The absolute ironclad rule of manifestation was that it could not create any living being—not even an ant. Creating life should fall within the domain of the laws of the world. Based on the original story's setting, even Highgod Sovereigns were powerless to do so.
As he thought, Sean focused his consciousness on the yellow lettering "Linley." At once, a stream of information from the book Coiling Dragon flowed into his soul.
"Manifest Bloodline Talent!"
"So that's what it is." Sean immediately understood the information imprinted on his soul. This would manifest the Azure Dragon descendant bloodline talent within Linley. Once he chose to manifest it, his own body would gain the bloodline of the Azure Dragon branch of the Four Divine Beasts Clan, just like Linley in the original story.
There were limits to manifesting bloodlines, though. Of all the Divine Beasts that appeared in Coiling Dragon, he could choose only one. In other words, once he manifested Linley's bloodline, he could never manifest another Divine Beast's.
Sean rejected it without a second thought. If it were the Super Divine Beast Azure Dragon itself, he might consider it. But Linley was only a Divine Beast descendant, and his bloodline was currently extremely diluted. Even if he later absorbed the drop of Azure Dragon Essence Blood in the ring, his talent's potential would still be far below that of other Super Divine Beasts. If he could manifest a Divine Beast's talent directly, he would definitely choose a Super Divine Beast.
Of course, if he could manifest all of Linley's elemental affinities and gain the four attributes of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind, then it might be worth considering. But he had no such option now. Manifesting Linley's bloodline would at most give him a talent for Water Laws—and even then, he would first have to go to the Four Divine Beasts Clan to activate the bloodline.
There were many Super Divine Beasts, and plenty were stronger than this Azure Dragon descendant. One was even right beside Linley.
So Sean flipped through the book again. Before long, he spotted the name "Bebe." But Bebe's name was ordinary black, and there was no way to manifest it.
"Why is that?" Sean furrowed his brow. Then a possibility occurred to him, and he quickly flipped back through the earlier chapters. Sure enough, Linley's name was black in the earlier chapters too.
That made sense. Otherwise, when he manifested the Coiling Dragon Ring in Chapter Seven, he would have discovered that he could manifest bloodlines as well. So Linley had only become eligible after drinking the blood of the level-nine magical beast, the Spined Iron-Armored Dragon, and awakening his Dragonblood Warrior bloodline. Bebe the God-Eater Rat should work the same way.
He just didn't know when he would be able to manifest the God-Eater Rat bloodline. Would it be at Saint-level, or after reaching godhood?
Never mind. Being able to use the Coiling Dragon Ring is already excellent. Once I can manifest the God-Eater Rat bloodline, the two together will be downright heaven-defying. Sean shook his head and stopped worrying about it. There was no point thinking too much. The basic logic behind manifestation was that he had to reach the same level as the protagonist, Linley. In other words, once he reached the right level, he would eventually be able to manifest it.
There should be plenty of Super Divine Beasts in the Coiling Dragon World. There were probably quite a few among the Sovereigns, but most of them appeared only in the later parts of the original story, after Linley became a Sovereign. By then, the bloodlines of these Super Divine Beasts might not be all that useful.
The God-Eater Rat, which appeared early on, had talents no weaker than those of the Sovereign of Destruction, the Sovereign of Death, or any one of the Four Divine Beasts. It was especially terrifying at the god level—there, it could kill any god it encountered. Once it reached Highgod, anyone below Paragon would die if they lacked a Soul-Protecting Sovereign Artifact.
It could also refine divine sparks to strengthen its body. In just a few thousand years, its body could become so tough that even Bayer, the Paragon Highgod of the Wind Element, who excelled at material attacks, could not break through its defenses. Such a powerful body also meant devastating material attacks, and it could even create unique Godhead Weapons.
After obtaining the Coiling Dragon Ring, Sean stopped dwelling on the matter and decided to focus on cultivating. If he reached level nine, he would be able to read more of the later chapters in the Coiling Dragon book in his mind—and gain even greater benefits.
Time passed, and a year went by in the blink of an eye. With all the resources provided by the Holy See, Sean had still only reached the peak of level eight. By then, he could cast eightfold gravity magic. Like Linley, he used the conditions to improve his warrior abilities, and his hard work paid off: his warrior level had also reached level eight.
But the Coiling Dragon book in his mind judged his level by his highest rank. Even though Sean's warrior level had reached the peak of level eight and his overall strength might have surpassed that of an average level-nine fighter, the book still did not recognize him as level nine. He could not turn to the later chapters.
"Sean." A familiar voice came from outside the secret chamber. Sean opened his eyes from meditation. It was his close friend, Leilia, a year older than him and one of the most talented young people in the Holy See. Leilia had an exceptional talent for the Thunder Element, though he cultivated more slowly than Sean.
"Leilia, what brings you here?" Sean said with a smile, but he did not dispel the gravity magic around him.
"Whoa, that's some powerful gravity." Leilia walked in and stared in surprise. "Sean, don't tell me you've reached level nine?"
Leilia was both a mage and a warrior, as was standard in the Holy See's training program. Mages with talent in particular were physically frail, which made them vulnerable before they had time to grow stronger. So they were also taught some warrior skills. Warriors were common, but learning those skills still required a certain degree of talent. If someone simply couldn't learn them, there was nothing to be done.
"Not yet. I keep feeling like I'm close, but I just can't break through." Sean shook his head. As he had expected, breakthroughs often came in battle. Fighting wasn't strictly necessary, but reaching a breakthrough through meditation at home every day was certainly much harder.
"Yeah, I've been stuck at level eight for ages too." Leilia nodded. "Even though my father found me all sorts of resources, it still hasn't worked. He even tried teaching me himself, but that didn't help either."
"Your father is a Saint-level mage of the Thunder Element. Reaching level nine is only a matter of time for you." Sean smiled.
Leilia was nothing like him. He came from a noble family, and his father was one of the Holy See's top Saint-level experts. But Leilia showed none of the usual signs of a spoiled rich kid; his upbringing must have been excellent. In fact, most of the children from Shengyue City's wealthy families were decent. They might look down on commoners, but they didn't make a hobby of bullying them.
Sean had no status to speak of, but his talent was exceptional, so he naturally belonged in the same circle as these people. Of everyone there, he was closest to Leilia. Their talents were the strongest, so they always had plenty to talk about.
"If this were before, I wouldn't be worried." Leilia suddenly spoke with concern.
"You mean the Holy See's future?" Sean's thoughts stirred, and he immediately asked cautiously. Leilia's father was one of the Holy See's top Saint-level experts, on the same level as the Pope. He should know a lot.
"It seems you already know. His Holiness the Pope told you when he met with you last time, didn't he?" Leilia nodded.
"What's the crisis? Can you tell me?" Sean asked.
Perhaps there was nothing he could do, but knowing what the crisis was would at least let him prepare. If nothing else, he could be ready to flee when it came.
"This may have been an absolute secret a year ago, but now many Saint-level experts know about it. There's no harm in telling you," Leilia said. "You know that gods above the Saint-level are divided into ranks, right?"
"I do." Sean nodded. This was no secret to Saint-level experts, especially those who knew gods. There were Lowgods, Middle Gods, and Highgods. As a transmigrator, Sean naturally knew even more.
"Our longtime enemy, the Darkness Church, has a Lowgod who just broke through," Leilia said worriedly. "The Darkness Church now has a Middle God, and the long-standing balance across the Zhongyuan Continent has been broken."
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