Logan looked at his sister in shock. Olivia, for her part, was beaming with absolute radiance and made sure to rub it in because of her immense progress.
“H-How the hell did you go from 2 orbs to 8 in one go!” He said.
“Hehehe.” She just laughed.
To the side, the legacy smith disciples chuckled and the elder smiled. Of course, the elder was focused on Logan himself. He had his own brand of identification magic that was no worse than the golden lions.
“The elder wasn’t lying that this boy is special. Histour is even working on him with the new world system and his life is rather amazing for a common child. Natural 40% lightning affinity by E rank, at D rank that is already at 60% and his resistance to lightning magic is 80%. His other elements aren’t bad either, 15% at E rank and now they are all 35% due to his slowly increasing knowledge of elemental magic. As for the sword… his own legend is firm and powerful and is growing at equal strides to the legacy of the Golden Lion. Hmm…” his brow raised a bit when he noticed something strange and actually hidden from sight. It was a segment of legend that was just forming in Logan’s unique legend but it was protected.
On the other hand, his eye went to Olivia and saw her legend was absolutely shining. It made him curious about them.
“Come on, spill it!” He said.
“She had her sword reforged to upgrade.” the elder finally said.
“Huh!” Logan said.
“Ah man! I wanted to see him confused a bit more.” She said as she pulled Hydra out and he saw that the flame had been reduced to a bare color but her sword was no longer gray, it was Yellow.
“It really went up in grade!” Logan said.
“You are the next one up.” The smith said.
“Does the forging process help grow that much?” Logan asked as he took out Arashi and showed the fully formed purple glow on the gray blade.
“Well… from records, it shouldn’t be this much of a growth… for humans.” He said.
“Mana body.” Logan said.
“Yes, it was absolutely shocking to us all when your sister suddenly started evolving mid forging. It seems that her body rapidly adapted as a result causing extreme change in her body. It was really shocking when she began to absorb mana like a sinkhole. I’ve never seen such a reaction, much less read about it in archives of when the Order was still around.” he said.
“Is that why she is also so healthy now? Normally we are always so weakened after.” He said.
“Yes… an immense amount of stress is lifted off her body because of it. Of course, she still requires about a week of rest but it isn’t nearly as crippling as what it once was.” He said.
He got very excited and decided to get it going immediately.
They headed to the forge with him excited to get such a massive boost of power.
Like most times, he removed his armor and the disciples got ready to start feeding and healing him though he first had healing magic of specific types added in and swallowed the first group of spells.
When it began, like always, the seal on his right hand exploded with bright golden flames. The forge was burning with the golden flames much like Elas had done and it covered Logan soon and forced his body to start training. It was very much like the first time and he shouted in pain but after the initial burst, he grit his teeth because his mana was now accelerating at nearly 30 times the normal speed while absorbing these golden flames and blending it with his mana.
He gripped his mana like he did the first time but compared to that time, it had been a few years already and he had much greater control of his own mana, especially since he had still been F rank at the time and was now D rank.
The mana still flowed on its own but he gripped it and compressed the spinning as it rushed through his body.
Jin evacuated as fast as he could moments after his body caught fire and even had to roll to extinguish the flames. It was even dangerous for him while Maxwell laughed, “The elementals that Olivia carried had to make the same run for it.” He laughed at the poor lion cub that huffed in response.
In less than 10 minutes, Logan finished the cycle he had been working on and started another on the next one in his mana pool.
It was very fast as it grinded the power of the flames into his mana pool leaving a faint golden mana mixed in but it was done fast but left no faults due to his control.
It continued as the elder heated the blade, guard, handle and sheath each.
Soon he took out the guard first and slammed down.
“Ahh!” Logan shouted suddenly and they suddenly saw his heart glow bright golden and pulse moments before his body flashed.
Each hammer strike sent a pulse out from his heart as his heart and blood vessels burst and instantly evolved.
When he put it back, the sheath was next and his skin erupted this time and it was it’s turn. In truth, the handle symbolized the mana film that contained the mana in his body but it was fused with his skin causing collateral damage.
The handle, which followed caused his bone marrow to ignite and cause immense pressure to gather and finally the blade caused his entire body to crack, break and evolve back into one piece under an unending battery of strikes.
The process was not quick either, the time it took to complete the reforging of a Golden Lion sword depended on how many forms they possessed and Arashi possessed a lot of them.
