"You don't mean…" King Belmont nearly jumped in surprise. No wonder King Acacia had said that Dyon had no idea the kind of thing he had brought out. But, there was something off. Something like a Faith Seed… It should be much more obvious and much more powerful. The presence of a Spiritual level weapon was far below the type of presence a faith seed should have.
King Acacia sighed. "Like I said. The Dragon King was arrogant. The weapon acts as a seal not only for his faith seed itself, but also the power it wields. It's just that his arrogance didn't allow him to seal any more of his power than he did."
From King Acacia's explanation, anyone could tell just how eccentric such a personality was. The Dragon King didn't want anyone seeking to use his power, but at the same time, he couldn't stand the idea of anything attached to his being, being too weak. As such, he sealed himself away, but not completely. He wanted others to know that even in a weakened state, a mere piece of his cultivation was still at the level of a weapon others could only dream of having.
"But then… If he didn't want people to know about his faith seed, how did people come to know…" Big Red asked.
"This can't be blamed on the Dragon King. The reason Amethyst trusted the Belmont's in protecting her temple before it disappeared was because faith seeds cannot be hidden. Think about it, even death and reincarnation cannot erase a faith seed from existence.
"No matter how many times the seed is passed along from generation to generation, it will always manifest again. How can something like that ever be perfectly hidden?" King Acacia replied. "So, the Dragon King never bothered to hide the fact that he sealed his Faith Seed. What he did do was set up a trial, much like what I assume Amethyst did."
"Was someone like him really okay with basically being used?... A weapon is nothing more than a tool, after all…" Queen Acacia murmured.
Kawa was correct. All of this seemed highly counter productive. For someone so arrogant to want to be used as a weapon seemed odd.
King Acacia nodded. "This is exactly why the trial wasn't so simple as it seemed.
"Before the time of the demon qilin, many had tried to surpass the trial. But, the problem was different than you might assume… Every single one of them succeeded."
"What?" Big Red spoke out, trying to make sure he hadn't heard incorrectly.
"That's right." King Acacia confirmed. "The trial was a joke. Or, more accurately, it seemed to adjust its difficulty just enough that you would have to try your best but would succeed in the end regardless. If ten people took the trial, ten would pass. If a thousand people took it, a thousand would pass.
"So, you're probably wondering why the demon qilin would try this then. How would he prove himself by passing a trial anyone could? Well… The problem lied with the weapon.
"In a weapon to master relationship, there's a soul bond. This is how it works with beast companions as well. For convenience, Kawa and I also have this soul bond. It allows us foresight into each other's thoughts, information about each other's whereabouts, and a connection few others can reach. Normally, the reason why this isn't possible from human to human or elf to elf is that humans and elves don't have a strong enough connection to the natural order of things. But, that's a complex topic for another time.
"The problem with the Dragon King's weapon was that it would take advantage of this soul bond to take hold of the relationship. A large part of the reason why the Dragon King's legacy lives on even millions of years after his Transcendence is because he's essentially forced his consciousness upon hundreds to thousands of hopeful warriors.
"That said, the demon qilin still tried his luck. As one might expect, he was ridiculed as a wishful thinker. Many in the Drago-Qilin alliance wrote him off as a dead man and began to prepare to choose the best suitor for the 25th White Mother among the Black Jade Dragons – who, at the time, had three geniuses that were of very similar stature, talent and potential.
"However, the demon qilin had one thing that no other attempter had before: The love of a Celestial Deer."
**
Down below, as King Acacia was speaking, the second round was raging onward. Zaltarish and his elder sister, Akash, were a part of this round, and they seemed to be doing well.
To the side, Dyon still held his sword in his hand as Ri and Madeleine tended to him.
But suddenly, something odd happened.
It had been years since Dyon had even thought of his jet-black sword. In fact, the most time he had ever spent with it was likely right now. In their previous interactions, it was strapped to his back. And, he had only used it to fight a single time. Neither were occasions like this one.
Dyon felt the sword shift in his palm, causing him to look down in confusion.
Ri and Madeleine, seemingly noticing the oddity, looked down as well.
What the three of them saw was a slowly warping sword. It began to shrink from its six-foot-long length.
5 feet. 3 feet. 1 foot.
The blade completely disappeared.
Then, the handle began to warp as well. Its foot-long length twisted around Dyon's wrist, sliding around his fingers and almost becoming a liquid in the process.
Soon, a black band sat on Dyon's wrist. It was at least 3 inches wide and fit snuggly, as though it was perfectly customized for Dyon.
However, that wasn't the most shocking part…
Dyon suddenly felt as though an entirely new world had been opened up to him. Where before, it was difficult for him to sense energy cultivation energies, it was almost too easy now. Where before he could hardly sense the Demon Sage blood within him, it was almost too easy now. Dyon's body had undergone a qualitative change. If he had to guess what it felt like, he would describe it in just a few words.
'This must be what having a constitution feels like…'
