Norton's plans extended a thousand years into the future, while Adam's plans were much shorter, only covering the next two hundred years.
The near-annihilation of the cardinals has slowed down the training of priests within the Church. This has allowed Karl, who was originally slated to become the next priest, to remain in the Holy See temporarily, seemingly with the possibility of training this new batch of priests to become the new cardinals.
For His Adam, the matter of training this so-called cardinal was not of great concern; rather, it was the sudden change in Archbishop Duoxia that piqued his interest more.
"So, you now look exactly like Father Abraham when he was Vampire?"
Moreover, this change wasn't limited to you; all the Vampire in the Papal State underwent slight mutations at the same time, all advancing to the First Stage... Interesting, absolutely fascinating!
His Holiness Adam, dressed in golden papal robes, stood before a group of Vampire bound to stakes, watching as researchers with Eye of Holiness conducted dissections on Vampire.
Beside him stood Archbishop Duoxia, now transformed into the First-Generation Vampire of his past, his two long, sharp fangs and blood-red eyes clearly indicating his successful advancement.
The group of Vampire tied to the stakes were mostly Second-Generation Vampire. However, when they were captured, they were actually Third-Generation Vampire.
But in reality, besides Vampire undergoing some advancements, Werewolf have also experienced some different changes.
Firstly, their thinking abilities have become more agile. Previously Werewolf Werewolf from Werewolf often exhibited a mismatch between their thinking and development, resulting in their wild nature dominating and making it difficult for them to develop true thinking skills. However, these New-Type Werewolf, whether mating with Werewolf or with humans, produce Werewolf pups whose human-like thinking matures rapidly alongside their own development. Their humanity has now surpassed their wildness, making them a more intelligent species.
Secondly, its physical strength, power, and recovery ability have also increased significantly. If the three Church knights could easily defeat the Werewolf before, now, with its greatly increased size, strength, and recovery ability, the three Church knights are no match for it. It can even contend with the Holy Knight with its mobility.
But that's all.
Perhaps because Werewolf have no restrictions on reproduction, their individual strength is basically the same, so their so-called advancement is exactly the same, without the distinct changes of several different stages like Vampire.
If only Vampire changed while Werewolf remained the same, His Majesty Adam might have distinguished between the two races. However, now that Werewolf are evolving along with the New-Type Vampire, it can be definitively concluded that the origins of these two races are from the same item.
"Both races advanced in a unified manner, without any external contact or blood exchange... This method of advancement is truly terrifying. What kind of immense power could achieve such a terrifying level?"
The ability to arbitrarily create entirely new species and unify their advancement—while not quite at the level of God, it still borders on God's power... Is it because of that old-time Vampire Norton?
Could it be that he has already reached the edge of the Fourth Stage?
His Holiness Adam's expression was somewhat unpleasant. He hadn't felt any emotion about the twenty-year war between the Papal State and the Boya Empire, which had weakened their national strength. But now, just thinking about Norton, that old-time Vampire, made him frown and feel uneasy.
Similar to the books Norton read about Vampire, the research books on Vampire within the Holy See only went up to the Third Stage; no one had ever seen or knew what Fourth-Tier Vampire looked like.
However, he knew more than just the Vampire species. He also knew that Vampire were actually minor God, and that the true God was in the mountains behind the Holy See. Therefore, he could deduce from the information he had that the so-called Fourth-Tier Vampire were probably those who had completely shed their mortal nature and advanced to become true God... or at least possessed the body of God!
At this stage, it wouldn't be surprising if they truly possessed some power of creation!
"No, no, no. According to the Second-Tier Vampire captured by the Church, Norton's body is withered and his limbs are thin. He seems to be only at the Second-Tier Vampire stage. How could he possibly possess the power of creation at this stage!"
If he were truly Vampire from the old era, he couldn't possibly possess the ability to create entirely new species at the Second Stage. Therefore, he couldn't possibly be Vampire from the old era. Or perhaps, he himself is a mutant whose mutation was triggered by a specific factor...
However, how should we explain the intense sense of oppression emanating from his body...?
If Werewolf are also oppressed and restricted, how will the Church cope with the ever-growing Vampire tide?
If these bloodsucking vermin were to learn of the divine corpse and blood in the Holy See's back mountain...
His Majesty Adam's face was extremely grim; the mutation of the Vampire species had become his greatest concern. Compared to this, the war between humans seemed insignificant.
Ever since he inherited the will of the old Pope on the back mountain of the Holy See and witnessed that perfect yet terrifying divine corpse, Adam knew that from now on, his perspective could no longer be limited to the Church.
That so-called power, rule, and even the propagation of the Church have all become fleeting clouds, and can no longer be a hindrance to Adam.
Therefore, in all matters, Adam would transcend the Church and the boundaries of the Papal State, and no moral bottom line or legal regulation could restrict him in the slightest!
Sanctioning the New-Type Vampire is of paramount importance, but suppressing the development of various countries is equally crucial. In order to deliver a devastating blow to these countries as quickly as possible, thereby mobilizing manpower and resources to combat the New-Type Vampire and search for Norton and Abraham, whose whereabouts are unknown, Archbishop Adam finally got serious on the front lines.
In the year 2257 of the Papal Calendar, a war of love and faith erupted between the Papal State and the Boya Empire in a small border country. Although the allied forces pushed back the front lines with their indomitable momentum, their complex internal power structure and inherently unstable alliance meant that after pushing the Papal State army back into their territory, the high manpower losses and the gradual disappearance of danger caused this force, which had been shouting that love could conquer all, to unsurprisingly begin to lose its high morale.
Even though they hadn't actually advanced into the Papal State, disagreements had already arisen within the Papal State. Some lords and kings believed that the Papal State was suffering setbacks on the main battlefield and had yet to send Holy Judgment Order, which meant the Papal State was exhausted and that an additional Holy Judgment Order was absurd. They wanted to take this opportunity to launch a full-scale attack on the Holy See, completely annihilate the Papal State, and thus bring this war to a complete end.
After all, everyone knows that the Holy Judgment Order the foundation for overturning the table for the Church. Now that the Church is about to be kicked off the table but has not yet overturned it, it is clear that it no longer has the ability to do so.
However, a group of other kings and lords, led by Yalian II, did not support the invasion of the Papal State. They trusted the information from their own intelligence agencies and knew that the Papal State had not exerted its full strength. They wanted to negotiate with the Papal State to bring about peace.