In the time it took for a single round of forging to go, Logan had gone through five cycles of training and when it stopped, the orbs of mana broke their flow and the first orb was reduced into a flame before it split.
The mana started to try and begin training again but he grabbed it and reformed the system of orbs that connected to each other before the mana could start flowing once more and it naturally caused a chain reaction throughout his body.
The elder naturally paid attention to this and let his body stabilize before he started again.
Maxwell watched and his brows raised, “He sure is growing a lot.” He said.
“Did he already form another?” Olivia asked.
“Yes, he had two orbs and now it went up to three.” He said.
Olivia didn’t feel troubled by this, Logan’s innate magical talent was much better than hers. Her advantage has always been her mastery of weapons.
When he said that, the elder naturally heard that and asked while waiting for the heating to finish, “Did he have his Legend sword since young?”
“It wasn’t a Legend sword but it was already the raw blade with the legend and spirit birthed inside.” he said.
“Then it’s no wonder he is so much better with magic. Swords that have given birth to a spirit and possess a host they bond with will naturally affect their bodies, enhancing it even if they are not officially Legend swords. As a Lightning legend blade, it is a very magical orientated sword so it is not strange that his magical talent was high. Before he started mana development, how much of his mana channels were opened naturally?” the smith asked.
“About 65% of them.” Maxwell said.
“And your daughter?” the smith asked.
“30%.”
Olivia looked at Maxwell shocked. He had never given an exact number but how natural mana channels are opened is a big indicator of talent.
“Indeed, if that is the case then the boy’s natural mana pool size should also be roughly 25% bigger even if they are in the same level of development and using the same technique. His mana pool was naturally bigger to begin with.” He said.
At that moment he took out the guard again and began forging, giving no one time to speak but Logan didn’t shout this time as he was focused and ready for the heart piercing pain.
This round however, his body suddenly became a sinkhole as his mana body was already much emptier and all that mana began to run through his body, filling the body causing a nearly constant growing glow throughout his veins.
When the round stopped, shockingly, he formed another two orbs instantly.
As said by Olivia when they were on Helix, the number of cycles needed to grow usually doubles from the base amount required when they are in the unranked level. For Logan, it took three cycles for unranked, F rank was six, E rank was 12 and D rank required 24 cycles. It takes at least 2 or 3 cycles before an orb can split. The number of cycles he was going through were large, the first round was 5 and this time was 4 cycles even with the immensely higher requirement of mana each cycle. He already had 5 orbs counting the other two he originally had.
Each orb was a major boost in mana and power and as soon as the system to process formed, even while resting, his body began to glow and maintain that evolutionary glow for almost 30 seconds before he returned to normal.
The smith took a look, “No wonder the Grandmaster wanted to watch out for this boy. You all should watch out for people trying to destabilize your hierarchy, his power is really shooting up and we are only half way. He might actually form all the magical systems for D rank if his body can support this much growth.” the smith said as he took guard once more.
The first hit set off an even more massive chain reaction in Logan causing visible streams of mana to appear. After the third round he formed two more orbs, the fourth round he formed one and when the process finally finished Logan actually ended up forming the 9th orb.
“He actually reached the limit.” Maxwell said.
“I guess it was obvious since I went to 8 orbs.” Olivia said. “I’m one cycle from my max though so I can catch up quickly.” Olivia said.
Maxwell nodded, having the first new generation reach C rank was a big milestone, much less at his age. He had hoped it would have been Olivia but he can’t do much if it is Logan.
When it was finally done, he quenched each piece one by one and carefully rebuilt it but he learned the hard way.
“Ah! Fuck.” the smith said, shaking his hand as he held the guard to put it back and got a very strong jolt.
“Oh, you should be careful.” Maxwell said.
“Right… Grandmaster did say this particular sword was extra wild. Considering there are quite a few wild ones I didn't expect much but this one definitely has an extra bite.” He said before he looked around and found a large glove made of A rank dragon hide and several modern tools made with magical materials. He also started to handle the parts with magic and only directly touched it when necessary.
“Is it that much of a danger, master?” One of his disciples asked.
“Come here.” he said, calling him over and then looked around and picked up a piece of lightning resistant wood and put it in his disciples hand.
“Under side up.” he said.
The disciple was confused but he looked at the edge and just gave a simple touch but to everyone’s, except the elders, shock, the young boy went flying across the entire room covered in lightning and his master quickly came over and literally pulled the lightning out like extracting a parasite and snuffed it.
