Loot

[Blood Harvesting]

As soon as the beast fell on the ground, Lewis took out a small vial made of [Ether Glass], a very sturdy material that possessed conservative properties. Although it had cost him two magic crystals, he had purchased it, as it proved to be the perfect container for his spell [Blood Harvesting].

Blood harvesting was a utility spell, allowing him to condense the blood essence from a corpse he had recently killed. In his past life, he could consume blood essence to regenerate his wounds and arcane powers, thus making this spell a necessity on battlefields.

However, igniting blood essence for immediate recovery purposes was almost a waste of such a precious ressource. A beast as massive a the steel scorpion, fetched 482 mL of low grade blood essence. Even if he had killed ten silver wolves, he would not have gotten half as much.

Seeing this, Orianna almost could not control her instincts, and wished to drink it right away. Although consuming blood essence could be quite beneficial to him as a blood human, he had already reached the second tier of this new bloodline after completing the blood ritual with Noctis. Consuming low-grade blood essence would not make him grow much. 

Orianna, however, was different. As a bloodline type acolyte, she could awaken the dormant power in her blood, using the low-grade blood essence as a catalyst. Lewis did not have any dormant power. Becoming a blood human had merely given him a higher ceiling in terms of physical capabilities and overall body functions. 

Because of this very difference, Lewis threw the vial at Orianna, who drank it without hesitation.

Lewis' heart winced at the thought of losing the equivalent of dozens of magic crystals, but taking a look at Orianna, it seemed worth it.

[Name - Orianna Longlost | Age - 22 years old

Attributes:

Strength - 1.4 | Agility - 1.3 | Vitality - 1.5| Spirit - 4.8

Spell: Acidic Breath

Artefact: Tyria Ring [Regeneration, Bloodline Strengthening]]

"Thank you, Lewis. I will make sure to pay you back with my mission's share"

"Do not worry about that. You must get stronger as fast as possible", Lewis said curtly

In merely three weeks, her spirit attribute had leaped by 0.9 point, something that would have taken a regular grade 1 acolyte roughly 3 years, and a grade 2 acolyte 1 year. Considering the fact that she was a bloodline type acolyte, meditation alone was only half as efficient, and that was only due to her having a magus-level bloodline, as a Longlost heir. As such, in three weeks, she had managed to grow as much as she would have in six years...

Taking out his sword, Lewis then proficiently cut the steel scorpion's flesh, and dug out its magical core. Compared to blood essence, magical cores were actually much more valuable. One use of magical cores was actually golem manufacturing. From what Lewis could see, the clay golem that Roan possessed was most likely built out of an [Earth Elemental]

Unfortunately, the magical core had been completely broken from Lewis' two consecutive blood arrows. It was a pity, but it was actually what allowed their party to emerge victorious. 

"What bad luck...", Raon said in a hoarse voice, "Imagine how strong a golem would have been..."

Orianna disdainfully spat: "Golem masters truly are arrogant. What makes you think we would have given you the core?"

Roan wanted to answer back, but quickly averted his gaze after crossing her gaze filled with scorn. It looked like she wanted to bite his head off, should he try to say a word. 

"I...apologize. I would have bought it, naturally. But please keep in mind that I am no fighter. Your role is to protect me. I am amazed at your strength and teamwork, but at the end of the day, I represent the arcane faction. Your role is to protect me while I carry out the task of supplying raw ores to the surface. Nothing more, nothing less"

Jorg grunted, as if bewildered at the man's shamelessness.

Lewis nodded, though. It might seem rude, but this is the mission they had been assigned to. From the start, he never expected the young golem master to be of any use in combat. The fact that he could see in the dark and call the threats ahead of time was already an unexpected boon.

"This is right, and we will continue to protect you. Unfortunately, it seems like there are unwanted guests who really want our missions to fail...", Lewis spat, before unsheathing his sword and thrusting in the air.

However, to everyone's surprise, the sword was soon smeared in blood, revealing a human shadow.

A pained voice then muttered in shock: "How...?"

A the shadow dissipated, the azure cape of his uniform did not escape the crimson clan's acolytes' eyes. The human shadow was actually a member of the blue wolf mercenary group.