Death Notice

Gradually, consciousness returned. The Iceflame Demon’s anger and memories quickly faded, turning into countless memory symbols absorbed completely by Qin Lun. He also learned all of the demon’s innate abilities and combat skills.

Of course, he could not use these innate abilities and combat skills with his current body. Although the demon blood he obtained was very pure, it was only a bottle of essence blood, and the quantity was too small. There was also a big gap between his physical fitness and that of a high-rank Iceflame Demon, so he could not use most of the Iceflame Demon’s talents.

“Boom!” The pale blue ice pillar, which had already shown signs of melting, completely exploded. Ice shards shot out in all directions like machine gun bullets. Fortunately, Major Montana had already made the ordinary researchers in the laboratory evacuate, and the others had also hidden behind cover, so there were no casualties.

“Crack!” The frost covering the youth’s eyelids shattered. Qin Lun slowly opened his eyes.

The whites of his eyes showed a beautiful azure blue luster. In his right eye pupil, a silver-white clock face appeared, with its three hands slowly moving clockwise.

His left eye pupil, which should have been the garnet black-red target, now showed a strange state. A bright blue ice flame floated in the center of the black-red target, looking somewhat mysterious and eerie.

“Step…” Qin Lun took a step and walked out of the shattered Amniotic Tank. However, he immediately stumbled. Looking down, his lower legs had turned into demon feet, and the sharp hooked claws on the toes dug deeply into the metal floor, leaving a dent in the floor of the airship.

Qin Lun raised his hands, looked at his strong arms and the pair of palms like strange eagle claws, and suddenly had an idea. He reached out and grabbed a metal instrument beside him.

“Creak!” Because he had not yet adapted to his new strength in his transformed state, the metal plate on the surface of the instrument twisted and deformed like thin paper in his hand. His entire palm sank into the metal instrument, like a steel knife piercing a piece of tofu.

“Zap!” The metal instrument had its internal cables cut, and a few dazzling electric sparks jumped on the demon claw. But Qin Lun seemed completely unaware. It appeared that this demon body not only gave him unprecedented strength and defense but also high resistance to lightning.

“Congratulations, Major Gerthard!” Seeing Qin Lun’s changes, Major Montana happily stepped forward, though the Joker following behind him had a complicated expression.

“No, don’t, don’t come over. It’s, it’s not over yet!” A trace of pain suddenly appeared on Qin Lun’s face. He covered his head with his hands, bent down, and couldn’t help but let out low growls from his throat.

As the demon transformation passed its peak, a new round of changes began inside him. The Elf Bloodline, which had been suppressed by the demon essence blood until now, finally started to fight back.

Qin Lun’s azure blue skin surface quickly lost its luster, curling and cracking like the bark of a thousand-year-old tree. Thin, emerald green patterns emerged from the inside out like spider webs, starting to compete with the Demon Bloodline for control of the body.

Strangest of all, the curved and smooth Devil’s Horn on Qin Lun’s head began to sprout from the root. A dark green branch climbed and wrapped around the Devil’s Horn like a vine, and even playfully produced fingernail-sized tender leaves.

This new change made everyone in the laboratory hold their breath again, carefully and cautiously observing the trembling youth.

Fortunately, the outburst of the Elf Bloodline soon stopped. The emerald green patterns all over the youth’s body slowly retracted into his body, and the tender leaves on the Devil’s Horn quickly withered.

However, Qin Lun’s demon body was somewhat different from before. The azure blue skin had less frosty luster and more bark-like wrinkles, looking like strange demon scales.

Before the changes completely ended, under the semi-transparent skin texture, everyone could still see the crystal clear azure blue bones and the emerald green tendons spreading throughout his body like thin branches. It was as if a living plant was growing inside Qin Lun.

Although the twin horns on the youth’s head no longer had tender leaves, the dark green vine was deeply engraved into the Devil’s Horn, as if adding dark green spiral patterns to them. Even the bright blue ice flame burning fiercely between the two horns now looked like a thriving potted plant in the shape of a flame.

Qin Lun let go of his hands, breathing heavily as if he had just experienced a big battle. Sweat droplets continuously fell from his forehead. Now, with the complete fusion of the two bloodlines, his eye pupils also had new changes.

The silver-white clock face in his right eye remained the same, but the three hands looked like spirally twisted branches, with leaf-shaped tips. The garnet black-red target in his left eye completely disappeared, replaced by a pattern resembling the Yin-Yang Fish of Taiji. The left side looked like a bright blue ice flame, while the right side was a dark green ancient vine.

Qin Lun slowly straightened up. His nearly two-meter tall, robust body gradually shrank, returning to his previous size. Both the twin horns on his head and the azure blue skin began to fade. The fusion of the two bloodlines consumed most of his energy, and he could no longer maintain the Demon Transformation.

