Magus had never imagined that the blood sealed within the so-called godblood amber would turn out to be something this peculiar.
A thousand years ago, during the glorious era of the Starlight Continent, wizards stood at the pinnacle of all life. That era was a time when Wizard Towers dotted the land, ancient rituals resonated through the skies, and no deity—no matter how arrogant—would dare descend to the continent to court its own destruction. The Wizards' dominion was absolute.
Under such a history, the existence of godblood should have been impossible.
Unless…
Magus frowned slightly, countless conjectures rising in his mind. Could it be that in the thousand years after the wizards departed from this world, foreign deities had infiltrated the continent? Had they quietly spread their faith in regions abandoned by the arcane?
His thoughts drifted toward the Star God worshipped by the Starfire Church. Originally, he had assumed the Star God was nothing more than an invention—a tool fabricated by the upper echelons of that cult to deceive the gullible masses. A fictional deity used to bind ignorant believers.
But now, confronted with this amber and its unmistakable divine residue, Magus could no longer dismiss the possibility so easily.
If the Star God truly existed, however, why were the followers of the Starfire Church incapable of using divine spells? Why did their combat methods rely entirely on the Knight system, a system born on the Starlight Continent, rather than any divine blessing?
Something didn't add up.
Or perhaps… this godblood had nothing to do with their current so-called deity. Perhaps it was simply a relic collected by a wizard from a millennium ago, forgotten through the passage of time until it resurfaced now.
Magus rubbed his forehead. The more he pieced the clues together, the messier the situation became.
Unable to reach a conclusion, he decided to temporarily set the matter aside. Instead, his attention returned to the piece of amber in his hand—an unremarkable stone at a glance, yet carrying a power capable of unsettling even his mind.
After a short pause, he withdrew the protective layer of energy particles surrounding his palm, allowing his skin to make direct contact with the godblood amber.
Instantly, his vision blurred. A wave of dizziness washed over him, followed by faint, indistinct whispers.
Then the hallucination struck.
A vast, majestic hall materialized before his inner vision. At its center, seated upon a towering divine throne, was an immense silhouette—its features obscured, its presence overwhelming. Below the throne, thousands of worshippers knelt and prostrated themselves, their fanatic chants rising like a tidal wave:
Praise the great one.
Praise the omnipotent.
We offer devotion, mind and soul—
The chants layered over one another, drilling relentlessly into his spirit.
Magus clenched his teeth and instantly wrapped the amber once more in a barrier of energy particles. The moment the isolation took effect, the voices cut off, the vision shattered, and the world returned to normal.
He exhaled slowly. "So this is what they call mental pollution."
Even with his mental strength, avoiding its influence completely was impossible. Anyone else—especially an ordinary Knight—would likely succumb in minutes. Prolonged exposure would inevitably twist one's will, turning them into a devout, unquestioning fanatic.
Still…
"This thing may be dangerous, but it's far from useless."
During that moment of contact, Magus had distinctly sensed something else: his body's natural attraction to free energy particles had surged dramatically. The ambient energy of the world responded to him with twice the enthusiasm, flooding toward him like a gentle, invigorating tide.
For Knights, such passive enhancement was priceless. Having one's body constantly bathed in energy meant slow but continuous strengthening—an effect that could drastically shorten the time needed to cultivate powerful warriors.
It suddenly made perfect sense how the Starfire Church expanded so rapidly. They must have relied on the dual properties of godblood amber: mental pollution to forge loyal zealots, and the physical enhancement to strengthen their Knights faster than any normal training could allow.
For Wizard Apprentices like Magus, the benefits were equally enticing.
Meditation—the foundation of all wizardry—is, in essence, a method of absorbing energy particles to enhance one's mental power. If godblood amber increased the rate of absorption, then it directly improved meditation efficiency. Something that could halve his meditation time, or even reduce it further, was nothing short of a miracle.
"The problem," Magus muttered, "is how to deal with the mental pollution."
He had no intention of becoming a fanatic of some unknown Star God.
But there was hope.
"The Synthesis Cube enhances effects while reducing side effects… if I gather enough godblood amber, perhaps I can synthesize a purified version with little or no mental pollution."
His pulse quickened with excitement.
When he used Black Scale Lizardman blood to synthesize Dragon Lizard Blood and Sub-Dragon Blood, he had successfully reduced their rejection rates. It stood to reason the cube could do something similar with this amber.