“This is a lesson boys, no matter how many Legend swords you forge, you have utter caution because you never know when an absolute wild dragon among them will land in your hands. This is why I only let you handle magic swords still. This sword will shock no one besides that boy and will tolerate only masters like myself and the grandmaster and even then it will always make sure to keep you on your toes. Remember that.” he said and turned back to the sword and finished building the handle back onto it before finally sheathing it and using magic to take it to Logan.
Green lightning instantly began to run through the sword and his body.
Storm looked and stepped forward and took out the inventory box and took out the red crystal. “Great master, we got this, master was going to infuse it into his sword.” He said.
“Oh! Red lightning crystal!” he exclaimed and took it and looked at it and nodded. With magic, he pulled the sheath off and put the crystal against the yellow colored blade and instantly spread through the entire sword and Logan’s eye opened.
“AHH!” He shouted as his hand was stuck to the sword and soon the red lighting ran up his body and the sword instantly began to release green lightning in abundance.
Instantly Storm gathered his emerald green lighting and released it into the sword and it instantly ran down through the sword into Logan as it tried to balance but the red lighting was much denser.
It kept going until it suddenly pushed away Storm’s arm and they saw the green lightning gather at the tip of the sheathed sword. It formed a green lightning orb and compress before absorbing that and forming a new one and each time it got denser until there was an instantly change after almost 50 orbs as the emerald green suddenly released a bright golden bolt which instantly sucked up the entire orb and entered the blade and instantly spread through Logan.
The trembling slowly started to subside but there was much more red lightning but in the same stretch that the green ate purple lightning, the golden lightning was sucking up the purple and part of the red to balance things out until finally the crystal shattered and was absorbed into mana by the sword and soon the electrical surge started to calm down.
Logan almost dropped the sword but just laid sprawled on the floor.
“That hurt… almost as much as the forging.” he said as his face dropped several shades and was really pale.
Maxwell came over while the elder took out a few potions to help him heal and had him sit on a chair and began to examine him while Logan pulled his sword and looked at the yellow sword.
“So it’s an awakened sword. I heard that until awakened, the existence of the sword could not be actively spread about.” He said.
“Indeed, it is to keep you from doing stupid stuff and attracting attention from the wrong people. Now you can actively talk about it and most of all, spread the legend. The legend is a detailed and completely accurate depiction of the history.” the elder said before beginning to use healing magic to heal damage from the surge of lightning.
“Alright, it seems your condition is similar to your sister, one week, no physical training. Though… considering your mana body, this might not matter as long as you advance to C rank and cause your life force to evolve.” he said.
“How much did my raw strength increase?” Logan asked.
“It is at the limit that humans can ever reach. If you were crippled magically now, you would still have the strength of the limit of humanity.” He said and finished.
Finally sheathing the sword, he got up but took a moment to get feeling back before his legs strengthened and his senses all woke up properly.
“Surpassing huh… that sounds hard to do in a week.” He said.
“Not really.” Maxwell said. “The form you advance is forming a 2nd outflow of mana from the nine orbs and connecting them into one flow and forming a new orb giant orb at the middle. It's an easy magical structure to make, the hard part is going to be the grinding after, so that the orb achieves the quality and produces C rank mana.” Maxwell explained.
“Alright, this has been an eventful day, I’m sure you all want to get to training. Let’s see… Victor, you will settle and build your forge within Logan’s Micro world. Considering he will be going up in rank, the area should grow as much as 40 kilometers or so at full extension and will have plenty of work needed. Remember the task at hand, train smiths and magic smiths to be able to support the requirement of the order. His division needs special attention due to the religion forming among their ranks.” He said.
“Does it matter if it is monsters, master?” Victor asked.
“No, naturally it isn’t.” his master replied.
“What is this about moving in?” Logan asked.
“They are areas that are being settled to have a Legend smith. Olivia’s micro world has this one, most major cities also have them and the three major military establishments are in the process of preparing places so that they can work and train new smiths and magic smiths for both military and general public.” Maxwell explained.
“Oh, I see.” he said and nodded.
“It will need a bit of time but we will get right to it. Is there a blueprint we can follow?” Logan asked.
“No, they build their own shops to their desires. Each has their own personal designs. It is why every forge Grandmaster Elas we’ve been in has the same design.” Olivia explained.
“Oh.” Logan replied.
Logan quickly puts his armor on before strapping Arashi into her sash and they all exit the micro world together before he goes to his own door and enters with the young man.
