The wolf jumped toward Silas and, with precise movements, started licking his face.
Silas got flustered at first, then he realized — it was the same wolf as the silver guardian spirit. He laughed.
"Hahaha! Stop! Stop! You're tickling me..."
The wolf got off him and sat beside him, continuously wagging its tail like a dog, looking at Silas with glittering eyes.
Cassian tried to come toward the wolf, but the wolf just looked at him coldly, then completely ignored him and turned its face back toward Silas.
Cassian almost cried. Am I the Archduke or is Silas? Even Selene and Lucian felt sad for Cassian for a moment.
Lucian said to Silas, "Silas! In this place, guardian spirits can live in their true forms. They will protect this land forever, until you call them back to the real world. As you are already accepted as the master of the Valerius guardian spirit, that means you have full authority over the Valerius family from now on. Even if you are not satisfied with a decision your father makes, you can completely ignore him and suggest a different approach. Your decision will be prioritized by the family..."
Silas's eyes went wide instantly. What the hell!
He looked toward his father, and Cassian nodded in response.
Silas asked, "So can I change the rule now without taking the test?"
Everyone shook their heads instantly, saying no.
Varric was the one who said, "No! To change a family rule, you need to pass the test of all three guardian spirits. Only then can you change the rule..."
He looked toward the wolf, then said, "As the Valerius spirit has already accepted you as his master, you have already passed its test. You can skip that part."
Silas looked at the silver wolf, who was sitting proudly in front of his master. Silas sighed, then smiled a little. "But I'll take the test, to make it fair. If I don't pass, then I won't change the rule. As a Valerius, how can I ignore the ancient rules..."
Everyone nodded hearing his words.
But the wolf looked at him with worry.
Silas looked at the wolf and said, "I'm ready to take the test. You can take me there anytime."
The wolf nodded at him, then stood up instantly. Its aura changed. It howled toward the Valerius castle in the distance, and instantly a space channel opened up in front of everyone.
The wolf looked at Silas, wanting him to follow. The wolf entered the space channel first, Silas was next, and everyone else followed behind.
They reached the core area of the ancient Valerius castle.
Silas looked around. He saw a beautiful garden — even more beautiful than the rest of the planet. A blue lake was there, and white and pink lilies covered the whole lake in many places.
A pavilion was built above the lake. He followed the wolf, and the wolf took him toward a huge stone, around a hundred times bigger than him.
He saw many different cuts on the stone... it was completely covered with deep and precise cuts.
Before he could ask anyone, he saw his father, his grandfather, his grandmothers, and even the Blackwood family all bow down toward the ancient stone.
"We greet the ancestor of the Valerius Family."
Silas looked at the stone in awe.
Lucian said to him as he rose from his bow, "Those marks you see were made by our Valerius ancestor. He was the one who created our family, alongside the other two ancestors of the two ancient families..."
"Those marks were made by our Valerius swordsmanship. Only if you can understand the marks can you learn the highest form of the Valerius sword."
Silas stared at the stone in awe. So this was the place where the family got their terrifying swordsmanship.
Cassian said the rest, "You need to pass the sixth stage. Only then will you pass the test of the guardian spirit... You're already proficient in the first four moves, but..."
Silas asked, confused, "Six?"
Lucian and Selene also got worried for Silas. They thought it was really tough for a little guy like Silas to master six moves instantly.
Even Lucian, who had reached the 8th form, had only gotten it in his old age.
They were about to coax Silas again when they saw he was already concentrating on the stone.
He murmured in his heart, "...Analyse!"
His view changed. His perception shifted back into ancient times. But this time he saw something different. On other times when he used the skill, he saw no one around him. But this time, the wolf was beside him, looking at him with a happy face and glittering eyes.
"So the wolf can follow me into this place?..."
Before he could say anything more, the scenery changed. He was standing beside the wolf, looking at the stone from the side.
A young man, as handsome as himself, stood alone in front of the stone. He saw this man before , but more old and ancient. When he used the analyse skill to check the valerius swordmanship from aleric last time.
The boy chuckled, "So you were chosen by him already..."
The boy looked at the wolf, then at Silas. The wolf growled at the boy, and Silas's eyes went wide. This was the first time someone had talked to him directly during the skill, even before showing the technique.
The boy chuckled again. "Haha! Old spirit, don't take offense. He is my descendant! Can't I talk with him for a few seconds?"
The wolf growled, and Silas asked from beside it, "Are you our ancestor?"
