This "training" continued for several hours.
Inside the sealed space, Noah was drenched in blood.
He looked as if he had bathed in a crimson hot spring, his clothes torn and ruined.
Yet, not a single drop of the blood coating him belonged to him.
The ss on his skin and the pool expanding across the floor all ca from the biological-type Teigu, Hekatonkheires.
Noah looked down at the creature.
It was now barely alive, its appearance reduced to that of a weak old dog.
The huge body lay collapsed on the floor with its face tilted to the side.
Stripped of so much blood, it could no longer regenerate enough flesh to maintain its exaggerated muscles, leaving its skin sagging in dozens of folded layers.
Before this, it had activated a trump card that spiked its combat power—Berserk Mode, a skill that elevated all its physical abilities for a short burst.
Noah walked up to its giant eye and stared coldly at it.
The eye reflected his face, capturing his distinct dissatisfaction.
"Who allowed you to do that?" Noah asked. "You used that ability without permission, according to the manual, you won't be able to move for months now. Are you joking? I still have a lot of experints requiring your cooperation! Ending up like this just creates trouble for ."
Noah looked genuinely bothered.
He placed his hand on Hekatonkheires's eyelid, forcing it open to maintain eye contact.
"So Teigu really don't have 'emotions,' huh?"
Hekatonkheires had suffered countless fatal wounds.
Reaching its energy limit, it began entering sleep mode. Even with Noah standing right in front of it, the beast simply followed its biological programming as if nothing else mattered.
It operated like an AI.
It was not mindless—Noah recognized it understood anger—but as a Teigu, its useless emotions seed to have been erased.
That included fear and terror.
Furthermore, because it could regenerate endlessly given enough energy, physical torture ant almost nothing to it.
Unfortunately, Noah's physical compatibility with Hekatonkheires was low.
Otherwise, he would not have needed to go to these extres.
To force obedience, Noah decided to employ a deeper thod. He would carve their hierarchy directly into the beast.
Coating his fist with Mind Drill, Noah punched the center of Hekatonkheires's pupil.
This was not a physical attack ant to burst the eye. Instead, the blow bypassed the flesh to strike the will of the Danger Beast trapped inside the Teigu.
This will dictated Teigu compatibility, if a user failed the test, this residual Danger Beast will would devour them.
Noah called it "will" rather than "soul" because the original Danger Beasts had long since died.
With their souls incomplete, this broken fragnt acted as pure resentnt.
Noah intended to stimulate that ancient resentnt and awaken pure fear toward him.
"——!!"
The spiritual agony of Mind Drill forced Hekatonkheires to recoil.
Until now, no matter how badly its body was destroyed, it had never shown weakness.
But now, it let out a desperate cry of pain.
Even though it could barely move, its eyes clearly conveyed a desire to escape.
Pain inflicted upon the depths of the soul was sothing even a monster could not endure.
"That's it."
Noah looked at the huge beast trembling before him, feeling pleased by the strong contrast.
This was fear.
He could finally sense Hekatonkheires's emotions.
Noah raised a hand to touch it.
The mont he moved, the huge magical beast roared in sheer terror.
It forced itself to stand, drawing strength from nowhere, and scrambled backward. It only stopped when its back hit the wall, leaving it nowhere left to run.
Its legs began to shake violently before giving out, sending its huge body crashing back to the floor.
Seeing Noah approach again, the dog let out low whimpers, practically begging for rcy.
"Looks like you understand fear now, but you still don't understand your position! I don't want a coward that only knows how to be scared. I want an obedient dog!"
He would spend a little more ti teaching it.
Noah ignored the magical beast's miserable appearance.
After all, this was only happening because it had tried to eat him earlier.
To ensure that thought never crossed its mind again, he had to carve the consequences deep into its soul.
...
One week later, the Science Team received a visitor they had not seen in a long ti.
"Yo, Noah. You've grown taller! Were you this tall the last ti I ca?"
Gozuki looked at the eighteen-year-old boy, feeling the heavy passage of ti.
He himself had aged, at forty years old, he was officially a middle-aged man.
More people had started calling him "uncle," and he was getting used to it.
"You said the exact sa thing last ti," Noah replied. "Has your mind gotten old too?"
"No way, right?" Gozuki chuckled nervously.
For an assassin, living one more day was a gain, and dying at any mont was expected.
But spending his days raising boys and girls still made him sigh at tis.
The Gozuki from six years ago would never have grown so sentintal.
Was this the effect of ti, changing him without his notice?
As he followed Noah, Gozuki compared the young man in front of him to the cold, expressionless boy from his mories.
