“You leveled up your spearsmanship… Interesting… So tell me, what did you discover?”

“I discovered that I was making my moves way too wide. For example, when I rolled out of the way, I would wait to finish rolling in order to make sure I could land my hit… but obviously, that half a second was almost my downfall. So, I began my attack just as my roll was about to finish. This made my movements more fluid and actually kept some momentum,”

Though the floating alien-like eye didn’t have a mouth, I could see it smile with absolute greed, amusement, and excitement.

“Could you say the same for other movements? Starting your attack before you finish a move….” The eye asked yet another question, and I immediately responded with a slight nod.

“Yes, but also, this is only possible due to the properties of the breathing technique I learned. No regular human could keep up with all of their surroundings while also focusing on a powerful attack… but with this breathing technique, I can see everything, feel everything, hear everything, in slow motion,”

“Seems you aren’t a dumbass. Okay, good, I accept you as my new vessel, but since my power would disintegrate your body, I will place a few seals on myself… so you better not end up dying. I can’t release any of the seals no matter what once they’re placed on me due to their potency,”

“Ummmm… may I ask what you are? Are you really a spear because you remind me more of a monster rather than an actual weapon,”

The eye squinted me, and the strange pressure scraped the back of my neck, but before it could completely tear me apart, it retreated.

“I can’t say anything about that. But trust me, I’m just a weapon… though, not a full weapon. I can confirm I am not a monster, though,”

“That’s nice to hear, so can you let me leave now? I want to see your body,” I said, and the eye squinted once again before a blinding white flash of light appeared in front of me.

My body felt like it was getting ripped apart, and just as I was about to scream in pain, the pain and white light stopped altogether.

I noticed I was on my knees, right in front of the red spear that had a unique and beautiful pattern that it made look like some kind of special prop out of a movie.

As I slowly stood up from my kneeled position, I heard a voice flick my back.

“Hello? You good?” I heard Bella ask from the entrance of the room.

“Yeah… How long was I out for?” I quickly asked while grasping the handle of the spear, and a flood of notifications appeared in front of me.

“Only a few seconds, I think,”

“Hmm… Really?”

.

You have acquired the Sentient Blade: Sangria King’s Spear

Four Layers of High Tier Seals have been placed on the blade

.

You have taken a step towards revealing the true nature of your system

Step 1: Acquire a Blade of Evolution

Step 2: ???

Step 3: ???

Step 4: ???

Reward Granted

.

All of a sudden, the silver ring on my finger throbbed, and a wave of pain was sent up my arm and down my spine.

It wasn’t nearly as bad as that flash of white light, but it still forced me to grit my teeth in order for me to not actually scream out.

As I looked down at my finger, I noticed tattooed thorny black vines crawling to my pale finger’s tip and up to my wrist, where they formed a solid black bracelet.

Of course, this bracelet was also tattooed on my skin.

“Huff… Huff… Huff… What the hell,” I muttered before glancing over at the ring I had been unable to remove for two years.

“Did you pass?” Bella asked, and it took me a while to finally squeeze my answer out, but eventually, I managed to say,

“Yeah… I think,”

I could hear Bella jumping with joy behind me while I continued to stare at the ring on my finger, but no excitement came from conquering these two things I had just obtained.

It’s like the story of the monkey dancing in the palm of Buddha… I’m the monkey, and Ares is Buddha, trying to shape me into something perfect for his use.

“Hey, should we tell my father?”

“Yeah, I mean, I think he’s going to eventually catch a whiff of this massive thing eventually,” I muttered before exiting the darkroom.

The chains locking this thing into place had already disintegrated just a few moments prior, so I was able to easily bring my new spear with me.

…

The next day, I met with the head of the Wony family once again, and just as I had expected, he ordered me to bring my new spear.

I had no qualms about it since I doubt he could claim a piece of equipment already engraved in my status.

Equipment: Magic Ring Paralysis Barrier Ring Sangria King’s Spear

Knock knock knock

“Come on in,” A deep voice guided me, and as I pushed through the doors, I could see the head smiling but without any malicious intent.

I steadily sat down on a cushioned chair prepared for me before grabbing the cup of tea also prepared for me.

My spear just lay against my shoulder as if it was taunting the man before me.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” He muttered.

“It is, but it’s also very destructive. The sentient mind within this thing is merciless,” I replied before taking a sip of the tea… and there was no poison.

Even though any type of poison can’t damage me, if I did identify poison in the drink, then that meant they had already betrayed me.

It was a matter of my safety but not at the same time… if you get what I mean.

“Alright, I called you here because I have the place you want. I just wanted to see the spear for a second as even I couldn’t conquer it,”

“That was quick. I thought it would take at least a month,”

“You underestimate me… but I also have a request that you are free to turn down,”