"Liam, where are you going?" Seeing him get out on the 100th floor of the PVP tower rather than the tournament floor, Mia couldn't help but ask.
"I will join you guys in a bit." Liam smiled and then disappeared as the elevator door closed. He was rather excited as he walked over to one of the alchemy rooms available on the floor.
He quickly paid the required coins and entered the space. "Here goes nothing." He first removed the stone tablet from his inventory slot and set it up inside the room.
After that, he removed his clothes and jumped into the pond.
Luna curiously watched Liam as he closed his eyes and started meditating. The little fox wondered what was going on when unexpectedly, the next instant, several small rustling sounds echoed in the garden.
Kyuuuuu?
When the fox looked around, small shoots of various herbs were growing at a visible rate, bursting out of the ground. Not one or two but several. There were also all sorts of herbs, each one different from the other.
The entire garden was filled with the medicinal fragrance of these herbs, and Liam was not done yet. With his eyes closed, he went through the list of herbs one after the other.
The pond water as well nourished his body and mind, giving him a sort of clarity. He was easily able to recollect all of the herbs from part 1 of the compendium.
More importantly, because of the unique skill of the stone tablet, as he thought about each and every one of these herbs, they began sprouting out of the ground magically.
A golden glow covered the entirety of the stone tablet, and it began getting darker and darker. Liam did not notice it. He continued to meditate and patiently visualized all the herbs individually.
By the time he was done, he was completely drained out mentally. "Damn, even sitting in this pond, this process is very tiring." He stretched his hands and yawned.
However, he got out of the pond hurriedly as he was too excited. Finally, he was going to remove a seal from that sword, his soul weapon that was going to rain terror on the outside world!
Liam smiled nervously as he was both excited and apprehensive about this part. Excited because of the power-up but nervous because it was a soul weapon, and it affected him.
At least the last time he tried to wield this weapon, it left a lasting impression on him that he did not want to recollect. But… that was then, and this was now.
He was stronger now. He had a solid foundation and a mana core.
So Liam confidently clutched the sword, sitting cross-legged in front of the pond. He steadied his mind and then looked at the fox, who was happily rolling around on the grass.
"Luna, grab all the herbs and bring them to me one by one. Be careful."
Kyuuuu! The fox immediately perked up and started working on her chore. She dashed around here and there and carefully plucked out the herbs to bring them back to Liam.
Some of the herb juices really made her salivate as they were too tasty, but she obediently brought over everything to Liam.
"Good girl." He patted the herb and started after taking a deep breath. "Let's go!"
<Ding. Athanira has been consumed>
<Ding. Rediflora has been consumed>
<Ding. Hexagonal porisenthis has been consumed>
…
…
…
As Liam started feeding the sword with the multitude of herbs, one by one, several notifications started rolling out.
With each herb that he gave the sword, his pulse became quicker as he was that close to unlocking the seal.
After feeding about nine hundred herbs, it was finally time to break the first seal on the weapon, and for this, he needed to sense it, all of it.
The last time Liam did this, the numerous souls swirling inside the sword locked onto him as if they were alive.
They were terrifying existences capable of devouring him completely. He did not doubt that.
At the same time, he was not going to concede so easily to a bunch of dead souls, even if they were dragons.
"Come out." Liam also summoned his personal soul soldiers. It felt good to have numbers on his side when facing that many souls.
Now there was nothing more left, so he took a deep breath and focused, activating his soul sensing. It was always active, but he had to focus quite a bit in order to sense the souls.
He brought his complete attention to the dull rustly sword lying on the grass in front of him, and soon, the sword started thrumming alive.
It was time. He took the last few stalks of the herb and fed them to the sword. With this, the sword had now consumed a thousand different rare-grade herbs.
<Ding. Myora Radicura has been consumed>
<Ding. A thousand herbs have been devoured>
Kachak Kachak Kachak Kachak
Following a short moment of silence, an ominous feeling bubbled out of the sword.
Inside the dull piece of metal, numerous eyes flashed open without any warning. Each of these eyes was slit-like, and they locked onto Liam, silently simmering.
Then the next second, a tremendous wave of pressure assaulted him out of nowhere. The eyes that were on him tried to subdue him and make him submit to their will.
The enormous weight of their souls was crushing him from all directions. For a moment, Liam couldn't breathe. He gasped and convulsed on the ground, writhing in pain.
However, he soon regained control of his body. He had, after all, withstood things far worse than what the dragons were capable of unleashing at the moment.
He also knew what was waiting for him in the future. So there was no way he was going to buckle down right now and accept defeat to a mere weapon.
A weapon could never control a person, it was the person who was meant to control the weapon. He gritted his teeth, and in one fell swoop, he pushed away the soul pressure crushing his body.
"FUCK OFF!" His voice rang loudly in the big empty garden, making Luna worried.
The next instant, ripples of loud roars emanated from the sword, each angrier than the previous one. Wave after wave of insane pressure assaulted Liam, but he held strong.
He rotated his mana core steadily and used it like a talisman to ward off the evil.
However, the dragon souls did not give up that easily. They continued attacking him one after the other, sometimes even combined together.
Every single one of these attacks struck like lightning on his mind and soul, and he shuddered. This lasted for an entire hour when a final momentous roar blasted from the sword, after which the weapon went back to being dormant.
It had failed. It couldn't do anything to him.
Ignoring the several eyes continuing to glare at him angrily, Liam smiled and took the sword in his hand.
His breathing was haggard, and he was sweating profusely from top to bottom, but it looked like he had won this round, and the sword temporarily submitted to him.
However, the weight of the weapon in his hand was not light. It might not be physically heavy, but it bore down on his soul, the numerous eyes still locked onto him.
They were all simply waiting. Waiting for a weakness that they could make use of, waiting for a chance to attack him once more.
"Bring it on." Liam chuckled, not breaking the eye contact. He glared right back at them as if they were in a staring contest.
After a while, the eyes disappeared, the weight of the weapon reducing a smidge. He could still feel the living, breathing weapon as if veins of mana and blood were coursing through it. However, it was not hostile.
"Good." Liam nodded, and he stood up to try out his new weapon.
***
Golden Ticket bonus chapter~
