Those present truly felt that what happened today was the miracle of miracles. While the onlookers were impressed, only Kairos could tell exactly how hard it was. No killing moves, no magic spells, and most difficult of all, nothing that would give away his secrets. A mid B ranker had trumped ten S and Double S rankers one after another. All in roughly two short hours.
However, in the middle of the arena where the victor should be, it was Jones who stood there triumphant. The boy’s absence for the past year had not diminished his fame. Instead, there were waves of astonishment in the spectator stands by his reappearance.
“Isn’t that… I thought he dropped out?”
“He joined an immortal realm sect. Now, our little academy won’t even make him bat an eye.”
“I heard he is Lord Kairos’ sworn brother, looks like the rumours are true.”
“Of course, why else would he bother to visit such a small place?”
By now, Jones is already at Heaven Grade Titan physical rank, otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to send Kairos flying out with a single hit. At his strength, if he wants to get the champion’s belt, it would be a simple matter. Maybe at record time even faster than Kairos.
His growth isn’t surprising given the resources he has in the Immortal Blue Sect; even his daily meals are equal the best cultivation supplies that Gaia has to offer. Considering that he has the Divine Asura Constitution, this speed of improvement is rather slow.
However, Jones also know that should he step into the full Immortal physical rank, he would go through his Heavenly Tribulation and not be able to visit Kairos and the gang as easily as before.
After all, the moment he steps into a mortal realm, the land itself will draw the spiritual energies away from true immortals.
More importantly, practising the Origin Cultivation Method, it will be better for his future to breakthrough both his physical rank and cultivation into the immortal-level at the same time. To strike a balance in internal and external cultivation is the best path for increasing Origin Energy; for this reason, Kairos and the rest adopted a similar training standard.
Another month passed before the final battles concluded. Of course, since Jones had not registered in the competition, the winner is still Kairos.
Sihala remained at rank two until the end. Despite losing to Kairos, he was a monster through and through. If he had not met his counter at the hands of the Divine Dragon Surtr’s flames, there is no one close to being a threat to him.
Rank 3 was the previous number 2 and Rank 4 was taken by Luci Ferrimore.
As the only one who wisely forfeited against Kairos, he has managed to preserve his strength and immediately challenged Luci. When she was still at the ninth rank, Luci had proudly declared she will only be one step below Sihala at the end of the tournament and indeed had the ability to do so. Very few can endure her ‘self-destructing clones’ technique. Fortunately, each challenge must be accepted within three days, or it will be considered a loss, and it is far too short a time for her to recover.
At rank 5 was the speed-based practitioner his agility made him a difficult opponent, followed by Lee Hei who did surprisingly well and attained rank 6. From rank seven onwards, there was no change in position, the boy from the assassin clan, the one from the Devilheart’s branch family, Lucas, Gigas, and finally, Watts who was pushed down to rank 11.
As the winner, Kairos acquired the prize he was eyeing on, the Artificial Weapon Soul. There was an exuberant and grand prize-giving ceremony, but after receiving his reward, he didn’t have the heart to stay for the after party. Before others could congratulate him, Kairos was already on the way back in a hurry to study the object in hand. His brothers took one look at him and hurriedly followed. Whatever is going to happen next, they are certain it will be interesting.
Everyone else gave them helpless smiles, especially when they saw the intense concentration Kairos had as he observed the prize, a black cylindrical container while rushing to return.
The moment they stepped through the door into his room, Kairos plopped down to the floor and started tinkering. The item reminded him of the crystal ball hosting an artificial soul that he saw at the Steel Rose family’s medical gorge.
With excited hands, Kairos pressed the container onto his Swallow, a wisp of smoke flew into the weapon, and the cylinder turned white.
Then immediately, his blade trembled, and a clear voice of a lady resounded, “Greetings master, I am Artificial Weapon Soul Model XII. Serial number xii-903020401050a. Please give me a name.”
“Ummm… Twelve then.”
“No thanks,” the voice replied with a tinge of stubbornness that surprised those around.
“The artificial soul has such a function?” muttered Kairos in disbelief.
“Of course,” the Swallow replied.