The boy nodded while smiling. "Silas! You don't know me, but someone said that you'd come here to learn my sword... so I was waiting for you here for millennia. I don't remember how much time has gone... sigh!"
He took a deep breath, then chuckled again and said, "Then look at it, Silas! Remember them."
Before Silas could ask more, ' who was it who knew he'd come here? And how did he know his name? ...'
The boy performed one sword form after another. And before he performed the last, 9th form of the Valerius sword, he looked at him again. "Silas! We believe in you. Please do your best..."
Silas got confused. He asked, "What!... what are you talking about..."
Before he could finish, the boy performed his last sword technique and then sheathed his sword. "Don't worry, we are still here to protect you." The boy looked at Silas while saying this, then disappeared from sight.
Before he understood anything about thsie words Silas also returned from the trance to the real world...he looked around himself then sighed.
He took out his sword and unsheathed it. Then, in front of everyone, he performed one sword form after another... until the last, 9th form.
Everyone looked at him in horror.
Cassian's mouth fell open. The current Archduke, the man who saw Silas learned the first four forms just by seeing them once, just stood there frozen, then gulped down his saliva hard. "Monster... he is a monster..."
Lysandra slapped his back with her hand, her eyes wet with pride and fury. "He is your child!"
Lucian was the most terrified of all. He knew just how difficult it was to even reach the 8th form of Valerius swordsmanship . It had taken him eighty years of bloody war to touch it and now his little grandson was perfectly performing the last form in front of everyone. His hands were shaking. He turned and pinched his wife's arm hard, whispering, "Am I dreaming?"
Selene yelped in pain and immediately slapped him so hard he landed on the ground a few meters away. "You old bastard, if you think you're dreaming then pinch yourself, not me! He , our Silas has reached the realm above Saint in swordsmanship... everyone can see that!"
She didn't even look at him after, her eyes locked back on Silas.
Varric, the Archduke of the Blackwood family, took a step back unconsciously, his face pale. Isolde, his daughter in law, covered her mouth with both hands. Cedric, his son, who never showed emotion, had his eyes wide open like a child seeing a god for the first time...
Nytheria, who never lost her composure, had her lips parted, her beautiful eyes trembling. Auren and Elara clutched each other's sleeves, unable to breathe.
They weren't just watching a boy do sword forms.
In their eyes, they saw the ancestor himself standing there, performing the final form of Valerius swordsmanship, a form that even Lucian couldn't perform.
And it was Silas who made the impossible possible .
After Silas completed the final form, the whole ancient stone glowed.
It erupted suddenly with a deep sword humm. Every single deep cut left by the ancestor lit up at once with a blinding golden-white light. The light was so bright the blue lake below looking like a glass reflecting light, the white lilies closed, and the three moons in the sky faded...
Then a decree was announced. Not shouted by a person, but spoken directly from the stone, a voice ancient and heavy that pressed on everyone's chest.
"Descendant Silas Valerius."
Everyone froze.
"Sword forms judged.
Nine forms - flawless.
Intent-pure.
Bloodline- true."
Lucian, still on the ground, stopped breathing, looking dumbfounded towards the ancient stone.
"By my will, as First Ancestor of the Valerius, I accept your sword. And I grant you the title..."
The silver wolf beside Silas howled, long and loud, shaking the pavilion.
"Argent Wolf Sovereign !"
The moment the title fell, the seal on Silas's left hand burned white-hot. The triangle flashed, and the wolf inside the first circle opened its golden eyes fully for the first time, alive.
A beam of silver light shot down from the stone and slammed into Silas's chest, not hurting him, but sinking into his bones. His sword hummed. His blood boiled and his bloodline got more pure...
Cassian fell to one knee without realizing it. Lysandra followed. Varric, Isolde, Cedric, Nytheria, Auren, Elara — all three Archduke families knelt.
The stone had not spoken in over thousands of years.
Silas just stood there in the center of the light, sword lowered, chest heaving, the newly crowned Argent Wolf Sovereign staring at his own hand in disbelief while his wolf sat proudly at his feet, tail thumping against the ancient marble.
Silas understood what had just happened, but he got confused when he saw everyone kneeling at that moment. He gritted his teeth and looked toward the ancient stone in anger.
"What the hell, old man! You made a complete mess right now... how am I supposed to face them now?" Silas said in his mind.
The ancient stone chuckled back directly in his mind, "Descendant! Hehehe, don't get angry with this old man... I just wanted to see you embarrassed for a moment."
After just saying that, the ancient voice disappeared. And Silas looked at the stone, dumbfounded... then cursed the ancestor in his head.