Others Summon Dragons, I Summon Legendary Knights

Chapter 354: Tarnished Prince

”We assumed you would slowly understand our world, but since you asked, we shall tell you about the goliaths.” The Chief Alchemist began, his voice deep as he was about to reveal one of Pathan’s ancient stories.

”The goliaths were less than two percent of the total number of our race, and we were over 5.7 billion at our peak. But before us were these goliaths, one of the first men to walk the world. They were a race of towering beings, giants, fifteen to twenty feet tall, sometimes more, never less.” The Chief Alchemist began.

”They were masters of the bow, the origin of archery, and peerless at it even as other Pathan races began to use the bow. One eventful day, something fell out of their queen. She might have been embarrassed, thinking it was waste, but alas, it was a child—a tiny, unrecognizable thing.”

Godfrey frowned.

The Chief Alchemist continued. ”It was a fetus, not fully formed, but this wasn’t a fetus; it was an actual baby. Not even malnourishment could explain this child. And worse, his eyesight was impaired.”

Godfrey shut his eyes and sighed.

”That was Ballista’s origin story; the tarnished prince, unfavored from birth. Small and scrawny, he grew in a hostile terrain. He was a goliath born small, an anomaly of the worst version. While the arrows of his kind dreamed of the clouds, he couldn’t even pull a bow. He couldn’t even see the incredible sight of when his father shot down a dragon with one arrow because of his bad eyesight. Eventually, he was thrown away from the prince born without hope, branded as tarnished.”

The moment the Chief Alchemist paused, all of them continued from where he stopped, speaking in unity. ”We did not see potential in him, but his raw determination proved us wrong. So when the process for the Royal Apostles began, he was selected. But instead of aiding him, the mana tree’s sap gave him the ability to be invisible and destroyed what was left of his vision, making him completely blind. Others grew in size, became enormous banks of mana linked to us, but he shrunk in mass until his bones stuck out.”

”We thought the goliaths were not wrong and delegated him to train our archers.” They paused, then continued.

”You might judge us, but while compassion is good, the fate of Pathani was in the hands of ten men, the future of billions, not just one. We had to use what worked, and since he was good with the bow, delegating him to train the best of the land was the greatest honour a tarnished could get.”

”But Ballista refused to give up. He wanted to stand before the unknown king more than any of the knights back then. He wanted to prove that even a tarnished man could beat the odds, and so he trained like a relentless beast. His devotion caught our attention once more, and later on, so did his strength. We allowed him to join the process for the noble knight selection, and he succeeded. But what we used for him wasn’t a chimera but a primal. We were afraid it would fail, but the Orc Esper possessed one of the best innate skills for a primal, one that would be extremely useful for an army.”

The Chief Alchemist interlocked his fingers. ”He’s the most competitive amongst them all. His driven spirit made the others develop the urge to grow.”

Godfrey recalled how Mountain suddenly wanted to prove himself against Ballista when he had just summoned the second knight.

His eyes flickered.

”The bladed crown must have been a representation of Ballista’s tarnished nature. But there was a change; his helmet is different now, and he has an incarnation of himself as a goliath,” Godfrey responded.

The Chief Alchemist was silent for a while. ”From what we told you, you already know that’s not our doing. This is shocking, but we’ve noticed changes that were not our doing. The order has changed. To better frame this, the Golden Order has been transformed into a perfect hierarchical system. This is the mana tree’s doing. It has optimized the potential of the noble knights in an ascending order, in a way that favours you, the summoner, while reducing us into a system. The mana tree uses the concept of mana, life, and fate in its work. The unknown king’s presence proves that, and the future path of the noble knights we drafted, it made real.”

”There are consequences, though. One, the knights are fused to their armor; two, because of the order, knights like Mountain are capped at tiers much weaker than their peak.”

The Chief Alchemist leaned back. ”However, with what the mana tree has done to the order, once fully restored, it would be a hundred times more glorious than our previous peak. This is undoubtedly good for us, if you live long enough to gather all the noble knights.”

”Perks of being a Chosen One, huh,” Godfrey muttered. So the mana tree gave Ballista an incarnation; what he would have truly been. With that ridiculous 3.0 boost, he’s overwhelming anything in his tier.

If I think about it, the alchemist said the goliaths could shoot down dragons. 3.0 doesn’t seem so outrageous anymore.

That aside, they mentioned the Royal Apostles process and the Noble Knight process. The Royal Apostles were definitely the alchemists’ support and bodyguards, but the king didn’t have any bodyguards.

The King’s Guards doesn’t sound that bad. He would have to leave that for another day; it was just a stray thought.

Godfrey returned to his throne room and sat on the throne. The Symbiosis skill gave him a great amount of boost from Ballista. He had risen to 40.0, the absolute peak of the Titled god Tier, meaning his chances of surviving this Ruination had risen to at least 75%.

Besides, Isolde told him that once her dragons hatched and began to hunt, she would skyrocket in tier points since her domain was now a living world where she gained all the returns. Well, this increase would undoubtedly keep him ahead of her.

It was time to test his strength and Ballista’s in a dungeon. He felt safer now, like a man who just got the biggest pay of his life and just felt like indulging.

***

A tall, elegant woman walked into a small, dark room and sat before a round table. A man sat opposite her.

”I heard this is an assembly of Titled gods who don’t want to join guilds or work for the authorities. Why not work for me? Your freedom will be guaranteed,” the woman said.

”Bold talk. Who are you exactly? Another Titled god who thinks she’s a ruler-class god and wants subordinate gods to boss around?” the man scowled.

The woman raised an eyebrow. ”I am Ania Bane, head of the most powerful family in Manhattan and this entire region. And I’ve come with some personal grudges which will benefit you and me.”

She tossed two pictures on the table.

One was Isaac’s, and it had a target symbol; the other was Godfrey’s, with a billion written above it.

”You’re not serious,” the man said when he saw Godfrey’s face.

”You fear a man whose highest feat is killing a paragon? Based on current analysis, that gate in Beijing isn’t even in the fifty most dangerous dungeons. And you’re a team of Titled gods that just killed a formidable Titled god in a green gate dungeon. Who’s stronger?”