Having released the world seed’s energy, Conall glanced at the general giant, who soon returned the gaze.

“Where did you get this? Choose your answer carefully if you don’t want your head to fly.”

His reaction was justifiable. In comparison to the commander who simply wished for the sudden war to end, the general knew of the harsh reality. Their world’s core had been shattered, so how was it possible for the human boy in front of him to be holding it?

“It’s a gift from your patron god.”

“You..."

He stopped his sentence, somewhat surprised by the air around the boy.

"Aren’t lying, huh?”

The general added before looking at the commander.

“Fymial, carry him over to the walls. From there, you will have to be alone, human, otherwise, the demons above will target the two of you. There are hidden teleportation gates in the capital. They will lead you to the castle. Find them and give the item to the king.”

Conall and Fymial nodded, already departing towards the city walls.

However, before they could fully run, the general shouted something.

“Human! Take this! The castle is the most dangerous place of all.”

Beside Conall, a golden bracelet dug into the ground with vigor because of the general’s throw. Taking it out, he nodded in appreciation.

“All good?”

“Yes, we can go now.”

With that, the duo started running. They were a bit less than three miles away from the capital, however, they couldn’t just go in a straight line.

Numerous times were they stopped by soldiers fighting around them, or simply by a demon interrupting their mission.

However, after half an hour, they could finally see the grand walls of the capital. Littered with monsters trying to climb up on them, a line of guards that had seen no gaps stood on top.

Erected high in the air, the walls stood at around fifteen meters from what Conall could tell, though it was likely to be taller.

Fymial suddenly turned around, his face grave.

“Conall, excuse me, but you have to hold on.”

Grabbing him from behind, the commander raised the human in his arms behind him, as if preparing for a throw.

“Guards!!!!!”

With a deafening shout, he got the attention from above.

“Catch him! He’s our savior!”

Just like that, the dumbfounded Conall flew through the air, watching as a demon barged into Fymial a second later.

The giant rolled on the ground a few tens of meters away from the spot, however, he quickly equipped his weapon before charging at the incoming monster of flesh himself.

On the other side, the confused guards caught the human, who quickly explained the situation before going down the annoyingly big stairs of the wall tower.

Finally, he got inside the capital, but even there, it wasn’t safe. Most of the citizens had already hidden themselves away in their houses, but there were some that still couldn’t make it.

Screams filled his ears as the demons devoured what stood in their way. The guards couldn’t keep up since there weren’t that many in comparison to the soldiers.

He could also see the floating palace properly. And when he saw it, he wished he hadn’t. It was as if a wall of red birds circled around it, not allowing anything to enter, or leave.

It was also these flying demons that mostly attacked the giants of the capital.

Looking at the red demons going around the palace, a sudden weird feeling engulfed him. With a keen eye, he witnessed as the color of the flying monsters slowly drifted, from normal red to glowing red.

Suddenly, the monster, even those on the ground, turned into particles of red light before rapidly approaching the bright blue crystal above the castle.

As though the crystal was anything but hard, the light phased through it with staggering easiness. Before long, the blue crystal started transforming. With cracks appearing, the color changed into a dark red before turning fully black.

And, with it, the floating island under the palace started shaking, large debris falling off piece by piece.

Realizing a cataclysm was about to happen, he ran back with all of his might, however, the capital was too far and wide for him to reach the tower in time.

The enormous island had fallen, and destruction followed.

A wave of dust, rocks, and dirt obliterated everything in the path, soon reaching the human. Before he could do anything, he was already swallowed whole by the island’s ground. Accumulation of pure, heavy mass hit his body, but, surprisingly, he couldn’t feel anything.

Hitting against the tough walls of the city, he also didn’t experience a single nudge of pain. Something was definitely weird, but he couldn’t pinpoint what exactly.

‘Am I dead already?’

He thought, but that idea quickly dispersed. Even though he didn’t feel pain, he felt the heaviness gathered on his body.

Pushing away all the stones and dirt, the knight finally realized something.

A golden armor decorated his body, coming out all the way from the bracelet, which lost its golden shine, looking like dull silver.

In the middle of his chest, there was a cracked yellow gem that most likely showed the durability of the armor.

Nonetheless, he couldn’t waste this opportunity. Seeing as some parts of the city walls started to become unguarded because of the need for help, Conall quickly rushed towards the palace. He couldn’t let any demons disrupt his final few steps ahead.

The palace, adorned in gold, crumbled in many parts and was still cracking from the drop, but that didn’t matter. Conall ran, pain strewn throughout his legs.

It didn’t take much for him to reach the palace, but, it wasn’t as he thought. Eerie silence permeated the whole building. There was no one screaming, despite experiencing horrors.

He rushed towards the throne room, but once he reached it, Conall wished he hadn’t.

A demon as tall and big as the giant king himself. Armor made out of a black metal covered its gray skin, except for the face riddled with black veins and four red eyes. The long black hair that flowed all the way to the marble floor moved on its own, while the three horns on its head seemed as hard as the strongest of metals.

