Regarding secrecy, there were difficulties. Hol did not believe all his subordinates were loyal. Raw materials like slime mucus could be given to them for experimentation, but giving away this wizard's notebook would surely attract unwanted attention.
Whether to hand it over or not would depend on the latter part of the notebook's contents before a decision was made.
After reading the entire volume, Hol realized he didn't need to worry about this issue.
This Bloodline wizard was not solely researching vampire potions. His responsibilities were more akin to mass-producing potions for the monsters in the lower levels of the ancient tower.
The ancient tower housed numerous monsters, not just vampires. Therefore, the experimental logs for potion refinement considered not only vampires but also other races.
Hol flipped through the notebook and found that many monsters included were of the slime, bat, wizard, zombie, skeleton, guardian, stone golem, and sword soldier races...
Many of these monsters' bloodlines leaned towards dark magic elements. While not the bloodlust dark element closest to vampires, they still belonged to the dark races.
However, among these many monster races, some had evolved from humans.
The notebook recorded that the skeleton race was resurrected from the bones of human invaders of the ancient tower by skeleton mages.
The sword soldier race was formed by humans who, yearning for demonic power, entered the ancient tower and gained strength.
Both of these races had transformed from humans, and thus, there were corresponding potions.
"Corresponding potions..."
Having transformed from humans, had humans intruded into this ancient tower in ancient times?
Some failures became the skeleton race, while some who integrated gained powers akin to monsters?
Where were those people now?
Were they not recorded in the overt historical accounts?
Hol recalled the ancient tower he had visited before.
And the first sentence in the notebook.
Outside the story, the ancient tower had become ruins.
Inside the story, the ancient tower still stood.
Did these words imply that the ancient tower was once real, but later destroyed in the real world, becoming ruins... and thus its location shifted from the real space-time to a dream space?
And those who destroyed the ancient tower were precisely the ancient tower's—invaders?
After some thought, Hol quickly stopped his line of reasoning.
He began to review the records concerning the transformation of humans into the sword soldier race.
Among these two races, which had transformed from humans, the skeleton race, resurrected by skeleton mages from the remains of invaders killed in the ancient tower, did not align with his imagined direction of metamorphosis.
After all, being killed and then resurrected as a skeleton, regardless of whether the skeleton possessed intelligence, even if it did, it was uncertain whether the intelligence born after death was the same as that of the original person, or if it could be considered the same person.
Furthermore, where could he find the so-called skeleton mages to resurrect his own bones?
This path was clearly not viable.
That left only the sword soldier as a transcendent path.
According to the experimental logs in this notebook.
For the sword soldier race, which had transformed from humans, to enhance their magic power.
They first needed to address issues concerning their blood.
Human blood possessed life.
It contained "vitality."
This strong vitality in blood was inherently in conflict with dark magic elements.
If humans, like the vampire race, directly consumed potions refined by drawing in and converging dark magic elements from heaven and earth, it would be a suicidal act.
Potions formed by the convergence of dark elements would continuously erode, attempting to destroy the vitality within human blood.
During this process, human bodily functions would rapidly age, strength would gradually weaken, and soon they would become bedridden, unable to get up.
When the vitality and life force within human blood were completely destroyed.
Although the blood remained, the vitality sustaining its circulation had utterly vanished. The blood, like water without a source, could no longer serve any function for the bodily systems, nor could it coordinate the body's many organs.
At this point, it would signify that the human's time was near, even death.
Upon reading this entry in the notebook.
Hol let out a long sigh of relief, thankful that he had not directly consumed those few bottles of potions.
Clearly, while those few bottles of potions had not spoiled, they were not beneficial for him.
Although they were not poisons themselves and were useful to the vampire race, and not a harmful trap, simply due to differences in physique, for him, consuming these potions would not only be useless but would also cause him to age prematurely.
Falling gravely ill, a reduction in lifespan was the least of it; he might even die on the spot.
"Then how exactly did they transform from humans into the sword soldier race, that is, monsters?"
Hol continued to read.
He knew that since the existence of the sword soldier race, beings transformed from humans, this implied that the experimental notebook must contain a method to resolve the issue of dark magic element erosion.
Subsequently, he found the answer.
Indeed, dark magic elements were in conflict with the vitality in human blood, almost equivalent to being in conflict with blood itself.
And blood was fundamental to human survival.
Humans died from excessive blood loss, and a human whose entire blood had its vitality eroded by dark magic elements, one could imagine the consequences.
This was why, when dark magic elements eroded into the human body, the only outcome was death.
But this did not mean humans could not utilize dark magic elements.
Because, upon closer examination, it was found that consuming potions refined with dark magic elements would lead to the erosion of one's own blood's vitality.
Did dark magic elements conflict with "humans themselves"?
In reality, there was no conflict.
Dark magic elements only conflicted with the blood within humans, which was rich in vitality, and with "blood" itself.
These two were conflicting energies.
Much like the conflict between water and fire.
If water flowed over it, the fire would be extinguished.
Between water and fire, one must be annihilated.
Due to the power of dark magic elements and the weakness of human blood, the confrontation between dark magic elements and human blood often resulted in dark magic elements eroding the vitality within human blood, leading to human death.
This meant that as long as a method was found for humans to survive without blood,
Humans could integrate the power of dark magic elements without dying.