The secret of blood.

"It is not my offspring, but it used to bear the totem of my offspring or descendants of my offspring," Mraz said in a serious voice.

"So it is a kind of your distant relatives." Aiden grinned, "What do you want to do with it?"

While Aiden tried his best to circulate mana through his mana vein to nullify the effect of the fire mana, the snail-paced mana circulation was nowhere near effective.

Even with the aid of obelisk, he couldn't convert the violent fire mana into the ice mana. At the top, his mana reserve, which could not be replenished from the surrounding mana, was reaching its bottom.

'I need to hurry.' The protective gears were useless, and with his mana reaching its end he was sure that he will become like those behind the bar. When he looked at the beast felt that something was different about it.

As their eyes met, he couldn't fathom the depth of those eyes. He wasn't ignorant enough to believe that this mana beast was stupid. He had already met the calculative Adi and the terrifying black-man, yet this feeling was different.

'Pride!' As he looked into its shining silver eyes, he felt that he was looking at an arrogant old king that had lost its throne, but yet to lose its pride. Unlike the first one he met on this floor, it didn't pursue Aiden to help.

It stared at Aiden for a moment before it laid down to wait for its destiny to follow its course.

"It will be your first totemic warrior."

"Sorry!" Aiden wasn't sure he understood, "Do you want me to bear the totem of this wolf?"

To think this grey wolf could remain unscratched even so close to the essence crystal of the fire giant, he realized that it was no ordinary wolf. However, it wasn't something like that giant Bixi or Adi.

"Idiot." Mraz cursed, "I told you to give your totem on that Nekra. As it used to bear the totem of my descendants, it will be easier for it to bear your totem."

"Nekra? So, that is what you call the wolf species." Aiden recalled that Adi talked about the compatibility of bestowing a totem. He said it was very hard for the devil to find one, but to think he found one so easily…

"Do what I say."

"Okay." Aiden stepped forward to take a closer look at the beast inside the cell. Yet as soon as his hand touched the red metal prison bar, he almost screamed in agony.

Even if he wanted, he couldn't ignore the pain of burning the skin of the palm, nor he could remove his hand from the bar. On top of that, he had no way to control the mana inside his body.

Like an endless void, the prison bar was absorbing the mana through his palm. Even if he knew it, he couldn't remove his hand or use his essence mana to stop the mana from escaping from his body.

"It's a special mana metal created by the dwarves. It can absorb mana. To think…"

"Stop praising it and tell me what to do." Aiden cursed out loud.

Aiden felt that Mraz was sighing in his head, but he still responded, "It is just a metal that absorbs all types of mana from the surroundings and submits the strongest one, hence replicates the effect of it."

Feeling that the skin of his palm had stuck to the metal bars he screamed, "So?"

"It is trying to absorb your essence mana, idiot. You essence mana, I should say that my essence mana is far stronger than those fire giants. So as long as you feed it enough of your essence mana, you'll be able to control it."

Aiden acted as if he couldn't hear his last words and guided his essence mana to the bar, and it devoured like a hungry beast. Aiden soon saw the changes. The redness of the metal had dimmed, and the black metal had begun to give off blue hue.

"What are you waiting for? Break it." As Aiden jerked, the rod broke off from the prison grill as if it wasn't attached to it in the first place. Mraz said again, "Don't throw that away."

Looking at the six-foot rod Aiden asked, "You want me to carry this long rod?"

"Didn't I tell you, with essence mana, you will be able to manipulate it?"

"Huh!" Aiden wasn't sure what Mraz was talking about, but he was a little shocked when he did. The long rod started to shrink and transformed into a two-foot rod. However, the weight of the thing increased a lot. "It is far better than con metal."

"It's an old forging technique. In all the planes, there are only two other species who could create this metal. Most of the lower and middle plane species use this metal to create weapons, but…"

Aiden ignored his constant ramblings and entered the prison through the gap. For the second time, Aiden could take a closer look at it.

The lazy wolf moved again, and the silver eyes met his helmet. It might not see through the reflective protection, but Aiden could. Aiden wasn't sure whether it was because it had never seen a human before or for any other reason. However, there was a tinge of surprise in its eyes.

Only when he came close did Aiden realize that the 'Nekra' was bound by five chains. Like the prison bars, the chains were glowing in red after absorbing the fire mana.

They shaped the end of the chains like a sharp hook. It impaled all four of its limbs, while the last one was pierced right through its jaw. If it wasn't painful enough, all the grey fur around the spots pierced by it had turned white, maybe because of the effect of the red mana metal.

"Its mana is not stronger than the fire giants, right?"

"If it had the totem, then there might have a chance. But now that there is no totem on its body, that is not possible."

Listening to Mraz's words, Aiden sucked a lungful of cold air, "Yet it can still live with those things inside the body. How?"

"What do you want, human?" The metal hook clamped its jaw shut, yet Aiden could hear it loud and clear.

