Blood Magic should be hard to level, it's incredibly powerful. I doubt they intend anyone to start the Ashlands experience with much over 50 Blood magic skill.

On a side note, did you know you can use Blood Magic to protect your tamed animals? And this in turn, can be used to safely transport animals in the longship or with the Harpoon (ANimals will get the harpooned effect even with the shield up)

Riding atop a battle Lox using the Barrier and watching the lox stomp everything into dust is 100% viable battle strategy, at least anywhere but the MIstlands.