The girl who called herself my guide didn’t take a step. Instead, she merely waved her hand, and the world around us melted and reformed. The light darkened, but I didn’t feel like I needed any time for my eyes to adjust even though we were indoors now. I was in a large room, and there were rows and rows of weapons in front of me.

“Pick the weapon you wish to use in this battle,” she said. “You will not have access to your dungeon blessings.”

I instinctively reached for the dungeon store and realized for the first time that I couldn’t. My tattoos were invisible since I had gotten my last blessing unless I was doing something with them. That included accessing my store, or overdrafting them for some temporary strength, something I had only finally figured out how to do not too long ago. Nothing made them appear.

“My blessings really are only part of my body, huh?”

“This is not true. Although they appear grafted into your body, they connect to your soul as well. Each blessing adds to your strength and ability. Heh… I had three blessings in my time!” She pointed to herself with her thumb, and a small, smug smile appeared on her face.

It was the first time I had seen an expression on the little girl’s face. As I raised my eyebrows, she quickly schooled her face.

“Ahem, how many blessings did you have?”

“Um…” I started counting on my fingers. It had been a while since I had thought about it. If I counted the ones that were turned into blessings, there were quite a few. “Eight?”

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“Eight!” She took a step back, her face slipping in surprise. “Hmph… no one likes liars! It’s okay if you only had two!”

She decided that I was lying. I didn’t want to hurt her pride, so I decided to leave it at that. She was still glaring at me though.

“So, just take any weapon?” I tried to move on as quickly as I could manage.

She crossed her arms, and although she still held an aura of displeasure, her face returned to the expressionless void. “Yes. Pick the sword that you have the most affinity with. Whatever feels the most natural to you. It’s a kinship.”

“Ah… is this the first test? If I pick unwisely, will my face melt off?”

“What? Well, you could consider this the first test I suppose. There are only nine more levels after this one, and this is all that you will find on this level.” She explained. “However, there is no wrong choice. You may pick anything. It may reflect your success through the rest of the dungeon, but that depends on you.”

I nodded and took a step toward the racks of weapons before I stopped again. “Wait, shouldn’t I pick a weapon that resembles the ultimate weapon? If this is a test to win that weapon, shouldn’t they match?”

I was trying to act innocent while gleaming more information about this alleged reward. Frankly, I knew far too little about this dungeon to say anything. No one even knew this was a thing.

“You speak like the ultimate weapon has selected a form! Your progress will ultimately decide what the weapon becomes.” She responded.

I took that to mean that whatever weapon I chose from these racks would become the form I’d ultimately get. So, if I used spears, then the weapon would end up a spear. If I used swords, the weapon would end up a sword. Then again, this was the Illusory Sword Dungeon. Did that mean that the final product was supposed to be a sword? It could just mean that the ultimate weapon’s previous form was a sword. Wait… was that rusty junk outside the shell of the original ultimate weapon?

There were too many questions to ask, but I didn’t have time to ask them. I also had a feeling that the girl wouldn’t answer them. Something about the entire situation felt off to me. I just couldn’t put my finger on what. I had no choice but to continue.