The general pointed at the black gate and said, “My suspicion arose when I first saw this gate. It was something that cannot be created by us, for it is made of Mithril—God’s poison.”

“Every god on the planet laid down a rule that was penned with their golden blood. It states that this metal was barred from this world. If such a large piece of it was brought down here only to be used as a gate, you could imagine my astonishment. This place has been where my efforts have been mostly concentrated these past few days.”

“I attempted to open the gates, and of course, I failed. I could barely even touch it, for the weakness of the gods still affects their descendants. Mithril would actively suppress every bloodline power that came close to it.”

“So where do I come in?” Rowan said, “My source of power still comes from a bloodline, just like you all.” Rowan tried not to smirk; his Serpents had just undergone a food orgasm by eating a door made from Mithril, and he had to keep a tight leash on the two Serpents here with him, or this door would be gone in the blink of an eye.

“Yes, but there is an important distinction: your bloodline, you see, is not of the gods. Until now, I still do not know how you received such a bloodline. According to the information we were given by the Order, your father was chosen first as a candidate to acquire a bloodline source; after him, it would be my turn, but you did not acquire the bloodline source of your ancestor, and that is what is different about you. You did not awaken the bloodline of Kuranes—the Scion of Light.”

“Slow down, Augustus. What do you mean by bloodline source?” Rowan inquired; his eyes lit up, and he knew he was about to acquire a valuable source of information about the Primordial Record.

“Well, that was the entire pitch of the Order of the Broken Eye.” The general leaned back as he began tapping the side of his waist. “It is the reason you were selected, Rowan. According to the Order, the purpose of the singularity is to perfectly replicate the bloodline source of its host.”

Rowan shifted from his position and asked, “Then why is something like that important to you?”

“Important, I think, is even placing this subject lightly; it is everything to a dominator.” Allow me to clarify something for you. Although no Dominator has ever become a god, there is a clear path to godhood laid down before us.”

“There are four great circles for a dominator to ascend through to become a god. From mortal to incarnation state, they are all within the first great circle, which is the four states of change within the great circle: first as a mortal, second as a legendary, third as a rift, and fourth as an incarnation.”

“After breaking through the first great circle into the second great circle, where you have only three states of change, on the third great circle there are only two states of change, and on the fourth great circle, there is only one.”

“After the fourth Great Circle, you can become a God; you would be endless and ever powerful, and the worship from your creation shall sustain your spark until the end of time. But you see, there can only ever be a single god under one path.”

“It is possible for you to become a dominator of the Fourth Great Circle, but it is impossible for you to transcend that state.”

The general stopped and seemed to organize his thoughts for a while, then he pointed at Rowan and said, “The singularity inside of you would break that balance; it would give you a bloodline source of the god untainted by their touch.”

“You said there can only ever be a single god on a path; even if you become a dominator using the untainted blood source, how can that path sustain another god?”

The General began to laugh as he increased the rate at which he was tapping his sides: “The Singularity is not just a beacon of our salvation; it is also the Horn of War! War with the gods!”

“I told you, the order seeks to destroy the suppression of the nobles by the gods. Do you know of the Great War?” The general’s voice had begun to take on a note of desperation.

“I do. It was the war where the God King and his siblings drove away all other gods from Trion with the help of the Nobles, after granting them their bloodline.”

“Then let me ask you, do you think it would have been possible for the god king to win the war without an army of dominators that were greater than the sands on a beach?”

Not waiting for Rowan to answer, he continued, “I told you of bloodline suppression, and what it meant was simple. On each of the Seven Great Bloodlines, there can be an unlimited number of dominators at the First Great Circle; on the Second Great Circle, there can only be 9,999 dominators; on the Third Great Circle, only nine; and on the Fourth, only one.”

“Can you imagine the endless struggles it takes to surpass a great circle?” And now, after all of those tribulations, is the knowledge that you can only have a spot on the limited next great circle if you kill the dominator on that circle, and you shall have to live in constant fear of those below you while striving to become stronger, so you would not be the first choice to be slaughtered when a new dominator arises towards your circle.”

“You may think the higher you climb, the easier it will get, but you would be wrong! It is a ceaseless battle that awaits! The Singularity is hope for us all. It was hope for me. But I should have known that nothing this great would not come with its drawbacks.”

The General finally became frustrated at what he was tapping and drew out the Rune Stone he had hidden on his waist. He saw something there that made him frown, and he looked up at Rowan, who was smiling.

“I thought you knew that my alchemy labs were built with the same configuration as this control hub; when you started gathering all the power into the alchemy coil, did you not think I would notice? And even if the Sealing Circle is located in the Warding Room, it would be foolish of me to underestimate how far its coverage was.”

The general paused, and then he sighed, “But I moved them from their previous locations.”

“All that energy in a single alchemy coil… tsk.. tsk… “You may have moved them, but in my eyes they shone brighter than the sun, and my baby thanks you for the pleasant meal.”

The general looked at Rowan with a dim look of appreciation, and before he called upon an ocean of ether, the surrounding air turned red like blood. All that ether was channeled to the rune stone, and it began to shine bright. “Even without the Alchemy Coil, I can still power this sealing rune by myself. Or did you not think of that?”

Rowan suddenly felt an intense, attractive force exerted on his body, and he stopped and glanced down, noticing the floor around his feet was beginning to crack. He looked back at the general, who looked visibly confused.

If he were an average Legendary Dominator, he would have been squashed flat on the ground, but nevertheless, the Sealing Circle was not supposed to be this ineffective.

Rowan began walking towards the general under the pressure, but with his countenance, you could see the ease with which he parted the suppressive force around him.

The General slowly backed up, “Impossible, even if you destroyed the magitite ore, the fragments of the shattered magitite would still be enough to seal even Third Circle Dominators!”

“It’s that powerful?” Rowan sighed, “But are you not underestimating the appetites of my babies a little too much?”