“Major Gerthard, how… how are you feeling now?” Major Montana tilted his head, carefully observing Qin Lun.

Qin Lun’s previous Demon Transformation had an aura that was violent and terrifying. Even a war fanatic like him couldn’t help but feel apprehensive.

The youth’s originally slender and somewhat thin body, though not as robust as the demon body now, had clear muscle lines. The muscle fibers moving like little mice with every gesture showed the powerful strength contained within.

“I’m fine, very fine. I’ve never felt this good before!” Qin Lun looked at his restored pale, normal palms, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and felt the powerful strength surging like a tsunami inside him.

But soon his face turned pale, and he shook his head with a bitter smile. “The earlier promotion consumed too much stamina. I feel a bit weak now, and also dehydrated.”

“Haha, no problem. The Zeppelin Airship has many recovery medicines and nutritional supplements. They will… probably be of some help to you!” Major Montana was originally very confident in the Millennium Bug’s medical technology, but remembering Qin Lun’s terrifying demon body just now, he became a bit uncertain.

“Let’s go, we’ll change to another lounge. This place… probably can’t be used anymore!” The Major glanced at the messy laboratory and shrugged helplessly.

“Qin Lun, did your promotion succeed?” Grant asked quietly in the Team Channel.

“It succeeded, and even better than I expected. The Moonlight Elf Bloodline and the Iceflame Demon Bloodline perfectly fused.” Qin Lun nodded with a smile, but recalling the earlier promotion, he still felt lingering fear in his heart.

He was very lucky. The Demon Bloodline he chose from Beruses was the Iceflame Demon, not the Flame Demon he originally considered.

Before the promotion, he forgot one thing. His Moonlight Elf Bloodline was different from ordinary Elf Bloodlines; it was actually transformed from a World Tree Fruit. Moreover, when he awakened the Ancient Inheritance in the Toril World, it also integrated the wood energy from the World Tree’s branches.

If it were a pure Flame Demon Bloodline, the wood energy inside him would be completely suppressed by fire energy. If he recklessly fused with Flame Demon essence blood, even if he didn’t die, he would lose a layer of skin. The probability of successful bloodline fusion would be so low it could be ignored, and the Second Order promotion would probably fail.

If this were in the Shattered Starry Sky, even if the promotion failed, he could still survive, but it would be very dangerous here. Judging from the promotion process, the medical technology on the Zeppelin Airship wouldn’t be of much help to him either.

From this, it could be seen how difficult it was for an Apostle to obtain a powerful bloodline and walk a new professional path. But if they followed the rules and took the promotion path that other high-rank Apostles had already walked, it might not necessarily suit them.

For example, the deceased Fortress Leader Stark and others had experienced almost several times more Quest Worlds than Qin Lun, but they always remained at the Second Order peak and never stepped into High Rank.

Was it because their resource accumulation was insufficient and they failed to perfect their skill system? Was their awareness of life and death not thorough enough?

Of course not. It was just because they relied too much on others and all sought relatively safe promotion paths. The path others succeeded on might not suit them. Take that Magician Philip for example; with his fiery temper, how could he smoothly reach High Rank by becoming a Magician who needed to remain calm at all times?

Qin Lun and the other Serial Killers were different. They were independent and unconventional, with different views on life. Like Disciple Hansen, Shepherd Hill, and others, before their Class Change, once Qin Lun reminded them, they immediately understood, discarded the combat professions they originally chose based on existing resources, and chose difficult but personality-suited new professions.

The combat style you like is the most suitable professional path for you!

This was also the biggest reason for the rapid progress of the several major Serial Killers. As long as they persisted in exploring the path most suitable for themselves—yet untrodden by others—they could allocate their limited resources most reasonably. The results they gained from passing one Quest World would take ordinary Apostles several Quest Worlds to achieve.

…

Entering a brand new Infirmary, Qin Lun threw himself onto a stretcher bed, holding a cup of juice, and let a group of medical staff handle him. However, his consciousness sank into the Death Notice, beginning to check the newly appeared prompt messages…

Meanwhile, in the previously destroyed human research laboratory, Dr. Shahil was squatting on the floor with great interest, picking up a piece of the discarded Rune Bottle fragment, and examining the extraordinary magic runes on it.

But this world only had preliminary magic laws. After the Rune Bottle shattered, it had already lost its effectiveness. He was destined to gain nothing. After examining for a long time, Dr. Shahil indeed showed a disappointed expression. He really didn’t understand the complex runes carved on the glass bottle.

However, when the doctor’s gaze shifted to the few tiny drops of bright blue ice flame beneath the fragment, he finally showed a happy smile.

Without any fuel or additives, those few drops of ice flame still burned stubbornly and diligently, emitting intense cold air that covered the nearby metal floor with a thick layer of frost.

The doctor solemnly ordered the soldiers under his command to cut out this half-foot square area of frost from the floor and store it in a specially constructed freezer.