Only one issue remained—quantity.
Magus turned toward Amy, eyes shining with anticipation.
"Amy, do you have more of this?"
"No, meow," Amy replied honestly, shaking her head. "Amy only took one."
A small disappointment tugged at Magus, but he wasn't discouraged yet. He continued probing.
"The Starfire Church—the bad people you mentioned—do they have a lot of this?"
"Lots of meow," Amy replied confidently.
She raised her small paw and tapped the floor with exaggerated seriousness, counting with each tap.
"One, two, three, four… twenty-two, twenty-four, twenty-five. There should be twenty-five."
Magus resisted the urge to comment on her questionable counting method.
Still—twenty-five pieces? That was a considerable amount. Enough to experiment with, enough to synthesize, perhaps even enough to fully refine the mental pollution away.
He inhaled sharply, excitement sparking in his chest again. If he could acquire that much amber, his meditation efficiency could soar. His growth rate would increase dramatically.
"Amy," he said, raising the amber slightly, "can you sell this to me?"
"Why do you want this, meow?" She tilted her head, baffled. "If you want it, I can just give it to you. But you have to help Amy with something."
"Tell me what you need."
"Amy has been chased by those bad people. Amy can't sleep well anymore. Can you help me drive them away?"
Magus smiled. He had already intended to deal with the Starfire Church. Helping Amy was merely an added convenience.
"Consider it done."
He wrapped the amber carefully in a torn piece of tablecloth and tucked it into his pocket. Then his gaze drifted to Honey—the man still under the Charm Human spell.
People under that spell retained clear memories of their surroundings. Magus couldn't risk letting him live.
He stepped forward to finish the matter.
But just as he raised his hand, his expression shifted.
A sudden, ominous sense of danger surged behind him.
Without hesitation, Magus activated the Earth Rune Gem.
A heavy yellow halo enveloped him instantly, forming a protective shell.
A heartbeat later—
BOOM!
The door exploded inward. Splinters of wood flew like shrapnel. Two crescent-shaped blades of sword qi shot through the dust, one aimed at Magus, the other at Amy.
Magus raised his palm. The sword qi crashed into it with a resounding clang, and after a brief struggle, shattered into violent shockwaves. The protective halo rippled wildly but held firm.
Amy, meanwhile, blinked out of existence—vanishing into a spatial fold and reappearing atop a distant roof.
Before Magus could regain full footing—
SWISH!
A second pair of sword qi sliced through the air, this time one targeting Magus and the other the unconscious noblewoman lying on the bed.
The woman never stood a chance. The attack tore through her like paper, turning her into a mist of blood.
Magus dodged easily this time, his body flickering like a shadow. His eyes narrowed.
"Two consecutive attacks, both precisely aimed… can they sense the location of everyone in the room?"
He snapped Honey's neck cleanly—just in case—and dashed out of the house.
Once outside, he skidded to a halt.
More than twenty Starfire Cultists surrounded the courtyard, cloaks concealing armor that gleamed faintly under the moonlight. At their front stood two burly men whose bodies radiated faint, oppressive energy.
Their strength was undeniable.
Great Knights.
Amy appeared on a rooftop ten meters away, fur bristling. "Meow! It's you bad guys again!"
Magus instantly pieced things together. These must be the same cultists who had been pursuing Amy. The two Great Knights were probably the priests Honey had mentioned—Troy and Ryan.
The two men ignored Amy entirely. Their sharp gazes locked onto Magus, wary and assessing.
"Who are you?" one demanded, voice cold.
Magus's features were obscured by the shimmering yellow halo, rendering him unrecognizable. Yet the way he had effortlessly blocked their sword qi made both priests tense.
Ryan pulled out a small statue. The moment he glanced at it, his expression darkened.
"The godblood is on him!"
Troy's face chilled. "Hand over the item."
Magus didn't bother speaking. He simply raised his hand and released a bolt of lightning.
The crackling spear of electricity exploded forth, forcing the two priests to dodge. The cultists behind them weren't as lucky—they were instantly charred into smoking corpses.
"Wizard!"
The priests' expressions changed dramatically. Their arrogance vanished, replaced with grim caution.
They exchanged a glance.
Then, simultaneously, they shouted—
"Kill him!"
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