A moment passed in that room, bob seemingly amused by the bravado of Lucius, and Lucius's friends trying not to shit bricks because of him.

Despite expectations to the contrary bob... backed off.

"Well I have things I must tend to, and truthfully fighting now would delay those plans exponentially."

the tension in the air suddenly popped like it wasn't there.

Dera was the first to actually sigh, and the group followed bob into a room with a small, but well made table.

Accents of Red velvet, black granite, and a rather nice pattern of a lightning tree, waxed and sealed.

The tree had many black lines running through the wood that made a nice complement to the solid black of the granite

and of course the red velvet was to contrast the other two.

normally extravagance compared to real world works.

"SO, the reason I am under the seals is due to the shattering of a juvenile soul." Bob opened with.

Only Lucius frowned and covered his face with his left hand.

Dera jumped in "As apposed to the shattering of the countless souls of travellers or natives?"

Bob frowned "for someone who benefits from the corruption of the soul, you sure know nothing about them."

Dera pouted before bob continued "A soul that lives a mortal life, no matter how wholesome nor kind will experience some form of corruption, this corruption, be it impulse, external or developed will weigh the karma of that soul to the neutral, Only a soul without corruption, or through certain techniques can become pure, and this purity makes breaking them a severe karmic action."

Loretta snorted "I'm with Dera here, you haven't broken pure souls before?"

Abdul sighed before asking "As a cultivator of the lifecore, what is the 'purity' of my soul?"

Bob levelled a sharp glare "even I cannot look into another's soul so easily, it would cause you significant pain for me to do this, Are you willing to know that badly?"

A determined nod, and a jolt later, Abdul was clearly in a half-trance to ignore the pain while bobs eyes glowed red.

Bob's lips quirked into a smile. "Surprising, a pure soul, I don't imagine even amongst the Lifecore temple there are many with such a clean soul, Devouring it would lead to tribulation, minimum, if not immediate sealing of up to 7th."

Abdul let out a breathe, coming out of the trance "I would like to believe that the temple is just as pure as me." He said with conviction.

"Impressive demonstration, on the other hand, we have more important matters, Montgomery, I have need of you."

the colossal man stood before the demon and between the two worldly beings, they acknowledged their places.

the 5 were surprised, not at his lack of speaking but were at bob's apparent respect.

Sylius looked at bob without saying a word.

Bob began again "I will be travelling the world, with your assistance Montgomery, collecting materials of this world, as the heavens have graced me with an ego weapon."

The heroes blanched as he continued "the world will end in 2 years, and The heavens have given me a chance to ascend to divinity, So I need the heroes to be scouring the world for 'evils' for myself to slay whilst the sword kills my own faction."

The heroes began to panic as bob further continued "Montgomery, I need you as a final ingredient in this weapon, As your bones are the world ore itself."

"Sylius, since your creation you are one of the densest sources of negative karma in the world, your soul will be food for a growing demi-god of justice."

"Dera, you will be with Sylius on that one."

"Abdul, Your soul should become the catalyst for another, ego weapon."

"And finally Lucius, you should become the paragon of good."

This left the heroes stunned.

Loretta, being silent so far yelled "So what am I for?!"

"The tempering of innocent souls." He grimly replied to her fear and confusion.

"What do you mean by that?" Lucius asked

Bob sighed "Well, innocent souls tend to become corrupt, Only by either maintaining strict teachings and practices like our resident Pure soul cultivator here, either that or temperance in a non-corruptive emotion to 'lock' their purity into a single emotion and thus stem the accumulation of evils."

Loretta replied "But my rage is all-consuming, how isn't that corruptive?!"

"Ah, finally a good question." Bob said "However, rage is inherently a pure emotion, there isn't an alternative motive, there is no further wants, anger builds and builds and builds, until it is unleashed, then it settles once it is uncorked, It is an emotion of power, and not lacking in uncontrollability, but unlike the sexual deviants in this room, it isn't a blackhole in your soul, it does fade."

Lucius started to ask "So as good as this plan sounds, Why? Why do all this? to ascend?"

"Yes." bob answered bluntly, His voice infused with an edge that none wished to challenge.

the heroes in the room, were frankly overwhelmed.

Ego weapons are spoken of in legends, and none particularly wanted to see what bob could do as a demi-god wielding a demi-god.

But if he was telling the truth, and the world, or DEO would end in two in-game years, why not?

Abdul spoke first "well, first is first, how do we turn me into a weapon?"

Bob answered "with difficulty, after all it took me shattering the original soul of the current weapon let alone a new one."

Abdul cringed "That seems to be a dangerous, and likely hazardous potential waste of time, Why attempt the creation with such a high chance of failure."

Bob sighed "Chance, hasn't a damned thing to do with an ego weapon, they are pure manifestations of soul and material, a cumulation of experience, intellect and ones cultivation."

