"This is a bloodline orb."
Rias introduced: "It is an item Lord Ajuka refined from the remains of the Crocell Family."
"Crocell?"
A look of contemplation appeared on Lynn's face.
He had some impression of this name.
After transmigrating to the DXD World, in addition to practicing martial arts, Lynn would often read books to understand the intelligence of the major powers.
"If I remember correctly, Crocell was one of the seventy-two families with a title among the devils, right?"
"Yes, but that's in the past."
In the distant ancient war, the Four Great Satans were slain by the God of the Bible, and the seventy-two great families also suffered heavy losses.
The Crocell Family, which was once ranked among the seventy-two great families, was precisely one of the families whose inheritance was severed among the devils.
"At the end of the ancient war, the Crocell Family was ambushed. By the time reinforcements arrived, they had already been completely wiped out."
"The devil high-level officials at the time recovered all the remains of the Crocell Family and used taboo magic to refine them into bloodline orbs, attempting to recreate the glory of the Crocell Family through this."
"But unfortunately, this plan failed."
Rias explained to Lynn while recalling the top-secret information she had recently received.
"When refining the bloodline orb, what was sealed inside was not just the bloodline of the Crocell Family, but also the extreme negative emotions they felt when they died in battle."
"Once the bloodline orb is fused, the fuser themselves will also fuse with these negative emotions and be affected by them."
"Of course, there were solutions, but the devil civil war broke out before they could be researched."
"After the devil civil war ended and the new generation of Four Great Satans took office, they terminated the bloodline orb experiments because doing so would sacrifice too many middle and lower-class devils."
Devils value bloodline.
Devils with family inheritances would not participate in bloodline orb experiments; only ordinary middle and lower-class devils would participate.
Most of these devils had ordinary aptitude and their willpower was not very prominent. Out of ten who participated in the experiment, nine would go insane.
Led by Sirzechs, the new generation of Four Great Satans were beings who valued life, so they naturally would not allow such experiments to continue, and the experiments were banned on the spot.
And these bloodline orbs containing negative emotions were sealed by Sirzechs and buried in the deepest part of the Satan's treasury, where no one could touch them without his permission.
Until yesterday, when Ajuka sent a communication to Sirzechs, asking him to take out one of the bloodline orbs and send it to Rias along with three sealed Sacred Gears.
"Lord Ajuka said that you are pursuing power, Lynn, and this bloodline orb is a gift for another cooperation."
"A gift? I see."
A look of realization appeared on Lynn's face.
It seemed he had still underestimated the attraction of Another World knowledge to Ajuka.
Even though he had already accepted the status of an Ultimate-Class Devil, Ajuka still felt it wasn't secure enough.
This bloodline orb was one of the other party's means of displaying his financial resources, an active gesture of goodwill toward him.
Furthermore, unlike devils converted using Evil Pieces, pure-blooded devils all possessed innate talent abilities.
The first Leviathan's Sea Serpent Dragon, Asmodeus's Stars and Time, Beelzebub's Lord of the Flies, Lucifer's Evil Light Magic Brilliance... these were all abilities unique to pure-blooded devils.
If he could inherit the talent abilities of the Crocell Family, his bond with the devils would deepen further, which was another objective Ajuka hadn't explicitly stated.
"Lynn, besides Lord Ajuka, my brother also asked me to pass a message to you."
Rias's voice rang out once more: "This bloodline orb is just an attempt. If you can be immune to the negative emotions within the orb, he can offer even more chips."
"Then tell him to get ready to place his bets."
With a thought, Lynn summoned the boosted gear.
Ambushed at the end of the great war, the family inheritance was severed.
The negative emotions compressed within the bloodline orb were indeed very rich; Lynn could vaguely feel the heaviness within even through the shell.
But that had nothing to do with him.
The Mist swept down, submerging the bloodline orb in an instant and breaking it down into two different orbs of light.
The strengthening energy enhanced his physical body, while the bloodline power merged with his original Devil Bloodline.
As for the negative emotions within the bloodline orb?
They had been filtered out the moment they were devoured.
Unless he had the ability to cultivate using negative emotions, the Mist would not feed such things back to him.
This was another thing Lynn discovered after repeated testing—the Mist's feedback was selective.
"Lynn, how does it feel?"
