Chapter 97: Sacred Blood Transfusion

Once activated, the spell couldn’t be stopped.

The transfer would continue until the target’s HP reached a certain threshold, which was apparently 50% of their maximum HP.

And that was what made this spell so dangerous.

The chieftain’s HP pool was enormous. According to the shaman, who could inspect the levels and stats of his fellow tribe members through a special skill, the chieftain had around 3,000 maximum HP.

3000!

That’s a ridiculous amount of HP!

To bring him back to the 50% threshold, the ritual needed to restore at least 1,500 HP. But there was a catch. The spell wasn’t particularly efficient.

According to the shaman, [Sacred Blood Transfusion] had an efficiency of roughly 50%. In other words, for every 100 HP drained from the participants, only about 50 HP would actually reach the target.

So, to restore 1,500 HP to the chieftain, everyone involved would need to sacrifice a combined total of around 3,000 HP.

And that was assuming the chieftain didn’t lose any more HP during the ritual.

Hmm... I can see how that’s going to be a problem.

With so many members of the Bright Red Nose Tribe dead or injured, there was no guarantee the survivors could supply that much HP.

Worse, once the ritual began, they couldn’t simply stop if things went south. If they ran out of HP before the chieftain reached the required threshold, the spell would keep draining them until they collapsed or died.

The chieftain might still die.

And everyone participating in the ritual could die with him.

...Yeah. That would be utterly stupid.

The shaman knew it, too. He wasn’t willing to gamble the lives of his entire remaining tribe on a ritual that might not even work.

However...

What if my goblins joined the blood transfusion?

I immediately began running the numbers.

Among my citizens, Gopugiga had the highest HP pool by far. Thanks to his [Brute Strength Lv. 1] skill, which doubled his maximum HP, he already had around 1,000 HP at Level 14.

As for my other goblins, their maximum HP ranged from roughly 400 to 600 each.

Adding everything together...

We had around 3,500 maximum HP between us!

That was already more than the estimated 3,000 HP we’d need to sacrifice, assuming the shaman’s figure of 50% transfer efficiency was accurate.

And that wasn’t even counting the surviving members of the Bright Red Nose Tribe.

There were more than twenty of them, and they were all willing to donate their blood to save their chieftain.

With that many additional participants, we should have more than enough HP to complete the ritual.

Hehe... looks like we might actually be able to pull this off!

For the first time since this whole mess began, I felt like we had a decent shot at saving the guy.

But then I caught myself getting ahead of things.

There was still one rather important problem.

All my calculations depended on the shaman’s explanation being accurate.

What if the actual transfer efficiency was lower than 50%? What if the spell had some other limitation he hadn’t mentioned?

For all I knew, there might be another nasty surprise waiting for us.

And if I’d miscalculated...

Things could go horribly wrong.

...

Hmm...

This shaman... can we really trust him?

Well, I didn’t have any particular reason to suspect the old goblin of lying. He seemed genuinely concerned about his tribe’s survival, and his reluctance to perform the ritual was understandable.

Still, I wasn’t about to risk my own citizens’ lives based on a rough estimate. Not when the consequences of getting it wrong could be so serious.

I quickly discussed the situation with my goblins, making sure they understood the potential danger before we went any further.

After hearing my concerns, Gopuran stepped forward and addressed the shaman.

"Shaman, how certain are you about the blood transfer efficiency? Is it really 50%?"

"Yes!" the elderly goblin answered without hesitation.

His expression was firm, and there wasn’t the slightest hint of uncertainty in his voice.

And this raised my trust in him a bit.

"In fact, if I have the proper materials, I may even be able to increase the efficiency to 70%!"

"Oh?" Gopuran exclaimed. "And what materials do you need?"

The shaman hesitated briefly before answering.

"Hmm... do you happen to have any powerstones? We could collect some from the wolves, but..." He glanced toward the battlefield. "I’m not sure we have enough time for that."

...

The moment he asked, Gopuro burst out laughing.

"MUWAHAHAHA! POWERSTONES?!"

