Crimson Hymn

"To make the King of Sky and Wind’s Blood Marrow as effective as dragon blood, we are still missing one thing."

The professor sat atop his horse and spoke slowly.

He knew Mercenary Tao could read his thoughts, but being around such a monster, if he could not find something to talk about, made time feel unbearably torturous. So he took the initiative to explain.

The three keys needed to enter the Little Garden were the bloodlines of the three strongest races: dragonkind, Innate God Spirits, and Star Spirits.

Dragonkind were not ordinary dragons. The so-called Dragon Clan and dragons in most senses were nothing more than impure bloodlines and subspecies to true dragonkind.

Dragonkind were beings born from nothing, self-regulating entities that escaped the interference of the Causality Law through self-observation and became eternal beings.

Self-observation meant existing without relying on external observation or special conditions.

That birth condition alone revealed how high-dimensional this race was.

As for the Dragon Kings of the Dragon Raja World, even Black King Níðhöggr was merely the ancestor of all dragons in that world, the origin of draconic life in that world, its king. Nothing more.

Therefore, the Dragon King bloodlines in the Dragon Clan settings of nearly all Derivative Worlds could not meet Azure Sky’s requirements.

Except for this D45 Secondary World before them.

Seeing that Mercenary Tao had no intention of responding, the professor could only continue.

"It is Origin Substance. Origin Substance exists in this world, which is why only this world’s Dragon King bloodline has a chance of barely meeting the requirements for dragonkind."

Bai Cangshu finally shifted his gaze away from the Mixed-blood. This Mixed-blood possessed remarkable willpower. Even after four vials of blood medicine, he had yet to lose control and mutate. Bai Cangshu was preparing to inject the remaining two vials at once.

His hands never stopped moving, but his face turned toward the professor on horseback as he asked with interest.

"Is that Origin Substance related to an Outer God, or an Ancient God?"

"Or rather… an Observer?"

The professor’s heart skipped a beat. Observers were the ultimate secret of the Space Power System. Even Supreme Experts might not know of them, yet Mercenary Tao had clearly already come into contact with that level.

On some level, that explained why Mercenary Tao had grown so powerful so quickly.

He nodded.

"That’s right. Origin Substance is an essence with some connection to Observers. We believe this world became so twisted because it was being observed by several Observers simultaneously."

"As a result, during the collapse of power, collisions occurred, causing Origin Substance to fall into this world."

"Whether it is the power of the Dragon Clan, the power of Ancient Gods, or those secretive, twisted powers of Outer Gods, once they are augmented by Origin Substance, they can reach unimaginable dimensions!"

Bai Cangshu nodded. Aside from the concept of Origin Substance, he had already guessed most of the rest.

"So you believe that Origin Substance is probably on Bishop Lawrence?"

Bai Cangshu had noticed that after entering this world, the professor had used his Sequence Ability twice. Bringing the subject around to the Origin Substance and that Dragon King Blood Marrow now clearly meant he had already found a target.

He was using this method to hint at the direction of their next actions.

The corner of Bai Cangshu’s mouth twitched. The professor was a reincarnator without a particularly strong personality. Even with a special Sequence, he seemed to be considering everyone else’s feelings at every moment.

Such a person might be just the right kind of glue in many teams, but he could never be considered a truly powerful reincarnator.

Bai Cangshu could tell from the fact that he had never sensed even the slightest trace of Heart Light Pulse from him. He was still extremely far from being called strong.

He was not even as good as this Mixed-blood knight.

Zzt—

Etoris’s body trembled. He felt an electric current course through him, and then the vitality of his cells was stimulated.

The wounds on his body healed, and even his shattered internal organs became whole again.

But rather than feeling happy, Etoris was overcome with terror.

"You bastard…"

He spoke furiously, but in the next instant, it felt as though a vast starry sky had appeared before his eyes, followed by countless chaotic memories and images.

His flesh began to writhe out of control. Beneath his skin, blood and flesh seemed to be growing abnormally.

