Chapter 210
'Siemens Apollion?'
That was a name Zeke had never heard before.
That was because, in the first place, no knight with such a name had existed among the Knights of the Clock Tower.
Seeing Zeke's expression, Saturn nodded as if understanding.
"Seeing that you don't know the name Siemens Apollion, it seems my plan was successful."
"What plan are you referring to?"
Saturn continued with a cold expression.
"I made sure to erase all traces of Siemens's name from the history of Chronos."
Zeke understood why Siemens's name had disappeared among the Knights of the Clock Tower.
"Siemens Apollion, did he betray Chronos?"
Saturn nodded.
"He was a disciple of the great sage and the adopted son of the Hero King Kaisir, the one he loved most."
"Lord Kaisir's adopted son?"
Zeke hadn't known that the prickly Kaisir had an adopted son.
"Siemens naturally thought that Kaisir would pass the throne of Chronos to him after he departed. But the Hero King made a completely different choice."
"He passed the throne to you, Sword Saint."
Saturn swallowed hard and continued.
"It was difficult to understand his decision, but I decided to follow his will. However... Siemens did not."
"Did he try to seize the throne?"
"Yes, to become the king of Chronos, he betrayed his teacher, betrayed his comrades... and even betrayed his contracted dragon."
"Is it possible to betray a contracted dragon, a soulmate?"
Saturn frowned and said,
"He forced his contracted dragon to sacrifice itself for him. Siemens imprisoned the dragon and committed the atrocity of moving its heart into his own body."
Saturn continued speaking.
"Siemens Apollion became an unprecedented being who could wield the Hero King's sword and the sage's magic, and possessed a complete dragon heart."
Hearing those words, Zeke's jaw dropped.
"If it was the Hero King's sword, does that mean Siemens Apollion could use the Elemental Sword?"
At those words, Saturn was rather surprised and asked,
"How do you know about the Elemental Sword?"
Zeke hesitated before slowly opening his mouth.
"Actually... I am its successor. Lord Kaisir's Elemental Sword, that is."
At those words, Saturn's eyes widened.
"Is, is that true?"
Saturn was even more surprised than when he had heard that Zeke was the successor of the Sword Saint.
Zeke told him the story of finding Kaisir's resting place and directly receiving the Elemental Sword from his spirit.
Saturn sighed and nodded.
"It was worth diligently creating that place with Chronos. To think that the Hero King's legacy would continue after two thousand years."
"But according to what you said earlier, didn't Siemens Apollion also master the Elemental Sword?"
Then, Saturn shook his head.
"No one has ever mastered the Elemental Sword. Siemens Apollion was the same. He inherited all the other secrets the Hero King possessed, but he could not master the Elemental Sword."
Zeke could somewhat understand why Kaisir had been so concerned about the succession of the Elemental Sword.
He asked Saturn again.
"You said Siemens Apollion had such tremendous power, so how did you stop him and drive him out of Chronos?"
Saturn stared into the distance as if recalling the past before speaking again.
"Actually, that was one of Siemens's downfalls. He was too confident in his own power. With the ability to freely use the dragon's power and even wield the Hero King's secrets and the sage's magic, his strength was comparable to a legendary celestial being. That's why he didn't hesitate to overwhelm the knights and soldiers with fear and advance on the castle, and even turned his sword against his former comrades."
"All the heroes of Chronos must have fought against Siemens Apollion."
"Not only that, but he also incurred the wrath of the dragons."
Zeke nodded.
Having imprisoned his contracted dragon, his soulmate, and even stolen its heart, there was no way the other dragons would have stood by.
Saturn's explanation continued.
"After his attempt to usurp the throne failed and he was driven out of Chronos, Siemens fled to the territory of the orcs, who were our enemies."
"So he joined hands with the enemy."
"Yes, and there, Siemens delved into forbidden magic and sought a way to defeat the dragons."
"Was that why he summoned the demonkin?"
"That's right. The orcs were servants of the 'Riders of Blood and Madness,' so they were even more active in the summoning ritual. Siemens sacrificed the neutral dark elves to summon the demonkin. Then, he deceived the humans into thinking that the dark elves had been killed by them and drew the dark elves to his side."
Zeke's jaw dropped at Siemens Apollion's atrocities.
'No, come to think of it, the current Siemens isn't much different.'
Deceiving and plundering others for his own desires, and reaching for forbidden power.
The only difference was that the current Siemens was secretly carrying out these deeds in hidden places.
Saturn looked at Zeke and said,
"Siemens Apollion's ambition was endless, and he eventually even summoned the Demon Lord into the mortal realm."
In the end, human greed had triggered the invasion of the Demon Lord's army, which threatened to destroy the world.
Saturn wore a somber expression.
"Many comrades were sacrificed in that war."
Zeke understood how the war with the Demon Lord's army had started after listening to Saturn's words.
'Siemens Apollion's ambition has led to the prophecy of destruction continuing even after two thousand years.'
However, judging from their earlier conversation, it seemed that the currently spirit-form Saturn had not yet heard the prophecy of destruction that Chronos had spoken of.
Then, Saturn spoke again.
"There isn't much time left."
He looked at Zeke and said,
"Zeke Draker, your sword contains too much."
Saturn continued.
"Have you mastered all the inner teachings of the Dragon Slayer Art?"
"Yes. I have learned them all, but to be honest, there were more things I didn't understand among the contents."
Zeke replied with a slightly embarrassed look and asked Saturn about terms like Small Circulation and Great Circulation.
Saturn stared at Zeke for a moment before shaking his head.
"It seems you don't need to pay much attention to such terms."
"Is that alright?"
