CHAPTER 67: AWAKENING RITUAL

Carlos sealed the doors and windows, pulling out the twelve dormant greatswords he’d traded from the garrison.

The sword bodies were dull and lifeless, pitch black all over, looking pretty run-of-the-mill on the surface.

[Unknown Legion’s Rare Greatsword]

[Quality: Blue]

[Sharpness: 26]

[Equipment Requirements: Spirituality 15, Strength 4]

Before awakening, they were just the most ordinary Blue Quality spirit gear, without even special bells and whistles.

Next, Carlos drew the corresponding awakening magic circle on the ground, then placed the twelve greatswords one by one into the sword positions surrounding the circle...

After positioning them, Carlos triple-checked that the magic circle was picture-perfect before walking to the center spot.

Spiritual energy surged as the circle’s array patterns fired up, and the twelve greatswords’ surfaces got wrapped in mysterious halos.

Carlos’s expression turned serious and solemn as he spoke in special tones:

"Roses magnificent!"

Right away, the twelve greatswords began shaking and automatically floating in mid-air.

The sword bodies gradually became slender and long as magnificent red rose patterns slowly bloomed on the blank blades, absolutely mesmerizing to look at.

"Nailed it on the first try!"

Carlos excitedly reached out to touch them.

Compared to regular greatswords, these Redrose clan swords had narrower, longer blades with wicked sharpness radiating from them.

[Redrose Clan Sword]

[Quality: Light Gold]

[Sharpness: 49]

[Special Enhancements:

(1) Redrose Swordsmanship level +3

(2) +10% damage when using Redrose Swordsmanship

(3) Bond: Blooming of Red Roses]

[Equipment Requirements: Spirituality 30, Redrose Swordsmanship level 10, Redrose Family bloodline, Strength 15, Speed 5]

Carlos’s eyes lit up like Christmas morning. Compared to Purple Thornblade clan swords, the Redrose clan swords were even sharper.

"49 points of sharpness—this completely hits the sweet spot of Light Gold Quality!"

After seeing this, Carlos’s attention turned to the bond.

[Blooming of Red Roses:

Clan swords resonate during battle. Each additional sword boosts the wielder’s Strength and Speed by 1 point each.

(Maximum twelve swords, can be activated once every 24 hours, lasting one hour).]

"Redrose clan sword resonance boosts Strength and Speed."

Carlos wasn’t caught off guard.

In the lost Age of Swords, the top dogs of the once-mighty Solar Empire were controlled by the Sunflower clan and twelve elite families.

These twelve elite families were vassals of the Sunflower clan. Each family’s prized swordsmanship had different specialties, and their inherited clan swords, especially their bonds, naturally enhanced different aspects.

"I’m dying to use you all to create brand new skeleton guards right away."

"Too bad I can’t head to the dark mist areas immediately."

After admiring them for a while, Carlos somewhat dejectedly stashed away the twelve Redrose clan swords.

After storing them, Carlos’s inner restlessness didn’t let up.

He clearly had the Light Gold Quality greatswords absolutely crucial for new guard creation, but couldn’t immediately take skeleton soldiers to kill, learn bone swordsmanship, meet the requirements, and create new guards.

Carlos paced back and forth in his room, unable to find his peace of mind.

"What to do? Is there any way?

To let me keep staying in Ember City for competition while having skeleton soldiers constantly kill and rack up death energy to hit the requirements?"

Logically, he should grit his teeth and wait.

Wait to win the team competition championship in a few days, get another set of dormant clan swords—Tulip clan swords—then enter dark mist areas for skeleton soldier upgrades.

But Carlos felt antsy as all get-out. Having new clan swords without immediate upgrades—he really couldn’t catch a wink.

After racking his brains, an idea suddenly popped into his head.

"If I can’t go, can’t the guards go?"

Leave five behind to participate in the team competition.

Since Purple Thornblade Guard #1 could share vision, it could totally lead six skeleton guards to protect ten ordinary skeleton soldiers heading to the Withered Lands for slaughter while gradually approaching the Desolate Desert.

After winning the championship, he’d hotfoot it to the border between Withered Lands and Desolate Desert to meet up with them.

By the time they rendezvoused, the ten ordinary skeleton soldiers should have racked up enough energy to hit the requirements, just right for the upgrade ceremony...

The more Carlos chewed on it, the more doable it seemed.

"While my spirituality hasn’t topped 9, skeleton soldiers can still enter the Withered Lands—this is totally workable.

Especially since #1 can share vision with me, allowing me to call the shots in real time."

So he immediately ran to hash this out with Iris.

"Carlos, don’t go off half-cocked. If your upgraded skeleton soldiers get carelessly destroyed, the loss would be huge."

Iris wasn’t buying it. Without their master calling the shots, skeleton soldiers would only know to fight when running into monster sieges, never backing down, with only dissolution as the final outcome.

"Sister, trust me. There definitely won’t be any problems.

The radiance of the demigod has always been watching over me!"

Carlos removed his headband, the emerald mark glowing brilliantly as noble aura spread.

"This..."

Just hours ago, he’d filled her in about demigod mark warnings.

Little Statue Galahel might pose serious future threats to humanity and needed close watching—she’d reluctantly bought it.

Now less than a day later, divine radiance covering him again?

This...

Since Carlos stepped onto the Psionics path, weren’t the demigod’s guidance and omens coming a bit too thick and fast?

She sometimes suspected whether her brother had a living demigod inside him, providing guidance for every little thing.

"Fine, as long as you know what you’re getting into."

Seeing Carlos’s stubborn expression, Iris once again chose to go along with it.

"Sister, you’re truly brilliant!

I’ll go summon 10 new skeleton soldiers right away."

"Wait, how many?"

"10..."

Iris suddenly caught on to something, muttering:

"10?

Sending out 7 upgraded skeletons plus 10 skeleton soldiers..."

Carlos helpfully chimed in:

"Plus 5 Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards staying to compete with me."

Iris’s jaw dropped, asking in disbelief:

"A full 22 permanent skeleton soldiers—what kind of Death Herald master’s inheritance gear did you get your hands on?

Giving you such a boost in skeleton summoning!"

Carlos wasn’t sweating about exposing skeleton numbers since this was explainable. He could simply explain having tons of spirit gear pieces boosting skeleton summoning—Death Heralds had been down this road before.

Facing Iris’s confusion, Carlos gratefully pointed to his forehead.

The two looked at each other, simultaneously whispering with reverence:

"Praise the great demigod!"

Then Iris patted Carlos’s shoulder, saying earnestly:

"Go, Carlos. Sister will always have your back.

I’ll fire up the family’s secret channels to escort your skeleton soldiers into the Withered Lands as quickly and quietly as possible."

"Thank you, wise and generous Grand Duke Iris!"

Carlos performed a mock bow before turning and hightailing it out of there.

Watching Carlos’s hurried exit, Iris felt something strange stirring inside.

...

Carlos walked to an open area in the garden. With a thought, a pile of monster corpses immediately appeared.

These were monster corpses he’d specifically stashed during his time in the Withered Lands, for convenient Skeleton Revival.

Spiritual energy surged:

"Skeleton Revival!"

Accompanied by rattling sounds, ten ordinary skeleton soldiers stood up.

"Still so pathetic."

Carlos didn’t bother giving them a second look, storing them all in his storage space.

"Next, once sister gets the ball rolling, I can send them to kill and rack up energy."

Instructing servants to clean up the corpse mess, Carlos headed to the hall to wait for Iris’s news...