When he heard Alicia boldly declaring that she would handle the treatment of his ailing life force, Roel was a little worried. In his view, she was someone who needed protection, especially since she had never demonstrated her transcendent abilities before him.

  Ah, that’s not exactly right either. Occasionally, while spending time together, Alicia would cast trivial spells to help him preserve ancient records and other such tasks. However, these spells could be easily cast by Origin Level 6 transcendents too, so it was impossible to determine the extent of her capabilities through that.

  As such, Roel didn’t think that it was safe to leave everything to her. Instead, he called Andrew over and had him examine Alicia’s bloodline to determine if it fulfilled the criterion.

  When Andrew walked through the door and laid his murky eyes upon Alicia, Roel felt his heart skipping a beat out of worry. Then, Andrew’s pupils suddenly dilated.

  What’s going on? Did we really manage to find a transcendent with almost unlimited life force somehow? T-this is… impossible!

  Despite having lived for over a hundred years, the old man had never seen such a unique bloodline before. He cast a spell to allow him to better inspect Alicia’s condition, affirming that the life force she possessed indeed far surpassed that of ordinary humans. Seeing this, he exhaled deeply with a thankful look on his face.

  Roel’s salvation was salvation for the team of medical experts attending to him too. They were working on a tight timeline, especially with the Ascart House already in Rosa City to pressure them. The enormous stress crushing down on them left them constantly racking their brains in frustration for solutions, such that some team members had even gone bald from scratching their scalps out.

  Andrew was a little more fortunate in the sense that he still had lush white hair as he hadn’t taken up too many stressful jobs in his younger years. His beard, however, was much less fortunate. He had a habit of tugging on his beard whenever he was deep in thought, and the force he exerted was proportionate to how difficult the question was. He must have at least tugged out twenty beard hairs over the last two days, so it should be understandable why he would be so agitated to see Alicia at this time.

  “Child, I think that you fit the criterion. Are you able to manifest your life force?”
Andrew looked at the silver-haired girl with anticipation in his eyes, wanting to see her legendary ability in action. Alicia pondered for a brief moment before nodding her head in response. She stretched her hand outward and closed her eyes.

  The atmosphere around her immediately changed, and wisps of light rose from her body.

  For some reason, Roel felt inexplicably excited upon witnessing this phenomenon. He felt Alicia was like the silvery full moon casting its lucent glow on him, leaving him feeling as if he was soaking in chilling and refreshing springwater, reinvigorating him inside and out.

  Alicia finally opened her eyes, and she slowly raised her hands even higher. The white wisps of light she had emanated morphed into a little bird perched on her hand.

  Andrew was so awed by this sight that he nearly leaped to his feet to applaud her.

  “This is fantastic! I’ve never thought that it would be possible for life force to be condensed to such a degree!”
Having never seen such a thing before, the excited old man stepped forward and took out a magnifying glass to examine the little bird on Alicia’s hand close up. Meanwhile, Alicia, who had proven that she did have the ability to treat Roel, smiled in contentment, and Roel also heaved a sigh of relief.

  “Remarkable! Is this a life type unique bloodline? It’s even more powerful than what is depicted in the books!” murmured Andrew.

  Roel shook his head helplessly.

  He must be unaware that Alicia’s bloodline ability only reveals its true prowess at night. It’s still daytime at the moment, so her ability is at its weakest.

  “Mister Andrew, do you think that Alicia…”
“Enough! It’s definitely enough!”
“How should we go about it then? Do we need some sort of magic tool as a medium?”
“No no, life force is a separate power from mana; magic tools aren’t able to harness this power. The treatment method would have to depend on the extent of the bloodline’s strength.”
Andrew placed his magnifying glass down and began explaining the situation to Roel. Based on ancient records, the dew of the Lifetree could be classified into various tiers too. The higher tier dews could simply be applied externally; the patient wouldn’t even need to consume it. As for lower tier dews, they might still need to be mixed with other medicine in order to augment their effects to a satisfactory level.

  However, as the saying went, all medicine had some degree of poison.

  “Hm? What’s the side effect if the dosage of life force is too high?”
“Well, regarding that…”
That question seemed to place Andrew in a quandary. He glanced at Alicia, who was also staring at him curiously, and after a short moment of hesitation, he felt like he ought to explain things clearly.

  “Life force is the fundamental energy of all living beings. An excess of it doesn’t really have any adverse side effect, just that… you’ll find yourself overflowing with energy. Lots of it.”
“… You mean like being too energetic and unable to sleep at night?” probed Roel.

  Andrew looked extremely awkward.

  Technically, yes, but probably not that innocent type you’re thinking of.

  “Ahem. You see, an excess of energy can, well, greatly stimulate a person’s hormones, driving their urge to procreate. Back in the First Epoch, there were many animals that resided in the vicinity of the Lifetree and acted as its protector, presumably because its presence is beneficial for reproduction. The same logic should apply here too.”
As the old man’s words echoed within the room, Roel also began fidgeting a little awkwardly. Alicia, on the other hand, widened her eyes abruptly. Her crimson eyes glowed brightly as she stared at the black-haired boy. A moment later, she lowered her head to conceal her response, but the flickering of her pupils showed that some thoughts were currently racing through her mind.

  “Mister Andrew, it should be fine as long as the amount isn’t too much, right?”
“Indeed. The circumstance I was referring to only occurs when there’s a significant overload of life force. If we control the quantity carefully, that shouldn’t be an issue.”
“How should we do it then?”
“Ahh… There’s nothing on that in the records, but it should be fine. There are only a few methods, so we can try them out one by one.”
Andrew stroked his beard as he began explaining the various methods to Roel. The easiest methods were namely direct contact and bodily fluids. Direct contact required Alicia to activate her bloodline when the two of them were in close contact with one another. As for bodily fluids, as the name suggested, it generally referred to the transference of life force via saliva, blood, and tears.

  Alicia nodded in satisfaction, pleased with what Andrew was saying. She gripped her fists tightly in anticipation of what was about to come. But all of a sudden, Andrew suddenly recalled something and turned to look at the white bird perching on Alicia’s hand.

  “Ah, but if the bloodline possessor is able to manifest the life force directly, there would be no need to rely on those means anymore. We’d just have to…”
Chirp!

  Before Andrew could finish his words, the white bird in Alicia’s hand suddenly let out a sorrowful cry before abruptly plummeting to the ground, breathing its last.

  ???

  Huh? What just happened?

  The abrupt death of the bird left both the white-haired old man and the black-haired boy dazed. In the midst of this slightly awkward silence, Alicia raised her head with an apologetic look on her face.

  “My apologies, Lord Brother. It looks like the bird has died.”