Bob continued "You can only learn scraps of information when you learn Des'tuvarian, But one thing is clear, the Only creatures who ascend to the 10th tier Possess these weapons, and a calamity follows in their wake."

"Des'tuvarian? Language of the dead?" Sylius asked confused.

Lucius's eyes bugged out "Is that why you were shown as killed in the world feed?!"

Bob gave a golf clap "Anybody here who doesn't understand context" Bob pointedly stared at Dera whom was finding an interesting pattern in the velvet carpet "the dead in this world rise as the Undead if they are not burnt away by godly energy, and many undead above tier -3 have spend DECADES documenting events of history."

Dera had a face of 'oh' and bob sighed "Unfortunately for them, after death you only understand a single language, which is why you cannot reason with the undead, they by their nature cannot understand you."

'And while many players have been undead, they haven't spent enough time to understand the language before either passing on, or not getting to tier -4.' bob left unsaid.

"Either way, they are incredible creations, that, with the proper ability, you can transplant a second soul into."

Bob said.

"Why would you put a second soul into a weapon that already possesses one?!" Lucius demanded.

"easy, not a single text mentions how to make them yourself, BUT, I have found that once you possess an ego weapon, you can generate another through the conflict of souls, and the second soul ejected into another weapon." Bob explained.

"You are telling me that you couldn't make an actual ego weapon, but you prepared to create a second once you finished a first?" Lucius asked incredulous.

"yes, the need for balance is more important than you think, Balance, is required by this world, without it the world rapidly burns people to stem the loss of karma, leading to the forcible reset of the world's balance."

"even a single ego-weapon, is a massive burden on the world, that is the main reason I had to break the ego so thoroughly, and why the heavens rewarded me with the fifth seal."

the six heroes were stunned, speechless.

Abdul was the first to speak.

"How... painful is the process of becoming an ego weapon." he asked, unsure about trusting bob.

"Depends on whether I can get Anton to help instead of me, otherwise, 40/60 on your character being locked in forced spectator mode for 3 months in-game." bob answered

And just as everyone there was wondering who the hell was Anton, A red buzz followed by a warning sign from the system appeared next to bob... the irregularity report from the Dive interfacing tech.

It was reporting 200% brain signals within the head of bob... and then... bob spoke but not bob.

"Wait, you want me, to help crush a monk's soul into a blade... FUCK YEAH." came a deeper, stereotypical Russian accent.

"OI, Abdul, come with me, and I shall show you its features." Anton said

"The rest of you Razvaluha, get out." Anton said, beckoning the monk with one hand and shooing the other heroes with the other.

Lucius, Dera, Loretta, and Sylius, by this point were freaked out, and pretty well calling quits.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

I mean do you blame them, they just got told by perhaps the most informed being in the world that their individual cultivations and abilities were all made just to create two weapons.

Then the person telling them starts talking fluent russian between talking to himself and pulling bottle after bottle of tier 9 vodka from the inventory.

and was now beckoning their monk, to become a literal weapon in order to keep world balance.

"I see, That is an interesting hypothesis... I shall attempt this transformation, As a paragon of my sect, it would shame me to deny the chance to immortalise our culture and techniques." Abdul answered the increasingly strange evil demi-god.

"Good Good, You are a man of action and character-" Anton said looking back over to the group.

"Oi get out of here already, I am going to be doing things and killing you will only waste time." He barked at the remaining heroes that quickly looked at Lucius, who shrugged and began the teleportation spell.

Anton took Abdul into the forge room, parting the waves of Inhumans who gawked at the changed in their boss.

"Ok Ok, now we will need a few things, OI WhERE IS OLAG?!" Anton yelled at the Inhumans, hearing a frantic shuffling as a undersized Inhuman Approach, canid features marked down his inhumanity and a dark purple key, the colour and hues shifting and changing like staring into the cosmos.

"I is herez bozz." the comparatively small and cute Canid said.

"I need the storehouse, Still have it?" Anton asked while handing the wolf a bottle of vodka.

The Canid simply took the key off his neck and shoved it mid air, at a high that one would associate with a door lock.

Suddenly, like the space in front of them secretly had a door there, It materialised.

Opening it space itself seemed 2-dimensional.

And in that room Abdul saw where Bob's Stache of stolen and created gear was.

Held in a subspace, inaccessible as it was sealed by the cultivation of the spatial lock.

In DEO, you could upgrade anything that physically or spiritually existed within the bounds of the amazing world generated.

As another level of this system, one could tie their cultivation to a concept, element or Item.

Bob's cultivation was of course, the idea of evil.

Anton however, being a part of bob, but seen as an entirely different person in the system had his own cultivation.

And his concept was that of the artisan.

He constructed a obsidian key without any definite teeth.

Waiting until bob had advanced the cultivation up to Demi-god.

Where laws of physics had about as much impact as a pillow swung by a baby.

Talk about impressive baby.

He then cut dimensional Teeth into that key.

