"Now that the first one has been successfully made, how many more can be made with the remaining materials?"
"Hmm, probably... 8 more."
"Alright, that's enough for each of us to make two backup bodies. This way, I won't have to worry about that crazy girl Aoko causing trouble everywhere anymore. But we can't tell her that even if she dies, she can be resurrected. Otherwise, who knows if that brat will tear the sky apart, and I can't fix that."
"Relax, relax, you're Touko, not Nüwa."
"Nüwa? Oh, you mean the goddess who mended the sky in Chinese mythology."
"I remember the legend in Chinese mythology says that humanity was molded from clay by Nüwa. Don't you think what we're doing now is quite similar to Nüwa?"
"Haha, creating humans from objects, huh? If the Church knew we stole God's job, they'd send out their entire force to tie us to a cross and burn us alive."
"What's the use of burning us alive? I'd just resurrect in a flash."
"Heh heh, true."
While Rin and Touko chatted and joked, their hands continued the delicate and precise work of doll making. Rin's absolute control over her body allowed her to perform intricate manipulations no less skillfully than Touko, who had been making dolls since childhood.
Soon, after another month in the dragon source, nine dolls, arranged in a row like infant plaster statues, were perfectly immersed in the prepared alchemical liquid before Touko and Rin.
"Ah~! It's finally done. I really want to go back, take a good bath, and then lie down and sleep for three days and three nights."
"Same here, but before we leave, let's finish dealing with that thing first," Touko said with a hint of seriousness.
Rin also looked at Touko seriously and said, "Touko, are you really planning to give that thing to me? Once that thing is used up, we might not find a second one in this world."
"What are you talking about? I have Beowulf. It's just a bottle of Phantasmal Species blood. What I'm more worried about is whether you can withstand it. But Beowulf told me that your physical strength has almost reached that of an adult Phantasmal Species, and your Finale origin should theoretically be able to integrate all powers. Theoretically speaking, there shouldn't be a problem."
At this time, Rin and Touko were discussing a bottle of Phantasmal Species blood that Touko had unexpectedly obtained in Northern Europe when she swept through a declining Magus family—the same family from whom she acquired the rune Magic Crest.
That bottle of blood, as black as ink and as thick as crude oil from deep underground, had completely entered a dormant state due to its immense age. However, miraculously, even after being sealed in a magical crystal bottle for countless years, the mystery of this blood remained immeasurably profound. Neither Touko, Alice, nor Rin, with her End Magic at the time, could analyze the mystery of this bottle of blood.
When Rin first saw the crystal bottle Touko took out, she thought it was ink, but the Golden Wolf, Beowulf, beside her was so frightened that his fur stood on end, and he ran away without looking back.
The highest Phantasmal Species, on par with dragons, was scared away by a bottle of completely dormant blood.
Touko wanted to graft that bottle of Phantasmal Species' blood onto Rin, considering it a small gift between friends. As for a thank-you gift or anything of the sort, Touko wouldn't give one; true friends don't need that.
Rin retrieved the crystal bottle, which contained blood that had absorbed three months of Greater origin life force in the dragon source Hall, and placed it on the operating table. Rin and Touko leaned in to look together... After careful observation, Touko said, puzzled, "Strange, there's no change."
Waking up dormant blood activity by absorbing life force is common knowledge in the magical world's blood-lineage magic and the technique for processing Phantasmal Species' blood.
But Rin's feeling about this bottle of blood gradually changed; rather than saying the blood was wrong, it was Rin herself who felt off. Looking at this strange blood, Rin felt an inexplicable sense of hunger and thirst.
Strange, I haven't been bitten by Blood-sucking Race, have I?
Touko frowned, looking seriously at the strange blood, black as ink. It had been stored for three months in a place with such vast life force as the dragon source, yet it hadn't awakened. This bottle of blood was truly too strange.
Odd, even the blood of a god should have awakened by now. But if its mystery had been completely lost due to its ancient age, then Beowulf shouldn't have been afraid.