“What about Sharur? It’s a mythical mace that could talk!” Tommy exclaimed. No one had to ask him where he gained such knowledge ever since he met Snow.
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“No. I’m not a mace.”
“What about Gae Bolg? It’s a legendary spear,” Edward suggested.
“No, I prefer a name unique to myself,” it said obstinately.
“How about Serial Killer then?” Alan proposed with tongue-in-cheek. This is the first time he ever heard of something called ‘Serial Number’, but he saw an opportunity and inserted a terrible pun.
Unfortunately, everyone wisely pretended that no words passed through Alan’s lips.
“What about Kinkon? That’s the sound of weapons clashing, cool right?” Jim offered.
With his naming sense, this isn’t anything surprising for the other brothers, and they rolled their eyes at him with great synergy.
“Jim Hope, that was a hopeless naming sense,” Alan said, then he looked at everyone with a ‘yall saw what I did there?’ look.
If bad puns could kill, Alan will be crowned the deadliest assassin on Gaia.
However, before the rest of them had time to reconsider their friendship with him, the Swallow declared as if after careful consideration, “Input accepted. Alright master, please address me as Kinkon from now.”
The artificial soul’s reply dropped their jaws all at once. If there are other spectators around, they would be so impressed by their synchronised reactions, they would’ve thought this was done through practice.
The Swallow proudly took on Jim’s ridiculous name and repeated the word several times, “Kinkon kinkonkin… KINKONNNN!!! It does indeed sound like battle. A fitting name.”
Kairos stared at his Swallow, at Jim, and then at the others in absolute stunned silence. Did Jim just name his personal weapon? Did it choose Kinkon over Twelve, Sharur, and even Gae Bolg?
He felt his understanding of this world turned topsy-turvy, but at least it wasn’t Serial Killer.
Except for Jim who was proud and Kairos who become pale, the other three bursts into laughter. The name sounded like the sound effects kids make while playing soldier, and it made Tommy, Alan, and Edward congratulate Kairos while wiping away brimming tears.
Jim, now puffed up with smugness, said, “Kairos big brother, hurry and thank me for the wonderful name!”
Kairos’ face flashed red at once, but before he spoke, the Swallow declared - like daggers that dealt a coup de grace, “Yes master, you should thank your friend. Don’t be rude.”
Suicidal thoughts flashed across his mind. No, maybe a hexa-suicide would be better?
Tommy, of course, did not let this opportunity slip by, “When you slay your enemies, you can proudly give them your blade’s name. It’d make you famous.”
No one expected that these words will become prophetic, though did the name caused the fame or the fearsome blade spread the name, none could say for certain.
“Yes captain, you really must thank Jim,” Edward said stiffly, but his trembling body betrayed his hidden mirth.
On the other hand, Alan laughed unreservedly, unbothered with little details as usual. He mimicked Kairos holding his short, two-bladed spear, and pretended to lift an invisible edge to a pretend-enemy’s throat and valiantly announced, “Remember, the legendary blade which vanquished you, the KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNN … KON!”
The three boys rolled around on the floor, holding their stomachs while howling with laughter.
Kairos never told anyone before that he would like to become a hero depicted in the legends like those he admires, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t looking forward to such a future. To triumph over the greatest gods and demons and conquer the world with his partner - his trusty blade in hand and become revered for ages; it is the dream for most little boys.
Now, his unspoken dream has become tainted.
The Swallow started humming again after a short moment, “Name registered. Weapon Soul Activation Initialised.
Analysing original structure. Scanning blueprint… complete, materials identification… complete, forging process check… complete, runic array replication… complete. Adjustments required for optimal condition. Processing. Expelling impure substances… complete. Flaws removal… complete. Molecular modification… complete. Structure Integrity… Hundred Percent. Default template unassigned, to summon the Swallow, please call out the weapon’s name: Kinkon."
A trickle of blood run down the side of Kairos' lips.
"You may store nine more weapon templates.
Please note that summoning this weapon form takes, Zero, Point, Five, Seconds, Exactly. Please acknowledge you are aware that the time delay may cause death. You may avoid this by choosing a default weapon shape.”
“I… acknowledge?”
