White Forest Castle, Courtyard Garden.
Yam was training with his sword.
Almost two months had passed since he agreed to become Giggs's vassal.
During these two months, he would return to Fisher Village every four days to accompany his mother for a day, then return to White Forest Castle the next day.
Occasionally, Giggs would also go to Fisher Village with Yam.
At first, Yam thought Giggs was only accompanying him back and forth to Fisher Village to deliberately foster their relationship.
After all, the living conditions in Fisher Village were certainly not comparable to White Mountain City, let alone White Forest Castle, which symbolized power and status in White Mountain Territory. Moreover, the distance between White Mountain City and Fisher Village, even on horseback, took nearly a day. Apart from Yam, who endured the fatigue of the long journey to accompany his mother, spending a day in Fisher Village before immediately setting off on the third day to return to White Forest Castle.
But after a few times, Yam discovered that Giggs seemed to have a genuine joy from deep within when leaving White Forest Castle, and even the smile on his face became much more sincere.
He didn't mind staying in Yam's dilapidated and cramped small house, nor did he mind drinking cheap ale and eating simple food. He even followed Yam to train the militia whenever they returned to Fisher Village, practicing alongside him.
At that moment, Yam even had a hunch: perhaps for Giggs, White Forest Castle was just a cage that imprisoned him.
Only Giggs, when he left that cage, was the true Giggs.
However, what truly made Yam recognize Giggs was when Giggs, after learning about Yam's mother's condition, immediately returned to White Forest Castle and spent a fortune hiring the best physician in White Mountain City to go to Fisher Village to treat Yam's mother.
"Hey!" A joyful cry sounded behind Yam. "Yam! You're as diligent as ever."
Giggs and a young girl were walking towards Yam.
Upon seeing the two of them, Yam immediately sheathed his sword and stood upright, then bowed slightly to Giggs and the young girl approaching him: "Good morning, Young Master Giggs, Miss Cynthia."
During his first month at White Forest Castle, Yam was arranged to attend noble etiquette lessons for a period.
As a Bloodline Knight, having shed his commoner status and with one foot already in the noble circle as a quasi-privileged class, superficial efforts like etiquette were naturally indispensable, especially since the Griffin House, the most etiquette-conscious among the Tyrellian Royal Family, now sat on the throne. Therefore, even to avoid offending the Royal Family, nobles of any class at least had to maintain appearances.
For this, Yam suffered no small amount in his first month.
But it was also through this that he met Giggs's sister, Cynthia Bohr.
Unlike Giggs's two younger brothers, John and Joel, Cynthia had just celebrated her sixteenth birthday a month ago and had officially awakened a Second-Tier Bloodline, 【Ice Monkey】, with the standard of seven Bloodline Secret Potions.
It was precisely because of Cynthia's Bloodline awakening that Yam learned that the basis for judging one's talent and potential during Bloodline awakening was the number of Bloodline Secret Potions consumed.
The standard amount produced from one Bloodline Secret Potion formula was ten Bloodline Secret Potion vials.
If one could not awaken their Bloodline even after consuming ten Bloodline Secret Potion vials, it meant that they were incompatible with that Bloodline Power.
Normally, those who required ten Bloodline Secret Potions to awaken their Bloodline were considered to be of ordinary talent.
Those like Cynthia, who only needed seven, belonged to the type with higher potential, having better compatibility with the Bloodline type they awakened.
Above that, those who only consumed five or fewer Bloodline Potions were considered geniuses.
Besides the criteria for judging potential, Yam also learned another thing about Bloodline awakening: that the opportunity for Bloodline awakening was not, in fact, limited to just once. However, the wealth accumulated by most commoners in their lifetime was only enough for them to make one such gamble on Bloodline awakening. Many didn't even know that after the age of thirty, it was impossible to awaken a Bloodline, and by the time they finally saved enough money to buy a Bloodline awakening potion, they had already passed thirty.
The offspring of wealthy merchants and nobles, however, had opportunities for a second, third, or even fourth attempt.
However, with each new attempt, the success rate and difficulty became harder than the previous one. After all, when the first attempt failed, the residual "pollution" from that Bloodline Secret Potion had already deeply permeated the soul. Therefore, the difficulty of the second Bloodline awakening attempt doubled compared to the first; the third attempt again doubled compared to the second. By the fourth attempt, if one still couldn't awaken a Bloodline, there was even a risk of death from body explosion.
Giggs's second brother, John, was twenty-three this year and had already failed his third attempt; while his third brother, Joel, nineteen and a half, had just experienced his failed second Bloodline awakening.
Both of them had given up on the idea of becoming Bloodline Users and chose to become profligate sons who relied on their father's power to throw their weight around.
"I told you, just call me Giggs." Giggs waved his hand dismissively, his expression showing little concern for the cumbersome formalities.
Yam just smiled and didn't respond.
Cynthia, standing beside him, looked Yam up and down, then suddenly spoke: "Sir Yam, you're not far from Second-Tier, are you?"