"Touko, help me graft it," Rin said at this moment, contradicting Touko, because Rin felt that this mysterious Phantasmal Species' blood was surprisingly compatible with her. She could feel that her body subconsciously wished to merge with this blood.
This couldn't be Crimson Moon's blood, could it? Touko keenly noticed Rin's abnormality and said seriously, "Rin, are you having some kind of reaction to this blood?"
Rin nodded frankly, saying, "My body feels a craving for this blood. It must be my origin consciousness wishing to merge with this blood."
"The End is craving this blood?"
Rin had not hidden her Magic Power Refinement attribute and origin from Touko and Alice; or rather, there was no need to deliberately hide it. Something like a Magic Power Refinement attribute could be known by simply testing any place where she had once released magic power. However, there were truly few in this world who could truly understand the meaning of 'the End'.
Touko frowned, looking at Rin, who was staring intently at the crystal bottle. Her gaze swept over the masterpiece she and Rin had just completed together, and she felt somewhat reassured. Even if Rin's body couldn't hold up in the end, there was a backup body, so no irreversible situation would occur.
Touko opened the sealed box, and a blast of freezing cold air dissipated. Inside was a specially prepared and processed injection gun. She drew the Phantasmal Species' blood from the palm-sized crystal bottle into a sealed injection vial, then connected it to the injection gun.
Grafting alien blood sources to strengthen the human body is also a common method in the magical world. The general method is to inject the alien blood into the heart, combined with a connected magic spell to fuse the blood source, and then the effect is left to fate. As for Phantasmal Species' blood, because it originated in ancient myths and is a materialized product of the soul, there will be no blood source rejection after transplantation, but whether the body can withstand it is another matter entirely.
This is also why Touko made this suggestion, because Rin's physical condition was too reassuring.
Rin unbuttoned her clothes and took off her top, exposing her flawless, jade-like torso to the air. Under the illumination of the cool dragon source light, it faintly shimmered with a captivating, gem-like glow.
Touko couldn't help but reach out in fascination and pinch Rin's chest, which was already showing a slight curve... "Ah! Touko, what are you doing?!" Rin was startled by Touko, giving a sharp jolt, and quickly scurried back like a frightened white rabbit, quickly covering her chest with both arms, blushing, and loudly asking Touko in embarrassment.
Touko, startled awake by Rin's voice, subconsciously pinched the air again, then suddenly realized her impropriety. Her eyes narrowed mischievously, and she said with a sly smile, "I didn't expect Rin, that all parts of your body are as hard as a statue, but your 'Little Girl' is quite elastic!"
"Shut up! Of course! My body is hard because of Magic Power Refinement of the muscles. Do you mean your two mounds are filled entirely with muscles?!"
"Oh my, a Little Girl who is only six years old is already so captivating that even I, a woman, can't help myself. I really don't know how many men my Rin will charm when she grows up."
"Who wants to charm men?! I like girls! And my body has developed to the level of a 16-year-old because of Magic Power Refinement, I'm not a six-year-old child! If you make me angry, I'll push you down right here, do you believe me?!"
The conversation between the two inexplicably veered off course, leading to another round of playful banter and scolding, before finally returning to the main topic. Touko used a calligraphy brush dipped in the prepared alchemical solution to draw bloodline fusion magic patterns on Rin's body.
Whether it was a misconception or not, Rin always felt that Touko liked to draw a few extra strokes on her chest, and pressed especially hard, making the skin indent. Although she trusted Touko wasn't someone who didn't know the proper measure, seeing her subtle expression... she was definitely doing it on purpose!
The brush, dipped in the cool solution, swept over a faint rosy spot on her left side, instantly making Rin's entire body jolt!
"What are you doing?!"
"Oh dear, look, you moved. I'll have to redraw this stroke."
"Are you messing with me?!"
"Oh dear, was I found out?"
"What?! You shamelessly admitted it?!"
"..."
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