On the other side, seeing Lynn control the Mist to devour the bloodline orb, Rias waited a moment before asking about the situation.
"Everything went smoothly."
Lynn raised his palm and gave a casual squeeze.
With a bang, a frantic current of air swept out in all directions, startling Kiba who was standing nearby.
"Such strong power... can a single bloodline orb raise physical strength to this level?"
"One bloodline orb is naturally not enough, but adding the Crocell Family's ability does the trick," Lynn replied.
Just like how he inherited the other party's Curse Dragon Flame after eating Vritra's soul fragment.
After devouring the bloodline orb, he successfully awakened the Crocell Family's innate ability.
Monstrous Strength: it increases physical power when activated.
Although he didn't know how the original Monstrous Strength performed, when Lynn activated it, his power would double.
His physical fitness was already amazing; one could imagine how exaggerated it would be when doubled on that basis.
Without needing magic amplification, his current physical fitness alone allowed him to take down a High-Class Devil with a single punch.
"I didn't expect it to actually succeed."
Rias let out a sigh of admiration.
Although she had anticipated it when she received the bloodline orb earlier, she was still shocked when she actually saw it.
This was an innate ability unique to the Crocell Family, yet Lynn had inherited it just like that.
"Next is the Sacred Gear."
Lynn looked toward the remaining three light orbs: "Rias, help me introduce the status of these Sacred Gears."
"No problem," Rias nodded.
Compared to the bloodline orb, the origin of the Sacred Gears was simple; they were the results of Ajuka's past research on Sacred Gears.
The three Sacred Gears were a red arrow, a white shield, and a palm-sized eyeball.
"The first one is the crimson light arrow. By injecting magic power, one can summon fire-attribute arrows to attack enemies. It's a very common Sacred Gear, and its upper and lower limits depend entirely on the wielder's magic power."
"The second Sacred Gear is the Radiant Great Shield. It can absorb light-attribute energy to strengthen its own defense. Additionally, it possesses a certain purification ability and has a restraining effect on dark-attribute energy."
"The third Sacred Gear is the Eye of Tracking. Once activated, it can place a mark on an enemy and confirm the situation around them through that mark. It's a reconnaissance-type Sacred Gear."
"Attack, defense, and reconnaissance, then."
Lynn rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
It had to be said that Ajuka had considered everything quite thoroughly.
The three Sacred Gears corresponded to three different directions, which happened to be perfect for testing the Mist's devouring ability.
Thinking of this, he summoned the Mist again and devoured all three Sacred Gears on the table.
Soon, three massive bursts of strengthening energy fed back into Lynn's body, and his physical fitness improved once again.
However, to his surprise, decomposing the Sacred Gears this time only yielded strengthening abilities and nothing else.
"[Partner, the abilities have been fed back to me. ]"
Just then, Ddraig's voice rang out in Lynn's mind: "[Summoning flame arrows, absorbing light-attribute energy, and imprinting the Eye of Tracking on enemies... these three abilities are now within my body. Should I solidify them all? ]"
"What is Solidification?" Lynn asked; it was the first time he had heard this term from Ddraig.
"[Solidification is solidifying the abilities of other Sacred Gears. This is also a new ability I just awakened. ]"
Lynn wasn't the only one affected by the Mist's devouring.
As the primary subject modified by the Mist, Ddraig himself was also affected.
The most obvious change was that every time strengthening energy was fed back, a portion of it would be absorbed by him.
Currently, this portion of energy would restore his power, allowing him to gradually open the God of the Bible's seal and recover his abilities.
But once Ddraig returned to his peak one day, this energy would raise his upper limit, allowing him to break through the limits of a Heavenly Dragon's power and move toward an even higher realm.
And just now, Ddraig discovered another new ability awakened after devouring: Solidification.
After devouring a Sacred Gear, he could use the boosted gear as a carrier to solidify and use the abilities of different Sacred Gears.
It was currently uncertain how many could be solidified, but Ddraig could feel that it was a flexible value.
The stronger the solidified ability, the more value was required.
Besides that, Ddraig could sense that this value was not fixed.
As long as he continued to recover his strength and grow stronger, the upper limit of this value could increase.
"I see."
Lynn understood the meaning of Solidification, but a new question soon arose: "Since you can solidify Sacred Gear abilities, why was there no reaction when you ate the black dragon vein before?"
