The Boar Empire was stirring restlessly, while the surrounding smaller nations watched with predatory eyes like tigers eyeing their prey.
Having been oppressed by the Papal States for many years, with the Holy Knights repeatedly slaughtering the royal families and nobility of the surrounding small kingdoms, both sides had long accumulated hatred as deep as the sea over these many years.
Now with the Holy Knights wiped out in one fell swoop, coupled with this year's poor harvest and harsh environment, there was no doubt this would be the best time to launch a war.
Following the Boar Empire and other nations signing mutual defense alliance treaties, panic began to spread among the people within the Papal States.
Perhaps low-level merchants and others still believed the Papal States were noble and invincibly brave, maintaining confidence in the gradually changing situation. But within the Vatican, the true upper echelons of the Papal States had already begun to worry deeply.
The Vatican.
In the imperial garden of the Vatican, by the lakeside, stood a pristine small pavilion built from pure white jade stones.
The new Pope, His Holiness Adam, was obsessed with the Holy Eye, giving the Vatican's five Cardinals plenty of leisure time, so they gathered here to express their sorrowful lamentations about the impending danger facing the Papal States.
The five Cardinals sat casually within the small pavilion, with several beautiful women dancing gracefully in the center. Each Cardinal also held an exquisite nun wearing semi-revealing nun habits in their arms. The dishes on the table were luxurious, and even the wine glasses were made from ocean crystals sourced from the deep sea!
"The Boar Empire watches us like a tiger eyeing its prey, determined to destroy our holy nation's sovereignty and eradicate our holy religion's foundation. In such critical times of survival, His Holiness Adam remains obsessed with his damned Holy Eye - truly incompetent and unprincipled!His bizarre tricks and cunning devices may become the cause of our holy religion's destruction!"
One Cardinal sighed deeply, his face full of sorrow and grief, accumulating worries about the religious state's future, yet not forgetting to take several deep breaths on the nun's body.
"Ah, the old Pope exhausted all his efforts, worked diligently, turning his heart into bitter gall, his flesh into tree trunks. Through fifty years of arduous effort as consistent as one day, he finally made our holy state flourish, reaching unprecedented prosperity!
But this new Pope is truly incompetent and may topple our religious state's supreme glory!" Another Cardinal spoke with high-sounding words, his speech full of concern for the nation and people, feeling ashamed before their ancestors, yet his face showed no grief - instead, his eyes were entirely fixed on the seductive women dancing in the pavilion.
"Ah! His Holiness Adam's incompetence and unprincipled ways truly leave us with no way to serve our country, no way to serve our religion!" Another Cardinal fiercely threw his exquisite wine glass to the ground, seemingly overwhelmed with grief, but not wanting to show it publicly, so he could only bow his head and bury his religious tears in the nun's soft chest for comfort.
The pavilion was filled with lamentations, making it seem like these five great Cardinals had great ambitions they couldn't fulfill. In reality, although their status was lofty, they mainly controlled only the Church's various sacrificial activities - neither military campaigns, foreign policies, nor even internal control had anything to do with them.
Even less influential than a Minister of Rites.
But they indeed lived up to being Cardinals, in charge of sacrifices and etiquette - at least their sexual orientation was normal.
However, what they said wasn't wrong. The new Pope, His Holiness Adam, was indeed currently obsessed with the Holy Eye, obsessed with that elusive divine theory.
Underground of the Vatican, Holy Eye.
Compared to the Holy Eye of two years ago, the current Holy Eye research facility had expanded significantly. To ensure safety inside, His Holiness Adam had even dispatched fifty Holy Knights to guard various positions.
The cage originally used to imprison the Werewolf Infant had now expanded to the size of a prison cell. However, it remained a cage, with iron spikes even reinstalled around it to prevent the werewolf inside from escaping.
His Holiness Adam still wore golden papal robes, standing expressionless before the werewolf's cage, watching the reproduction process of the two werewolves inside.
That's right - in just two years, that Werewolf Infant had already grown into an adult!
What terrifying growth speed was this?
This Werewolf Infant seemed to retain the growth characteristics of werewolves - extremely short infancy, extremely long maturity period.
After two years of development, its human form already resembled a twenty-year-old man, while its werewolf form had reached its peak.
This terrifying growth speed made it impossible for the Holy Eye to complete its cultivation - before human knowledge and wisdom could be instilled into this wolf child's mind, its inherent werewolf nature had already occupied its brain and matured.
This also meant this now adult wolf child still lacked much human wisdom and thought.
However, the Holy Eye's knowledge instillation still had some effect - at the very least, its werewolf wildness had greatly reduced, making it far more obedient and loyal than ordinary domesticated werewolves.
And this still didn't seem to be this mutant werewolf's limit - its human-transformed mind, no different from humans, still allowed human knowledge to be instilled, enabling growth in thinking.
Perhaps if the Holy Eye continued cultivation for several more years, it could truly make this werewolf gain understanding, becoming the first semi-human wolf creature in the continent's history to possess human thought.
Even relying on its powerful physical qualities and mind no different from humans, His Holiness Adam felt this kind of werewolf could become another powerful tool to consolidate the Church's rule after the Holy Knights!
But unfortunately, as the first truly mutated creature of the werewolf race, its mission wasn't about mental maturity or personal growth, but about reproducing the tribe to produce more human-form werewolves!
Simply put, having only one was too precious - without reproducing new ones, it was meaningless.
Therefore, His Holiness Adam had recently dispatched knight teams to capture female werewolves everywhere, imprisoning them in cages to pair with this wolf child for reproduction.
"Roar!" The female werewolf in the cage let out somewhat painful howls.
The swift-moving male werewolf gradually stopped its movements, then stood up.
This mutant werewolf was given the holy name by His Holiness Adam: William!
As William finished, Church Knights in heavy armor immediately entered the prison cell, putting heavy shackles on the female werewolf who had just finished mating and was still in exhaustion period. Then they used iron chains to leash its neck and led it out of the cage.
Throughout this, the werewolf William remained extremely well-behaved, not moving at all.
As this female werewolf was led away by Church Knights, the next shackled female werewolf was brought in.
But His Holiness Adam gently waved his hand, stopping the reproduction process.
"Your Holiness!" The Holy Eye scholar responsible for werewolf reproduction hurried over with quick steps, bowing his head to greet His Holiness Adam.
"Human-form werewolves are truly God's gift, an opportunity for Church transformation. We shouldn't limit all possibilities with rules! Since William can mate with female werewolves, why can't he mate with women in human form? There might be unexpected surprises!" His Holiness Adam coldly watched William confined in the cage.
It was extremely well-behaved, having even shed its wolf skin, transforming into a handsome young man, now looking at His Holiness Adam outside the cage with confused and affectionate eyes.
After all, His Holiness Adam visited him the most frequently, and the scent on His Holiness Adam had long been memorized by William.
However, because the animal instincts carried by werewolves were far more dominant than humans, its thought transformation was somewhat difficult, with animal nature far exceeding human nature.
Therefore, His Holiness Adam felt that perhaps mating it with women to produce werewolves with more complete human nature would be more suitable for the Church's cultivation.
Hearing His Holiness Adam's words, the scholar's face filled with admiration.
Although he had long possessed this idea, having the Pope propose it undoubtedly satisfied both parties more.
"Yes, Your Holiness Adam!"