They look around and eventually find a spot that he finds sufficient and begins to use magic to raise the building. It was slow so that each stone pillar was powerful.
“I will leave you to this. I need to rest.” Logan said.
“Please do. The impact of such a forging is much harder than a normal forging.” He said.
Logan nodded and looked at the others.
“We will take care of things. Take time to rest for real.” Jade said.
He just smiled and they knew he would only do that once he had built the magical structure.
He headed to his room and dropped into the bed that almost pulled him to sleep but he sat up before he could and took out the Altar and the rule book before going to C rank.
He reread the rules until he pledged himself to the rules of a C rank and then he opened the scroll containing the technique and began to read about the next rank. That said, to unlock it he had to infuse mana into it and the words appeared much like Maxwell had to do.
Eventually he figured out what to do and put it away and sat on his bed. The nine orbs each had a flow from the top wrapping the next orb and connecting at the bottom side.
That said, this trick needed him to form a second flow and to do that he needed to gather the most processed mana.
Basically, each orb was a ‘starting point’ and it channeled mana through all the orbs and returned to it before it was released through his body and finally got stored in the orb to be used. He accessed that stored mana, instead of the mana being released, and drew it up to the top but right on the side of the current flow and began to create a new one.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
It was hard because it started to destabilize the orb’s flow but he implemented the trick to stabilize this and slowly, nine new flows appeared and extended towards the center while bending downwards.
Finally, taking the first orb and circling, it began to connect and blend the flows as it circled the space and each flow would wrap each other until they fully fused and kept doing that until the nine flows formed one large flow down to the middle of the space.
After that he drew all the processed mana and began to further process the mana through the channel and it rapidly increased the density until it exited like a dense mist.
This was quickly made to start spinning and forming a tiny ball and gather mana. It was quick to reach this point but because Logan had sped through the entire process, he lacked huge stores of mana so his body began to absorb mana and process everything until it started to grow the new orb.
That said, the Micro world did not generate mana naturally if he was inside so he soon felt the quantity dropping but by that time the sun was already rising.
“Training mana sure makes time fly.” he said as he got up and walked outside. He knew he wouldn’t be able to train anyone so he had to look for one of the older generation C ranks that wasn’t doing something and asked to fill in until the end of the week.
He agreed since it wouldn’t be a long time and Logan introduced him.
“As a result of a forging process of my Legend sword I am currently unable to train anyone so this elder will be substituting me until i recover in a week.” He said.
Like that he left and walked outside and went to a spot near the edge of the village where he began to gather mana and work on the giant orb.
With the help of the Micro world he was able to get much more mana and he saw just how much he grew because he had a significantly stronger pull.
One day turned to two and then three until the giant orb finally reached maximum size and the technique finally grew no more. The final part required the orb to release a flow wrapping around itself and connecting to the bottom of itself as a final refining process.
He spent about as much time as he took to merge the nine flows into one and finally wrapped the flow several times around the orb and connected it. It released a magical feeling as it fully settled and now all that was left was grinding until it finally hit the required quantity to improve.
With a deep sigh he stood and stretched. “Finally done.” he said and did stretches but felt a slight pain in his joints.
He didn’t push himself more and instead headed to the micro world and into the chapel’s basement before going down to the pedestal. It was for no reason and when he arrived, he found it glowed and radiated from the faith gathered.
He kneeled down and looked at it, “... I never expected not having a family to save would confuse me so much.” He muttered.
When he saved his family, he was happy he still had blood relatives, he never expected for there to be so many or the condition they were in but still he was happy but after saving them it felt like the fire that kept him pushing was extinguished.
Although he exploded with growth and potential, he didn’t feel that same drive to grow like before because his objective he aimed for was achieved.
“Is this why the order never helped those who need it get revenge before B rank? Because they would lose their drive?” he said in the empty room.
He looked at the pedestal and touched it but nothing came of it.
He sighed and closed his eyes and prayed just like Maxwell had taught him. What shocked him was that he felt a slight sense of dizziness and suddenly found the world around him was bright. Very bright and sat up to find himself in a world of clouds and around him were powerful auras and pieces of the crests of the Pantheon of Knights.
“Oh… you’ve finally achieved a connection with us.” one of the gods said.
“Wh-what is going on?” he asked.
“You’ve finally sought out anyone for guidance.” A deep booming voice said.
The crests and auras of the gods moved away for the light of the Ancient god. “What do you seek?” he asked.
