Once I landed on the first step, I felt a crushing pressure from above. Still, with my body's sturdiness, the first few dozen steps were child's play to me. At the seventieth step, the pressure became a bit unbearable.

It took me one day and one night to cross from the seventieth to the seventy-first step. And as I got further along the stairs, the time I spent on each step increased as well.

All in all, it took me a total of a year and a half to fully climb the first set of stairs. I benefited greatly from this, as my body got significantly stronger by the end of it.

At the top of the staircase, I felt my vision blur for a second then it cleared again. I felt my hand close on something hard, and after taking a look, I saw a crude piece of rusted metal that looked similar to the one Richard gave me.

I took out my wand and transformed it into a sword. Just as Farbauti instructed me, I placed this piece on the blade of the sword and tapped it with the magical hammer that was given to me. Instantly, it melted and fused into the sword, causing the latter to buzz.

Then, for the first time since I got this sword, a voice said in my head, "Finally, took you long enough, kid."

The voice yawned and continued, "It's been so long since I was last awake, what year is it now?"

"Who are you?" I said, confused.

"What's wrong with you, young man? Why are you confused? Don't you know me?"

"A question at a time. I have bad experiences with voices in my head. Who are you?"

"Why, I am the spirit of your sword, of course. I have been trying to talk with you for over a year."

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"Is that so? And why exactly can you talk?"

"Have you not heard of talking swords before?"

"I have... Sumarbrander, the Sword of Frey, and other ones. I just didn't imagine my sword would be one."

"Oh, I'm still incomplete. Once my ten pieces are merged, I will be able to take a physical form again."

"Again? Who are you exactly? You still haven't answered that."

"Where's the fun in telling you immediately?" the voice grinned, "You must guess my identity, kid. Where are we, by the way?"

"We are not far from the Immortal Sun Sect," I replied with a hint of annoyance in my voice.

"Well, I don't expect my old friends to be still alive after all these years..."

Then, he finally went silent, which left me to wonder as to how to get back to the base of the stairs. And as if my thoughts were being read, a force teleported me to before the first step.

I decided to take a break, and it didn't take long for me to reach the sect. As I was walking through the buildings, the students, teachers, and elders that I encountered all bowed their heads to me. It seems that Emperor Sun has instructed everyone to treat us respectfully. I would have thought that it was a normal thing, considering that the Emperor, Tulip, and I are students of the same master, but Richard's previous warning made it hard for me to accept that these actions were genuine.

I found Tulip practicing in one of the sect's training squares. She was sparring with another young man who had a haughty air around him. The passing of a year had made her look mature and more beautiful.

The spar took a while to end, after which they bowed to each other and the young man left. This left me alone with Tulip in the vicinity, but she didn't seem to notice me yet, so I spoke, "It's obvious you were holding back the explosiveness of the Laws of Fire, why is that?"

Stunned at the sound of my voice, she said as she walked towards me, "This is only a spar, and... he really can't take it if I don't hold back."

"Still trying to show off, eh?" I grinned and pulled her into a hug. We sat on a nearby bench and talked about our experiences in the passing year and a half. I told her everything, including the talking sword and his mysterious identity.

"My experiences are a bit dull in comparison, always cultivating and a bit of sparring here and there," she said. "I think you should talk to Senior Brother Sun about the sword."

"Senior brother?" I said, but then shook my head, "Remember Richard's warning."

"He hasn't done anything suspicious in front of me, so maybe Richard is mistaken?"

"Better to be safe than sorry."