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Of course, one difference this time was that Gu Qingluo was now by his side.

Every day at dusk, Gu Qingluo would go to the Origin Energy Tower and keep him company, further deepening their understanding of one another.

From this aspect, Su Chen was a terrible boyfriend. Gu Qingluo was almost always the one taking the initiative; Su Chen was always buried in his research.

This had a lot to do with the instruction that Shi Kaihuang had given him when he was still a new student.

That time, Su Chen had vowed to break through the bloodline restrictions for Gu Qingluo’s sake. It was Shi Kaihuang who had forced him to reexamine his own goals and pursuits.

Otherwise, now that Gu Qingluo had returned, Su Chen’s vow would’ve been annulled. If his only goal was to chase after Gu Qingluo, how could he still spend every day mired in research? He had taken Shi Kaihuang’s words about “If you can make a vow for a girl today, you can break that vow for a girl another day” to heart.

This was because he was now studying to bring the whole human race to prominence. Even though he had a girlfriend now, he continued to pursue and press forwards on his own path, not allowing any environmental changes to shake him.

With Master Patelocke’s guidance, Su Chen’s speed of research soared.

Another year went by.

Today, Su Chen was still in his research lab performing his experiments.

A prepared portion of hyacinth pollen was carefully poured into a flask, mixing with the blue liquid inside. A flame appeared on the hand grasping the bottom of the flask, beginning to heat it. The intensity of the flames fluctuated, constantly adjusting the temperature of the vial. The liquid inside began to change and react to the heat as more ingredients were added to the mixture one after another.

“Add the Indigo Lizard Blood!” Su Chen said.

Iron Cliff grabbed a nearby Indigo-Blooded Lizard and pinched its neck. The lizard spat out its tongue, which Iron Cliff poked a hole in. A few drops of Indigo Lizard Blood fell into the flask, causing a plume of white smoke to bloom from the flask.

The flames on Su Chen’s hand disappeared, transforming into frost instead, encasing the entire flask in ice and only leaving a small hole at the flask’s opening.

The white smoke flowed out of the flask continuously as if it had physical substance. After the condensing from the frost, the smoke had become thicker, slowly flowing out like water into another vial that had been set aside beforehand.

Only once all of the medicinal ingredients in the flask had been converted into this white smoke and collected by Su Chen was the process finished.

“Whew! I’ve finally completed the Flowing Jade Smoke,” Su Chen sighed as he raised the flask in his hand.

“Congratulations, master. Finishing the Flowing Jade Smoke means that the Hemolytic Totem has begun the preliminary stages of development. Once you add the Shadow Substance, it should probably be close to a usable form,” Patelocke said to Su Chen from the stone tablet.

“Mmm. This is thanks to you divulging the secret method for cultivating Hemolytic Swordsmen,” Su Chen replied.

Hemolytic Swordsmen had emerged during the Ancient Arcana Kingdom time period as a way for masters to increase the strength of their servants by altering their servants’ existing bloodlines. However, it had severe side effects, and the strength increase was limited. Even so, it was still used as an effective way to increase a common person’s strength. Many who knew that they had reached the limit of their future potential were often willing to become Hemolytic Swordsmen.

In the beginning, Su Chen hadn’t been interested in fostering any servants; after all, he only had Iron Cliff, and turning him into a Hemolytic Swordsman would greatly decrease his lifespan. Thus, Su Chen had only taken a look at it out of curiosity.

However, upon closer inspection, he found that the method for developing Hemolytic Swordsmen had some similarities to the insights he had gleaned from the Ferocious Race youths concerning the creation of Totemic Inscriptions. Both relied on external transformation to increase a person’s combat strength.

One difference was that the Ferocious Race’s Totemic Inscriptions method was much simpler and cruder, but it was only really useful for the Ferocious Race, who possessed innately powerful physiques. Creating Hemolytic Swordsmen was much more complex, and it took a heavy toll on an individual’s lifespan. However, it was suitable for anyone to use.

Thus, Su Chen had begun to research how to combine these two techniques, which he decided to call the Hemolytic Totem.

The principle was still the same: sometimes, breakthroughs came from the most unexpected places.

Doing scientific research is often a textbook example of trying hard to get lucky.

Su Chen was researching many different topics simultaneously. The Hemolytic Totem was the least important out of all of them, but he had made the most significant breakthrough in something that he really hadn’t expended much effort on researching.

Holding the Flowing Jade Smoke in his hands, Su Chen was silent for a moment before he shook his head. “I’m really going off on a tangent. If Instructor finds out, he’ll tell me that I’m too distracted again.”

“The more higher-end certain knowledge is, the more foundational knowledge you will need to have. Though this may seem like a tangential path right now, it may serve as a base for a magnificent breakthrough,” Patelocke said.

“I agree with what you’ve said, but it’s just a possibility in the end, isn’t it?” Su Chen replied.

“In the quest for knowledge, there’s no such thing as an absolute guarantee,” Patelocke replied.

Su Chen thought for a moment, then laughed, “That’s true. No matter what, making a breakthrough in my research of Hemolytic Totem is a good thing. Next, I need to start testing it out on people. Dang it, I still have a lack of research targets!”

He rubbed his head, feeling a headache coming.

Because Hemolytic Totem was a technique that relied on external transformation to increase a person’s strength, Su Chen once again felt regret over the recent lack of research subjects.

“I don’t know why, but it’s been quite calm recently. Not a single person has come to make trouble for you,” Iron Cliff said.

“That’s right. Didn’t Old Bai’s clan want their secret technique back? Why have they gone quiet all of a sudden?” Su Chen asked

“Perhaps it’s because you never really go outside,” Iron Cliff said.

“That can’t be it.” Su Chen shook his head. “I’ve been going on walks with Qingluo almost every night, and I’ve left the Hidden Dragon Institute numerous times as well.”

“Then they’re afraid of you. You got a Second-Tier Hero’s Medal, after all. If they killed you, there’d be a lot of trouble headed their way. The Thunder Blade incident was just a small matter comparatively; it isn’t worth it to take such a large risk.”

“That’s a shame. So many Nobility Clans, but none of them have any bravery,” Su Chen sighed as he shook his head.

Other people might be afraid of making enemies and offending others; however, to Su Chen, who was in desperate need of research subjects, he hoped to make enemies and offend others. He could only lament the fact that he didn’t have an offensive face.

“Instructor said that I would be surrounded by enemies once I chose to walk down this path, but there don’t seem to be any,” Su Chen mumbled. “Maybe I should go and make some trouble on my own?”

Iron Cliff was just about to respond when Su Chen said, “Forget it, that’s not right. Making enemies for the sake of finding more research subjects is just a more subtle way of capturing them outright. That’s against my principles, so I can’t do that. Iron Cliff, if I think this way again, you need to remind me. We need to have a bottom line when we do things.”

“Yes, sir.” Iron Cliff nodded his head seriously.

Just as Su Chen was contemplating the situation, Cloud Leopard spoke up from outside.

“Instructor wants to see you.”