The sword glowed faintly, pulsing with a soft, golden light that illuminated the otherwise dim laboratory. The air around it was thick, charged with an energy that set my nerves on edge. I’d seen relics before, powerful artifacts imbued with divine or arcane energies, but this blade was something else entirely. It wasn’t just an artifact—it was alive.

I adjusted my glasses, the metal frames catching the glow as I stared down at the ancient weapon stuck firmly in the rock pedestal at the center of the lab. The stone surrounding it bore intricate carvings, glowing faintly in resonance with the blade itself.

The sword had been discovered in the heart of Nexus Academy nearly a millennium ago, at the dawn of the Great Expansion. It had been silent for centuries, a relic of the past, revered but inert. Now, for reasons no one could explain, it was waking up.

The energy levels around the blade had been steadily rising over the past week, disrupting the academy’s sensitive mana detectors and creating ripples that could be felt across the entire continent. Students had reported strange phenomena—faint whispers, fleeting shadows, even glimpses of a ghostly figure roaming the academy grounds. At first, I dismissed these accounts as mere rumors, the product of overactive imaginations. But standing here, in the presence of this relic, I couldn’t ignore the truth. Something was happening.

I opened my system interface with a quick flick of my wrist, the translucent screen appearing before me. My identification skill wasn’t legendary, but it was nothing to scoff at either. Over the years, it had helped me analyze and categorize countless artifacts and relics. If there was anything to learn about this sword, I was determined to uncover it.

“Identify,” I commanded, directing the skill toward the blade.

The system hummed softly, its familiar processing icon spinning in the corner of my vision. My breath hitched as the interface flickered, lines of text appearing one by one.

[System Notification: Attempting Identification…]

[Warning: Insufficient Skill Level.]

[Result: ???]

[Your Identification Skill is too low to analyze this artifact.]

My jaw tightened as I stared at the screen. “Too low?” I muttered, frustration bubbling in my chest. I’d encountered high-tier artifacts before—artifacts imbued with divine energy or protected by powerful enchantments—but even those had yielded some level of information. This… this was a blank slate, an enigma.

I leaned closer to the blade, the golden light reflecting off its polished surface. Its design was intricate, almost impossibly so. The fox motifs etched along its length seemed to shimmer and shift, as if alive. The energy radiating from it wasn’t just divine—it was ancient, primal, something far beyond my understanding.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

The whispers started again, faint and indistinct, barely audible over the hum of the lab’s equipment. I froze, my heart racing as I glanced around the room. It was empty, as it always was during late-night sessions like this. Still, the whispers persisted, growing louder, more insistent.

A new sound joined them—a faint patter, light and hesitant. My eyes darted toward the corner of the room, and for a moment, I saw it: the ghostly figure of a fox pup. Its translucent form shimmered with the same golden light as the sword, its small, curious eyes meeting mine before it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

I blinked, my breath catching in my throat. “What in the world…”

“You saw it too, didn’t you?” a voice said from the doorway, startling me.

I turned sharply to see Professor Elara, her silver hair catching the light as she stepped into the room. She was one of the academy’s most respected scholars and a formidable Archmage, her expertise in artifacts rivaling even the founders. If anyone could make sense of this, it was her.

“Elara,” I said, exhaling the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.”

She smirked, her sharp eyes fixed on the blade. “And you shouldn’t spend so much time alone with something you don’t understand, Professor Alden Revaris.”

I gestured toward the screen still floating in front of me. "I tried to identify it. The system wouldn’t even give me a hint. All it said was: [System Notification: ??? Your Identification Skill is too low to analyze this artifact.]"

Elara stepped closer, her gaze intense as she studied the sword embedded in the rock. “It’s not surprising,” she said after a moment. “This blade doesn’t belong to our world. It’s older than the academy, older than the Great Expansion itself. The system was designed to categorize the known. This… this is the unknown.”

I frowned, her words sinking in. “You think it’s connected to the energy fluctuations? The disturbances on campus?”

She nodded, her expression grim. “It’s more than a connection. The blade is the source. Its energy is waking up, and it’s reacting to something—something big.”

The whispers grew louder, almost as if in response to her words. My skin prickled as I looked back at the sword, its light pulsating in rhythm with the strange, ethereal voices. It felt like the blade was calling out, reaching for something—or someone.

“Elara,” I said slowly, “what if the rumors are true? What if there’s… something here? A presence tied to the sword?”

She didn’t answer immediately, her gaze distant as she stared at the artifact. When she finally spoke, her voice was quiet, almost reverent. “If the stories are to be believed, this sword isn’t just an artifact. It’s a soul—a living being.”

I blinked, her words sending a chill down my spine. “A soul? You mean…”

Elara placed a hand on my shoulder, her grip firm. “Don’t jump to conclusions. For now, we study. We observe. But whatever this is, it’s far beyond us. We need to tread carefully.”

I nodded, though my mind was already racing. The blade’s energy was rising, its whispers growing louder. Whatever was happening, it wasn’t going to wait for us to figure it out.

As Elara turned to leave, her final words lingered in the charged air. “The academy was built around this blade for a reason. Let’s hope we’re ready for whatever it’s waking up to face.”

I stood there, alone again, the weight of her words settling heavily on my shoulders. The sword’s golden light pulsed steadily, a silent reminder of the mystery it held. And as the whispers faded into silence, one thought echoed in my mind.

This was just the beginning.