Luke studied his two kukris. They weren’t the same anymore after going through the [Tsukumogami no Me]. Every crack in the metal had vanished, and the blades had turned black like onyx, a shade so deep it almost swallowed the light. They were a little larger now too, and a faint veil of dark aura drifted from them like smoke. If he moved them quickly, they left a trailing streak of shadow behind. They looked sharper than they had ever been.

  Something else had changed as well. They were no longer system items, and he couldn’t place them inside any storage item. Now they were alive.

  Name: ?

  Race: Spirit Tool

  Rank: F

  These blades were forged as a gift to mark the rise of a demon. Symbols of the horns he never grew, these twin kukris are bound to their master, walking beside him on his path toward a throne of tyranny. Now, however, they are alive, though their true strength remains dormant. They will awaken only when the right moment arrives. Until then, they will deepen their bond and gather power, waiting for the exact time to reveal their real potential.

  Skills: [Magnetic Return], [Shadow Presence], [Spirit Tool], [Evolution]

  The interface felt a little like the familiar bond he shared with Franky. The kukris’ skills were still there, though he suspected they had grown slightly stronger. The dark trail one of the blades left behind seemed like an enhanced version of [Shadow Presence].

  What really stood out was the terminology. Instead of being listed as Enchantments, their powers were now Skills, a sign that whatever dwelled inside them was truly alive.

  The two new skills caught his attention.

  [Spirit Too]l: There are countless types of Spirit Tools, and this one was born from the prolonged use of a weapon by a demon, later awakened by a magical artifact. Like other spirits, it can rise in Rank, growing stronger over time and developing new skills as it evolves.

  [Evolution]: When fed, the spirit within the weapon can grow, awaken new powers, and raise its rank of existence, becoming an ever more powerful tool aligned with its wielder.

  So Azazel wanted him to repair his weapons and find the demon’s legacy? Or just the legacy itself? Either way, his kukris were fixed.

  "You killed the guy," Franky said.

  "Seymour Butts? Yeah. I killed him."

  Franky tried to hold back a snort, but it slipped out as a nasally laugh.

  "He had a cool name," he added, still struggling not to laugh.

  Luke kept walking through the temple, taking his time now, checking whether there was any information he might have missed before. He had already copied the map, and after interrogating a few enemies, he’d gathered important details and pieced them together with what he already knew.

  Once the Red Baron realized the [Tsukumogami no Me] didn’t reveal anything about the Demon Smith’s legacy, he concluded the temples might hold the answer.

  That was how Miles managed to ally himself with the alchemists. Since he was no longer fighting over the weapons, he struck a deal with them. He would help them secure the weapon from the Spore Forest temple, and in return, he would gain access to the temple itself.

  Maybe he’s realized that the key to finding the legacy is completing the map of the dimension.

  If that really was the case, then Miles already held one piece of the temple map from the place where he had found his [Tsukumogami no Me]. The missing pieces were the maps from Cassandra’s temple, Arcadia, and the Sporewood.

  Now I only need two more. Arcadia and the last temple.

  He moved on. From everything he had uncovered, Cassandra had her army positioned in the open fields, right where a clash between the two factions could break out at any moment. Luke wanted the location of Arcadia and the fourth temple. With those in hand, the map would finally be complete.

  ***

  The trio continued their journey across the dimension’s wastelands while Franky flew ahead, thrilled to be in the air again. He was useful that way, too, Luke could cast [Soul Infiltration] on him and see through his eyes, surveying the region from above.

  “I fly way higher than that winged rat,” Franky said.

  “Yeah, you fly,” Luke murmured, still focused on his notes and map sketches. Under his breath, he kept reciting the riddle.

  Dimensional Rift: Temple of the Demon Blacksmith

  Ages ago, a blacksmith from the Spectral Demon tribe reached the pinnacle of his craft within his clan. Before vanishing, he left behind four weapons forged by his own hands, scattered throughout this dimension as minor treasures. Each one serves as a key leading toward the hidden temple where his masterpiece rests.

  But only one deemed worthy may open the temple. To inherit his legacy, one must answer the riddle the master smith left behind:

  “Among the four weapons I created… which one holds my true treasure?”

