Rune Plan

Most of the books rescued from the fire pit were badly burned and incomplete, but they still contained some valuable information and knowledge.

However, much of it was forbidden knowledge.

What is forbidden knowledge?

It involves human experimentation, knowledge that violates normal human ethics.

Many parts of the books described anatomical research on humans, including the blood energy form understood through anatomy.

There were also descriptions about "extraction" of runes, through which the essence of blood energy within a biological body could be extracted to form a small blood energy crystal. This extracted blood energy crystal could help a martial artist break through the bottleneck of blood energy strength.

Of course, the reason this knowledge is forbidden is because once a creature's blood energy is "extracted," it will die of rapid life force depletion.

Su Hao speculated that the reason the murderer was capturing people in the city was to extract blood energy crystals, and then plant a "control" seed in the corpse to turn it into a puppet, achieving two goals at once.

For Su Hao, regardless of whether this knowledge was forbidden or not, he still found it fascinating.

Since so many lives were sacrificed to gain this knowledge, he decided to learn it thoroughly and not let their sacrifices be in vain. However, Su Hao would never conduct human experiments himself; he would rather use animals or ferocious beasts of other races.

Facing other races, he would not hesitate; no matter how cute a rabbit was, he would still roast it with salt and eat it.

Eight days later, Su Hao finished reading all the books, feeling a sense of satisfaction, though he still craved more.

Next, Su Hao planned to start researching runes.

He first took out two black stones and two bottles of liquid from his spoils.

The black stones were called black powder stones, and the two bottles of liquid were called blending grease. As long as the black powder stones were ground into powder and mixed with the blending grease, it would create a drawing liquid used for drawing runes.

This drawing liquid had excellent blood energy storage properties, preventing blood energy from easily evaporating, and was the most commonly used material by rune masters for drawing runes.

However, black powder stones and blending grease were not easy to come by. Su Hao had been in Rising Clouds Town for so long and had never heard of these items, indicating their rarity.

Su Hao broke off a small piece of black powder stone and ground it, then poured out some thick blending oil, diluted it with a bit of water, and mixed it together. The black powder stone powder visibly lightened and eventually lost its black color, turning into a colorless, viscous liquid.

This liquid was the drawing liquid.

After observing it, Su Hao instructed Xiao Guang, "Add a task: draw a strong light rune on the palm."

From the murderer's information, among the four beast patterns, only strong light, barrier, and extraction had been simplified into runes that could be directly drawn and used, whereas the "control" beast pattern could not be used directly like a rune and was only inscribed within the body for grandmaster advancement.

In his perception, a small light dot appeared on his palm.

He picked up a fine feather pen, dipped it in the drawing liquid, and began drawing along the route marked by Xiao Guang.

It seemed simple, but it wasn't. Not only did he have to draw a complete rune with the drawing liquid, but he also needed to control the blood energy to follow the pen tip, just like the runes inscribed within the bodies of elite martial artists advancing to grandmasters.

The difficulty of successfully drawing a usable rune was immense.

No wonder there were so few rune masters. Even drawing the rune was challenging, let alone controlling blood energy simultaneously. Those who could do it had extremely high talent.

Su Hao admitted he wasn't very talented, but he was fortunate to have Xiao Guang's help; otherwise, he would have given up on drawing runes early on.

Xiao Guang's help wasn't limited to this. If it weren't for successfully building Xiao Guang's information processing system in his previous life, he wouldn't have smoothly become a martial artist in this life and survived the high-risk childhood period.

Reaching this point gave Su Hao a sense of security. This security was something he gained through countless reincarnations and endless time, which wasn't easy.

Soon, Su Hao successfully drew a "strong light" rune on his palm.

However, this rune was incomplete, with a small segment missing at the endpoint.

This missing segment acted like a button; to activate the rune, he just needed to fill the missing part with blood energy to trigger it instantly.

In other words, rune masters pre-drew a half-finished rune with the drawing liquid and blood energy, and when needed, they just completed it to activate.

"Quite convenient," Su Hao nodded as he looked at the rune on his palm.

Then he controlled his blood energy to complete the missing part, and the rune activated immediately, converting energy and emitting a strong light.

It was like a camera flash.

Su Hao quickly analyzed the pros and cons of runes.

The advantage was obtaining special powers and ease of use.

But the disadvantages were clear: first, the drawing difficulty was high, making it hard for most martial artists; second, even with blood energy maintenance, the drawn rune only lasted three days before the drawing liquid degraded, rendering the rune useless; third, only one rune of the same kind could exist at a time, or they would interfere with each other; finally, the cost-benefit ratio was low, as the time spent researching runes didn't yield significantly powerful effects.

Thus, runes were like a chicken rib.

Unless...

Su Hao thought of a possibility.

Using the extraction rune to break through the blood energy bottleneck of martial artists!

"Wait! I previously thought the academy didn't have the 'extraction' beast pattern, but now it seems it's not that they didn't have it, but they didn't make it available to students. That means I can't let others know I have an 'extraction' rune."

Su Hao's heart skipped a beat, and he decided not to easily reveal the 'extraction' beast pattern.

By sacrificing other beasts or people, he could extract the needed blood energy crystals to break through the bottleneck.

No wonder rune masters were considered forbidden; most rune masters used runes to assist in raising the martial artist's level.

Su Hao understood that in this world, runes were just auxiliary tools. Using runes to form a powerful combat force was too difficult.

He then thoughtfully analyzed the situation.

"Changing direction, if I can do what others in this world cannot, making the disadvantages of runes negligible, then runes can greatly enhance my combat strength."

A simple logic.

The drawing liquid's purpose was long-term rune storage. Why long-term storage? Because in battle, one couldn't spare the effort to create runes and had to prepare in advance for immediate use.

What if Su Hao could draw runes on the spot during battle?

Then there would be no need for drawing liquid. He could directly draw when needed.

Is drawing during battle difficult? For others, it might be, but not necessarily for Su Hao.

He didn't need to think, just control the blood energy to follow Xiao Guang's guidance.

Through practice, he could shorten the rune drawing time.

A gleam flashed in Su Hao's eyes.

"Then, let's practice!"

Two days later.

"Success!" Su Hao successfully drew a 'strong light' rune on his palm without the drawing liquid. The moment he finished, it burst into a strong light.

"Took ten seconds! But with more practice, I can be faster." Su Hao clenched his open hand into a fist.

His idea was feasible.

...

Today, he planned to go out to collect materials and information.

When he reached the town, he heard some news that stunned him.

The murderer had reappeared three days ago, abducting a dozen people each day?

Su Hao's first reaction was disbelief; he had almost cut the murderer's chest open, and there was a high chance he couldn't survive. Even if he did, it hadn't been long, and he was already causing trouble again?

Or perhaps someone else had taken over the murderer's title and started committing crimes?

Both were possible.

He couldn't figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it and started wandering the streets, asking about materials.

As for the murderer, if he encountered them again, he would make sure to cut off their head personally.