Chapter 169

"There's no need to kill him. This is normal." Adam froze the arrow with an ice storm and came to Lina's side.

Lina waved her hand and dismissed the forest elves. She knelt in front of Adam without hesitation and said with her head lowered, "Master, I don't know why something like this happened. In order to prevent future trouble, why don't we just kill him?"

Lina was sure that when she said this, she was thinking the same thing. However, she still didn't dare to raise her head. In fact, she even lowered her head to Adam.

The Devil said slyly, "Master, why don't we listen to her? I think killing her father will make things more interesting."

Adam ignored the Devil's words and looked at Lina with a half-smile. Then, he patted her back with his wings. "I know. This is a bloodline transition. It has nothing to do with you … well, it has nothing to do with whether you want to save him or not."

Lina seemed to be moved to tears. "Master, thank you for your trust."

Adam walked to the ice spike and dispelled the ice energy that was fighting against the plant energy. The ice spike's shape began to change. The small tubes pierced through most of the tribe leader's blood vessels. The extreme cold froze the blood vessels so that they wouldn't shatter. The blood flowed into the blood reservoir at a much faster rate. The plant energy continued to maintain the tribe leader's life force.

"Look, he's become even more useful now."

Adam patted his claws in satisfaction. Once again, the ice crystal tubes extended from the ice spike. Before he turned to leave, he said to Lina, "Send your tribe members to the laboratory one by one. I'm going to upgrade their bloodlines."

Lina raised her head and looked at Adam in shock. Then, she realized that this was too disrespectful. She hurriedly said, "Master, won't this be too much trouble for you?"

Adam chuckled. "Don't worry. No one will be stronger than you. Even if something unexpected happens, you're still their master."

After Adam left, Lina climbed up from the ground with a gloomy expression. Adam's last sentence was more of a warning than a consolation. "Master, huh …"

The forest elves listened to the entire conversation between the two. Even if their knowledge and experience were insufficient to understand everything, the part about bloodlines still made them excited. "He can make us stronger!?" one of the elves exclaimed excitedly. You became the Master of Nature because of him, didn't you, Lina? "

Lina turned around and stared at the elf who spoke. She flicked her finger and threw a seed onto his body. The seed quickly sprouted and drilled into the elf's flesh to absorb nutrients. The elf let out a mournful cry, but Lina didn't move at all. She waited until the vine sucked the elf dry and returned to her hand. Then she said, "You should call me Master."

— — —

The success rate of the other forest elves was even lower than expected. On average, only one out of every fifteen elves managed to endure that terrifying torture.

However, the failed elves weren't completely worthless. Their blood contained even more high-quality information, so Adam did his best to preserve their lives. He hung them upside down in the expanded laboratory and connected them with ice crystal tubes to form a crude blood circulation system. It was used to speed up the bloodlines of the other forest elves.

This made the laboratory even scarier than before. Some of the elves were even scared out of their wits before the operation even began.

Lina became very enthusiastic. She personally sent her people into the laboratory every time and watched the entire operation. On the surface, she was helping Adam simplify the process, but in reality, she was afraid that someone else would gain more power than her.

Adam didn't point it out. He only warned her that she couldn't leave anything out during the patrol mission. After that, he let her stay in the laboratory as she pleased.

Twenty days later, Lina sent the last unoperated slave into the laboratory. Adam looked at her and said, "Those who haven't completed the upgrade are useless."

Lina was stunned. "Why?" she asked hurriedly. "They can still make blood." She was still hoping that her master could perform another operation on her.

"If you want to continue the upgrade, you'll have to have more Nature Controller level bloodlines. The blood of these elves is too low-level. Just the amount alone isn't enough to support a second upgrade." Adam directly exposed her thoughts. He was like a Devil, slowly luring mortals into depravity.

Lina didn't refute him. She only left the laboratory in disappointment.

Almost a month had passed. The large tribe now seemed very empty. The uninhabited treehouses were overgrown with weeds, and the faint smell of blood on the ground made even wild beasts unwilling to approach.

There were more than six hundred forest elves who had successfully signed a master-servant contract with Lina. Now, most of them had become the living dead. Those who had undergone the upgrade had been sent out to carry out missions. The only ones left in the tribe who could still move were her and Adam.

She walked to the ice spikes alone.

The life force of any creature was limited. Even these elves who could use the power of plants were no exception.

The first resistance had all lost their life force. There was no longer blood dripping from the ice spikes. The only one who was still 'alive' was the old chief.

Desire was like a seed, and power was the best nourishment. The speed at which it grew exceeded Adam and Lina's expectations. When Adam announced that the blood-making machines were useless, Lina stood in front of her father's miserable body. Her heart was exceptionally calm.

After a long silence, light footsteps came from behind. Lina didn't turn around. She walked to her father and took a deep breath. A sharp thorn grew in her hand, and she slowly pierced it into her father's head as she exhaled.

She then cut off the thorn and let it take root in her father's body. She then resolutely turned around and walked out.

When she reached the slaves, there was no longer any abnormality on her face.

"Didn't I say that you're not allowed to return to the tribe unless there are special circumstances?" Lina's flower-woven clothes withered in patches. They were no longer colorful, and only dark purple flowers were left in full bloom.

The slave knelt on one knee and respectfully said to Lina, "I found a stranger who entered the Macaron Mountains alone. After staying at the foot of the main peak for a day, he is walking in the direction of the tribe. He seems to be very familiar with the roads. He avoided some of the tribes he encountered along the way and entered others."

"Is it the Dragon Slayer Organization?"

"I don't know. The old chief didn't allow us to contact the mysterious person, but I think it should be right."

Lina was silent for a moment, then ordered, "Go and monitor him. I want to get all the information about him. Don't be discovered, or you know the consequences."

The slave trembled and retreated out of the tribe. The consequences that Lina said were worse than death. She had seen with her own eyes how Lina sucked the blood of two of her people who dared to resist her.