.

Immediately, he carefully placed his right hand against the pouch.

Then, with a thought, he injected a wisp of Origin Energy into it.