Early morning.
The first rays of sunlight pierced through the thin mist above East City.
The underground laboratory at No. 12 Golden Oak Street had been lit all night.
Ian sat before his workbench, his eyes bloodshot but sharp as a hawk’s.
On the table lay the draft of the fusion formula he had just completed last night.
The room was saturated with the dense fluctuations of the Earth Element. Last night, he had rushed to refine the Blood Essence of the Earth Barbarian Bear and the Rock Armor Demon Bear.
Gaga was curled up on a small cushion in the corner of the workbench, sleeping soundly.
The shadow-like patterns on its back rose and fell gently with its breathing.
Ian’s gaze fell on the core section of the formula draft, his fingertip tapping lightly on the refining steps he had just finished devising.
The main ingredient for this new Potion was the complete Blood Essence of an entire Earth Barbarian Bear, which contained an extremely faint trace of the Earth Rule.
Also required were three portions of Rock Armor Demon Bear Blood Essence, purified to Tier One quality.
Added to this was one portion of Tier Two Rock Lizard Shedding Powder, which contained the "Adaptive Transformation" characteristic, enhancing the Potion’s compatibility.
He had also made some adjustments to the auxiliary materials.
One hundred grams of Earth Vein Crystal Powder with a purity of over 99%; two hundred milliliters of Thousand-Year Stone Milk, which needed to be collected from an Earth Vein node at dawn; and a complete rootstock of the Iron Spine Vine King, with its living tissue preserved.
Five-Hundred-Year Stone Heart Vine Marrow and Moon Soul Essence were still needed as an energy regulator and a buffering medium.
Ian’s gaze lingered for a moment on the item "Complete Rootstock of the Iron Spine Vine King."
This was supposed to be one of the most difficult materials to obtain. The Iron Spine Vine King typically grew in the depths of the Earth Veins and was extremely aggressive.
The rootstock of a mature Vine King had a defensive strength equivalent to that of a Level Two Late Stage Body Refining Wizard.
But among the last batch of materials Ashia sent, there was actually a piece of it.
Although it was only the length of a palm, its roots were intact, and the skin was still covered in fresh soil, clearly having been gathered recently.
"Ashia... she’s really spared no expense for this alliance."
Ian muttered to himself, pulling his focus back to the formula.
He had already perfected the formula and deduced its effects.
He had named this Potion the [Earth Tyrant Potion].
This potion had completely broken free from the framework of the original two potions.
It was centered on the special effect of the third Limit-Breaking of [Original Blood Origin Tracing], deeply fusing the "origin information" of the two bear bloodlines.
Then, it used complex Earth Vein materials to solidify this fusion at the Rule level.
After consumption, it wouldn’t be a simple "enhancement" of the body, but a complete sublimation from the physical form to the very bloodline.
The potion’s first effect was permanent body enhancement.
Power would be boosted to the level of a Level Two Late Stage Body Refining Wizard, capable of tearing through Refined Gold with bare hands.
The skin would gain a natural defense equivalent to a "Level Two Initial Stage Force Field."
Bone density and toughness would reach the level of a Tier Two Extraordinary Creature.
The second special effect was an enhanced version of Earth Resonance: [Child of the Earth Veins].
It would grant a permanent "Earth Vein Affinity," doubling the effectiveness of Earth Witchcraft when standing on the ground.
Physical impacts would be automatically conducted deep into the Earth Veins to reduce damage, and the user would be able to vaguely perceive the movements of medium-sized and larger creatures, as well as the flow of inner Earth Veins, within a radius of several dozen kilometers.
What interested Ian the most was an active ability he had specifically derived: Ussa’s Body.
The user would be able to activate "Ussa Incarnation" once per day for five minutes.
During the incarnation, the phantom of an ancient giant bear would appear behind the user. The phantom’s silhouette would synchronize with the user’s movements, enhancing their attack range and presence.
They would gain the "Earth Vein Carrying" special effect, transferring half of all damage taken to the Earth Veins.
Power would be further enhanced by 500%, and attacks would gain a "Shock Wave" effect, allowing them to be conducted through objects.
"This is... a perfect Bloodline Potion!"
Ian put down his feather pen and took a deep breath.
’But this is all just theoretical deduction, still only on paper.’
’To actually brew it, I still need to solve a few key problems.’
’First, the deep fusion of the origin information from the two bloodlines.’
’The Earth Barbarian Bear Blood Essence contains the "Earth Vein Origin" mark—heavy, domineering, and close to a Rule.’
’The Rock Bear, on the other hand, has the "Flowing Solid Rock" mark—resilient, malleable, with the ultimate defense on a material level.’
’The two are fundamentally from the same source, but their manifestations are vastly different.’
’Forcibly fusing them would, at minimum, cause the potion’s properties to conflict. At worst, it could trigger a bloodline backlash, causing the user’s body to collapse.’
’Also, there’s the matter of guiding the [Original Blood Origin Tracing] special effect...’
’This is the core of the potion, and also the greatest difficulty.’
’I’ll need to use my own Spiritual Power as a medium to guide the "origin information" of the two bloodlines, allowing them to resonate, merge, and finally solidify within the Alchemy Array.’
’This process requires timing precise down to the millisecond and a preliminary understanding of Earth Rule Fragments.’
’The final step: constructing the Alchemy Array at an Earth Vein node.’
When he modified the formula, he had cleverly planned to use an Earth Vein node to set up the bloodline Alchemy Array.
Although the underground laboratory at No. 12 Golden Oak Street was near a small tributary of an Earth Vein, it didn’t count as a "living node."
Ian would first need to find a suitable location, set up a Guiding Array, and temporarily draw over the Earth Vein Energy.
Each one of these problems would be enough to stump the vast majority of Tier Two Alchemists.
But there was no fear in Ian’s eyes, only the eager excitement of someone ready to take on a challenge.
Outside the laboratory, the footsteps of early morning pedestrians began to sound on Golden Oak Street.
Gaga rolled over, groggily opened its eyes, and saw Ian still sitting at the workbench. It tilted its small head.
"Ian, you haven’t slept, gaga?"
"Almost done," Ian replied without opening his eyes, his voice a bit hoarse.
Gaga flapped its wings and flew to his shoulder, its small claws gently tugging at his collar.
"You’re too tired. You should rest."