Chapter 417: Divine Blood

The overtime matches did not last forever, however. Eventually, there were 6 lizardmen victors waiting to receive Ed's power, and they appeared to be readily on standby. At least they seemed that way until they received Ed's transmission.

'Get closer to one of the red blobs' Ed transmitted.

The lizardmen who heard this couldn't help but shudder after taking a glance at the red blobs. The blobs looked confused and frightened, but the lizardmen had learned that Bloody was no simple figure. These new red blobs couldn't be any simpler!

Nonetheless, the lizardmen did as they were told and came closer to the blobs. There was evident anxiety in their steps, but Ed ignored this and sent them his next instruction.

'Eat them' He told them, causing the lizardmen to double back. Did they hear that right?

Transmission wasn't even auditory, so how exactly could they mishear? The lizardmen looked at the bloody gelatin that appeared lost with reluctance.

'Eat them, first come first serve' Ed transmitted with as friendly an intent as possible. The lizardmen finally took in a large gulp and tossed aside their grievances.

They were surrounding the six blobs on all sides and watched as they tussled with one another innocently. They couldn't be harmful... right?

The first brave lizardman was actually a lizardwoman who swept her gaze past the 6 blobs, at that moment one ran into her leg, but she ignored that one and went towards another that caught her fancy.

The phantom snake blood clot was lifted into the air and carefully assessed. These blood clots were much smaller than Bloody by default. While they weren't bite-sized, to the lizardmen they weren't far from it.

'Observe' Ed told the others watching the spectacle with expectant curiosity. After the coincidental discovery W made, how could he not mass produce these things? The best part was the discovery of new magic thanks to the sage Eon.

'If these lizardmen gain the ability to wield this magic... they just might become near invincible when facing other lizardmen' Ed didn't know much about the situation with Eon's lizardmen but he acknowledged they were strong.

W having been escorted by them witnessed their methods of attack as well as their technology which though still primitive was greater than what the orcs had ever mustered.

The lizardwoman finally took the plunge and opened her mouth to drop the squirming thing into her mouth. Thanks to their fluid nature, the lizardwoman was able to swallow the blood clot with only some difficulty.

As for the blood clot… Ed activated his sixth sense and tried to track it. When W and Bloody were in Eon's body, their consciousness could still be seen thinning out following the bloodstream.

The lizardwoman seemed fine at first, but after a short while she seemed to have a lapse of pain.

'Do not eat her!' Ed commanded to the clot, the blood clots had an instinctual thirst for blood! Thankfully, it listened and immediately ceased its actions. Ed breathed out inwardly in relief, but this highlighted an issue. He needed some commandments for these clots. For now, he thought of two important ones.

'Do NOT eat your host' The first commandment was the most important of all. Ed made sure to make it clear for all the clots.

'Prioritize both you and your host in an emergency' It was easy to tell the clots to sacrifice themselves, but it wasn't fair. Ed figured that telling all the clots to lookout for themselves and the host was a good compromise, even if it meant that in some emergencies they would have to die together.

'Slowly gather blood but only from enemies' This was something that the blood clots themselves would have to determine. After all, what was an enemy? With the first commandment, it could at least not constitute the first rule, right?

All the blood clots listened intently, and similarly, the lizardmen were observing the lizardwoman's complexion and state keenly.

The result of their keen observation was… well, nothing. There were no visible changes to the lizardwoman. This meant that while the lizardmen no longer believed the clots to be dangerous, they could not see the point.

<"Are you feeling ok?"> A lizardman that mustered up some courage asked the lizardwoman. She did a couple of simple stretches common for the lizardfolk and verified that her body was just fine.

At the same time, the lizardman stole Ed's mushroom field a glance. He was hoping the question did not offend the deity.

Ed was preoccupied with his own thoughts so he of course took no offense, not that he would have otherwise though.

'Why is there seemingly no difference?' Ed asked himself, pondering back on his own memories. The sickly Brennan was able to move around normally in spite of what appeared to be weeks of confinement and decay.

