Faced with McCarthy the archaeologist's sudden enthusiasm, Locke remained cautious. He probed, "Shopkeeper McCarthy, do you also study ancient creature bloodlines?"
McCarthy grew more animated, setting down his magnifying glass and returning the ring to Locke. "Not just study—ancient creature bloodlines are a field every archaeologist dreams of exploring."
"My heavens, the purity of your ancient bloodline is remarkable. I can't imagine what methods you used to obtain it."
McCarthy clicked his tongue, finally becoming more talkative. "Bloodlines contain multitudes of information, and ancient creature bloodlines hold many secrets from primordial times. Analyzing ancient creature bloodlines is one of our primary fields as archaeologists."
"I myself have undergone multiple ancient creature bloodline modifications," McCarthy declared proudly. "While we archaeologists uncover secrets buried in the past, we also use this knowledge to arm ourselves."
"However, the Orkney Ancient Giant Bear should be completely extinct. Though today's Orcney Giant Bears are their descendants, extracting Orkney Ancient Giant Bear bloodline from them should be utterly impossible."
McCarthy fell into thought.
"The ancient bloodlines I possess were all obtained through historical research, tracking down descendants who carried these ancient bloodlines." McCarthy spoke like a collector of rare antiquities, eagerly sharing his acquisitions with a fellow enthusiast.
"Through archaeological methods, I can locate ancient creature fossils beneath rocky surfaces, then extract residual information from the fossils to find corresponding living descendants with high-concentration bloodlines—many of whom are mere mortals."
"From them, I obtain these ancient creature bloodlines."
"However, bloodlines obtained this way may differ somewhat, so we must gradually modify and purify them based on pheromonal information from the fossils, striving to make them resemble the original ancient bloodlines as closely as possible."
"There aren't many archaeologists in the White Wizard Association, but the Black Wizards have numerous archaeologists."
McCarthy pointed into the empty air, and a mysterious black magical glow emanated from the tip of his left middle finger.
Locke recognized it as a type of necromancy spell.
Illusory figures suddenly appeared throughout the shop—clearly visitors to the House of Historical Scholars over the past month.
Among these phantoms, Locke even spotted familiar faces like Yuli Burns, proprietor of Lijin Secret Language, and several Second-Class Wizard Apprentices he'd met before.
Their images lingered here, browsing the shop just as Locke had initially done, questioning Old McCarthy only to be met with indifference. Their expressions showed anger, impatience, disdain—various negative emotions.
McCarthy explained, "Among all magical particles, only Negative Energy Particles possess the strongest information retention capabilities."
"By stimulating these Negative Energy Particles, it's possible to recreate events that occurred in this region in the past."
"All past events are recorded by Negative Energy Particles, though there are many interfering factors as well."
"Precisely because of this, a necromancer suddenly discovered that necromancy isn't just about manipulating corpses or creating corpse poison—it can also make one the most formidable archaeologist, exploring histories that exist only in the past." McCarthy laughed. "For people like us, this world is different from what you perceive."
"You can only see the present, while we can observe both the past and present simultaneously in the same location."
McCarthy lifted his Wizard robe to show Locke the modifications beneath. "Look, these are three transformation marks on my body. The Archaeopteryx ancient creature bloodline gives me feather patterns on my arms, the Osteichthyes ancient creature bloodline, and this one is from the Mogus ancient giant lizard bloodline modification..."
"Hahaha... Still, none are as pure as the Orkney Ancient Giant Bear bloodline you possess. But how did you obtain it? I'd be willing to pay in Magic Stones for that information."
Locke suddenly understood—one of the main fields of archaeologists was exploring Ancient Creature Bloodlines.
After a moment's thought, he casually lied, "Better not. It's not something that can be replicated. My Wizard Mentor at Lilith's Cottage is a Formal Wizard-level Potion Master. She accidentally extracted an Ancient Bloodline during an unexpected incident."
"But it was just luck."
Old McCarthy nodded knowingly. "I see."
"What a shame."
"You're one fortunate First Class Wizard Apprentice."
Such things could indeed happen.
Potion Masters often inexplicably create something extraordinary, only to find they can't reproduce it.
Anyway, since Teacher Sophia was a First Circle Wizard, there was no chance she'd ever cross paths with Old McCarthy. So Locke used his teacher as a shield.
This trick had never failed him before.
The moment Old McCarthy heard it was the work of a First Circle Wizard, he simply assumed it was the skill of a First Circle Potion Master and didn't probe further.
Locke asked, "By the way, I have a second question, and it seems I've come to the right person. A year ago, I bought two Catwoman Queen slaves at the Chimera Market. I want to extract the Ancient Creature Bloodline from them. Do you know any methods? I can pay you two hundred Magic Stones."
Old McCarthy immediately waved his hand. "No, no, I won't take your money."
"Any questions related to Ancient Creature Bloodlines, I won't charge for. Consider this an exchange of knowledge. After all, I'm just a beginner in the field of Ancient Creature Bloodlines myself."
"Those Catwoman Queen bloodlines... their bloodlines are too diluted, far from my original target," McCarthy said honestly. "To extract Ancient Creature Bloodline from them, I estimate it would require a First Circle Potion Master going to great lengths. And I suspect the purity would be very low, possibly unusable."
"The difficulty in utilizing Ancient Creature Bloodlines has long been a challenge in the eyes of many wizards."
"Rather than that, I might as well go to the mortal world and search for those special mortal families with high-purity inherited Ancient Creature Bloodlines."
"Extracting it from them can even be done without any knowledge of Potionology. And the purity remains remarkably high."