When the feathers disappeared, a Raven Armor was now present on Tenmaru. It was simpler, and more plain than Carter’s actual Raven Armor. Its power was also much lower, nowhere near the Champion Level.

But it did, however, make a great difference that Tenmaru could feel. He was just an ordinary Awaken. But now, he was more than that.

Kazou appeared out of nowhere, "That man! He really is a god!"

The others reacted just like him. Their faith was reinforced. And no one else could see the stream of faith pouring into the obsidian statue.

Zeneros Blackburn had Eldritch Force. An ability that helped him grow more powerful naturally. And now, he also had the Golden Skeleton. The more people believed in the Unnamed, the more powerful Zeneros Blackburn would be.

’All according to plan.’ Carter felt extremely satisfied with himself.

For the next following days, there weren’t much happening. Carter finished up a few things in the Shrine to make sure it was presentable. Tenmaru waited for his hand to grow back completely, the effect of Self-Regeneration Skill.

He really had inherited the power of a Werewolf. Carter could only see how much Tenmaru actually had in the future.

Carter left Seija in the Shrine and told her to watch over it. She was fulfilling her role as a Guardian. The only difference was, it wasn’t a Guardian of the Maiden, but a Guardian of a Shrine.

The Masuhara clan stayed in the False City as well. Chiaki left with a few of her trustworthy men to find more rebels that wanted to unite with her to fight Ryuja.

Koji left with her.

As for Carter and Tenmaru, they marched on to the capital of the Jado Kingdom, Kyoma. There was a Chuuchi Tournament that was about to happen.

It was a fighting tournament hosted by Ryuja to find capable warriors to attend to his court.

"Are you sure we will meet Master Musashi there?" Tenmaru asked.

"I’m sure." Carter nodded.

They left Giyaku on horseback.

Everything that happened lately had brought confidence back to Tenmaru. He overcame the challenge Master Musashi gave. A god answered his prayer. A maiden told that he was going to Emperor. Everything changed him.

He was no longer the pathetic defeated second prince.

’Good... You slowly become the man I want you to be.’

Everything fell under Carter’s design. He needed a confidence Emperor with an ego, not a pathetic prince.

That night, they stopped and set up camp in the forest. Carter took the first shift while Tenmaru went to sleep.

’Let me do some forging and fusing...’

The last few days gave Carter many new ideas about how he could make his skin better. Since he had already said that the Shrine Maiden and the Silver Invoker were within the same sect, their powers should be similar to each other.

’Ginro Musashi already have Elemental Power from Invoker. That skin is a fusion between Wolfman, Invoker and Awaken Human. I wonder what the Shrine Maiden would become if I fuse her with an Invoker and an Awaken Human? Would there still be Twin Formation?’

Carter looked at his current Human and Invoker Shards.

- Mortal Human Shards (2,277 Minor, 3,267 Medium, 1,161 Major)

- Awaken Invoker Shards (68 Minor, 21 Medium)

’There’s plenty for me to make an Elite Human. But not quite enough to make an Elite Invoker.’ Carter thought to himself.

Invoker Shards were hard to come by. He would need more Invoker Corpses, which weren’t that many already, or commit mass murder, which was stupid to do because that would decrease the power of his world.

’I need to find a way to raise Invoker’s Synchronization consistently to make tokens.’

With tokens, he wouldn’t need to worry about Invoker Shards anymore. He could just feed Human Shards to Invoker Token and had it become a skin.

’I have to use Skin Graft then. Make an Elite Human and sacrifice it toward Shrine Maiden. The Elite Ability of Human, Evaporative Decompression, is an excellent ability. If it mutates, it will certainly be strong. As for Invoker, one Minor Awaken Skin is enough since Shrine Maiden already has Abstraction and Volition. I’ll make a skin with Conceptualization, Manifestation, and Visualization to give her those skills.’ 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

’Let me make an Elite Human First.’

[Forged x2250 Minor Human Shards (Mortal)]

[Acquired x225 Minor Human (Mortal)]

[Fused x225 Minor Human (Mortal)]

[Acquired x75 Medium Human (Mortal)]

[Forged x1680 Medium Human Shards (Mortal)]

[Acquired x168 Medium Human (Mortal)]

[Fused x243 Medium Human (Mortal)]

[Acquired x1 Minor Human (Elite)]

’And now the Invoker.’

[Forged x10 Minor Invoker Shards (Awaken)]

[Acquired x1 Minor Invoker (Awaken)]

The sacrificial stone plate appeared again. He hadn’t been using this stone lately and mostly played with Skin Forge, Skin Fusion, and that printing machine.

Carter placed the card that represented Shrine Maiden onto the host position, then placed the Minor Awaken Invoker and Minor Elite Human onto the sacrificial areas.

’Here goes nothing.’

[Sacrificed x1 Minor Invoker (Awaken) and x1 Minor Human (Elite)]

[All unique abilities, skills, and items are transferred to Shrine Maiden]

Suddenly, there was extreme pain flooding into Carter’s head. He bent over immediately.

’What is happening?’ Carter held in the pain. His body released white smoke immediately, trying to calm everything down.

With Evaporative Decompression, every side effects became much milder.

[Shrine Maiden has naturally awakened a new ability]

His doubt was answered right after. For some reason, the combination of abilities and skills had affected the core principles of the Shrine Maiden. It permanently changed something within the skin.

Evaporative Decompression did its best bur it couldn’t save Carter this time. Because the side effect wasn’t entirely in the body, it was also in the spirit.

Carter slammed himself into the tree so hard, Tenmaru woke up.

He quickly rushed to Carter’s side, "What’s happening, Lady Mikoto?"

But Carter couldn’t answer him. Tenmaru could only see blood leaking out from the white-haired girl black mask. The half mask that she always used to cover her eyes.

Tenmaru grabbed the white-haired girl and put her down. He removed her mask only to see blood flooding out of her eyes without end.

Then, she opened her eyes. A bright azure color that shined brightly like mini suns.