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nAlex got ready to attack once more. He picked up his sword and started channeling his Qi around his body as per the Smiting Blade technique.

nHis qi was flowing into the sword at an incredible speed. He had been in a half-dead state when this first happened, so he didn't have to luxury to fully experience what it felt like. But now that he did, it was glorious.

nFeeling the Qi slide into the blade with zero resistance was such a cathartic experience. Once the blade was filled to the brim with his Qi, he moved.

nIn a single step, he reached the wooden puppet and swung his sword.

nThe sound the hit made was actually quieter than the last time, yet he could tell the damage was much higher. The penetration power of the sword was much higher with the technique, so it didn't hit enough of the wooden puppet to make much sound.

nAlex turned around to look at the damage value.

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n'4 realms higher?' he was shocked. 'That's much higher than I had expected.' He looked at the puppet which had a deep, almost invisible cut going from its left shoulder to its right waist. It took a few moments for the puppet to heal back.

nNow that he was done checking his damage with his 'new' sword, he decided to leave. But just then, he remembered. 'Wait, what about the other sword?'

nHe decided to check that one as well. He opened his inventory to see the new sword. Once he found it, he brought it out.

nBANG

nThe moment the sword left his inventory, it fell onto the ground with a loud sound. This sound was larger than when he first hit the puppet with his sword.

nThankfully, this was the Training hall, so nobody checked what had just happened.

nThe sword had been inside the mother cat when he put it into his inventory, so he hadn't seen what the sword looked like and only the hilt. Now that he was looking at the actual sword, he was in awe.

nDespite how big the hilt gave the impression of the sword being, the sword was actually tall, but a thin two-sided sword. It looked like it had some sort of marking or words on it at first glance, but looking at it more carefully, it was just the texture of the metal itself.

nThe blade itself had a brownish color to it with some gold hue to it. The crossguard was quite long for such a thin sword and made purely of silver-like metal. The hilt was wrapped in red leather, probably from some high-level monster.

nHe focused on the blade a bit, and a panel appeared.

nEbony Corundum Stiletto

nGrade: Earth

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n'It's not giving me any information aside from the grade,' he thought. He checked the steel sword.

nSteel Sword: Refined

nGrade: True Mortal

nElemental Alignment: None

nWeight: 10 KG

n'Okay, the steel sword is giving a few more information now. Is it because I refined it?' he wondered. He tried to recall back to how the refinement actually happened.

n'Didn't it say something about the sword accepting my essence?' he thought. 'What is essence though? Essence, I have heard of that word somewhere else… That's right.' He immediately opened his inventory.

nThere was an item in there that he got after killing the cat monster.

n????????'s Blood Essence

n'So does essence mean blood?' he wondered. He remembered that he had never before been bled in the game. The only time he did was the fight against the wolf. So, if that was the exact time the sword was refined, then blood would make sense to be the essence.

n'Do I have to cut myself now?' he didn't want to intentionally bleed. Still, he braced himself and cut his fingertip. Blood started pooling on top of his finger.

nHe looked at his finger and was actually surprised. His finger was actually starting to close up a bit. 'Is this because I am a cultivator?' he wondered.

nHe dropped the pooled-up blood into the sword. The drop of blood fell onto the blade, but it just slipped off the surface of the blade and fell into the soil below.

nHe was curious about what had just happened, so he bent down to grab the sword. Surprisingly the sword was heavy. In fact, it was so heavy that he was unable to move it even a single centimeter.

n'How is such a small sword, so heavy,' he wondered. He tried a couple more times to no avail. 'What if I try to put my Qi into it? Will that make it better?' he thought.

nHe grabbed the hilt of the blade, and slowly started to pour in his Qi. The resistance he felt was massive. The sword absolutely didn't want his Qi and was vehemently refusing it.

nHe started using more force to put in the Qi, and suddenly massive energy started pouring into him from the sword. His body started to hurt and he immediately stopped forcing in the Qi.

n'Any longer and I would've been seriously hurt.' He thought. The sword refused his Qi so much that it nearly wounded him in return. He looked at the sword with a little bit of dread in his eyes.

n'The sword is too strong for me right now. I should try again once my cultivation base is higher.' He thought.

nHe hadn't been here for more than 10 minutes, but the nameplate still took 5 points. He didn't care though. He took his nameplate and walked out of the training hall.

nNow that he could think of nothing else to do, he decided to go back to his residence in the sect leader's mountain. Nobody stopped him this time, so his way to his residence was smooth. Once he was in the house, he looked at the time and realized it was about time for dinner.

nSo, he logged out.

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