Logan frowned, “I don’t know. My entire life, my only thought for growth was to save my family. I never expected the demon attack, I never expected any of that would gather the knight's order and they would achieve my ambition so early.” he said. “I don’t know what to strive for.” He said.
A slight chuckle came from the god, “So many who achieve such a profound connection like you have shouted that they desire to become great paladins, priests or prophets in the name of the gods yet you only seek a life’s goal. Interesting.” the ancient god said.
Logan clenched his hand in frustration and caused a chuckle from the other gods.
“Child, you know the domains that this pantheon consists of, correct?” one of the gods asked.
“Ah… yes. It’s divided in four tiers, the ancient god, the gold tier which are the knight concepts that knights should follow, silver tier is the aspects knights fit into and bronze which are skills or classes we possess.” He said.
“Yes, what is the gold tier?” the god asked.
Logan was surprised but answered, “Chivalry, Loyalty, Honor, Courage, Justice, Mercy and Hope.” he said.
“Good, tell me then which of these great concepts do you see yourself filling as a Golden Lion knight?” he asked.
Logan looked towards the god’s crest and frowned, “None, I’m too weak to consider any of them because in a world where the most dangerous things are above S rank, the only thing I can possess is courage but courage in a weakling is recklessness. As a knight, Chivalry is a type of lifestyle, loyalty is achieved through companionship, honor is a code, justice needs a system to follow while mercy is for those who regret and repent their actions while hope requires strength to be able to become such a symbol.” he said.
“Then why do you not aim to become this then? A symbol of hope, that is what a Golden Lion knight is. That is what Nuntip’s ancient Golden Lion had been and what the reforming Golden Lion order should become.” He said.
Logan looked at them confused.
“Why is it that I can connect with you all? I barely pray, I never sought religion or anything.” He asked.
A goddess replied, “No one knows when they have a powerful connection or not. Your link itself was originally weak but your life has blended with the legacy of the golden lions which is connected to us.” He said.
“Why not my sister then?!” He exclaimed.
“No one knows. The gods of fate work in weird ways. That said, you should know something. The four orders the ancient hero formed throughout the world, only the golden lions fell but the others did not. The result of this are three corrupt orders and three pantheons of gods who are comfortable in doing nothing to fix it. Although none of the four groups of gods made actual religions, each of them have personal religions they are more than comfortable lording over.” he said.
“Why would you make a religion then if that is the kind of fate it had?” He asked.
“Because it is needed. Remember the world network that was created? It is almost about to activate. Countless changes will take place making the world harder to live in and making growth for monsters and humans easier, unlocking abilities will be easier as well.” the goddess said.
Logan’s face clenched when he heard that and another goddess spoke. He recognized this crest as the goddess of strategy.
“Child, you spoke of ambition, lacking a spark for it. Your little priestess has said many times, you stress yourself too much. Think about the world you see around you today. Danger only grows, grand dungeons filled with S rank or even SS rank monsters as their peak army generals, hordes of sentient monsters all over the place, demons growing in power, barely any remaining human social structure, this includes even, in part, hugely damaged religions throughout Nuntip. You originally wanted to save your family and so you trained, now that you have saved them in this kind of world, should your new ambition not be growing to the ultimate peak to make sure your loved ones remain safe?” the goddess asked.
Logan’s eyes widened in shock before he looked back at his hands, “I’m so dumb… why did I never think of something so simple. I even said to them that I would make sure they can live the most peaceful life.” Logan thought. At that moment, the crest that appeared on his forehead shined brightly and he stood with great determination. They all felt a great blaze kindle within him and all of them smiled.
Sometimes, the greatest people need only the simplest ambition.
“I’ve been thinking for a while, does the pantheon, or specifically, does my division that follows the pantheon need to be alongside the other divisions that follow the thought process of the Sun god’s blessing from the Golden Lion statue?” he asked.
This time, it was the god’s turn to be shocked by his question.
“Well… it can combine, the Sun god’s blessing simply reacts to the faith sent to it while our religion is connected to us.” the ancient god said.
“So they really aren’t compatible.” He said.
“They are, our blessings would not conflict but religion would be impossible to build around a blessing compared to a god.” He said.
Logan nodded and his mind went to the knowledge, “If only I could make Holy water, the pedestal of the holy sword does not release its blessing unlike the statue.” he said.
“Ah, indeed. We were waiting for this moment and prepared for this.” one of the gods said.
“Huh?” Logan muttered.