"Oh! Actually, do you know about our species?" It amused Aiden as he said, "I want to bestow you my totem."

"Okay."

"Huh?" Aiden was a little shocked at that. He had never expected that it would be so easy. But for some reason, asking was enough.

It spoke as if it could understand Aiden's feeling, "Your essence is stronger than the fire giant and similar to our lord. Even though I don't know how you have the mana similar... purer but similar to our lord…"

Its words came to an abrupt stop. Only when Aiden realized that Mraz had manifested in a small bluebird's body on his soldier did he understand the reason.

"What happened to your lord?"

"The blue demons with pointed ears killed the lord."

"The Ice Elf? What do they want?"

"We don't know. With a giant army, they attacked our plane. When they tried to kill our Lord, he opened a path to this plane to save us. And they followed us in."

Mraz had not spoken for a moment until he commanded Aiden, "Touch it." And he did as he had been told. He put his hand on its head and poured his essence into its body.

At the next moment, his consciousness reappeared in mana space, but it wasn't his. There was even an obelisk here. It was not radiating any mana, but it was a whole lot bigger than his. And below it was...

"One, two..., five mana circles!" Aiden counted. There were many spells engraved on the obelisk. For some reason, Aiden couldn't help stop himself from touching it. As he did, another change occurred.

The obelisk acted like those dwarven mana metal, devouring his mana like a hungry wolf. However, it wasn't painful. Even if he wasn't in his own mana space, he could still feel the change occurring in his own obelisk.

The more the wolf absorbed his mana, the dimmer his obelisk became. But the radiant blue hue glowed prominently across the obelisk in front of him. The mana circles under his feet became brighter, and space changed too.

*Cough* Cough*

Aiden woke up on his knees with a furious coughing fit. It took a while before he could stand up again. When he did, he realized that the wolf was transforming.

The white colour was spreading all over the body as the grey was gathering around its forehead. But it wasn't the only one that was changing.

"The totem will convert its essence into yours, and it will also be able to use your essence mana. That is what it means to receive the Totem." Mraz explained, "And you can peek at its memory, to learn mana circle and use its spell. At the top, the more your totem bearer grows, the stronger you will become."

Aiden was itching to return to his mana space and inspect it, but the wolf in front of him moved. The changes had stopped, except for the part of his head and snout its entire body was white, and the stunning silver eyes had turned into blue.

Even with the sharp hook-head penetrating its limbs, it stood up. Aiden wanted to help but didn't get the chance. The metal lost its distinct red colour, turning it into a piece of black metal with a blue hue.

'So it is using my essence mana to control the dwarven metal?' In front of Aiden's eyes, the metal melted out of the wound.

"And doing a better job than you did," Mraz confirmed in his mind.

A tiny amount of blood trickled from the wounds, and that it recovered soon. But looking at the blood, Aiden asked, 'Why is it blue blood? Does it have something to do with the wolves I killed?'

"Blood is the essence of the body, and naturally, it indicates the grade of the body. Let's see, the red blood of humans would be third weakest. Then green, blue, white, silver and..." Ignoring Aiden's astonishment, Mraz continued, "My blood was golden, the finest."

The corner of Aiden's lips curved up, 'Whether blue or golden, they all die. Does it matter what kind of blood one has?'

"Huh!" Mraz's voice did not sound too pleased, "What would a red-blooded beast understand? The essence of the body is the vessel that contains the essence of magic. Of course, a red-blooded beast would not understand."

'Vessel?' He ignored Mraz's jab, 'So it defines the quantity of magic! But you said that Red is the third weakest, what is below it?"

Mraz snorted, "The lifeless have no blood and the abominations have black blood. One is driven by magic but can't use it at will, while the other has a fixed amount of magic, once used they will die."

'Golem...' The more Aiden thought, the more he understood that there are too many things he wasn't aware of. Aiden sighed, 'but why is it different from the other wolves I have fought against?'

"The Nekra you battled, they were just bearing a different totem. It affects their outer appearance."

While he was talking to Mraz, the Wolf stood up. After the change, it was almost of the same height of Aiden. Yet it disregarded Aiden's presence and walked towards the prison bar.

The gap Aiden had created was too small for its body, but that didn't make it worried. As Aiden looked, the blue mana had begun to come out of its leg and drifted erratically around the floor. Before Aiden could understand what was happening, a mana circle appeared on the ground.

The temperature plummeted around him as soon as the mana circle glowed. They devoured the fire mana in the air; it felt as if the enormous fire crystal wasn't there at all.

"That is how to use mana circles." Aiden paid no heed to Mraz's jab, just stared at what the wolf was doing. As the mana circle became brighter, the bars wiggled for a moment before it blasted them off.

"Fuck." 'Shock' wasn't the right word to express his emotion. But the wolf didn't look back and walked out of the place. And all Aiden could do was to follow it.