Chapter 19: Body Refinement and [Ancient Possession]

Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Body Refinement and [Ancient Possession]

Leia nodded. "If you’re not interested in Giant Dragons, there are other races, or other types of Body Refinement methods for you to choose from. However, you’ll need to apply and wait in line."

"Leia, could you explain the specifics?"

Leia leaned back in her chair, gathering her thoughts before she slowly began. "This whole Body Refinement thing originally evolved from Warlocks.

"In ancient times, certain Wizards coveted the innate talents of some powerful races, so they found ways to fuse those bloodlines with their own, creating a lineage of bloodline Warlocks.

"As this system developed, it grew increasingly vast and robust, and they were eventually categorized under the Bloodline Wizard system as a whole.

"Today, the paths for Body Refinement are extremely broad. Elements, Energy, Bloodlines, Mechanical enhancements, Spiritual Energy, radiation, Plagues... all of these can be used for Body Refinement. Within these major categories are many sub-branches, and Dragon Blood is just one specific type under the Bloodline category..."

Chen Shang listened in fascination before a question suddenly popped into his mind. "Why would those powerful creatures be willing to sign agreements with us?"

Leia chuckled. "They pay us. They’re the ones begging us to sign."

Chen Shang was stunned. "Leia, did you get that backward?"

If she had said Wizards relied on their own strength to plunder Giant Dragons, he would have believed it. But Giant Dragons willingly offering their Dragon Blood and begging Wizards to sign agreements? He simply couldn’t imagine it.

Leia’s expression grew subtle. "This is due to a Concept Level Weapon belonging to Wizards—Ancient Possession."

"Another Concept Level Weapon!" Chen Shang thought, his expression turning serious.

He had read in "A Brief History of Wizards" that every Concept Level Weapon was the culmination of the lifeblood and painstaking efforts of many Great Wizards. They were the absolute pinnacle of existence in the Wizard World!

Leia pondered for a moment before explaining it to him.

"In the beginning, Ancient Possession was merely a research project of a certain Bloodline Great Wizard.

"He observed the instincts of countless living beings—specifically, those cases where individuals suddenly unleashed power beyond their limits in desperate situations.

"For instance, an old man on the verge of starvation suddenly lifting a boulder he normally couldn’t budge, or an injured beast bursting forth with a speed three times faster than usual.

"Therefore, the Great Wizard began to wonder: where did this power come from?

"Ultimately, he discovered that the answer lay hidden within the bloodline.

"Thus, he developed an incredibly complex bloodline retracing ritual. Through high-dimensional Soul resonance, he forcefully awakened the dormant traces of countless generations of ancestors within the subject’s body!

"Power, instincts, experience, and willpower—spanning millions of years—were channeled and slammed into an individual’s body all at once.

"This was the first stage of Ancient Possession."

Chen Shang held his breath. "Awakening the power of ancestors? What a miraculous method!" he thought.

Leia continued, "After this research topic spread, more Wizards joined the study.

"Later, a genius Great Wizard wasn’t satisfied with Ancient Possession only awakening the ancestors who had actually existed in a bloodline.

"He dissected hundreds of thousands of races, from the lowest slime molds to Void behemoths capable of devouring stars... and then, he discovered a terrifying and shocking truth!

"Deep within the bloodline of all living things slumbered not only the ancestors who had truly lived, but also all the unrealized possibilities of those ancestors."

Chen Shang was a bit confused. "What do you mean?"

"For example, one of your ancestors might have been a coward. During a crucial hunt, he was supposed to charge forward and break through to become a hero. But he flinched, ran away, and survived. He then married, had children, and eventually passed down the bloodline that led to you."

"Where did that ’version of him who should have become a hero’ go? Did he die?" Chen Shang asked, shaking his head. He couldn’t comprehend this concept at all.

Leia continued, "He is hidden in your bloodline, tucked away at every diverging crossroad that your descendants failed to inherit. He isn’t real history; he is a Ghost of history. He never lived, but he has always existed.

"From this, the second stage of Ancient Possession was initiated! It was no longer about awakening real history, but tearing open all the crossroads of history and forcefully dragging those non-existent, yet far more powerful possibilities into reality.

"When you activate it, what possesses you isn’t your actual ancestor, but the most furious, most powerful version of your ancestor from all parallel possibilities.

"At that point, Ancient Possession was officially classified as a Concept Level Weapon!"

Chen Shang’s mouth fell open. "What kind of reality-warping sorcery is this? Schrödinger’s ancestor? Collapsing all the possibilities of an ancestor onto myself? Are all the Concept Level Weapons of Wizards this surreal?" he thought.

Leia waited for Chen Shang to digest this information for a moment before continuing. "The Great Wizards conducted an experiment on a Giant Dragon, forcefully merging all the evolutionary paths within its bloodline into one.

"Flame, frost, earth, storm, corrosion, time, Space... Every path its ancestors had the opportunity to take but didn’t was completely stuffed into its body.

"The moment the possession was complete, that Giant Dragon simultaneously transformed into the lord of Flames, the Emperor of frost, the spirit of the earth, and the incarnation of the storm. It truly surpassed the origin of its bloodline!

"It’s just a pity that in the very next moment, it exploded."

"Exploded? Why?" Chen Shang hurriedly asked.

Leia nodded. "Exactly. Because its fragile physical body couldn’t bear the power of countless supposedly invincible ancestors."

Chen Shang silently mourned the unfortunate Giant Dragon for a second. Dealing with Wizards was risky, and experiments required extreme caution.

"Later, Wizards improved the method and restricted the power output," Leia continued. "Quite a few bloodline creatures were successfully modified. Because of this, they flocked to us, desperate to get on the Wizards’ good side just to break their own bloodline shackles. The more powerful the creature, the more desperate they are.

"Take creatures like the Giant Dragons, for instance. They are born powerful. They have inherited true names, Dragon Language Magic, Elemental Immunity, Physical Resistance... the list of benefits goes on. But they have one fatal weakness: it is almost impossible for them to surpass the origin of their bloodline.

"Their bloodline is the source of their power, but also their prison. They are locked within their own bloodlines, repeating the same power, the same Destiny, and the same ceiling generation after generation.

"But Wizards are different. Wizards have no bloodline shackles, so Wizards can evolve infinitely. And Ancient Possession, which is in the hands of the Wizards, can open that door for the Giant Dragons.

"That’s why those races are practically begging to sign agreements with Wizards. What is Dragon Blood to them? As long as a Wizard is willing to experiment on them, they would even give away their dragon scales and dragon bones."

Leia stood up and brushed off her clothes.

"So, do you want to reconsider Body Refinement? Our laboratory has a year-round quota for Dragon Blood from the Giant Dragon World Community. If you want it, I can sign you up."

Chen Shang remained silent for a long time after hearing this. Although Leia spoke of it lightly, there must have been a prolonged period of intense struggle and negotiation between the Wizards and those races. The Wizards had simply seized the initiative through their knowledge.

And he was fortunate enough to reap the benefits of their victory. Thus, he nodded. "Then I’ll leave it in your hands, Leia!"

A day later.

Leia handed over all her miscellaneous tasks in this world and took Chen Shang through a Teleportation Gate, heading straight for the Haimer Starfall Laboratory.

When Chen Shang landed, he was so shocked that he was practically speechless.