Noone admired the weapons and sent his divine sense through every corner of the room. Although none were obviously of a supreme quality, at least from what Noone could tell, they all were definitely of a quality better than his own two axes. This was especially so of a certain few weapons which were scattered among the bunch.

Visually they looked to be no different from the other weapons in the room. Good material. Well kept. A slight aura of skill just emanating naturally from them, evidence of their creators or their wielders.

Noone smiled mischievously, his divine sense locking on to each of these weapons. He pulled them from their piles and set them all together. Floating on the surface of each of these weapons… was a glowing thread of energy. A thread Noone was supremely familiar with.

They were exactly like the threads which floated in and between the tapestry of the universe. However, this was the first time he was seeing them almost trapped. They still moved, but were constrained onto the metal, zipping around like snakes in sand. Noone’s smile widened and he stretched his divine sense, focusing it onto one of the swords.

There was a bit of pushback against his probing senses. The pushback wasn’t intense, but it made him apprehensive to continue.

“Maybe it isn’t possible to separate them…” Noone thought. He pondered for a moment before standing and shutting the heavy iron door behind him.

When he returned, he sat down in front of the sword. His legs were crossed, and his back was straight. The world around him disappeared except for what was contained within his divine sense.

“These weapons must have some level of enchantment on them.” Noone pondered silently, his thoughts moved quickly as he prepared himself for attempting to extract the threads from the weapons. “If I’m going to do this, I must be quick about it.”

Noone’s mind quieted and his face grew colder, falling into an expressionless trance. Noone manipulated his divine sense like putty, enveloping the sword in its entirety.

“Let’s start with you.” Noone said, his divine sense observing the comparatively thick translucent thread which darted upon the swords surface.

Like an arrow deflected by a stone wall, Noone’s divine sense continued to bounce off from the weapon while enveloping it. No matter what angle Noone approached from, he was unable to push past this wall and his divine sense hovered just over the blade, carefully tracking the thread’s movement.

Finally, Noone began to exert increasing pressure, simultaneously shrinking and condensing his divine sense to strengthen it.

“It’s possible that once enchanted, these weapons cannot be separated from the universe energy.” Noone thought as he continued probing. The sword itself laid on the ground unmoving and undisturbed by Noone’s attempts. Noone frowned, if that was true then he was just wasting his time… but if it wasn’t, then maybe he could harvest that energy for himself.

The thickness of the threads were no less than the red thread he had absorbed earlier which seemed to have spawned from the crowd of bandits. If he could absorb these, his cultivation would no doubt advance by leaps and bounds.

Finally, Noone grit his teeth and condensed his divine sense to its maximum. After fighting earlier, Noone’s mind was already feeling a bit strained from manipulating his divine sense, but he bared through the pain.

A needle like condensation of energy locked onto the sword and with incredible speed pierced towards the darting thread. Noone carefully followed the thread with the needle.

The sliver began to slow down just enough to turn around from the handle of the weapon. Noone’s body tensed and he forced his divine sense into the blade.

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The first thing Noone felt was resistance. He had hit the wall which surrounded the weapon. The needle was slowed for less than a fraction of a second until much to Noone’s surprise it proceeded to pierce through.

Noone was careful not to lose focus and pierced into the thread like a spear through a fish. The force of expulsion swiftly proceeded to remove his divine sense… but it was too late. Noone had already absorbed the energy.

A smile spread on his face as he relished the feeling of the thread being burned into energy which coursed throughout his body.

“It can be done…” Noone thought quickly. His eyes came to rest on the many weapons which had threads of energy ingrained into their blades. If the weapons were alive, there is nothing they would feel from Noone’s current expression except for fear. He looked at them the way a starving man looks at a rack of lamb.

Time passed by quickly and soon Noone had worked his way through each and every weapon which were enchanted with energy. Quietly, he sat and manipulated his qi within his body, attempting to sense out the difference inside of himself.

“80 percent.” Noone thought with a small smile. “Very good.” Absorbing the energy ingrained in the weapons had allowed Noone to grow exceedingly close to breaking through to the next level.

Gently he stood up, brushing the dusty stone floor from his clothes. Suddenly though he stopped brushing as his mind glossed over an important thought.

“Should I have kept one for myself?” Noone frowned. Most of the pile were weapons he would not be able to wield effectively, but there was a single war axe amongst them. Now it had lost its former luster, being not much different from Noone’s own weapons. “No… The most important thing for me is to break through. That axe alone saved me on a month of cultivation.” He shook his head.

Despite this, Noone couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed he didn’t find a new set of weapons to exchange his regular axes for. He took a quick look through the room, assuring himself he wasn’t missing anything, and finally turned his back to exit with a sigh.

Noone opened the door which required considerable strength due to its weight and was preparing to leave the room when suddenly his eyes widened. What was that!?

Out of his peripheral vision Noone could have sworn he just saw another weapon he hadn’t noticed before. But… He stretched his divine sense above the door and there was nothing there. Noone’s eyebrows furrowed and he quickly turned around reentering the room. Noone’s eyes locked above the frame of the door, and his jaw tightened, eyes widening.

Sure enough, there was indeed a weapon which hung against the wall.

It was a brutish and cold looking great-axe, similar in size to the one wielded by Tobias.

But where Tobias’s axe was obviously a weapon designed with function and looks in mind, this weapon was gray all the way across. It looked as though the handle and blades were all forged simultaneously from one solid piece of iron. It had no engravings or décor – except for a very simple black wrapping which was set most the way down the handle.

Only one word came to mind when Noone saw this weapon.

“Brutal.”

However, this was soon followed by a more terrifying realization. Noone realized that although he could see the weapon with his eyes, it was completely invisible to his divine sense. Even now as he looked at it, Noone couldn’t help but feel disorientated by not being able to sense it.

Noone’s face grew cold. He was helplessly intrigued. With his tall stature it was easy enough to reach above the door. His hands wrapped around the handle and he began to lift it from its mounts.

“Heavy.” Noone grunted, eyes furrowed in surprise. The weapon was three times heavier than Tobias’s axe despite not looking any larger. It was simple - even simpler in design.

As Noone lowered the axe to get a better look at it, his breathing caught in his throat and his body froze. He couldn’t stop an uncontrolled wave of terror from washing over him. He was very aware of this sensation. It was the chill of danger, of being watched. He held felt a similar chill develop when he was being watched by Clayton, but the feeling he felt now was an absolute hell compared to that.

An icy hell.

Noone’s forehead began to bead with a cold sweat and he was unable to move. His heart threatened to beat out of his chest and seize from terror all at once. Noone extended his divine sense to its maximum limit, but he could see nothing. Noone clenched his jaw so tightly that his muscles in his face bulged violently making him look as though he was in extreme pain.

After a few moments the feeling began to fade… but an image was impressed onto Noone’s mind in those last moments.

“Damn!” Noone cursed. An image of the axe had somehow been imprinted onto Noone’s consciousness. It was cold, dark grey, and heavy. Its physical weight seemed to weigh even on his conscious mind. “Should I drop it and run.” In Noone’s mind, he considered fleeing. Whatever could cause him to react to that extent was beyond dangerous.

Eventually though… Noone braced the weapon in his grip and proceeded to carry it with him. The bladed end weighed down his movements quite a bit, even considering Noone’s inherent strength.

Yet he could not bring himself to let the weapon go… it could evade his divine sense after all, there was no telling what else it could do.