Clutching onto the young giant’s neck, the demon looked behind, right where the human was.

“No! Don’t come closer!”

The king under the demon's grasp shouted, despite his bloody, beaten mouth.

Stretching out his hand, the demon let out its heavy, ominous mana. Instantly, the attack pierced through him. Conall felt like he was cut in half from the waist down, yet he was still there, functioning and standing properly.

Saving his life once again, the armor disappeared after the gem turned to dust.

As though bare, a cool breeze brushed his body.

From behind the demon, a blue light intensified before exploding outwards. Blinded momentarily by the burst of light, Conall quickly regained his vision. Seeing the demon being pushed back slightly, he looked at the blue-haired king, who was looking back at him.

As if they both understood each other, the human took out the world’s seed before throwing it to the king.

With an apologetic look on his face, the king muttered to the sphere.

“I’m sorry. I will have to borrow some of your power.”

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The ominous energy from before was overwhelmed. An unfamiliar, grand entity descended upon them, it felt like.

With his eyes glowing white and hair spreading out, the king shimmered with the world's power. A single grasp of his hand caused the space around them to freeze.

The demon attacked with hundreds of spells, however, they simply stopped in front of the king, unable to reach him in any way.

Enraged by the sudden turn of events, the demon turned its attention towards the human before releasing another spell at him.

Yet, the spell froze midway.

“That’s enough of you, demon.”

With those simple words, the giant manifested a glacial sword in his hands before swinging it upwards. A deep blue slash of ice energy went through the throne room of the palace, hitting the demon before it could even react, or before the human could register it.

Conall stared at the ice statute severed in half. Even though the demon from before was made of blood and flesh, as well as donning an imposing armor, the ice looked as transparent as glass. It was like the attack a second ago carried a pure essence of ice.

However, all was done. Plumping down onto the hard, marble floor, he waited for something while looking at the king.

What he wished for happened. The King stopped moving.

“Truly amusing. I was sure you would have died fighting that necubus. Nonetheless, it was a splendid performance. In total, it took you one hour and fifty-three minutes.”

“It would have been quicker with the arena.”

“But you want the full rewards, don’t you?”

Hearing no answer from Conall, Harmis laughed joyously. Then, the world around them changed. They were back in the cave, however, the human’s body remained the same.

“So, I actually was ‘there’, no?”

“Well, I guess you could say yes and no, but I won’t bore you with the explanations. Also, don’t worry about the demon crystals. Just think of it as a bonus for being the first to complete my trial. Now, I think it’s time to move on to the real rewards.”

Conall heard him roughly. It was extremely hard to focus with a lot of his bones either cracked or broken. His soul was also strained from the use of aura in the battle with the Grade B.

“Right, maybe I should have done that first.”

Noticing his agony, Harmis’s hand waved and a healing light, similar to that of the nun at the sanctuary, started rapidly mending the broken human back.

Only then did the god truly notice how bad of a state his successor was in. The pierced lungs were drained of blood before the flesh healed itself.

Bone splinters stuck in his muscles receded before solidifying into a new, proper skeleton. All of the bruises on his skin quickly disappeared along with all the cuts.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Finally able to breathe properly again, Conall remained seated, awaiting the god.

“You have done what I couldn’t have in my past. Simply witnessing how much the future could have changed right there was something I thought I would never experience. For that, I can’t express my gratitude enough.”

The boy watched as crystal tears dripped down to the ground. Even though he had no eyes, tears streamed down his cheeks as the god sobbed quietly.

“I must be pathetic, no? I wonder, would anyone believe it if you said you saw a god crying?”

With a wide grin and a slight chuckle, Harmis joked at himself.

Conall watched silently on the side, not knowing how to react. Truthfully, he had no thoughts that painted the giant god as pathetic. In fact, he found it refreshing. For a god to show such emotions, it only indicated that they hadn’t lost themselves to their own power.

Each god was an extremity. The law, an enigma of their element. At a certain point, it was as though a god was nothing more than that authority, rather than themselves. But, now he knew that the god of giants before him was actually just Harmis.

Soon, the god stopped. He still needed to distribute the rewards.

“You said you wished for my heart, is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Conall reaffirmed his answer, but he got an unexpected response.

“I see. I can finally rest now. With this, it will only be a matter of time until we meet again, Ibida.”

Talking somewhere far away, where Conall couldn’t reach, his voice drifted apart, completely omitting the dumbfounded boy.

‘What… is he saying? He should have given me the heart of the giant from the legends.’

His eyes couldn’t focus as the god shocked him greatly.

This shouldn’t have happened, not from what he knew. At the same, in his head, it all unfolded. In the game, the quest ended once you beat the trial and got the heart of some random Giant. There was no more mention of the event, and when you went to Heph, he would keep saying the same thing, which was to either buy something or leave.

‘Is this the actual way of helping the giant god?’