A light gathered in front of him and formed into a bowl roughly the size of his head and on its side was the crest of the pantheon and many beautiful engravings.
“This is a Holy chalice. I’m sure you can guess but not all holy artifacts are like the Golden Lion statue or the Holy Fountain of the water god. In such moments, we produce a Holy Chalice. Unlike the artifact, this is naturally not as powerful. It can produce only Low and High quality Holy water and does not produce unique brands such as the Holy Sun water. The amount produced is also not as extreme but the chalice works on the energy of the blessing and is bonded with the artifact of our blessing. A special fountain must be constructed to hold it for holy water to be created.” the god said.
Logan carefully took it and felt the weight while a light from the crest on the Chalice shined into his own and he saw the fountain and frowned, “It is exposed in the church.” He said.
“Indeed, it is an icon of power, showing the approval of their patron gods.” The ancient gods said.
Logan frowned and looked at the Chalice while his mind went through everything and then raised a brow. “Hmm… there is a way to make something for the statue as well.” Logan said.
“Indeed, the original magical fountain it sits on contains 90% of the blessing. If water running through the microworld is pumped through a specific fountain, part of that unused blessing, around 5%, can be gathered and used.” He said.
Logan nodded slightly but decided it wasn’t worth it when the statue already produced such a huge amount.
“What do I need to do?” He asked.
“You and the priestess are the ones to decide how it goes.” they said.
“No… although you are giving us some freedom, we don’t know how to run a religion, we need at least some guidelines, something to follow…” He said.
Several chuckles came from the gods.
“If that is how you see it then let’s see.” The ancient god said and fell into thought before several lights gathered into several books.
The first to descend contained strange names. “Disciple and Squire.” Logan muttered and then new ones came down and split into two sides. Over the disciple, the one right overhead was ‘Priest’ but one in between the two was ‘Cleric’. Over the ‘Squire’ was ‘Knight’.
Above that, ‘Arch priest’ hung over ‘Priest’, ‘Holy Knight’ sat over ‘Knight’ but then things became much more varied. Two books closest to the middle formed, on the priest side was ‘Inquisitor’ and closer to the knight was ‘Crusader’. Going further towards Knights, formed ‘Paladin’.
On the priest side, after ‘Inquisitor’ was ‘Templar’ and further was ‘Warpriest’.
When the last one formed, they hung in the air.
“W-what is this?” He asked.
“Once the world network finishes analyzing all living creatures and activates completely, there will be advanced systems activated. Among them is called the Class system.”
“You mean like what the adventurers guild does?” Logan asked.
“Yes, the ancient hero, due to his unique connection to the world, could access the world system so when designing the adventurers guild around this special system. That is why your modern society understands what classes are despite it not knowing the unique aspects of it. That will all change, classes are a major buff to strength and skills. These grimoires each possess a unique ability to help mortals ascend to higher classes. For monsters, it would cause evolution into a higher class but more than that, each book contains knowledge of magic and skills that each class can learn by virtue of the class itself. These specific ones are unique to our religion, unique blessings, skills that are compatible with the golden lions and more.” The ancient god said.
“Will my sister get something similar from the sun god?” Legan asked.
“No but you should not worry because ascending classes are not limited to the book, the books just make it easier because it clearly tells you what you need to know and how strong you need to be to obtain the class. Also, each class is unique and serves different purposes. Knight and priest are the most linear and basic while clerics are a blended hybrid class. They are both warriors and priests. We view them as combat medics because they can fight extremely well but have healing magic that can save lives in combat. Arch priest is the peak of priesthood while holy knights are knights who have accessed divine connections to empower their combat prowess.” He said.
“Why are paladins and holy knights separate?” Logan asked.
“Holy knights are combat focused magic, paladins are blessing and healing focused combatants. If we were to set up the top tier by order of prestige however…” The ancient god said. Holy knight was set to lowest followed by arch priest which was equal to war priest, then Inquisitor, Templar, Warpriest and crusader were equal and finally Paladin stood at the top.
“Paladin are few, out of 10,000 knights or clerics, 1 might become a paladin while the rest will become any of the others. You can see this well with the countless religions, the number of paladins are few and are the most respected.” He said.
“Okay… but other religions have things like bishops and cardinals…”
“Titles, an hierarchy among them usually set by age and merit.” the ancient god said.
Logan was beginning to understand and these books shined and flashed into his chest.
“Each book is a grimoire and should be referenced and learned from but learning from them… you know how to do so.” He said.
