With the Thorned Ridge finally quiet, the remnants of the Thorned Snakes scattered and burnt to a crisp, Rhydian descended from the sky. She landed heavily in the midst of the carnage she had caused, the earth trembling beneath her weight.
She surveyed the battlefield, her gaze lingering on the deceased patriarch of the Thorned Snakes.
Her colossal paws walked over the scorched earth, crunching over the ashes of her enemies. The sight of their destroyed bodies only made Rhydian hungrier. She wasted no time in satisfying her hunger, devouring the remains of the Thorned Snakes with a certain voraciousness that only a beast of her stature could display.
She fed on the fallen, each bite absorbing their essence, their strength merging with hers. Every mouthful was a feast of Qi, the energy filling her and fueling her to continue.
Meanwhile, Mira watched from afar, an approving smile playing on her lips. She flew over to Rhydian and landed next to her, putting Hana on the ground.
"As promised, your reward," Mira said as she took out a globule of Celestial Nectar. However, she didn't give it to Rhydian directly. Instead, she walked over to the Patriarch snake and carefully removed its Blood Essence.
"At first, I thought about giving you the Celestial Nectar in its raw form," Mira said while she combined the two, purifying the snake's Blood Essence. "But, there's still much I don't know about the Celestial Nectar. So, I figured I'd run a few tests before handing it over. Who knows, this might be better for you."
Since Rhydian's bloodline was already incredibly pure, her talent almost unmatched amongst beasts, a bit of Celestial Nectar was probably useless for her. Even if she gave her a bucket full of it, Mira didn't think it'd have much effect.
However, since beasts don't usually cultivate by using techniques and improve their strength by ingesting meat, blood, plants, treasures, etc., Mira was curious if purifying a beast's Blood Essence would improve Rhydian's cultivation more or not.
Technically, by purifying it, she was elevating the Blood Essence's 'potential' by removing the impurities. By how much? She wasn't sure.
Mira doubted she could do it indefinitely and figured a bloodline could only be improved so much before it hit a barrier, as seen with the Basilisk, but she wanted to find out.
After a few minutes, Mira held out the newly formed globule of purified Blood Essence imbued with Celestial Nectar. The smell of the potent energy wafted through the air, instantly catching Rhydian's attention.
The golden wolf turned her gaze towards Mira, her golden eyes widened at the sight of the precious reward. She approached Mira slowly, almost cautiously, not wanting to accidentally upset her in her eagerness.
"Go ahead, Rhydian," Mira said. "This is your reward."
With a nod, Rhydian extended her tongue and gently took the globule from Mira's hand. She took a moment to savor the unfamiliar yet enticing scent of the combination before swallowing it whole.
The moment it entered her body, Rhydian felt a surge of powerful energy coursing through her. It was like a dam had broken within her, the energy rushing to every part of her body, filling her with a sense of strength.
She let out a low growl, her body trembling as she absorbed the massive influx of energy. Her fur stood on end, bristling with the raw power coursing through her.
It was clear that the mixture of the purified Blood Essence and the Celestial Nectar was far more potent than what she had expected. It wasn't painful, but it was surprising, and Rhydian had to concentrate to ensure that she didn't let a bit of it go to waste.
As the energy gradually settled within her body, Rhydian noticed changes happening. Her body seemed to become denser, her muscles more defined, and she grew in size. Her senses felt sharper, and her connection to the elements around her was clearer than ever before.
She directly broke through to Mid-Stage Rank 7, but there was still plenty of energy left over. Still, that wasn't enough for her. Staring down at the Patriarch's body, her eyes gleamed as she devoured it voraciously, and within seconds, its body was in her stomach, dissolving into pure energy.
However, Rhydian didn't stop there. Eyeing the rest of the snake corpses, she opened her mouth and inhaled them in large mouthfuls.
Now with a steady stream of energy entering her body, her cultivation naturally advanced rapidly. Her body grew once more, radiating a power that was even more terrifying than it was a few minutes ago.