"For a swordsman of your level, basic aura manipulation is meaningless. Moreover, it seems that opening your middle dantian and trying to circulate aura to your lower dantian is not right for you."
Zeke was surprised and his jaw dropped at Saturn's words, who had instantly grasped his condition.
"That's right. I couldn't open my lower dantian, so I learned the Dragon Slayer Art by bypassing it with other methods."
Saturn nodded.
"All rivers flow to the sea . Eventually, everything leads to one. I referred to many things to create the Dragon Slayer Art. The endless wisdom of dragons, the secret arts of elves, and even received help from mysterious successors from the Eastern Continent. On top of that, I didn't hesitate to refer to the power of the demonkin."
Zeke nodded at Saturn's words and said,
"Did you refer to the martial arts of the demonkin?"
Saturn was surprised and impressed by Zeke's words.
"You know about martial arts? That's surprising."
Zeke lightly activated the Vibrating Force Resonance, spreading its shockwave.
Then, Saturn looked at Zeke with an interested expression.
"To reproduce it exactly the way the demonkin do it. As a human, it was impossible for me to handle mana in that way, so I had to find another method."
"Is that why you created the aura cultivation method?"
"Yes. Even before that, humans naturally accumulated mana in their bodies and exhibited transcendent power. Tyr is such a case. I tried to find the commonalities among heroes like Tyr who exhibited transcendent power by observing them. I sought to discover it and find a way for everyone to acquire such power through effort. That was the aura cultivation method through the lower dantian."
"But if you're not a swordsman class, you can't awaken aura or open the lower dantian, so you can't cultivate aura, so isn't it still limited?"
At those words, Saturn frowned and looked at Zeke.
"Awaken aura and open the lower dantian? What are you talking about?"
"Excuse me? That's how we've been taught all along..."
Zeke explained how the knights of the current era cultivated aura.
Saturn frowned deeply after hearing the story.
"That's completely the opposite! Instead, you should first accumulate energy in the lower dantian through breathing and slowly circulate the energy in a small cycle so that the body feels the aura. Good heavens, recite the inner teachings of the Dragon Slayer Art that you've learned."
Zeke recited the inner teachings of the Dragon Slayer Art that had been passed down to Terakan Draker.
After listening to it all, Saturn trembled.
"That Bahamut! He completely skipped the beginning! Ugh, ha... well, dragons can accumulate mana in their bodies just by breathing, so he probably thought the beginning part wasn't necessary and skipped it. Dragons are the wisest beings, but they are so exceptional that they sometimes make mistakes like this."
Saturn muttered to himself for a while, then clicked his tongue before looking at Zeke with a calm face. Then, he explained the original principles of the aura cultivation method he had created.
The problem was that Zeke also couldn't open his lower dantian, so he could only listen to Saturn's explanation without being able to try it out himself.
'I'll have to remember this and test it on the Black Sword Knights.'
After properly imparting the true aura cultivation method to Zeke, Saturn looked at him and said,
"How many people have reached the realm of Sword Master these days?"
"These days, we don't use the name Sword Master, we call them Black Knights. There are no more than twenty across the entire continent."
"Black Knight? That's unfamiliar. Twenty Sword Masters... how many Grand Masters are there?"
"Well, there are only Black Knights. There are differences among Black Knights, but... no one has reached the realm of Grand Master."
At those words, Saturn wore a somber expression and said to Zeke,
"Zeke Draker, I have a favor to ask of you."
"Please tell me."
"Find the place where the profound insights of the Dragon Slayer Art left by my main body remain. It will help you when you surpass the realm of Sword Master and reach the realm of Grand Master, so it won't be a loss. And also, pass on those insights to others."
At that moment, a message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
---Achievement Quest---
[Find the hidden cave where the profound insights of the Sword Saint Saturn Draker remain.]
[Quest Mission Reward: The Sword Saint's Last Insights]
Suddenly, a quest window appeared.
Zeke checked the location of the Sword Saint's hidden cave marked on the map and was astonished.
'This is... the Forest of the Forgotten.'
The Sword Saint's insights were hidden in the Forest of the Forgotten, where his previous life's teacher, Nigel, resided.
As he pondered what to do, the Sword Saint looked at Zeke and said,
"It seems time has run out. I will tell you just one last thing."
His body gradually began to turn transparent.
Saturn left his final words.
"Always be wary of the dragon's power. It is a power too dangerous for humans to wield. Humans must rise with their own strength."
With those words, Saturn slowly disappeared.
Just like with Hoshgar, the spirit record had ended.
At that moment, a message appeared.
[You have received the recognition of the Sword Saint Saturn Draker, the guardian of the 99th floor.]
[Your understanding of aura manipulation has increased through the aura cultivation method directly taught by the Sword Saint Saturn Draker.]
[A constitution will be granted to the user as a reward.]
[You have acquired the constitution 'Sword Soul Body'.]
"Sword Soul Body?"
It had been a while since he had acquired a new constitution.
Zeke checked the information of the Sword Soul Body with anticipation.
---Constitution Information---
Sword Soul Body: Increases understanding of the sword itself. Allows the understanding of the sword's will, and accelerates the mastery of swordsmanship.
At the same time, a message appeared.
[Due to the effect of the Sword Soul Body, the proficiency of the special skill Gale Force Technique has increased.]
[Due to the effect of the Sword Soul Body, the proficiency of the special skill Infinite Chain Binding has increased.]
[The special skill Gale Force Technique will be combined with the special skill Dragon Slayer Art.]
[The proficiency of the special skill Dragon Slayer Art has increased.]
[The special skill Dragon Slayer Art has reached the Expert stage.]
[Depending on the user's enlightenment, it is possible for the Dragon Slayer Art to evolve into a higher-grade special skill.]
'Skill evolution?'