  Treasures Found: 4/4

  He let out a slow breath.

  Finding the temple is only half the problem. I still need the answer if I want to open it.

  On the second day of travel, the attacks began.

  Ghouls emerged from the ruins ahead. Franky hurled fireballs, and now his flames were strong enough to kill them outright. The blasts erupted across the ground, and the creatures burned as they shrieked.

  The young wyvern burst into laughing fits. They moved through what looked like the remains of a stone village.

  “I’m clearing the path,” Luke said. “I’m not wasting more time listening to you laugh while ghouls die.”

  “It’s funny, man,” Franky replied.

  Luke drew his bow and activated [Acid Blood Arrow].

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  The arrow landed farther ahead, and a spreading cloud of acid swallowed the area, dissolving the ghouls that stood there with their eyes closed. They hadn’t even been awake. Notifications rolled across Luke’s interface as they walked. More ghouls were drawn in, shambling from other buildings.

  Luke raised his hands and cast [Shadow Ball].

  As the creatures closed in, he and Franky unleashed their spells together. Black fire and blazing orange flames surged side by side, igniting and charring everything that came near. Franky swooped overhead, spitting fireballs from above while Luke handled the enemies on the ground.

  **Your second class [Witch] has reached Level 29!**

  The ghouls were dead, but something else stirred in the forest.

  A massive beast emerged, its fur a dark, earthen brown, a pale scar-like mark streaked across its face. Three eyes stared back at them.

  [Bloodclaw Bear - Lvl 83]

  “Go on, snake. Take that one by yourself.”

  “I’ll take it!” Franky roared, though his roar wouldn’t have scared a bug.

  The bear answered with a thunderous bellow, rising onto its hind legs. Luke slipped his kukris from inside his haori sleeve, they rested there perfectly. He dashed forward.

  “I can handle this, human. I don’t need your help,” Franky insisted, trying to keep up.

  The bear lunged. Luke slipped past the strike and spun. The kukris felt impossibly light in his hands. His movement flowed in a seamless arc, a streak of darkness trailing behind him, and then the bear screamed.

  It stared down at what remained of its foreleg: a bleeding stump. Luke had severed it clean.

  Damn. These things are insanely sharp.

  The beast opened its jaws and fired a sphere of compressed wind. Luke dodged past the shots and closed in again, first cutting the other leg, then sweeping behind it, slashing across its back, then appearing in front in a blur of motion. He was testing the blades, learning how they moved with him.

  With one final spin, he drove a kukri straight into where its heart should be. The bear gave a faint twitch and collapsed backward, dead.

  [You have slain a Bloodclaw Bear - Lvl 83]

  Luke looked down at the kukris, stunned.

  “What the hell…?” He watched the blood coating the blades begin to vanish, not dripping, not evaporating. It was being drawn inward, devoured by the metal itself.

  A thought flashed across his mind.

  Is this… the evolution skill? Did the blades feed on the bear’s blood?

  He tried pushing it into the corpse, but nothing happened. Whatever had triggered before was gone now. Just a momentary reaction.

  “I stabbed the heart with the kukri and felt something solid. This one has a core,” he muttered as he crouched beside the body.

  It was the method he’d developed after slicing open so many corpses looking for cores, most of it for nothing. Luke would drive the kukri where he believed the heart should be, and if the blade struck something hard, that was enough to tell him there was a core inside it.

  The method wasn’t foolproof. Some creatures didn’t even keep their hearts in their chests. But it was still better than nothing.

  “You didn’t have to help me, human. I could handle it.”

  “Oh, sure you could, kid,” Artemis replied.

  “I’m not a kid. I’m an adult.”

  “You already admitted to us that you’re a hatchling. And your size isn’t exactly helping your lie,” Luke said.

  Franky clicked his tongue in irritation.

  Luke pulled the bear’s core free, then fished out the other cores he had stored in his pocket dimension.

  “Well, Franky, instead of staring at the cores, you’re supposed to be absorbing them.”

  “I-I wasn’t stalling… on purpose or anything,” Franky said. “I’m just eager to end this partnership.”