“Conall, please take off your jacket and lie down on the floor. The procedure will be painful, however, the cursed blood holding you back will be purified and your regeneration will become one of your strongest points when fighting. Also, your mana will carry the ice element, however, it seems like we are similar in that aspect.”

Although still confused, he followed his command and lay down on the harsh crystal floor. The cold from the crystals penetrated his skin, however, Harmis quickly stopped it from going further.

A great wave of mana gathered around his chained arm. It quickly coalesced at the palm of his hand into a thin blade made from what seemed like indestructible ice.

The blade flew through the air under the giant’s control. A cold sensation eventually spread through Conall’s skin.

As the knife touched his chest, shivers covered his body. With a concise slice, just barely touching the skin, the blade cut open the center of his chest.

Conall gritted his teeth as another few cuts penetrated through his bones as though they were butter. On the other side, Harmis cut open his own body before digging for his cold heart.

The blue organ, transforming back into a hue of red, beat in the air despite being taken out.

Conall exhaled as he experienced the lack of a heart. It was weird, he didn’t really feel like he was there at the moment. The inexistent sensation of his heart ringing was also unnerving, like losing something dear to him.

He saw his own heart above his head, purple-black blood dripping from the cut-off veins. Even though his usual blood was red, the one at the very center of his being was ominous. The heart itself had a violet look.

However, as though reluctant to disappear, the purple blood moved on its own, back to its respectful owner. Harmis couldn’t do anything about it, but he wasn’t worried at all. What he needed to focus on was to correctly change the size of the heart, as well as align its veins with the ones of Conall.

With minor tweaks, the heart was ready. Putting it inside the open chest of his heir, the process immediately began. The divine heart seemed to allow being fitted in such a shabby vessel.

As life slowly returned to Conall’s faded eyes, he felt a rush of pain stimulating every corner of his body. Like a flame that ate away at his insides, it spread alongside the heart that tried to assimilate itself with his being.

He shook. The pain was so egregiously intense that he visibly vibrated, as though he was being possessed by an unholy spirit.

He tried turning around, however, an invincible energy held him still. Clenching both hands and toes, his new heart slowly accepted the blood that was already flowing through him while steadily healing off the cuts near his arteries and veins.

His muscles started convulsing as the body didn’t know whether the blood delivered was its own or a foreign fluid. The heart was hammering with irregular, indecisive beats. His bone marrow started aggressively transforming. From yellow and red types, all of them fused into a different, uniform white throughout the whole body.

Then, they started pouring out blood like a fountain of inextinguishable resources.

Conall started to sweat with blood, unable to even speak from the stimulating pain.

Somehow conserving a sense of time in this accursed state, he felt better after a few hours. Although his whole body was sore, the searing pain coming from inside had lessened significantly.

It was at this moment that he wished time would have stopped. His new heart has just started purifying his corrupt blood.

“AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”

He screamed in agony, for the first time in his new life. On the cusp of losing reason, he smashed the illusionary shackles holding him back, all for naught.

It didn’t do anything. He could only wait out as his heart was set on fire while hundreds of needles traveled through his blood vessels, ripping apart everything along the journey.

Harmis watched the human writhe in pain with great interest. He had observed countless warriors try and assimilate the heart they received as a contribution, all ending in similar results.

Well, he had to acknowledge Conall for his mental and physical fortitude. Usually, giants would react to the procedure the same way he was reacting when his blood was being purified.

At the same time, the reactions from Conall seemed genuine to him. As if, he reflected a pure essence of pain. But the god didn’t know why. After a few seconds, though, he finally figured it out.

Gazing at the surroundings of the boy’s split soul, he observed deeply as a certain creature was holding onto him, the area of his spectral head, to be precise.

The round, grotesque creature looked at the god for a second before tightening its grasp on Conall’s soul.

Back in the real world, the human suddenly squinched from excessive, new pain.

‘This boy!’

He couldn’t believe him. The curse of excessive pain. Used by the ancient warriors to become deadly machines that felt no pain.

‘There is still a god that gives out such a curse? I can’t believe it.’

At the same time, he admired his efforts. Even more so than before, the small human half-giant before him started to feel like a younger version of himself.

He quickly halted his thoughts as the point of culmination arrived. Clinging to the body of Conall, a lanky, faceless creature held on desperately, releasing a dark aura while trying not to disappear.

The curse, as hard as it had tried, couldn’t keep up with the human’s new regenerative powers. With an ungodly scream, the souls of the cave’s spirits shook in fright.

“ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Finally, the grasp of the curse broke off, and the nightmarish monster turned to particles.

At the same time, a golden light enveloped Conall along with his surroundings. The spirits that previously hid away from him gathered close, the light illuminating their silhouettes.

The curse plaguing Hestrea’s land disappeared, and a miracle had been bestowed upon its benefactor. A blessing in the space of the curse.

To his side, a golden window showed some text, however, he was too tired to read it.

You have overcome a great curse. You have been bestowed with the skill blessing, [Blessed Blood]. Please, deal with the rest of your curses…