"At the center of the bamboo forest, there's a cold, dark pool where the Blue Stone Bamboo Clan Sword sleeps at the bottom."

But this cold pool was the tribe's sacred ground, locked down tight—only direct bloodline members could get in.

"Purple Vortex, search the bamboo forest."

"Roar!"

A dark purple streak of light tore into the mountains. White mist rolled up, scaring the hell out of countless birds and beasts...

...

In the ice valley, within the first layer of dark mist,

Carlos walked out of the snow-white building. On the ground, several Black Knights had just finished drawing a sublimation ritual circle.

"Silver Sword Orchid Clan Swords, time to show me what you've got."

Not long ago, all the Tulip Black Knights had wrapped up their sublimation. Carlos started working on upgrading a whole new batch of Skeleton Warriors.

He was damn curious about what kind of power the Silver Sword Orchid Clan Swords would bring.

Even though there weren't enough shield sets to sublimate them into Black Knights yet, even as sword guards, they'd be more than enough to handle defense.

With this thought, Carlos pulled out the Silver Sword Orchid Clan Swords he'd dug up from the White Poplar Desert treasure, one by one.

[Unknown Legion's Rare Greatsword]

[Quality: Blue]

[Sharpness: 25]

[Equipment Requirements: Spiritual Essence 15, Strength 5]

Carlos wasn't surprised—before unsealing, clan swords always looked this boring.

With a wave of his hand, twelve greatswords shot out, almost simultaneously piercing the ice to form a ritual circle.

Then Carlos unleashed his energy, and the ritual circle blazed with layers of light as all twelve swords at the nodes lit up.

Carlos kept his cool—he'd been through this dance three times already. He immediately called out in a special language:

"Sword Orchid Thunder Strike!"

In a heartbeat, the twelve pitch-black greatswords floated up as the darkness on their blades started to fade, revealing strange Silver Sword Orchid patterns.

[Silver Sword Orchid Clan Sword]

[Quality: Light Gold]

[Sharpness: 45]

[Special Bonuses:

(1) Silver Sword Orchid Swordsmanship Level +3

(2) +10% damage when using Silver Sword Orchid Swordsmanship

(3) Bond: Silver Sword Orchid's Sharp Resonance.]

[Equipment Requirements: Spiritual Essence 30, Silver Sword Orchid Swordsmanship Level 10, Silver Sword Orchid Family Bloodline, Strength 20.]

The general stats weren't too different from other clan swords—the key was this brand new bond ability.

[Silver Sword Orchid's Sharp Resonance:

Clan swords resonate during combat, randomly triggering lightning attacks. Each additional sword boosts the wielder's Strength by 1 point and lightning trigger probability by 8.5%

(Maximum twelve swords, can activate once every 24 hours, lasts one hour).]

"Strength boost..."

Carlos ran his hand along the unsealed Silver Sword Orchid Clan Sword, feeling the incredible thunder power hidden inside. If unleashed, it would definitely be earth-shattering.

"The power of lightning..."

Everyone knew that lightning attributes, whether among monsters or Psionics, were famous for their insane destructive power—especially against water-type monsters, where damage got doubled.

After checking them out for a while, Carlos quickly started the sublimation ritual. No matter how badass these light gold greatswords were, they were just sublimation materials for Skeleton Warriors—no need to waste time testing their power.

...

Several days later,

Before Carlos stood 10 sword guards with Silver Sword Orchid patterns carved into their bone frames, with threads of lightning occasionally crackling across their greatswords.

[Silver Sword Orchid Skeleton Guard]

[Health: 400 (Constitution x50)]

[Strength: 8]

[Constitution: 8]

[Speed: 3]

[Skills: Silver Sword Orchid, Silver Sword Orchid Bone Swordsmanship (1+3) Level]

[Silver Sword Orchid: A powerful talent condensed from the essence of Silver Sword Orchid Clan Swords

(1) Silver Sword Orchid Bone Swordsmanship Level +3

(2) +10% damage when using Silver Sword Orchid Bone Swordsmanship

(3) Bond: Silver Sword Orchid Skeleton Guards' Sharp Resonance:

Clan swords resonate during combat, randomly triggering lightning attacks. Each additional sword boosts the wielder's Strength by 1 point and lightning trigger probability by 8.5%

(Maximum twelve swords, can activate once every 24 hours, lasts one hour).]

With the Silver Sword Orchid Guards' sublimation complete, their contained lightning power grew even stronger.

"Too bad I'm out of shield sets, or I'd really want to sublimate them straight to Black Knights."

Carlos waved his hand, having the newly created Silver Sword Orchid Guards defend the ice valley, then returned to the pure white building to savor his black tea and enjoy the last bit of peace before things got crazy...

...

In the Material Realm, a team with serious presence appeared in the dark swampland.

At the front of the group was a towering crimson knight, intimidating as hell. Upon reaching their destination, the flames in its eye sockets suddenly blazed brighter.

"Caw!"

The sound was harsh like a raven's cry, echoing in everyone's ears.

"What's Red Spirit trying to say?"

Among the group, many Psionics looked at each other, totally lost. They hadn't made any sound—they just looked confused.

This batch of Psionics was exactly the first group of mid-tier Psionics that Iris had rounded up according to Carlos's plan.

About a hundred people total.

Thirty of them were vassals or subordinates of the Valois family, sent by Grand Duke Iris's orders.

The other seventy were more like mercenaries—they'd taken a job issued by the Valois family and backed by the High Priest, to serve the young master in the first layer of dark mist for profit.

However, to avoid unnecessary drama, Iris hadn't spilled too much intel to these Psionics beforehand.

She'd only said that once they reached the first dark mist layer, everything would be under Carlos's command, and the Valois family would provide sweet rewards.

Weren't they supposed to go to the first dark mist layer to meet the Valois young master?

How'd they end up in a place like this?

Most of the Psionics were scratching their heads. They were all mid-tier Psionics who'd definitely been to the first dark mist layer before, and they couldn't remember any teleportation point being here.

Only a small group—the Valois family vassals—knew more about the situation. Seeing the mercenaries' confusion, they spoke up.

"There's a newly discovered entrance to the first dark mist layer beneath the swamp."

The speaker was a tall woman carrying a greatsword, her expression dead serious. The Valois family crest on her breastplate revealed her status as a Valois vassal.

Beside her, another woman with a curvier figure continued:

"Don't panic, everyone. Lord Red Spirit will crack open the entrance soon."

Ah, that made sense. The Psionics chilled out.

Actually, even without the two Valois vassals' reassurance, the mercenaries wouldn't have said squat.

When they'd set out, they'd already sensed the crimson knight's terrifying presence. The Valois family had made it crystal clear—this was a Controller-level big shot.

When they'd first learned this, the Psionics had been shocked out of their minds.

Along with their amazement, they'd also gotten dead serious about this mission.

A Controller—that was a genuine heavy hitter in human society.

Any mission overseen by a Controller definitely wouldn't be child's play.

Red Spirit didn't give a damn what these humans were thinking. It just wanted to wrap up its master's task ASAP.

It stretched out its right hand toward the swamp, and terrifying psionic energy started gathering.