"[It might be because Vritra's soul was eaten by you, Partner. After all, that thing is the core of the Sacred Gear. ]"
"Hmm... that seems to make sense."
Lynn nodded thoughtfully.
Although the Mist would feed back some benefits to Ddraig when feeding, the primary subject of strengthening was still him.
Like the time with the black dragon vein, Vritra's soul was decomposed into strengthening energy and the Dragon King Bloodline.
Ddraig, acting as a relay station, only received a portion of the strengthening energy, while the Dragon King Bloodline was entirely absorbed by Lynn.
As for this time, although the three Sacred Gears focused on different fields, they were essentially items created with materials and special craftsmanship, with no other souls sealed inside.
After eating these three Sacred Gears, the Mist would analyze their structure and then feed back to the boosted gear in an unknown way.
This new Solidification ability Ddraig spoke of was actually the result of his soul and the boosted gear working together, rather than Ddraig's power alone.
If he broke free from the boosted gear's Binding Vow, Ddraig would likewise be unable to use these abilities.
"[Partner, should I solidify them all? ]"
"Can the abilities be replaced after Solidification?"
"[Yes, but the replacement process takes time. Additionally, the replaced ability will disappear. ]"
"If I don't solidify them, can these acquired abilities be stored in your body?"
"[No, these abilities are preserved in my body through the Mist. They will disappear if not chosen within a day.]"
"Then solidify them all."
Since abilities could be replaced, there was nothing more to say.
Save them all for now; if there isn't enough space later, he can swap out the trash abilities, at most spending some time on the replacement process.
"[Solidification complete, Partner.]"
Ddraig quickly took action after receiving the command, solidifying the abilities of all three Sacred Gears.
At the same time, the appearance of the boosted gear underwent slight changes, with some red and white patterns appearing on the crimson surface.
Under the design of these patterns, the green orb in the center looked like an eye, appearing particularly prominent.
"Is this... a Sacred Gear evolution?"
Akeno, standing nearby, showed a hint of curiosity.
Because Lynn and Ddraig had been communicating in their minds, she didn't know what had just happened.
From her perspective, Lynn had summoned the Mist to devour three Sacred Gears, and a few seconds later, the boosted gear underwent a mutation, putting on a new skin.
Akeno: "Lynn, have you inherited all the abilities of the three Sacred Gears?"
"Yes, but it's not me who inherited the abilities, but the boosted gear," Lynn didn't hide it.
With such a big change in the boosted gear, anyone who wasn't blind could more or less guess the situation.
With a thought, Lynn summoned an arrow burning with black flames beside him, emitting a scorching heat.
"Is this the ability of the crimson light arrow?"
A look of confusion appeared on Rias's face.
In her memory, the crimson light arrow's ability was to summon crimson fire-attribute arrows, so why was it black when it came to Lynn?
"This flame is my own ability."
Lynn grabbed the arrow and examined it.
A Sacred Gear's abilities are not set in stone.
Influenced by the owner, a Sacred Gear's abilities can also evolve or even mutate.
Just like now, he used Vritra's Curse Dragon Flame to enchant the crimson light arrow, forming a Curse Dragon Flame Arrow.
The benefit was saving the shaping process, and the flame intensity was guaranteed, no longer needing to be released through breath.
"It seems I can specifically look for some Sacred Gears to devour; maybe it'll create a synergy where 1+1 is greater than 2."
"You should leave some room for ordinary people to survive."
Hearing this, Rias's eyes twitched as she retorted.
To be honest, when she first met Lynn a few days ago, she even had the idea of competing with him.
But as Lynn gradually revealed new abilities, Rias's fighting spirit was extinguished as if doused by a bucket of cold water.
What was there to compare? They weren't even on the same level.
Of course, Rias's mindset was still very good, and she quickly recovered from the blow.
"Lynn, can you spar with me?"
"Spar?" Lynn, who was testing his new abilities, paused and looked at Rias with a subtle expression: "You don't happen to have some strange masochistic hobby, do you?"
"Ara ara, I really didn't expect that." Akeno covered her mouth, also showing a surprised expression.
"Akeno, don't join in the nonsense," Rias glared at her friend before explaining.
"Actually, I want someone to help me develop my Power of Destruction. If it's you, Lynn, I shouldn't need to worry about getting hurt."
"..."