Facing Cynthia's question, Yam was first taken aback. Although he didn't know why Cynthia would suddenly ask such a thing, he still shook his head and honestly replied: "Not yet, my current Bloodline Scale is only seven."
Cynthia's delicate, fair face didn't show much expression. She merely nodded slightly, indicating understanding.
After Giggs and Yam chatted for a few more moments, they turned and left with Cynthia.
Yam returned to his sword practice.
He simply repeated, over and over again, the Kingdom Military Swordsmanship his father had taught him.
And with each swing of his sword, the Bloodline Power within him would continuously surge, keeping his Bloodline in an active state, thereby constantly stimulating the Bloodline concentration integrated into his soul to continuously boil and rise.
Then, at a certain moment, the Bloodline deep within his soul suddenly surged, then condensed into a drop of blood as crystal clear as a gem.
And there were already eight such drops of blood deep within Yam's soul. Counting this first drop that had just condensed, there were now nine drops.
This was what Bloodline Users called the Bloodline Scale, which also represented the symbol of Bloodline Power, indicating Bloodline concentration.
Each such drop of true blood counted as one scale.
Ten drops could fuse to form one drop of true blood with a higher Bloodline aura content, which was what was called advancement.
Before coming to White Forest Castle, Yam was unaware of this knowledge about Bloodline Users. He had always cultivated blindly, then blindly continued to condense such true blood. His intuition told him that this true blood was beneficial and harmless, so he never paid it much mind. Later, he discovered that when he practiced swordsmanship, the speed of this Bloodline Power condensation was the fastest, so he became even more dedicated to sword cultivation.
Therefore, Yam simply asked Giggs to sell the exotic iron saber he had and exchange it for an exotic iron longsword.
Bloodline Scale nine, only the final step away from becoming a Second-Tier Bloodline User.
And today, it had been just under nine months since he became a Bloodline User, by all accounts.
But Yam didn't feel happy; instead, he secretly pondered whether he should slow down his cultivation speed. After all, when Cynthia had asked him how many Bloodline Potions he had consumed to become a Bloodline User, the then ignorant Yam had answered ten.
...
"Brother, you've found a genius."
Cynthia walked beside Giggs.
Now she had officially become a Bloodline User, and her talent was even higher than Giggs's. If not for some other considerations, Cynthia's succession order might even be higher than Giggs's.
"What do you mean?" Giggs was puzzled.
Cynthia looked up at her elder brother, who sometimes made her subconsciously wonder if she was an illegitimate child, then sighed helplessly: "That Yam, he definitely didn't awaken his Bloodline with ten Bloodline Potions. Instead, it's very likely he's like me, or even a Bloodline User with greater Bloodline potential than me."
"Hahaha, you're overthinking it, sister." Giggs shook his head with a smile. "You've only been a Bloodline User for a month. ...I'm telling you, don't always believe what the books say. You'll only know the truth when you've truly experienced it; not everything written in those ancient texts is correct."
Cynthia did not refute Giggs.
But she suddenly asked, "Brother, do you remember how long it took you to cultivate to the second scale?"
"About seven months, I think." Giggs pondered for a moment before replying, "Sister, you can't rush cultivation. I know you're also a genius, and Father is very excited about your aptitude and potential, but you're still young now, no need to rush, we can take our time. Your brother here is also a Second-Tier Bloodline User now, and although there's still a long way to go until Third-Tier, it's enough to support you and shield you from harm."
Although Cynthia often found her elder brother Giggs annoying, it was more of a helpless exasperation at his foolishness rather than genuine dislike.
On the contrary, she still greatly respected her brother.
Because she knew that Giggs bore immense pressure, and her second and third brothers were truly disappointing.
Looking at her elder brother still chattering, Cynthia sighed softly inwardly.
She had indeed only recently become a Bloodline User, but precisely because of this, she was currently in a state of highly active Bloodline perception. Previously, she hadn't encountered Yam while he was cultivating, so she hadn't sensed the Bloodline aura that Yam always kept hidden. It was only today, when she and her elder brother Giggs passed through the Courtyard Garden together, that she was startled to discover that the Bloodline aura emanating from Yam had actually caught up to her elder brother Giggs's.
Therefore, she dared to conclude that Yam was definitely not far from becoming a Second-Tier Bloodline User.
As Yam had become a vassal knight to her elder brother Giggs, information gathering about him was naturally unavoidable. And after Cynthia became a Bloodline User, she had, of course, reviewed the profiles of these vassal knights—not just Yam, but also the other three vassal knights currently serving the family. So Cynthia knew that Yam had been a Bloodline User for only nine months, by all accounts.
Nine months to be on the verge of becoming a Second-Tier Bloodline User meant that he was cultivating his Bloodline concentration at a rate of almost one scale per month.
Cynthia compared this to herself.
She had been a Bloodline User for a month now, and due to her precocity, she had begun cultivating to stimulate her Bloodline concentration as soon as she became a Bloodline User. Yet, to this day, she still hadn't condensed a second drop of true blood, which naturally made her doubt Yam's statement.
'Yam must have successfully awakened with at least five Bloodline Potions.'
'In fact, it's very possible it was only three!'