CHAPTER 122: NO LIMITS

The next day, while everyone engaged in their activities, mostly chatting with those in their circles, Siegfried stood in the company of Maldred and Snow, who sat before his desk, flexing his reinforced jade claws, now almost twice as long as before.

"I’m now a top-level elite with a potential for high tier," he smirked.

Maldred manifested seven-inch-long quills, crackling with lightning. "Same here. Once we do the test, we’ll be certain of our exact tiers."

Both boys eyed Snow, their eyes narrowing. The gap between them and their leader had grown even larger. No one could speculate Snow’s change, but they all knew he had skipped school for a week and came back entirely different.

For one, his hair had grown longer, framing his sharp-featured face, and part of it was a resplendent silver. Even though he calmly sat there scrolling through his phone, the aura emanating from him was oppressive.

And it seemed like Snow had decided to increase his size. He had the mana for it, and now that he did it, his muscle mass had grown, yet his waist remained slim.

Snow was changing his build from long-range and illusion to a close-combat monster, and with his wide-range explosive glimmer, which might have gained greater power, many in class, despite their changes, dared not raise their heads at him.

Even Dale and Cecil kept a low profile.

"Snow must have gotten his boost from those mana fruits. I heard he brought down a student gang of twenty-five students with just one attack!" a girl next to Lucy said.

"He never backs down. He might be aiming for the position of second place once more."

Lucy narrowed her eyes as she stared at the handsome teen before looking at Isolde, who sat at the back with earbuds in.

The top people in the class had undergone changes. Her summon didn’t even show signs of a natural shift, and she wasn’t saddened by it.

After all, she had the potential to become a lord tier in the end, that was a dream come true.

"Godfrey won’t lose his place," she replied.

"It’s going to be a tough fight," the girl beside her said confidently, and at that moment, Godfrey walked into the class with dark circles under his eyes.

He had this gloomy air around him. The entire class went silent as he walked straight to his chair and lay on his desk.

Snow raised an eyebrow, shooting a glance at Isolde, who was also looking at Godfrey but with concern.

As Godfrey shut his eyes, he appeared in Lament’s chambers, strolling to the wall. At this point, he was able to interpret some ancient texts and decipher what the cryptic images pointed to.

There was so much in Lament’s chambers that it awed Godfrey. Lament’s growth was about 3.0! The same Mountain had a sign that he had stepped into the next stage of knights in his castle.

But that was the least of his concern. Looking at these images carved into the wall, he saw what looked like a single continent surrounded by another ruined continent, and in the heart of his lone continent stood the castle, but with tall walls almost a hundred feet tall.

Beside it were texts which he could now read, though not easily. However, what it meant was that the castle was created by a human-looking race but with greater lifespan and physical capabilities because of mana.

Apparently, mana brought dungeons which caused such a world-changing catastrophe. The same happened to Earth, but the catastrophe wasn’t this devastating.

This stronger race didn’t have the ability to summon beasts; in fact, the effect of mana on them was next to none apart from increasing their physical capabilities a bit and their lifespan to four hundred years.

Godfrey moved away from the image of the castle to the image of a certain group in cloaks. Alchemists!

The minds behind the castle, brilliant men and women who did research and experiments on mana, thus using the invaders coming from the dungeon, those making claims to their world, to make an army, a crusade that would wipe out all beasts.

Godfrey moved again to images that looked like men going through experiments. Apparently, after countless failures, they created the False Heart – an organ that allowed knights to absorb as much mana as possible and increase their physical capabilities beyond what was once possible.

With the progress of the False Heart, those that did exceptionally over the years proved to be able to fuse with certain powerful beasts.

Godfrey kept walking around, kept seeing things until he reached a spot, and there he saw a writing that made his pupils narrow:

’For this reason... We have realized that the Castle of the Golden Order has no limits. With each dungeon we conquer, a new captain or chief, or commander rises from the ashes of countless corpses. We will forever grow, not possessing the boundaries of these creatures from these dens, we will surpass them all.’

Godfrey exhaled. ’No limits. It would have sounded stupid if I hadn’t seen the knights in person. If after each dungeon someone rises with a strength surpassing it, that does mean limitless. An endless source of growth as long as there’s a knight to inherit such power.’

Godfrey turned his eyes to the tall image of an alchemist.

’As of now, we have conquered death through an arisen knight.’

A text next to the alchemist read.

Godfrey turned his eyes to Lament, who sat on his horse, his halberd’s bottom planted as it stood there like an imposing statue.

