Chapter 293 : Bloodline Anomaly
Chapter 293: Bloodline Anomaly
After finishing his words, Anthony-Blackcrow took out a mithril dagger that had already been disinfected, made a small cut on the pad of his index finger, and let a droplet of blood fall onto the glass slide.
Then, he put on the monocle, adjusted the diaphragm, and after completing the microscope setup, Anthony-Blackcrow placed the slide onto the stage.
"You among those present, there must be quite a few apprentices of the Bloodline Branch. And the direction of bloodline evolution is undoubtedly a subject you will study for the rest of your lives—"
"The so-called evolution of the bloodline is essentially the optimization of the genetic lineage you carry. Only by fully understanding your own genetic information can you walk further along this path—"
"In addition, body modification, magical beast alteration, and genetic induction—are also the main research directions of Mutation Studies."
Hearing this, Janna’s spirit involuntarily lifted.
As an apprentice of the Summoning and Plant branches, Janna had not yet considered modifying her body or altering her bloodline.
After all, even as a Second-Tier witch apprentice, Janna had yet to detect any sign of a "Bloodline Awakening" within her human lineage.
Moreover, Janna, who always hid behind her Contracted Creature, never had the idea of charging into the front lines to withstand enemy attacks with her body.
Everyone knew that when dealing with summoning branch apprentices, the key was to exploit their physical frailty—take out the summoner first, and their formidable Contracted Creatures would naturally fall apart and be defeated without a fight.
To address this weakness, Janna chose not to forcibly modify her body. Instead, she pursued additional training in Protective Arts, relying on various barriers to prevent enemies from even approaching her.
Body modification inherently came with immense risks. A slight misstep could trigger rejection reactions.
However, studying witchcraft involved none of those bothersome concerns—and Janna herself was naturally adept at learning witchcraft.
Thus, Janna enrolled in the Mutation Studies course purely to prepare for her sophomore year-end project. Additionally, she sought to broaden her academic foundation, avoiding any glaring gaps...
"After preparing the experimental sample, to more clearly perceive the occult significance behind the bloodline’s genetics, one must rely on the power of the Insight Spell to pierce through this layer."
While speaking, he chanted a spell, and a white light shot out from Anthony-Blackcrow’s fingertip, landing on the blood droplet atop the slide.
"Glug—glug—"
As the spell landed upon the blood, dense bubbles began to rise rapidly from it. Soon, the blood turned a ghostly blue, and a sinister deathly aura continuously emanated from Anthony-Blackcrow’s blood.
"Although the Insight Spell is a very simple piece of witchcraft, it is also the key to unlocking the bloodline’s genetic chain.
What you are witnessing now is the external manifestation of my own genetic information—beyond the elemental pathways, what’s even more prominent are the anomalies induced by Law power—"
As a necromancy branch witch, Anthony-Blackcrow had long since completed elementization. Thus, his bloodline genes carried an abundance of necromantic elemental aura, as well as the Law powers tied to the authority of death that he had mastered.
"You all should try it as well—remember to first cast the Insight Spell, and then use the microscope to observe and record your genetic structure."
Upon hearing Anthony-Blackcrow’s instruction, Vivian, seated beside Janna, had already eagerly cut her fingertip with the mithril dagger and let a droplet of blood fall onto the slide.
"Clear as fire—"
As she chanted, a flash of light appeared. Under Vivian’s spellcasting, her droplet of blood on the slide quickly lost its color and soon turned into a frost-like white.
"Janna, look, my genetic chain looks like this under the microscope—"
Vivian, who had already awakened the Cochin Viper bloodline, had long shed the genetic traits of humanity in her blood and begun transitioning toward the gene patterns of Ice-elemental Serpent magical beasts.
Thus, under the microscope, Vivian’s genetic chain resembled interconnected snowflakes—already bearing the characteristics of frost.
"Janna?"
Seeing that Janna hadn’t responded, Vivian couldn’t help but raise her head and glance in her direction.
In the same moment, equally curious about her genetic chain, Janna had nearly synchronized with Vivian in completing her blood collection and casting the Insight Spell.
And at the instant of spellcasting, just as she had during last year’s Transfiguration class when she performed Beginner Transfiguration to morph into a tree, Janna once again entered a dreamlike state.
A steady rhythm of breaths—inhale, exhale—flowed around Janna’s ears, like the wind sweeping, like rain gliding, like forests undulating.
With each breath, Janna could precisely locate its origin. Yet hers—her own breath—remained untraceable.
"Could it be... I’ve turned into that great tree again?"
But staring at the endless expanse of mountains and forests before her, Janna quickly dismissed that assumption.
Her perspective now was no longer rooted in a single tree, but more like an omniscient third-person gaze that overlooked the entire world,
Observing each corner of the world with fairness and objectivity—
"Janna? What’s wrong?"
Seeing Janna in a daze, Vivian instinctively reached out to touch her. But as her hand extended halfway, a green vine suddenly sprouted from beneath Janna’s feet and blocked her hand.
"Drip—drip—"
Crimson blood continued to slide from Janna’s fingertip, dripping onto the classroom floor. Wherever the blood fell, patches of grass rapidly sprouted as if under the effects of a Growth spell.
"Headmaster Anthony, Janna—"
Seeing the strange occurrence surrounding Janna, Vivian immediately raised her hand to alert Anthony-Blackcrow on the podium.
"Stay away from her for now!"
Witnessing the increasingly dense growth of vegetation around Janna, Anthony-Blackcrow promptly evacuated the nearby students and swiftly erected a barrier around her.
"What’s happening? Is this another case of mana leakage?"
Feeling the somewhat wild Plant-branch mana fluctuations in the classroom, Marlowe-Haig, who had originally been seated behind Janna, retreated to Vivian’s side and asked worriedly.
"I don’t know either—she was perfectly fine just a moment ago—"
Seeing Janna’s vacant, soulless expression, the worry in Vivian’s eyes was nearly overflowing—