Normally, it'd take Rhydian days, if not weeks or months, to digest this much energy, but the Celestial Nectar Mira had combined with the Patriarchs Blood Essence, the catalyst for this influx of power, seemed to make the process much smoother. It helped her digest the pure energy and remove the impurities contained within it, which was what her body naturally did when she entered periods of hibernation.
Her cultivation stopped at Late-Stage Rank 7, not far away from the peak.
Mira nodded in satisfaction, a slight smile tugging at her lips.
With this success, Mira felt a rush of excitement. There were still so many other powerful beasts on the map Maria had given her. This was just the beginning of their journey to strengthen Rhydian and eventually ascend her to Rank 8.
However, she had a few questions she needed to ask Rhydian, who was getting used to her new power.
"How'd you feel about that Blood Essence? Do you think it was able to reach the Mystic-Grade after I purified it?" Mira asked.
Rhydian heard Mira's voice and stopped what she was doing, falling into contemplation. It took her a few minutes to reach a conclusion before she sent her response (which was just her intent, not actual words) to Mira's head.
'I don't know. I've never eaten a beast with a Mystic-Grade bloodline.'
Mira facepalmed, as that wasn't much of an answer, so instead, she asked, "Then, do you think it breached the limits of a Sovereign-Grade bloodline?"
Rhydian nodded her head.
"What do you think I could've done to increase its potency?"
This time, Rhydian took even longer to answer, as she was a bit confused by Mira's question. She tilted her head as if to say, 'How would I know?' but Mira clearly didn't accept that, so she made an effort to think about it.
'...Add more bloodlines?' Was the only thing she could come up with.
"..."
Mira's eyes widened, her mind spinning at a million kilometers per hour, and after running several simulations, they widened even further.
"Damn! Why didn't I think of that?!" Mira shouted, feeling like an idiot.
It was such an obvious answer, but it didn't even enter her mind beforehand.
'Of course, adding more bloodlines would increase its potency!'
Celestial Nectar's purpose, at its core, was to "purify". Doing that on something filled with impurities would naturally lessen the quantity. So, while the quality may have improved, the quantity actually diminished by a relatively significant amount.
Doing this on beasts with lower-grade bloodlines, they might lose over 90% of their Blood Essence during the purification process! For something where losing even 1% of it was a big deal, this was a huge problem.
Naturally, a Sovereign-Grade Bloodline couldn't become a Mystic-Grade one just by quality alone. There also needed to be a sufficient quantity of it!
"It seems you're not as stupid as you look, little wolf!" Mira exclaimed as she knocked Rhydian's head. "I figured you were nothing more than a fat lug who only knows how to freeload, but I guess I underestimated you. You CAN actually use your brain for something other than looking for ways to be lazy!"
…A bittersweet feeling rose in Rhydian's chest as she couldn't tell whether Mira was insulting her or not. But since it was a rare moment where Mira said something 'nice' for a change, she just decided to accept it and move on.
"Alright!" She clapped her hands and jumped on Rhydian's back with Hana, "It's time to put your theory to the test!"
'My theory?' Rhydian tilted her head in confusion but didn't transmit her thoughts. 'What do you mean, my theory?! This was clearly your conclusion!'
"Let's move, Rhydian," Mira commanded, her voice resonating with an air of authority. "The Sky-Torn Hawks await us."
With a low growl of acknowledgment, Rhydian followed suit. Her golden form vanished from the Thorned Ridge, leaving behind only the remnants of their bloody battle.
***
[A/N: Alright, my fellow readers! It's almost that time! Time for me to unveil Rhydian's human form! I know, I know. I can't wait to show it off either, but I'd actually like to have your opinions. What sort of things do you want to see or maybe, don't want to see? I already have an image of her in my mind, but if I like your idea, I might implement it as long as it's nothing too crazy and is in line with what I was thinking.]
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