After he replied, the Swallow Kairos is so used to, started melting before their eyes. In half a second, it turned into a puddle that reformed itself into a metallic sphere and hovered at chest height.
“Please claim your equipment,” the ball vibrated.
After the Swallow assimilated the Artificial Weapon Soul and become a Soul Weapon (灵兵), he needs to reclaim the ownership of his weapon.
Stunned, Kairos pierced his finger with a pin-shaped Ki, then squeezed a drop of blood onto the sphere.
The moment his blood fell on the smooth surface, it disappeared into the object as though it evaporated.
A connection was made immediately and at the same time information poured into this mind, and he instantly understood the way to use it.
The most useful ability is the Soul-link that claimed treasures have with their owners. It allows Kairos to control his weapon with a thought.
Like what Kinkon said, Kairos’ Swallow can now change into a Sword, Spear, Cleaver, and any other weapon type, up to ten different models, as long as he registers it. To achieve that, each type requires a properly forged weapon to be absorbed by the metal sphere, analysed and most importantly, stored.
Additionally, he can pre-set the default weapon he likes to avoid it floating around like a ball and allow him to save half a second of transformation time.
The irrefutable benefits made Kairos couldn’t help but smile.
Granted, if he needs to use a different weapon in battle, taking it out from his Time-space ring will be faster than the transformation delay from his Swallow. However, when coupled with its new hovering ability, things are totally different.
Now, he could control his weapon and change its form with a thought. More than just speed, the weapon soul provides massive combat variation and potential.
Not only that, the storage ability present is quite different than other interspatial equipment that he knows of. Although the storage space is limited to ten weapons, an excited grin appeared on his face.
“Artificial Weapon Soul and Weapon Storage…? Brilliant. This is pure genius!”
The final function that Kinkon has – and perhaps its greatest use of all – is to turn into Astral Form. This is a basic ability that many immortal treasures come with. After claiming these artefacts with blood, the users could store the item in an immaterial state inside of their bodies and be summoned at any time with a thought, similar to how tamers keep their contract beasts.
However, Kairos can also store his weapon within his Dantian, allowing him to refine it slowly with his Internal Energy. At completion, it will turn into an Avatar Weapon (本命武器), a terrifying thing that could defeat even Immortals. Of course, it will still depend on the user’s Ki, and it varies from cultivator to cultivator.
All this information was given to him when he linked with the soul weapon, and Kairos eyed it suspiciously. He had never heard of Avatar Weapon before today and was amazed that he could nurture a weapon in his Ki centre. Of course, Kairos wouldn’t know just how powerful a completely refined Avatar Weapon would be, and it was something he looked forward to. He doubted that such information was well-known in Gaia and started guessing where this Artificial Weapon Soul originated from.
The gang stood in appreciation after Kairos told them what the prize he won truly does, but at this time, a hand suddenly shot forth. Kairos was fully prepared, and in an instant, the Weapon Sphere disappeared into his Dantian while Jones seemed to materialise from thin air.
The latter smiled sheepishly and scratched his head, “Aww… Even I don’t have one… Little Bro, let me just take a look for a little while.”
Kairos wasn’t afraid that Jones would lie and take his thing, but he still said, “No way, you kicked me during my final battle.”
“Come on, that was a month ago!”
“No means no!”
Jones returned to the Immortal Realm a few months later. The bulk of his time was spent to catch up with the rest – especially with his love at first sight, Jaina.
She was as cheerful and attractive as he remembered, but Jones’ ambitions were too lofty, and he did not stay for long.
As she said, “The Sky Cow cannot be tied down!”
He vowed that the next time they meet, he would be a full-fledge Immortal.
However, the group knows that once he succeeds, it will be a while later before he could enter the mortal realms again. One will need sufficient power to wrestle with Gaia, and not many from the upper realms could sustain. It will be easier for the boys to breakthrough and transcend instead.
Fortunately, Jones had come down to the mortal realms with immortal realm communication artefacts.
The calling cards from Gaia could not reach the Immortal Blue Sect, but these items he brought was able to do so.
He gave each one of his brothers a piece, with an extra one for Jaina.