'Hm? Maybe that's the problem…' The lizardmen were too healthy. If the blood clots mainly helped with the regeneration and healing of the body, then it made sense that there was no notable difference.

The lizardmen felt a sudden sense of impending danger, but it was a fleeting feeling. Ed's thoughts quickly circled back to the matter at hand.

Another consideration was dosage. Ed had purposefully made the clots smaller this time, but their size correlated directly to their strength. These clots were weaker and skill-less.

'Originally, I wanted to observe them without the skills…' Ed wanted to see if the blood integration would manifest. When the change of plan occurred, however, he still saw it fit not to give them any skills.

'If I did, they might activate them and kill the host, but…' Perhaps that was the wrong call, he was getting ahead of himself. To begin with, unless the blood clots had blood integration, they wouldn't offer any help to the host. 

This all called for a change in strategy, which in turn meant a change in the recently created commandments.

'New rules! Slowly eat the blood of your host, enough to not make a difference' The heart of normal people already pumped out so much blood on the daily, the hearts of fantasy creatures had to be that much greater. Ed was confident that the clots could slowly gain strength inside the lizardmen without harmful side effects.

'Make sure that it won't kill them, however' He nevertheless added another clause. Its usefulness was very circumstantial. A lizardmen fighting in a battle did not need a blood clot sucking out its blood as they bled out.

Just like that, first and third commandment were combined to be more stringent. Arguably, even bits of the second command went into play.

With these modified rules, the blood clots would not kill their host and gather strength, but eventually they would learn the blood integration skill. If nothing went wrong anyway, this was an experiment after all with no guarantees.

With integration in mind, a new addition to the rules was in order.

'Do not impair their senses, sight, hearing, touch, etc. if at all possible' The clots would have to judge this for themselves but the mystical nature of the command sub-skill guaranteed that this wouldn't be exploited.

All in all, this should be plenty of help. But as a final safeguard…

'Always try to integrate with your host in a way that neither of you come to harm' Ed figured that this command could help the skill come afloat much sooner.

Exiting his own thoughts at last and having finished his transmissions, Ed looked at the lizardmen who all still seemed reluctant.

'What are you waiting for?' He transmitted, causing the lizardmen to flinch.

They took one last look at the completely fine lizardwoman before finally taking the plunge.

They all grabbed clots at random and swallowed them with a gulp. Some tried to chew the gummy-like substance, but quickly realized that was a mistake. The taste was not at all pleasant.

<"Cough cough!!!"> Some of them ended up nearly choking on the clots, but they all eventually had the thing enter their system. Unlike with the lizardwoman, apart from the pain of having the clots thin out and travel across their bloodstream, there was no significant pain.

The travel was usually performed in extremely fine amounts and the blood clots already possessed the ability to pass blood through their body. If they were smart enough, they could just substitute their veins and arteries. This way they could also put a tariff on the travel of the blood and become greater in strength and size.

After observing the lizardmen for a while longer and seeing no significant side effects, Ed made a new transmission.

'You've all been baptized with divine blood, you should not have to worry about your health anymore' Ed transmitted to them, causing the doubtful expressions of the lizardmen to instantly morph into shock and then reverence.

Divine blood! There was divine blood coursing through their body! They felt entirely unworthy of such a privilege. All they did was struggle to pronounce some unfamiliar words!

The reverent lizardmen each showed their gratitude differently. Some groveled before the field of mushroom, while others simply bowed or prostrated themselves before it.

'No need to be so grateful, pay me back by taking care of the blood in your bodies' Ed transmitted, causing them all to suddenly remember something.

<" Eh, right, it's alive…"> The blood was an independent being that may or may not cooperate with them. There was a tinge of fear etched into their hearts. They could very well die if they mistreated the blood! What a ridiculous notion!

Ed was satisfied with their reactions and dismissed them. He would make plans to bring them back for another lesson and study the development of these blood clots later.