Life Grade

Leonel took deep and steady breaths, his body beaten and bloodied but a white smile clear beneath it all. He stood at the center of Wise Star Order's treasure trove, his wide grin shining as though it gave off its own light.

"All that work and you're actually so poor? You should have told me earlier." Leonel laughed.

Wise Star Order's expression darkened. Poor? Even the weakest things he cared enough to keep around were of the pinnacle of the Sixth Dimension, with the majority being within the Seventh. Though it was true that this wasn't anywhere near his best treasure trove, it was more than enough to drown out someone so wet behind the ears.

"What do you know about wealth? Even the Sixth Dimensional things here are very unique and can't be easily found elsewhere. Even among lower Dimensional items, there will always be certain materials rarer than even their higher Dimensional counterparts."

"What do I know about wealth? Well, do you have anything better than this?"

Leonel's palm flipped over, revealing a shimmering bow with a string connecting its heads that shone like crystals woven into a fiber. The twin white maned lions on opposite ends of it seemed to roar to life, exuding a suffocating pressure that blanketed the surroundings.

Wise Star Order's next words seemed to become caught in his throat. It wasn't that he had never seen a Seventh Dimensional treasure before, or that he hadn't seen one at the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension… The issue was… Why the hell did this kid have one?!

It was then that Wise Star Order suddenly realized that Leonel was right. There was nothing here that surpassed this bow in value. In fact, even in terms of rarity, this bow… It was almost unmatched.

Wise Star Order could immediately tell that it wasn't a normal Tier 9 Gold treasure. But that only made things all the more baffling.

"I bet that if I shot a couple arrows at you using this thing, you wouldn't be able to take it lightly, huh?"

Wise Star Order's lip twitched, but he seemed to refuse to answer.

Leonel laughed again, tallying up one point in his favor. Though he had relied on his mom to do so, he finally got one up on this annoying old man.

"You ignorant little brat, you have no idea what you're holding. That's not a normal bow."

Wise Star Order couldn't seem to take it anymore and snapped. Regardless, Leonel would have found out anyway, it was inevitable.

"What's different about it?" Leonel asked.

"Do you know what's above the Gold Grade?"

Leonel fell into his thoughts. Now that he thought about it, he didn't know the answer to that question. But, at the same time, no one could really blame him for being ignorant about it either.

To the Leonel of before, the Seventh Dimension was the highest Dimension there was, at least currently. Though he had heard that Earth had Eighth Dimensional potential, as far as he knew, that was a matter for the distant future since even the Morales, the pinnacle of this world—or so he thought—was only at the Seventh Dimension.

Using this logic, he didn't think that treasures above the Seventh Dimension existed. Or, even if they did, they were all natural occurrences and there was no one with the skill to forge them into Crafts. But, it seemed that this wasn't entirely true.

"What is it? Platinum?" Leonel joked.

"I swear, I'm surrounded by idiots. Idiots everywhere." Wise Star Order shook his head. "No, above the Seventh Dimensional Gold Grade are Life Grade weapons."

"They're living weapons? They have souls?"

Leonel's lip twitched when he thought of this, remembering how against he was weapons having souls and 'listening' to weapons. He found it to be asinine. If there really was such a thing, it would be more than a little embarrassing.

But, as soon as Leonel had this thought, he refuted it. If such a thing existed, it would be at the Life Grade. The spears he was using were still Bronze and Silver, so how could they have this soul everyone was talking about? At least for now, he was still correct. Maybe if the Spear Domain Heirloom had Life Grade weapons down the line, he would reconsider his position. But, even then, he didn't really like the idea of listening to a weapon.

"No, they're weapons, how could they have souls. Did you flood your head with water?"

Leonel chuckled but didn't respond.

"A Life Grade weapon is the equivalent of an Innate Node returning to nature. A weapon is usually fused of many techniques, many ores and many precious resources… When it enters the Life Grade, there is no longer a separation of the parts that made up the whole. Instead, it all becomes one entity sharing one breath.

"When this happens, the weapon becomes like a natural treasure, no different from a precious metal you might unearth and it produces its own Natural Force Arts.

"As a result of this, it becomes a new existence in the world. And, much like how special Forces have characteristics of their own, so too would this weapon gain its own.

"Much like how your Scarlet Star Force embodies destruction and skews your personality, the weapon or treasure will gain its own personality as well, but not in the most obvious, nonsensical sense. But, rather in a purer, more subtle sense."

Leonel's gaze glowed. Wise Star Order only explained the raw definition to him, but when he thought about how this might translate to Crafting, Leonel felt his heart speed up.

If he wanted to create a Life Grade weapon, what would be necessary? He would have to create a blueprint so perfect, choose materials so immaculate, and draw Force Arts filled with such unity that it would all blend together without the slightest imperfection…

Only then would he be able to breathe life into it. Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.

Just the thought made Leonel's blood rush, a certain enlightenment opening up to him. Unknowingly, his skill as a Crafter had just taken an enormous step forward just based off a few words.

"Then… What makes this Tier 9 Gold Bow so unique?"

Wise Star Order shook his head. "I don't know who was dropped on their head as a baby and decided to give you this weapon, but if you grow in skill enough, this weapon just needs one more push to enter a perfect state of unity and enter the Life Grade. It's only missing a skilled enough owner…"

Leonel was shocked by these words before he grinned. It seemed his bow was in luck. There was no better master than him.

What neither Wise Star Order nor Leonel knew was that the claiming of this Bow had caused an enormous storm to kick up in Void Palace. This was a bow that had remained untouched for millennia as the man who had Crafted it was very particular about their wishes for what was to be done with it. But, as the mother lioness does, Alienor didn't follow any of those rules when she snatched it away...

Who knew what would happen when others realized it was in Leonel's hands?