  Huh? Who said anything about him stalling on purpose? This guy’s insane.

  “Then go on. Do your core-absorbing thing. You’ve been refusing to do it lately.”

  “I just… wanted to wait until I had a good number, human. I don’t want to stay with you or anything like that, don’t get the wrong idea.”

  “No one’s talking about that. Just do your thing, snake.”

  The small wyvern touched one of the cores.

  [Your familiar Frankzaroth has successfully absorbed an E-Rank Mana Core.]

  [E-Rank Cores (39/100)]

  The hatchling moved on to the next.

  [E-Rank Cores (40/100)]

  His body glowed for a brief moment. Subtle changes rippled through him, his frame growing slightly larger.

  Franky went to the remaining cores.

  [E-Rank Cores (41/100)]

  [E-Rank Cores (42/100)]

  [E-Rank Cores (43/100)]

  [E-Rank Cores (44/100)]

  [E-Rank Cores (45/100)]

  [E-Rank Cores (46/100)]

  [E-Rank Cores (47/100)]

  [E-Rank Cores (48/100)]

  [E-Rank Cores (49/100)]

  [E-Rank Cores (50/100)]

  [Your familiar Frankzaroth has awakened a new skill.]

  “Hey, human, something just happened inside me!” Franky said.

  “It’s called puberty,” Artemis replied. “Either that, or you just have a stomachache.”

  Franky’s body glowed again. With fifty cores in him, he was nothing like the hatchling that once fit in the palm of Luke’s hand. Now he was about the size of a small dog.

  Luke tapped on the notification for the new skill.

  [Charged Aerial]: The wyvern gains a sudden burst of momentum, increasing speed and reinforcing its body, allowing it to strike airborne enemies or attack structures.

  Franky leapt into the air and suddenly shot forward in a sharp burst.

  “I think I can smash a few of those rats running around now,” he said.

  “You can tell what the skill does without reading it? I mean, how does the system appear to you?” Luke asked.

  “It’s like… something inside me, in my soul. It roars, smells, feels like instinct,” Franky replied.

  So it isn’t a floating videogame screen? Interesting.

  ***

  Dolores walked through the forest toward the camp, almost skipping, laughter bubbling under her breath. Her brother Henry had gone ahead to the baron’s base to reinforce their position, while she had been left to handle the group of alchemists.

  When she reached the sprawling camp, she spotted them immediately. They wore heavy robes, some of them masked, long beaked visors like the face of a carrion bird. Countless cauldrons simmered and boiled, filling the air with bitter smoke.

  They already recognized her presence. And they feared it.

  “Where is our precious prisoner?” she asked as she stepped into the main tent.

  “She was taken to one of the white tents,” Dom replied, one of the alchemists’ leaders. “We are drugging her every hour. We will use the prisoner to test the effectiveness of our antidotes in the Sporewood.”

  “Is it a man or a woman?”

  “A woman,” Dom said.

  Dolores smiled. “Good. I plan on having a little fun before you send her to the slaughterhouse.”

  She left the meeting at once and headed straight for the tent, a restless heat stirring inside her chest. When she arrived, a woman in a Lagras uniform lay there, bound and unsteady from the drugs. Dolores dragged the edge of her tongue along the blade of her dagger, enjoying the anticipation.

  She slapped the woman across the face. “Wake up, darling.”

  Dolores gripped her chin, tilting her head up. The prisoner was gagged, trembling, eyes wide.

  “Oh, no, do not panic yet. I have not even started enjoying myself.”

  She pulled the gag loose.

  “Please… let me go,” the woman whispered.

  Dolores brushed her fingers across the prisoner’s lips. “Leave? Now, of all times? I just arrived. You will hurt my feelings if you talk like that.”

  The fourth treasure had already been claimed by someone else, but that did not matter. What Dolores wanted was to have control of the temple.

  “I only hope the bastard who stole the temple treasure is still there. I truly do. He is going to suffer so much when I get my hands on him,” Dolores said, her voice almost tender.

  And then, her hours of amusement began.

  https://discord.gg/znGSjCxhkR