I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 557: Blood of Sarin

But if this worked, if Magnus’s cryptic hint and the System’s alternative solution proved viable.

Then the necrosis would become an irrelevant problem solved through means that also advanced his capabilities beyond simple healing.

An hour later, Loryn returned carrying a ceramic bowl filled with dark liquid that gleamed with otherworldly luminescence.

The divine essence exhibited a viscous, syrupy consistency, with its surface reflecting light.

A profound depth extending beyond the physical confines of the vessel.

”The preparation is complete,” Loryn stated, offering the bowl to Jack with both hands. ”All four fruits have been processed, and the sap has been extracted with maximum efficiency. This represents the tree’s entire yield. Nothing was wasted.”

Jack accepted the bowl, feeling its weight settle into his left hand. The liquid inside seemed to pulse with a power that transcended simple magical potency, approaching divine essence concentrated into a liquid.

Then he reached into his System storage, consciousness interfacing with dimensional space, where he kept various items accumulated through his tower progression.

His awareness immediately located what he needed.

A demon heart, one of hundreds he’d harvested during his time binding creatures to his service.

The organ materialized in his grip, still fresh despite having been stored outside normal time.

Jack’s fingers closed around it, enhanced strength crushing the tissue until blood began seeping from ruptured chambers.

He held the heart over the bowl, letting demon blood drip into the God’s Blood in a steady stream. The two liquids should have remained separate.

Demon essence and divine ichor operate on fundamentally different principles, making easy mixing unlikely.

However, the God’s Blood exhibited superior potency, with its intrinsic properties extending beyond mere divine categorization to actively assimilate and integrate any substance it came into contact with.

The demon blood darkened as it touched the luminescent liquid, then was absorbed completely, the God’s Blood’s color deepening as it incorporated the mortal essence into its divine framework.

Loryn watched this process with obvious curiosity, his hollow eyes tracking the mixing liquids with professional interest

After all, the Mad Scientist always was curious when he saw something new and fascinating.

But he asked no questions, recognizing that explaining would be Jack’s choice rather than the servant’s right to demand.

When the demon heart was completely drained, Jack dismissed it back into storage and turned his attention to Loryn with commands that needed to be delivered before he consumed the mixture.

”Send a message to the twentieth floor clan,” Jack stated, his tone carrying authority that made even an ancient demon stand straighter.

”Tell them I accept their submission and expect regular tribute. One million Death Tokens delivered before the Blood Moon rises, and they must bring me a baron or higher-ranked demon alive. Those are the terms of living under my rule rather than being eliminated as an example.”

Loryn’s lips curved into a smile that showed more skull than flesh, dark satisfaction bleeding into his expression at the casual demand for such enormous tribute.

”They’ll comply,” he predicted with certainty. ”Fear of elimination makes even proud demons remarkably generous with resources they’d normally guard zealously.”

”Good,” Jack confirmed. ”Now leave and ensure no one enters this room. I don’t care what happens outside. Screaming, explosions, and structural damage to the castle. No one interrupts what I’m about to do until I emerge. Understood?”

”Perfectly, Master,” Loryn replied, executing a slight bow before departing from the throne room. The massive doors closed behind him with a heavy thud, leaving Jack alone with the bowl of mixed blood and the transformation he was about to undergo.

Jack settled onto his throne, the obsidian surface cool against his back as he arranged himself as comfortably as possible, given the rigid weight of his blackened arm.

He held the bowl in his left hand, staring at the dark liquid that represented the convergence of divine essence and demonic corruption.

Then he raised it to his lips and drank.

The taste was indescribable.

The liquid burned as it went down, not with heat but with fundamental energy that made his enhanced constitution struggle to process what was entering his system.

His vision flashed with System notifications before he’d even finished draining the bowl.

[You have consumed God’s Blood Tree. Made from the Blood of Sarin.]

[4.7% Total Consumption]

[1/21 Trees Absorbed]

Jack’s eyes widened at the percentage calculation, his mind immediately understanding the implication.

Twenty-one trees total, each one representing roughly five percent of the total consumption.

This wasn’t just drinking divine essence.

He was consuming Sarin’s blood, reconstituted through mystical trees the mad god had created millennia ago.

Movement in his peripheral vision drew his attention to where Loryn had left the small tree after extracting its contents.

The two-foot plant was withering, its bark cracking and flaking away as if it had endured centuries of decay in seconds.

The branches curled inward, leaves turning brown and crumbling to dust, until the entire structure collapsed in on itself.

In a matter of moments, only a faint outline of the tree’s previous location remained, which rapidly dissipated until no trace of its existence could be found.

The tree was erased from existence once its purpose had been fulfilled and its essence consumed by someone.

Then the second notification appeared.

[+1 Demonic Essence]

[1000/1000]

[Demonic Threshold Met]

[Demonic Transformation Beginning...]

[3...]

[2...]

[1...]

Jack braced himself, preparing for whatever change was about to occur.

His muscles tensed, his consciousness focused inward to track the transformation as it progressed through his system.

Nothing happened.

Seconds passed in silence, Jack’s heightened awareness detecting no change in his physiology or power levels.

The countdown had completed but produced no visible effect, leaving him sitting on his throne with a blackened arm and growing confusion about why the System’s ominous announcement had resulted in nothing.

He began to relax, tension bleeding from his posture as he concluded that the transformation might be delayed or require an additional catalyst to...

Pain.

This was agony on a scale that transcended anything Jack had experienced in his entire existence, drilling through every nerve ending simultaneously with a force that made conscious thought nearly impossible.

This experience made the red lightning experience Jack endured seem trivial.

His body convulsed, muscles spasming so violently that he pitched forward off the throne to crash onto the floor on all fours. His scream tore from his throat with volume that should have been impossible for human vocal cords, the sound reverberating through the throne room and beyond into the castle’s corridors.

[Demonic Transformation: 1%]

The notification appeared in his vision, barely visible through the pain that was consuming his awareness.

One percent.

If this was one percent, if the agony he was experiencing represented the transformation’s beginning rather than its peak...

His bones began expanding.

The calcium deposits in his skeleton were multiplying and hardening, making his entire frame feel as if it were being torn apart from the inside.

His spine elongated, vertebrae adding length that forced his torso to extend.

His legs stretched, femurs and tibias thickening to support increased height and mass.

The pain intensified beyond what he’d thought possible, his enhanced constitution struggling to maintain consciousness as fundamental changes rewrote his physical structure on a cellular level.