Chapter 176: Evolution

“Kal-Gul… that’s a name I have not heard in a long time.”

Conrad and Lagaope had come to inspect the heart and Karnine. They were intrigued that the heart had belonged to the Kal-Gul’s Great Warrior Nekra, as they had previously fought the Kal-Guls for a long time. After testing it with various magics, Conrad and Lagaope started discussing a lot of things. They started debating with each other on various issues for a while and concluded in the end, “We don’t think there will be any issues.”

“Oh? Really?”

“Yes. The heart is stable and we don’t see any… trace of Chrona in there. You won’t need to worry.”

“But…”

Sian still seemed to be concerned and Lagaope became curious. He then realized what Sian was worried about.

“Oh, are you worried about the <Soul Transfer>?”

“Yes.”

Sian explained what he had seen before. He told them about when Kuntarian’s ego was gone and Kalagul, the old Kal-Gul warrior took over. Conrad and Kuntarian frowned.

“What is it?”

“So, that Kuntarian guy got the heart that we were studying… but to have beat the man up until his spirit died. You are one of a kind.”

“…”

“You won’t need to worry about that.”

“Why is that?”

The side effect of having one man’s ego disappearing wasn’t one to take lightly. However, Conrad didn’t seem to be concerned. Sian questioned him, unconvinced, and Conrad laughed.

“You would die with that amount of damage before your spirit dies to allow that to happen.”

“Oh.”

“The body would be crushed before that happened. If Stiel falls into that situation, it would be much direr than a Soul Transfer.”

“I guess you are right.”

“You probably can use it without any concern. If you think it will be hard to eat it raw, should we process it a bit?”

“Is that possible?” Sian asked. The heart was still beating so he didn’t feel it was appropriate for a lady to eat it whole. It was quite large too. Conrad began drawing something up on the space. It began to form a circle with various incantations as Conrad took the heart and placed it inside the circle.

The heart was pulverized and became a powdery substance. The reddish powder than swirled around within the circle and became a small rock that was about the size of a thumbnail.

Conrad snatched the rock and handed it over to Sian. Sian was confused as it seemed very familiar to him and finally realized what it was.

“Oh… this looks like-”

“Yes. I processed it the same way we make the Soul Transfer Orb. The orb requires more materials, but this is how it works. I extracted the core power of the heart into this, so it will retain its full power when consumed.”

“That’s fascinating. Thank you.”

“No problem. We will work on the rune again, so go and have her eat it. Stiel won’t be easy to deal with from now on. Haha.”

Conrad smiled as he knew how strong Nekra was from first-hand experience. Sian thanked them and returned to the training ground where Stiel was at.

“Wow, Sian you came back with a present! So, were you watching me while I was training?”

“Yeah, I went to ask about the heart and Conrad even processed it into this.”

Sian handed over the red gem to Stiel.

“How kind of them. So, it doesn’t have any side effects?”

“Well, it’s what Conrad and Lagaope said.”

“Didn’t Lagaope also say it was okay with the Murakans?”

“…”

“But I trust them. So I just need to eat this and put Karnine close to my heart?”

“Yeah. Are you sure though?”

Sian was still unsure if he was making the right choice, but Stiel just laughed.

“It will be okay.”

“No, I mean… are you okay with becoming strong in such a manner?”

Sian was worried that it might hurt her pride. However, she seemed okay.

“It’s okay. There’s no right or wrong way to become strong. I can’t blame anyone for things that happen because I’m weak. I will grab any opportunity to become strong. I learned this when I was younger.”

“Hmph.”

Sian nodded.

“But are YOU okay? You won’t be able to use Karnine anymore.”

Sian shook his head and answered.

“It broke when I used it back in Apental. Don’t mind it.”

“Haha, right. Come to think of it, you’re finally paying me back for my armor that you BORROWED and destroyed.”

“Oh…”

“I’m just joking. Then, shall we?”

Stiel swallowed the gem, took Karnine from Sian and placed it over her heart. She didn’t have to stab it into herself as it immediately began reacting to her.

There weren’t many visible changes from the outside, but Sian was able to see the changes happening within Stiel’s body. The gem scattered into powder inside her stomach and began to spread throughout her entire body. Karnine also began emitting powerful energy onto her and spread out.

Her inner body began to change. Her muscles tightened like steel and her senses increased. Her bones became stronger and her blood was cleansed and renewed.

The change didn’t take too long. When everything was done, Sian carefully spoke to her.

“Hm… Stiel?”

“…”

Stiel didn’t answer but glanced at her own body and began thrusting with her fists and legs. It was a different level of power from before. After she finished examining herself, with a satisfied look she turned to Sian and smiled.

“Wow… I guess you really need to eat good stuff for your body.”

“You scared me.”

Sian was relieved to hear that Stiel was still herself.

“I don’t see anything wrong. It’s great!”

Stiel seemed excited about her new power. Sian grinned.

“Are you going to use Karnine?”

Stiel didn’t seem interested in using Karnine so Sian asked. Stiel frowned and replied, “Didn’t you say it’s broken?”

“Yeah, but it is still good enough to use as storage. It will be better than the necklace.”

“Oh, you’re right. I should put my gauntlets in there. You can have Nitzmatan back.”

They traded Karnine and Nitzmatan.

“I think the gauntlets are more suitable for me. I’d use them even if Karnine wasn’t broken.”

Stiel spoke as she pounded the gauntlets against each other. Then, they saw a huge wave of a silvery-looking substance approaching from a distance.

“Wow… look at all those Swarms. They became even stronger.”

The Swarms were much larger than the one that protected the Karltonheim Estate. The two of them found it interesting that this Swarm contained an enormous amount of energy.

“Where did they get that energy?”

“Haha, we don’t need the barrier anymore so we can utilize all the energy we want.”

“Oh, Ciculus.”

Sian turned to Ciculus, who jumped out from the Swarm and said, “We will use these to defend now. I pulled out all of the stored Akra from around the continent. By the way… I heard what happened. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good. But that will surely help.”

The Swarms quickly moved under the <Ciculus> Lorvall. They were a bit weaker than the Murakans, but they seemed that they had become strong enough to defend the place.

Sian relaxed at the increased defense and began looking forward to his return.

Sian got up from his bed from a sudden loud tremor that shook the Ciculus.

‘What’s going on this time?’

Sian instantly became concerned when something unusual happened now. Besides, the energy wave wasn’t something he could overlook. It was so massive that if it blew up, he would receive quite a bit of damage. After checking, Sian wasn’t too worried as the energy didn’t seem to be volatile.

‘It’s still uncomfortable.’

He was sure that something was happening at least. Sian thought about going to check it out, but he went to check on Stiel first. She was already awake and was glancing around.

“Sian, what have you done?”

“…”

Stiel automatically assumed it was Sian’s fault and confronted him.

“I’m not some harbinger of disaster, I don’t know what’s going on either.”

“Hmm… it’s fishy.”

“Yes, but I don’t think it’s dangerous.”

“Right. They’re not running away.”

“Let’s go check it out.”

Looking at the other Dukes standing around and checking on the situation, it didn’t seem to be much of a threat, so Sian and Stiel ran to the place where the tremors originated.