He then approached the next door. It was huge like the others but with the image of a wand the length of a longsword.

’A wand? Is the knight sealed in there a magic wielder? I wonder what creature was slain. So far, only remarkable creatures were fused with these knights, each of them chimeras. I wonder what kind of chimera can wield magic, and what kind of magic are we talking about here?’

Godfrey tapped the petrified door.

"Lament. Do you know who’s in there?" he asked, glancing at his chief knight.

"A woman."

Godfrey’s eyes widened. "W-What?"

Just then, he heard voices and opened his eyes in the real world. Isolde and Lucy stood before his desk while the rest of the class was empty.

"It’s time for the reevaluation," Isolde said softly.

"Ah! I forgot." Godfrey rose up with a bright look that Isolde and Lucy didn’t miss.

***

After a while, Godfrey found himself in a room facing a board of teachers, the headmaster, and his secretary, all of whom sat around a semi-circular table, staring at him.

"You’re the seventeenth candidate, Godfrey Daniels," Sebastian said, his fingers entwined as he stared straight at Godfrey.

’What are they going to see? Lament’s tier or the Castle’s? Can a castle made to match greater threats, said to have no limits, even have a tier?’

"Regulate your mana but do not release your summon," one of the teachers said as they all pressed a button on the tablet before each of them.

It blinked, and the moment the result appeared, the mouths of Edwin, Julia, Gregory, and other teachers fell open.

Evangeline’s eyes trembled. "This is unbelievable!" she exclaimed, staring at the insane number before her eyes.

Sebastian squinted. ’This boy isn’t normal,’ he said internally, as the screen behind Godfrey lit up.

’20.6 Origin Tier with an unclassified potential. When you put no limits into a machine, I guess something like that was going to be the result. I’m awed, but not as shaken as they are.’ Godfrey said inwardly.

’A humanoid summoner with such tier and potential is like a giant tiger amongst a flock of antelopes. I’ll be taken for the Readjustment Program whether I like it or not. No one would want to waste a potential such as mine, and the authorities will surely see this, as all the gauging devices are connected to them.’

Godfrey’s heart drummed. Should he run? Could he evade all these teachers who had honed their bonds with their summons, possibly having several ascendant skills and maybe higher?

Was his fate to be brainwashed, the only way he could live amongst them? What if they twisted his memory, and everything he knew now was twisted?!

He would become a different person without ever knowing he once lived like this?!

"This was a mistake. The gauge tablets are still a prototype and can be expected to malfunction. You may leave, Godfrey," Sebastian said rather calmly.

Godfrey felt all his anxiety disappear as he turned and left the room.

"Edwin said the boy is the first ever to awaken a non-living thing as a summon. As ridiculous as his tier is, I believe we’ve witnessed the most talented summoner to ever be born in a hundred years," the combat instructor for sophomores said solemnly.

"But he’s a humanoid summoner. Do you know what that means?!" Gregory said with wide eyes. Some teachers had the same expression.

"It means if the Fanatics convert him, Cain might rule again," Julia said weakly.

"Exactly!" Gregory replied, snapping his head toward Sebastian, who calmly blinked.

"What we saw was a mistake," the headmaster replied, like he wasn’t even lying to their faces.

"You might be able to make us all forget this, but such a tier confirmation will reach the eyes of a king tier or higher, and they’ll come here. What will you do then?" Gregory asked.

"Tell them it was a mistake, and that they should work on producing better gauge devices. By the way, they don’t know who the student is," Sebastian explained.

"Why do you protect him? This will cost you everything?!"

Sebastian rose to his feet.

"I’m simply doing my best to make sure humanity’s greatest talent grows up without the darkness of our fears eating him up. I’m just afraid the darkness is already everywhere. However, if I can keep him safe within Manhattan walls for even a day longer, I shall."

Before anyone could speak, Sebastian snapped his fingers, and all of them were reverted to just when the evaluation began.

Their minds had reset back to when it was 9:00 a.m., when it was now 10:50 a.m.

"We’re done for today," Sebastian said to them with a smile.

Gregory stood up and stretched. "It doesn’t feel like I’ve sat for too long. I’m getting better at this patience thing."

He began to chat with the other teachers as they left the room.

...

A/N: Guys, I signed a contract with webnovel for this work. Missing a day without LOA will cause some damages that I can’t bear to handle.

So I’ll still write. And It will return to two Chapters from the next update.