Damn, I Awakened With A Horror System!

"It hasn't changed a bit."

Other than faint scrapping within the old surface of the puppet, Leo hadn't noticed any noticeable changes within the puppet demon, still retaining its appearance since the day he had picked it up.

Unfortunately, although the puppet's strength was comparable to a Peak of the Core Formation realm even in its heavily damaged state, most of its inscriptions were already beyond repair, causing its functions to be heavily flawed... To the point that even absorbing Qi within the atmosphere poses difficulties to it.

"If I absorb all of the lingering essence within the puppet's body, then the damage within its core might worsen, making it really impossible to fix."

Sighing lightly, understanding that he couldn't have the best of both, Leo then activated his extraction skill, causing his solidified qi to fluctuate as it began dropping at a visible speed.

Swish~

In an instant, his consciousness seems to expand, his senses elevated further as the scene inside the puppet's body becomes clear within his mind.

The complexity of its being and the dry vessels of the puppet instantly reflected within his mind, making his eyes quite dazed for a while due to its vastness as he began searching for the essence of the demon puppet...

Following their path carefully as he soon reaches the puppet's heart, where he finds a flickering substance within.

Shing!

A purple substance, shining with complicated symbols and inscriptions that were beyond Leo's comprehension, soon appeared within his senses, making him fascinated as he momentarily lost his focus... Intently staring at it as his mind seems to grasp something incomprehensible but at the same time not.

"This might." Soon after regaining his composure, Leo then mumbled under his breath, eyes flickering as he gazed at the blood.

Just feeling the might it contained, Leo's illusionary blood couldn't help but boil agitatedly, bearing a heavy pressure that caused his soul to shudder, as if he was facing one of his ancestors.

Fortunately, due to the blood essence losing most of its spiritual energy, the might it contained didn't affect him much, making him heave a sigh of relief.

"This puppet's origin is much more complicated than I initially expected. Fortunately, its power was almost dried up, or else I might have already been dead long ago when I first used its essence for my species' evolution."

Sighing in relief, hiding the fear within his being, Leo's gloomy expression soon was replaced with excitement, finally unable to contain his urge as he began to extract the remaining essence within the demon puppet — manipulating them carefully as he soon put them in an empty bottle.

Shaking the tightly closed bottle with his telekinetic ability, carefully sensing the 15 drops of blood essence within, Leo then hid the dried demon puppet within his inventory before using his soul scan skill on the blood essence within the bottle — wanting to see if his strength finally allowed him to discern its information.

It could be said that, due to his weak strength in the past and the inferior level of his soul scan skill, Leo was still unaware of its origin and level, making him quite curious about its information.

Ding!

[ Ancient Demon Blood Essence (Unknown??) (Unknown??) (100% purity): A bloodline essence containing traces of unknown laws... Entities without the same affinity and bloodline would die upon consuming this.

Note 1: A species with affinity close to darkness, malice, or shadow had a huge probability of mutating their species or bloodline upon consuming the blood essence.

Note 2: Increase the darkness, malice, and shadow affinity by 25% permanently!

Note 3: Every drop of blood essence contained unprecedented energy; it's best to be cautious if one decides to absorb the bloodline...

Note 4: ??? ]

Hiss!

Seeing the incomplete yet jaw-dropping information about the blood essence, Leo's gray eyes greatly shrank, and his pale hands trembled as he felt that the bottle containing the blood essence became heavier within his grasp.

Since its grade was still unknown, then the realm of the demon puppet, when it was still alive, should be beyond the above Nascent Soul realm, making his mind tremble just imagining how it died and became material for puppet creation.

Although there's a probability that the creator might not be the one who killed the demon puppet, since it was able to process this high-level corpse, then his/her realm shouldn't be lower than this puppet, making him extremely excited.

"Indeed, my choice was right. The future of puppet creation was limitless! Hahaha!"

Laughing merrily, feeling his doubt regarding his choices fade by a lot, Leo then went to the corner of the shop, far away from any distraction, before opening the bottle within his grasp.

With the time ticking down, only a couple of days before the opening of the independent world, Leo practically had no time to ready himself; he could only toughen his will and embrace the inevitable advancement of his bloodline.

Although the process might be fraught with danger and agony, far beyond his wildest imagination, the advantage of elevating his species and bloodline was enough to increase his overall capabilities by 25%, solidifying his status as one of the strongest core formation realms being alive!

Even if his guess was incorrect, successfully elevating his species status would still allow the distance between him and Mad Saber to be reduced... Right?

"I wonder what kind of evolution choices I would receive. Maybe there's still something beyond the Demon/Peak level Entity."

Taking a deep breath and calming his emotions down, Leo then took out a single drop of blood essence within the bottle, manipulating it with his telekinetic ability before gulping it without any hesitation.

Shudder-

In an instant, a cold, chilling aura suddenly spread within his esophagus, sliding down to his stomach before hurriedly scattering within his being, entering his soul in a matter of seconds, causing his soul to shudder in coldness as he couldn't help but groan in pain.

The rich sensation of numbing coldness, stiffening his bodily function suddenly assaulted his senses, plunging Leo's mind in pain and agony — a sensation that he only experienced for the first time.