’I’ll enter the Secret Realm tomorrow and make my breakthrough.’
Andre took out the Magic Energy Furnace, and the entire space began to warm. His expression turned serious.
This time, his breakthrough involved two Secret Realms.
The first was the Secret Realm he had discovered in the Black and White Forest.
The second was one he had commissioned a Snake-man to steal from the dreams of several great families, at the cost of a year of his own dreams.
Two years ago, in a book from the Wizard Inheritance Hall, he had discovered a way to communicate with the creatures of the Dream World.
Driven by curiosity, he gave it a try. The experiment was a success, and he managed to form a contract with a Dream Creature—the very same Snake-man.
’A descendant of the Dream Giant Snake... in the dreamscape, it can even rival an Official Wizard. At full power, it could go head-to-head with a Morning Star Great Wizard.’
After signing the contract, Andre had wondered what he could have the Snake-man help him with.
After much thought, he settled on the Secret Realm coordinates held by the great families.
So, at the cost of a year of his dreams, he had the Snake-man steal the Secret Realm’s coordinates for him.
’It was worth enduring for four years, constantly enhancing my Bloodline. Now, it’s time for the Chain of Hatred to be shattered.’
Andre took a wooden basin from his Storage Ring and poured numerous Potions into it.
As the Potions mixed together, the liquid in the wooden tub began to boil, emitting all sorts of brilliant lights.
’Breaking, supplemented by the Eye of Truth and the Light of Insight... this time, it’s bound to succeed.’
Andre poured the last Potion into the wooden tub and stirred it with his hand.
The tub had been shimmering with all sorts of colors, but as Andre stirred, they gradually mixed together, finally turning a silver-white.
’This is the seventh attempt!’
Andre looked at the mixed Potion before him, took a deep breath, removed everything he was wearing, and stepped into the wooden tub to receive the Potion’s baptism upon his body.
At the same time, he activated his Eye of True Sight and the Light of Insight to observe the Chain of Hatred hidden deep within his flesh and blood.
Once Andre sat down in the tub, the silver-white light from the Potion began to seep into his skin, illuminating everything inside his body.
Simultaneously, the Potion’s tyrannical and savage potency began to tear at Andre’s body, suffusing it completely as it expelled everything that should not exist within.
"CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!" As the Potion took effect, the sound of chains being pulled taut rang incessantly in Andre’s ears.
’Found it!’ Andre looked down at his own chest. The sound was loudest there.
The silver-white Potion continuously seeped into his blood, flowing with it into his heart.
Once the Potion entered his heart, Andre could clearly see the silver-white liquid begin to destroy the Chain of Hatred within it.
The progress in other areas was extremely slow, but in his heart, it was as fast as lightning compared to everywhere else.
’Could it be related to the Magic Heart I fused with before?’
Andre thought back. Since entering the academy, the only physical modification he had undergone was to his heart.
’My heart was fused with the heart of an Earth Elemental Bear. During that process, the residual Power from the Earth Bear Heart compressed and damaged the Chain of Hatred located there.’
’That must be why so many Bloodline inheritances flooded my mind when I fused with the Magic Heart.’
In the blink of an eye, Andre connected all the dots.
And for him, this was the best possible news. Before, he might have had to find and create a breakthrough point himself.
But now, that breakthrough point had already appeared by a stroke of luck when he fused with the Magic Heart.
’I need to speed this up. Finish it all in one go while the Potion is still active.’
Andre stood up, grabbed his Storage Ring, and took out a Potion, downing it in one gulp.
As this Potion entered his body, an even more violent, excruciating pain instantly swept through him.
"HISS!" The sudden agony made Andre suck in a sharp breath of cold air, but he still clenched his jaw, forced himself back into the wooden tub, and struggled to adapt to the excruciating pain from the Potion.
Five minutes later, Andre, gritting his teeth, began to cast a Witchcraft.
This time, the Witchcraft he cast was the same one Kasanti had used to break through numerous Defense Witchcrafts.
Unlike the Origin Technique that Kasanti had proposed in his notes, this Breaking Technique was something Kasanti had researched and developed based on the theories of the Origin Technique.
Andre had now reverse-engineered and perfected it, creating the current, final version.
Andre extended a finger and began to continuously draw a Witchcraft Curse Seal. As the Witchcraft Curse Seal formed, a massive amount of Magic Power flowed from his body to his fingertip.
Finally, a hint of gray appeared on his fingertip. Seeing it, Andre clenched his jaw and thrust his hand back against his own chest.
His fingertip instantly pierced the muscle of his chest, passed through his ribs, and went straight to his heart. The moment his fingertip touched his heart, an even more immense pain engulfed Andre’s entire body.
This kind of pain would have made anyone else pass out long ago, or even die.
But under the protection of the Potions, not only did Andre not faint, his consciousness became even clearer.
As the Witchcraft’s light on his fingertip touched his heart, a gray flash flared and vanished. Then, Andre heard a crisp *CRACK* in his ear.
Andre forced open the eyes he had squeezed shut from the pain and looked down.
He saw that the Chain of Hatred, already covered in numerous cracks, had several of its links shatter to pieces under the force of his finger.
After the first breach appeared, Andre, panting for breath, pulled his finger out of his chest.
The instant his finger was withdrawn, the wound began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In less than a minute, his ribs and pectoral muscle had all returned to normal.
At the same time, more and more links of the Chain of Hatred began to be shattered by the potency of Breaking and the Potion of True Annihilation he had just drunk.
With every link that shattered, the pain in Andre’s body intensified.
Meanwhile, as the Chain of Hatred broke apart, more and more memories from his Bloodline inheritance began to surge from his Bloodline into his brain.
Andre clenched his jaw, enduring the immense pain, and began to sort through this Bloodline knowledge, categorizing and storing it in his memory banks.
The process of destroying the Chain of Hatred lasted for a full twelve hours.
Twelve hours later, a weakened Andre reached out from the wooden tub and grabbed his Storage Ring. He took out two Recovery Potions from the Storage Ring and downed them.