Etoris immediately thought of the hideous forms those beastified people had taken after transforming, and his fear deepened.

Pfft!

An agonizing pain shot through his spine. He instinctively hunched over, and the sharp vertebrae along his back immediately tore through his coarse linen clothes.

"Aah!"

Amid a roar of pain and terror, bony spikes rose from within his body one by one. After an unbearable itch in his tailbone, white joints also grew from his lower body.

In just moments, Etoris underwent an obvious mutation. As his muscles bulged inch by inch, his strength nearly doubled.

Bai Cangshu pressed a finger to his forehead.

"Knight, think of your Seraphina. You do not want to die yet, do you…"

Golden Ripples spread from Bai Cangshu’s body, stretching over ten meters in an extravagant display. Like drifting bands of light, they extended in every direction behind him.

On that weed-choked wasteland strewn with flames and corpses, it was like the descent of a saint.

The moment Etoris’s immense pain was touched by the golden Ripple ribbons, the pain in his flesh seemed to ease.

He did not want to die, much less become one of those beasts. He still had to return to Seraphina’s side. That kind and benevolent lady was in danger…

Bai Cangshu’s lips curled up, and he tilted his head back slightly. The more radiant a person’s heart, the more intense their Heart Light Pulse, and the more they had that they could not bear to part with.

Call it a bond or call it affection, that radiance of humanity was incomparably brilliant. Even Bai Cangshu found it difficult to look away with Greed.

So…

"I grant you the power of sunlight and flesh, Etoris. Use this power to survive~"

In the next instant, the golden ribbons abruptly contracted, then flowed from Bai Cangshu’s fingertips into the forehead of the half-beastified knight, whose white bone spikes protruded one by one from his back.

You have bestowed Ripple Power upon Etoris

Beastified Etoris (Mixed-blood) has accepted your bestowal

Hamon Breathing Style Level 9 is no longer available

Boom!

Golden Ripples suddenly flowed through that grotesquely twisted mass of flesh and blood, rings of golden Ripples spreading outward from Etoris’s body.

Soon, his flesh began to contract, and the beastification process was halted. Bathed in the dim yellow sunlight, the knight maintained his sanity through his willpower and the power he had gained from nowhere.

He remained hunched over, gasping for breath. Most of the bone spikes on his back had retracted, with only around thirty centimeters now protruding from his body.

It looked as though he were wearing a peculiar suit of armor.

A Mixed-blood had gained a portion of the power of beastification, and now he had acquired a special energy called Ripple. Etoris’s strength had increased dramatically.

Etoris drew his Claymore. The sword now felt incomparably light in his hands. He raised his head, looked at the powerful and terrifying man, and said with difficulty,

"Who exactly are you?"

"Just what do you want to… do!"

He could not understand why the other man had saved him after defeating him, nor why someone who was clearly an enemy of the Church of Healing, who had killed those knights, would take the initiative to use blood medicine to create beasts.

Bai Cangshu looked at the first person to accept his bestowal, his mood excellent. At this moment, he only hoped the other man’s heart would burn even more fiercely. Then, at its most brilliant moment, he would reclaim the Hamon along with that burning hot heart’s blood and bring it back into his own body.

"What do I want to do…"

"Perhaps save the world. Perhaps destroy the world."

"Ha, who knows?"

Etoris stared blankly at the tall man beneath the dusk. That terrifying female knight stood at his side. This man radiated an aura utterly unlike the oppression and despair of this world.

Unrestrained. Chaotic.

He suddenly dropped to one knee and said,

"Since you have no purpose, may I ask you to save someone?"

"The hope of the world, Saint Seraphina, is currently being pursued by the Hymn Choir. His Excellency Lawrence has completely lost his way. We cannot lose Lady Seraphina as well!"

Bai Cangshu noticed that every time the man spoke that name, his heart beat violently.

Was that emotion love?

It did not seem like it.

Loyalty? Not purely that, either.

That tumult of mixed emotions was precisely why this lion-like man’s heart could beat so fiercely.

You have triggered the special mission: Crimson Hymn. Accept?