Swordmeister of Rome

"What's going on?"

"Oh, Sian."

Ciculus greeted Sian who came up. Ciculus and the other Dukes were feeling the energy coming from the bottom of the tree as if they had been waiting for it.

"What is this energy? What are you guys doing?" Sian asked as he felt the powerful energy radiating from beneath the ground.

"Isn't it amazing? This is why we made Ciculus, the Akra, and the Swarms in the first place."

The energy was slowly flowing into the core of the tree. The massive energy was becoming more apparent and powerful as it gathered towards a small spot.

"What do you mean? I thought they were created for the human race?"

Lagaope told him that Ciculus and Akra were made to protect and help grow the human race. However, it seemed that Ciculus was implying that there was a different motive. And the Swarm? They were supposedly built to fight the Gerna.

Sian became confused, but Ciculus couldn't contain his excitement as he answered, "Yes, yes. It is for the human race, but there's another purpose for it."

"Okay?"

"You'll see it soon. Don't worry, you won't have a problem going back home."

"Hmph."

Sian looked away as Ciculus pointed out what worried Sian the most. He didn't seem like he was lying after all, so Sian decided to wait and see.

Within the core was a man standing inside; however, the man and the core weren't visible as a countless number of Swarms were covering them. The core was huge, but it was completely covered with Swarms. But it was clearing up as Swarms quickly began to disappear.

The silvery waves were rushing into the place where core and the man stood and were absorbed in as it transferred the Akra energy onto the core.

The core was now filling up with silver liquid from within and the man who stood inside was being drawn by the silver liquid.

There were two men watching, Conrad and Lagaope.

They were prepared for any emergencies, but the project didn't seem to have any issues so far.

"It's really working. Lagaope, you really did it!"

"Yeah… I researched it for a long time."

"But don't you want to be one too? Isn't it to become a <God>?"

Lagaope laughed.

"That only works for a man with Divine Blood. It was a project to bring out the full potential of the Divine Blood that had been restricted by human blood. It can't be used on any man, other than the descendant of Broxian. I was so relieved when I found Lorvall, you know? Oh, maybe you might work since you are the 'Son of the War God', right? Haha."

Lagaope laughed as Conrad scratched his head in embarrassment.

"I really thought I was a son of God back then. You know, being reborn and all."

"Haha. Yes. But the world is large, right?"

"Yeah."

Conrad agreed. There was no one weaker than him on this tree. No, there were two. Stiel and Lagaope. But that didn't prove much.

"Don't blame yourself. You're still within the top fifty ranks for humans in terms of strength."

"Haha, that's embarrassing."

Conrad, a once-Emperor and the most powerful man in the continent, laughed.

"There are a lot of monster-ish people. Lorvall will be on the step to become a <God> when he comes out of there."

"Huh? Isn't he becoming an Alpha from that?" Conrad asked, but Lagaope shook his head.

"No, it's not that easy. This isn't enough to bring out the full potential of the Alpha, Broxian."

"Oh… you didn't tell me the next step."

Lagaope smiled as he answered.

"Lorvall knows. He'll take the needed steps on his own. Oh, it's almost over."

The enormous number of Swarms had now melted away within the core and it was shining with a silvery light as strong Akra radiated from within. Then, the silver liquid swirled around like a tornado and Lorvall began absorbing it.

As the energy was absorbed, Lorvall began to undergo a change. The sound of bones breaking and rearranging would make anyone cringe, but Lagaope approached him to check.

"Good… it's going well. We have to move on to the next step. Can you give me that?"

Conrad handed over a sphere that was about as big as two human fists. Conrad seemed to be tempted to take the sphere for himself as he reluctantly handed it over.

"Can I become strong if I eat this? It's the extract of a third stage…"

"You can't become strong with it. It's made for the Divine Blood. Come on now."

"Hmph."

Conrad handed over the sphere and Lagaope threw it into the core.

As it was thrown in, it changed the silver liquid rushing into Lorvall, accelerating the process.

Conrad watched worryingly as the creaking sounds became louder, changing the shape of Lorvall's body in a grotesque way. Conrad asked, "What if that Murakan comes back to life?"

Lagaope shook his head.

"That's not going to happen. This is the last step of the process. We are removing the contaminated human blood out of him."

"Okay."

"It's almost done."

Lagaope spoke as he looked at the silver figure turning into a human shape at last.

Stiel was confused. The energy was subsiding but it looked like nothing changed. However, Sian seemed to be in shock.

"By the Gods… what have you all have done?"

Sian felt something was born from below. A powerful but familiar energy.

"What happened?"

Stiel couldn't feel anything but she knew that Sian had felt something.

"Something… was born just now."

"Huh? What is it? Is it that serious?"

Stiel asked as it had been a long time since she had seen Sian look so serious.

"It's about strong as me."

"Huh?"

"Didn't you break through the wall this time?"

"Yeah."

"So… you're at the fourth stage now, right?"

"And so is the one that was born from below."

The sheer amount of energy that was collected would partly explain the situation, but that wasn't enough to create a powerful being equal to Sian. Just then, the newly-born being jumped up to Sian with incredible speed.

His power was now very different from his old self, but he was a familiar face.

"Haha! Have you been looking at the world this way? It's amazing!"

Lorvall glanced around as he checked himself and his new power. It was probably very exciting, as Sian had been when he woke up from bed. Lorvall's excitement would be greater as he broke through a few stages at once.

"It's you. What just happened?"

"I guess you have the right to know. I will explain it all. Stiel… can you give us a moment?"

Lorvall called to Sian and jumped down with him to the bottom of the tree.