Fawr reached the destination he had been eager to go to. It took him over an hour to find this place. Who could blame him? The library never seemed like a location you would visit when everything was readily available online. He even had to make a library ID card, after which he went through the many halls of books that no one had seemingly touched in quite some time.
Trudging along, he found the section on rare and weird magic arts that were only derived due to individuals' unique and weird talents over the years. The DNA manipulation talent popped up repeatedly, but applying it in combat seemed negligible initially. Fawr had his own ideas, as he had the blood arts that fit surprisingly well with DNA manipulation.
"Here it is, the book of bloodlines? I guess DNA has some form of correlation to this term. Hang on, Tian, much like how Beasts can gain skills and understanding with the help of their bloodlines. Would it be possible to manipulate that same DNA to gain skills and understanding of myself and the beasts I slay?" Questions Fawr.
"This seems possible, although only you can figure this out yourself. There weren't many shapeshifters with DNA analysis, so studies into this niche area are slim. It is possible to understand a whole organism just from its strand of DNA. The beast we Vampires chose to blood shift into most was the bat. This was due to our understanding of them being the highest as it was passed down from generation to generation. I'm only guessing, but it was mainly due to their sound abilities and being active at night that it became our shift of choice.," contemplated Tian.
"Look here! It is stated that the bloodlines were prominent in the Era of Mages, a time when even Vampires were looked up to as noble bloodline sorcerers. It states a rare type of Bloodline mage, known as a Bloodline Shifter Mage. These mages were capable of wielding various bloodlines. It explains that one of the drawbacks of normal shape shifting was that it never gave the user the exact abilities of what they shifted into. Bloodline shifters, on the other hand, would circumvent that. The Bloodline shifters, while taking on the form of a creature, could utilise the bloodline techniques of the creature themselves. Due to this, these individuals would collect multiple bloodlines," Fawr repeated from the book.
"That reminds me, we once had a divine sorcerer with a shapeshifting talent and extreme compatibility with the blood arts. He became one of the strongest fighters in Vampire existence. If we can find the ruins of the Empire, we can unearth his legacy. With his legacy and your DNA talents, you would need a drop of blood to fully understand any creature's bloodline. You won't have to worry about how diluted its blood is. As your powers grow, you can rinse out the most powerful bloodlines from even the most common creatures on this continent," stated Tian in anticipation.
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"This is great, but I need some magic incantations right now. There should be some form of discrete DNA-based magic that can be used. I have no attacking methods other than my lightning arts, which I'm not proficient in. My power base has not stabilised. I can't use the blood arts, as I would be hunted down as a heretic. I could shift into creatures, but I have no superior-quality beast blood. I can't look into DNA strands just yet."
"If you can't use quality, why not opt for quantity? DNA manipulation seems very compatible with Alchemy. What I'm telling you right now was even considered quite taboo in my time, but you have all the pieces to pull it off. As you study your DNA, you can also learn alchemy to create clones from worldly elements. However, as you know, these would not have any souls, so to speak. However, you can send strands of your soul-infused blood into the clones and control it without any issues. These would be even more powerful than any summoning art like the shadow clone technique from Japan. They will have your abilities and can be used for recon or battle. Hahaha, this is brilliant. Only you could pull off such magic. These alchemy clones can shapeshift themselves, become stronger, and even with thousands of clones, your soul will still be strong enough to control them. Once those alchemy clones are done cultivating, you can reintegrate them with your main body to strengthen your soul and physique," Tian continued further.
"With Alchemy Forging Magic, you can manipulate the elements, make potions and forge weapons; it's the ultimate auxiliary magic. It has few direct uses in battle, so these methods are passed down freely and openly. With your intellect, you can make any battle your chessboard. With such a versatile type of magic, you can defeat even the most fearsome of enemies. Better yet, alchemy is a universal study. You can cross-reference alchemy from most legacies of humanity. Quickly look for alchemy manuals from both Eastern and Western schools of thought. The east has a whole school of thought regarding pill-making and weapon forging. You can make many battle-oriented techniques based on bio-alchemy, an offshoot of alchemy. Bio-alchemy can help your research into DNA and blood arts too. As a scholarly student at heart, this suits you the most. In the meantime, your Soul Bolt arts need to stabilise, and your blood arts can take a backseat.”
“Regarding the levels of mages, it's all dependent on your understanding of the laws. With your sharp mind, this path should be followed too. That reminds me. I recalled that we needed to look at the A.I chip transplant. It should help with studying magic and laws. Bring it out so I can take a gander at it before you do anything stupid," Tian was interested in the item gifted by the mysterious man in the store.
"Wait, when did I get an A.I chip again? My memory isn't the best right now?" Fawr was concerned.
"Ugh… don't worry about it. I will explain later."
With that, Fawr made a nervous chuckle. —This old Tian sure is dependable but also so sly to be able to think of such means. Fawr's next goal is to study alchemy. Besides school, he could only take a teleportation array to the lesser capital of Great Britain, Edinburgh, and see if he could pick up a thing or two from there. The only issue was that he needed more money to travel there. With that, he put down the book before rushing home feeling quite famished.