“Yes… a ritual temple that allows you all to pick which of the top tier classes they deserve.” He said.
They all bobbed their confirmation.
Logan looked at the Chalice once more, “I will do my best to make this work. I’m still very poor and can’t even set up the basic artifact defenses but I will think of something. Just one question, does the ritual for controlling the world tree in the micro world work for my sister's world as well?” he asked.
“No…” A single booming voice came and all went silent.
All that appeared was a small flash that condensed a crystal, “Present to the owner of the domain… it shall allow her domain the perfect growth.” the voice boomed and settled into the Chalice. The divine presence that appeared momentarily vanished instantly.
“Well… even the God of the Sun seems to be moving. The activation of the system has spurred even such gods.” one of the gods said.
“Alright, it is time to return to the world below. You need only pray but do not expect an answer every time.” the ancient god said.
The world shined brighter and brighter until Logan’s eyes shot open and he found himself back inside the micro world, kneeling and his head bent. Sitting up, he saw the Chalice floating above the pedestal and above it was a tiny golden crystal.
From his chest, a host of grimoire appeared no different from Storm’s.
He took the squire and instantly information entered his mind. There were a lot of confusing requirements that he didn’t know how to understand but then he used identification. It was among the magic he knew from the golden lion eyes.
It caused a screen like a dungeon’s to appear.
You’ve come in contact with a Divine Grimoire of the Class [Squires]
Requirement
Unranked loyalty oath to the Order of Golden Lion
He blinked and took out the one for Disciple
You’ve come in contact with a Divine Grimoire of the Class [Disciple]
Requirement
Unranked loyalty oath to the Order of Golden Lion
Pledge of Loyalty to the Church of the Pantheon of Knights
It was strange, just like the gods said, although classes were a thing but most people considered it a profession like magic smith and such.
He took out the book of knights next.
You’ve come in contact with a Divine Grimoire of the Class [Knight]
Requirement
E Rank loyalty oath to the Order of Golden Lion
Mana development at least E rank
Strength and Vitality at least E rank
Sword master level 20
Beast Riding skill level 20
Mounted combat level 15
This was even more confusing to Logan and he just put them away and shook his head. “Leave that for when it finally arrives.” he said and carefully put the Chalice down next to the pedestal and then took the crystal.
It glowed with the same aura of the blessing and he knew this was for Olivia.
With that in mind, he left the two religious artifacts hidden and walked out while sealing the chamber but his mind was already running as he began to think about what to do and proceed from there.
He went to the HQ and called Olivia.
“What?” she asked.
“This is for you… from the God of the Sun.” he said and tossed it to her.
She tried to grasp it but it reacted to her presence instantly and turned into light that shot into her head, surprising her but it was too fast to react before it was finally gone.
After a moment she blinked a few times and jumped at him and hugged him. “Thank you!” She said.
He smiled, “Yeah… I didn’t expect to get it.” He said and she separated with great excitement. “I have to go quickly!” she said.
Logan followed as she ran to the Micro world’s altar under the tree and gripped both sides and channeled mana.
The world was B rank in size, probably even A rank. She judged the size after comparing it and began a heavenly chant.
No different from Logan, the world pulsed and the thinnest roots, even those that were broken and ripped off from the surface to allow plants to grow, turned into mana and were sucked into the world tree throughout the entire world.
The crystal held both the knowledge of how to control the tree as well as how to incorporate it into the already created structure that was already in place so that it would not destroy it.
Naturally this caused the old generation to come but by the time they arrived, the tree’s ten thickest roots were withdrawing from the earth.
She then returned it and spread them out without root damage from where the roots were cut and were completely healthy now. They pushed back into the same holes but in a perfect shape.
Then she had to work in remaking the water system even more perfect then what the countless generations have done by releasing and absorbing the second branches of roots. It closed many channels and opened new ones but when she finished, it was feeding water in a special way. She followed through with the last bit and as expected, the micro world increased by almost 50 kilometers of space in the orb and 45km of actual virgin land. After she finished she made sure to stabilize the roots of that space as well so that it would be perfect.
When it was done, Maxwell shouted at them until Logan explained what happened to him and what he gave her.
Max dragged them down to the statue to make sure and what they found was the statue in extreme radiance. Mana was flowing with such great power through the water and roots around the room that it was almost twice as dense as before.