"Compared to your appearance, your personality hasn't changed at all. People say children are easily molded, but looking at you makes that saying sound like a lie."
As the father figure to seven children, Gozuki spent imnse effort playing both commander and father.
They were a false family, but years of living together still forged genuine bonds.
Those children had all changed and adapted, requiring constant guidance to keep up with their growth.
Compared to him, Bill had it easy.
While Noah had personality flaws, he was calm and adapted to the Capital's darkness naturally.
He required no brainwashing, treating dirty thods as simple tools to reach his goal.
Just as the old man claid, Noah was his perfect successor.
"I'm just not easily influenced," Noah answered casually.
In truth, Noah had possessed a mature, independent personality from the start.
The child's appearance was a facade.
"Please wait a mont."
Noah brought Gozuki to Bill's office. Since Bill had not arrived yet, Noah poured a drink for their guest.
Gozuki crossed his legs, waving a hand. "Whether he shows up or not isn't important. I mainly ca to borrow you."
"Borrow ?" Noah paused, piecing the request together. "You an Longxi Village?"
His confusion was justified, that specific location should not be lacking personnel.
"Yeah. I want you to enter the village as a doctor to help complete the final stage of the plan."
Initially, Bill and Gozuki avoided discussing these matters around Noah.
Once they realized his indifference to their cruelty, they shared their secret operations openly.
Gozuki and Bill each handled one half of the Empire's assassination unit training plan.
Gozuki managed the seven most talented children, building an elite squad.
He trained them based on their specific talents—covering strategy, martial arts, acting, and business.
Simultaneously, he brainwashed them into believing they fought for justice and the Empire.
They remained ignorant of the Empire's dark side, fueled by pure, unshakeable belief.
Bill handled the rejects, creating the drug-modified Enhanced Unit. He believed human modification could turn useless materials into functional weapons.
Though many subjects died during the brutal process, the results satisfied him.
While the elite unit consisted of seven, the Enhanced Unit boasted over two hundred mbers.
"Isn't that place restricted?" Noah asked.
"That's exactly why I'm asking you," Gozuki grinned. "You're one of the few outsiders who knows Longxi Village exists."
Longxi Village was a fabrication.
On the surface, it appeared to be a mountain village, but it was built from scratch by Gozuki.
Every resident—from the village chief to the farr, carpenter, and blacksmith—was an undercover Imperial intelligence agent acting out a role.
The entire town existed solely to control the environnt of the seven elite children, isolating them while they matured into perfect assassins.
"You ntioned the final stage," Noah mused. "What is that village still missing?"
Knowing the full plan, Noah understood the final stage ant the seven children had reached Gozuki's required combat level.
They only needed their final trial. Logically, Noah had no place there.
"Normally, it would be enough," Gozuki explained. "But your 'Grace Elixir' passed its clinical trials. I want those seven to receive it. They are my finest works."
"The Grace Elixir, huh? Your intelligence network is as sharp as ever," Noah sighed.
After obtaining the poison-type Teigu six years ago, Noah began to cultivated strange plants.
Combining them with alchemy, he created the Grace Elixir.
While it could not compare to a god's Falna, it safely drew out latent human potential.
Because it lacked side effects and did not generate power from nothing, it stood in stark contrast to Bill's Enhancent Drug.
If Bill's drug was a demonic serum that burned lifespan for power, the Grace Elixir was holy water.
Noah had created many such inventions over the years, refusing promotions multiple tis just to continue his research.
"Works? Right now, you look more like an old father who loves his kids too much," Noah noted.
The observation made Gozuki fall silent.
As an assassin raising human weapons, he had invested too much genuine emotion into the project.
Even if he believed those feelings wouldn't cloud his judgnt, the attachnt remained.
He cleared his throat. "Regardless, co act as the returning village doctor. The final stage will take about two years. Treat it as a change of scenery for your research. How about it?"
Gozuki knew the boy spent his entire life underground, showing no interest in anything besides research.
A better environnt would do him good.
Plus, General Esdeath had acknowledged Noah's strength, making him a secure asset in the field.
"I understand. But I require paynt."
Noah had no intention of refusing.
Working above ground in nature appealed to him.
"Paynt?"
"When your plan is complete, I want to borrow that blade for one month."
Noah didn't na the weapon, but Gozuki understood.
He wanted Murasa for research.
Teigu belonged to the Empire; Gozuki was rely the wielder, not the owner.
Loaning it out broke protocol entirely.
"I agree," Gozuki answered without hesitation.
A faint smile appeared on Noah's face.
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