While blank on the surface, the starry pattern of the key was actually the advanced links to a lock placed on a pocket dimension, without the key, one wouldn't even find the space, without the cultivation, one couldn't Use the key.

Olag was a unique individual as he kept most of bob's treasure safe.

Collecting a variety of rare, valuable and downright mythical materials, Anton ordered Olag to empty his storehouse.

then he turned to the world titan "Hey, You are our material yeah?"

The grey man nodded.

Anton appraised his flesh and nodded. "That will do finely, now come with me, I have a personal forge, these pieces of garbage won't work on your flesh."

then to the surprise of the two heroes here, a spatial gate was opened by Anton.

"Tied to my cultivation, I not only cultivate my crafting techniques, but my workshop is also a part of it, and once a craftsman hits tier 6, their shop becomes a sub-dimensional space. Both less secure, but more conceptual in nature, preventing most griefing." Anton explained.

the workshop was very tidy, and very advanced compared to normal workshops.

A normal Craftsman would be maybe tier 1-2, if you found a tier 3 craftsman you have officially found an incredible resource.

No matter the specialty a craftsman of tier 3 becomes able to create growing artifacts, powerful, useful, Limited.

But, and this is a major problem that had no solution until now, is that growth weapons were completely impossible.

It infuriated and frustrated many players in the game, but the devs insisted it was possible, giving hope to the player base.

But they never found the recipe to create one.

Anton opened the smelter and gestured for the titan to enter.

"You will feel minimal pain if you succumb to the enchantment in here, My suggestion is to do that." Anton said curtly and respectfully.

the titan said nothing, and he could see the black miasma sink into the titan as he stood in the foundry.

Abdul deeply bowed to his long time ally and friend who was about to sacrifice his body for his change.

It was mere seconds as the titan liquified and was poured out into a metal bar almost 5m long.

Anton scratched his head before beginning the process, asking Abdul several questions in the process.

In honour of his friend he decided on becoming a great sword, an immense weapon that made use of the bulk quantity of The titan.

Still, Anton wouldn't be a demi-god tier craftsman if this much world-matter would prevent him making a beautiful and well balanced weapon.

Working on the pretence that a great sword wouldn't be thrusted often.

He created a flared head, turning it into a 2m long blade around 18cm wide, and at its thickest 6cm thick.

It was a titanic blade made of the flesh of a world bearing titan, It ended up around 240cm tall with a 4 hand long grip, The blade was absurdly thick but still disturbingly sharp for how wide the blade was.

Creating a pattern of angelic imagery and decorations, he made the finishing touches to the Titan's body.

------

Anton clicked his tongue

"Damn system, barely waits for my items to be done damn it." He said while rushing to complete a skeletal looking frame.

"Finally, I wish to purge the soul from the weapon and bind it onto the Dark-Steel skeleton." Anton said, sweat pouring out of him, and his shirt off.

"Small blessings" Anton said as the skeleton suddenly sprouted flesh anew.

Montgomery looked upon his new flesh with curiosity before Anton said "Made the bones out of condensed world-metal, which is what enabled the minimal tier loss."

"I thought I was to travel with you before becoming the second sword..." Montgomery asked confused.

"Not wrong, but Bobby boy got the setup wrong, You are going with him, but not for the reasons you might think." Anton vaguely explained before turning towards the Monk.

"now, Monk, you need to be over here with me." He gestured.

Over on a table there were many rolls of architects paper, and Anton threw them all into a drawer.

"what were those?" Abdul asked

"Unfinished plans, Now, more importantly we need to get synergised for this to be functional, Now I may not be a monk, but I can usually do a few katas should we need it." Anton said hastily as DEO's system continued to blare, with red popups.

"Alright, we need only match a few exercises, Mind handing over that drink?" Abdul asked.

Anton looked at him curiously but gave the bottle over, where Abdul drank a little from the bottle.

Breathing out, Abdul began to step into the 5 ways of life.

Carefully moving through the kata as to give Anton his best chance of copying him.

Anton noticed a few slips from his inebriation and smiled before he activated 'Craftsman's focus' and attempted to begin his 'craftsman's resonance'.

Dancing through the 5 steps of life, Anton put the system messages out of his mind as he begin to both draw Abdul out of his body.

Abdul also activated his 'martial focus' and 'Lifecore Resonance'

They danced their dance Until both Abdul was reduced to a sword and the system booted Anton out of the system, leaving Montgomery alone with Abdul's new body.

They themselves couldn't escape Anton's workshop, asking for Lucius to TP to the subspace.

from inside the blade Abdul finally came to, realising his new form.

'so... this plan is utterly insane isn't it?' Abdul said no longer speaking like the strict grandmaster he looked like, at least used to look like.

Montgomery looked curious for a moment before answering.

"This world is temporary, and I only learnt of greater forces outside of this world we call a game after I became an avatar for this hollow world." His words keening to Abdul's ears