A Chemist's Interstellar Saga

Chapter 125: The Test (2)
Chapter 125: The Test (2)

”Drexel, bloodline purity undetermined. Next.”

Drexel stared at him, mouth agape. He took a deep breath, barely containing his frustration, and walked off the platform.

He looked quite upset. Then he saw Arix stepping up for her bloodline test. Letting go of his irritation, he smiled. He clenched his fist, and gave Arix an encouraging gesture.

Arix smiled back at Drexel. She then refocused, feeling both excited and nervous, and stepped to the center of the platform.

As Arix stood there, energy began to flow from the forehead of the tiger statue, swirling around her. This energy seemed particularly pleased with Arix, circling her more times than it had for any of the other cubs before.

The crowd watched in amazement.

”It’s the first time I’ve seen the statue so fond of a cub. It’s already gone around six times! Even Donovan only got three.”

”Do you think this unusual behavior means this cub could have a level seven bloodline purity?”

”Dream on! Our clan hasn’t had a level-seven Celesterror Lord for generations. I’d be satisfied with a level six purity today.”

”Yeah, that’s true.”

Arix also sensed the energy. Strangely, it felt very familiar to her. It reminded her of Vita, Cupid, and even Sophia.

Arix’s bright blue eyes widened in shock and uncertainty as she looked at the statue. The energy felt exactly like the fused psychic power of Vita and the others!

When she had planned to assassinate Quispe, she had made the trio manifest a scalpel, and this energy felt exactly the same.

Just as Arix was about to ask Vita and the others, something unexpected happened. The energy aimed at her forehead, likely to make a tiny pinprick to extract a drop of blood.

But Cupid didn’t know that. In her psychic world, Cupid, who had been asleep, was jolted awake just before the energy touched Arix’s forehead.

Mistaking the approaching energy for an attack, Cupid got furious and, with overwhelming power, swallowed the energy in one gulp.

Yes, he swallowed it.

The sudden disappearance of the energy left the Holy Temple in dead silence. The Tiger clan members were clueless about what had just happened. They only knew that the statue’s energy had abruptly vanished.

The crowd watched the statue’s energy abruptly vanish, then exchanged puzzled glances before looking up at the tiger statue again. The ancestral figure seemed unusually lively today, having teased them twice already. Earlier, despite being a dual-color bloodline purity test, the statue had at least given a result. But now, it had skipped even the step of drawing a drop of forehead blood.

No one suspected Arix since she was just a little cub. They all thought the statue was playing tricks on them again.

But Arix knew exactly what had happened.

Suppressing a scream that almost escaped her throat, she hurriedly communicated with Cupid in her mind, ”Cupid, you can’t eat it! Spit it out, quick!”

Cupid blinked in confusion but obediently expelled the energy.

Seeing the visibly smaller energy orb, Arix sighed in relief. Smaller or not, at least it was still there.

Once she felt reassured, Arix explained to Cupid, ”It’s okay. It’s not an enemy. Let it poke you.”

”Got it,” Cupid replied cheerfully.

Fortunately, the energy lacked consciousness. After being spat out, it hesitated for only a few seconds before continuing with the task of drawing Arix’s forehead blood.

Once it had the drop of blood, the energy returned to the statue’s forehead.

Seeing the energy safely return, Arix finally felt completely at ease.

Today’s test had been quite the rollercoaster—first Drexel’s antics, then her almost making the statue’s energy disappear.

Arix nervously touched her nose, thinking that the statue must feel quite unlucky to deal with siblings like them.

It was a good thing the energy had no consciousness; otherwise, the Holy Temple might soon post a sign banning Arix, Drexel, and any other troublemakers from entering.

Amused by her own thoughts, Arix suppressed her laughter and asked internally, ”Sophia, Vita, Cupid, was it just my imagination? That energy seemed exactly like ours.”

Before Vita or Sophia could respond, Cupid smacked his lips and said, ”When I swallowed that energy, it did feel like I was eating a part of myself. So it was the same.”

Arix curled her lips. ’Cupid, you’ve really exposed us here, you know that?’

Feeling exasperated, Arix realized she’d better get more Insectoid Cores to keep the gluttonous Cupid from trying to eat everything, including himself.

Vita chuckled and ruffled Cupid’s hair, while Sophia gave Cupid a speechless glance before answering Arix’s question.

”That energy should be the residual psychic power of the original clan leader. You’re his descendant, so it’s not surprising that it’s similar,” Sophia explained, as if stating a simple fact like 1+1=2.

But Arix shivered at what she heard. ’Residual psychic power from the first clan leader? Does that mean the temple is haunted?’

Noticing Arix’s thoughts, Sophia rolled her eyes and said, ”It’s just pure psychic power, no soul, and it’s definitely not a haunting. The first Tiger lord must have poured all his psychic power into this statue before dying. Every year, descendants offer a drop of their blood for testing, and the pure psychic power in that blood keeps the statue energized.”

Hearing such a logical explanation, Arix sighed in relief. Then she remembered she had also offered a drop of her blood and frowned with concern. ”Does the offering have any effects?” she asked worriedly.

Thinking about offerings, Arix’s mind wandered to all sorts of sacrificial practices throughout history, from ancient human sacrifices that left the victim intact to those that didn’t even leave ashes. The more she thought about it, the more terrified she became, her face turning pale.

”None at all,” Sophia replied flatly. ”Drinking a cup of milk should replenish you.”

Arix was surprised, and she fell in silence.

If something as simple as drinking milk could make up for it, there was no need to make it sound so terrifying.