“I told you, the knowledge I got included everything built into the micro world. It improved all the water flow, allowed me to close all the cuts in the roots and even gather the scattered branches of the roots that were left over after being broken when the root was ripped out to make water ways.” She said.
“You should warn us if you are going to do that.” Maxwell said.
“I’ll keep doing it since the tree will keep growing once I reach A rank.” She said.
The old generation took a moment to pray to the blessing and they left, sealing the passage once more.
Maxwell dismissed them all but Logan remained.
“What?” he asked.
“I need help gathering material for the underground temple for the pedestal.” He said.
“The foundation is the most expensive right?” he asked.
“Not so much but it's not cheap.” he said and took out a sheet of paper with the material but after reading it, Maxwell shook his head. “All magical material we have and are gathering is going into outfitting armor and weapons to the soldiers, ships and defensive tools. You will have to obtain it yourself with your division.” He said.
Logan listened and sighed. When he didn’t leave, Maxwell frowned,
“What?” he asked.
“I’m thinking of making a separate Golden Lions. One specific for the Pantheon but still following the same rules.” He said.
“What got into… wait… the crystal from the god of the sun. That means you talked with the Pantheon?” he asked.
“I did. Honestly I don't think I fit in with the order. It might be some kind of fate but I think the best thing to do is make a separate order for the religion, at least in its formation. Once it develops, it would be better for both of us to become one large union again.” He said.
“What do you expect to accomplish with this?” He asked.
“The gods didn’t tell me how to do it but said I have the freedom to form it. I don’t think the development together with the prayer to the statue would work. It will definitely conflict and cause tension from those wanting to keep the golden lions like the ancient structure and my division that is connected to the gods of knight.” He said.
“You do realize the soldiers your training are there because you stayed in Eshen and wanted to rebuild it.” he said.
“I know, I don’t plan to keep anyone with me if they don’t want to. Breaking off, if i wait until I’m C rank, that will probably only allow a Mercenary group at best, usually barely 200 people is common in such a group. I can still work alongside the main group but with more freedom but I stand by what I said, I don’t think that we will be able to properly establish ourselves without materials.” he said.
Maxwell rubbed his forehead because it was one less leader and the vice leader at that. His support for Olivia was a big contribution for why they could achieve control.
“What are your actual plans?” Maxwell asked.
Logan was also in thought before taking out his communicator and found a map of the continent, the division of countries was there but then circles of influence appeared for each surviving country and then another map for the religions.
“Just like countries, religious organizations were attacked, it was just less obvious since their gods could sense the danger and their paladins defended against it.” He said as the spheres of influence appeared.
“One thing I noticed is that the prime point of all religions is always near a singular dungeon that they establish themselves around as a location for resources.” He said.
“You want to set up around a dungeon in these times?!” He exclaimed.
“Well aren’t you doing the same with Eshen’s three infant dungeons?” He asked.
Maxwell could not retort that. “That doesn’t matter, it's dangerous since young dungeons don’t have eruption suppression and the first eruption is usually very violent since they don’t have enough creatures to get it under control until everything is flushed out.” He said.
“In the same stretch that we examined the creation of the current base of the Golden lions, if the first eruption has a C rank monster, it is already a big achievement for the dungeon.” Logan said.
“Where do you expect to go?” He asked.
“Don’t know.” He said and pinpointed all known dungeons but then quickly got rid of anything over 50 floors. “I’ll figure something out eventually, I am not expecting to stop in one place until I’m at least B rank personally.” Logan said.
“If you plan for that kind of strength then I can't say anything but we need to address the soldiers. Those who want to go can't stop but many of them remained because they wanted to protect Eshen. We can’t have you going against that desire.” He said.
“I know but let’s wait on that. I’m only going to leave when I’ve completed my 1st cycle in C rank. I still need a lot of mana to achieve mana of that quality but the structure is built already.” He said.
“Fine. I wouldn’t have expected for things to go like this even though you’ve said when we were originally planning that you and Olivia could each form your own branches but to think it would be like this.” he said.
“It’s fine, I don’t expect much help with how things are… I also expect that things will grow very chaotic.” he said and told him what the gods said about the other continents.
“That… doesn’t sound good. It sounds like a house of cards just waiting for a good jolt. If the dark empire is actually prepared and in contact with oversea survivors… The damage to the world might not be limited to Nuntip. Let’s pray that it doesn’t spread further.” He said.
Logan just nodded and walked out to continue to train and prepare for everything. He did not say anything to anyone since he did not want to worry anyone