The guy practically doubled over, slapping his thigh as though he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world.

"WE HAVE PLENTY OF THOSE!"

He immediately reached into his pouch and pulled out a handful of powerstones.

Apparently, although powerstones could be consumed by my citizens to gain experience and level up, there was a limit to how many they could absorb each day. As a result, my goblins, especially Gopuro, had been saving some of their stones for later.

And before we came here, I’d also given everyone some extra powerstones, just in case they needed them for something.

Well, looks like that decision had paid off.

"Here! Take these!"

Gopuro cheerfully handed the stones to the shaman.

The other members of my tribe followed suit, pulling out their own reserves and adding them to the pile.

Before long, the elderly goblin was staring at a rather impressive collection of powerstones.

His eyes widened.

Then, to everyone’s surprise...

The shaman suddenly dropped to his knees.

"This... this is more than enough!"

His voice trembled as he stared at the precious stones.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

He looked as though he might burst into tears at any moment.

"Hehe! Don’t mention it!" Gopuro replied, grinning proudly. "Just make sure you save our big guy!"

"That’s right!" Gopuran urged. "There’s no time to waste. Let’s perform the ritual!"

The shaman nodded firmly.

"Understood!"

****

Without wasting another moment, the shaman began preparing the ritual.

He took out a piece of chalk and started drawing a large magic circle on the ground, carefully tracing its intricate patterns while muttering what sounded like an incantation under his breath.

I immediately instructed Gopuran to watch his movements closely.

Hmm... if possible, I’d like to learn this ritual, too.

A spell capable of transferring HP between individuals could prove incredibly useful in the future. I’m not entirely sure when I’d need something like that, but having another tool at my disposal couldn’t hurt.

Meanwhile, the other goblins got to work clearing the area.

They dragged away nearby wolf corpses, chopped down several small trees, and removed anything that might obstruct the magic circle.

Ideally, I would’ve preferred to conduct the ritual somewhere safer, perhaps inside a cave or another sheltered location.

Unfortunately, there was one rather obvious problem.

The chieftain was absolutely enormous.

Moving that giant around in his current condition would be difficult enough, let alone transporting him somewhere else. Besides, we didn’t have the luxury of searching for a better location.

We’d just have to make do with what we had.

Fortunately, the shaman worked incredibly quickly.

In less than three minutes, the preparations were complete.

Damn...

This old guy is legit!

I was genuinely impressed by how efficiently he worked.

The magic circle itself looked relatively simple at first glance. It was a large circle drawn in chalk, with intricate symbols and patterns arranged around its perimeter. The unconscious chieftain lay right in the middle.

As for the powerstones...

The shaman carefully piled them on top of the chieftain’s massive body.

Apparently, they would serve as catalysts for the spell, accelerating the transfer process and improving its efficiency.

Hmm... interesting.

It reminded me a little of how I could spend Castle Points to speed up my construction projects. Different methods, sure, but the basic idea was similar. Invest additional resources to make a process faster and more efficient.

Anyway, once everything was ready, the participants gathered around the magic circle.

My goblins took their positions alongside the surviving members of the Bright Red Nose Tribe. One by one, they sat cross-legged on the ground, forming a ring around the unconscious chieftain.

The young goblin girl remained nearby, watching anxiously as the shaman made his final preparations.

However, I didn’t let all my citizens participate.

Gopuro and Gopuran would serve as guards instead.

After all, once the ritual began, the participants wouldn’t be able to move freely. If something attacked us and interrupted the process...

Yeah, that would be a disaster.

So, Gopuro and Gopuran stood outside the magic circle with their weapons ready, keeping watch over the surrounding forest.

The old goblin looked around at everyone.

"Alright. Is everyone ready?"

"Yeah!" my citizens answered firmly.

"We’re ready!"

"Let’s do it!"

"Save our chieftain!"

The surviving goblins echoed their determination, their voices carrying across the clearing.

The shaman took a deep breath and slowly raised his hands.

The moment of truth had arrived.

Come on, big guy...

You’ve made it this far. Don’t you dare die on us now!