“The Arcane Emperor… I didn’t think I would hear that name on this continent.” The Blood God said.

His statement made Leo confused. The previous words too suggested that there was another continent that magic seemed to be from. The Blood God seemingly figured out that Leo was clueless about the matter, so he explained it to him.

“The Arcane Emperor is from a different continent, as is magic. I visited the place once I conquered these lands and realized how different it is there. The resources are abundant and everyone can use magic.

And the Arcane Emperor is a mythical figure that has existed on that continent. His legacy still continues to this day in your form and it is far more valuable than mine. You inherited it, which means that you cannot be my successor.”

Leo frowned. Just as he was starting to consider the option presented to him, it was taken away from him.

“Don’t worry. You can still receive my teachings. While you cannot be my successor, you can still be my student. I will give you all the knowledge you need and a few treasures. However, the title of the Blood God and the most important treasures will remain for my successor. Of course, you still need to accept to shift to the Blood Element.”

Leo took a minute to think. It was a pretty straightforward choice – learning from someone so obscenely powerful that he would be able to be strong enough to do anything he wanted. He only took time to make sure he wasn’t being hasty.

But there weren’t any seeming shortcomings to the deal. And if there was, he would either go back to his normal aura with great effort or forsake it and only use his magic. He didn’t know how changing the element of his aura would proceed, but the Blood God would probably teach him that.

“I will do it. I will become your student.” Leo said. His eyes were clear and didn’t waver with any hesitation. They showed that his decision was not going to change.

“Good. Then you must ready yourself.”

“Ready myself?”

The aura from the statue left it, making him crumple down onto the ground. The aura pressed him to the ground again. This time, it converged into the figure of a human that approached him.

The figure of the human was ethereal-like, making it seem like a ghost. It approached him, floating through the air. The closer it got, the stronger the pressure grew. As it drew close, it whispered to him in a raspy voice.

“Only 15 years old, and yet you have accomplished so much. You will grow finely as my student.”

The human-like figure kept drawing close until it was right in front of him. It didn’t stop and passed through him. The aura swept through his body and passed through. Once it did, it dispersed.

As the wave of aura swept through him, his mind went through a very familiar process. It was the same thing that happened to him two years ago when he first encountered the tome of the Arcane Emperor.

A wave of knowledge swept his mind and anchored itself in him. He magically gained knowledge of things he didn’t know about before. It was the effect of what the Blood God did to him, of that he was sure.

The aura disappeared along with any hint that it was there in the first place. As he got up and looked around, he noticed that the place he was in completely changed. There was no shrine in front of him and the ruby slip that he had with him when he got there was gone. 

He checked for the compass that he had used to get to the temple but that was gone as well. And the room he was in had morphed into a smaller chamber. The grey, stone walls seemed to suffocate him as they were only a few meters away.

The room he was in had barely any space to move around. There was a single addition to him in the entire room – a small chest. This was not a chest like anything he had seen before.

This was made out of ruby without any other adornments. It didn’t need them though. The aura it emitted told Leo that it had an item that would be considered very precious.

He walked a single step and bent down to open it. His hands were steady as he expected nothing of great value in it. While it was definitely something precious, it wouldn’t be any of the Blood God’s greatest treasures.

After all, he was only a student and not a successor. The item he would get would still be helpful in his journey, so he was going to accept it with gratitude.

He opened the box and looked inside. There was a single necklace with a pendant. The pendant was a drop of blood made with ruby and the chain was braided gold. It was a simple necklace that wouldn’t look odd hanging on the neck of a man.

“You are very lucky, Leo. That necklace is one of the most valuable things you could have gotten from the Blood God,” she said.

She hadn’t made a single remark for a while because he suppressed her for a long time. Because of that, she hadn’t been able to see and hear the conversation between him and the Blood God about the Arcane Emperor.

Once the conversation was over and the room he was in changed, he undid the restriction he placed on her. 

He raised an eyebrow at her because of her remark. “Why is this the most valuable?”

“The strongest treasure from the Blood God’s treasury would be his halberd. But how much of its strength can a 2nd Circle Aura Knight like you hope to use? It would be a normal weapon in your hands.

But this necklace is completely different. It is valuable because it has a power higher than you that you cannot change. At my level, it is completely useless. But for you, this can be a lifesaver.”

“What does this do?” He became curious about the necklace.

“This necklace can automatically block an attack for you. It can even defend against the full-strength attack of a 7th Circle Aura Knight,” she said.

“Only a 7th Circle? It is incredibly useful to me, but it doesn’t make sense that someone that powerful has an artifact this useless to him.”

“It doesn’t just block a single attack. This can block ten attacks and can be recharged to attack more. However, you will probably not be able to charge it.” She explained.

“How would I charge it?”

“You would need to… kill 1 7th Circle, 10 6th Circle, or a hundred 5th Circle Aura Knights to fully charge it.”

He sighed. She knew that he wouldn’t prefer it because he wasn’t a huge fan of killing as he mentioned in his conversation with the Blood God.

“So, did you become his successor?” Nefrati asked him. She hadn’t been there for that part of the conversation either.